Chapter 27
I’d been planning on a lovely long lie in the next morning followed by a soak in the bath to recover from the night before. Sadly, I hadn’t thought about informing Corin.
Rodney knocked apologetically at 8am to tell me he was waiting for me. Astro, who had been curled up at the foot of my bed grumbled and meowed in protest before curling back up on my empty pillow. I stomped about my bedroom, my head throbbing dully and threatening bodily harm to Corin once I’d woken up a bit. It was an empty threat though, as I didn’t have enough energy to swat a fly, let alone inflict any harm on the elvish equivalent of Jackie Chan.
I yanked on some leggings and a long T-shirt and headed downstairs, feeling crappier than usual. I yelled to Rodney hoping vaguely that he might have made me a cup of tea, but his car was gone so he must have already left. By the time I got outside I was in a foul mood but my headache and bad temper were put to one side as I stood gazing, open mouthed, at the vision before me.
Corin was clearly dressed for his own world. The suit was perfectly tailored, moulded to his body, with a waistcoat that was intricately embroidered in red and gold. On his head he wore a delicate gold crown and his hair had been plaited with gold thread. Even though he was dressed in such a regal fashion the feeling swept over me all over again that I wasn't really seeing him, like he was hiding something from me. But he smiled and bowed his head a little and the feeling was forgotten. I tugged at my faded T-shirt self-consciously and put a hand to my tangled hair. I felt somewhat at a disadvantage.
“Er… hi Corin,” I said, feeling slightly stunned.
“Good morning, Jéhenne.” His voice was low and soothing and did something to my insides that made my cheeks heat. I took a step back. “Please forgive me for being so remiss, but I believe that it was your birthday yesterday.”
I cleared my throat, feeling ever more awkward. “Oh, well, yes it was.”
“Then I hope that you will please accept this token as a gift.”
He stepped forward, golden eyes glinting in the morning sun, and held out a small box.
“There was really no need to go to so much trouble.” I stared at him some more and couldn’t resist asking, “Corin are you royalty or something?”
He laughed and it was a warm and enticing sound, it made you want to make him do it again. “I am the only son of King Albrecht and the heir to Alfheim.”
“You’re a Prince then?” I felt my eyebrows rise to the heavens.
“Yes, Jéhenne.” He smiled at me kindly, obviously realising my mental powers weren’t quite up to speed this morning.
“Excuse me for asking,” I said as a thought occurred to me. “But if you’re a Prince, what on earth are you doing coming to teach me to fight?”
I saw a flicker of some emotion in his eyes that was quickly hidden. “That is an arrangement between your grandmother and myself,” he replied a little stiffly.
A little qualm of unease slithered through my stomach. “Oh? Like you mean you owed her a favour?”
He titled his head to one side and smiled a little. “Something like that. Now Jéhenne, will you accept my gift?”
I hesitated for a moment, something in the intensity of his gaze giving me pause. I took the little box from him.
“Thank you, Corin, it was very thoughtful of you to go to so much trouble.”
As I spoke, just for a moment, he looked almost … guilty. It was so fleeting I figured I must have imagined it and he pressed me to open his gift. Inside the little box, on a bed of silk, was a delicate gold bracelet. Well I was certainly doing OK for jewellery this birthday. It was three incredibly fine strands, woven in and out of each other and with tiny oak leaves and roses intertwined. I picked it up carefully and smiled at Corin.
“It’s just lovely, but really you shouldn’t have. It’s too much.”
“Jéhenne, I am a Prince. It is a very modest gift for, I hope, a good friend.”
He spoke so sincerely that it seemed churlish to refuse.
“Well then, thank you, I love it.”
I moved forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and was surprised when his hands came up to my waist, keeping me still and close to him. He held me there, holding my gaze with those golden eyes and I felt my heart thud. I stepped hastily away, looking away from those eyes. He let me go with a sigh but made no further move. I got the feeling he was warring with himself about that but to my relief he excused himself with a smile.
“I will leave you then, Jéhenne. I suspect you were enjoying yourself last night and are perhaps not fit to train this morning.” He gave me a mischievous wink.
“Not really no.” Oh, thank you, God.
He nodded and turned away. “Well then, I will see you tomorrow. Good day, Jéhenne.”
As I was unexpectedly free I decided that I couldn’t put off talking to Remé any longer. I rang and asked him if I could come over this morning instead of after lunch as arranged.
