Chapter 43: Chapter 43 – Control

//Author Note: If you want to see from another perspective: //

 

Her face is frozen. Not just stiff and unmoving, but literally frozen. I can see her skin flaking off as parts of her shatter and reform again, she was a little cold before but I’m sure that she’s gotten worse now.

I grip her hand tight, warming her enough that her skin is frozen solid. Her eyes turn to me, conveying the weight of her request near as well as the sudden harshness of her freezing aura.

“You want me to order you around?” I ask. Crow and the rest of my friends are something entirely different from the vampires and telling them what to do. It’s usually in the middle of a fight, when we’re killing each other, and it’s not quite the same as what Christina wants me to do for her. She’s afraid of someone else controlling her, so she wants me to help protect her from that just like the other vampires I was fighting the other day.

“It is not my wish that to be made subservient, which is the entire reason that I have reached out to you,” she explains, resting her hands on her lap as she looks at me directly, her cold eyes gripping me tight. “I wish for your assistance in developing defences against Aldramodore. He is my sire, and from my understanding, he should have the power to steal away my very mind, and everything else from that.”

Her expression remains as unreadable as ever, but the situation itself reveals her true fear. Why would someone like her want to be given orders? Why would she invite me here just so that I can push her around?

She’s scared. From the story she’s told us before, Aldramodore, this leader of the vampires, personally killed her family and even Christina herself. She’s terrified of what will happen when he comes back, and from what I know of the magics involved, she has good reason to be frightened. Even her stiff expression, her refusal to show any emotion at all, reminds me of a rabbit when it’s been spotted by a hunter. Unable to run or scream, just frozen in place.

“Perhaps I can train in resisting your orders, but even if that proves worthless, I have seen your power at play. I’ve seen vampires resist the will of their sire, under your orders, I hope for you to give me as much of a chance against Aldramodore.”

“You want to kill him?” I ask.

“Eventually,” she nods slowly. “As of yet, such dreams are to be left for the distant future. I am unsure of his power, but Aldramodore is far beyond what we might be capable of today. I only hope to successfully escape him, with my servants and dependents unharmed. All I ask of you is that you use your magic to prevent me from becoming enslaved to his will.”

There is more that she’s not saying. I can’t read her, I don’t think anyone can, but I can guess. She’s afraid, angry, and so many other things too. Like how I felt when my own home and family were taken from me. For her, it’s only been a very short time since she lost everything, and she’s only just now learning to survive without her family or her home.

The city and all the violence seeping through it at every layer is just like the forests I was thrust into when I was younger, and this place is just as likely to kill her. She’s just trying to survive each day without breaking down and crying, just like my first few years on my own.

“Syr doesn’t…” I bite my tongue. It’s been so long since I last did that! “I can’t control vampires very well. There’s like this thing, a soul or spirit or something, that gets in the way. I don’t really know how it all works but if you let me control you, I might be able to make it work. It’ll probably feel-”

“Syr,” she interrupts me, her sparkling blue eyes flashing with bright purple light, sending shocks through my nerves. “You should know the monster that you are dealing with…”

She continues but the words aren’t as important as what it is that she’s saying without words. I can’t read people normally, they have complex expressions and are always doing things that don’t make much sense, there are always phrases that I don’t quite get or expressions that I’m unfamiliar with.

But right now, I understand her perfectly.

Right now, she’s not acting like a person.

She leans closer to me, her posture fluid where it was stiff before. If she was like a tower made of stone, unshifting no matter how anyone pushed against her, now she’s taking on the grace of a predator on the hunt, and it is not simply an imitation. Her tone has lowered to be as cold as the ice that consumes her body, and her hands curl around the air as if gripping something not yet there, or perhaps even clawing at my flesh though she hasn’t yet touched me.

The sharp fangs that show through her lips are longer now than they were, or maybe I just couldn’t notice them before. Hungry eyes settle on me still glowing bright, the natural blue of her eyes tinted with red from some strange magic resulting in eyes that glow purple in the low light of the candles scattered around the room.

She’s a hunter and she sees me as prey, that’s what she wants to show me, and it’s not a lie.

She is a predator.

I am prey to her.

But there is something more than that.

Something is holding her back, invisible chains that she doesn’t want to show but are made visible by her very real hunger. Like the prey caught in a spider’s web highlighting the shimmering threads that hold it aloft.

What happens if I get closer?

Will the hunter be let loose, or will those invisible chains pull back further?

I stand up, our chairs already close, I take a step closer still. The shine in her eyes brightens with excitement and her teeth seem to grow a little longer before those invisible chains dig into her, pulling her back. I take one step closer still, standing right beside her, and the conflict in her grows worse. She wants to bite me, to drink my blood, but the invisible chains she binds herself with pull her further away until she’s crowded herself on the side of the chair furthest from me. A chair much too big in the first place.

I turn around and fill the space that she’s made for me.

She flinches, a shiver passing through her before she becomes perfectly still again, her hands pressed firmly onto her lap as she gazes away from me and into the fire.

