“Please! Mercy! I’ll tell you what you want!”
Victoria blinked twice as her vision came into focus. The man she was currently strangling with one hand was sobbing hysterically on the ground for mercy. She was covered head to toe in vampire’s blood, so fresh it was still hot on her skin, dripping down her face and onto her victim’s. How she had gotten into this situation was a mystery to her. But she was still alive, and that was all that mattered.
“Start talking,” Victoria said, tightening her grip on his neck ever so slightly. There was no point in wasting this perfect opportunity, even if she had absolutely no idea what was happening anymore. “My patience is wearing thin.”
“He’s in Cintois! I don’t know where to look, I just know he’s there surveilling the Labelle Manor. I swear that’s all I know.”
“And how do I know you’re not lying to me?” Victoria snarled.
“I swear to you, Antone is in Cintois. You can take me with you until you find him, and you can kill me if we don’t.” He looked up at her, revealing the mutilated side of his face, carved viciously with the knife Victoria was holding in her other hand.
“I appreciate the honesty. Unfortunately for you, I work alone.” Before he could utter another cry, Victoria slit his throat. She staggered up to her feet, swaying this way and that as the whole world spun. Once she’d regained balance on her feet, she took in her surroundings. For several acres around her, the grassland had been torched to nothing but ashes. Scattered about the ashes were the charred remnants of body parts scattered here and there. As she looked down at herself and tried to shake some of the blood off of herself, she knew that she was responsible for the carnage all around her.
“Oh, thank heavens you’ve snapped out of it.” Klen came zipping out of the tall grass outside the burn zone in his usual form—an orb of blue light.
“What the fuck happened?” Victoria asked him, unable to tear her eyes away from the carnage. Ie looked as though some great wild beast had ripped the vampires limb from limb, feasting upon the carnage. As much as she desperately hoped that this had been the handiwork of the three sisters, she knew that this had been her own doing.
“You… transformed, I suppose is the word. One minute you were you, and then you were a beast, lightning-fast and bloodthirsty.”
“I did all this…?”
“I’m afraid so. Your wrath seemed unending, for a moment. I was worried you wouldn’t turn back.”
“Do you think that was the spirit’s doing?”
“That was not the work of a spirit. Those vampires are right; you harbor the soul of an old god—they’ve been dormant for centuries and woke up confined in a mortal body. These undead must have really incensed it by trapping it within you.” Klen spun a circle around her, checking her over for injuries. “You seem uninjured, but it’s hard to tell with all the blood and gore. You really should wash off in the river before getting in the saddle.”
“Is Riven okay?”
“Yes, I kept him steady while you did what you do best.” Klen took the form of a young man dressed in a white robe—court mage robes like those worn in Halaafin. She half wondered what made him choose that specific form, and if the face he wore was truly that of his own, or one he’d conjured from memory. Klen whistled. Riven came trotting out of the grass. He greeted Victoria warmly, nudging her with his nose in his best attempt to knock her over. “I wonder if he also harbors an old god’s spirit. He was trying to charge into the fray with you.”
“It’s what he’s trained to do.” Victoria shook her head, glad to know her steed hadn’t lost faith in her yet. “Thank you for watching after him. And I’m sorry about… all this. I’ve never… felt that way before. To know I lost control like that is terrifying, to say the least.”
“I think it’s safe to say that we should avoid large crowds of undead for the time being.” Klen motioned down the gentle slope of the hill. “The river is just over here. Let’s put some distance between us and this carnage, shall we?”
“Yes, let’s,” Victoria mumbled, leading Riven through the grass toward the sound of rushing water. Her leggings and shirt were sticking to her skin and her boots squelched with every step. There had been few other times when she had ever been more miserable than she was right then and there. As she trudged her way to the river, there was the faintest feeling of reluctant agreement from something in the back of her mind.
She hopped and jumped her way down the bank once she found a good spot to stop and bathe, fumbling with her boots as she desperately pulled them off and threw them into the shallow water. Once she had tossed her greaves and her gauntlets beside her boots, she waded into deeper water and submerged herself in the ice-cold water. The chill had never bothered her much anymore. But it was brisk enough to remind her that she was alive—at least in some capacity.
Once she had sufficiently scrubbed herself and her clothes clean, she swam back to shore and began to dry everything. Klen hovered close behind her as she dressed again. Though he had no eyes in his current form, she could feel him staring at her, as if waiting for something to happen.
