Circle of Death (21 page)

I decided to follow the first group of vampires that was going to one of the attacked cities. Somehow, it didn’t feel right to ignore what had happened, I
needed
to see it all with my own eyes. It was an easy decision to keep all the other groups waiting for my signal before they moved. That didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was forgetting something vital about those attacks, and didn’t want to send them to the cities before I had at least an idea about
what
I would be sending them into. That same feeling had told me to go ahead, without even waiting for the Fae that should meet us.

We were still seven miles away from the city when the smell hit us. Death and rot. I didn’t need to say anything to the vampires who were with me: all of them stopped breathing immediately. Slowing, we went on, but somehow I knew what we would find in the cities. That smell… That wasn’t new to me.

The city was bursting with life, as always. Merchants filled the streets, covering the place with bright colors and exotic perfumes. Children ran all around, their laughter bringing smiles to the passerby’s lips. The stone houses were decorated with colorful clothes and vines.

Three men wearing hooded cloaks walked through the city. Their faces were hidden by the hoods, but they didn’t seem any different from the mercenaries who sometimes passed by. They walked with confidence, as if they knew the place, which was true for two of them.

“Here we start making history.” Said the one in the middle.

“The purification starts from their own homes. This is appropriate.” One of the other men replied.

“Remember, you only need to drink from a victim and let them drink from you. That is all it will take to make more of you.” The first man spoke again.

“And then we will have our army.”

The men separated, each one going to a different part of the city. Soon the screams were heard. They didn’t care about hiding what they were doing – nothing could stop them, anyway. In a matter of seconds, many new vampires rose. Some days later it would take time for the full transformation, but then, when Life’s corruption was still healing, they only needed a moment to be up in their new existence.

An army of newborn vampires unleashed over a city that had no idea of what those monsters were or how to stop them. Blood flowed through the streets, escaping from the houses where vampires fed in a frenzy. The three men met in the city square, around which were the palace and the temple.

“The temple will be the last.” Said the man who was obviously the leader.

The others nodded, and the three of them moved to the palace, not even bothering to turn as many humans as they could. Smiling, they barely needed a moment to kill all the soldiers there, their blood painting the walls made of bright stones.

Soon, everyone who had hidden inside the palace was dead. The new vampires still feasted in the city but, still, the men knew there should have been more people in the city than what they had found. They were hiding, and the only place that was still untouched was the temple.

Leaving the blood-covered cloaks behind, as now they only hindered their movements, the three men kept walking, going up the temple’s stairs without any haste. The doors were closed, and a priest stood before them. Without giving him time to say anything, one of the vampires threw him away, and the cracking noise when his skull met one of the column’s stone was easily heard in the eerie silence that now covered the city. The other vampire forced the doors open in a matter of seconds, and they entered the temple, full of those who had been able to flee when they started creating their army of vampires. The man closed the door behind them while the two vampires waited for his signal.

“They are all yours.”

The vampires jumped among the people, fangs and claws clearly visible.

“K’inich, don’t!” A woman screamed.

“
Lucio! I don’t know what you’re remembering, but now is not the time to let the past swallow you!”
I heard Kelene’s voice in my mind, clear as if she was beside me.

I took a deep breath, forcing the past back to where it belonged. Those days were long gone.

“
Thank you. All that’s going on is bringing back the memories from when I was made.”
I answered, only then realizing that she had used something not very different from the bond I had with the Masters under my command. “
How did you do this? Get in touch with me like this?”

“We are bound to each other. This is just another side of it, one which I have just learned how to use. And I think that you’ll be able to find me like this, too, if you need.”

The bond we had Sealed the night before she went to the Sanctuary. I smiled, more satisfied about it than I should be. Now that she had pointed it, I could see how to reach her the same way I did with my vampires.

“
I can find you. It’s like how I share with my subjects.”

“Exactly.”

We were almost reaching the city, and I needed only to glance around to see it was best if I cut that contact.

“
We’re about to enter the city. I need to go.”

I felt her nod, and then her presence disappeared from my mind.

The other vampires halted, all around me, hesitating before what was in front of us. With a sharp signal, I told them to follow me as I made an effort to enter the city.

Even the most violent of the vampires would hesitate before the macabre spectacle we could see. The city was silent, the buildings intact, as if it had simply been abandoned. But the corpses and the blood in the streets showed what had really happened there.

“It was a slaughter.” I heard one vampire mutter, and agreed silently.

The bodies had been torn to pieces, entrails spread in the pavement. Or, at least, what was left of them. The blood had dried in the streets and carrion animals were everywhere, cleaning the feast the Nameless had left them.

Death had followed me out of that building, and we stopped in the open space between it and the palace. Her face was in the shadows that the falling night threw over the city, but I was sure that even if I could see her, I would only see that same strange expression.

“You told the absolute truth there, Kelene.” She spoke, suddenly. “Now I see why I wasn’t able to imprison the Nameless alone, that time.”

I didn’t answer. I had no idea of what Death meant with those words, even though she was talking about the time I had trapped the Nameless. And that voice meant that, even if I asked, I wouldn’t get any answer.

Before I could do anything about it, I felt Lucio’s presence on the edge of my mind, through that bond Ivan had taught me to recognize. He was reliving some scene from his past, his emotions reaching me: exultation and guilt at the same time. Without hesitation, I reached out to him before he dived into the past, only moving away when I was sure he would hold to the present.

While I talked to Lucio, Alice had approached.

“Will you train me tonight?” To my surprise, her question was to Death.

“No. Tonight I’ll take care of what Kelene needs to know before this is over. Have some rest.”

