Some sort of ball…
Like the one where she’d had her first kiss. A
broken
kiss.
That thought made her notice that her lip was completely healed.
Traith was standing tensely. She didn’t dare touch him or talk to him. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, but he was too infuriated. She wasn’t sure about the details, but something about the Mistress made him uptight and on edge. Why hadn’t the “witch” summoned them sooner?
For a moment she thought her vision blurred. A woman came into view. She was old and angelic…
Mistress
.
“
Harker, I’ve missed you,” she spoke, and the words came flowing out majestically. “You have taken quite a hit to your back, haven’t you?”
He didn’t make any movements. His eyes were emotionless, and he stared directly at the woman. Rein saw by the way he clenched his teeth that he was as angry as she thought.
“
God,” he murmured with his mouth still nearly closed and his eyebrows drawn together. “So
long
.”
The old woman looked deeply into his eyes. “Traith, I tried to get you free—”
“
You tried?” he said, still rigid. “You must’ve tried to get us both here to see you quickly and get the lights turned down, too, I suppose; you must’ve tried
really
—”
“
Do
not
speak to me like that, Traith!” she yelled.
Rein watched him immediately look down and cringe bitterly.
“
I have had many other obligations more important than this!”
His face was as bleak as could be, and his eyes looked like ice. “How did I get off of the ship?” he said through his teeth, his words enunciated.
Her eyes calmed. Her white hair draped coolly over her neck as she watched him. “I cannot say. Perhaps
this
entrance into the ship counteracted your curse.” She shifted her sight to Rein. “I honestly cannot say.”
His troubled face stared at the old woman, but then he turned and looked back at Rein.
“
I don’t understand,” Rein said in a whisper, but the lady’s voice outweighed her own as she spoke.
“
Miss Pierson, welcome. I am the Mistress, and this is my council: the Council of the Presage. Has Traith explained anything to you about this?”
She looked down at her feet. “I…”
“
He didn’t, did he?”
“
How was I supposed to?” he asked irritably. “I scared her out of her
mind
.”
“
Traith, please calm down.” Her voice was loud, clear, and strict. “I will explain to you, then, Rein. The curse of the vampire is perhaps the oldest and wickedest of any. It has caused more than its share of terror and deaths; most of the vampire race gives it a sinful reputation. But it can be contained and hidden, like Harker has done. You can still act and function no differently. My council contains these right-willed creatures. But only two have ever chosen to follow this moral path. That is Traith, the only just creature of his kind that I have ever known, and Carden Romanoff. But even he submitted to his desires. Traith never did.”
“
Mistress
, I’m
not
a—”
“
You are a creature, Traith, whether you like it or not.”
Traith glared at the floor. It was so odd the way he surrendered to her, despite his anger. But her heart went numb when the woman had called him a
creature
. He was right. He
wasn’t
.
“
So,” Mistress continued, “it is rare for those who are moral to take the vampire form. It is indeed an evil curse, but it can be turned with the right will. It is hard to control, but it is powerful nonetheless. My council welcomes anyone who is immortal without means. However,
you
are untried. You can learn to live with this, or—”
“
No or,” Rein said quietly.
Traith’s glare turned gentler. He gave her a casual glance, as if smiling with his eyes. That had been the answer he wanted.
Mistress motioned with her hand toward a separate room. Traith followed without thought, as though he knew where he was going. She followed him. The woman sat down in front of them at a smooth table inside the new room. Traith took a seat, and Rein sat beside him without a word.
“
Just tell me what happened to Saria,” she said, and the words triggered her sorrow to return in tears. “I won’t ask anything more, but I must know what happened to her.”
Mistress nodded, closing her big, grey eyes. “I understand you had a strong bond with Saria Kendrick, Rein, but she did not wish to remain what she woke as.”
Rein held her forehead with her pale hands, closing her eyes tight. Traith’s face fell at her teary-eyed response. His red eyes began to glisten with dejection as if he were being read his felonies by a black-masked executioner with a rope in his fist. He was full of guilt, depression.
“
I am sorry, Miss Pierson, but everyone on that ship has died. Saria did, the man brought with her, Edgar Johan, is also dead. He died as the ship went down.”
“
I
killed
him?” Traith asked frantically. “W-with the
explosion
?”
“
No, Traith. I will not say how he died, but it was not by you.”
Rein’s head was in her hands, and she cried softly.
“
Rein,” the woman said after a moment, “there is much to tell you, so please try to bear with me. You did receive my dreams?”
“
Yes,” she replied hoarsely.
“
Traith has mentioned the stake to you.”
That the woman knew as much only verified the letter she had written her; she knew things that no one else could know.
“
But other than that,
blood
can easily kill you, if you do not consume enough. Not enough, without doubt, will make you increasingly weak.” She gazed at Traith, who was slowly gaining depth. “Refrain from being like Traith, here, who attempts to go for over two days without his sustenance.”
Traith still said nothing, his eyes freezing again. His poise stiffened with her remark. “I should go to Hell for such a misdeed,” he whispered.
“
Drinking blood will not make your human heart any worse for wear. You must do it, regardless,” Mistress countered back.
Rein would not give the woman her stare.
“
Being a vampire does come with advantages, however.”
Traith spoke with a face of stone and assertion, his eyes slowly turning and staring at the leader. “Mistress, you cannot possibly believe she will be able to swallow all of this now. I will tell her when she needs to know.”
