— Reginald Halford, “The Dark Side of Alchemy”, page 3
Mina walked silently, as if the ground were made of cotton. At the opposite end of an alley, a maiden lay limp, staring at the stone awning overhead with glazed eyes. Her intestines had spilled out in a mushy pile, and a vampire was crouched over her, devouring her like a rabid animal. He had a feral look in his eyes to match. They were like Mina’s: Silver.
He was a half-blood from the looks of it. He lacked the high cheekbones, sharp eyes, and the overall regal countenance that most purebloods were born with. The vampire’s skin was also sloughed, split, curled, and blistered. What little remained of his clothes hung tattered and scorched.
Mina narrowed her eyes. The only thing she saw as a concern was the dagger tucked under his belt. It shouldn’t be a problem, though. He was trapped beneath the awning's shade. It wouldn’t be until evening that he would be able to leave its safety, and with how poorly healed his skin was so far, he’d fry in an instant.
To Mina, he was as harmless as a housefly.
She could kill him in one shot, but she needed answers. If he had simply kidnapped and sucked a few people dry, it wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. But to massacre an entire town? Burn it all to the ground?
Mina holstered her gun as she approached quietly. No need to appear as a threat. “Rough night?” she finally said.
The vampire sprang to his feet. He flexed his fingers, poised to strike with his pointed nails. As his gaze rested on Mina’s eyes, though, he relaxed and straightened his posture. “Where in the hell did you come from?” he asked, blood dribbling from his mouth.
“Answer my question first.”
The vampire scoffed and shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just say things took an unexpected turn, consequences unforeseen. But sometimes, in the pursuit of greater goals, sacrifices, however unintended, become inevitable.”
Mina crossed her arms. “This was all an accident then?”
The vampire tilted his head, his tone remaining nonchalant, almost detached. “Accident implies a lack of intention, my dear. I prefer to see it as a redirection of fate, and it seems fate has led you to me. Just in time, too. More help would be appreciated.”
“Trapped, aren’t you?”
“Quite. And unfortunately so. You wouldn’t happen to have a spare cloak, would you?”
She slowly lifted her hat from her head and held it aside. “Not like I really need mine.”
“A Daywalker? My, isn’t this a stroke of luck. What is your name?”
“Mina,” she said calmly.
“Emeric. I must say, I didn’t expect Master Draven would send anyone else, but I’m grateful. Could use another helping hand.”
Mina’s heart skipped a beat. Draven Theodgar? The mere thought of his name twisted her face with anger. She glanced away and tilted her head down so the brim of her fedora would partially conceal her expression. She forced a smile. “He didn’t mention what I’d be helping with.”
“With finding the Conduit. It’d be easier to find a black cat in a coal cellar.”
A chill ran through Mina’s body. The Conduit? She kept her composure.
“I took my time observing the children, but Conduits don’t look any different than all the others. I was hoping one of them would give me a sign, a powerful spell, an aura of magic, anything.” A smile crept up his face. He winced. “But yesterday one of them did.”
“You found the Conduit?”
“Yes. A sixteen-year-old girl. Emily. Had her in the palm of my hand, but she’s slippery, like a fish from the river,” he said with a growl. “But all this…” he gestured vaguely, “This… carnage wasn’t my doing. Well, not all of it. The Conduit, she was running, flames spewing from her like a furnace. I pursued her to the factory, but lost her there.”
“You don’t know which way she went?”
“It doesn’t matter which way she went. I’ll find her eventually. I have a plan, you see. The girls' parents, I turned them. Returned to their residence before dawn and made them like me. It might take some convincing, but they’ll help me lure her in. She’ll trust her parents.”
Mina glanced around. “Where are they?”
“Hiding in the shade of the bar just down the street. Need to wait till nightfall before we can continue the hunt. Got a bit carried away feeding myself.”
A cold, dark hand grasped at Mina’s heart. Sixteen years. The number was a punch to the chest. The last Conduit had been dead for sixteen years, and another Conduit was on the loose. She needed to find her before the purebloods. If she didn’t, they’d end up right back where they last had been. Just the thought of it was enough to push her over the edge. Mina couldn’t contain the bubbling emotions any longer. She glared back at Emeric with piercing eyes, her hand hovering over her revolver. Emeric looked at her holstered weapon, then back at her. Realization dawned on his face.
“You’re not with Master Draven, are you?” he said, keeping a calm demeanor.
Mina didn’t say anything.
Emeric flexed his fingers, poising to strike. “You’ll be dead before you draw. I’m faster than any bullet.”
Mina didn’t say anything.
Emeric growled and dashed at Mina in a zigzag pattern. He drew his dagger and slashed at her. In a flash, she sidestepped and quickfired from the hip. Emeric screamed in pain, stumbling against a faded brick wall.
“Not fast enough, it seems,” Mina said quietly.
Blood gushed between the vampire’s fingers as he pressed his hand against his stomach. “You munting bitch,” he said in a low, raspy voice, hurling his dagger at Mina.
CLASH!
The dagger twirled off her gun with a metallic whine, clanging against the cobblestone. Mina held back a grin as the smugness drained from Emeric’s face.
