Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book (49 page)

“I'm pleased to see that my reputation has preceded me,” said the vampyress. “My master asked me to find the person who was trying to kill you. That's done.”

She turned on her heel and prepared to walk away, casually carrying the old woman with her.

Even though Boudiou had tried to kill her several times, Tara could understand the woman's love for her father and her desire to rid him of his pain.

“Wait!” Tara shouted. “What are you going to do with her?”

The vampyress looked at her with bloodshot eyes, and Tara shuddered. She smiled, as if enjoying the girl's terror. “I'll have her for dinner, I think—with the master's permission, of course. He doesn't much like people who interfere with his plans. I'm just the opposite. I love people who oppose him. They make delicious meals!”

Tara couldn't believe her ears.

“But I thought human blood was poison for vampyrs,” she blurted.

“Poison?” She laughed. “For some of us, human blood is the sweetest nectar. We pay a price, but believe me, it's worth it! I'll show you.”

Baring a pair of terrifying fangs, she bent to Lady Boudiou's throat, who was moaning feebly.

“Selenba! Stop!”

Startled by the shout, the vampyress abruptly straightened. Master Dragosh had just entered the office by way of the secret door. Pleadingly, he reached out to the beautiful young woman, as she studied him.

“What a pity,” she sighed. “I really thought I'd succeeded this time.”

The vampyr master grimaced. “No, you didn't. The mouthful of blood you spat in my face didn't contaminate me. I was able to wipe it off without swallowing any. So I didn't become like you. And you'll never enlist me under the orders of the monster who turned you into a renegade.”

Tara, who had listened to this exchange without understanding, had a sudden flash of insight.

“You're the one!” she cried, pointing at the vampyress. “You're the one Master Dragosh was protecting by letting himself be put in prison. You're the one who killed the man in the alleyway. But why?”

“I was watching you, to try to learn who was trying to kill you,” said Selenba. “And I got hungry,” she added with a shrug.

Tara glanced at Dragosh, who seemed in despair.

“Why did you do it?” she asked gently. “Why protect her to the point of going to jail for her?”

“She's my . . . she was my fiancée,” he said. “My kind hunts down creatures like her, who get addicted to human blood. If I had revealed her guilt, our vampyr-killers would have come immediately. And she refused to leave until she learned your attacker's identity. So I let myself be jailed. Once I was in the human justice system, my fellows couldn't come after me, and Selenba was out of danger.”

“And thanks to you, I can now bring my prey back to the Master,” she purred.

“I . . . I can't allow you to leave,” said an anguished Dragosh. “You've done enough harm already. You manipulated me, using my love for you like a weapon. But that's all over. I won't let you take her away.”

Selenba looked at him with annoyance.

“Oh, drat!” she said. “I hate doing this. It hurts. But too bad, I don't want to fight you.”

As they looked in astonishment, the vampyress sank her teeth into her wrist. Using her blood, she made a circle in front of her and screamed: “Delanda Tir Vouch Transmir!”

A kind of portal appeared, and before Dragosh could grab her, Selenba leaped through it, dragging Lady Boudiou along. The opening closed with a sickening sucking sound, but not before they glimpsed the vampyress and her prey on the other side, blowing them a kiss with her free hand.

Tara slumped to the floor, exhausted. Manitou slipped his silky head under her arm and she absentmindedly stroked him, forgetting for a moment that he was her great-grandfather. Then she realized what she was doing. “Oops! Sorry, Grandpa!”

“No, no, don't stop!” protested the dog. “I'm in serious need of some petting. Everything's been happening a little too fast for me. Besides, I feel terribly guilty. It's because of my potion that all this began. By Demiderus, what have I done?”

Tara consoled him by reminding him that no one had asked Lady Boudiou's father to become a Bloodgrave or to try to kill Isabella and to kidnap her. It was terrible that the potion had side effects, but they couldn't have been anticipated. Manitou promised to start work on an antidote as soon as possible and to track down his former customers.

Tara's friends returned and were brought up to speed about what had just happened. To Tara's great surprise, Master Dragosh didn't try to hide anything, including the part about his bloodthirsty vampyress fiancée.

