Chapter 33: Everything That You Fear

Prayer, Disturbed

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Despite following him for several days now, Markus hadn’t done anything particularly incriminating. Lilith had been tailing him off and on with the hope that sooner or later, he’d tell her exactly what he was doing here, and what it was that Miss Hell had sent him here for (Lilith wasn’t stupid enough to think this had nothing to do with Miss Hell). Lilith’s reasons for disliking Miss Hell and wanting to rip her apart were quite simple; Miss Hell turned Caleb. Caleb didn’t take it well. That meant, more or less, Miss Hell had hurt Caleb. And that just didn’t fly very well in Lilith’s book.

Nobody was allowed to make Caleb’s life hell except her, okay? And she didn’t even tolerate that sort of thing from herself, to be honest.

Lilith had been after Miss Hell’s hide since the 1700s when Caleb had first turned. Making buddy-buddy friends with Vladislaus hadn’t necessarily been on the list of things to do, but it was more of an incidental side-effect. He was the first vampire she’d found that wasn’t Miss Hell, or one of Miss Hell’s friends. He wasn’t her favourite person, but he could’ve been worse to have as a sire.

They didn’t always agree, but neither did Lilith always disagree with him like some thought. Their relationship was a little more complicated than it sounded like it should be. He was like a cranky grandfather half the time. The other half of the time, Lilith really wanted to wring his neck. It was a whole ordeal that, primarily, Lilith didn’t think about too much. The semantics of it had never mattered to her before, that wasn’t going to change now. Their strange relationship would simply have to remain strange.

She was aware, if only because he’d told her more than once, that Vladislaus did not necessarily agree with her messing around stalking Markus Crow. Of course, she thought he found her apparent rivalry with Miss Hell hilarious, but that was likely because, well, he was evil that way, to be frank. Conflict of most forms was fascinating and delightful to him, and while Lilith couldn’t understand why, she sort of understood the semantics behind finding such things fascinating. It was one part the conflict, perhaps, and another part that he seemed to think they were fighting over which one of them got the joy of being his successor.

It was Lilith. He could try and pretend it was still up for debate, but Vladislaus couldn’t stand Miss Hell any more than anyone else could. The fact he’d decided that Lilith was his successor and heir was no secret to anyone.

Most of the time, Markus stayed within the boundaries of Forgotten Hollow. Once in a while, he got a little close to Granite Falls, but for some reason seemed to have troubles being too close to those boundaries. Lilith herself felt a little short of breath near it, and a strong urge to turn back around. Given she wasn’t even an evil vampire, she did have to wonder what it would be like if an evil vampire tried to walk in the boundary. Was there some kind of supernatural force driving bad vampires out? That was a curious thing, at least to her it was. There were a lot of things going on and at play here that Lilith barely understood, but she certainly wanted to.

This time, Markus had gotten too close to Granite Falls, but then he’d redirected and seemed to be attempting to go around it. Like what he was after wasn’t Granite Falls itself, but something on the other side of it. Lilith quickly tried to remember what all was nearby, but she was coming up with mostly blanks. And then, of course, she remembered that she’d go this way a long time ago, several decades by now in fact, to skirt around Granite Falls and its strange unwelcoming feeling, to make it to Glimmerbrook.

Markus having any business in Glimmerbrook was even more interesting. Lilith made sure to keep to the shadows, and not to follow him at too close of a proximity. So far, he hadn’t noticed her presence, but over the years, she’d gotten quite good at masking it. Markus was good, of course, but she didn’t think he was good enough to sense her around the masking. It wasn’t as strong a masking as it could be, surely some vampire or another would eventually be able to sense around it, or perhaps even a spellcaster could, but it got the job done.

As she followed him into the boundaries of Glimmerbrook, she noticed that he seemed to be looking for something. This was the same as tailing him around Forgotten Hollow. The more Lilith watched and followed him, the more she was quite sure there was a specific reason he was here. She was right, then, and he was definitely up to something. She had very few ideas as to what he could be after, unless for some reason, this had less to do with the situation in the Hollow, and more to do with the spellcasters.

