Chapter 13 #2
As before, pillars etched in mystical engravings rose above us, and the double doors swung open silently the second we neared them.
Ree’s eyes blew wide open. “Stars, is it supposed to do that?” She stared at the dark hallway that stretched into an endless cavern within.
“Yes, the magic will take us where we need to go.”
I almost took her hand again but stopped myself at the last second. At my side, Kole waited, his aura filled with so much energy it was like a rising beast.
Avoiding direct eye contact, I looped my clothed forearms around both of theirs, letting my dress save me from true touch. “Follow me.”
I pulled Ree and Kole forward and shoved my vampiric nature down since it instantly latched onto the sound of their heartbeats.
The second we stepped over the library’s threshold, a wall of magic encased us. Powerful enchantments tingled along my skin, and the realm dropped out from beneath us, but in the next second, a small room lined with bookshelves appeared, and we were standing on solid footing once more.
Ree started, teetering unsteadily beside me. “Goddess, that was disarming.” She swirled around, taking it all in, just as a male’s voice carried to us from across the chambers.
“Ah, there she is, and with her warrior again.” A small gargoyle hobbled around a short table from across the room.
“Good morning, Master Fistideeous.” I dipped my head in greeting.
The small gargoyle wore a long crimson robe, and his clawed feet poked out from beneath it. He had pitch-black eyes, horrifically looking sharp teeth, and his skin, the color of stone, cracked into a smile as he approached us.
“And who have you brought with you?” he asked, his attention shifting to Ree.
“This is my best friend, Harrietta Blackthorn. She’d planned to help us with research today, so she came along. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not. Now, I’m assuming you got my dillemsill?”
“Yes, it arrived at the palace this morning. We’re very eager to hear what you’ve found.”
His wide lips parted, revealing wickedly jagged teeth. “I figured you would be. Come with me.”
He hobbled back to where he’d been working, and the three of us followed. My chest tightened, my dead body’s only response to the plethora of parchment and books he had spread out before him. But like me, he didn’t carry a heartbeat.
Since gargoyles were actually stone creatures that fed off a supernatural’s life source in order to become alive, they weren’t actually living beings. And at night, they returned to stone, only to come alive again in the morning if they had enough life source left.
In a way, I supposed I was no different from Master Fistideeous now. Only, instead of leeching a supernatural’s life source to live, I drank their blood.
My spirits dimmed slightly, but I shook myself out of it and reminded myself that today could take a turn for the better. Optimism returning, I squared my shoulders.
The gargoyle shuffled through a few books, as though searching for something in particular.
“I do apologize that it took me so long to get back to you. The Nolus queen had an urgent request that I couldn’t ignore, but as soon as I dove into finding what I could of the God of Night and Goddess of Light, I uncovered many documents that I believe you’ll find most helpful. ”
“Thank you so much.” And I meant every word of my heartfelt gratitude.
After all, gargoyles were known to be better at sniffing out details in the ancient archives.
Better than any other creature. Some even believed they had an extra sense that allowed them to find hidden information that others couldn’t.
He stopped his perusing and picked up a book. “Ah, here it is. This particular relic has many references to those gods.” He flipped it open, and despite the preserving magic, the pages looked worn and faded.
“How old is that?” Ree asked, her head cocking.
“This is one of our most ancient books. It was written over ten thousand seasons ago.”
My eyes turned to saucers. “Truly?”
The gargoyle dipped his head, and I couldn’t help but glance up at Kole, who unsurprisingly had remained silent. But while Kole’s expression hadn’t changed, curiosity strummed into his aura.
“Yes, we have quite a few archives that old, but if not for our weekly dosing of magic to preserve them, I fear that they would be lost to time.” Master Fistideeous carefully tapped on the page, being mindful of his sharp claw.
“I think you should read this entire chapter. It sums up the battle that waged between the God of Night and Goddess of Light for many millennia as they both walked in our realm.”