“He’ll come for you,” he said weakly.
Mina tilted her head. “Good. He’ll save me the trouble.” She kicked, and the vampire crashed into the sunlight. His cries were inhuman. He thrashed violently, desperately trying to crawl back into the shade, but Mina slammed her boot into his back. Bone cracked beneath her weight, and Emeric sputtered in pain. As his skin sizzled and bubbled like overcooked bacon, his screams died down until there was nothing left but a skeletal husk.
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Mina stowed her weapons and lit a cigarette with the snap of her fingers. She waved the flame on her fingertip away and puffed the cigarette as she knelt over, pulling the vampire’s fangs from its skull.
Draven Theodgar. The very thought of him left her mouth bitter and brought her blood to a boil. Her heart was beating fast, the tip of her cigarette jittering a tiny bit. Did his name really have that much influence over her? A storm brewed in her mind, a hurricane of certainty and uncertainty. Queen Lockhart was looking for the next Conduit, but where and who would it be? Emeric had said the Conduit fled. It was plausible she was still nearby if they were the Conduit at all. Looking out at the street, there weren’t nearly as many dead as she would expect for a town like this. Perhaps the Conduit had fled with the other survivors. She likely passed her in the crowd coming into Linchester and didn’t even realize it. Mina squeezed her eyes shut, drew deep, and blew out a fast jet of smoke. She couldn’t leave quite yet. There was one other issue she now needed to deal with.
She crossed the street to the bar and slowly pushed the door open. The window had been shattered, but most of the building had remained intact. It was made from brick, unlike some of the cottages dotting the outer ring of the town. Near the bar counter, a dead body lay, blood pooling out around it.
Mina scanned the dimly lit room, but didn’t see any immediate signs that someone was here. She could, on the other hand, hear the muffled, panicked breathing of two people coming from behind the bar counter. Unarmed, she walked over. “I’m not here to hurt you,” she said.
No response.
“I know what happened to you. I just want to talk.”
Nothing.
“I promise, I just want to help.”
Slowly, a man rose over the counter. He was shaking, naked, holding his hands up in surrender. With how badly he was burned, it was a miracle he could stand in the first place. The pain had to be unbearable. His skin was flaking off, pockmarked with blisters, swells, and splits. And yet, the skin was healing. The burns were gradually vanishing. It was slow, hardly noticeable, but it was happening. At the rate at which it was healing, Mina calculated their skin would be back to normal in a matter of hours. As horrible as it was to see, it was a good sign. If he hadn’t fully healed by now, he hadn’t drunk enough blood, or any at all.
“Please… we didn’t hurt anyone.” His fangs were elongated, and the silver in his iris gleamed from the sunlight reflecting off the broken glass across the floor. “H-He was killed… that other vampire… h-he wanted us to drink his blood… w-we didn’t…”
“I know,” Mina said calmly. “And that’s why I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You’re a monster hunter…”
Mina’s lips parted, revealing her own fangs.
“Y-You’re… a vampire too?”
“I know the hunger gnawing at you. Feels overwhelming. Like you’re drowning.”
The man shook his head, wincing at the pain across his skin. “W-We can’t… t-that’s… another person…”
Mina nodded, taking a drag. “Good. You need to keep staving it off. Like someone is trying to drive a dagger through your heart, push it away with all your might.” She reached for her belt and removed two vials of blood, uncorcking them. “Drink this instead. It’s sheep's blood. Doesn’t matter where it comes from; you need to have some. Give one to your wife. She’s behind the counter with you, right?”
The man hesitantly nodded and took the flasks. His hands shook as he reached beneath the counter, passing one of the vials along. He then brought the tube to his lips, hesitated again, and gulped it down. In an instant, his eyes shot wide. He took a long, deep breath, standing up straight as adrenaline raced throughout his body. He was completely relaxed. Whatever tension or strain had plagued it had washed away in an instant. The blisters and splits were rapidly replaced with pale skin.
“What is this?” he glanced down at himself.
“Survival,” Mina said calmly, then handed two tablecloths to the man. “Cover yourselves. I’ll find you proper clothes soon, but first, we need to talk.”
The man passed one of the tablecloths down below the bar, and after a moment, a woman rose, wrapped in it. Her body had healed just like the man's. “If that was just sheep’s blood, I honestly can’t imagine what human blood would do,” he said. “I can’t even imagine drinking it. To do that to someone…”
“Why are you helping us?” the woman asked.
“Answer me first. Are you holding it together?”
“N-No, we’re not alright…” the man muttered. “Look at us. Look at this mess.”
“I get it.” Mina took a seat at the bar. “I’ve been where you are. But right now, I need you to pull it together. What are your names?”
“Arthur,” the man said. “Arthur Wistaria. And this is Clara, my wife.”
“Your daughter, what was her name?”
“Emily,” Clara quickly said. “I-Is she alive?”
“I think so. That vampire who did this to you is gone. She’s safe from him.”