Quite some time ago, if she remembered rightly, the vampires and spellcasters almost ended up at war with one another. Actually, the vampires and spellcasters had almost ended up at war with one another many times over the centuries, and if one should so desire to pit them against each other, it would not be difficult to say the least of it. What exactly the purpose of that would be, that Lilith had no answer for. Unless the purpose was merely for it to serve as a distraction, and of course, such a distraction would be a very notable and large one, and quite possibly last long enough that someone could do just about anything they wanted and no one would necessarily notice.

Lilith considered this, and also considered talking to the Embers, because they might know more about this than she did, but then she looked up again, and Markus was gone. Lilith glanced around, trying to find him, reaching out with her senses, even. He’d just vanished. Damn it, that was the fifth time in the last few days she’d lost track of him.

What was he doing exactly?

* * *

Though it was frustrating and Lilith was irritated, there was no sense in hanging around too long. There were several times over the years when vampires were decidedly unwelcome in Glimmerbrook. The denizens of the quiet little village used to have a notable penchant for setting vampires on fire, and that was the most Emberish thing Lilith had ever heard of, and it started long before the Embers.

If nothing else, maybe she should return to the Hollow long enough to inform Vladislaus of what she was seeing. Then again, he never seemed to care one way or another about what Miss Hell and her cronies were up to. Actually, he seemed to find more amusement in it than anything and mostly left them to their own devices because of the minor chaos they tended to create. Lilith wasn’t much one for chaos. She preferred situations and people that she could mostly make sense of and were predictable to at least some extent.

One of the reasons why Vladislaus frustrated her was because he had a slight chaos to him. Sometimes he had patterns and they made sense, but other times he did whatever he damned well pleased. That was all well and good, but it wasn’t great for trying to plan around. It was also possible that Lilith simply thought too much.

As she made her way back towards Granite Falls, retracing the path that Markus had taken, she distinctly felt like something was off somehow. It was a strange feeling to get, but she never distrusted her instincts before. She almost wanted to run, but that seemed like a bad idea at the moment. If she hadn’t already drawn attention to herself, there was no reason to do so now.

But, the further on she went, the clearer it became that there was someone following her now. She wondered, briefly, if it was Markus, and then began to try and figure out if she could turn the tables and end up following him instead. Of course, that would be much easier if she had mist form, but she still hadn’t learnt that particular trick. The longer she sensed the presence behind her, however, the more sure she became that it was a spellcaster.

Lilith glanced up, and then darted to one side, and pulled herself up into a tree, and waited. Soon enough, the spellcaster that was following her came up across the path, glancing around. “I know you’re still here,” he said. “What have you been up to all this time, I wonder?”

Wait, all this time? She’d only just gotten here.

“Vampires aren’t supposed to be snooping around Glimmerbrook, and I don’t know what you’re so interested in, but this stops now,” the man said.

Lilith tilted her head. He seemed to think she was the one hanging around. Well, if she was following Markus, didn’t that mean she was also a little too present? Vampires really weren’t supposed to be hanging around in Glimmerbrook. (She thought there was some kind of a peace treaty that literally said that, but it’d been a long time now.)

“Come out, demon,” the man said, shuffling a little further down the path. “And maybe I won’t kill you for being here.”

Lilith’s eyes narrowed. She had no interest in getting into a scuffle with a spellcaster. Judging by the way he felt, he had a decently strong bloodline, too. That wouldn’t be a very good outcome for her, that was for sure. It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle herself, she could. She simply had no interest in going toe to toe with a spellcaster of his particular calibre. That was not only somewhat dangerous for her, but it would also be very dangerous for him.

As she was debating what exactly to do in this situation, a bright burst of light slammed into the tree branch she was on. Lilith instinctively flipped out of it onto the ground. The man smirked.

“I thought that’s where you were,” he said. “How about we put an end to this?” Magic pooled at his fingertips.

“I’m not who you think I am,” Lilith said, quickly, her hands raising defensively.

“Of course you are!” the man argued. “No other vampires have been around here.”

“There’s a second one, and I’ve been following him!” Lilith explained.

“Enough!” The magic unleashed, and Lilith jumped backwards, out of the way, and then to the side. He only fired again. Lilith had no interest in fighting him, not now, maybe not ever, but he seemed determined not to give her any other choice. Instead of debating the situation too much, Lilith turned around, and rocketed off through the trees. He unleashed several curse words behind her, but she kept running.

