Vampiris Sancti: The Elf (24 page)

Ardell

A Victorian
young lady who spent her days saving unfortunate girls from the
Great Evil, or providing meals for the sunken people, Trista Ardell
was not an obvious victim. However, her new world rich from
industrialization examined centuries of assumptions and transformed
them to accommodate a life hungry for knowledge and experience. The
demand for alternate perceptions reverberated throughout her
society like a subconscious message and it was the Vampire who
responded to the invitation. Unfettered by the constraints of her
culture she saw the possibilities of her New World until the Ripper
hysteria put an unwanted focus on the nocturnal activities of the
city. Escaping from the cruelty of her Numen (the one who created
her) she created her own New World house while determined to keep
it free from the limitations of repressed social constructs.

Cardei

He came from
what was once a province of Rhaetia, a small principality locked in
by land and politics enjoying an idyllic youth among the fields of
the Unterland and the Oberland until the Kaiser’s war ravaged those
about him. He desperately tried to ensure the survival of his
village unaware that the Vampire sleek from the spoils of war had
decided to investigate the calm of neutrality. Here he found an
isolated people in crisis starving and sanctioned. Their villages
were without communication and a veritable utopia for one bent on
destruction. Lyov Cardei, the one who had fought to ensure his
neighbours prevailed during this hardship did not realise his
determination shone like a beacon. It invited him to be Unveiled
and change him from the champion of survival to instead the
instigator of their demise. After the ravages of war he formed the
last New World house to keep those of his blood safe with the same
zeal he had murdered those he had formerly protected.

**********

Full of wiles,
full of guile, at all times, in all ways,

Are the
children of Men.

Aristophanes

Though she had
obtained some information this didn’t immediately present a plan of
action to the Elf as planning was too much of a blinkity buckets of
bother. She had no particular goal in mind and the search for Siah
had been like scratching an itch while she attempted to locate
something tickling the back of her mind. In usual Elf fashion she
put the potentially important aside for the immediate pleasure of
tormenting one unusually absent Florian Ribeni. She wandered
throughout the House unapproached and unimpeded until she found him
hiding out in the music room pretending to listen to Mozart. He was
in reality, enjoying a lurid gossip magazine that specialised in
unflattering photos of the infamous, rich, and stupid. She quietly
sidled up to him and waited for his startled discovery. Though
Vampires sensed their environments in the same manner as demons—she
could easily hide from him. She perched on the edge of his chair
and his strangled croak when he discovered himself facing the Elf
had her beam a smile that was not reflected in her eyes.

Caution flooded
his face as she greeted him. “Hey hey.”

The merry tone
of her voice should have warned him because the more cheerful an
Elf the more dangerous her agenda. A sudden disturbance outside the
room distracted them both. Florian made to investigate the noise
when an excited dark Vampire danced into the room. Engrossed by the
potential of an adventure, she addressed Florian without bothering
to notice Zyre.

“A Revenant has
been sighted north of the city and the Ghuvk sent out Runners—want
to go follow?”

“Do I!!”

Florian jumped
up his face alive with anticipation until a tug of his sleeve
brought him back to his reality.

“This be fun,”
said his magical companion causing his face to close up into a mask
of concealment.

Zyre was well
aware of Vampire opinion of her presence and to her they were
creatures lost in a mire of unimportant private agendas from lives
long gone. Vampires were paranoid about any aspect of their world
being revealed to an outsider, so the inclusion of Zyre in a
Revenant hunt would be the stuff of nightmares. As she followed the
Vampire girl out of the room he moved to protest, but a sudden flow
of energy pushed them forward to join the assembly standing in the
hall. The animated group chattered with speculation as they
organised how to start the chase. Skirting the edges Zyre stood out
of sight of the main body while intrigued by the electric ripple of
their fascination for this creature. The Revenant was the dredges
of the Vampire world, creatures that had failed to progress after
Unveiling. Though she knew they existed she had no exact details as
to why. A purposeful Estienne strode out from his office causing
the babble to trail away into an awkward silence. The Vampire gave
the crowd an authoritative glare reducing even the boldest to
quiet.

