Circle of Death (11 page)

I made Lucio release my hand, while he was still shocked after Death’s entrance, and put my arm between them, my scars clearly visible. Yes, there was still one thing capable of leaving a vampire without any kind of reaction, and that “something” was Death.

“Hello, Kelene. I see you decided to help me.” Death’s voice was cold and calculated, and now held a touch of irony, too. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to get this over with quickly.”

“Stop where you are, because you owe me.” I said, keeping my arm where it was, the scars burning when I said the ritual words. “You owe me for the death you had me cause, and now I call the debt.”

“I hate when you do this.” She answered, still in the same place, and crossed her arms as I used to do.

Actually, all of her was reflecting my own reactions to a particular nasty order coming from her. Forcing myself not to smile, I made a mental note to pretend indifference the next time, it would be more annoying. And if she thought that it would distract me or make me angry, she was wrong. It made me feel sure, instead. She owed me. Now I was in control.

“I know.” I replied, smiling, before turning to Lucio, who was about to interfere. “Trust me, Lucio.”

Death raised an eyebrow, surprised, when he just nodded and didn’t say anything. Widening my smile, I faced the other woman again.

“Shouldn’t you have waited until Seth turned me before coming after Lucio? Oh, yes… He probably said that once Lucio was out of the way it would be easy to finish his job. Right?”

“What do you want, Kelene?”

“Immunity for Lucio. I want you to be unable to destroy him.

“Not even you have enough lives to pay for this.”

“A life for a life. He’ll be protected during the time of a human life, starting now.”

“This is unacceptable!” She was furious. “This is far beyond what you can ask.”

“No, it’s not. I can’t ask for my life, but our deal never mentioned anything about asking for someone else. You owe me.” I reminded her o the terms of our agreement, knowing that she was as bound by them as I was.

“Whatever” I could hear the anger on her voice.

“And there’s one more thing. Keeping your vermim here isn’t exactly a good move.”

“And why not?”

I almost smiled, knowing I would get rid of Seth for a while.

“Because I will die before being turned, and this would be a small problem in your plans, I think.” I opened my most innocent smile.

She didn’t answer me, disappearing in the next moment. But I knew she would order Seth to leave me alone, at least for some time. I had barely finished the thought when I felt a sharp pain in my forearm, and one of the tiny scars was crossed by another one. One death had been paid.

Only then I looked at Lucio.

“Death can’t destroy you anymore. It’s not a permanent solution, but it will be enough until we figure out what to do about Seth.

He dragged me close and hugged me tightly, almost like someone trying to keep something precious from disappearing. I stood on his arms for a moment, feeling safe there, as I never felt anywhere else. But it couldn’t last. I tried to put some distance between us, as we needed to talk, and Lucio took that as a chance to kiss me. It was wild and demanding, and I could feel his control almost snapping. I gave myself to the kiss, needing that reminder that I was still
alive
after facing Death. I didn’t care about what he had done earlier, or about how he had acted. When I needed, he had been there, risking his existence for me. And Lucio meant too much for me to keep a grudge over such a small thing.

Surprised with my thoughts, I interrupted the kiss and pulled away.

Lucio stared at me in silence for a while, before speaking. “Kelene, never think about doing something like this again. I’m not worth the risk. It’s not worth risking your life in deals with Death.”

“It was not a risk, not for me. And you were already in danger.” My answer was soft.

He hugged me again, still holding me almost too tightly.

“What happened here?” He asked, his voice muffled by my hair.

I pulled away again, sighing and looking away.

“You served at the Sanctuary… Have you ever heard about the Hands of Death?

“I remember something like that, but nothing beyond the name.”

“Death doesn’t take all the ones that need to die by herself. Actually, she only takes those no one else could kill. All the others are the Hands’ work. That’s what I am, a Hand of Death. But she pays me for every death, and can’t avoid it. That’s why it was safe for me. It takes time to train one of us, and she hates to lose one of the Hands.”

