Turned

Chapter Four.

Birmingham, London, England.             

The Birmingham Library was a tall, stony structure that had a dome glass roof and various stained-glass windows. We left our horses tied in front of the building and dismounted, with me leading the rest of them inside the great Library. People were gathered inside, doing research on all kinds of things from different parts of the world. A woman sat behind a desk, nodding when she saw me entre. They knew me well since it was the Library closest to where Xavier and I had lived most of the time and my fascination with Greek Mythology, along with Astronomy had often brought me to the Library where I would spend hours upon hours reading. I lead them to a small room in the back of the Library that was private, a dome roof looming overhead with a chandelier of candles dangling from it and a second-floor balcony looking out onto the room below “You brought us to a Library?” Hamish questioned, his eyes searching the room with interest mixed with boredom. It was larger than their Library in Elgin, but the concept was still the same. It was a place harbored with books and that thought bored him. I ignored his question and searched the shelves, eyes looking for anything that might tell me of the origin of the Order of the Silver Cross or of their current existence. I flicked through books, lapping at my fingertips to turn the pages as Julius examined a random book and Fiona sat down in a chair by the table in the center of the room. The book I was paging through had a symbol carved into one of the pages with black ink. I stopped, looking at the image of a cross with three roses and the words ‘We are the light’ scribbled across the bottom of the page. I felt my hands clench around the leather of the book as those words registered in my mind, a familiarity to them. I was taken back in time, back to when Xavier had been killed. It was a stormy night in Paris, my home town with the Eifel tower sat in the distance and light rain coming down. We were stood on the Arc De Triomphe with the world coming to a still below. I was facing a man dressed in white, his coat resembling silver as it glistened in the light of the moon. Around his neck hung a single, silver cross and red roses were embroidered into the flaps of his coat. He had a sword in hand, made of pure silver that could easily cut down a Vampire and a look of murder in his eyes “We are the light” he said, his eyes blazing with a hidden fire. He charged towards me, my clawed hand reaching out to dig the blades of my fingers into his stomach, but he threw his sword at the last minute. The blade flew past me, my eyes widening at the sight and imbedded itself into Xavier’s chest. I let go of the Knight to rush to his side where he had been kneeling, hand gripping the blade of the sword as he struggled to remove it from his chest. Once it was out, the blade cluttered down the Arc and to the stone walkways below. The Knight had sacrificed himself, knowing that he would die if he wanted to kill Xavier, his final words having been the motto of the Order of the Silver Cross. I had wept, cradling Xavier to my chest and rocking back and forth as the rain began to let up. It was a long fight, an endless battle that had stretched long into the night, but the Order had won in the end, their own Knight dead atop the Arc De Triomphe. It was that sword that I had forced into the earth in front of Xavier’s grave along with a promise to destroy them all. I blinked and found myself back in the Library, my fingers running over the symbol on the piece of paper. Flicking through, I found that they had originated in Norwich, England in 1483 which was the year my parents had been burnt alive. It was in that moment that the world around me stopped to exist, the books no longer relevant, the smell of old paper never reaching my nose as I realized what had happened. Xavier had told me that my parents were murdered because my father had gotten too close to the truth behind Vampires. The only people who knew about Vampires at that time were the Order. I slammed the book shut, my mind concluded as I looked up at the book shelve in front of me. The Order had murdered my parents and Xavier, the Order were following me around like starved dogs to bone. The sound of tethered string reached my ears and I raised the book in my hands in time to stop an arrow that had been aimed at my head. The head of the arrow pierced through the book, coming to a stop just inches away from my eye when I turned my head to look at it. I was beyond angry, my eyes glowing a bright ruby red as I tossed the book with an arrow lodged into it aside. Julius had dodge my throw, his eyes looking at me as I stared up at