“There will be
no chasing of Revenants, so leave Runner business to Runners.”

He turned on
his heel towards Zyre, but before he could address the Elf she had
grabbed Florian by the sleeve and dissolved them into the
garage.

The Vampire
protested, “Estienne said we were not to chase the Revenant!”

“But we not be
chasing the Revenant—we be going for a drive.”

In her Elf way
she was not lying as much as fibbing because they were not tracking
the Revenant—she wanted to watch the Runners in action. The
disciplined militia of this realm were as elusive as they were
legendary and they piqued her curiosity. Florian hesitated for only
a second and if she suspected his disobedience to his Herald would
be absolved by blaming her it wouldn’t have bothered her one bit.
In the world of the Elf that was the same excuse used by any
happening to be in her company during detection of mischief.
Commandeering a car from a Zhismi Florian had them out the drive
and down the street before any thought to lock the gates.

Without
direction they headed into the city and drove in silence until Zyre
casually asked, “If we be seeing Runners tonight where we go?”

His face lit up
at the question and without a reply he turned the car down a myriad
of narrow streets until the Elf bid him to stop. Zyre could feel
the commotion in the air long before the Vampire would have been
able and deciding the best point was a vantage one had Florian park
a few streets away. Before he could query her demands she had
grasped his sleeve and dissolved them to the roof of a small
building. They were at the part of town leading towards the
Chambers and this area was composed of warehouses or low-level
manufacturing. The streets were gray with litter and industrial
filth and lacked the pristine lines of the centre of the city. Zyre
landed upon the roof with the grace of a cat, Florian hit it like a
sack of bricks. His immediate response was to brush his once
immaculate suit while grumbling about her lack of warning.

With the
afterthought of regret he turned to her with a face more pale than
usual.

“Maybe we
shouldn’t be here. Estienne said it was dangerous to chase the
Revenant!”

“Runners are
churning up the air—there be no avoiding their stomping boots!” she
responded.

Florian looked
about him nervously. “We really shouldn’t be here alone. We have no
protection and I can’t see the Runners.”

Zyre couldn’t
help but taunt him as he made it so easy. “Afraid is you—I’m not
enough protection?”

He had the
grace to look sheepish for a Revenant was nothing that would
perturb one who happily broke into a Martyc fortress for the
purpose of idle annoyance. A slight noise caught her Elf senses
before his Vampire ones, so she pulled him back down sharply to
view the almost silent progress of the Runners on the street below.
While they couldn’t sense Florian under the protection of the Vesi
they halted in unison uncertain of what had them all pause. The
Runners looked about cautiously and as they moved along Florian
flexed to rise, but Zyre kept him down.

“Hmmm,” she
murmured against his ear, “stay here, tis be safer.”

Leaving a
terrified Vampire suddenly alone Zyre dissolved across several
rooftops until she came to the one that interested her.

The Oric leapt
into battle mode at her appearance causing her to respond
sarcastically, “No time to play there be a Revenant on the
loose!”

The leader
detached from the group and kept one hand on his sword as he
approached their wayward visitor. His mousy hair was mussed and she
read his dismay easily.

Putting on a
front he swaggered while appearing brash with power. “What do you
want Elf?”

His scornful
address had the kaleidoscope of her eyes merge as the blue flooded
into the clear green, allowing him to see the storm he would dare
to contend.

No matter what
her agenda Zyre always had time to torment arrogance. “Not you
again! Everywhere I be—here you be wasting time chasing Vampires!
They not be master of this realm,” she ignored the shuffling of her
audience, “but then again neither be you.”

The unit leader
snapped back, “Of course we are, no one tells the Oric what to
do—.”

“—as long as
they not be Martyc,” she interrupted with the barb.

