Within The Shadows (26 page)

“
How?” I
asked, pointing at his hand.

“
We all have our own party tricks. This is mine.” He
smiled.

From behind
us came a loud crash. All three of us looked back in the direction
of the long line of blackness. In the distance, the sounds of
rushed feet were accompanied by the noises of inhumane squeals.
High-pitched shouts and laughter echoed around us, and the hairs on
my skin stood on end. I was frightened, and I did not know if there
was any chance of escape.

Leonid
pushed harder to no effect. Gritting his teeth, he heaved against
the door. Finally, it edged open, and light came streaming in. I
was pushed through the doorway to be met by the white bearded man
who had helped me before. His smile was a welcome sight. Taking me
by the hand, he hugged me tight.

Bylun.

Behind me, I
could hear a scuffle. Screams, shouts, and bloodcurdling noises
came from the direction of the tunnel. Antoine shouted something at
me, but because of the noise, I could not make out what he said. I
soon realised that Leonid was nowhere to be seen. I knew he had
been right by my side when I left the tunnel, but now he was
gone.

Antoine
shouted at me again, but I could not hear what he said. I was more
concerned about Leonid. I moved back towards the door. Bylun tried
to stop me, and failed. I moved closer, and was instantly hit with
the smell of blood. It did not smell good. I could sense so much
death around me, and something told me I was walking back into a
trap. Even so, I was determined to find out what was going
on.

I could make
out Leonid as he fought three vampires who all resembled Afanas.
Their eyes glowed red in the darkened tunnel. They screeched and
hissed as they drew their claws out, cutting and slicing at Leonid
who seemed invincible. He towered over them, ripping them in
half.

From
behind
him came another two with weapons
in their hands. One had what looked like a pickaxe, while the other
held a spear as they attacked Leonid. Antoine came charging at
them, biting clean through the neck of one of them as his axe fell
to the ground. I could hear his life hiss out of him as he choked
on his own blood.

Leonid moved
with a speed I found hard to believe was possible. He seemed so
powerful and in control of the situation that I did not understand
what was happening when I saw the spear appear through his chest.
He stopped moving, and looked down at the head of the spear
drenched in blood. Looking back at me, his eyes filled with bloody
tears, and silently, he fell to the ground.

Laughing and
screaming, the rogue vampire ran back down the dark tunnel. Red,
blazing eyes met mine as I walked in further. His mouth dripped
with blood.

“
Don’t!” Antoine grabbed hold of my wrist.

Confused, I
pushed past him, and went further down into the tunnel, making my
way over to Leonid. The smell intensified as I came closer
him

“
Leo . . .” I began, my voice shaking.

“
Giselle, please, don’t come any closer,” he said, his
breathing laboured.

“
No. No, Leonid . . .” I cried as I approached him as he lay
upon the wet ground.

His hand
covered his chest, and I could clearly see the line of crimson
spreading rapidly through his fingers. His neck had been wounded,
and the blood flowed beneath him.

Rushing to
his side, I rubbed his face as our eyes clashed. He looked at me so
lovingly. The memory of the man I had first met died, and was
replaced by the memories of the man who adored and loved me. Our
union was not ideal, but somehow, through all the chaos, I had
found my broken heart mended. He had, in his own way, made me fall
in love with him, and now, I was not ready to let go of
that.

“
You’re not going anywhere. Do you hear me?” I shouted
through sobs.

He tried to
speak, but he was losing too much blood. “Shush, don’t talk. Save
your strength,” I whispered as I put my hand over his.

Antoine
stood behind us. He lit up the area, and it was then I saw the
corpses lying around us. More than twenty vampires lay dead, their
heads severed from their bodies. I looked back at Antoine who stood
nearby, looking sad.

“
What
happened?” I asked.

“
There were too many. He could only take on so many. You saw
the one who got away.”

“
What are
they?”

“
The young of the Nelapsi. They sent their young to kill
him. Without him by your side, you are defenceless. He’s fatally
wounded, Giselle. There is no way to save him.”

“
But we’ve got to try!” I cried.

“
It would be pointless,” Antoine said as he tried to reason
with me.

My skin
crawled yet again as my stomach turned. Leonid gasped, and reached
out his hand towards my face. I did not want to believe that I was
about to lose him just when I had found him. There had to be a way
to save him.

“
I cannot remember a time . . . when . . .” he struggled.
“When I felt whole, like I do now. Giselle, I have never loved
anyone the way I love you.” He paused as he tried to regain his
breath.

“
Don’t . . . please . . . please . . .” I begged.

“
You . . . You have no idea how special you are.” He coughed
up blood. “I know that you could never love me the way I love you,
but promise me this. Do not let them near the child, and learn to
love another.”

“
I do . . . I do love you, you stupid man. Please . . .
don’t go!” I sobbed, holding his hand to my face. Afraid to let go,
I tightened my grip.

Slowly, his
hand loosened its hold on my face. His eyes became vacant, and held
their gaze on me. I watched him, holding my breath as his breathing
became shallow. With one last kiss upon his lips, he stopped
breathing altogether. I cried as I threw myself onto
him.

“
You promised! You promised you wouldn’t leave me! Please,
just . . . just stay. Stay with me, please, Leonid. Don’t leave
me!” I broke down, crying over his still body.

Antoine
placed his hands on my shoulder, and tried to lift me off of
Leonid. “He’s gone, Giselle. He’s dead.”

I sat beside
the still, lifeless body of the only man who was willing to die for
me. My heart ached for him, and as I willed him to live on, I knew
deep down inside that he was never coming back. Perhaps, in time,
that would be something I would learn to accept, but right there
and then, I wanted to die with him.

