Chapter 26 The Truth, The Catch and The Lie.
When I got to her building, I sprinted up the window ledges to her room on the third floor. The apartment window wrenched open easily. I flipped Mehnaz from my shoulder on to the bed and took a quick look around. Next to a copy of a degree on the wall there was a graduation photo with a man – looked to be her father – standing proudly next to her, a few athletic ribbons, an alarm clock and lamp on one side of her bed, and a poster of ‘the vampire bride’ on the inside of her open closet. I smiled in amusement. Otherwise the space was sparse. Simple.
I leant over to Mehnaz. Her breathing was ragged. I felt bad enough about taking so much blood from her. I didn’t want to take her life as well. I tore a small hole in my wrist and let the blood trickle in to her mouth. I healed quickly but enough blood was released before I did to see her looking restored. I took a glimpse back at her as I climbed out the window again. The cylinder she had carried was in my hand. I had things to do now, first of all being to sleep. Though I didn’t need much sleep anymore what I had been through had taxed me. I just needed to sleep it off to get back to my usual self. Then I could decide what to do next with the scroll in my possession. One stop first, I thought to myself before I called past my father’s apartment on my way home.
I climbed into the window of my father’s apartment. It looked tattered and worn now. The paint peeled and there was always something that needed to be cleaned up. He was, where he always was now when I visited, asleep in front on the TV. His hair was grey and his face marred with lines of worry, grief and tiredness. I had been coming to visit almost monthly for 25 years and every time I visited I came away worse. His sadness was palpable, as was mine. Since the accident he had pretty much lost his mind, which helped explaining my visits to some, though Anton did not approve of him talking about me at all.
This time I decided not to wake him. I left some money on the counter, like I always did, and kissed his head. He stirred, only barely, and I heard footsteps in the corridor. Another gift of mine I was grateful for - keen hearing. It had becoming sharper over the last decade or so. I was tucked in the shadows long before the key hit the lock.
A young man walked in wearing a sports jacket and sneakers. He hummed a tune and carried a bag of groceries. My father stirred as the boy turned on the light.
“Your always sitting in the dark Pop” he remarked. As he turned back towards the bench he had placed the groceries on I was stunned. He was the spitting image of Anton. “I think I might need to get you up and out next time I visit. What do you think?” he asked my father who was wrestling to his feet.
Once my father grabbed his walking stick and hobbled slowly over to the kitchen, I knew there couldn’t be much longer in him. I had grown over time to truly understand Cassie’s reluctance and guilt about changing me, and appreciate why I had decided to leave her rather than be turned initially. Time was a gift to an immortal, but also the most profound and cruel enemy. I wished I could go over and help him. Not with Anton Junior there though. ‘Anton Junior’, I had laughed when I first heard the name. Now I just saw it as befitting. He looked exactly like my brother used to.
“Matthias has been to visit” my father proclaimed.
“Oh yeah” came the incredulous reply from Anton Junior.
“I know you laugh at me behind my back, Anton, but he still visits. I can always tell. The window is always open, money on the counter. He doesn’t wake me any more though.”
“Can you not call me AJ Pop?” pleaded the boy. Boy. He looked older than me now.
“AJ. Why spoil a perfectly good name. Antoine, Matthias, Matthew…. All good names….boys.” He sighed. “Why doesn’t he wake me? He looks just the same you know. Not aged one bit. Not one line.” My father mused this out loud and AJ rolled his eyes.
“I know Pop” Came the reply as AJ stuck his head in the fridge. I took the opportunity to disappear past them and out the window. I was nothing but a light breeze as far as they knew.
Out on the street, the air was filled with a complex mix of Asian dishes, vege burgers and rotten vegetables. There had been a turn in the food market about 15 years ago, leaning towards ‘fresh’ take away. Salad bars and stir fry take away to combat obesity, heart disease and a series of other self inflicted afflictions. Upside was people tended to taste a whole lot better. Downside was that the refuse, when it wasn’t composted properly was foul.
