Bound By Blood (15 page)

             
Immortals felt different from oth
er immortals
,
as well as
from
Phãegens
. Not only w
ere
there differences
in
energy
,
but there w
ere
also differences in
appearance. Fo
r instance,
Samanthŕa’s eyes glowed because her body contained more energy compared to
that of
a
Phãegen
.
Her skin had a supple
radiance. The
warriors
of her bloodline were also
larger than
the Phãegens
,
which meant
Samanthŕa
and other immortal females were
taller than
most of the Phãegen
women
.

             
There were other reasons for her to dim
,
but these were the main ones.
It took little power to do this. So little in fact, that she doubted
Dĩas
would
notice
it with his mind preoccupied with the meeting and the storm.
As always though, she planned to take extra precautions.

             
She took out a
black
stone, which
was in her pocket. It was one of the things she
habitually
brought with her. It would absorb her imprint so that it could not be sensed or traced
, a
nother trick she learned from her mother. The stone
she had in particular,
could not handle powerful magic
,
but a small dimming spell was easy absorption
.
Once it turned a soft glow of transparent white, almost like a crystal, she knew it
had
worked.
The energy from her invocation was within and not released into the atmosphere around her.

             
With the hood of her cloak hiding her face,
the doors eased open. Her dim dulled her so much, no one stopped to notice. Easily, s
he found a table vacant near the back of the
common room
. Here, the light was
faint
e
st.
Samanthŕa
often chose this table as it was away from the main
facilities
where
being
s seemed to flock the most. It was also near a
back
door
,
just in case she had to leave quickly.
With no need to be alarmed . . . just yet . . . she
secretly studied the room and its crowd.

             
Larger crystals hung throughout
,
burning bright with light
,
while
six fire pits added
their
own orange
glow. Different types of fleshy
carcasses hung over a few of them
,
roasting while a P
hãeg
en wench or two basted the outer crusts
with sauces--
sweet or spicy
.

             
There were very few
half-breeds
this night.
Pureblooded
Evil was also scarce. There w
ere
no Lessers
of
Evil
present
,
either
.
There were
none from her
own
bloodlines
,
which eased
Samanthŕa’s
mind greatly
and even though she sensed the faded essence of Staphãyn, she had no reason to believe he still lingered in the room before her or the darkened corridors below
. She did sense the
faded
imprint of a
Lycãon, though
, a
Vlachŕa
in fact,
which was very curious,
but it
had been gone for quite a while
.
Perhaps they were sent by the great Kaléé, sister to Samanthŕa's mother Chymeŕah, and highest Vlachŕa of the Lyc
ãon, to do as the Priestess was doing now . . . .

             
What did that Lycãon find of interest? Anything?

             
Wondering, h
er eyes traced the straw
strewn
floors until she found the boots of those who were there. She checked for hidden weapons
.
She
found a few blades, pouches of warrior'
s dust and a couple
of
binding sacks. She made a special note of
them
to herself. Most
of their owners
were drowning in mead and posed no threat t
o her
;
still, she memorized who had
what
anyway
.

             
Not even detected by the Tavern wenches as they passed a few times wi
thout offering her refreshment--
content with the strength of such a dim
--
she
focused her
extrasensory
hearing
upon
the many voices filling the room
.
She hoped to
catch
some conversation concerning
anything
odd happening this night.

             
Some talked about the loss of livestock
,
and
how the
Nosophoros
attacked their farms under the dark moons. No one worried about th
ose
creatures this night though
,
because of the crazy lightning flashing uncontrollably. The hideous, foul things were sensitive to light, no matter how small.

             
This interested
Samanthŕa
,
but not enough to keep her focused. Normally
,
she would have been curious
,
but somet
hing
else
tweaked her attention . . .

             
His name was
Splazyk.
His hair was wildly spiked in long s
tiffened
chunks, which
fell down his back
,
reminding her of some spiny creature. His arms were covered in scars—symbols burned there to help control the beast within. His face resembled a man who had spent to
o
much time in the sun
,
even though the sun on TEŔAH was not that brutal
.
He was a
Va
ŕ
lok
. They
were the offspring of Evil. They were created by
the
mixing of
a
Prid
ŕ
yk
and
a
Phãegen
. The Pridŕyk
and
the Vaŕlok spawn
were both mockeries of the
Lycãon
clans.
To Samanthŕa and her kind, they were impure, unworthy, and an insult to all things of the Goddess. She would
have destroyed the thing right then and there but she was on neutral ground and her presence had to remain a secret.

             
Still, what spawned the breed, t
he
Prid
ŕ
yk
,
were
E
vil
s'
pure bloods
,
who could shift into wolf
shape
.
By infecting a Phãegen with their germ, the
Vaŕlok
were born and became tormented
creatures who were trapped between the shift
from
man
to
Pridŕyk
. They ended up being something in between
,
whose blood was sanies
,
which meant their essence
was corrupt
, plagued,
or poison. Nothing good ever came from the likes of them.
TEŔAH would be better off without them.
             

             
Despite her disgust though, s
he listened as
the Vaŕlok named
Splazyk told another that his
tribe
had been in hiding since the storm. They believed the storm spilt the blood of anything impure
and
not
of the Many Lights
.

             
If this were the case, if the powers moving the storm are only a threat to that of Evil, then why are my father and the Elders so nervous?

             
Listening, h
e claimed many of
E
vil
s'
breed had been slaughtered this night by something unseen and unknown. He was nervous a
nd
he continu
al
ly watched the door.
His dirty stained hands shook when he wasn't thrusting mead down his throat.

             
The one
with
him
was a Noŕ
a. He, like the rest of his line
,
was about five feet
high
and bald. They looked like tiny, hairless Phãegens
when they were
n’t
running around on all fours
. They
could make themselves invisible
,
especially when they felt threatened. They were perverse Lessers who h
ad once been mortal but now was like the Vaŕlok--something in between
. They were unfortunate enough
to have been turned by an Evil Vampére
or to have survived an attack
by one
. It was hard to know
what
he
’d
looked like before he became a mutant. His long fingers and nails scraped the edge of his pint while
his
large sunken eyes nervously
blinked. H
e
asked how
Splazyk
could fear an attack
here
,
at the T
avern,
since this was
,
after all, neutral ground.

             
Splazyk dug at his leather
vest, pulling out an herb,
filled hi
s
pipe
made of bone
,
and lit it
.
“
This
place is neutral t
o only those
who
are
bound by the terms of the
realm
s, but
not
whatever moves across the
realm
s
this
night. Le
t
us
not forget that the neutral
ity
pact was agreed upon by all those at the
big
meeting
now
,
who cannot lay claim to an age older than the ruins underneath us
.
"

             
"You . . . you sayin' whatever makes this storm is older than that? Than the ruins?" The Nora nearly went invisible from fear.

             
"I'm sayin' that w
hatever
this is did not agree to anything
,
as it was not around at the time it was agreed upon
. W
hich means, it
may be
older than us all. Does
it feel like anything you have ever known?”

             
The one with Splazyk shook his head
, and now his entire body blinked visible to invisible
. . . on and off
.
He was terrified
.
The energy of the storm was odd to him
as well
and he said so while spitting up the blood of his last victim
.

             
Samanthŕa curled her lip from disgust.
Vial creatures
.

             
Still, the Nora spoke now on what little it knew. With a shaking whisper . . . 
“The
NORS
Ŕ
AH
are
saying that something very old and ancient has awakened. It demands the blood of
anything
which crosses its path
.
No one knows whether it is of the Many Lights
or
E
vil. They say their seers have spoken of its coming for quite some
time.
They say it is prophecy
.”