[5:27PM, January 15, UTC +08:00]
"Any news?"
PAULA hoped her tone sounded more concerned than impatient, but Walter barely seemed to care as he collapsed on the bench beside her.
"Nothing yet," he muttered. "He's still in a coma."
"Any word on when he might wake up?"
"They said sometime soon, since they managed to reverse the shock. They're still running tests to see if there's any leftover organ damage."
He sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back in the chair. Paula turned away, idly looking around the waiting room. It was relatively vacant, and there was an air of tension and trepidation which made the already harshly sterile environment feel even more unwelcoming. Unlike most people, she really wasn't bothered by the hospital smell. It was the weird lime-green wall tiles that made her want to vomit. She heard the doors on her left swing open and hurried footsteps approached them. She had barely turned before a familiar high-pitched voice called out.
"How is he? Is he awake? Did the doctors say anything?"
Walter sighed again and opened his eyes as Victoria stopped in front of him, her face contorted with worry, while the kids moved to sit on the other side of the bench. Augustus and Agnes looked somewhere between tired and hopeful while Linus and Esther had a bit of guilt mixed in with their expression. Paula couldn't understand why; it wasn't like they had done anything to contribute to the situation.
"Well, he's no longer in shock," Walter said, to which Victoria responded with an immediate sigh of relief, "But we don't know when he'll wake up. Hopefully soon."
Victoria motioned for the children to move over so she could sit beside her husband, but Paula got up instead and offered her seat. She could tell this was going to get emotional very soon, and she didn't feel like hanging around or intruding any more on their family time. Victoria gave her a strange uncertain look before taking the seat, and Paula took a few seconds to straighten her clothes before looking at the other woman.
"Sorry, I have to go now," she said, measuring her words carefully. "But please keep me posted. I'm sure he'll make it out okay."
Victoria smiled appreciatively, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Walter made a move to get up, but Paula motioned for him to remain seated.
"Save the chivalry for later, Waldo," she said, smirking as he scowled at his childhood nickname. "I can make it out by myself. Besides, you look like you're about to drop. Can't risk having them wheel you back in."
He huffed with amusement and settled back in his chair, resting his head back against the wall. Paula tried for what she hoped was an encouraging smile and gave a short wave to the children as she turned around and headed towards the exit.
"Paula?"
She turned. Walter was smiling softly, though his eyes were hooded and tired, and she stared back, wondering what he wanted to say.
"Thank you."
She frowned "For..?"
"For being here. I know it's hard and...I just wanted you to know it means a lot."
"It's the least I could do," she replied. She offered another wave and turned away, making her way out of the HDU waiting room, down the corridors, and towards the glass exit doors. She sucked in a deep breath as soon as she stepped out and blew it out slowly. The warm humid air felt like heaven in her lungs and she felt some of her anxiety slip away as she raised her head to feel the breeze on her face. The sky was tinged with orange as the sun sank towards the horizon, and the clouds formed impressive colourful shapes of blues and pinks and purples. The sight was almost enough to take her mind off the fact that she was in front of a hospital, the one place that formed the backdrop of many of her bad memories.
"Need a ride?"
She looked sideways. Ecru was seated on the hood of a small car, dressed in a plain white t-shirt, a slightly oversized lime green hoodie, camouflage-patterned cargo shorts held up by a fray-ended canvas belt and flip-flops. Even with the aviator sunglasses partially hiding his facial expression, she could tell he was uncomfortable. They stared at each other for a while until he raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Wow," she said with a snort. "You really embraced your inner college student."
"These were the only things that fit. Hurry up, I'm burning up over here."
Paula chuckled and moved toward the car. "And which unfortunate creature did you take this from?"
"Kurt. I had to sleep in his apartment too but I made sure to set the rest of his stuff on fire before I left."
"So petty," she said as she got into the passenger's seat. Ecru got into the driver's side and touched the keyhole over the ignition hub and the engine spluttered to life.