I negotiated myself through the main street. I had kept to alleys for so long it had been a hard practice to break, but since everyone who could have recognised me was pretty much gone, either through death or opportunity, I was getting used to being back out in the open here. I took a turn past Armada’s old shop – now a Laundromat. I missed him. The way he had died had been horrible. I turned another street corner, and after a while came into the industrial area where our club and home was located.
We had recently decked it out in golden Griffins, in part in remembrance of how we came to be together, in part to mock the man who had inextricably bound us through fate. Instead of the gargoyle type dominance though, they stood for class, elegance, and this was carried throughout the themed levels inside now. The sigil that served to keep Myria out, or at least inactive so she couldn’t use magik against us still stood, worked into the décor around wherever possible.
The door opened for me as I approached. The two Maitre D’s, one male, one female greeted me in welcome as I walked through the entrance and down a side corridor to avoid alarming guests with the blood staining my clothes and skin. We might cater for the blood crowd, but in truth they could be just as precious as humans. I made it to an ante room at the back of the club. Viktor had fitted it with DNA recognition hardware when it first became easily accessible. A tiny drop of blood meant a whole lot of piece of mind to all of us.
As the doors opened up I walked in to find Viktor rising to his feet out of a tall backed crimson chair and Violet, startled from the book she was reading on her i-pad (she loved the classic) whilst laying on the floor turning my way, delight glinting of her perfect features. She rushed to embrace me. Viktor looked somber as he spoke:
“Matthias…… we were concerned when you didn’t come back” he sounded dark and cautionary. A contrast to how I had come to know him.
“I can see by how you rushed out to find me” I mocked him. It was in fun of course.
“We know you can handle yourself just fine” Violet scorned back at me.
“He looks like hell” Viktor replied. There was a long moment before he stepped down and grimacing picked a strand of my hair up. “Is this your blood?” I lightly knocked his hand away.
“Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies” I replied. “But I got what I was looking for. Now I just need to get it to her”.
“That’s great news Matthias.” Violet re-assured. Her red hair was striking against her olive toned skin. A good choice I thought. Suited her better than the bright blue she had sported for the last five years, or the purple for the year before that. I was used to her in red.
“Hard part is going to be getting it to her” Viktor reasoned. I knew he was right. “If she sees you she’ll strike you down on the spot. What you did to her, lasts forever”.
“I know that” I whined back at him. I didn’t need him reminding me of the obvious. He softened then and approached me with the brotherly affection I was used to now. He patted me on the back.
“Have a shower, some sleep. We’ll figure it out in the morning.” Viktor declared in his usual manner. All the years in between and he still spoke like he was addressing troops on the shores of Normandy.
I dragged myself to the bathroom we had custom built in black marble. It was expansive, dark and elegant. I stepped into the jets and let my blood wash down the drain. My muscles were tight, my head confused. I needed sleep even more than I had thought. When I got out I threw my clothes in the rubbish bin and stared at myself unforgivingly in the mirror. I had come so fa
r and now I could almost see the finish line. I put on slacks and went in to our bedroom to see her again.
I lay down in bed next to her. She slept as soundly as when I had left her. I had already gone through stages of coming to terms with losing her. So many years had past and still she slept. Unchanging. I lay next to her when I needed to sleep and would tell her everything that happened. Sometimes I would almost hear her voice, feel her touch.
I reached over and took her hand. There was no resistance of course. I wondered if she knew some of the things I had done if she would still look at me the same way. “Today was a good day” I told her. “I found what we were looking for. All I have to do is find a way for Myria to listen to me and we might be able to get things back the way they should be.”
No response of course. It wasn’t that I expected one. I just still hoped. I had taken my anger out on those poor unfortunates I hunted to keep her blood supply stocked, live victims. I had been in denial, searching record upon record, fake mystics and ridiculous spells trying to find something else that worked. Yet here I was. Resigned that there would be only one solution. Myria would have to lift the spell, or do whatever it was she needed to do to fix her. In the meantime, I had to do whatever necessary to get it done. Life was nothing anymore than a series of days I had to get through to get Cassie back to me. I had lost so much. My life, my family, my friends, my future with Cassie was not going to be a casualty of my mistakes as well. I lay with my nose in her hair an inhaled. “Sleep tight my love. Tomorrow is a whole new day.”
