Introduction
London, England, 1512
The dark streets of the city were quiet and misty. From time to time, a carriage would pass by, with drunken singing and woman laughter so grotesque, it irritated one’s ears. The night was just a little bit colder and darker than usual, but this was, after all, Britain – the weather here was at constant change. The mud and rubbish from the sidewalks were sticking to the shoes of the lone streetwalker at this late hour. The mild, not very tall woman, walking with hurried and small steps, did not really acknowledge her surroundings.
Her brownish worn off cloak was blowing up behind her, which made her look like a giant bat, roaming through the labyrinth, which was London. A lot of patches on her clothing showed how poor the woman actually was. This was not her greatest concern at the moment; her situation was the least of her worries. There was only one thought in her mind, and that was getting home as quickly as possible. Her sick children were waiting for her; she had to give them the food and medicine that were in her knitted bag, which she was holding close to her, just like a lifebelt.
Although she was walking fast, one could clearly notice, that the woman’s leg was sprained, but that did not seem to worry her at all. Because she knew, that, once at home, she could heal it in a matter of minutes. Because she was no ordinary woman. She was not even human. She was a witch, and a good one at that.
As she was crossing over the Thames, she briefly took a look around herself. She knew that in this city, even as it was a growing one, there were things that would just love to end her life, in a pathetic attempt to extend theirs for a short period of time. And she was longing for one of them to try and do so, so that she could prove, that she had mastered her powers; and that she would not allow to be messed around with. Her powers as a Guardian of Nature gave her excessive abilities, which even demons could overcome.
She was just crossing the bridge, when something that was moving in the water caught her eye, and she looked down. Two glowing yellow eyes were watching her from the depths. They did not contain wrath of hatred, nor were they lethal to her; they were simply observing the life above, trying to solve the riddle that it was. Melinda calmly shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way.
She knew that there was no point in fearing these creatures, because they could not go out of the water so frequently. Their life was more bound to it than that of the humans, and they did not step outside their watery kingdom, in order to enter the human world. They fed only when some sailor, stupid enough to enter the river, did it, before Melinda could put protection over him. But not even she could make sure everybody was safe.
There was a haul in the distance and the woman stopped dead in her tracks. The blood froze in her body; her muscles were not moving at her will. How could they possibly, keeping in mind that they were supposedly mortal enemies, be living on the same territory without killing each other? How were they able to overcome their killing instincts? These questions would remain unanswered, because nobody believed her stories. Only those, who had lost family members and loved ones, saw her for more than a crazy woman from the outskirts of London; they saw a savior in her.
And they had all reasons to turn to her in hard times, because none of them stood a higher chance against the creatures that roamed the city at night. She confronted one of them once, when the spawn killed her husband, but it could not finish her at the time, because her powers burst out and ended the Hell’s servant himself. Even now, when she had the power, needed to fight them, she shivered at the thought of being in the same room with one of them. Demons, holding human forms, drinking human blood. Vampires. Beings, outcast by God, punished with eternal life and the need to kill, in order to stay alive. Soulless creatures, more miserable than a dead man. Even though they were dead.
The woman finally got to her house, after nearly an hour of walking from the pharmacy to the small building in the outer side of London, where she lived with her two children that were currently in the care of Maria-Elena – one of the noblewomen of the city. One of the few that was kind to Melinda. The woman had no knowledge of Maria-Elena’s husband, but what she did know was, that he was a long-time Dark creature hunter, and that he even managed to slay a number of them. That was the reason Maria-Elena trusted Melinda and believed her stories.
‘Hello!’ Melinda greeted her, when Maria-Elena came to greet her at the hallway.
‘Good evening’ the lady smiled slightly.
She was a personification of beauty – her skin was pale, but not like those white madams, that were near transparent. Her hair was a brown waterfall of curls, falling heavily on her shoulders and back. Her eyes had a dark-wine color, very rare, but not completely foreign to Melinda, and they were reflecting the light of the candles in the hallway. Her satin dress was like a second skin on her body, for which Melinda was longing. She set off to the kitchen, as she hung her cloak on the way.
‘How are the kids?’ she asked.
‘They are good, sleeping’ replied Maria-Elena silently and softly stroke the worn off kitchen table surface. ‘They went to bed a little after left. They were no trouble at all.’
‘I am glad’ Melinda sighed and started taking products out of the cupboard.
Herbs and roots, which, when combined in the exact doses and order, could produce a cure for everything. She put a small pounder on the table and threw in it some of the ingredients that were necessary for a health potion. She started beating them thoroughly. ‘Would you please pass me the mint…? It’s in the paper bag. Thank you!’
‘What is the situation in the city?’ asked her Maria-Elena after a few minutes of silence between them.
‘There are no deaths, which surprises me. We do, after all, live in a city, in which Death awaits on every corner. As you know, there were two killings just last week… And sheriff Gordon is wondering how is it that the bodies are found drained of their blood, even though they are no wounds on them. I keep telling him the truth, but he just will not listen. Stubborn bastard he is! Anyway… I overheard a conversation between colonel Masters and Pier’ Melinda smiled at the other woman, which exclaimed:
‘Pierre? The one from the bakery?’
‘That’s the one!’ Melinda laughed and threw three leaves of mint in her cauldron, after she was done with beating the ingredients. The potion inside of it started to fizz and hiss extremely, but that was a sign that it would do just perfect later on. ‘I think he fancies you. The colonel also agreed that you are one of the prettiest women he has ever seen. And, let us not forget, that he has traveled the world and has seen plenty of women.’