On the drive over I tried to work out in my mind what I wanted to tell Remé and how I should explain things but by the time I arrived at his house I was feeling sick with stress. The implications of what Hekatê had told me plus the fact that if I didn’t get the key my friends would be in danger, had finally hit home. Time was passing and I was no closer to finding it. When I got the other side of St Saul, I had to pull the car over and calm myself down as a panic attack started to tighten my chest. I took a swig from a bottle of water I’d thought to bring and breathed slowly in and out until I was calm enough to drive again.
Remé opened the door and smiled at me gently.
“Ah Jéhenne, are you ready to talk to me now?”
I nodded silently. I'd been grateful to him for not pressing before, but now I couldn’t wait to unload.
I explained everything as simply as I could, about the meeting with Tacitus, his threats if I didn’t find the Key and my meeting with Hekatê.
When I told Remé I’d summoned the goddess his eyes widened in shock, but he said nothing and waited until I’d finished. When I had he remained quiet for a moment and took a sip of coffee from a cup that had sat untouched on his desk for the last half an hour while I talked. He grimaced and set the cup back down.
“There are legends about the key to the Underworld. It is called in fact, the Key to Erebus and there were originally not one but two keys. The first belonging to the Lord of the Underworld, Dis Pater, the other he put in the keeping of your goddess Hekatê. The legend tells that Hekatê’s key was stolen and never found and there have long been those who have searched for it. The key gives complete control over all those who dwell within. It was for that reason the position of Guardian of the Gate was created. It is the guardian’s job to ensure the safety of the one permanent gateway in this realm. There are others, but only Dis Pater himself can summon them and he can't pass through them himself. He's tied to the Underworld by the key so can only enter this realm through the main gateway. It is possible to enter the gateway without a key, but only the most powerful sorcerers or witches would be able to do it. None have ever succeeded, thanks to the guardian, but I imagine you know all about him.” He smiled genially.
I frowned. “No, I’ve never heard of the guardian, I didn’t even know about the gate until Hekatê told me.”
“But you know who he is, surely?” he asked, giving me a curious look.
“No!” I replied, frustrated as ever by the feeling I was missing the obvious. “I’ve no idea. Why should I?”
Remé reached out a hand and covered mine for a moment. “Jéhenne, Corvus is the guardian and has been for almost one and a half thousand years.”
I felt my mouth open and close without saying anything and not for the first time, I wondered how on earth I could ever really know a man who had lived so long and was capable of … of what? He was the guardian of the gate to the Underworld. The words spun in my head but their meaning eluded me.
“Why?” It was all I could manage, once I found my voice again.
> “Ah, now as to that …” Remé scratched his head and frowned, obviously wondering where to begin. “You know perhaps that Corvus did not want to be vampire?” I nodded and he carried on. “Well, he was very angry for many years and he behaved … well, as most people imagine vampires would behave. Eventually though, he became disgusted with himself and the world around him and he tried over and again to get himself killed, to end his misery. He picked fights with vampires who should have been far more powerful than him, in the hope that they would kill him. However, his pride would not let him be bested by someone who was not truly capable.”
I felt my heart ache at the idea of Corvus so determined to die. But surely there would have been easier ways to do it? “Why didn’t he just walk into the sun?”
Remé frowned, apparently considering the idea. “Well, Corvus was a warrior and I think he would have felt it was weak to take the easy way out. So he kept fighting and he kept winning, until one day he challenged his own Master.”
I gasped in shock, remembering Lucas’ challenge to him at the Château, maybe that explained why Corvus had been so lenient with him.
“How old was he?”
“Well, I believe Corvus would have been less than two hundred years old.”
“And the Master?”
“You must remember, Jéhenne, that there were no restrictions on vampires back then as there are now, so Masters were often much younger and less powerful than in these modern times. However, I believe his Master to have been near five hundred years old.”
“And he beat him?” I asked in awe.
Remé Laughed. “No Jéhenne he did not, but neither could the Master beat Corvus which meant he was no longer under his control, so he gave him his freedom.”
“But that would make him a wraith wouldn’t it?”
“Not at all, in fact, it meant that Corvus could be a Master and create his own family, but it was something of a double edged sword. It meant he was also alone, without the support of the existing family, which would have been quite a shock for a young vampire.” He looked at me, compassion in his expression. “You must understand, Corvus never expected to survive the challenge.”
I tried to imagine the despair Corvus must have felt, how desperate he must have been to want to end his life and then to be cut free, alone in the world with no family. Remé interrupted my thoughts, by carrying on with his story.