I slept, dreaming of us on the beach in France, before we decided to move on to Egypt. I had enjoyed that night, spent languishing in each other’s presence before breaking the quiet to meet up with passers by, take our fill as we needed. Afterwards, we enjoyed the crisp air on the cliffs above, where we spent the night touching and kissing one another, no cares, no consequences, no end but for daylight. It was one of my favorite memories with Cassie. I dreamt I could feel her hair blowing against my chest, as I leaned against the bolder at my back, and then I dreamt something else. Something that hadn’t happened before. As I held Cassie in my arms on the cliff top under the stars, staring out over the sea, I saw a figure catch my eye. A gargoyle like dark shape loomed in the darkness watching us with glowing eyes. As I moved to stand, Cassie looked at me confused.
“Shh, calm down. It’s just Myria silly” Cassie laughed. She stroked my face and when I looked back at the creature and saw Myria was standing next to it, patting its head like a pet dog. She smiled at me and two heavy fangs protruded, before she snarled at me: “Luctor et emergo” - I struggle and emerge.
I woke suddenly, sharply aware of the darkness and cold in the room that I had become accustomed to over the years. I pulled the covers off myself and stretched my neck and shoulders out. Glanced over my shoulder and saw Cassie still sleeping. On the inside of her wrist I saw marked the word ‘Abhinc’, meaning ‘From here on’. It was the tattoo she had got when we visited Paris. We had got matching ones after too much fun and not enough sleep. She had wanted to get a cartoon, or when I persuaded her to have something in writing ‘Horas Non Numero Nisi Serenas’ (I do not count the hours unless they are sunny) but I had managed to persuade her that it would never fit around her wrist and still be able to read. Mine wrapped around my inner right wrist and read: ‘Non Ducor Duco’. I rubbed it and closed my eyes. Latin. Cassandra had taught me five languages over our years together. Latin remained my favourite. Our favourite. Maybe that’s why it featured so in my dreams.
“I am not led; I lead” I mumbled out loud before I got up and moved with purpose to get this night started.
When I joined Viktor and Violet they were lounging on the terrace above the club entrance. It was too early for guests or customers yet and the warm air was welcome against my skin. It still crawled with the dream I had had though.
Violet knew. “You look pale. You’ve been dreaming again.”
“I was thinking about Myria. She was standing with one of the OldOnes.”
“They are a thing of the past Matt” Viktor chimed in. “We killed them, or sent them back under already. If there were any left we would have found them.” He regarded me before changing his tone to be more upbeat. “I have been thinking about how to talk to Myria.”
“And…” I prompted.
“…And I have a solution I think you will like.” Viktor continued. “Have something to drink”. He handed me a tall dark glass and I drank from it gratefully. “Violet, can you go get the item?”
“The item?” I said.
“Just wait.” Viktor urged. “How’s the drink?”
“I shrugged, nodded my head.
“It’s from the last person you brought home for Cassandra. That’s the last of it. Violet wiped her memory, sent her on her way.” I felt dread. I would have to go find another. No one lasted more than two weeks anymore, no matter how good the care was of them. She was needing more and more as time passed.
“I’ll take care of it.” I muttered.
“Matt, if you are successful in talking to Myria, getting her to bring Cassandra back, have you thought about what to tell Cassandra when she asks how you kept her alive so long? How many people have had to die, or be brainwashed to keep her alive. You might go and throw yourself in front of Myria for an audience, strike a deal, she wakes Cassandra and the girl can’t stand to look at you anymore. She was always so careful not to get anyone hurt.”
“I had considered that” It was the truth. I had. “But honestly, even if she didn’t want to be with me anymore, I still need to bring her back. There is no alternative now Viktor. I cant see any other option than to succeed.”
“25 years is a long time. You were only with her for a while. She wouldn’t even know if you just…let her be.”