In turn, Robin and the others explained Lady Boudiou's ruse. While they were chasing her, she apparently created a shadow self, hiding the hand wounded by Robin's arrow. The trick worked, and they ran off in pursuit of the shadow.

Like Tara, the Lab felt bad about the fate facing the old woman.

Fafnir, on the other hand couldn't care less. They'd finally gotten rid of the mysterious killer and she understood why her faithful axe hadn't hurt the shadow they were chasing. She seemed relieved. The idea that her axe might have missed its target really bothered her.

The next day, Master Chem returned from his travels and learned about the events of the night before. It put him in a very bad mood.

A wanted poster for Selenba was broadcast on the crystal screens and plastered around Lancovit. Each time Tara saw the beautiful vampyress's bloody gaze, she shivered.

The murder charge against Master Dragosh was dismissed, but Counselor Salatar was furious at the vampyr wizard for misleading him and slapped him with a heavy fine. Only the fact that Dragosh had helped destroy the Ravager saved him from being sent back to prison.

In the days that followed, Angelica and her parents were brought to trial for temporarily usurping the Lancovit throne. They were given relatively light sentences, because it was obvious that the Ravager had a powerful hold on the psyches of the people he possessed. They had to pay the kingdom a large immuta-credit fine, but got no jail time. Master Brandaud was demoted from high to simple wizard, and Angelica from senior to ordinary spellbinder (which she found outrageous).

The trial was broadcast by the crystalists, and Cal was incensed when he heard the verdicts. He knew that the Brandauds had been the Ravager's accomplices, but didn't have any way to prove it. Sparrow, however, wasn't finished with Angelica. Each time she met the tall girl in a hallway, she would shift into the beast and start filing her claws. Angelica's nerves finally snapped, and she left for a long rest somewhere in the countryside.

Fafnir returned to Hymlia. The Ravager had infected nearly the entire dwarf nation. Because Fafnir had saved OtherWorld by resisting him for five days, the dwarves unanimously decided to welcome her back into the tribe, even though she was still cursed with magic. This was unprecedented in dwarf history and became the talk of all OtherWorld. Nations sent their crystalists to cover the ceremony.

To general astonishment, Fafnir refused. She announced to the crystalists that since the position of senior spellbinder previously held by Angelica was vacant, she had decided to go work in Lancovit. Nowhere else in OtherWorld would she find a better place for fights, deadly perils, and plots of all sorts, she said.

When Tara heard the news, she practically died laughing. She knew perfectly well that the dwarf hadn't given up on ridding herself of magic and that this was the only reason she'd refused her fellow dwarves' offer.

Meanwhile, Tara was getting ready to leave Lancovit and return to Earth. She and her friends were in a room chatting quietly with the king and queen when Master Chem suddenly burst in. “Hello, Your Majesties! Ah, Tara, children—there you are! I was looking for you. I have a taludi for you.”

Tara shivered. The last message she'd received via taludi had been less than pleasant.

This time was different, however. The empress and emperor had officially requested their presence in Omois.

“O
h no!” cried Cal, rigid with alarm. “What have we done now?” It turned out that Empress Lisbeth'tylanhnem was merely inviting them to two celebrations: one to recognize their heroism and the other to celebrate Tara's birthday.

Master Chem said he regrettably couldn't accompany them—he had to deal with a lot of problems related to Lady Boudiou's disappearance—but he gave them a large escort in his place.

When the young spellbinders rematerialized in the Omois Palace, they were received as special guests. The imperial guards snapped to attention, each with head held proudly up and his four fists over his heart. Two hundred heels clicked as one. Lady Kali, who'd been infected by the Ravager and still suffered from its aftereffects, thanked them at least a half-million times.

The kids were thrilled to be welcomed as heroes, and the feast given in their honor was so sumptuous that Cal nearly resigned from Lancovit to come live in Omois.