He nodded, staring at me, clearly surprised.

“That’s why you care so much about not being turned into a vampire… If Death could influence you, you wouldn’t be able to ask for the payment you want.”

“Exactly. And I think you can understand a lot of things you wanted to ask, now.”

“Powers of death.” He whispered, and I knew he was talking about the fight against Seth. “And what about the girl with whom you shared the apartment?”

“She should have died before, and I protected her… But one night she came into my bedroom, she had heard voices, and I was arguing with Death about her. The shock killed her.” I answer, still not daring to meet his eyes.

Lucio took my hands, turning them until he could see the inside of both my forearms. I saw his surprise at what was there, now that he understood what those marks meant. On my right arm, the small scars went from my wrist to the middle of the forearm. On the left, from the wrist almost to the elbow.

“All these are people you killed?” His question didn’t seem different from any other, but I couldn’t understand what I was hearing in his voice. Disgust? Disdain?

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I answered, getting up and almost running to the door. I didn’t want to face more disapproving stares… And not from him

I barely took three steps when Lucio stopped in front of me and hugged me, the whole movement at vampiric speed.

Now I had the answers to almost all of my questions, and they were nothing I would have expected. Kelene, one of the Hands of Death? I couldn’t say what I imagined the explanation for all her secrets would be, but that was something that had never crossed my mind. I knew the stories about them better than most people, but still… What I had heard about the Hands didn’t fit. They were said to be creatures between life and death, not human nor from the Otherworld, who existed in a kind of limbo. Vampires hunted them, as Death paid well to have them turned. But Kelene was human, I was sure of it.

That voice I had heard in her bedroom, before she stormed out. It had been Death, I realized, ordering her to kill someone. And I also realized she would have been nothing more than payment for my destruction. But now Seth wouldn’t be able to do anything, thanks to the deal she had made. Death couldn’t take me before the span of one human life, seventy years, as the Otherworld usually counted it.

Seeing how many scars she had in her arms was shocking. The number of deaths was too high, and I would never have guessed that a woman who looked as ordinary as Kelene did would be able to do it. But it didn’t matter. I still remembered the stories about the Hands. They didn’t kill indiscriminately, they only took those who needed to die.

It was easy to read her expression when Kelene got up. She was ashamed of being what she was, and feared I would judge her for it now that I knew the truth. Surprised, it took me a moment to react. She had never seemed to be the kind of person who cared about what others thought about her, and still she cared about what
I
would think about her.

Before she could leave the room, I stopped her with a hug.

“Thank you. For everything.” I spoke against her ear.

She went completely still for a couple of seconds, before raising her arms and hugging me back.

“We’re safe for a while. Death will tell Seth to leave.” Kelene said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m one of the best Hands, and she knows I’ll be ready… And she knows I’ll die before letting Seth turn me. She won’t risk having him near me.

My relief would have been easily noticed if she had been looking at my face. I needed to go to the Sanctuary tonight, there was no one else who could take care of the prison. And I wouldn’t be able to leave if Seth was still around and hunting her.

“I have to leave for a couple of days. One of my allies from the Fae promised to watch over you.” I didn’t mention Avés’ name, as I didn’t know if he wanted her to know about him. This way he could introduce himself, if he wanted to.

She released me, with a thoughtful expression.

The rest of the day went by quickly as I got ready for a small trip. As soon as the sun set, I said goodbye to Kelene, who had spent the day locked in her room, and was already opening the apartment’s door when she grabbed my arm.

“Running won’t help.” She said, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

I stared at her, without answering, surprised that she had understood what I was doing. Yes, I was running. Going away from her and trying to deny what had grown between us and seemed older than it should be. I didn’t know what to say not that she had noticed it, especially because she was right.

But apparently Kelene didn’t want an answer, and her expression changed, becoming serious.

“I’ve been before the Nameless.” Her voice sounded hard like iron. “He has plans for you. Please, don’t fall into his trap. All he could give you was already given, anything he offers now will be only an illusion.”

