Risen (Book #6 of the Vampire Legends) (9 page)

Rachel sat there in silence for a
few minutes with her grandmother. She couldn’t beg her anymore to tell her what
the letter meant. She didn’t know what to do. She knew she couldn’t leave her grandmother’s
house without knowing this information. She knew she couldn’t go another day
without knowing the truth.

“Grandmother please. You don’t
understand. I’m a different person. I’ve changed. I’ve bitten people for their
blood. Please I need you to help me,” Rachel begged.

“You’ve fed?” her grandmother
asked.

“YES!” Rachel confessed. “I fed
and it felt so good.”

“My dear child, you really have
become one of us. I was hoping your generation would be spared the hurt and
agony of what your elders went through, but it appears you have not.”

“I have not been spared and it’s
causing more hurt not know what has happened.”

“I guess it was written in the
stars then. You are just another member in the long line of vampire descendants.”

“Vampire descendants?” Rachel
asked. “What does that mean?”

“Well, what I wrote to your
mother in the letter vaguely explained that we are different from everyone
else. She and I have spoken at length about this since I wrote that letter, but
it appears she never passed down the knowledge of our ancestry to you.”

“UM. NO!” Rachel said.

“You see, we are not like the
rest of the humans out there. We are immortal people. We are vampires. Yes, we
may be in different covens, but that does not matter. What matters is that we
are all vampires that feed on other humans, animals and other blood carrying
creatures. We need them to survive in this world.”

“But why me? What did I do to
deserve this?” Rachel asked, nearly in tears.

“Rachel, my child. It was nothing
that you did wrong. Please don’t think this was your fault. It was your destiny
to become one of us. When you were born it was already in your genes. It took
one special person to turn you into who you were always meant to be. Many of us
have been turned by our one true love. Do you remember who turned you?” her
grandmother asked.

“Turned me? What are you talking
about?”

“So I’m assuming you don’t
remember. That is common. It is a whirlwind the first few years of being a
vampire and one goes through many stages of denial and acceptance of this
state. You must be in your denial phase right now.”

“Denial phase? I really don’t
understand you right now, Grandmother. Please help me understand.”

“I’m trying my best Dear, but you
also have to believe and accept what I am telling you. Don’t think about it too
hard for that will hinder your acceptance with who you really are. It might not
make sense at first but I assure you once you’ve lived with the truth for a
while you will begin to forget what it was like to be a mortal human being. You
will begin to only understand the life of the vampire and the immortals. For
you are no an immortal being. You will live on forever and ever, unless of
course you are captured by the evil coven and they kill you off, but that is
another story in itself.

“Evil coven?”

“Yes, these things you will learn
in time, my child. But I’m sure you have done nothing to deserve to be killed
off so soon. You have only recently been turned and it would be highly unlikely
that you have gotten mixed up with the wrong people.”

“Wait a minute,” Rachel said. “I’m
having a vision.”

“What?” her grandmother asked. “What
do you see?”

“I see a dark haired girl, an
evil looking girl with pale skin and ugly facial features. I see her sitting in
her secret coven meeting room. They are all wearing capes with the emblem of a
deer with blood dripping out of its mouth. It’s all coming back to me now. Her
name is Violet and she’s after me. She’s part of the Greslin Coven.”

“Greslin Coven?” her grandmother
shrieked. “Don’t tell me you already got on their bad side.”

“I know something happened, but I
can’t remember exactly what it is.” Rachel admitted. “It wasn’t my fault
though.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s your
fault or not. If you are on the bad side of Violet and her people, you are
surely to die. How could it be that a new vampire like you could make a
cardinal mistake like this. There are very few ways for an immortal vampire to
die, but this is the number one most life threatening way.”

“Am I going to die? Please say
no. I’m not ready to die,” Rachel said, beginning to cry.

“Rachel, you have to figure out
what you did and how this all happened. You need to gain clarity back.”

“How am I going to do that?”

“You have to go to the graveyard
and enter the ancient mausoleum of our ancestors. They say, when you are
surrounded by those of your kin you gain clarity and insight into both your
past and your future. You must go now. You have no time to waste. I’m getting
bad feeling about this and you are running out of time,” her grandmother said,
in a worried tone.

“You mean I have to go there now?
As in right now?”

