CHAPTER 38 Silent Scythe
A deep moonless gloom had settled over her home when Alex returned. She entered and went straight to the kitchen but wouldn't say what had happened between her and Catalin. They congregated around her but where silent.
"First vampires, now spooks," said Mikhail.
No one laughed.
Alex felt their eyes on her. "I have to get a breast pump," she said. "I'm still lactating, but I'll have to heat the milk before I can feed Andra. My body is now room temperature." Her mood darkened with the failing light coming through the windows.
She took Andra from Catherine and clutched her close, kissed her and rocked her back and forth as she took a seat at the table. Little Andra whimpered, so Alex held her up in the air. Andra smiled sleepily down at her. She pulled her close and kissed her again. She smelled of baby powder and lotion. Alex did goochy-coo with her finger under her chin. Andra whined, rubbed her nose with her fist. Alex returned her to Catherine.
"She gets a chill when I hold her. My cheeks are cold, lips and fingers like icebergs."
She looked at Catherine with Andra cuddled contentedly to her bosom. She didn't want to repeat what Catalin had told her, that Catherine would be Andra's mother. She looked at Jaklin and finally grasped the cost of turning her. She looked at Mikhail in the corner of the dark room leaning against the cabinet eating pastrami on rye. He was also partly the reason for her punishment. She'd created the complete catastrophe. Her own friends and family had been her undoing, always had. For just an instant, she allowed herself to hate them all.
She left the kitchen and went into the living room to sit before the fireplace. The flames had gone out, but the glow of the coals felt hot, uncomfortably so. She hung her head in her hands and cried.
Jaklin came to her, put her arms around her.
"I'm no good for my baby," Alex said. "I've lost her."
"You'll work it out, Missy. It'll be okay."
Alex didn't want to hear it. The others drifted into the living room and stood around her. She dried her eyes and looked up. "You and Mikhail need to be initiated for your psychic wellbeing. With the danger we're about to face, you need full control. I found you both on Millennium Road, but you still haven't found your bearings there."
"You're right," said Catherine. "We're all in danger. Alu's ready to move on his feral vampire stratagem, whatever it is. I'm surprised he hasn't already executed. No telling what has happened in the Cathedral. He could have turned all of them feral by now. I'm surprised he hasn't invaded our home."
The thought of Alu and his ferals crashing through her doors sent a chill through Alex. "I'm a mother," she said. "I don't want this vampire life or the responsibility for all those lost souls. I just want to take care of my baby and go about my life. Bite someone now and then."
Catherine put Andra in her bassinet and came between Alex and the fireplace. She dropped to her knees and looked up at Alex. "You have to take a broader perspective, dear. We are the only ones who know about Alu, where he is and what he's up to. We have to act."
"But why me? I'm just a kid."
Catherine took Alex into her arms. "You're a vampire, an immortal, and that comes with new responsibilities. And what is most unbelievable is that you have direct contact with the Divine World." She leaned back, took Alex's face in her hands. "You have a destiny. The entire world needs you."
Alex clung to her great grandmother, that warm human body. This young woman, so beautiful and bright. She felt the love flow into her, that which her own mother had denied her. Alex wanted to cuddle up in Catherine's arms and sleep like a baby. She realized that in many ways she'd inherited her great grandmother's responsibilities in the vampire world, and now Catherine had been assigned those in the human world that she could no longer fulfill. Perhaps she'd been wrong about being punished. Catherine was just the person she and the baby needed.
They heard a rustling out back, quick footsteps followed by a light knock on the door. They all turned to look, but the drapes were pulled to and could see nothing. No one moved. The darkness seemed to deepen, and the dim glow from the coals of the fireplace cast their own animated shadows on the walls like augured apparitions.
Alex felt the depression lift and all her senses quicken. Her vampire nature rose up inside her. "Alu?" she asked.
Catherine rose to her feet and went to the bassinet. "He wouldn't have knocked."
"Who is it?" shouted Mikhail.
They heard muffled conversation. "It's me," said a rather shaky voice.
"Cosmina," said Alex, walking toward the door.
"I hear several, Missy" said Jaklin.
"I'll let her in," said Alex.
"What if she's feral?" asked Mikhail.
"No," said Catherine. "She left the cavern as soon as I told her about the ferals."
Alex looked toward the bassinet. "Catherine," she whispered, "take Andra upstairs and hide in a closet." Once Catherine and the baby were at the top of the stairs, Alex unlatched the door, but before opening it, she hesitated. "Are you alone?"
"No," Cosmina answered.
"How many?"
"Just a few. I brought Silent Scythe."
"What does that mean?" She started to relock the door, but before she could trip the latch, it was forced open, shoving her back. A flood of ghosts invaded her home, people actually, but dressed in dark camouflage that made them barely seeable.
Mikhail blocked the stairs.
"Katsumi!" shouted one and pointed at Alex. Katsumi then started toward Alex.
"One more move!" Jaklin shouted. "You're a pile of disconnected body parts."