Two days later, the empress threw a birthday party for Tara. To their surprise, it wasn't held in one of the palace's vast reception halls, but in a charming salon that opened onto the interior garden, with about a hundred guests gathered around the empress and emperor. Tara loved roses, and the decoration theme for the room was rose, rose, and more rose. There were roses of every shape and color cascading down the walls, their scent dizzying.

As usual, Empress Lisbeth was nothing if not imperial. She was wearing a dress shaded from a pink so deep it was almost red, to one so pale it was almost white. She wore a simple crown of pink gold, and her long hair was colored to match her dress. The effect was stunning.

The smiling empress showed the young spellbinders to their seats, then sat down at their table, which greatly surprised the onlookers. Unruffled, Emperor Sandor did the same.

“I'm very happy that Tara is celebrating her thirteenth birthday in Omois,” said the empress clearly, “even though it's a few days late. And frankly, I've had trouble choosing a present for my heir.”

The emperor stared at his half-sister in astonishment. He wasn't alone. A dead silence settled on the happy crowd.

Tara's heart skipped a beat. She then bravely looked up, directly at the empress. “How did you find out?”

“There's a spy in your midst!” the empress innocently announced.

Tara could feel that the empress was testing her, so she kept calm, even though she felt like wringing her neck.

“A spy?”

“Yes, an unwitting one, I hasten to add,” said the empress, very pleased with the effect she was having. “A taludi!”

Sparrow suddenly understood and turned pale.

“The taludi! The one that recorded our summoning Brandis's ghost in Limbo. When I put it down, it must have continued recording!”

“Exactly!” said Lisbeth gleefully. “I was curious to know how you managed to prove Caliban Dal Salan's innocence, so I put the taludi on. By my ancestors, the Limbo Judgment Hall is a real horror! And that Judge! I'm very happy he's staying there.”

“I'll bet she is,” muttered Cal under his breath. “He'd have lots to say if he started rummaging around in her brain.”

“I was about to take the taludi off,” she continued, “when I saw another ghost appear. I didn't recognize it right away, I have to admit, and when I did, it was a shock. It was the ghost of my dead brother Danviou!”

This was apparently just as great a shock for the emperor, whose eyes widened in astonishment. A murmur of surprise rose from the crowd. Danviou? The dead emperor?

“I had wished with all my heart that my brother was still alive, but without much hope,” the empress continued sadly. “And then I learned something new, something equally significant. When my brother spoke to Tara, he called her ‘My daughter'! That's when I realized that a miracle had taken place. I had lost my brother, but he'd had time to have a child! A young girl who is a worthy descendent of Demiderus. Like our illustrious ancestor, she has just saved our universe for the second time!”

All eyes now turned to Tara, whose brain practically shut down under the pressure. What could she possibly say to this?

The emperor saved her the trouble.

“Lisbeth, that's impossible!” he cried. “Danviou disappeared more than fourteen years ago. Are you saying he had a daughter? And that the daughter is the little Duncan girl? It's grotesque!”

“I don't see why,” said the empress, thoughtfully looking Tara over. “She has the Demiderus white strand in her hair, I saw my brother's ghost—”

Sandor cut her off. “Trickery and deceit! It's too easy! Some stranger shows up, claims she's the heir to the empire, and without further ado we roll out the purple carpet for her. I won't be a party to such a masquerade!”

He was so angry, he'd turned bright red.

“I haven't claimed anything at all,” Tara calmly pointed out. “And I never said I was the empire's heir. Anyway, I'm going back to Earth to be with my family—my mother and my grandmother. You can keep your empire. I wouldn't want it for all the gold in OtherWorld.”

Now the emperor felt offended.

“What do you mean, you don't want it?” he spluttered. “You have no idea how lucky you are to be the heir of an empire as magnificent as ours. It's an honor, it's . . .”

Suddenly he realized what he was saying. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and scowled at Tara.

The empress repressed a little chuckle.

“I don't need any more proof,” she decreed. “I know that this child is of my flesh. She's the spitting image of Danviou. Look at that blond hair and those deep blue eyes. Tomorrow I will announce that the imperial heir has been found. And here is your present, darling.”