“Forever alone is a long time. What’s a couple of decades when time means nothing anymore.”
“Viktor!” Violet’s stern voice sounded from behind me. “Let her be?! Would you let me be? Leave me for dust because it’s only been a few years.”
“No of course not” An apologetic Viktor came to her side. She stepped away and stood next to me, a disgusted look on her face. She handed me a small ornate bottle of deep blue colour, with a darker purple liquid inside that surrounded a chip that clinked against the glass. The purple liquid coated the glass when I spun the bottle.
“What is it?” I mused staring at the piece. Violet obliged with an explanation.
“It’s the chip Myria makes everyone wear. It will get you in the door at least.” Violet explained.
“Then when she sees your face she can rip it out” finished Viktor with a grin. I ignored him.
“How did you manage to get this Violet?”
“Viktor did actually” she looked most proudly at him. Cassie used to look at me that way. I turned towards Viktor awaiting an explanation which he obliged me with.
“Elias gave it to me. I think he is less sure of where his alliances are now and he is tired of all the arguments and brooding. Time will do that. Wear away the influence she has. Even if it does take 20 years or more.” Viktor looked thoughtful and pressed his lips together before he continued on to ask: “Is there anyone else Matthias? Anyone else who would go in for you?. The chip might get you in the door, past her security, but once she sees your face I don’t know if she will give you much time to speak.”
“She could have come for me already. She has chosen not to” I reasoned.
“She has sent bounty hunters after you more than once.” Viktor pointed out.
“They were sent knowing I would wipe them out. They’re not exactly much of a challenge.”
“All you need is one smart enough to distract you long enough to leash you in silver, or copper, or some other bind. You might be strong, but you’re not invincible.”
“Viktor, I had no idea you cared for me so much.” I joked back.
“I’m just saying, that just because she hasn’t knocked on
your front door, doesn’t mean she’ll put up with you walking in hers.”
I shook my head, It doesn’t matter, there’s no one” I sighed. “Unless you’re offering.” I smiled at him and he laughed as I expected in response.
“I value my afterlife. See this is what happens when you fight more than you make friends” Viktor quipped back. “Have a think about it. Maybe you could even pay someone.”
“I’d offer to influence someone for you Matthias but something so complicated can be unreliable. I don’t know that they would be able to think on their feet.” Violet rued.
I rolled the bottle in between my fingers. What else would fate would throw at me over the years to come. Then I wondered to my self, if it was possible that fate may have already offered me a solution and I hadn’t recognised it? “There was a girl at the museum” I reported to them matter-of-factly.
“What kind of girl” Viktor asked.
“What do you mean what kind of girl – a girl, with girl parts” I was the one sounding irritated now. Violet chuckled from where she stood standing over the balcony, leaning into the night, glass in hand. “She stole the scroll before I had a chance, then she found me and released me. Marcus and Anthony had me shackled.”
“See, I told you – It only takes one. She was human – the girl?” Viktor asked, serious.
“Yes.”
“Fate” Came Violet’s response from afar. She was half hung over the balcony taking in the night air.
“Perhaps” I responded as Viktor broke into a cynical grin.
“A human rescued you, fearless vampire, scourge of the undead. The legendary Matthias” he roared.
“They had me in cast iron. It wasn’t that easy to get away, but I would have worked something out eventually.” I was startled at the offence in my own voice. Viktor’s laughing died down.
“How did they catch you in the first place anyhow?”
“I was distracted.” I admitted reluctantly. Viktor grinned wider knowing he was right about what he had said earlier.
“He always is when it comes to Cassie.” Violet sang out.
“All the more reason someone else should go in” Viktor chimed in.
“I don’t disagree.” The least I could do was acknowledge my limitations. I didn’t want anything to go wrong. From this point everything had to be executed perfectly. “I’ll see what I can do about getting us some help.” I stood on the edge of the balcony and let them know “I’ll be back as soon as I can” before I jumped down to the ground.
“I hate that he can do that better than I can” I heard Viktor grumble as I touched the ground as easily as most would take a step.