"He deserves it, the little shit," he muttered as he pulled out of the hospital parking area. "I need you to get me out of here."
"I'm really not your taxi service."
"In case you haven't noticed, I have no vampire abilities, no money – well, I could hack an ATM but I doubt I would be able to get away with enough to pay for the number of flights I'll need to get back to Finland without alerting the police – and since I have no passport, trying to use any ports will definitely get me into trouble with the immigration service or maybe fucking Interpol." He blew out tiredly. "And that's not counting the fact that I don't have a driver's license so if we get pulled over, we're fucked."
Paula chuckled and pulled on her seatbelt. "I'm actually surprised you know so much about legalities. I mean, you've been human for, what, twelve hours?"
"I'm not that oblivious to human regulations. Besides, Adam basically forced most of this information down my throat because he wanted me to 'act responsibly'."
"I bet that's not the only thing he forces down your-"
The brakes squealed and she lurched forward, almost banging her head on the glove compartment. She sat up and glared at Ecru, who gave a self-satisfied smirk as the car started forward again.
"Killjoy," she huffed. "How did you find me?"
"Hacked one of those display phones at a phone shop and used the internet to find Claire, since I figured her number would be listed under the museum she works for. Claire connected me to Damilare's ex who connected me to one of his kids who then messaged Augustus to ask his Dad to find you."
"Wow."
"Fortunately you were here with him so it shortened the process. You have no idea how difficult it is to loiter around a phone shop for over an hour without looking suspicious. What were you doing there anyway?"
"What do you mean?"
"You are not really close to their family, so I find it odd that you would be visiting."
"Walter is my cousin, you know" she said flatly. "I think I'm allowed to give moral support to a family member during a time of difficulty."
Ecru turned, his eyebrows raised beyond the rim of the sunglasses. "That sounds...bizarre coming from you."
"I know," she muttered.
Because Dami is being a terrible influence.
"So...why were you really there?"
"Violet, my niece – you've met her – called this morning to ask about a vampire cure and I thought she had been reading too many of those young adult novels until she told me that Agnes had sent a message saying that Austin had been cured and was in the hospital. I wanted to confirm the story first-hand, so I went to see him and found out the details from Walter."
He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "How is the kid?"
"They got him out of shock. He's still in a coma, but he'll live."
He gave her an uncertain look. "Did anyone...say anything about me?"
"Not really. I doubt you're entirely off the hook, though. I mean, this is the second time you've almost gotten him killed in less than three months."
"I know. I could barely sleep. I was expecting an angry mob to come demanding for my head on a pike."
"Patience my dear. All in good time."
He grunted, but remained quiet as he rounded a corner and joined Canning highway, heading north-east. The orange sunlight hit from behind and cast angular shadows across his face, and the wind from the open window whipped his hair into a wild mess. Paula studied him, hoping to see some sort of striking difference in his appearance, but other than the blunted canines and slightly-less-pale skin, he looked almost exactly the same.
"How did it feel?"
"What?" He looked at her for a moment, before turning back to the road.
"Becoming human again. How did it feel?"
"Excruciating, to say the least" he murmured. "I still feel a bit of pain in my bones but I have learned to ignore it. What I am more concerned about is how they managed to create this...cure. Vampires have existed for centuries, and something about this seems...unnatural."
"Becoming human is unnatural?" Paula said with a dead stare.
"You know what I mean. I have been monitoring myself for some sort of side effect but for now it is hard to tell because I am still recovering from the initial damage."
"Right. Well, I'm wondering how you managed to come out just fine while Austin fell into a coma. According to Esther, you both lost a lot of blood."
Ecru muttered curses as he steered around a slow-moving car and cut back into the speed lane.
"Adam," he replied after a pause.
"What did Adam do?"
"Adam's blood," he explained. "My system basically ran on it, and since it stops him from growing old, I guess it must have caused me to heal quicker. But that's beside the point. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the implications of this...vampire cure."
"You can't even say it without grimacing."
