The Wiccan Diaries (18 page)

“Good,” said the speaker.

He signaled and the lights went out.

Laser beams began cutting through the air. Everyone went
“Ooh,” “Ahh.”

As the voice spoke, images formed. It was like going to the
planetarium. The soundtrack was terrifying. “Long, long ago: there was
War
.”

Figures clashed, drums beat. We saw figures dancing through
the air. They had evil, pointed faces, triangles for bodies. Their shields were
circles.

An army of the undead was rising from the earth. The laser
beams went up close on a hand. It poked from the earth, then
twisted
into a cruel claw, its flesh
falling off––and it climbed from the earth.

“It was called the First War,” said the voice, “and it was
fought by the Beginners.”

I felt Ballard poke me in the ribs.

“What?” I said.

“We need to find a way out of here.”

“I want to listen to this,” I said.

He groaned.

“In the beginning, there was darkness, and things were
neither better nor worse. Then light chased away the darkness and it hid where
darker things dwelt,” said the voice. “Scared, it came back to the light, but
the light was too powerful for darkness. It obliterated the night.

“But, behold!

“Before night died, it brought with it,
Evil
.”

I saw an army rise up and defeat Light. The sun bounced off
Evil’s shields. The triangle of one vicious warrior, left its neck, and
flew
before us. It righted itself, and
stood like a pyramid in the sky.
The
delta symbol.

The speaker was talking again.

“It was the strongest shape, delta. The pharaohs themselves
built with it.”

The bits of the exploded figure, that hovered in the
background, offered up “...The
shield
,”
said the speaker. “And its center. The circumpunct.”

Ballard wasn’t poking me anymore.

The delta and the theta had formed––and I knew
what the symbol meant, finally. I waited, to see if I was right.

“
Original Evil needed a shield
from the sun, otherwise it would perish. So it constructed it out of the theta
symbol to mock Light. Instead of light and the sun, theta
 
became synonymous with Death.

“The light, you see, had provoked the night,” said the
speaker. “In response, Night sent its darkest emissaries. Warriors. They were
not so invincible Light could not offer up its own warriors, to fight them
back––which was all of us.

“But here is where Light had either a mistake or a stroke of
genius. Instead of creating warriors as powerful as itself, Light made them
weak, to tempt Evil, and so be tempted in return.

“The warriors of Light could be changed, you see.

“Their blood mixed with the blood of Evil, and so weakened
Evil for all time.

“The warriors that had seemed so unstoppable, were not any
longer. The sun that had bounced off their shields, now struck them down. They
were forbidden to wander under the sun.

“But Light no longer held dominion. The day, that was long,
was halved, into Darkness
and
Light.
And that is how Darkness was reborn into the world.”

“So neither side won?” someone asked. The crowd listened, in
awe.

“The first war was ended,” said the speaker. “But Light
could not be happy about that. It had never encountered anything that could
stop it. Neither had the Night.

“They were at loggerheads, you see.

“Light said, ‘I sent you humans, and you turned them.’

“Dark said, ‘I sent you my best warriors, and you tricked
them.’

“Then Darkness had an idea, because it thought that it could
win.

“‘If
I
agree not
to interfere,” it said, “and
you
agree not to interfere, then
we
agree
not to interfere.’

“And Light said, ‘They will settle it for themselves.’

“So they agreed to withdraw from the field of combat,
together
.

“But Dark, though the sun could weaken him, knew that it was
only a matter of time. After all, thought Dark, what could
humans
do?

“Dark’s Army, though weakened, was still the master of
change. They
alone
could transform,
both themselves and Light’s insignificant forces. What could Light do in
return?

“It was only a matter of time.

“For his part, Light thought, ‘I have made my warriors wise
in lore, and they have met the Night. They will
confound
it.’

“Both withdrew. But time, as it does, caused darkness to
forsake the light. Day
and
night
withdrew to their respective sides. And humans forgot that evil existed.

“It came back again.

“Behold! It saw that humans had thrived and multiplied; they
were capable of building great cities and great works of art. Evil saw that it
could take them unawares. But something had happened to Evil; maybe it was the
time apart. It had grown weary, had old Evil.

“It no longer thrilled in things, least of all killing all
of Light’s creations.

“Evil was dying. But something happened. Evil saw that the
light in the eyes of its victims went out, but their
flame
of humanity never dwindled. Their flame was immortal, by way
of their children. And it learned its greatest trick, did old Evil.

“If, instead of killing them, it sired new of its kind, not
only would Evil last––with a renewed
sense
of evil––but it could take the flame of Humanity
for all time. But it must be scrupulous in its selection, and protect its
numbers, otherwise the humans would be overrun.