‘Well, I am flattered!’ Maria-Elena looked down at the floor and her sides blushed. She was so beautiful, that Melinda’s breath stopped for a moment. ‘He is not of my taste, I am sorry to say.’
‘Yes, I also agree that the colonel is astonishing… With that body of his… Shall we head upstairs, to the children, before I find myself daydreaming and running through the city looking for him?’ Melinda’s eyes dimmed, and Maria-Elena burst out in laughter, which she stopped just as they climbed the final stair to the second floor.
Whilst she was walking towards her children’s room, Melinda felt somewhat uneasy: something bad, that rarely, if not never, happened in her own home. But she had been through enough to be aware of what it meant to be worried. A well known panic crippled her brain. Something had happened inside this house. Something terrible, tragic, and inconvertible.
Melinda almost ran the final few feet, separating her from her children, and opened their room’s door. The scream, which was torn from her, sounded like it had come from another person.
Benjamin, her young son, was lying on the floor, eyes wide open, hands widely spread. His throat was ripped and there was blood everywhere. His lips were as blue as ink, and his stare was blank.
Nadia, her firstborn, was rested on the wall of the room, with a dim stare, facing forward, with hands, wrapped around her knees, in something, that was a grotesque resembling of sitting. Both she and her little brother were dead.
The cup with healing potion fell out of her hands and landed with a bang on the floor, covering everything in hot water.
‘NO!’ Melinda cried out with all her lungs and fell on her knees, crawling to her children’s bodies.
Her children… Her little angels, the only thing left from her husband, were now with him, they had left her all alone, to forever fight the spawns, who did this to them. The woman felt she was drowning in pain. She could not figure out if it was just her soul, or if her insides were actually getting ripped apart. She did not care; she lost her reason to live anyway. She has failed at her only task – keeping her children safe. She pulled them close to her one last time, because she felt the she would soon be joining them.
Melinda heard Maria-Elena laughing. Her laughter was squeaky and irritating. The woman turned around a looked at her. She was standing in the frame of the door and was shaking with laughter. Melinda had a blackout for a moment, but she found the strength to say:
‘What are you laughing at?! Do you not see that they are dead?! What happened?’
‘I’m so sorry’ Maria-Elena giggled, ’I’m just wondering how I lost control this time. You see, I haven’t drunk human blood in nearly two hundred years and I have no clue what came over me… They looked so… Tender and tasty, you know?’
Melinda could not believe her ears. The mind refused to accept what she was sensing for months now… Or since she met Maria-Elena, at least. And when she saw her, she recognized some kind of evil inside her, but before she had the chance to test her, the woman offered her help. There were not many noble people that would to that. At that point, all suspicion fell from the lady. Melinda thought to herself, that, after many battles with these creatures, in which she involved her children, she was starting to see them everywhere. So she forgot about it. But she should not have.
‘You… You…’
‘I’m me’ said Maria-Elena with a smirk. ‘I do, on the other hand, look quite well for my age, but I’m immortal after all.’
Melinda’s body was shaking with rage. She could feel the power rising in her hands, somewhat of a tickling sensation. Her vision was suddenly tinted red. She could eliminate her at the spot!
‘Bloodsucker! I will kill you!’ cried out Melinda and stood up. With a swift swipe of her arm, she whipped the air and sent out all her energy towards the vampire, which did not even twitch. She just touched her nose, to wipe off the blood that dripped out of it.
‘I’m so sorry, Melinda, but you seem to have wasted all of your power. You can’t defeat me now. But if you want to play dirty, that’s the way it’s going to be.’
After these words, she bolted forwards, her eyes bloody red, her fangs out, but she hit an invisible barrier, shielding Melinda’s body.
‘You may be immune to my active spells, but you have no chance against the passive ones! Let us finish this!’ said t Melinda to her with raging fire in her eyes. She was about to show her that she was not a person to be messed with unpunished. ’Vos autem non invenies…’
Maria-Elena winced with pain and froze. A little more blood went down from her nose and she staggered. Her body shook once, then again, more powerfully, and blood splashed from her mouth and onto the floor. The vampire coughed and started choking.
‘That’s a good one!’ she said brazenly, wiping her blood. ’Is it new?
’…haud pax ex aeternus…’
‘No!’ shouted out Maria-Elena and rushed forward.
The other woman knew that it was over; she had no chances of survival, even if she clawed her way through it. She didn’t even have a reason to live anymore. But she kept fighting, just to be sure, that the bloodsucker would get what she deserved and her children would be avenged. Maria-Elena lifted her hand…
After that, Melinda felt a strong pain, followed by the sensation of immobility. She suddenly felt very cold and she looked down at her chest, where Maria-Elena just inserted her hand all the way up to the elbow.
Melinda’s breath came out through her teeth with a whizz. Would she have enough strength to finish her spell? She could feel as life slipped away from her, and when Maria-Elena pulled out her hand, Melinda fell on the floor, incapable of moving. The vampire swung, it was obvious that the witches’ spell was ruining her, even though it would not kill her now. Nor any other time.
‘DIE!’ Maria-Elena screamed and raised her hand again, just as Melinda whispered:
’…incendia!’
The last thing she saw, when she finished the spell, were Maria-Elena’s evil glowing eyes. After that, everything disappeared and Melinda felt unusually light and airy. One moment, she was standing and watching her body, disfigured by the vampire, which was leaning over it.
A bright light shined and Melinda heard children’s laughter. She knew who she was about to see and laughed with tears of joy in her eyes. It was over. She was with her family once again, and no one would ever separate them. Never.
