Cheating Death (Wraith's Rebellion Book 2) Read online

  During the second era, the sisters ruled and dictated how vampires were to live. They turned men because she made it possible. These men served the Elders as Progeny should.

  Some women took advantage of this, because of the patriarchal nature of the world. This led to their Progeny making more vampires and then having those fledgelings kill the older vampire.

  And so, she spoke: no fledgling may kill a Master.

  A new vampire needs to be capable of producing their own Progeny before they can kill their Maker’s Maker. So, if I turned you tonight, you could not use those twelve ways of death to kill Lu.

  In theory, you could use the tool to do it, however.

  Ram it into the base of his skull, got it.

  It still kills mortals.

  What do I care? He’d be dead too.

  You are an odd one, even for a mortal.

  Anyhow.

  Vampires killing vampires and the Elders ruling. Because of all the murder, the change was rather quick.

  The Great Maker delivered messages to her daughters through her Progeny. Now, I feel the need to remind you that this is part of what Lu told me. The others, for the most part, cannot agree on what was going on during this era.

  Death did not serve the sisters, nor was he kind to them. He would go unmasked and typically with a boy at his side. The boy was always gifted to him by the Great Maker, as a sign of her trust in him to guard her children.

  Ew.

  She was smart, she kept the beast in food. Lu is vain and shallow. He is very easy to manipulate.

  The uneasy truce between mother and daughters ended when the daughters tried to take over the world with Rome. They were no longer thinking short term, as they realized they would never age.

  The Great Maker went North. She turned a king there named Wodan and demanded he serve her. The king laughed and refused.

  A Progeny may not disobey their Maker, so she spoke. Wodan was new enough, somehow, for that to take. But not fully. And because he could resist, we can resist.

  Wodan did what he was bid, somewhat. He walked among the Germanic tribes and spread the word that the Romans were controlled by women, that if they ever gave in a vampire would control them and dictate their lives.

  Vampires, all vampires, see Odin as a betrayer. He’s on Lu’s list to be executed. Others know he exists and dislike his presence.

  Last night you seemed to, I don’t know, like him?

  I love his people. Odin is on the list and I almost trust the list, but so is Lucrecia and Sasha. Why would they need to be there? He’s a warrior, a true warrior through and through, and I think we could learn a lot from him. So, I’m a little hesitant to toss Odin under the bus. He makes good stock, love the women.

  But not the men?

  I appreciate the men.

  Now human myth says Odin arose some two thousand years ago, but this all places us about the time that Lucrecia was turned. She’s only a few centuries younger than Lu, I think. It’s murky.

  What are you doing?

  Research. Okay, this is just quick, but the end of Sumer was when the Akkadians overran it around 2340 BC.

  Which would suggest the Akkadians are the people of the sisters.

  Rome began around 734 BC.

  What happened to the Akkadians then? That may help me find one of the sisters.

  I dunno. There’s a sudden drought theory, but for the most part, they just abandoned everything a couple of hundred years after overtaking Sumer.

  Which suggests the sisters gave up their tribe to placate their mother. When a people is brought together by a vampire to be stock, they flourish. But once the vampire is gone they tend to disband. There is no longer a unifying factor to keep them together.

  And that suggests that the sisters last vanished when Rome broke apart. Do you know the history of Rome?

  It was before my time, but I am aware of it. I, of course, would seek out a sister because she could kill Lu. He’s weakened, we may have time, and sometimes new eyes help you find a body.

  Uh, there’s probably only one left, and if she did come out of hiding, it’s not going to be to kill the man who killed her sisters and survived. Me? I’d be hiding my ass among fledglings and pretending to be a regular vampire. Back story and all. Then just avoid him like the plague.

  The plague that he is. How might a mortal pull that off?

  Seriously, you’re asking me?

  Yes, you. We all wear blinders from centuries in a rut.