“How…?” I began, not daring to believe what she had just said. Kelene had faced the Nameless and survived?

“Don’t ask.” She sounded grim, in a way I had never heard before.

I nodded and she pulled me into another hug. That was all I needed to give up running and kissing her before leaving.

I didn’t want to think about Lucio’s reaction when he found out I was a Hand. It made me wonder if I could tell him the whole truth and he wouldn’t care, wouldn’t judge me. But I didn’t dare. Revealing who I really was… Even if he didn’t care if I was a Hand, he wouldn’t be indifferent to that other secret.

That afternoon, I locked myself in my bedroom to try to add all the pieces to the puzzle. Lucio was the other firstborn, the one who was turned by the Nameless along with Seth. Ajoxb’ak and K’inich, as the first records about vampires called them. The name K’inich wasn’t strange, I heard it many times when the Nameless became furious. That was Lucio, I was sure. He had kept a name with the same meaning through the times.

And now I wondered if Lucio was still a Keeper. Yes, surely; if he had turned his back on Death, as Seth did, the Nameless wouldn’t remember him in moments of anger. And that meant Lucio was going to the Sanctuary to check the prison and strengthen it. Someone from the Fae had given him the information that made him decide to go. That could only mean the final death symbols had appeared in all the imprisonments again, and that was never a good sign.

I was worried when I warned Lucio, and got even more worried when he left for the Sanctuary. Yes, I feared what could happen. I would be safe, but him… The Nameless was a treacherous creature. After all, how many beings throughout history had been able to deceive Death herself? Besides, I knew that my deal had a failure, but the price to make it invulnerable was too high. Seth would probably take some time to think about it, but I was still worried.

Somehow, I managed to go to class. I couldn’t miss the two finals I had in the afternoon, and I rescheduled the one I had missed in the morning. I remember Artur asking what was going on, but my mind was far away from it all.

I had just locked the door behind me when the phone rang. I answered, imagining it would be someone from the complex or from my class, but was surprised by a tenor voice with a strange depth that sounded familiar.

“I’d like to talk to Kelene.”

“It’s me.” I said, wary.

“Lady, I’m Avés, a friend of Lucius. I suppose he has already left.”

A sidhe. He must have been Lucio’s contact, and now I recognized that peculiar depth as something that was usual among his people. His use of an older version of the vampire’s name didn’t surprise me, who knew for how long this sidhe had known him?

“Yes, he already left.”

“I’m in charge of your protection in his absence. We are keeping a watch perimeter around you, lady. If you think you are in danger, call my name and those who are close to you will understand it as a sign to move.”

“It won’t be necessary, but thank you.” I replied, my surprise clear in my voice. The formal treatment wasn’t strange to me, I had been used to it once. But an offer of protection from the Fae wasn’t something usual. And then I remembered where I had heard his voice before. “What did you say your name was?”

“Avés, lady.”

I smiled. “Avés dere S’nadi.” I revealed I knew his lineage name.

He took his time before answering, probably trying to figure out who I really was. Outsiders didn’t know the lineage names, but I had been considered almost one of them, a long time ago.

“I’m sorry, lady, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He finally said.

“There was a fire circle, once, that was a trap.” I reminded him. “I was there.”

“Kelene?
That
Kelene? I have to admit I thought about you when Lucius mentioned this name, but I thought you were dead!”

“I’m back. It’s a pleasure talking to you again.” And it really was. Avés had kept me sane when I was a girl who didn’t understand what was going on around her.

“The pleasure is mine, lady. Tell me, do you know what happened to Seth? He disappeared a couple of hours ago.”

“I imagine he received new orders from Death.” I smiled as I told him what had happened.

“It’s good to have you back, lady. And it wasn’t a coincidence that you met Lucius. We live in dark times, again.” He said when I finished, knowing those words would be enough.

We had met in a dark time… A time when the Nameless walked on Earth and destroyed everything in his way. I really hoped it would never happen again.