"How do you cure an entirely different state of existence?"
"I think you're still in denial. The way I see it, if a human can be turned into a vampire, why assume it's irreversible? Besides, what's the worst that they'll do with it? Fewer vampires means less work for everyone."
"Not exactly. Ivan isn't eliminating all vampires, just those who do not agree to join him. He is still turning a bunch of humans and forming his own army. That cure essentially gives him full control over the existence of vampires, and his actions will ultimately destroy the existing traditions that have kept vampires at peace with humans. Do you really want someone like Ivan to have that kind of power?"
"No. Wait...vampires have traditions?"
"Of course; we have entirely different societies with customs and regulations. If we were to act like savages, feeding wantonly without some sort of order, the entire human population would have been made into vampires by now and led to a food shortage. We need rules to control our behaviours and avoid upsetting the ecosystem."
"I like how you keep saying 'we' like you've still not accepted the fact that you're human now."
"Oh believe me, I am fully aware. I bit my tongue this morning and I actually thought the blood tasted disgusting."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"You have no idea how it feels to..." He shook his head. "You know what, it does not matter. Is here fine with you?"
Paula looked away and examined their surroundings. They had just gone past Perth Airport and towards a forested area, with no nearby buildings or cars following. She hoped there were no onlookers as she focused on the area ahead of the car, causing a distortion of space as a large black portal opened.
Not like I care anyway.
>-<
"Shit!"
Paula winced as the seatbelt dug painfully into her chest while Ecru struggled to bring the car under control, the brakes screeching as they skidded off the road. They managed to gain traction on the granite-covered road edge, throwing up a mix of stones and icy slush as they shot back onto the slippery tarmac.
"Slow down!" she said "We're not using snow tyres."
"What do you think I am doing?" he grit out as the car careened dangerously to the left while they went around the bend that made up the final stretch of the road. The tall gabled peaks of the mansion appeared once they had cleared the line of trees and Ecru forced the steering to the right to counter the unintended drift of the car but all it accomplished was forcing them into a spin. Paula shrieked and gripped the door handle, holding on for dear life, and slowly the car came to a stop, inches away from crashing into a tree. She took a moment to catch her breath before turning to punch Ecru in the shoulder.
"Are you insane?!"
"Ow. You are really strong for a woman."
She glared at him for a second longer, then opened the door and quickly climbed out. The icy air was like a shock to her system, but she was angry enough to ignore the sensation as she kicked the door and it slammed against the frail-looking chassis.
"Paula, wait! What are you-"
She opened a portal and stepped in, shutting it down as soon as her feet landed on the tiled floor of her room. She pushed the rest of her annoyance out with a few deep breaths, and looked at the clock on her bedside table. 12:18. The house was quiet, as expected. The kids – except Portia – were in school, Damilare was in town shopping for supplies and wasn't expected back for the next three hours, while Adam and Adrianna were probably holed up in their rooms. She wasn't sure if Kojiro was around since the old man had been trying to get to the bottom of what had happened with Esoterica. She sighed and kicked off her wet shoes, shuddering as her feet made contact with the cold tiles. She stepped gingerly around the room, first to dial up the heat on the thermostat, then to her wardrobe to find something warmer to wear. She was halfway through putting on a pair of woolly leggings when she heard a crash and a scream. She stumbled forward in alarm, lost her footing, and fell, banging her shoulder and the back of her head on the floor.
Pain shot through her skull as flashes of light danced around her field of vision. White noise rang in her ears, and she felt even more disoriented at the sound of thundering footsteps sending unnaturally strong tremors through the ground. She thought she heard voices and something that sounded like a wall being broken but everything was murky and confusing. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned at the sound of a door slamming, and then everything went quiet.
"Erwith?"
Her eyes flew open.
What?!
The voice was Adam's. She wanted to push it aside as a hallucination from the possible concussion she had suffered but then he spoke again.
"Erwith, is that really you?"