“Ah, maybe don’t goad her,” Lothar suggests from the back of the room chuckling at me. Adeleya is gripping her staff tight while Theo is just about ready to stand up and do something to intervene.

“It’s okay, she won’t do anything,” I say, nudging her side with my elbow. “She’s not like the other vampires.”

“I’m just as much of a monster,” she whispers, returning to that cold expression but this time I feel like I get it a little bit more. It’s almost like she’s throwing a tantrum because she didn’t get what she wanted when she was showing me the ‘vampire’ part of herself. She’d be pouting if she wasn’t putting so much effort into keeping her face so even.

It’s not usually so easy to get along with people, but maybe part of that is because I have to keep my necromancy secret from them. Whenever I meet a new person, I have to wonder what they’ll think of me after the secret is out, but that’s not true with Christina. She already knows, and she doesn’t hate me for it.

I don’t have to hold myself back like I do with everyone else. I know that I probably should, but nothing bad has happened so far, and it’s not like we’ll be in this city for long anyway. If I do make her hate me, it’s not like it’ll be half as difficult as when I had the falling out with Adeleya.

“You’re cold,” I say, moving around to get comfortable in the seat. She’s cold even through the many layers of her dress and I think she’s getting even colder. I know that the undead don’t have to be warm, but she feels completely different from my other ‘friends’ who are all the same temperature as the air around them. It’s almost like she’s proving that she’s still alive, so that when someone touches her they feel something, compared to the neutral decay of a corpse.

“I am,” she replies with a small shrug, turning toward me. We’re much closer now than we were before and her lips glitter brightly as she twitches.

Lothar clears his throat, looking at the two of us.

“There is something else we wanted to ask about,” Nadia says, her brow creased as she looks at me. I don’t really get what that expression is supposed to mean, even though I’ve spent so long with her. It’s one of those complex things where she doesn’t like what I’m doing but she doesn’t want to outright say it.

Nadia is still so obsessed with Cildr.

The town is gone and no matter what we do we can’t bring any of it back. The dead are gone forever, and revenge doesn’t bring them back. Obsessing over them doesn’t bring any of it back. It’s more important to grip onto the things we still have and make sure that we don’t lose any more to the violence.

Nadia isn’t going to let this go. She’ll keep chasing it until she realizes how much she still has to lose.

“You don’t know anything about it?” Nadia slumps down as Christina shakes her head.

“I do not. I know nothing of any æther wells or ancient ruins, or why the other vampires may be after them,” she seems thoughtful as she considers it a while longer. “I know precious little about the vampires here, but that means that it should be easy to convey that knowledge.

“How well do you understand the politics of this city?”

“The nobles rule over the land and the royals rule over the nobles,” Lothar says, leaning on the back of Adeleya’s chair. “That’s about it.”

“Then I will explain. I suspect that Aldramodore leads the vampires in this city, though I cannot deny the possibility of someone still higher than him, and they are deeply tied into the politics of this city. This city is a mess of factions that seem almost entirely separate from one another. Aldramodore is one of the few taking action across all divides.”

“What do you mean ‘across all divides’?” Adeleya asks, leaning forward on her staff as she looks between me and the vampire.

“The commoners, including mercenaries such as you; the nobility, like me; and the royalty above us all. There is a clear divide between each group, and it is the odd exception that crosses the divides between them,” she lists and explains. “Criminal organisations would normally function in the realm of commoners, but this vampiric organisation has its fangs deep within the noble class, and I do not think that they come from us, but instead the royalty themselves. Aldramodore, my sire and the most powerful vampire I am aware of, has some influence in the royal castle, as I understand it.”

“So, what?” Lothar asks, “The nobles mess around with the commoners all the time, don’t they?”

“They do not,” Christina shakes her head firmly. “The nobility is so far disconnected from the rest of the common class that it is difficult to believe. I still struggle to believe it. Understand that the nobility is still of a mind to war with not only the northerners but the entire norkit race, treaties be damned. They are still seen as a lesser race that should at best be treated like slaves.”

“But that makes no sense,” Lothar shakes his head with a laugh. “The knights would be out slaughtering them in the streets if that was the case.”

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“It isn’t so simple,” Christina explains. “It is proof of the divide, almost as if we live in separate cities sitting atop one another. It is simple to ignore the problem. Simply do not look outside of your carriage windows as you rush through town, as that is the only chance for a noble to cross paths with a commoner. Our worlds are that far separate from one another.

“Finally, the royals signed a treaty to free the norkit to end the last war and the nobility are forced to obey, nominally speaking, at least. If we were to openly slaughter them in the streets, then…”

Her face shatters, filling the air with shimmering sparkles that burn away before they touch the ground. She’s healed again so fast that it’s easy to think that what I’ve seen was an illusion.

“My family was keeping slaves, and I strongly suspect that my father was conspiring to start another war with the north. It may even be why we were punished as we were. If that is the case, then I would say that we were even deserving of judgement, but I do not believe that Aldramodore acted out of any sense of justice.

“The nobles want a war, the commoners just want to live, and the royal family wants… something. Something in the ruins? Something from the vampires? It is impossible for us to unravel this mystery with what little information we have and learning anything more would be impossible without putting ourselves at greater risk by crossing those who are far too powerful,” she shakes her head.