I did not
have the fight or the courage to carry on without him. Perhaps it
was selfish, but to have been killed along with him felt as though
it would have been better than to grieve over the loss of someone
so special.

Antoine
knelt down beside me, and tried to persuade me to move from
Leonid’s side, but nothing was going to make me leave him there. I
wanted to take his body with me. I wanted to give him a proper send
off even he would have been proud of.

“
Sweet, sweet, Princess . . . Please, we must
go.”

“
No!” I shouted. “I can’t leave him here. I
won’t!”

“
But they’ll be back. They will come down here, and when
they find you . . . Well, let’s just say you will never see
daylight again.”

“
Antoine, please! Look at him. We can’t leave him like this.
Surely, we can do something? Bylun! He can do his . . . you know,
thingy. At least, that way we can bury him or whatever you do when
a vampire dies.”

“
I’m not sure
Bylun would be able to do it,” Antoine said softly.

“
Please, Antoine. At least try!” I begged.

Antoine got
up from behind me, and walked to the doorway where Bylun stood
waiting sombrely. The pair of them spoke together quietly. I was
unable to make out what they were saying. Finally, Bylun nodded,
and Antoine returned to my side.

“
Giselle! It is time. With Bylun’s help, we will bring the
body of His Highness with us.”

I was unable
to speak.
Instead, my sobs echoed through
the darkness as Antoine lifted Leonid into his arms, and carried
him out of the darkness, and into the light. Bylun waited for me at
the doorway, and I brokenheartedly walked towards him. As he took
me by the hand, I felt his power surge into me. Even though it was
brief, it gave me enough energy to carry on.

Outside, the
bright light of the sun shone down on us as we made our way from
the tunnel. Antoine laid Leonid on the soft mossy grass. Red, pink,
blue, yellow, and purple flowers were strewn across the meadow as
though an ocean wave had tossed them there, but it was Leonid’s
blood that tarnished the beautiful valley around us.

The alpine
meadow teeming with wild flowers no longer appealed to me.
They now reminded me of death. When I knelt down
beside him, Bylun recited something, and with one stroke of his
staff against the ground, a ball of blazing light surrounded us. I
felt as if we were floating through the air. Everything became a
blur.

My body
seemed to have disintegrated into tiny particles.
Warmth enveloped me as I spun in the air.
Shimmering light cascaded all around me, like nothing I had ever
seen or experienced before. I felt completely at peace, even though
it lasted only seconds.

With a
sudden jerk, I was whole again. I was close to Leonid’s body, only
now my surroundings were very different. Leonid lay on a stone
table in the centre of a small room. All around us, white symbols
were painted on the walls, and candles burned brightly in each
corner. I looked around looking for a door, and found
nothing.

Three more
men appeared out of nowhere, each one resembling Bylun, but
different in his own way. The smallest of the three had a shorter
white beard, and carried a small wooden box in his hands. The next
man had long grey hair, and in his hand, he held a large, brown
leather bound book. The last of them stood closest to Bylun.
Although they seemed the same, this man had one black eye that
looked like a marble.

Each one
took a place at the corner of the table.
Bylun had a grim look on his face. As he began to speak, my
feet gave way, and I found myself lying on the ground, shaking
uncontrollably. Everything I loved or cared about was being taken
from me, and there was nothing I could do to change
that.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

THE COLD
REALISATION
began to hit me, and I was
petrified at the thought that I would never see Leonid again. I was
not ready to let go. I did not want to. Antoine, as usual, tended
to me, and helped me to my feet. I stood at the wall, and pressed
my back up against the coldness.

Antoine did not leave my side
for a moment.

“
Take this man. Take him now to face the other world. By the
earth, wind, fire, and rain, send him on his way. Remember him.
Take him, embrace him, and release him from his binds,” Bylun
recited as he moved round the table, holding incense in his hand,
and shaking it over Leonid’s body.

The smell
burned the back of my nose as the increasing smoke settled on
Leonid. The three men began to undress him. I realised what was
happening, and ran over to them, shouting.

“
Get away from him! Do not touch him again.”

“
Giselle, we
must prepare the body for burial,” Bylun said gently.

“
No! Leave him as he is.”

“
We cannot send him into the other world unless he has been
cleansed. Surely, you can understand that much. His Goddess will
not accept him unless it is done.”

I looked
over my shoulder at Antoine, who remained settled against the wall.
“He’s right, but if you believe he can pass on without this, then
so be it.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“
I . . . I can’t watch this.” I looked away as I walked
away, and faced the wall. “Take me from here, please!” I
begged.

“
Close your eyes,” Antoine instructed.

I looked at
him, confused. “What?”

“
Just do
it.”

I closed my
eyes tightly, and tried to rid my mind of all the pain and anguish
that continued to build up. I felt Antoine’s hand in mine, and
feeling a sudden rush of heat, I slowly opened my eyes. I saw that
we were no longer in the room, but on the top of what looked like a
turret on the tower of a castle. Wind blew my braid loose, and as I
looked over the edge, I saw waves crashing hard against the rocks
below.

I looked
out
at the vast horizon, and saw that
there was no other land around us. It was as if we were the only
people that existed here. It was an amazing sight, and my heart
skipped a beat as I watched the waves violently burst their froth
over the pointed and rugged rocks that sat beneath the ivory stone
building.

“
Why does this keep happening to me? It’s so unfair!” I
prodded as I leaned further over the edge of the turret, imagining
what it would feel like to fall into the waves below.

“
I wish I had the answers you seek, but I’m afraid I’m as
ignorant as you. Maybe it’s the Goddess’s way of testing
you.”