As the intruders scurried about the room, Jaklin and Mikhail sprang into action. Mikhail blocked one's path, and slung him up against the wall.
"Mikhail!" said Alex. "No violence."
A young black woman shoved Jaklin back a couple of steps. She appeared formidable despite her short, slim stature. Ignoring Alex's order, Jaklin went into action.
"No!" shouted Alex, but she was too late.
Jaklin slung aside the black girl and tripped a larger one as he also headed for the stairs. She shoved him to the floor and put him in a headlock that had him struggling to breathe. Her instinctive battle skills were blazing fast and powerful.
"How many in here?" demanded Katsumi. Her voice was gruff, angry, worried. She had metal bars on her shoulders. Obviously a commander. She still keyed on Alex. She had slim wood rods as protection for each arm, held in place and gripped by a perpendicular knob. The back end of each shaft was pointed, an obvious vampire death instrument. As she made a move for Alex, Cosmina stepped through the entryway with a shout.
"Stop it! We're all friends here."
Alex was on the verge of panic. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Don't resist," Cosmina warned. "We're Silent Scythe and here to help. You're in danger."
With her came the rest of Silent Scythe like a gust of wind blowing though the open door. They were phantoms in military uniform unlike anything Alex had ever seen, except maybe on the big screen, a type of spiderman outfit, sleek, clinging.
Katsumi made another lunge at her, and Alex again felt the vampire rise up inside her. She stepped back at Katsumi's advance and her hand felt her grandfather's staff. Instinctively, she brought it forward to block the first blow.
"Bo no match for tonfa," said Katsumi swinging into action.
Alex didn't know what she was talking about, but when she swung the staff, Katsumi easily blocked it and dealt a nasty bonk with one of the tonfa to the side of Alex's head. A flurry of blows by each were blocked as the knock-knock of wood-against-wood rang off the walls.
Alex noticed a marked reduction at her own physical ability and realized that she was no match for this young woman in skill or speed, but when a blow from her staff shattered one of the tonfa, Alex dropped to the floor, stuck the staff between Katsumi's legs tripping her. She used the staff to pin the remaining tonfa and shoved it up against Katsumi's throat
.
"Stop it, I said!" again shouted Cosmina. She was dressed in street clothes and strode to the center of the room barking orders and with sweeps of both arms, motioned for Silent Scythe to take up positions around the room. Alex counted ten, fifteen, maybe twenty phantoms. Their uniforms were pale and shimmered. When they stood in one place, it was as if their coloring changed and they melted into the woodwork like chameleons. They were armed but not in the sense of rifles and handguns. One carried a long bow, another a crossbow, yet another, an axe. They were vampire killers.
"These three are okay. I know them," Cosmina said. "That one there." She pointed at Mikhail. "He died for me. Anyone touch him, I'll tear you limb from limb." And then she turned on Katsumi, "I tried to tell you, you decomposed piece of brain tissue." She looked back at Alex. "Military. Humph. I can see that they've encountered a few skills they didn't anticipate."
Alex let Katsumi up but was furious. "You said just a few."
"Sorry. Only two were supposed to enter with me, but they pushed me aside as you opened the door. Katsumi!" Cosmina shouted and pointed upstairs.
They heard a scuffle and shouting and Katsumi broke for the steps along with three others. Mikhail tried to block them, but instantly they were around him and flew up to the landing.
"No!" shouted Alex. "That's my daughter." She heard a scuffle, loud shouting and made for the stairs herself. "That's my baby!" Again, she noticed a reduction in both speed and power. What has happened to me? she wondered. How could I not move fast enough to save my own daughter?
The scuffle ended as quickly as it began, and she saw a Silent Scythe holding Andra. Catherine was behind them with three more Silent Scythe.
"We got 'em," said Katsumi from the balcony.
"We had to kill the two normals," said another of the Silent Scythe.
"Too bad," said Cosmina. "The feral?"
They shoved him forward.
"Get him down here."
Alex realized that she'd sent Catherine and Andra into the hands of a feral vampire. Silent Scythe had saved them.
"How did you know they were here?" asked Alex
"We followed them. They entered your upstairs. Had to make sure you hadn't been turned feral before we could trust you."
Catherine and the baby followed the Silent Scythe downstairs but stayed away from the feral. Once the feral came close to Alex, he became more agitated, struggled against his captors.
"You'll have to restrain him," Alex said. "They're attracted to me, uncontrollably."
On the other hand, he ignored Jaklin and Mikhail. "Stand back," said Alex. "Apparently ferals are not attracted to either of you, but no need to take a chance."
Alex got a roll of duct tape from the kitchen and they bound him, hand and foot, to a chair.
"Now that he's subdued, I want to know what's going on. Who is Silent Scythe?"
"But we need to interrogate him first," said Cosmina. "Time is of the essence."
"If you don't explain who these people are and why they're here, we'll take you apart. And trust me on this, we can do the job."
