Chapter 15 – Valtu #3
“There was a witch in Wales who had a certain book we wanted, that we had been searching the world over. A book of spells and magic that was not only accessible to us but had great power. Had you ever heard of such a thing? As someone who collects rare books, we thought this would be right up your alley.”
I try to think. Books of magic and spells were nothing new.
Many witches around the world had them and oftentimes they fell into the hands of vampires.
Some vampires, like my friend Solon, were able to procure the magic with ease, but the spells for the most part were fairly benign.
Sure, you could create flames with your fingertips (a spell Solon actually taught me) but there wasn’t usually anything that was very black magic or dark arts about them, and if there was, vampires just didn’t have that natural access to them that witches had.
But there were rumors about one book in particular, the Book of Verimagiaa that was created by both a witch and a vampire that had gone rogue and worked together in the dark arts.
That book was reported to open doors to other dimensions, worlds, even the past and future.
The spells were bound in the book in such a way that any witch, vampire, or even human could use them to conjure everything dark and evil.
“So you do know,” Aleksi muses slowly, reading my face. “The Book of Verimagiaa is real, Valtu. And it’s in our hands. We’ve been having such a fun time accessing the Red World of Skarde’s, but we’ve struggled to get to the next level. To open that next door. You just helped us do it.”
My throat feels tight. “What do you mean?”
“Spill the virgin blood by an altar,” Saara says in a deeply inhuman voice, reading from the book, “let the Prince of Darkness drink. Sacrifice two innocent humans, open the portal to the brink.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
Did they actually try to use me for black magic?
“Listen,” I say, getting to my feet, feeling a little unsteady. “I’m sure you think you have some magic book, but no portal is going to open because of me. I’m not the Prince of Darkness, that was something that Bram made up for the book. Or hell, Milton did for Paradise Lost.”
“But you were called that,” Aleksi says, his eyes looking feverish in the light of the candles.
“Before Stoker, you were called that. Do you even remember the vampire you used to be, Valtu? How you raged throughout Europe, killing everything in your path? Why are you trying to dilute your own history, water down the darkness? Own it, for fuck’s sake. ”
I try to swallow, the taste of their blood now tasting like pennies in my mouth.
“I put all of that behind me,” I manage to say.
He gestures to the dead bodies. “Clearly you didn’t. No matter how hard you try to find your humanity, opening up fucking feeding rooms, you’re just running from who you really are.”
I let out a huff. “Is this where you tell me to join you?”
“Frankly no,” Saara says, snapping the book shut. “You’re not trustworthy. Your humanity has taken too much of a hold of you that I don’t think you’ll ever fully go dark again. And if you’re not careful, other vampires will start feeling the same way.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m warning you. About yourself.”
I shake my head and throw out my arms. “Okay, fine. So you just did a spell. I don’t see a portal to Hell, do you?”
She looks around. “It doesn’t always happen like that. It can take time to appear. Last time it appeared in the plague pits out back. I thought all the skeletons were coming alive for a moment.”
“Maybe we should go check,” Aleksi says to her.
“Wait, you’ve been successful before?” I ask, feeling a stab of dread.
Her eyes narrow. “Did you not listen to a word we’ve been saying? We opened a door to a level of the Red World. We pulled out ghosts and creatures we’ve never seen before. We let demons crawl out. One of them, they call it the bad thing , is roaming the city looking for witches.”
“Witches?”
She rolls her eyes like I’m an idiot. “We killed a witch and stole a book that gives us unlimited dark magic. You don’t think their guild has dispatched vampire slayers?
They’ve probably figured out it was us, they might already be here in the city.
But this demon can sniff them out even when we can’t.
Think of it as a pet you should never let off the leash… even though we do.”
No wonder I saw that witch the other day.
But I don’t want to bring that up around them.
I don’t want to give them anything. For some reason, I’m extremely worried about Dahlia now.
It feels far too dangerous with demon-hunting witches on the loose, let alone the other things that will crawl out of hell.
Let alone me, a relapsed monster that just killed an innocent man.
And while Dahlia isn’t a witch, slayers do use glamor to disguise themselves so that they seem like any other human. What if Saara and Aleksi discover her and think that she’s a witch? They’ll kill her without remorse.
She isn’t a witch, right?
“Well, I’m sorry that the party is over so soon,” Saara says in a tired voice. “I was hoping after the meal, you could at least see the portal, the result of your efforts. But hey, if it ever pops open and you want a look, you’re welcome to come back.”
I am never coming back here.
I give her a tight smile. “It’s getting late. I trust the boat will take us back.”
“Of course,” Aleksi says, putting his arm around Saara’s waist and kissing her shoulder, his eyes on me as he does so. “Thanks again for your service, Valtu. Remember what we talked about. We don’t have to be your enemy, not anymore, and especially not now. It just wouldn’t be wise.”
I grumble and turn on my heel, eager to leave this creep-show of a place, heading out into the cold night air.
Bitrus is standing on the dock by the boat. He looks as relieved to see me as I am to see him, but we just nod at each other, and I step into the boat.
I stare at the plague doctor and I wonder if under the mask I’d find a creature from the Red World, a creature no one had ever seen before.
I try not to think about it.
Bitrus takes the seat beside me and we fall into silence for a few moments. There’s no point speaking about what happened. He knows.
“I don’t think I can see Dahlia anymore,” I say in a weak voice as the boat pulls away from the island and starts heading back to Venice.
I swallow hard, too many emotions competing inside me, the worst one of all is how damn good I feel for drinking as much as I did. “I don’t think it’s safe for her.”
Bitrus just puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Vampires and humans never work out, Valtu. You know this yourself.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and nod.
I know it far too well.