9. Future Without You
Future Without You
“My help? If Seeyr is in the Spire’s dungeon it’s because she belongs there!” Tanis cried.
“For what crime exactly?” Grayson stared hard at Wyvern’s fledgling as his anger flared.
He tamped it down. His emotions were all over the place.
It was because he was newly turned. He knew that from his own experiences with his fledglings.
But it was hard to have it inside of himself.
“From my understanding, Seeyr never made War Children, never participated in the fighting except in defense, and urged peace.”
“If you’re Ashyr then you weren’t here when everything happened. So you can’t know that for certain!” Tanis exclaimed, tipping her chin up.
“Well, I was here,” Ryder said, “and I know what Grayson says to be true. Seeyr begged me to stop what I was doing many times. Many, many times. But I never did and she merely retreated to Solace to protect her people until all of you came in.”
“Seeyr suffered as her own children were killed, but she never struck out,” Charlie chimed in with much solemnity. “If Kaly has convinced you that she played some role in this War then they have slandered her most foul.”
“She’s innocent, Tanis,” Fiona said, clenching a hand up against her chest. “You know she is. Stop thinking about what you’ve been told by the people here. The Order is a cult. It is a method of mind control.”
“It’s establishing rules that we all have to abide by! It’s stopping any one person from being in charge until Daemon returns,” Tanis argued. “It’s the answer to the atrocities committed by the Immortals against us!”
Grayson let out a sharp laugh that had Khos looking up at him worriedly.
“Kaly only wants to protect themselves from the other Immortals. And the last person Kaly wants to return is Daemon. They did everything they could to stop that from happening. They failed and were found out. Now we are still fighting the slices they cut their soul into. Some of which are your leaders here: Artemis Alucius. Roan Tithe. Names ring a bell?”
Tanis froze at those names and a faint shudder went through her. “You say that those two are Kaly slices?”
“I see you aren’t fond of them.” Ryder crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Wise. I just hope you can extend that wisdom to the rest of what we’re saying. All of this is just Kaly’s way of taking over the Vampire World. They are trying to escape Daemon’s punishment.”
Ironically, Daemon hasn’t had to punish Caemorn at all. He’s too busy doing it himself, Grayson thought. But that’s a fair description of what Kaly is doing. Unleashing all of this violence and then offering the alleged solution where they are in charge.
“Even before Daemon went to sleep, Kaly was experimenting in slicing themselves, taking over the bodies of other Bloodline Vampires and using their powers,” Charlie explained.
“The slicing increased after Daemon left because they were lonelier than ever, but also because they had no one left who could stop them.”
Tanis held herself tightly as she stared off towards the wilds. “Even if Kaly is behind this, they are not the only one to be creating the Order. I have had a significant role in outlining the rules and history. I…”
Fiona put a hand to her forehead. “Oh, Tanis, that saddens me more than I can say. The Order’s alleged history is full of lies. None of what’s in there is true!”
The Order’s explanation of the War and all of Vampire history was past events reflected through a funhouse mirror. Grayson wondered how much Tanis had suffered that she would go along with creating such lies.
“It’s better than the truth. It’s the essence of what has happened and why we must change!” Tanis pleaded. “After the chaos we’ve gone through–”
“Coercive control is not the answer to chaos! Lies are never the answer to messy truths!” Fiona cried out.
The words sounded ripped from her throat.
“The damage the Order has done over the millennia is untold. I wish you had no role in it at all. But here you are telling me how proud you are of your role in it! That creating a fictional account of what happened during the War is fine because it teaches some easy morality lesson? No. Never.”
Grayson knew that at one time Fiona had been quite devout in the Order. Her regret about that could not be written larger on her face at that moment.
“The Order will cement Kaly’s rule for millennia.
They are the one person who is responsible for all that happened and they get to reap the rewards of their evil and slander those who they harmed.
Their deep unhappiness and instability did all of this.
” Fiona shook her head violently at the injustice of it all.
“We should have cared for them more. We should have seen their decline into madness. But we didn’t and that is a failure we will not forget.
We are trying to fix that now in order to ensure that nothing like the War ever happens again. ”
“The Order will ensure that!” Tanis objected.