“He said he wanted us to help him hunt her down,” Arthur exclaimed. “H-He said if we didn’t—”
“Forget him,” Mina cut in. “He was a scout for Draven Theodgar, a pureblood working for Queen Valerie Lockhart.”
“Pureblood?” Arthur said.
“Born vampires. The Queen of the Vampires is hunting for ‘The Conduit,’ someone with raw magical power. That scout thought it was your daughter, and looking around, I’ll believe him. If Draven finds her, she’s as good as dead.”
“But… she got away,” Clara said desperately, her voice quivering. “That’s what you said. She escaped.”
“For now. Emeric wasn’t alone. There are more scouts out there.”
“We need to find her!” Clara said, jumping to her feet.
“You can’t,” Mina said.
“She’s our daughter,” Arthur said. “We can’t just leave her to be captured.”
“You have your own issue to deal with first.”
“What do you mean?”
Mina took a long drag of her cigarette and gestured to the oversized mirror behind them, spanning the length of the bar. They were all but invisible in it’s reflection, save for the tablecloths wrapped tightly around their bodies.
“W-We’re just monsters now?” Arthur stuttered.
“Fangs don’t make you a monster. Giving in to the bloodlust does. You’ve got a choice: fight it, or become what you fear. Right now, the safest thing for you is to travel by night. Head to Moonbúry, and catch a ship to Alnwick Island.”
“Why?” Clara asked.
“It’s where all the vampires go. It’s a hellhole, but it’s safer than staying here on the mainland.”
“We can’t just abandon our daughter!”
“I’ll find her,” Mina reassured her. “I swear it. She’ll be safer with me. I’m a daywalker; I can move faster, find her quicker. Even if you were to dress from head to toe, you’d still slow me down in my search.”
Arthur stared back at Mina. “How do we know you won’t just turn her in to the Queen?”
Mina raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t be too upset at the comment, though. She may have just given them a chance at life, but they were freshly turned, likely a bit hysterical. “If I were one of Lockhart’s dogs, you’d already be dead. She wants your daughter because she’s a threat to our kind, and that ain’t such a bad thing. If I find Emily, I’ll keep her safe, train her to fight back. No more Conduits will fall to them, not on my watch.”
Arthur and Clara exchanged a glance, then nodded. “Alright,” they said in unison.
Mina nodded. “If you truly want to help your daughter, there’s a way.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll do it,” Arthur said.
“I don’t know where Draven’s hiding, and I can’t go to Alnwick. But you can. When you get there, find Baroness Verena Holt, the castellan. Request to work under Draven. Play the part, blend in. If he captures Emily, you’ll be there to break her out. If I find her first, we’ll come for him together, and you can help us.”
Clara swallowed hard. “That sounds… dangerous.”
“It is,” Mina said bluntly. “High risks, high reward. If they figure out who Emily is to you, they’ll use you to get to her. You need to be sharp.”
Arthur’s expression hardened. “We can do it.”
“Travel at night. You’ll be stronger, safer. Despite what you may read in books, people won’t immediately turn on you if they discover what you are. They’ll be too afraid to act, and some would rather flee. If ever you’re discovered, take that opportunity to run and hide. Don’t get into conflict.”
“Right,” Arthur nodded. “We’ll be sure too. I can promise you won’t find us at the end of your sword.”
“I pray that I won’t. Cling to your humanity, remember to watch your strength and your speed. Act as you normally would.” Mina withdrew the pouch of coins from her inner coat pocket. “Here. Use this to get as far as you can. You’ll make it.”
“Thank you,” Arthur said. “Truly.”
“Who knows, maybe your daughter is still in Linchester with the other survivors.”
She wasn’t.
After helping Arthur and Clara to Linchester, Mina searched the towns, the fields, the forests, the planes, and the valleys surrounding Pillio’s Watch. She asked the survivors if they had seen the girl or if they knew where she might have fled. They mentioned a girl whose hands were glowing like embers, but she had vanished. Not a soul knew where she had gone. Mina returned to the Wisteria residence only to find it nothing more than a pile of white ash and cinder. There was no trail, no scent, nothing. It was as if she didn’t exist at all. If there was a trail, it had burned up with the rest of the town. All Mina could find were ghouls drawn in by the mass stench of corpses. She eliminated them, found their nest, and thankfully, there were no signs of Emily having been taken by them.
The girl was well and truly gone, like a whisper in the wind.
When the last ghoul had been slain, she took a moment to think, but couldn’t quell that relentless, churning anger inside her. A Conduit was dead, and another had been born. Draven was on the prowl. Yet, it was strange. She would have expected there to be more sightings, but in recent years, vampires had been showing up less frequently. He must be keeping more to the shadows this time. It won’t be so easy to find him then. Between Draven and the Conduit, only one question was on her mind.
Where were they?
I have a question for you writers our there (and readers too I suppose), do y’all listen to music while you read/write? I listen to a lot of instrumental music because I find it easier to focus without lyrics distracting me. Bonnie Grace, Rok Nardin, Nox Arcana, and Evan Call are just some of the artists that I listen to. I’m curious to hear what you guys listen to, because I’m always looking for new artists to help bring me inspiration :)
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