Immortal Devices (16 page)

“No,” Lydia snapped. “I will not abandon what we are meant to be so easily. I will not betray us like that. We are vampires, Cruces. We are stronger than humans, faster than humans. We are meant to be feared. We are meant to rule and force the weak to run to the immortals. We do not get the choice of abandoning that.”

            “There is always a choice, Lydia.”

            “A choice to fall in love with one of the weak?” the female vampire demanded with a vicious look at Scarlett. “It used to be that you would not even pretend to such a thing unless you meant to turn the mortal. Now look at you. Come back to us, Cruces. Be strong again. Teach the humans and the fey their place in the world.”

            Cruces shook his head. “I am strong, Lydia. Strong enough to know that you should not do this.”

            “Perhaps. We will see.” Lydia seemed to be done talking. She nodded to the shadowy ghost of Elder, and the thing threw itself forward. Tavian moved to intercept it, using his glamor to protect himself once more. The attack was ferocious, but with Tavian able to change himself to match the creature, it could make little real progress against him. It would swing a punch, and Tavian would dodge, then strike back with his hands as shadowy as the ghost’s, forcing it to defend in turn.

            Neither was winning. Every blow that was thrown was parried in turn. Every counter was blocked. Tavian’s glamor was still not strong enough to maintain the shadow form in full, but it was enough to let him stay in the fight. While he did that, Rothschild leaped at Lydia, but the female vampire avoided the attack, darting to the side and away. Cruces tried to join the assault on his sister, moving to try to grab her, but again she skipped away, this time running along the nearest wall to do it. Both vampires jumped at her at once, and she briefly disappeared using her ring, only to reappear near Scarlett again, forcing Rothschild and Cruces to focus on defending her.

            Tavian and the ghost of Elder were still fighting, and slowly, it was becoming apparent that the ghost had the upper hand. Tavian was still using his glamor to strike back at the creature, but that was happening less and less often. While the ghost had the strength of un-death behind it, Tavian was starting to tire. Even as Scarlett watched, Tavian stumbled to one knee, while the ghost moved in for the kill.

            Cruces and Rothschild could not help. They were both busy trying to keep Lydia at bay. The vampire kept darting in, testing their defenses, then flitting away again. Scarlett would have to be the one to do something. So she did. She reached down and drew her dagger, before leaping forward.

            The ghost of Elder was so intent upon Tavian that it never saw her coming. Scarlett plunged her dagger into it, the same way she had used the blade to kill the creature when it had been alive. Perhaps it was the memory of that moment that made the ghost shriek quite so loudly was the blade plunged home. It was not memory, however, that made the blade feel like it was burning in Scarlett’s hand. It was not memory that sent motes of golden light flashing through the shadows that made up the creature. It was not memory that made the creature cry out one final time before scattering into shreds and scraps of shadow.

            “No!” Lydia cried out, looking over. “How have you done that, you pathetic little… the dagger. They did not tell me that you had a weapon like that.” Lydia dodged again as Rothschild lunged at her.

            “Give up, Lydia,” Cruces said. “Give up or flee back to the Order. You have failed here.”

            “Failed?” For a moment, the vampire looked slightly stunned by that idea. Then she shook her head firmly. “No. This is not over. I still have a task to perform. You think that Elder is the only destroyed vampire in the world?”

            Lydia’s eyes gleamed evilly as she reached into a pocket of her dress, withdrawing a small pouch. She raised the silver box that had brought back Elder, the lid open and waiting. Scarlett watched, and she was so busy watching that she did not even complain when Tavian drew her back into his arms. He was not Rothschild, but right then, Scarlett could feel the tension in the cave growing until the air itself felt like it was stretched tight.

            “Whatever vampire you are thinking of bringing back,” Cruces said, “we will defeat it.”

            “Vampire?” Lydia laughed. “You think I am bringing back
one
vampire?”

            Somehow, instinctively, Scarlett knew that what the vampire was intending was a terrible idea. Perhaps it was simply that she could sense something of the power of the item Lydia held. Scarlett reached out imploringly. “Lydia, no!”

            Lydia ignored Scarlett’s cry and upended the bag she held into the silver box.

            For a second or two nothing happened. Scarlett did not relax though. She did not dare to think that they might have been lucky enough for Lydia’s attempt not to work. The item the vampire held was a Device, after all, and those were far too powerful to fail so simply. The others there must have sensed the same danger, because they stood just as still as Scarlett did.

            The light dimmed in the cave, as though the shaft of sunlight above had found itself blocked by a cloud. Scarlett knew that was not it, however. A cloud did not account for the sudden feeling of power rushing through the air. Nor did it explain the way the temperature in the cave dropped so that, despite the heat outside, Scarlett felt herself shivering.

Footsteps sounded in the tunnel leading to the cave. At least, Scarlett assumed that they had come from there. In truth, the sound seemed to come from all around so that Scarlett could not truly place it. There were so many footsteps too. It sounded like a brigade marching by. An army. The shadows deepened still further for a moment, before giving way to sunlight again. Scarlett saw them then.

            “The shadows!”

            There were dozens of them. More. Too many to easily count, given the way they shifted back and forth, blurring through one another in a constant web of motion. There were large figures and small ones, male and female ones, all seemingly composed of nothing but shadow. They were in the cave, and they were advancing towards its walls. They climbed up them with all the speed and silence of spiders, climbing away into the shadows above them so that Scarlett could not see where they went. She only knew that they were up there somewhere, watching, scuttling, and picking out their prey.

            Then, with a cry that seemed to come from all of them at once, the ghosts of the vampires dropped.