  Okay, so, the cull that happened. It killed all the vampires who were Elders and all those who could kill others. Why did the Great Maker give that command?

  To stop the species from destroying itself. She might be pissed at us, but we are all still her children.

  Sure. So, she commanded and then gifted Death with a magic tool of doom and death. Only he could kill the others. He went on a murder spree because she couldn’t remove all death from vampires.

  Some balance had to be kept, so once under a moon, a vampire might be killed if one held the knowledge of how.

  And, of course, Lu.

  A majority of vampires were culled, leaving only the new generation who didn’t know any better and had never met the sisters.

  A vampire with no family.

  No, she’d have a story, a family, something that, like your stories, on the surface makes sense. But once you start asking questions, it changes.

  Like?

  Only one man ever had sex with you, but then it’s Lu and Death later. That sort of thing. Female, so that gets rid of a lot of vampires. Probably hates males or at least male vampires.

  Someone who Lu hates and who hates Lu. A person who has always under minding him but never in a way that he can use against her.

  You realize this sounds like Lucrecia, right?

  How?

  Her family besides myself are all women or gender fluid. Or asexual. As much as I love her, she’s a sexist misandrist. I thought it was because her Maker was a sexist, abusive misogynist. But she never talks about him. Ever. Except with Sasha.

  She’s the only one who could get the tool without pain, and the reason they’re both still alive is because Sasha learned Lucrecia’s power to repel any vampire. She’s on Lu’s list. He wanted me to do it for a while.

  She’d be on her way here now, right?

  Yes, even if she’s not, I could put a message out looking for the sister. Her connection with female vampires is very strong. She could probably name them all.

  That’s good. But won’t that also alert Bau? No one’s ever seen her.

  Except for Lu, no. At least not seen and recognized. Bau is supposed to have a wild mass of hair. She is supposed to be the epitome of female fertility. Like Margaret almost. Wide hips and large breasts. Lu claims those little clay figures are from her followers trying to capture her likeness with their crude abilities.

  The Great Maker is said to have a soft spot for women like that. I suppose she is trying to create those who look like her.

  All sources agree that the Great Maker has many powers, she can speak something, and the rest of us must follow. Those who could resist were culled so that her commands would stick. When she commanded us to stop murdering one another, we did. Even those vampires from before could no longer take the life of another.

  She is all powerful and all commanding. Her only focus is to bring back her consort, anyway she can. Even if she must sacrifice every one of her children to do it, she will.

  Sasha has helped me collect the myths and legends. Those vampires of old can still kill one another. They may be the only ones strong enough to face Death and survive. If the final sister did survive, well she may be our only hope.

  I sat across from Quin as he considered the table.

  “Could Lu be wrong?” I asked. “Could the Great Maker be someone else? Someone besides Bau? I mean, of course, he believes she is, but his moral compass is way, way off on everything else.”

  “What other option is ther
e? That… that Bau is the last remaining daughter and is called the Great Maker because she broke her mother’s rules and made other vampires? Lu’s mistakes in the tale are because he’s trying to hide who Death is in case I retell the story.”

  “I mean more of that someone else was the original vampire. Someone who is in hiding or in a long sleep. Bau could be the one who is called the Great Maker, but the mother or father of the species? Made Lu?”

  “The sleeping for centuries thing is a myth,” Quin said. “We can stay in bed, certainly, but we never sleep. Even while starving, even being crushed at the bottom of the ocean. Apparently, down there, at some point, your body adjusts to the depths, and you are no longer able to escape through the little deaths or even through sleep because there is no sun, and so night and day have no meaning. You’re just starving for eternity.”

  “Okay, then,” I muttered, picking at my food. “Your IT guy is a smart computer person too, right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Well, a lot of stuff is online. Archaeological digs and myth and the like. Couldn’t you explain it to him, and he could do some weird computer guy search and just solve the problem?”

  “This is not a television show, that’s not how real life works.”

  “Says the fucking vampire.”