“Evil had never forgotten the trick of the
light––that the light had tempted it, and so diluted Evil’s powers.
Even now, the Darkness realized that it could not
live
without the Light, whereas before it would have destroyed it,
if it could; it would have destroyed Humanity. They were bound, you see.

“The Dark Host needed to feed upon the cattle of the sun, to
live
and pass its curse, if it so
chose. It, too, had forgotten, it seemed, for Light had had a plan.

“Certain of Light’s warriors retained knowledge of Good and
Evil, and so set about to do as Light had intended them from the start:
To confound.

“They created Schools. In them, they passed down knowledge
of the First War. And that it was only a
respite
.
That eventually Evil would learn of a way to forsake humanity forever.

“But they grew proud of their accomplishments. It seemed
that vanity was everywhere. First one school grew up, then another. The
brightest sought to carve for themselves. And they grew competitive against one
another. They forgot the true purpose of their craft. So
fractured
.”

“Evil smiled, because the threat to it was destroyed. They
were too busy fighting one another, to mind that Evil took what it pleased. But
it must never take from one of them––from one of the disciples of
the Schools. It must never draw
their
blood. Evil had learned that lesson long ago. It preyed upon what it knew,
instead of risking being weakened once more. It preyed upon human beings.

“Time passed. Evil’s memory grew dim. The warriors whom it
had built grew tired with age; they passed. New warriors grew up. But they had
no memory of the Schools, nor of what they taught. So grew ignorant. And
ambivalent
of
their ignorance.

“Life was a full plate, with many new meals to experience.
With always the knowledge that they must not make too many of themselves.

“Then
it
happened.

“The humans Light had entrusted with the protection of
Humanity had failed. Even if Evil had forgotten, it at least knew that it
hunted unperturbed.

“Until they came.

“They were like the Sun, these new warriors; they fought
into every crease and crack. And they rooted out Evil’s dark brood.Suddenly,
Evil was hunted wherever it turned.

“By this time, the world had advanced by an exceptional
amount. Europe was the center of the universe. And though each side would make
salvos, eventually they grew tired of warfare. They drew lines.

“To Paris, Evil withdrew, and with its mocking spirit, it
became known as the City
of
Light.
And to Rome, the Guardians, who would protect Light’s Eternal City from Evil at
all costs.

“But then time passed again.”

* * *

Ballard and I waited with drawn breath. The speaker had
turned off the golden microphone. He was speaking with the figures in robes;
they nodded, silently. Their faces were beautiful, ethereal, hard as stone. I
thought they looked unhappy about something. They were a man and two women. I
wondered what they were so angry about.

“Suck me! I
want
you!” cried a woman, down in the audience.

What followed, I will never forget.

Chapter 14 – Halsey

A hand reached out and grabbed me from behind. I turned,
reflexively, prepared to swing my handbag at whoever it was, only stopped.
“Oh,” I think I said.

He was a vampire. According to that New Age shadow play I
and Ballard had just witnessed, such were the minions of Evil. I knew that now.

Only this one didn’t scare me.

He was frightening, to be sure: his eyes were black and they
shone even in the dark, better to hunt his prey, but it was who he was with,
and how they behaved together, that put me at my ease.

Lennox was with him. Lennox was a vampire. He only came out
at night....

I briefly made eye contact, but he didn’t focus on me.
Ballard’s jaw hung open. “Halsey... what?”

“Later,” I said.

The new vampire’s hand, where it gripped me through my
shirt, was big and firm and startlingly ice-cold. He smiled. I could see his
fangs. He was beautiful and marvelous and
gigantic
.
At least six seven. He looked dangerous, a rebel. The glint in his eye was
mischievous. He had dark, almost wild-looking hair. It hung to his shoulders.

But there was something
untamed
about him––as though he wandered through existence. He was well
muscled and firm looking––even through his clothing, I could tell.

Both he and Lennox looked above us now, high overhead at the
three vampires who threatened to kill everyone.

When people turned and saw the two of them, I could feel
their excitement. Ballard gripped my hand. I wanted to reach out to Lennox.
Ballard wouldn’t let me.

“What do you think?” said the vampire who had touched my
shoulder. He looked askance at Lennox, waiting for the other’s response.
Something was worrying Lennox, whereas this new vampire seemed to like to jump
into things.

The door guards came at us, flexing their muscles. I could
see the ones from the stairs also converging. I tried to warn Lennox; he just
shook me off. “They know some things,” he said.

“Shall we?” asked the vampire whose name I didn’t know yet.

“After you, Marek,” said Lennox.

They turned, intercepting two guards, who lunged at them. I
remembered thinking we would never get out of Club Change
alive––and not caring, so long as I got to hear the rest of the
story. Now I was excited for a whole new reason.