She rolled over and shook her head. The pain was mostly gone, and she struggled to pull on her clothes quickly, wincing as the action caused a sharp pain in her bruised shoulder.
"Relax," Adam said. "She's in school. She's safe. How did this happen? Where were you all this time?"
She walked unsteadily towards her door, unlocked and opened it quickly. She saw Adam, standing across the corridor in front of his room door, but had barely registered his appearance when she heard a low growl. She turned slowly met the glowing blue eyes and snarling teeth of a Braenian dragon.
"Holy shit!"
Her hands moved impulsively and a ring of witchfire flared out around her and shot towards the dragon. The beast reared its head back and sent an even more powerful blast of orange fire from its mouth. She curled the fire around her defensive sphere, and the colour turned green as she sent it back towards the dragon but then her attack slowed and froze in mid-air.
"Paula, stop," Adam said, pinching his fingers together and sucking the flames into a small vortex. "That's Erwith."
"What? How is he..?"
"That what I'm trying to figure out. From what he's told to me, the last memory he has from being in the house was seeing his daughter at the top of the stairs. Then he suddenly found himself in the forest, trapped behind a barrier. He managed to weave his way out of it and hid out in a cave for the last four days, waiting out the snowstorm."
She looked from Adam to the dragon and back to Adam. Slowly, she started laughing.
"What's funny?" Adam said with a scowl.
"First, Ecru became human, now Erwith is a dragon." She pinched herself. "Okay, this is really happening."
"Hold on, what do you mean by 'Ecru became human'?"
"Ivan has some sort of cure," a quivering voice replied. "And you really are a bitch, Paula. How could you just leave outside, I am wearing shorts and flip flops for fuck's sake."
Paula's laughter faded as she turned. Ecru stood at the end of the other corridor just at the edge of the stairs, breathing raggedly and shivering, with his arms wrapped around himself, his nose red and runny. Paula realised only then that Kojiro, Adrianna and Portia were also in the corridor, standing on the other side of the dragon, just a few metres away from an area where the wall around a doorway had been destroyed.
"What cure?" Adam asked as his room door opened and a fur coat floated out and sailed towards Ecru. "When did this happen?"
"Early this morning," Ecru replied, pulling on the coat. "It was one of the things they retrieved from their attack on Esoterica. Ivan mentioned working with some sort of highly skilled researcher to create it, and he used it on me and Austin."
"Did it work?" Adrianna asked.
Ecru flashed his teeth, showing off his shorter blunted canines. "Obviously. But that's not my only concern. We don't know what else they may have gathered from their raid, and the fact that they could storm into a place like Esoterica means they have major firepower, considering the nature of the personnel working there. Any word from them?"
Adrianna glanced at Kojiro, who shook his head and looked at the ground, his face an unreadable mask. Her eyes were vacant for a moment before her attention returned to the dragon.
"Oberon," she muttered in a near-whisper. Ecru and Portia looked at her with confusion, while the dragon tilted its head to the side.
"Oberon has control over the souls of those who are contracted to him," Adrianna continued, walking towards the huge reptilian creature. "If he could pull Adam's soul all the way to New Arcadia, I don't see how it would be difficult for him to transplant Erwith's into a dragon which was just outside the building at the time. Like Paula said during the funeral, Erwith's death had seemed too easy. It explains why he became lifeless the moment Oberon left."
"Oh," Ecru said. "But why would he do that?"
She stopped in front of the dragon – Erwith – and reached up to place her hand on his scaly snout. Erwith lowered his head until his glowing blue eye were at level with hers.
"I don't know," she replied. "Maybe he saw something we didn't. For all we know, Erwith may not have survived that attack. In any case, I feel this body suits him better."
She smiled, and Erwith seemed to nuzzle her hand before he stood straighter and whirled towards Adam. Adam stared back silently, but then his eyebrows slowly rose until he looked awestruck.
"What?" Paula asked. "What did he tell you?"
"Oberon has spies among the Proles."