With any luck, she’d be too fast for him to keep up with and somewhere in between here and the edge of Granite Falls, she’d lose him. He seemed to be using magic to augment his speed, however, because he was keeping up better than she had been hoping. Several times, Lilith had to redirect her trajectory to prevent herself from being hit by ice spikes or bolts of lightning. Whoever he was, he’d learnt from Morgyn pretty well. Unfortunate that Morgyn wasn’t here right now, but it was also perhaps for the best that he wasn’t.

One hand raised, catching a low tree branch and throwing herself to the side. He hadn’t been expecting that, and slid across the grass, struggling just slightly to redirect himself after her. Lilith kept moving, but then realised just ahead of her was the cliff that dropped off into Granite Falls. Lilith quickly raised another hand, grasping the first low branch she could and threw herself a different direction. The man spluttered in irritation, but followed her the same.

Well, maybe she could shake him off her trail if she just ran in circles long enough. Sooner or later, he should get tired. Neither his physical energy, nor his magical energy, could last as long as her own.

* * *

He had more stamina than it seemed like he should. This reality was vexing to Lilith, because it was the only thing she could think of to shake him off her trail. The only other thing to do, she figured, was resort to using mind manipulation; vampire magic was primarily rooted in the manipulation of varying mental processes. Ergo, altering one’s perception, memory manipulation, emotional manipulation, and so on. There were just as many vampires that used their abilities for good things as there were those that used them for ill. Lilith was somewhere in the middle of them. She tried to do good with it, but there were times when you just had to knock a bitch out.

Lilith, after all, was the monster, so that Caleb didn’t need to be.

By now, they had to have been chasing each other for close to an hour. It probably just felt like a longer amount of time than it actually was, but still. This spellcaster wasn’t letting off her trail, and she had no idea what else to do to throw him off. Mostly, she was running, and hoping that something came to mind eventually, some great grand idea. Unless she could somehow get him close enough to the portal that led into magic realm to shove him into it, but she wasn’t so sure that was going to work, either.

Continually, she changed direction, choosing a random one every time. As they went, however, she had fewer and fewer choices for changing directions, and suddenly there was a wall of ice in front of her. Quickly, she shifted directions again, but the ice wall zipped that way, too. Seemed the spellcaster had started using his head, and decided to trap her.

Lilith glanced from one of the ice walls, to the other, thinking. How was she supposed to-that was stupid, and Lilith immediately shifted into a bat, intending to fly over the walls and escape the trap. The spellcaster had other plans, throwing a bolt of energy at her. She loosed a screech, slammed into one of the ice walls, and hit the ground, human again.

“I’ve studied enough about vampires to know how to counter bat form of all things,” the spellcaster said, sounding annoyed. “You’re kind of cute for a demon.”

“Vampires aren’t demons,” Lilith said.

“Close enough for me,” he answered. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I told you,” Lilith said, sitting up. “There’s a vampire hanging around here and I want to know why he’s here.”

The spellcaster snorted. “Sure.” He had a medium skin tone, a very impressive nose, dark brown hair, and what looked like purple eyes. Maybe it was the lighting. Then again, spellcasters had inbred for a long time and some strange mutations had occurred during that time-frame. If his bloodline was strong enough for Lilith to sense it, he probably had a very interesting and slightly convoluted family tree, but that was none of her business.

“I don’t have a reason to lie,” Lilith said.

“Oh, all vampires say that, don’t they then?” the spellcaster said. “I wouldn’t expect any of you to tell the truth, to be sure. Your kind don’t seem to have any use for the truth.”

“Past a point, however, telling the truth is the only thing that’s left to do,” Lilith said. “When you get to be my age, it’s just easier to be honest. I can’t be bothered to remember lies.”

“Enough,” the spellcaster interrupted, sounding irritated. He didn’t bother saying anything else, simply straightened up and threw a lighting bolt.

Instinctively, Lilith raised her arms to shield herself, intending to create a psychic barrier that should theoretically stop the bolt. In the barrier’s place, a bolt of psychic energy shot across the space to crash into the lightning. The electrical charge wasn’t nearly strong enough to stop Lilith’s psychic energy. The second bolt shredded through the first, crashing into the spellcaster and sending him skittering backwards across the dirt with a loud yelp.