The three of us settled onto the hard stools surrounding the short table and began to read. Ree sat on my right, Kole on my left, but even though we were all silent as our eyes flew across the pages, I was achingly aware of Kole’s every move.
His warm, hard thigh pressed against mine. His sweet, minty breath puffed near my cheek. And his heartbeat . . . it thumped strong and steady, and even though I was concentrating on what the gargoyle had found, my vampire urges took notice.
Shifting uncomfortably on my stool, I tried to get my blazing appetites under control, but twice, I felt Kole watching me. No, studying me would have been a more apt description.
“This is fascinating,” Ree said, breaking the quiet.
I tried to nod. Tried to say that I agreed, but my attention kept drifting to Kole.
“What do you make of this?” Ree pointed to a passage, and I finally was able to concentrate enough to comprehend it.
When Heleveer, the Goddess of Light, took the vamfeers from Tenevris, the God of Night, she infused them with her light.
This banished their black claws and taut skin.
In its place, they returned to looking like fae children.
However, she left their fangs as a reminder of where they’d come from.
But while her light allowed them to walk in the sun, it also made their skin pale, and since the God of Night had created his vamfeers from dead fae, their hearts no longer beat, and they required blood from the living to sustain themselves.
Heleveer left those traits as well so their origins would never be forgotten.
She told her vampiric children that they must always remember the darkness in which they were born, so they could work to overcome it.
But Tenevris was angry at her interference, and he cursed the newly created vampires to eventually return to his darkness.
If alive long enough, vampires would grow sensitive to sunlight, and it would eventually burn them, and his curse also gave them his dark appetites, forcing them to feel carnal urges for the rest of their existence.
I jolted upright the second I finished that paragraph.
If what this tome claimed was true, and I lived long enough, that meant that eventually I wouldn’t be able to tolerate sunlight.
That, like the vamfeers my uncle had created, I would be condemned to a life at night, forever bathed in only moonlight.
My stomach plummeted, but Master Fistideeous tapped a new document with his claw.
“And in this scroll here”—the gargoyle slid a rolled piece of parchment toward us—“it also speaks of Goddess Heleveer creating the first vampires, and how those creatures are still with us today but not in our realm any longer. Many centuries ago, they were banished by the fae races, but her offspring still inhabit the other realm, which is the realm they fled to when our kind hunted them.”
Instead of turning his attention to the new finding, Kole reached for the first book, the one we’d just read that spoke so plainly of vampiric traits.
Panic began to fire through me because Kole carefully pulled the book closer to him as Ree and I studied the scroll. I gave him a side-eye, but he didn’t seem to notice me watching him.
Nerves tumbled in my stomach.
He was reading the passage again about a vampire’s characteristics. Pale skin. Cool flesh. Heightened senses, strength, and speed. Constant sexual urges. Fangs.
It was all there. Everything that was now me lay before him.
My leg began jittering beneath the table, because if Kole began questioning me and began to truly suspect what I was, and I could no longer doubt it . . .
But he never looked at me twice, never commented on the similarities between a vampire and my appearance, and his voice was steady when he asked the gargoyle, “What do you know of potions that can turn fae into vamfeers and vampires?” Kole slid the book back to him, and some of my nerves calmed.
He’d obviously been looking for more information about that specific question, and I reminded myself that nobody had commented on my looks since I’d returned from my uncle’s, only my temperature. My glamour and uncle’s potion were obviously keeping my new traits hidden well enough.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and my jittering limb calmed.
Master Fistideeous smiled widely. “Ah, yes, that was a most fascinating discovery, and I will admit, it took me the longest to find a connection between the two.” He stood from his stool and hobbled over to a second table, then returned with a giant tome.
It had to be at least two thousand pages thick and was covered in dust.
He set it on the desk and blew the dust off, causing Ree to cough and wave it away as the gargoyle flipped it open.