“So, it is the guys in the big castle that are responsible for everything?” I ask, sitting up straight. I knew that they’d be the most powerful here, and of course, the vampires are either the most powerful or servants to the most powerful people.

“Yes, and they are powerful beyond your understanding,” Christina says, her words biting more than before. “It is the reason that I intend to flee this city. Even Aldramodore himself, as terrible a threat as he is, is not reason enough for me to leave. We must go somewhere there is still potential for something good to grow. I refuse to be steward over a decaying corpse of something that could have once been greater.”

“To return to my earlier request. I will need you to give me orders, we must test how much influence you can have over me.”

“You’re willingly submitting yourself to Syr?” Adeleya asks, she glances toward me, gripping her staff tight. I don’t think she likes the idea of me using my necromancy, even like this. While she’s phrasing it to make it seem like she cares about the nobility issue, but I know it’s about my magic again. It’s always about my magic.

“As I’ve already said, I have no intent of being made a slave,” Christina explains, her stiff expression turning even colder. It’s not like she’s pulling away entirely, and the hungry parts of her aren’t entirely gone, but the invisible chains that were holding her back before have pulled the hunger down below the skin.

What else is she hiding deep down?

And how can I crack it open?

She’s strange, but she’s pretty. Prettier than anyone I’ve ever met. That and when she shows her teeth I understand her so much easier than anyone else, and I want to get to know her a little more clearly. What would she be like if she were honest like that all of the time?

Could I fall for her like I did for Adeleya?

Would I end up getting hurt again?

“-so I have invited you in the hopes that you would help me.”

I wasn’t listening again.

“What order should I give you?” I ask, placing my hand on hers where it is resting on her lap. Her fingers tighten around mine as she glances down at me. She is a little taller, everyone is, but she’s not a giant like some of the others.

“We need to test the limits of your power over me,” she says. “If you could perhaps give me something simple to test your magic?”

“Ah… okay.”

The first thoughts in my mind are things that I’m sure would make her unhappy, her or Theo and the others. I could crack through her cold expression if I ordered her to open up or to show me her violent side again, but that would bother everyone, and it wouldn’t be good for anything. I could also make her do something ridiculous like kissing me, but I don’t think that’s any good either.

It needs to be something that she isn’t likely to do normally, but something that she won’t get grumpy at me about either.

Wait, that thought about kissing… Do I want that?

Kind of.

I guess I should do something about that. I could just ignore these feelings, but what’s the point in that? There’s a good chance that we’re not going to meet again after I leave this city, so it’s not like it could go so terribly wrong that it messes with all my life plans, especially if I do run away to the city over the mountains.

That’s for later, right now I need to give her some sort of order.

I push my necromantic magic into her hands. It’s just like the other times that I’ve controlled vampires, and I can even feel something stirring inside her resisting the magic just a little bit.

“Punch me,” I order her. It’s something that she wouldn’t normally do, but we can see how effectively the order sinks into her from this.

It takes not a moment for the words to take effect, and she sits up almost immediately. She raises one hand, balling it into a fist before throwing a punch at me with all of her weight. It’s an awkward angle for an attack, and as enthusiastic as she is about it, her form is terrible.

Her fist hits my shoulder, but I don’t think it’ll even bruise. Definitely not through the padded armour that I’m wearing.

Christina put so much into the attack that she slides out of the chair, I reach out to catch her before she hits the ground. Her entire body is as cold as her hands, but she’s incredibly light, even with all the layers in her dress, almost as many as is in my armour. Her expression is unmoving, but the time it takes her to find her own feet proves that she’s still a little put off by it all.

I could even see through her eyes a little bit, like with Crow.

“So, how was that?” I ask. It’s difficult to tell how she feels about it when she’s got that stiff expression again.

“It was an… efficient test,” she says, still fixing her hair. “It seems that you have the ability to overwhelm my own will.”

“It only worked because you didn’t fight back,” I say. “The other vampires I tried that on were able to resist me.”

Her lips turn up in a smile, fragments shattering and then healing again, but it’s the same distant expression she’s been wearing this whole time. It’s fake. Whatever she feels, it’s something that she doesn’t want to show me.

I wonder what it would be like kissing someone whose lips are cold as ice. Would it hurt?

She’d be nice and cool in the hot summer, too. Would it be difficult to cuddle her, or does she soften up at all? It would probably be rude to ask. How should I go about trying to ask her about things like that?

I look over at Lothar, but his attention is focused on the vampire, too.

I should ask him for advice. My only experience at this sort of thing is with Adeleya and that didn’t go very well at all. I don’t mind if things go bad between us, as long as we don’t try to kill each other, so there’s nothing to lose in trying. I just need to figure out how to ‘try’ exactly.

She looks down at me, asking a question, I just nod.

“Then we’ll accept your offer,” Theo says. “Are we sparring in the evening?”

“As the sun dies,” she nods affirmatively.

“Wait, what are we doing?” I sit up.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

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