"How does he know that?" Ecru asked, crossing his arms and tucking his fingers into his armpits.
"He realised it just before we were attacked, while he was having a conversation with Adrianna. I made an offhanded comment about a Braenian dragon attacking a downtown area on the morning he came here. Two days later, that is exactly what happened. It was too specific to be coincidental. And remember, that this was the time Oberon was trying to do a mind swap with me, so he could have leaked the information in the process, which means that Oberon must have known about the impending attack."
"That's a rather strong claim," Kojiro said. "But it could possibly shift the odds in our favour. Is there any proof of this?"
"Not exactly, but Erwith is going on a hunch. While Oberon customarily is not expected to dabble in affairs outside his court, there are a select group of Proles who act as emissaries. Their task often involves uncovering conspiracies and other such illegal activities within the Elfin kingdom, so they are indistinguishable from normal Proles, making them the perfect double agents. Erwith thinks they are part of the rebellion, and are feeding Oberon information."
"Really," Kojiro said. "I suppose it's plausible. Oberon did come to our rescue, after all."
"If that's the case," Ecru said, "then it could also explain the powerful energy signature that led Esoterica to the enemy hideout. So if Oberon knows who these people are, why hasn't he stopped them yet?"
"Because it goes against inter-pantheon rules," Kojiro replied. "There's a reason the gods don't descend every time there's a magical skirmish in the human realm. If a mage destroys another mage during battle, the soul of the defeated is usually spared of damage and can return to the contracting deity. But when a god destroys a human, there is a risk of destroying the soul as well, thus robbing the other gods of what is rightfully theirs. So as a general principle, gods are not meant to interfere. Probably why Oberon chose to use the little boy as his disguise when he appeared."
"Damn it," Ecru hissed. "So we're supposed to handle this on our own while they have Proles and vampires and who knows what else on their team?"
"Essentially," Kojiro sighed. "And to make matters worse, the gods themselves are in disarray, so our magic is weakening every day due to the Grapevine Effect."
They fell silent. Paula blew out a strained breath.
"Okay, I need a drink," she said. There were murmurs of agreement and everyone moved to the kitchen at the end of the corridor. They milled around behind her, picking out mugs and glasses while she opened the fridge and zeroed in on the bottom row where the dark corked bottles were arranged.
"Red or white?" She asked no one in particular.
"White," Portia replied. Paula turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you too young?"
"I'm seventeen. And I'm French."
"Oh right."
"You're not supposed to put red wine in the fridge."
Paula pulled out the bottle of red wine and made a show of looking around it.
"Nope, it doesn't say so on the bottle. And since you want to be such a smart ass, you don't get any."
Portia rolled her eyes and moved to the other side of the kitchen where Adam and Kojiro were waiting on the kettle to boil. Ecru emerged from the pantry with a bottle of Scotch and a low whine came from the kitchen door. The dragon was staring at the bottle, his blue eyes glowing excitedly.
"Seriously," Ecru muttered, placing the bottle on the kitchen island and moving to the cabinet to pick up a shot glass. "Even death could not turn you sober."
"I was wondering," Adrianna said, swirling the wine in her glass. "Since Erwith is not really dead, does that mean he's still a mage?"
Ecru stopped and seemed to consider it, but then the bottle of scotch levitated off the table and flew into the dragon's open mouth. It chomped down, crushing the thick glass with its jagged teeth like it was merely a cracker, and swallowed, then licked around its mouth with its large dark blue tongue. There was a stunned silence for a few seconds before Ecru sighed in annoyance.
"Great. Now he is a mage dragon with an alcohol problem."
"It's just as well," Adam said, blowing on his tea. "You're not supposed to be drinking."
Ecru scowled. "Why?"
"You're human now, so you won't handle alcohol the same way. Besides, I need everyone to have a clear head for what I'm about to say."
"And that is?"
"I've figured out how to trigger the Synarchy. But for it to work, you have to do exactly as I say..."