  “Says the snarky mortal to the vampire.”

  “My point being. Vampires, immortals, magical powers and now supernatural creatures. Our world obviously doesn’t work under the rules we thought it did.”

  “Most people, even removing the magic and supernatural, don’t understand how the world actually works. There is some kernel of truth to most myths, the problem is, figuring out which one is true.”

  “And which affected culture. Seven sisters, seven Council members. Six sisters remaining and each had a Progeny, twelve ways to die. The myths of the Great Maker read like an introduction to vampires. I’m betting the ways she tried to commit suicide don’t work on vampires.”

  “Only a few are listed. In the spring, she sought to drown herself in the snow melts of the north. In the summer, she stepped into the full sun and attempted to burn herself, figuring that the power of fire would be strongest there. In the middle of winter, she believed, for some reason, that hanging was an option.”

  I frowned at Quin. He blinked back at me, then frowned ever so slowly.

  “Those aren’t how she tried to kill herself,” he said finally. “It’s instructions on how to kill another vampire. That’s how Lu knows three ways to kill aside from his tool.”

  “You also mentioned a volcano and poison.”

  “Lucrecia said she attempted poison in the fall, after a harvest but didn’t say what kind of poison. Sasha said a volcano the second moon. She got desperate fast.”

  I giggled. I couldn’t help it.

  “This is why we need new blood,” he grumbled. “We don’t see these things. People of this century see things unlike any other. The knowledge you carry is already four or five times what most of us possessed when we were turned. Mind you, most of that knowledge is useless facts on celebrities or makeup.”

  “Margaret was wearing makeup.”

  “Some vampires do. We said we were annoyed by the chemicals so that we’d be able to properly sum up those who were interviewing us. No masks, no altering of scent.”

  “So, if the myth is just an instruction booklet, is Bau the Great Maker, or just an imposter to the throne?” I asked.

  “Human myth says that if you kill the first Maker, we all die.”

  “It also says that if you kill any vampire’s Maker, the Progeny die. At least I think it does. Obviously, that’s not true.”

  “Even in modern times, there are tales of one vampire being the origin of the rest of us. Kill them, we all die.”

  “Quaint human notions. Killing the original supernatural doesn’t kill the entire line, as was proven by the werewolf.”

  “And faerie, leprechaun, witch and various others,” Quin muttered.

  “Then is the question of immortal races.”

  “Yes, fae are immortal, the purebloods anyhow. Their queen, the first fae, died and the rest are still alive. But they live and breathe nature. We live and breathe death. Different species.”

  “Okay, well that’s also assuming Bau’s still alive and that by killing baby, mommy is going to be pissed.”

  “Mommy is always pissed,” Quin said. “Even Lu has taken revenge on someone who attacked me. Most of our wars are over just that. Someone did something stupid to the Progeny of a rival.”

  “So, killing Lu means Bau is coming for us. Yay. Fantastic. Exactly what I need. Kill one bad guy, and another shows up.”

  “Unless she’s dead. I mean, no one has seen Bau in centuries, not even rumour. About four centuries, actually.”

  “You mean, about as long as Lu has refused to work,” I said.

  “No, as long as he couldn’t work. Lu’s got a sudden surge of energy, but murder has been very difficult for him these past five hundred years. He knew he was declining and expected me to take up the duties. But when I finally did, he got freaked out.”

  “And then killed your siblings and tried to kill you. Is there something that allows Makers to kill their Progeny?”

  “The cull is a necessary part of life,” Quin said. “Having never been a Maker, I have no idea if there’s a special power or not. Suppose I could turn someone, but then I’d have to wait and risk not being able to, which would mean us being stuck with a bad vampire. I’d much rather just turn someone who would make a good vampire.”

  Troy walked into the kitchen, freshly showered and looking a little unsettled, perhaps even fearful. He had blue eyes and dirty blond hair. I swore that the shape of his nose looked like Quin’s, but that may have just been me making something out of nothing. Quin telling me that his stock was related to him by blood had coloured my perception of their physical appearance.