S
carlett gasped as the ghosts of the vampires landed around them in a circle. Cruces echoed it. “What have you done, Lydia?” Cruces demanded. “Do you even know what you have done, summoning so many? Summoning
these
vampires?”

            “I have done what I must to achieve the Order’s ends,” Lydia said. “You had your chance to give me the bow, Cruces.”

            “You
don’t
know,” Cruces said. “These vampires… I recognize some of those shapes. They were mad when they were alive. In death, you will never control them.”

            “I have the box,” Lydia said confidently.

            Scarlett shook her head. “There are too many. I can feel it. There are too many to control.”

            “You’re trying to trick me,” Lydia snapped, “and it won’t work. Spirits, kill them.”

            Lydia had to dive back as one of the shadows swiped at her. Scarlett saw the female vampire’s eyes widen in surprise and fear, but they had other concerns right then. The ring of shadowy vampires was closing in on them.

            “There are too many of them,” Tavian said.

“I can get to them with my dagger if you create a distraction,” Scarlett replied, hefting the weapon. She had killed Elder’s ghost easily enough, after all.

            Cruces put a restraining hand on Scarlett’s wrist, then pulled her aside as one of the shadows leaped. It looked puzzled to have missed her. Meanwhile Lydia was having to dodge her way through a small mob of the creatures.

            “We cannot fight them outright,” Cruces said. “As much as I admire your bravery, Scarlett, we would be torn to shreds. These vampires are feral, plus they have all the advantages of their ghostly form. I doubt Tavian can fight them all off as he did with Elder.”

            “No,” Tavian agreed, “but I can create the illusion of it. The shadows won’t know which ones we are.”

            “So we kill each other by accident?” Rothschild demanded.

            “I will mark us out with a red spot. It will be easy.”

            “There’s no time to think of anything better,” Cruces said, ducking as another vampire leaped. “When the glamor wears off, meet me wherever I am. I will get us out of here. I’d do it now, but we need that box.”

            Scarlett nodded. She kept her eyes on Rothschild. She was not going to let herself be separated from him again. Rothschild’s eyes were on Lydia, who still held the box as she avoided the surrounding vampires, trying to command them even as they attacked her. The vampires around the four of them, meanwhile, had started to close in.

            “Now, Tavian,” Cruces said.

            Tavian nodded, and a second later, he, Cruces and Rothschild disappeared, to be replaced with shadow forms. Scarlett looked down and saw that she had been transformed too. She moved forward, slashing with her dagger whenever a shadow got too close. The aim was not to destroy them, but simply to cut a path through them to Lydia.

            Some of the shadows seemed to notice that others of their number were attacking them, and tried to fight back. One threw Scarlett to the ground, but Tavian tripped it, giving Scarlett enough time to thrust her dagger into it and end its existence. Cruces, meanwhile, played on the confusion among the shadows, darting between them until he had them attacking one another with savage ferocity. The shadowy vampires had fangs several inches long, and they tore at one another like wild beasts. Scarlett took advantage of the opportunity to stab another one, watching it dissolve into shreds of darkness.

            A pair of shadowy hands grabbed Scarlett, and she cried out in surprise as the glamor around her slipped away.

            “I see you,” the vampire said. “I see you, and I hunger.”

            The vampire looked as though it might tear her apart. It opened its mouth wide, displaying its fangs. That was as far as it got though, because in that moment, another fell on it, fighting with it brutally. Another joined the brawl, and another. Scarlett started as she realized the creatures were fighting over her. They were so maddened by their hunger that they would kill each other just for that much blood.

“Scarlett!” Tavian’s voice came from close beside her. He was still glamored, still appearing as one of the shadows. “Come with me!”

He grabbed her and dragged her out of the frenzy, but the others would not allow what appeared to be one of their number to steal away their prey so easily. Scarlett had to stab another with the dagger, and Tavian had to swipe at two more with claws made of shadow, before they were able to break free of the main group.

            In clear space at last, Scarlett was able to look around.

“Where’s Cruces?” Scarlett asked. Why she asked about him first, she did not know. She only knew that she was suddenly very much aware he was missing, as well as worried about his fate. Around her, the shadow vampires were tearing one another apart in a futile effort to get some kind of sustenance.

            Tavian shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. It’s too dangerous. They are tearing each other apart, and we don’t want to be in the middle of it.”

            “Scarlett!” another voice shouted. Cruces’ voice. It came from one end of the cave, out towards the tunnels leading to it. “Join me now!” 

            Scarlett and Tavian started to make their way towards that voice, but Scarlett knew that she could not do it. “Where’s Rothschild?” she demanded, stopping completely. Tavian tried to pull her towards Cruces, but Scarlett did not move. “I am not leaving without Rothschild.”

            She looked around for him and finally spotted him a little way away, struggling with Lydia. His glamor had fallen away and now he struggled with her, trying to grab the silver box even as Lydia tried to get her hands on the stick that had been Cupid’s bow. They struggled hand to hand, neither able to make any headway as they both tried to keep away from the rampaging shadows.

 Even as Scarlett watched, though, that changed. Rothschild let go his grip on the box and reached inside his coat to draw out a wooden stake. He slammed it into Lydia’s chest, then stepped back to admire his work as he took the box from her.

“You missed my heart,” Lydia said.

“Perhaps I was not trying to hit it.” Rothschild lifted the silver box and poured the ashes from it. It appeared to make no difference to the shadow vampires.

The female vampire shook her head. “You should have.”

With Rothschild’s hands occupied by both the bow and the box, he could not defend himself as Lydia drew the stake out of herself and slammed it into him. Rothschild’s eyes went wide with pain. Scarlett gasped as a fraction of it seared along the mark that lay between them, and her eyes met his.