“In the end, Corvus approached Sariel and pleaded with him for help, to end his suffering. Sariel refused to let Corvus die but instead gave him the chance to redeem himself. He said if he served as guardian for two terms, a term being one thousand years, that his previous sins would be forgiven.”
“And now the term is almost over?”
“Yes, some years ago he negotiated with Sariel and got some time taken off, so he has just three years remaining and if you asked, Corvus would say it’s not a moment too soon. It is a great burden of responsibility and I know he will be very glad to be rid of it.” Remé picked up his cold coffee cup again and pulled a face as he discovered his mistake. He turned back to me with a sigh. “You realise, of course, that he has long since come to terms with what he is. The way in which he has created his family is testament to that. He had forbidden any vampire of his making to take human life, long before the senate forbade it.”
“I didn’t know.” I shook my head. “I didn’t know any of this.”
Remé went over to the windows and closed the shutters a little as the sun was streaming in and the room was growing warm.
“Well, Jéhenne, I’m sure you know Corvus well enough to understand that he’s not a man who likes to talk about himself.”
I shrugged and made a dismissive noise. I was only now realising the extent of what I didn't know. “Well, I know that much perhaps, but as to knowing him well ... I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to say that.” I could hear the bitterness in my voice as well as he could and Remé looked at me intently for a moment.
“There is a difference between knowing a man and knowing his history, Jéhenne.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure I could see the difference.
“As to your problem, first things first, we must find the key,” he said, with sudden decisiveness. “Come along then.”
I followed him into the spell room, as I’d come to think of it and the ward sent the usual shivers down my spine as I walked through the door. Remé searched the shelves and rustled through large stacks of papers before he found what he was looking for, which turned out to be a rather dog eared map of the world. It looked ancient and although I wasn’t very hot on geography, I had the distinct feeling there were some countries missing. Presumably they were as yet undiscovered at the time the map was drawn. He then opened a drawer and pulled out a long gold chain with a crystal on it and began to dowse for the key by holding it over the map. After about ten minutes he sighed.
“Rien, you have a go.”
I took the chain from him and repeated his actions. After only a few moments I thought I felt a slight pull and moved the chain towards the area I’d felt it had come from. Almost immediately the chain was tugged from my hand and landed on the map.
“Voilà, bravo Jéhenne!” Remé came over to look at the position. “Well that’s very convenient.” He frowned at the map. The crystal had landed on the south west of France. He headed off and after a few more minutes rustling, he reappeared with a map of France.
“Let’s see now.” He swung the crystal lightly over the map. “Jéhenne, just go fetch my glasses would you please? They’re on the table by the window.”
I had just turned to walk over and fetch his glasses when something hit me in the back before clattering to the floor. I turned in surprise to see the crystal at my feet.
“What did you do that for?” I asked indignantly, but Remé was looking at me with his mouth open.
“I … perhaps you should try.”
I shrugged and picked up the crystal, wondering why Remé looked so nervous. I returned to the map, but I hadn’t even begun to swing it before it turned and hit me in the head.
“Ow!”
“Mon Dieu!” He breathed in awe. “Ce n’est pas possible.”
I rubbed my forehead and looked at him suspiciously. “What’s not possible?”
He swallowed and looked at me uneasily. “Well Jéhenne it would appear that you are the key.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!” I scoffed, though an unpleasant feeling was crawling through my guts. “How is that even possible?”
“Where the gods are involved anything is possible,” he said darkly and massaged his temples with a pained expression. “There is one more thing we can try, to be sure.”
He returned to his rummaging, appearing this time to be looking for a book. An hour later the room was full of dust as he’d pulled every book off the shelves and it was painfully clear that his housekeeper wasn’t allowed to clean this room. Given the pig incident, I doubted she’d needed to be told twice. I sneezed for the twentieth time while Remé was engrossed in a massive, ancient looking tome. It was a beautiful old thing if a bit the worse for wear.
“Voilà, voilà,” he murmured pouring over the pages, and then he dashed off to pull a small jar from one of the shelves. He poured a little pile of something that looked like gold dust into his hand.
“If the key is here, this will find it.”
He closed his eyes, rotating slowly while speaking words aloud. I couldn’t make out the language. Often spells were cast in ancient languages like Hebrew or Gaelic, but most of Gran’s that I’d learnt had been in Occitan. I watched in fascination as the gold dust spiralled up from his palm and snaked it’s way into the air. It coiled around him while he recited, before rising and coming together in a ball over his head. When he spoke the last words it hovered for a moment before crossing the room and showering me with dust. I looked at Remé in horror and sneezed.