the second floor of the Library, above. There a woman dressed in white with roses embroidered into her coat stood, bow aiming a freshly plucked arrow at me. I growled lowly, the sound resembling a hiss as it tore its way from my throat, hands flexing to allow my claws to spring to life. I bent my knees and leaped into the air, hand reaching out to grip the arrow that she fired only to toss it back at her when I landed on the railing of the second floor. She rolled out of the way, her body sliding across the floor with expert speed. She took off running in the opposite direction, her legs moving with a speed like mine but, yet not as fast. I jumped up onto the bookshelves and followed, quickly managing to catch up with her. I kicked off the shelf when I reached the edge and flipped, claws reaching out to tear through fabric and skin as I landed in a crouched position in front of her. I met her gaze for a split second as time froze, her eyes wide with shock and a lush green like mine had once been. She reared back, blood splattering from her chest and torso as she flipped to place some distance between us. I stood, not expecting her to swipe her arm and send a small dagger my way, slicing through my upper arm. I hissed, the material of my white shirt torn and beginning to turn red from the wound. I looked at the woman, my eyes narrowing and teeth gritting as I drew the blood from her body. She gasped, the air catching in her throat as the red streams moved towards me, forming large wings behind my back that were tipped with razor sharp feathers made purely of blood. The wings stretched high, turning then once I opened my hand, palm faced up the feathers shot out like bullets, tearing and shredding whatever they connected with until the wings were gone and only dust remained from the attack. The woman leaped from the upper level, landing down on the table below where Fiona was staring at her with wide, fearful eyes, weak from the fright she had gotten the day before. Hamish dragged her away from the table in time for me to leap down, landing beside it with my hand slapping down onto the table’s surface. The force of my blow caused it to shatter like glass, pieces of wood flying in every direction as the woman flipped off the table and landed on the balls of her feet. I darted forward, moving as fast as the speed of light and rammed my straight through her gut, causing her gaping mouth, the spit blood and her eyes to roll back inside of her skull. I had no remorse as I removed my hand from her body and watched her tumble back onto the marble floor, but something was terribly wrong. She smiled up at me, eyes hidden behind the white hood of her coat, but lips tilted up in a triumphant smirk. My eyes widened when I realized what was happening, a single arrow zipping past me and imbedding itself into her chest. Looking up, I found a second man dressed in white, disappearing to a different roof top from where he had been stood on the glass dome. I flung myself towards Julius, knocking him to the ground before shoving a bookshelf in front of both Fiona and Hamish just as an explosion went off. I cried out as shards of glass and wood tore into the skin of my back, the chandelier from above tumbling down to come to a loud crash on the ground below a few feet away. I gritted my teeth, body looming over Julius’ to keep him from any harm while the dust cleared, and we were left alive. Hamish had Fiona pressed to his chest, hugging her tightly to him when the book shelf had fallen but collapsed against another, giving them a small pocket of space to remain safe in. I gasped for air and tumbled to the floor of the Library, my back and arm bloody as a pool of red seeped from my body. Julius loomed over me, shaking my shoulder as I blinked, the world becoming colder, yelled words sounding like whispers as a loud ringing drowned them out. My hand reached out to push myself up off the ground, connecting with pieces of glass that cut into the palm of my hand as I tried but failed. I was too weak, too exhausted to move, too drained of blood. I was able to control the blood of my enemies but not my own, my blood was just like the blood of any other person. I could not stop it from draining out of me like an opened tap. Fiona yelled out something, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of me as Hamish held her back, trying to get her to calm down. Screams and cries were coming from outside the Library, faint to my ears as I glanced around until my eyes fell shut and I was dragged into the darkness, passing out among the scattered bookshelves and splintered tables. Julius yelled my name, but that was the last thing I heard as I drifted through the endless veil of pitch black.