“As in like five minutes ago. You
should leave immediately and don’t come back until you’re crystal clear on why
the Greslin’s are after you.”

“But where do I go?” Rachel asked
with fear.

“You must fly there. Do you
remember how to do that?”

“Yes, I think I can remember
that. But where do I fly to?”

“You fly to the north west
quadrant of the swamp and then circle around until you see the large statue of
the eagle. Once you see the eagle you are close. Look down and you will see the
mausoleum there below. It is a large stone structure with our family crest on
it. You can’t miss it.”

“Ok, but what if I get lost?”
Rachel asked.

“You won’t get lost. Follow your
gut and it will take you to exactly where you need to be.”

“Will I see you again?” Rachel
asked.

“I sure hope so. But if not, know
that you are loved very much.”

Rachel gave her grandmother a hug
goodbye as she was being pushed out the front door.

“Be off! Fly!” her grandmother
yelled.

Rachel looked back over her
shoulder at her grandmother than with a running leap she took off into the air
soaring high above the farms and swamp lands below. Her eyes were peeled for
the statue of the eagle and she kept praying that she wouldn’t get lost.

Matilda knew she was on to
something, she could feel it in her bones. She’d never been to the Galapagos
Islands before but she knew with everything she was that the Waverly Mirror was
close now.

“I have a good feeling about this
now!” Matilda said.

“That’s what you said last time,”
Hunter said.

“Yeah!” Penelope chimed in.

“You have to trust me,” Matilda
said. “Don’t you?”

“Um, I guess so!” Penelope said.

“Look at the moon, we have no
time left. Don’t you see?” Hunter said. “You need to stop all the talk and find
the Waverly Mirror!”

“Relax, Hunter. I know it’s here.
I sense it.”

“So where are we going next?”
Hunter said.

“Do you see that?” Matilda
pointed towards a dark cave.

“Seriously?” Penelope said.

“Don’t chicken out now! It’s our
only hope,” Matilda said.

“Let’s get going. We don’t have
any more time!”

The three started walking towards
the dark cave at a quick pace. They didn’t have much time before Violet was
going to take over the world and they knew this was the only way to save the
Vladdicus Coven from destruction.

When they got to the cave they
heard howling and other strange noises coming from inside. Matilda had heard
these noises before and knew that the animals who were making them were large
and violent. She thought for a second about not entering but she knew she had
no choice.

“Come on. We have to enter. We
have no choice,” Matilda said.

“Why don’t you go and we will
wait outside,” Penelope said.

“No! We need strength in numbers.
We can’t separate now!” Matilda said.

“That’s right, Penelope. I can’t
let her go in alone. What if she never came out. I could never live with
myself,” Hunter said.

HSSSSSS

“What was that?” Penelope yelled
in terror.

“Shh, be quiet. Don’t let them
know you are scared,” Matilda said.

“Is that the Komodo Dragon?”
Hunter asked.

“Yes!” Matilda said.

“I’m not going in!” Penelope
yelled, almost in tears.

“You are coming in. It’s not any
safer out here,” Hunter said.

“Let’s go!” Matilda said.

They walked inside the cave and
all over were stalagmites and stalactites. It was actually very beautiful once
they were inside. There was a shimmer of light at the end of the cave, which
sparkled off the stalagmites and sent a beam of light shining throughout the
cave and brightening up a pathway for the three to walk.

“So where is it?” Hunter said.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I know
it’s in here somewhere. I just know!” Matilda said in excitement.

“Should we go towards the light?”
Penelope said.

“That’s where we are heading!”
Matilda said.

They started walking to the blue
light at the end of the tunnel and Matilda noticed that it started to glisten
as if the light was not actually light but something else. It was like a mirage
in the distance, which she couldn’t quite make out.

As they got closer, she could see
that the light was actually the reflection coming off the big blue pool of
water in the cave, making it glisten.

HSSSS

The hissing got louder and closer
as they reached the pool of water and when Matilda looked up she saw at least
fifteen hissing komodo dragons standing in between them and the pool of water.

“HELP!” Penelope yelled. “Please
can we go now!”

“This is crazy!” Hunter
exclaimed.

“We have to keep going!” Matilda
said.

“How are we going to get past
them?” Hunter asked. “This doesn’t look good.”

“Do you know how dangerous the
komodo dragon is?” Penelope asked. “We are all going to die!”