“That simply can’t be right. It’s a key, not a person and even if it
was, why me?”
He was looking at me, caught somewhere between horror and awe by his expression. “A very good question, Jéhenne, and though a person can be a key, as to why you, I have simply no idea.” He sighed and walked over to me, putting his hands on my shoulders.
“We have to tell him, Jéhenne.”
“No!” I felt panicky. Corvus was already way too possessive and overprotective for my liking. If he found out about this he’d probably lock me in the Château for good.
Remé scowled at me and his voice became harder. “Jéhenne, somehow you are the key to the Underworld. If Tacitus finds out you will be in grave danger and if you are not protected you will put many others at risk besides yourself. You simply have no choice.”
I felt my stomach lurch at his words but stubbornness prevailed. “But no one else knows, Remé, and I’m certainly not going to spread it about.”
If I hoped to reason with him, I was out of luck.
“Whilst that is certainly true for the moment, Tacitus will come for the key sooner or later, and eventually he will discover the truth. Either way we need to be prepared. Corvus is the guardian and he has to be informed.”
I huffed in annoyance before throwing myself into an old arm chair in disgust. I really didn’t want to tell Corvus about this as I had no doubt it would somehow end up being my fault - in all honesty though, I was scared to death. How did this happen to me? I seemed to be a magnet for trouble. I could only feel amazed that I’d made nineteen in the first place. For the first time ever I really began to understand why my mother had taken me away from Gran. No matter how misguided she had been trying to protect me. Unfortunately now I was still in deep shit but with the added bonus of being completely unprepared for it.
No. I scolded myself mentally. I wasn’t unprepared, I still had a lot to learn but I wasn’t helpless. I’d killed Reina and if others came for me they could expect the same treatment.
As usual, thinking about Reina caused my chest to tighten painfully but before the panic attack took hold Remé refocused my attention.
“We will go and see Corvus as soon as it’s dusk then. In the meantime I want to go over some of the work we’ve been doing, see if you’ve remembered what I taught you.” He smiled at me brightly. I scowled, giving my best impression of a sulky teenager and got to my feet. At least it would take my mind off tonight.
We went over the elemental spells and Remé was pleased with the progress I’d made with water. I could now move the contents of a jug of water and although I did drop it on the carpet twice, I managed to pull every drop back up and pour it over a rather tired looking aspidistra that was tucked into a forgotten corner of the room.
“Bravo,” Remé said clapping at my efforts. “Bien fait, and now fire please.”
Well this at least was easy. With a slight wave of my hand a blaze erupted in the middle of the carpet. I wasn’t worried about damaging it as I’d discovered the fire only actually burnt things if I wanted it to. Remé however jumped out of his seat and yelled at me.
“Do it again!”
I looked at him in surprise but obligingly did as he asked and another cheery blaze appeared on his carpet. He pointed an accusing finger at me in alarm.
“You didn’t say the words!”
“What?”
“The incantation, you didn’t say it.” He looked more than a little rattled, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“Well no, I don’t need to. I just think it and there it is.” I waved my hand in the direction of the flames and shrugged apologetically. “Is that wrong?”
He walked over to one of the big dressers, pulled a bottle off the shelf, poured some into a glass and downed it. Thankfully it was nothing more magical than Johnny Walker but it seemed to do the trick.
“It is not wrong,” he said, his voice quiet. “But it is almost unheard of. There are few in the world who can cast without saying the words.” He stared absently into the empty glass for a moment and spoke without looking up. “It would seem the gods have great plans for you, Jéhenne. You must take care.”
His words sent the little hairs on my arms standing on end and I shivered. “I think I’ll be going now, Remé.”
I wanted to get away as quickly as possible. The whole morning had done nothing but freak me out and I wanted to get home to the relative safety and sanity of Rodney’s house. I hoped he was back as I really needed some cheering up.
I practically ran to the car and drove back with the radio blaring at full volume, hoping to drown out the questions and frankly terrifying thoughts that circled my tired brain.
Luck definitely wasn’t with me today because as I pulled in front of Rodney’s house I saw that not only was he not back, but there was a strange woman sitting on the doorstep, waiting.
The woman stood as I got out the car. She was young, maybe just a year or two older than me and very beautiful. She also seemed familiar, though as hard as I racked my brain I couldn’t think where I’d seen her before. She had long black hair that fell in heavy waves around a heart shaped face, and as I got closer I could see she had brilliant green eyes. I gasped in astonishment and stood rooted to the spot as realisation hit.
“Bonjour, chérie, ça va?”
Perfect.