The thin crease
of his mouth showed that her comment hit home and he sneered,
“Maybe we need to get rid of everything from the Reveal and seal up
the entrance.”

Zyre tilted her
head as she contemplated his capacity to understand the reality of
his own world.

“Many tried but
no matter how many cracks, more just come!” her eyes sparkled with
mischief. “Tis like magic!”

He did not
attempt to hide his scorn saying, “What would you know—you are just
an Elf.”

Normally her
response would have been to either ignore or toss him over the side
to enjoy a conversation with the concrete below, but something had
caught the edges of her mind. The Oric had yet to notice the new
presence and as she turned the group followed her stare to see what
had intrigued her enough to end a conversation. The Vampire walking
casually at the top of the lane was close to Ancient, yet was in no
Ashre and Zyre knew she would find a pair of cold coffee eyes at
the end of his perfection. He couldn’t have failed to notice their
presence, at least the Oric, yet appeared unconcerned by the drama
played out on the roof above him. This was a being in complete
control of his mind—afraid of nothing and Zyre didn’t have to hear
his name floating like a sigh above the breeze to know who he
was.

“Galt.”

Though she
would have liked to convince the Oric that demon surveillance would
suit both their agendas better than chasing Vampires, this
encounter was one she had no intention of avoiding. She dissolved
across the street from Galt and sat on a closed dumpster as she
watched his progress. She was familiar with his arrogance, from a
lane outside a club, from a rooftop as she watched the Tyro Siah.
Yet there was something else about him, something important that
she needed to bring back to the fore of her mind. She felt the
distance of the Runners, so she knew that they were chasing wisps
up another street. One such as the Elf with her absence of
premeditation could never easily work out the agenda of the old
Vampire. He acknowledged her sudden presence by lowering his fangs
briefly and then returned them once he felt her identity. He
returned to his search while examining every shadow carefully and
the power of his concentration fell across her senses like a wall
of cold steel. She could not resist engaging him because though he
was powerful he was still only a Vampire to her after all—she
played with Varkja and Martycs!

“Lose
something?”

Her voice was
whimsical with curiosity as she allowed him to see the frivolous
imp of human mythology. Catering to the perceptions of others
served her well for while they were busy dismissing her as a
nuisance she was busy relieving them of whatever she was after. The
Vampire stopped to give her a considered stare and the strength of
his determination razed across her, sharp as a blade, followed by a
chilling intent. He was not deceived by her cheerful grin and he
had not almost reached Ancient status by being anyone’s fool. The
dark cloud of his aura made her wary because she had encountered
evil hearts upon many worlds. Evil always had a core of purpose,
something lost or wanted, love, possession, prestige, revenge,
jealousy, but at least the single-minded brutality of demons was
driven by encompassing self-interest. Evil existed within the
Reveal and it had brushed against her at times, except this was the
only world where evil was so Goblin like—where evil existed because
it could.

“I am looking
for my pet.”

She knew he was
not taken in by her nonchalance, just as she was not taken in by
his disinterest for his eyes had ravaged every inch of her beauty.
She knew he dropped the information not to interact, but for the
convenience of sooner that she knew the sooner she left.
Kaleidoscope eyes met coffee and once again she was bothered by a
small tug of memory and for once she wished she had paid a bit more
attention to things. He had been somewhere, doing something, and it
tingled throughout her trying to be remembered.

“What House are
you?” she asked trying to pin him down.

Lesser Vampires
and demons would have quailed under his cold stare, but as with all
within his world he was aware that the Seal didn’t protect him
against the mischief of an Elf. She could dissolve him into dust
and the world wouldn’t pause for a millisecond.

“I am the grace
of an Old World House,” he said with disinterest as if closing
their conversation.

She was not so
easily hushed. “You made Unveiled—the Tyro one called Siah.”

If pressed Zyre
would have been as confused by her determined search for
information as the Vampire she was interrogating. It took a great
deal more than annoying questions of an Elf to unsettle a being
coming into his own power.