“No, the Order merely keeps you all in a cage you cannot see. The future Kaly–Caemorn–would tell you that himself if he were here. There is no one who regrets what the Order did more than him,” Ryder said.
“Kaly may have some role in this. I’ll accept that. But we, Vampires, are guiding our own destiny. We are writing our own future.” Tanis placed her right hand over her heart.
They aren’t. Seeyr is the one controlling all of this. Or rather, she is using what has come to turn it into what we want. Things that have to happen to lead to a wondrous future, Grayson thought firmly.
He was more certain than ever that what they were building in the future was the right one. And he now had the power to keep it safe.
“Do you really think that? You know the truth, Tanis. Kaly is the one behind all of this and you are just dancing to their tune. Do you want to deny what you know and continue down this path?” Fiona insisted.
Tanis’ mouth opened and shut. “I… You’re asking me to throw away everything I fought so hard to establish!”
“I’m asking you to do the real hard work of restoring things to how they need to be.
” Fiona pressed that clenched hand over her own heart similar to how Tanis had.
“In the future, Daemon will return. He will have his fated fledgling. He will reveal our existence to the humans. The Immortals will come back to themselves with new understanding and humility. That is the true way forward. Not this!”
“How long is that from now? How long before you live again, Mistress?” Tanis’ eyes hunted for answers on Fiona’s face. “You said millennia for the Order’s existence. But when do you return?”
Fiona let out a shaky breath. “Millennia, too. I’m only a few hundred years old in my current life.”
Tanis’ shoulders slumped. “So you won’t return for thousands of years, but expect me to fight against all my friends until then? Alone?”
It was that last word that twisted Grayson’s heart.
It was the cry of a Childe without her Mistress.
No matter that Tanis and Wyvern had been together for more time than that.
She still yearned for her Mistress. Still wanted her there.
Grayson reached over to take Ryder’s nearest hand, but Ryder was already reaching for his.
“I…” Fiona’s gaze dropped.
Her grief had her shoulder shaking. Charlie lifted a hand and patted her shoulder.
He knew what the next several thousands years would bring.
He didn’t offer either Tanis or Fiona any soothing pablum about the years flying by or that they wouldn’t be hard or horrible or worse.
He just patted her shoulder and squeezed it while looking sad.
“But,” Tanis lifted her head, “you’re here now, Mistress. So will you be staying to help in this fight that you want me to wage?”
Hope was written so large on her face that it hurt Grayson to see. He turned his head into Ryder’s shoulder and rested his forehead against Ryder’s bicep. Khos leaned heavily against his leg to comfort him too.
Fiona finally shook her head. “No, in fact, we are here merely to speak to Seeyr. I need her guidance in order to use the gates to take us back to the future.”
She gestured to all of them.
“So you’re just going to leave? You reveal yourself to me, give a speech and then leave?” Tanis’ voice cracked.
Fiona looked grim. “I wish I could stay with you. I would stay with you. I would undo all of this! Most especially, the damage that I did as Wyvern and later in my current life as a Confessor in this goddamned Order!” Fiona shook as she clenched her fists. “But that is not what fate has in store.”
No, it requires us to even leave Seeyr in a dungeon, knowing she’ll be losing her eyes, yet still having to walk away. How hard will that be?
“What has fate in store for me then? To be alone for millennia until you return with a new face and new form? Will you even know me?” Tanis questioned.
Grayson’s forehead furrowed. He mentally ticked through the Wyvern Vampires he knew, especially those close to Fiona, in the future and he didn’t recall Tanis being one of them or even there at all.
His heart hammered as he looked over at Fiona.
There were a lot of years between now and the future.
A lot of years where a lot of terrible things could happen.
And now Tanis knew the truth about Kaly, the Order, the War…
Kaly will never let her live. Even if she refuses to help us. Even if she reports us now, it won’t matter. Kaly cannot allow this truth to be out there, Grayson realized and his heart iced over.
Fiona covered her face with her hands for a moment, but then she dropped them and looked at Tanis head on.
The strength it must have taken to truly confront Tanis knowing all of that.
Because Grayson was certain that Fiona had already figured this out.
She would remember that Tanis was not with them in the future. Tanis was not there…