Marek and Lennox took the guards and threw them bodily
through the glass. My jaw dropped. The other guards came at them, but Lennox
and Marek moved too fast for them to see.

Next thing I knew, there was a pile of bodies outside, lying
on top of the shards of broken glass, and people were screaming, heading for
the exits. Ballard and I just stood there. Lennox and Marek were back, now. “By
the way, this is Halsey,” said Lennox. He introduced us. “And her friend. I
don’t know who he is.”

“Ballard.” Ballard shook Lennox’s hand.

Marek winked at me. I didn’t think I could have said
anything, even if I had wanted to. I was too stunned at the news that there
were vampires, that they really existed, and that I knew two of them. When did
this
happen?

“Shall we?” said Lennox to Marek.

Something passed between the two of them––a
look, an understanding... I didn’t know what it was.

Finally, Marek said, “Die young... Live forever, my old
friend.” Then he rushed the three vampires, with Lennox in tow.

I watched them fight the three vampires faster than the eye
could see––but some of it made sense to me, before they began to
battle each other too fiercely.

It was over before it had even begun. Marek and Lennox were
the only two vampires left. Where the other three had gone, I didn’t know. But,
when I could finally see him, Marek seemed happy about something. Which must’ve
meant he and Lennox had won.

The man with the microphone dropped it. “I didn’t do
anything,” he said.

“He’s one of them,” said Marek. “We are not
in
Rome, Lennox.”

“Not technically,” said Lennox.

“So he’s mine.”

“No.”

“What do you mean
no
?
They were going to sire a roomful of people. I know how you feel about us, but
even you have to admit we serve
some
purpose,” he said.

“I won’t kill him while he lives,” said Lennox, “and while
we may not be in Rome, we’re close enough, that it’s
my
call. Understand? What’s your name?” he said to the guy whose
life they were debating.

“G-G-Galaxy, m-m-man.”

“Your name is Galaxy?”

“If you want, man, I’ll take you to the
stars
.” He dug inside his pockets and held out a handful of drugs.
“T-t-take it, man. It’s yours. Just don’t kill me, all right?”

“Are there any others... like us, around here, Galaxy?”

“You got ’em, man. Good job, ’cause they were gonna make me
do what they say, and I’m a pacifist, man.”

“Please go away,” said Lennox.

Galaxy tried to palm the drugs. “Leave those. But go. And if
I hear you’ve told...”

“I won’t, man. This was all some crazy trip. Swear.”

He left.

* * *

I think the sign fell off the glass.

Lennox and Marek came back downstairs and took a look around
Club Change. When Lennox smiled I saw that his incisors were elongated; I
didn’t think he had ever smiled in my presence before. It made me question
everything.

Now that I knew what he was, I didn’t think he would still
be interested in me. I mean, who was I?

He came over to me finally, and said, “Halsey, are you all
right?”

“I––I think so,” I said, finding it difficult to
breathe around him. He was a
vampire
,
after all. I needed my diary. “When?
How?
What?”

“I’ll explain it in the car.”

“You drove here? Can’t you just fly? Why didn’t you tell
me?” I felt hurt. Betrayed.

“How will we get the bikes back?” asked Marek.

Lennox shrugged. “I’m taking Halsey home. Ballard, you are
free to join us, if... if you want to.”

“I have my scooter,” said Ballard. “I don’t want to just
leave it here.”

“I’ll take the other one,” said Marek, although what he
would look like with his huge body on my Vespa... I didn’t know.

“Escort Ballard back, will you?” said Lennox.

“You got it,” said Marek.

“Come on,” said Lennox. He lifted me out of the glass,
before putting me back down again. I tossed the key to my Vespa to Marek, who
snatched it out of the air. He winked again.

I left them there. I could see Ballard pretending to be
nonchalant, but really!
Vampires
....

* * *

Lennox had a set of car keys in his hand. He pressed them
and I heard a beep go off.
“That’s
your car?” It looked scarier than he did.

 
“They really
intended to change all of us, didn’t they?” I said, as he opened the door for
me. Instinctively, I knew the club had been a ‘recruiting depot.’

“Yes,” he said.

I got in the car––it was huge and black and the
seats were on the floorboards––bits of chrome were everywhere. I
think the speedometer went up to bagillion.

Lennox got in. He closed the door, throwing us into
darkness. All I heard was myself, breathing heavily. It made me self-conscious.

He was entirely silent.

“So I guess that explains the mystery of how you keep
getting up to my balcony and I can’t hear you,” I said, trying to break the
supernatural ice. His eyes glinted, dangerously.