Lilith sucked in a breath of surprise; that was exactly why she didn’t want to end up fighting with him. She shook her head, more to herself, and then ran over to him, falling beside him. He didn’t move. Lilith waited a moment, watching him breathe, at the very least, and then shook him. “Come on, get up,” she said. “You’re fighting off a terrible vampire monster, right? Monster fighters don’t lie down on the job! Unless it’s to be funny!”

And, if one asked Lilith, this was not funny.

Lilith raised her hand, holding it over him. It felt like the psychic bolt had done some weird mental damage. Theoretically she could undo it if she just-

A crackling sound interrupted, and Lilith immediately shot to her feet and moved out of the way. Another lightning bolt whizzed past her nose and crashed into a tree.

“Get away from my son!” a harsh voice commanded, and an older woman, she looked a good deal like this man but older, darker skin tone, greying hair, and violet eyes, just like his eyes.

“I was trying to save him-” Lilith argued, but the woman snarled at it.

“I don’t want to hear any of your pretty little lies,” she said.

“Mom, I saw it,” a voice called behind her. “Darrel attacked first!” The girl looked a bit like them in facial features, but her hair was black, her eyes grey. She sort of reminded Lilith of Ezio, and some corner of her mind relaxed at seeing her.

“These vampires think they can come and go through our territory as they please, well I say that ends now! Darrel was defending our home, like we all should!”

“I really don’t think that’s going to help-“

“Oh stop it Gemma, you’re young, you’ll understand someday,” the older woman said, and then she raised a hand and threw magic at Lilith.

Quickly, Lilith jumped backward, moving out of the way. She didn’t want to end up in this mess again-

“Run!” the girl, Gemma, cried, and she moved the older woman’s arm, redirecting the magic, and then pulled the woman’s arm against her stomach, that she couldn’t fire again. “GO! Now!”

“But I can-“

“Just go, I can’t hold her forever!”

“Gemma let go!”

As Gemma struggled with the older woman, Lilith debated in her head for a moment and then, with a loud shriek of annoyance, turned into bat, and flew away.

“Damn it, Gemma!”

* * *

“What am I supposed to do?” Lilith was saying, sounding very annoyed, as she paced around in circles in Straud manor. Vladislaus was not far, playing a game of chess, and most likely only halfway listening to her anyway.

“It is a tough situation, dear,” Vlad said, his tone indicating her assumption he wasn’t really paying attention was quite right.

Lilith released a sigh, falling over onto one of the couches and staring at the ceiling. “I could fix it, but something tells me they will have no interest in letting me anywhere near that guy again… what did they call him, Darrel or something…?”

“Darrel Charm, I presume,” Vladislaus filled in.

“You know about them?” Lilith asked, looking over at him.

Vladislaus snorted. “Oh sure,” he said. “The Charms have a bit of influence in the occult world and were known for their anti-witch-hunter hunting at one point. Ahh, revenge burnings. It was such a lovely time.”

Lilith made a face that said exactly what she thought about the mere idea of revenge burning.

“Don’t make that face, Lilith,” Vladislaus said, tutting under his breath as he moved a chess piece across the board. “You wouldn’t want to turn ugly, you’ll live forever you know. Forever is a long time to be ugly.”

Lilith rolled her eyes. He would know, she supposed. “Well, Markus Crow is hanging around Forgotten Hollow and has been making a strange habit of waltzing into Glimmerbrook’s borders,” she said. “Isn’t there a peace treaty or something that doing that violates? Miss Hell’s probably the one telling him what to do in this instance, and I can’t tell you what she thinks she wants.”

Vladislaus was quiet for a moment, pondering the pieces on the board. “Well, whatever she does with the spellcasters is none of my concern,” he said. “The spellcasters are not and have never been on my good side.”

“Creating a conflict between the vampires and the spellcasters could be catastrophic on a hitherto unknown level,” Lilith argued.

“Hitherto unknown?” Vladislaus repeated, staring at Lilith like she’d grown an extra head. “You move to the city and get into university, and suddenly you can’t speak like the rest of us, is that it?”

“Don’t get on that again,” Lilith said, rolling her eyes.