The girl nodded, her excess of energy still contained. No, not contained, it was something different. It was still there, but now she wasn’t acting as the crazy carefree girl I knew, as if… As if
that
had been a mask.

How hadn’t I seen it before?

“Who is taking care of the defense?” I asked, knowing too well that when you wear a mask for that long you’re never comfortable explaining it.

“Marcelo was the best in strategy games, not me. We had a deal, he made sure I took all the credit so that people would underestimate him.” She smiled as she shook her head. “I’m not an strategist. He took control of our defenses, while I... The Sanctuary needs a new Keeper, and that is what I’ll be.”

I took a deep breath, surprised. I knew that now, more than ever, we needed another Keeper, but didn’t have time to think much about it. To tell the truth, I didn’t think about it at all. Somehow, part of me had always thought I would take that role, as well, but I should have known it was impossible, I should have remembered. The White Hand was Death’s Keeper, or at least that was the original role, according to what I had learned. I would never be able to take both responsibilities. But, Alice? The girl who was always laughing and joking about everything? She wasn’t made for the role.

No. The Alice I had met wasn’t made for that role. But it seemed there was far more to her than she had shown me. And maybe that was why all my instincts had screamed at me to teach her, when we first met.

Something of my thoughts must have shown on my face, and Alice laughed.

“Don’t underestimate, Kelene. Not you. I thought you knew, when you decided to teach me.”

“I taught you because my instincts told me to do so. But whatever you’re hiding, I don’t know.” I answered honestly.

Death nodded, approving, as she had always done when I spoke about my instincts. I thought she would tell me what was going on, but she kept silent.

“You know I’m adopted, don’t you?” Alice asked, and I nodded. “The government took me from my first mother when I was fourteen, because of some stupid complaint, and I ended up in the complex. My first adoptive mother, the one I
still
call mother, was the daughter of one of the demon lords.”

I didn’t even try to hide my surprise. Humanity had as many stories about the demons as they had about the rest of the Otherworld, but they still hadn’t realized demons were just another part of the Otherworld. I didn’t know anyone who knew more than the old stories about them, but it was known that, just like the Fae, there were many races of demons, each one with their own characteristics and abilities. The demon lords were the ones who ruled over each race, and usually the most bloodthirsty, too. If Alice had been raised by the daughter of one of the lords…

A memory teased me, of a couple of demons found living near the Witches’ Council. It had been before I became the White Hand again, but I had heard about it. The demons had been banished, but there had been no mention of a human girl.

“Her spirit is strong, Kelene.” Death added. “One of the strongest I’ve ever found. Alice will make a great Keeper and, thanks to what you’ve taught her, she will be able to take her role before we face the Nameless.”

I nodded. It was better like this. But I still thought it was my fault Alice and my other neighbors got involved in all that. It didn’t matter what they had already seen, they were still innocents, and that was about to change.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Alice.”

“Don’t be. I’m more than happy with the direction my life seems to be taking, and so are the others. We are making a difference, even though we are humans among the Otherworld.” She smiled, with a strange light in her eyes. “You are too much the White Hand to be called human, and it’s nice to see we
are
able to help.”

I laughed, caught by surprise by her comment and the truth I could hear in her words. She was right, I was barely human after all the years as the White Hand.

“So be it.”

Still smiling, Alice ran back to one of the buildings.

“Come with me, Kelene. There really is much you need to learn before we confront the Nameless. We can’t risk you losing control of your powers again, like you did in the Sanctuary.” Death said, starting to walk towards the unused areas of the city.

Her expression was grim, more forbidding than ever, even if I considered only what I had seen after the Nameless’ escape. She still hid many secrets, I realized, with a sudden intuition, and some of them would affect me.

Blood trickled down the temple’s stairs. Blood from those who had sought refuge in sacred land, only to discover the hard way that their gods were unable to protect them from those monsters, who had destroyed everything that had been built in centuries of history.

The three men stood before the city’s walls. Many villages and cites had fallen since that first attack, and their vampire army kept increasing. But now they were in front of their first really important target, according to the one who lead them. The kingdom’s capital, the city everyone had fled to when the stories about villages covered in blood started to spread.

They were careful not to leave any survivors, only those turned into vampires. There was no one who could tell what had really happened, to reveal who had caused the slaughter. All that people knew was what the traveling merchants had told them, caravans arriving full of people frightened by what they had seen.

“Take of the hoods.” One of the soldiers in the gate ordered, stopping them.

They obeyed, and everyone could see the bloodstained faces, the haunted eyes of those who had seen tragedy.

“The Sanctuary sent us here.” One of the men said. “We survived one of the attacks and ran from the monsters who destroyed the villages.”

The soldiers, not on high alert, came to search them. No one had survived before then. A possible survivor, for them, could just as well be one of the attackers.

“Let them in.” A new voice cut the silence that had settled around them. A man dressed as a noble, armed, approached. “They are Ajoxb’ak and K’inich, from Death’s Sanctuary. They can pass.”

Without another word, the soldiers motioned them inside, and soon the three of them were beside the noble who had come to meet them.

“It is nice to see you alive.” He said, instead of offering the traditional greeting. “I feared for the Sanctuary.”

“Those still inside the Sanctuary are safe.”

“My sister?” The man asked, his concern clear in his voice.

“K’ujul is safe.”

The man sighed, relieved, before speaking again.

“I cannot take long here. We are making plans for the city’s defense. Do you have any information that could help?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

He nodded, moving away with quick steps toward the palace.

The three men looked at each other without hiding their smiles.