“The feeling is gone now, Klen. I won’t be transforming any time soon.” Victoria turned to look at him over her shoulder. He retreated a few inches, as if embarrassed. “Can you fill me in on why I was interrogating our friend about back there?”
“You were going to eat him as you had the rest when he told you that he knew where to find someone higher up in the cult in Cintois that can take you to one of their leaders. That seemed to snap you out of it. The change was almost instant.”
“The others hadn’t lied, it seems. What about those three warrior priestesses? Did you see them?”
“They all escaped, but you almost got one of them. They left their underlings to their fate once they caught a glimpse of your new form.” Klen took the form of a ghostly blue lion. He yawned and rested his head on his paws as he looked at her lazily. “You were almost like a werewolf, but more feline, like a white lion. It has me thinking about whom you could be harboring that would be of interest to a bunch of vampires. It’s what the brothers at the temple studying the cult and ancient history could never figure out; why were the undead so obsessed with Ludus in their scriptures but bear her brother’s sigil on their armor.”
“Ludus?”
“The old elven goddess of virtue and justice. She is where we believe your title in their prophecies came from. She was the angel of death, shepherding the souls of the dead to her father’s realm—death’s right hand. There are many references to her in their books, but many of their beliefs center around the goddess Azra, Lady of the Abyss. She is Ludus’ mother. The Knights bear her sigil upon their shields—a white lion with a golden mane.”
“Do you think they trapped this death goddess within me?”
“It’s possible. But such wrath seems out of character for a being such as her.” Klen flicked his tail. “How do you feel now that you’re in control again?”
“A little tired, but I’ll make it. I’m ready to find this Antone and start making some real progress for once.” Victoria stood up once she’d laced her boots up and walked over to Riven. He’d hunkered down in a patch of clover and fresh grass along the riverbank and was waiting expectantly to have his saddle and bridle removed. He refused to budge when she gave the reins a few gentle tugs and urged him to get up.
“It appears your horse has other plans.” Klen let out a loud yawn. “After all this excitement, I’m with Riven. Let’s take the evening to rest. We’re only another four days ride from Cintois. This agent shouldn’t be too hard to find if he’s monitoring an estate.”
“I worry those plans could change, especially if he was expecting this group to rendezvous with him at some point.” Victoria propped herself up against Riven’s side after he refused to budge a second time. She crossed her arms, leaving one hand on the pommel of her sword as she settled in for the night. “The majority wins this round, it seems. We’ll move at first light.”
Klen got up and moved to lay beside Victoria, keeping an eye open in the direction of the road. It was doubtful anyone would be anywhere near them, especially given the screams of her victims that undoubtedly echoed for miles across the valley. Any rational person would start running in the opposite direction. But an extra set of eyes on watch, especially one that didn’t need sleep, was always welcome in the event someone decided to investigate. A lone woman camping so close to such a scene would be incredibly suspicious, and the blood slowly flowing downstream didn’t do her any favors either.
“Do you ever actually sleep anymore?” Klen asked her after a long while of silence. “I’ve noticed that a lot of the time you’ll just lay there with your eyes closed, but you never… fade, I suppose is how I would describe it. I never really thought of dreams as going outside of the body, but that’s certainly what it seemed like to me in the city when there were so many people around.”
“Occasionally, I do sleep. Since the attack, there has been only a handful of times where I’ve really slept. It always brings nightmares.” Victoria shuddered as images of golden masks and red candles in the dark flashed across her mind. She tightened her grip on her sword. “I am thankful that this spirit seems to restore my strength for me. If I had to see those dreams on a daily bases, I would go mad.”
“Is that what gave you the scar on your neck?”
“Yes. It’s the last memory I have. One moment, they were about to sacrifice me to their gods, then I was awake in the woods, perfectly healed except for the scar across my throat. Riven was nearby, alive and well when I swore he had been sacrificed along with me. It left me wondering if it was all a dream for a long time. It’s clear to me now that it was definitely no dream, no matter how much I wish it was.”
“You’re very brave. Not many could continue on after such an ordeal.”
“It’s not like I had much of a choice. But thank you, Klen.” Victoria leaned her head back against Riven’s side and closed her eyes. Thankfully, sleep eluded her this time, and she relaxed as the sounds of the night slowly resumed around them.