I awoke to the sound of horse drawn carriages, hooves cluttering against stone, men shouting and women wailing. I coughed violently, a metallic substance trailing down from my lips to my chin as I opened my eyes, blinking past the light to find that I was in a narrow, dark alley way with light pooling in through the sides of it. Someone gripped my shoulder and shook it roughly “Evana?” it was Hamish, his voice a familiar greeting as I gasped in a large breath of air. Moss grew on the walls of the abandoned alley, filling my mouth with a taste of grass or fungi that made my throat tighten. My head fell to the side, eyes searching my arm for any sign of where it had been cut but the cut was gone, only dried blood remaining in its place. My back was healed as well, pressing up against the wall of the alley as Julius looked out onto the scene of the destroyed Library “We need to leave” Julius announced, looking back at us from over his shoulder, his hand gripping the wall as he looked at me. Fiona shook her head, her hands reaching out to take mine in both of hers, holding it to her chest as she watched me, eyes filled with unshed tears “She is too injured, we cannot afford to move her” Fiona protested, but I proved her wrong, tugging my hand out of hers and forcing myself onto my feet with a small grunt from my lips. I felt tattered and bent, but my wounds were completely healed, and my vision was starting to clear, the black spots from earlier melting away to give way to images. I was still weak from blood loss but there was no reason for them to know of it “I am fine” I declared, my voice scruffy and hoarse from the blows I had taken. Both Hamish and Fiona stared up at me from their places on the ground where they had been sat beside me. Hamish’s gaze hard and Fiona’s laced with worry and fear. The sheriff was starting to search the area, dogs sniffling out where the explosion could have come from and who had caused it. I glanced around at the alley and started towards the opposite end of it that lead away from the Library. I knew where we were and tried my best to drag myself along the allay until I was out in the dreary grey sunlight once more. Julius hurried to my side, tucking his head underneath my arm to help me walk as they followed me, allowing me to lead them as I had done so many times before. A few blocks away I collapsed on the front steps of a small home, the door opening to reveal a very old man with a looking glass and dressed in a suit “What have you gotten yourself into this time?” he asked, his eyes scanning my body and referring to the explosion that took place a few blocks away. I shot him a faint smile passed bloody and splintered lips as I flicked my wrist in a small, but meaningless wave. The man was tall, with white hair and a neatly cut beard, wrinkles circling his eyes and a pipe sticking out from in between his lips that he took out of his mouth to speak when he saw me “It is nice to see you too Alfred” the man sighed and shook his head, stepping aside to motion us in. The house was a familiar, welcoming sight that to me was like a second home. I had made sure that I did not leave a blood trail for the hounds to follow and collapsed in a chair just inside the foyer. Alfred closed the door behind us and took a huff of his pipe, his rich British accent coming out whenever he spoke “Where is Master Xavier?” the words cut through me like a knife, hot steel through snow that slid its way into my soul. I felt Julius’ brows knit from beside me as Fiona stiffened at the familiar name, yet they remained silent, not sure whether it was the same person they knew that Alfred was referring to “He is dead” I declared. Alfred went numb, removing his pipe from his lips to look at me past his looking glass with sad, empty eyes. They were the eyes of a human, not a Vampire, a man from a long line of people who had served the Royal family for many decades “Killed by the Order of the Silver Cross” I added, eyes staring up at the ceiling above where some light was shining through into the foyer. Alfred had known Xavier ever since he was a little boy, his family having served the Royal Vampire for many years. He had grown up, sworn to protect the Royal and serve him as his father had before him “I see, no doubts he died laughing” Alfred muttered as I got up from my seat and made my way towards the stairs. I could walk on my own again, my blood loss being made up for with every second that ticked by because of our incredible healing capabilities. Julius followed me, his curiosity getting the better of him. He froze on the staircase, his eyes staring at a portrait Xavier had painted of me shortly after he had turned me. It was of my human self, how he remembered me, with my hair down and in a white night gown, eyes a forest green and skin slightly warmer. My eyes were wild, hair a mess and arms covered in dirt from having crawled around in the forest earth before he had found me. The portrait was signed ‘X. Cartel’ which Julius instantly noticed “You knew my uncle” he announced, his fingers gliding over the oil painting as Fiona and Hamish trailed up the rear. He used the word ‘knew’ having put together what Alfred and I were talking about, his uncle’s death. I stared at the painting, my mind going back to that first night when he had found me, taken me under his wing and taught me everything I knew “He was an interesting man” I said, nodding my head as I turned to make my way down the hall. Julius made it to the top of the stairs, his body stilling when he noticed the hundreds of paintings of all sizes that hung from the walls, all of me in various positions and poses. I wore extravagant ball gowns in some and corsets with underclothes in others, some had props like a rose or a red silk sheet that covered my naked body. Fiona gasped, her hand moving to cup her mouth as she