The dazzling lady paused. “Indeed, I understand you, Harker. I trust you will explain to her rightly, but I must know she understands what I still must tell her. I need to explain to her the history of the councils.”
“
Since the beginning of the world—since the first two people ever created sinned—we have been. As soon as the fruit of Satan was bitten, evil formed in the hearts of man; it is the evil nature. Although blessed in the image of God, man’s nature is sinful. So as this evil was created, a council formed: the Mardinial Council. Helena, the councils leader, is the offspring of both a demon and a vampire monster from Hell—like the spawn of Satan himself—and she possessed the first murderer in history,
Cain
, who murdered his brother
Abel
. She, like a black hole, devoured her human host and merged with him, and thus began her havoc, infecting men forever more.
“
However, at the same time Helena was growing and infecting, I began my reign. Although man has an evil nature, he has a good one as well. The two, developing throughout time, have always fought. Finally, originating from the souls of man, immortals came to be. I have revealed to no one my exact circumstances of origin, but I created the Council of the Presage—this council. I have only
created
minor immortals to aide me—more or less harmless, purely moral spirits. Immortals are people who will live until the end of the earth. Reversely, there are
curses
—thirteen to be exact—that exist today because they came about through Helena’s bloodline, though most of the time, not directly from Helena. Any immortals who become cursed choose good or evil, therefore choosing councils as well. Those who follow Helena, I find and try to sway.
“
Cursed immortals have a monstrous nature. Evil
physically
marks the immortal, while at the same time affecting him psychologically. It is the internal fight that is hardest to overcome—for the vampire, in particular, it is hardest. This is why we have only Traith in our council…and now you. But I know without doubt that you are strong enough to win over your vampire impulses, Rein.
“
So have you a better idea of how this came about, and how I am? Think of it like this: there is Satan below; his earthly force can be carried within Helena; then there is man. Above man is God; I carry out His will by balancing the evil nature with the good. Good rarely wins on earth, Miss Pierson, but the time has come that we begin to.”
Rein heard Traith huff. She looked at him, wondering why he was giving the impression that he didn’t exactly agree with Mistress.
She had tried to listen to the Mistress while she could. She was beginning to get her answers, but they were too awful to bear.
“
Do you understand what I’ve explained, Miss Pierson?”
Rein nodded, fingers holding her head.
“
I will clear up only a few more things for you, and you shall be free to go. You did something inhuman on the ship, did you not? Something that frightened you?”
Rein looked at her with an agreeing stare.
“
A vampire has many aptitudes that are also beyond human capability. All are different. For example, Traith controls kinetic energy, which is how he caused the ship and the rope to explode, and how he can become invisible at will. You displayed one of your capabilities when you destroyed the captain of the
Old Mary
. You took his life in a single instant. Rein, I believe you can exchange, or, in some instances,
take
life or death or pain—to or from whomever you wish. I may not be entirely accurate, but I think you can remove any pain except that caused by a weakness. You could not remove something like Traith’s back wounds, for instance. They were caused by his weakness; what he is
not
immune to: fire. Does that make sense?”
“
Pf,” she heard him murmur. “That’s a bloody shame.”
Her mind began racing. Mistress was silent, then, for a long time. Rein felt as though she shouldn’t speak.
The woman sighed heavily. “You have acquired one of the most powerful—and mysterious—abilities I have ever been acquainted with.” She paused and sighed. “I do know, Rein, that you will become great in your mental capabilities.”
Traith, having let his head fall, sprung up with his eyes keen with question. She didn’t know what to think. What did that mean?
“
I’m prophesying it to you; listen carefully,” the Mistress said. “Only you can learn how to use your abilities. No one else can help you or teach you because this power will be your own, and it will work in a way only you will understand. You will only learn from error.” The woman watched her intensely. “You used part of this ability on the ship, Rein. You will soon be capable of hearing thoughts, being in someone’s mind and existing in them, changing people, mixing memories, moving or changing things with your mind…but understand you must stay coherent through your pain. You will continue to learn more, so do not feel so overwhelmed.”
What was she talking about? What pain? Her body was numb with fear.
Great in mental capabilities
…did Traith know what that meant? She glanced at him. His eyes were wide with disbelief. He had to know what it was.
“
Is this a joke?” he asked finally. “Rein? Powers can take
years
to kick in, and I just turned her. How could she possibly—?”
“
Allow your mind time,” the woman said gently to Rein, ignoring Traith. “It
will
become easier. Do not fear it.” She paused. “You are also in want of answers regarding your home’s state, and your father, no doubt.”
“
Father,” Rein repeated her. “It is all true, isn’t it? You really did write me that letter, didn’t you?”
“
I wrote you, yes. I had to prepare you for something, as the emotional pain for you would have been much too great. Taverin Badeau is living in your home, as it were, with a Mr. Hall. So you must decide where you want to go now. To live.”
“
I can’t go home,” she said. “My father is dead. God, I missed him by
days
.” She let her face fall into her hands again.
She felt that hand—that touch she was learning well, the touch she felt when she had been lying weeping on a bed in her chamber days ago, the touch she felt when she was in the hall on the ground. She waited and then looked up at him. His eyes were tight, looking from beside her, and he removed his hand slowly.