“You sound awfully high and mighty,” he answered.

“I’m taking language courses, Vlad,” Lilith replied. “Of course I do.”

Vladislaus frowned. “I think your priorities are in the wrong order. Miss Hell isn’t any of your concern, nor what she’s doing.”

“Do you remember the last time we had a conversation much like this one?” Lilith asked. “Those spellcasters are still my friends, and I am still not going to war with them.”

“Oh please, you’re being very doomsday,” Vladislaus said, his expression going flat. “As much as I would quite enjoy it if the spellcasters burned in their own mire, that’s neither here nor there. The point is, a full-out war between vampires and spellcasters is highly unlikely. The covens won’t move unless threatened, and there are unfortunately for them not nearly enough spellcasters to stand against the covens. Why, I should think just one coven would send them running for the hills, at least if they’ve any sense whatsoever.”

Lilith sighed.

“And furthermore, these spellcaster friends of yours, they’ve thus far proven to be a little bit less unintelligent than the rest of their species, I should think they’d not participate in such foolishness either.” Vladislaus raised an eyebrow. “Unless you think they would,” he added.

And truth be told, that was greatly dependent on whether or not someone made the mistake of threatening Morgyn. Theoretically, threatening Ezio would also land everyone in hot magic (ha ha, she made a funny), but there was a chance it wouldn’t, slim though it may be. The other way around, threaten Morgyn and you probably would end up with an icicle shoved up your-

“Lilith, you worry too much,” Vladislaus said, moving another chess piece. “Things turn out the way they turn out, whether we help them along or not. You’d do yourself many favours by simply letting some of these things go. What did I tell you last time? Let the spellcasters worry about spellcaster problems.”

Well, maybe Lilith had a problem with being nosy. (It wasn’t like there was anything else to do.) Besides, she still wanted Miss Hell’s hide. Preferably broiled.

She released a sigh, crossing her arms and sitting up. “What do I do about the spellcaster that I put into a coma?” she asked.

“Eh, what do you do with the spellcaster you put into a coma?” Vladislaus asked in turn. “Quite frankly, nothing of value is lost with one less spellcaster in the world, particularly a Charm. You did good.”

Lilith huffed and fell backwards on the couch.

“What, you’re not happy?” he asked.

“Of course I’m not!” Lilith said, sitting back up. “I might remind you that we’re not all you, and you may like me sometimes, but I’m not your clone or something. I feel bad when bad things happen that I didn’t intend for. Hell, I feel bad when bad things happen that I did intend for, because misery isn’t good or fortunate! The world would be a much better place if we figured out how to stop killing each other!” What the fuck did she know, though?

Vladislaus looked amused, for a moment. “Of course,” he said. “Well, you can try and fix it,” he paused, moving one of the pieces with a slight tap. “But to try and do so would likely not endear you to the Charms very much. Though their name may be Charm, they have very little of it themselves.”

Lilith’s face fell flat. Yeah, he’d know all about lacking in charm, wouldn’t he? “All I did was put him in a coma,” Lilith said. “I can fix that in a handful of minutes, I just need the time to.”

“Yes well,” Vladislaus said, moving another piece, “the problem with mortals, my dear, is often I find they love to suffer and make things difficult for themselves. People like me, we hardly need do anything at all. They create their own suffering, and they revel in it.”

* * *

If she was quick about it, perhaps she could figure out how to get in there, fix what she’d messed up, and then get out. Or at least, she could hope so. Lilith sat outside the Charm manor, watching the lights in the windows alternate off and on, trying to decide when was the best time to try going in. Spellcasters had ways of avoiding the call of mortal existence, of course, but she was hoping they’d be frazzled or something enough not to.

She just needed a few minutes in which they were all asleep, and that would be that.

So far, though, there was always at least one light on, and it was starting to get a little grating on her nerves. She had plenty of other things to be doing, but, she was the one that messed up, and she should try and be a little more patient for the sake of making amends for that mistake.

Finally, somewhere around two in the morning, all the lights turned out. Lilith stood up, shifted into bat form, and flew over to the chimney, carefully flapping her way down it into the house. The place was very dark, and looked a bit sparse with the furniture for some reason, but she supposed that helped her see her way around easier. Lilith looked around a bit, and then flew from room to room, until she found the stairs, and then she went up there.