A ribbon marked his page to the beginning of a new chapter titled, “Potions Infused with Godly Magic: the How, Why, and Forbidden Aspects of Godly Creations.”
“I believe this may be how someone has created vamfeers.” He slid the monstrous book around the table so we could all read it, and like the other items he found, it was also spot-on and perfectly described how Arnel had likely created the potions that had ultimately created his vamfeers.
It even spoke about how slight alterations could result in different creatures, similar to what the Imperial Council had done in their tests, and likely what my uncle had also done in his alterations that had made the expedited version that had turned me into a vampire.
The second Ree finished reading, she raised her eyebrows. “So someone appealed to Tenevris to infuse the needed ingredients with his magic? And that created the initial vamfeer potion?”
“They must have.” Master Fistideeous nodded. “A potion that could turn a fairy into a vamfeer would have to be infused with godly magic. Nothing in our realm that grows naturally, even highly magical plants, would have been able to create such a transformation.”
My mind turned to what I’d seen at my uncle’s estate.
A temple hidden in the Wood. A circular stone creation that he used to channel the gods.
In the previous seasons, my uncle had discovered how to contact the God of Night, and the god must have actually listened and given Arnel what he’d asked for.
My mind buzzed because what I really wanted to know was how big of a supply my uncle had produced of his potion.
I leaned back from the table, my brow furrowing, because if there’d been no further sighting of vamfeers, two things were possible.
Either my uncle had already run out of his potion to create them and those that he’d created had been killed by the Imperial Warriors, or he’d simply stopped commanding his vamfeers to hunt me.
And while I knew the second was likely the reason, I prayed with everything I had that it was the first.
Because if my uncle still had access to his potion, he could continue turning his God of Night followers into vamfeers, and for all I knew, inanimate vamfeers that he could call forth at any time were currently at his estate.
And even worse, with more of his altered potion, he could turn other fae into vampires, like me, which meant he could trap other powerful fae and force them to fall under his command as well.
And who knew what orders he would place on them.
My mind churned more, because every time Arnel had commanded me, he’d had to be in the same room with me. I’d needed to hear his voice in order for the magic to take hold. And if that was required from me, it was likely required for his vamfeers, and potential other vampires.
It was most logical to assume that if any vamfeers were left, they were probably near his home. If not, he risked somebody else stumbling across them and reporting them to the kingsfae. And unlike me, they certainly couldn’t live out in society. They were too monstrous. Too insidious.
If they’re at his estate, it also explains why he doesn’t allow servants in his home and why it’s always so empty. The less fae about, the less chance there would be for anyone to accidentally find them.
But while his vamfeers were likely kept near him, I had no idea if he had other vampires throughout the realm. It was possible he’d done the same to other fae as he’d done to me, turned us, sent us home, and then commanded us when his needs arose.
Whatever the case, I needed to discover the extent of Arnel’s treacherous actions.
A plan began to form in my mind. If Arnel did have more vamfeers waiting to follow his commands, they needed to be destroyed.
And if he had more vampires, I needed to discover who they were and where.
And last, and possibly most important, I needed to discover if Arnel had any more of the godly-infused potion that could create additional monsters.
My stomach tightened as I thought of the consequences if my uncle was left unchecked. He could continually capture and turn unsuspecting fae into vampires, vampires he controlled. And if there were other fae throughout the realm who harbored magic as strong as mine that my uncle commanded . . .
The extent of my uncle’s power would be bottomless. Nobody would be able to stop him.
I curled my fingers into my palms, and my resolve grew.
It was imperative that Arnel’s entire supply of his nefarious potion be destroyed and any further vamfeers would have to be decapitated and burned.
Following that, any additional vampires would have to be uncovered, and all of his notes, books, and research would need to be eradicated.
I couldn’t take the chance that another fairy would stumble upon it all and replicate what my uncle was doing.
Which meant I needed to return to Arnel’s estate and uncover just how far his plans had developed, and somehow, I had to hide what I was doing from everybody that I loved.