took in the dates on the paintings, dating back to four-hundred-years prior. Hamish turned in a circle to take in the many faces, of a single person, some smiling and others emotionless “My uncle only ever painted what he loved” Julius announced, his eyes moving from one painting to the other until he found the real me disguised among the rest. It was true what he said, when I had first met Xavier he had only ever painted pictures of expensive wine and whores from all around the world, having been a player for many years, but those were all stacked away in a dark corner to give way to the muse he cared so much for “He was rather confusing, never having told me so, yet having acted so, many times before” I said, mind trailing back to when he would ask me to dance in the moonlight of his office in that very house, holding me close so that he could smell the scent of apples in my hair and the faint traces of perfume on my skin. It was always a scent that he preferred, and I always wore grand dresses around him, his words having been that such beauty could not be hidden behind mere rags but needed to be showcased, not to the world but to his eyes only “The two of you-.” Julius trailed off, his voice holding a hidden question that I quickly deciphered. I looked to a painting of me on his grand bed, my legs bent and spread as my elbows touched the surface of the bed between them, a small smile grazing my lips as I looked upon the man, white sheets pulled up to conceal my nude form from the eyes of those who would one day view the painting. Julius was asking if we had ever been intimate “Many times, if he called for me, it was my duty as his apprentice to comply” my heart held a special place for the Royal, a place where his last thundering laughter echoed, and his smile remained as if he was still there to present it to me. His breath, soaked with whiskey was still fresh in my sense of smell as his cologne consumed me in its potent aura. Fiona lowered her hand from her lips as Hamish turned to look at me “He taught me everything I know” I said, my eyes wondering the paintings, the ways he saw me as a seductress, a shy, conservative woman, a warrior and fighter. Alfred had hung them per Xavier’s orders in exactly the places he instructed him to no matter how difficult it would have been for the servant to hang them “He is why you chose to take Julius as your charge” Hamish announced, the realization reflecting in his eyes. I glanced at the young Master, his face resembling Xavier’s in a way yet it was rounder, the same stubble starting to form on his jaw line as his cheekbones protruded through his skin. His eyes were the exact same, the same golden gaze that Xavier had. I nodded and turned to head to the office where Xavier had spent most of his time searching maps for our next destination in between trips. I flung the doors open, a large, unfinished painting resting against an aisle as we entered, half of my face completed and some of my emerald green dress. It was the last painting her would have ever done, one where my eye was green instead of the more popular red it had been in all the rest apart from the very first painting that hung beside the staircase. Fiona approached the painting, her hand reaching out to touch the canvass “Do not touch it” I snapped, my eyes narrowing onto her hand that loomed in mid-air. She pulled it away and let it drop back to her side as she watched me move to find a map in the rummage of the books and scrolls that sat in the corner of the room. Xavier would not allow anyone to touch his things, his bed kept unmade as it had been before we left for France, the aisle left untouched by foreign hands apart from Alfred who would occasionally dust it off. It would be kept that way for all of eternity, while I still lived and breathed, it would all be kept exactly how he left it. I found the map of Norwich that I had been searching for and unrolled it, placing flat against the surface of the desk where Xavier had sat so many times before. It was the old map from 1483, not the updated version of what it was today. My eyes scanned it for any sign of where the Order of the Silver Cross could have been stationed during that time and then it struck me. Daniel had known of the Order, he had known of the murders and was most likely part of the Order at the time. I rolled up the scroll and tossed it aside, running a shaky hand over my face as I realized that his father had most likely been the founder of the Order since it was highly unlikely that Daniel would have known as much as he did if it had not have come from someone close to him. Harold Blackwater, Duke of Norwich had founded the Order and was the reason behind Xavier’s death, but him still being alive was highly unlikely. Both he and his son had died a long time ago by my hands however someone remained to keep the Order alive. I gritted my teeth, slamming my fists down on the desk and causing Fiona to jump from the loud bang that echoed throughout the room. I shook my head, it was my fault that Xavier had been killed, if only I had made double sure that everyone that day was dead, the Order would have stopped existing “You want to exact revenge on the Order” Hamish announced, ever perceptive as he studied me closely. I fell back into the desk chair, causing it to wheel back a few paces as I threw my head back to look up at the ceiling. I would avenge his death even if it meant I would have to sacrifice my life to do so “If only I had some way of tracking them” I muttered out loud, my eyes searching the wooden panels above. I ignored Hamish when he spoke, my mind wondering to a thousand different places at once, and that is when I decided what I was going to do. If I could not locate them through texts and scriptures, I would capture a Knight of the Order and force them to tell me where they were hiding.