It took a few near misses and almost smacking into the wall a few times, but eventually she found the room she was looking for. He was still alive, at least. Lilith shifted back into human form, quietly slipping over to him, and holding her hand out. She just had to figure out what it was exactly that she’d done, and she could undo it. And for everyone’s sake, she hoped it was that simple, and she could manage to escape the house before he decided to turn on her again.

As she poked around trying to figure out how to undo it, the door opened, and a petite blonde girl wandered in, closed the door, and then gasped.

“No, don’t,” Lilith said, her hand moving away from Darrel. “Please, don’t tell anyone I’m here. I just want to fix what I did.”

The woman, her hair cut in a bob with bangs, rounded hazel eyes, drew her eyebrows together. “You should go instead,” she said, shuffling over to Darrel, and putting herself between him and Lilith.

“Please, I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Lilith said, trying to explain. “I just reacted and things happened, but I can fix this, I swear. I just want to put it right again.”

The woman considered this for a moment, and then shook her head. “That isn’t for me to decide anyway,” she said. “That’s up to Minerva, but if Minerva sees you again she’s going to kill you, or die trying to. Just go, however you got in here, go back out and don’t come back here.”

“Magic can’t undo vampire-induced comas,” Lilith said. “I am his only hope.”

“I can’t,” the woman answered, unconsciously taking one of his hands in hers. “I can’t trust you, not with him. I’m sorry.”

“Emilia?” the same, rough-sounding voice the older woman had said out in the hall. “Emilia, is Gemma still awake?”

The blonde woman startled, releasing Darrel’s hand and taking Lilith’s, pulling her behind the door as it opened.

“No,” Emilia said, shaking her head. “I was just talking to Darrel, that’s all.”

“He can’t hear you, you know,” Minerva said.

“Well, some say that people in comas can hear what’s going on around them,” Emilia said. “Maybe he can hear me. I want to believe that.”

Minerva shook her head. “Get some sleep,” she said, backing away. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Emilia answered, softly closing the door as Minerva went back down the hallway. She looked sad, staring at the back of the door, and then hazel eyes hardened and turned to Lilith. “You have to go now,” she said.

“I came in the chimney,” Lilith said, gesturing at the door. “As a bat.”

“Vampires can turn into bats?” Emilia asked. Lilith started to answer, but Emilia shook her head. “Never mind, fine, okay.” The blonde then turned around, and went over to the window, pulling it up, and opening it into the night. “And I mean it,” she said, turning to Lilith. “Don’t come back here. I won’t always be able to save you from Minerva.”

Lilith was quiet, for a moment, before tilting her head slightly. The woman was pretty, the way the moonlight shined in her hair, slight sparkles glistening in her eyes. Lilith could take that pain away, and for a long moment, Lilith seriously considered knocking the woman out, fixing her mistake, and fleeing out the window. But for once, just this time, Lilith didn’t want to be the monster.

“Why are there vampires here, Emilia?” Lilith asked, softly.

Emilia looked surprised, and then shrugged. “Who knows?” she answered. “Minerva says that some vampires want out of the covenant, whatever that means, and thinks that magic can get them out of it, but that nothing can. Others want to learn how to use spellcaster magic, or access to the All. Why anyone would want access to the-” Emilia seemed to realise she was saying too much, and shook her head. “Go now.”

Lilith released a sigh, glanced back at Darrel. She’d try again later. Emilia may have told her not to come back, but since when did Lilith ever do what she was told, anyway? The vampire turned back to Emilia. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” she said, quietly, and then shifted into bat form, and flew out into the chilled spring air. Sooner or later, she’d figure out how to get to him long enough to right what had been wronged.

The covenant, though… Lilith was very curious which vampires thought they could escape that, and why they would want to do so to begin with. Vampires weren’t undead, of course, that was a myth they spread around to protect themselves, mostly from hunters. Rather, there was another facet of themselves that awakened in their soul, the hollow that lived inside them. It was the presence of the hollow that made them what they were, gave them their powers. To sever the covenant with the hollow was to become less than human, cut off from a part of oneself.

That was why vampirism was eternal. You couldn’t kill what was a part of you. So then why would anyone try?

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