Through the windshield I saw Marek and Ballard take off.
Everyone had fled before them––these two vampires, Marek and
Lennox. All the BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes were gone now. Their occupants with
stories to tell, or not to tell.

“Do people know?” I said. “About you?”

He started the engine; I think it roared in lieu of him.
“You’re not angry, are you?”

“Furious,”
he
said.

“I don’t care if you’re a vampire,” I said. He growled.

Marek looked every bit as foolish as I thought he would,
riding on my orange Vespa. “We may as well stay behind them,” said Lennox.

“It was
you
,” I
said.

“What?”

“Behind us, when we were coming here.”

“I had to see that you didn’t get hurt,” said Lennox,
accelerating to catch up with them.

“So is Marek your friend?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“What?” I said.

“Look. Can we change the subject?” said Lennox.

“What if I don’t want to change the subject?
Vampires
. I mean. Wow.”

“You sound like one of
them
,”
he said.

“Who?”

“Those nutters who think it’s cool,” said Lennox.

“Oh,” I said.

“I didn’t mean that,” he said, apologizing. “It’s just, you
saw them. You find it in the rich, especially. They think because they have
money, they can buy immortality. Like it’s some gift, like a credit card with
no spending limit that lasts forever and they never have to pay off.”

“Isn’t it?” I said.

“No,” said Lennox.

Ballard looked behind at us; I waved but I don’t think he
saw me. “If you’re so against vampires,” I said, “why did you ever consent to
become one? Surely, you chose this life.”

“Hardly,” he said.

“Then what?” I asked.

“Do you mind if we don’t play Twenty Questions?” said
Lennox. “Let me just get you back to your place. Tonight was nearly a
disaster.”

“You mean because we almost got turned,” I said.

“Stop talking about it like it’s some glib lifestyle like
turned and all that.”

“Marek said ‘sire’,” I said. “Are you a sire? Have you ever
sired anyone?”

“There you go again,” he said.

“It’s a lot to think about. I want to get a start on it.
So––well––we can
be
together,” I said, “if that’s what you want.”

“Halsey...” But he didn’t say anything more.

“I think I knew,” I said, as we got onto the A1. I looked at
the clock. Still enough time before sunrise. I had a million questions to ask.

“Knew what?” he said. “That I was––? That I
am
––?”

“No. Not that,” I said. “You hid that well. I just
knew
––that something... I
mean,
vampires
... It’s a lot to think
about. When Ballard and I figured out the symbol and to Club Change,” I said,
my mind all over the place, “But then...”

I shook my head. “I mean, I knew that it meant something.
That symbol––”

“That
symbol
,”
said Lennox, “nearly got you killed. If they were any kind of vampires, they
would know it meant more than what
they
said it meant. It means
vampire
, yes,
but it’s also a warning
to
vampires:
Do not overstep your bounds, and so on, otherwise you’ll be obliterated. And I
am overstepping my bounds.”

“If they sired me,” I said, enjoying the language despite
his censure, “what would you have done?” I asked.

“Killed you.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he said.

“That’s not very nice, Lennox.” I put my lip out in a pout.

“Neither would have been what you would have become, if I
had not gotten to you in time, Halsey.”

“And what would that have been?” I asked. “Some bloodsucking
fiend, all that?”

“In a word.”

“You and Marek are sweeties, though.”

He nearly went off the road. “I am
not
a sweetie,” he said.

I stuck out my tongue at him. “I say you are.”

“You are so...”

“Uncontrollable? Impulsive?
Delicious?”

“Stop that.”

“You know, if we die in an accident, I shall be cross at
you,” I said. “But it does make twice, now, that you have saved my life. I
should think you care about me,
Lennox
.”

“I do,” he said.

“People who care, share.”

“Really? That’s your move? People who share, care.”

“And vice versa.”

“No, thank you,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t feel like going into my disease.”

He was being rather hard on himself. I told him so. “I don’t
think heroes should have to berate themselves for being heroic,” I said. “It’s
obvious you’re a good person. You probably don’t even kill people.”

“Really. That’s enough,” he said.

“Although, I do have one question,” I said.

“What’s that?” he asked.

I got out my copy of the
Codex
––I
didn’t think Ballard would mind, even though I swore not to include anyone
else––and flipped to the page on symbols. “This here,” I said,
showing him. It was the symbol that looked like the trefoil, except it had four
leaves, a
quatrefoil
, I realized,
like a four-leaf clover. Maybe Lennox was my lucky charm.

“It’s the symbol for a coven,” said Lennox, “of
vampires
. Not... well...”

“What?” I said.

“It’s nothing. See, instead of one––a
vampire
––as is this symbol
here––”