  He was about my age, maybe a few years younger, and taller than I was but that wasn’t hard. He was slim, and the tight, threadbare t-shirt didn’t help hide that at all. His jeans were almost white, they had been washed so much, hugging tightly to his form.

  Troy looked over me, seemingly summing me up, then turned to Quin.

  “Phones,” Troy said, setting one before Quin, then another before me. “Unfortunately, the store that sells the cases you wanted is closed. Silly mall. I can either go further away or wait until tomorrow.”

  “There may be someone hunting my people,” Quin said.

  “I like living, so I’ll wait until tomorrow. There are three messages in the cloud for you. One is from Lucrecia. She’s on a plane and on her way.”

  “The other two?” Quin asked.

  “With all due respect sir, she’s a stranger with a recording device around her neck.”

  “Troy, if someone has to be eaten because you told them what I told you to tell them, don’t you think that’d make me happy?”

  “She’s also flush, which means she’s planning something.”

  “Humans are also flush when aroused,” Quin grumbled.

  “I’m just hot,” I said. “Are neither of you hot?”

  “I don’t exactly feel temperature any longer,” Quin said. “If it’s freezing, certainly, but not a few degrees.”

  “It’s cool in here,” Troy said.

  “Maybe I’m sick,” I said with a shrug.

  Quin frowned at me. I frowned back at him, shaking my head as I did so.

  “Cold and flu season is starting soon,” I said sternly. “It takes ten days to present with illness, not ten hours.”

  “Now who is blinded by how they believe the world works?” Troy asked, sounding as if he knew what we had just been talking about.

  “Did you hack my security cameras?” Quin demanded.

  Troy hesitated. “Maybe. I was finding flaws. Obviously, he inlaid an override for if someone did peep, which explains why it was so easy. Neat trap.

  “More important
question: has she had contact with Lu?”

  “Yes,” Quin said, frowning at Troy. “Why do you ask?”

  “Anyone who comes in contact with Lu has to report to medical immediately. Don’t touch anyone for any reason, wash hands with antiseptic. She’s probably a walking contagion.”

  “Says who?” Quin asked.

  “Says the archivist. It’s a standing order for all families,” Troy said, sounding puzzled. “You didn’t know?”

  “The archivist?” I asked Quin.

  He had mentioned the archivist before, but hadn’t known who or what the creature was. Yet there was Troy, who seemed to sound like he knew.

  “If Androgen knows, nothing was said to me,” Quin muttered. “The archivist is capable of contacting all of our stock.”

  “Your stock refers to him by the—shit, it, refers to it—by the name it gave you?”

  “Of course, if they know another name to call Androgen by, they’ve never told me.”

  “Mom says Androgen when she means Andy,” Troy said. “She told me about the rule before I left. Guess Lu is in town or something. She definitely said archivist.”

  “If anyone had managed to track that man down, it’d be your mother,” Quin grumbled.

  “So, calling Troy’s mother?” I asked.

  “Why?” Quin asked.

  “Near as I can tell, the archivist’s got a bone to pick with a certain vampire we all know. And he’s able to do the deed.”

  “The archivist isn’t a vampire,” Troy said, then turned to Quin. “She knows everything?”

  “What isn’t said, she picks up from between the lines,” Quin said. “Why?”

  “What happened to your caps?” Troy countered.

  “One fell off, so I removed the other,” Quin said quickly, with a sharp edge to his voice.

  Troy just stared at Quin, his mouth hanging open. A shudder rolled through him, and he gave himself a shake.

  “Sorry, trying to recall protocol for that. I’ll call the doctor to set up an appointment at your convenience.”

  “This evening, perhaps?” I asked.

  Quin’s phone went off, saving him from having to respond. He picked it up, and walked out of the kitchen with the phone.