“This is going a little far,
Matilda,” Hunter said. “You don’t even know if the Waverly Mirror is over here.
You can’t risk our lives in the event it may be here. Let’s go!”

“I am not leaving. I know it is
here. Why do you think all the dragons are here. They’re protecting it. I’m
sure Violet and the Greslin’s sent them here to protect the Waverly Mirror. I
bet they didn’t even think we’d get this far in finding it!” Matilda said.

“It’s not here!” Penelope said. It’s
just a coincidence.

SCREECH SCREECH!

Above them flew hundreds of
thousands of bats and they started to surround them and began to bite their
bodies. They could barely see in front of them anymore as all the bats swarmed
them.

“RUN!” Matilda screamed. “Start
running towards the pool!”

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Hunter yelled.

“Let’s go! We don’t have any
time!” Matilda said.

The three of them started running
through the swarm of baths flailing their arms as they ran fighting off the
bats that were biting them. As they approached the edge of the pool, Matilda
looked down and saw something shining at the bottom of the pool.

HSSSSS

A komodo dragon came close to her
with his tongue sticking out of its mouth as if he were going to eat her alive.

“LOOK!” Matilda said.

“LOOK AT WHAT?” they yelled.

“There it is!” Matilda said.

“Where?” Hunter asked.

“It’s
there at the bottom of the pool! Don’t you see it! The Waverly Mirror is what
has been shining the light through the cave this whole time. It was guiding us
to it!” Matilda said. “I knew it was here I just knew it!”

“How
do you think you’re going to get past the dragons?” Penelope said.

“And
look there’s sharks in the water circling!” Hunter added.

“This
isn’t looking good!” Matilda said, but it’s our only shot at survival. If I don’t
get it we are going to die and if I do get it there’s a chance we may still
die. But I have to at least try. If not for ourselves for our coven and for all
the vampire people.”

With
that, Matilda started running full speed ahead and jumped into the air over the
komodo dragons and dove into the water with all her clothes on towards the
Waverly Mirror. She hoped that she would come out alive, but knew her chances
were slim.

Flying at the speed of light
Rachel could barely keep her eyes open as the wind rushed past her face. It was
like she were in a wind tunnel and all she could do was make sure she didn’t
run into any trees or large birds in the sky.

Her eyes were peeled for the
statue of the eagle but she’d yet to see it. She wondered if she had
accidentally flown the wrong way or missed it due to the intense speed and lack
of clear vision. Either way, she was beginning to worry. She knew she was
running out of time and the last thing she needed was to get lost on the way to
the family mausoleum.

Rachel slowed her flight down a
little bit although she felt anxious doing so. She didn’t want to waste time
going slow but she also knew it would be a huge waste of time to over shoot the
eagle statue and then have to turn around. Part of her felt like this was all a
big mistake to venture off in the swamps alone, but she knew she had no other
choice. In hind sight she wished her grandmother would have just taken here
there and shown her exactly where to go and what to do once she arrived. Now
she was completely on her own in a place that felt foreign to her.

The dawn was breaking and on the
horizon Rachel could see the sun trying to peek over the trees. It was like no
other sunrise she’d ever seen before. The sun was molten red against the dark
black of the night sky. It was eerie looking and she knew that something was
different. She could feel it in the air that other forces were working against
her.

She continued heading north west
but was beginning to get a sinking feeling in her stomach that this was all
wrong. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Maybe she should have never come
down to talk to her grandmother in the first place. She felt more vulnerable
than she’d ever felt in her life at this moment and knew that it was all her
fault. If she’d just left well enough alone than none of this would be
happening. She’d be sitting at school with her friends gossiping and chatting
about anything and everything. How she’d wished that were her reality at this
moment.

She knew she couldn’t let herself
get wrapped up in the what ifs of the situation and had to focus on what was
actually going on. No matter how much she wished the situation were different
it wasn’t going to change anything. She was in the swamps flying around to find
the mausoleum and to find out the truth behind how she became a vampire and
what was happening between her and the evil coven. After all, if she didn’t
complete this mission, she knew she would surely not live to see the light of
day for very much longer. It was no longer a choice. It was her destiny. She
had to move forward.

After pushing all the negative
thoughts out of her head she finally accepted what she was doing. She knew she
had to figure out who she was and what had happened to her and the only way was
to find her family’s mausoleum.