Cosmina was startled. She looked at Katsumi and then back at Alex. "Okay. I can see you're upset. Perhaps reasonably so."
Jaklin had gone to the front window. "There's more outside, Missy," she said. "Not happy about that."
Alex stared daggers at Cosmina.
"Yes," she said. "Your house is surrounded."
"What?" shouted Mikhail. "Get them the hell out of here!"
"For your protection, as well as our own."
"Fat chance," said Mikhail. "We'll not tolerate this. What right do they have barging in like this?"
"None. But we do take certain liberties when deemed necessary. You're vulnerable if ferals come for you."
"Not liking this," said Jaklin.
"And we're supposed to trust you?" asked Alex
"You know me. I cared for you during your months of pregnancy. How about a little trust?"
"Alu cared for me too. But this... invasion?"
"We need to sort out Alu's plans, and what counter-action we need to take. If what we've heard is true, it's not just the vampire colony. Sinaia's entire civilian population is at risk. Silent Scythe will be here all night. With your permission."
At that point Catherine, who'd been occupied with quieting the baby stepped forward. "I know Silent Scythe," she said. "As vampires go, they don't come any better. You should trust them."
"Where are they from?" asked Mikhail. "Who are they?"
Cosmina didn't give Catherine a chance to respond. She acknowledged Mikhail but focused on Alex. "We have a problem with the Ichor Dome," said Cosmina. "I'd suspected something was not right with Alu for some time. When I saw him at Shadowrise, I knew he'd changed. I made a call and got them here overnight."
"Once we got here, we realized that the problem was not a renegade vampire faction," said Katsumi. "Much more serious."
"But to barge in like this..."
"I know," said Cosmina. "But in our defense, we couldn't be sure but what Alu had already invaded your home, turned you feral, and taken it over."
"But who are you?" asked Mikhail, again.
Cosmina continued to focus on Alex. "You have to realize. You've not seen all the legions of vampires, not even all those at the cavern. The World of Vampires is full of secret societies. It has many layers. We only divulge what new members need to know."
Alex had seen nothing quite like them, at least that was her first thought. Then she remembered what had happened at Christmas when she'd gone outside the cavern to call her mother. While returning, she'd stumbled onto Cosmina talking to a strange vampire that had disappeared quickly once she realized that Alex was nearby, and Cosmina had warned Alex to say nothing of the incident. These Silent Scythe wore the same camouflage uniforms.
"So who are you, Cosmina? I thought you were Alu's most trusted servant. And this Katsumi," Alex pointed at her, "I've seen her before."
"Yes, and almost uncovered our secret society. As for Alu, I've been within his inner circle for hundreds of years. But for the last few decades, I've been a double agent. A mole. Alu trusted me implicitly because he'd known me so long, but I've been a plant by my father who'd come to hate Alu because of Alu's seduction of his wife, my mother."
"And who are Silent Scythe?"
Catherine couldn't stay out of it any longer. "They are a security force," she said. "I had them looking out for my daughter, my granddaughter, and you, Alex, ever since you were born."
Cosmina cut in. "It's a mostly all-female military force within the race of vampires. They are young women who without their consent have been made vampires and stripped of their normal lives. Some were discontents who didn't know what they were getting into before being turned. Once inducted into Silent Scythe, they have all been trained not only in self-defense but also the fine art of killing vampires."
"You fight and kill vampires?"
"They? Yes. Me? Not so much. I'm both one of them and yet not. They were all young when turned, but some have been vampires for millennia. They clean up messes made by Alu and other vampires within his community. More autonomous groups exist and have leaders, but Alu, being the first vampire, is the most powerful and respected. I'm a member of Silent Scythe, but I don't fit the mold, and that's why I'm their mole."
Mikhail was still confused. "But that doesn't explain how you got so many here so quickly. Where do they stay?"
"All over. Members are not always in uniform. Most of the time, they are incognito and mix with other vampires, and only through an alert system are they activated. When they decide that they must take action, they determine what form it should take. If it requires force, they don their military garb, grab their weapons and form ranks. They are like fairies, characteristically young, agile, here today, gone tomorrow. In combat against renegade vampires, they are without peer."
"So that's it then?" asked Mikhail.
"No. Not nearly the full story," said Cosmina.
"How much more time do you want to take with the entire world at risk?"
"I think you should tell them the full story of Silent Scythe," said Catherine. "It's a story worth telling."
A general rumbling came from all the Silent Scythe to hear the story of their origin. "Me too," said Katsumi. "And tell us more about this Alexandra Eidyn we're here to save." She looked directly at Alex. "She's the biggest mystery of all. No normal vampire can take me down the way she did."
Cosmina took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm getting the message. Perhaps we'll solicit some help in telling Alex's story, but I can definitely broaden your knowledge of Silent Scythe. Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you is not a part of firsthand memory but simply what I've been told throughout the centuries and what I've pieced together on my own. So gather round, and I'll tell you a little story about the Carpathian vampire."