Eight

The night was dark as Mercy gazed out upon it. The stars shone out brightly, lighting the way for all wayward travelers, be them human, vampire or otherwise. The stars were the watchers of the sky, looking after all that crossed their path. Even the realm that Mercy lived in had stars, watching over her brightly and giving her comfort that was not given by anyone else.

The fairytales of this world were not so unlike the ones in Mercy’s world. A poor girl bought down by misfortune and terrible circumstance, is then rescued by a handsome Prince and they get to live happily ever after. Of course it was harder to imagine a happy ever after with a Prince when the only Prince like character she knew was her brother the King, but it was one of the only things that had stayed within her brain as a good memory, surrounded by all the negative ones.

Once before Mercy had thought she felt what she now felt. It had been a time long ago, when her rebellion towards her brother had just started and her travels within the castle had not yet been restricted.

Mercy was sitting in the garden, one of the few places not yet destroyed by her brother’s hateful personality. Looking out on the beauty of the garden, her thoughts were untouchable. The material of her dark purple gown ruffled in the breeze, though it did little to distract her from her thoughts. With her brother currently away on business, she was afforded some much needed peace from him.

‘Ahem’ the sound of awkward shuffling caught her attention and she turned around. Before her stood a man, no a boy really. Tousled brown hair, chocolate caramel eyes, burley but attractive. She hadn’t seen him before so she gathered he was new within the castle. Thayer was forever changing the palace staff for trivial reasons that caused him anger.

‘You’re new aren’t you’ she questioned.

‘Yes Your Highness’ he replied.

She dismissed his formality, she neither wanted it nor needed it.

‘What are you doing here?’ asked Mercy.

‘Exploring’ he replied.

‘Have you met my brother yet?’ she asked.

‘The King? No I have not’ he replied.

‘Then I pray you never will’ she muttered.

‘Would you like to take a walk?’ he asked.

She looked at him, amused by his sudden declaration, ‘I’d like that’.

Perhaps it was a bit cliché, the rich royal running around with the staff but Mercy did not care for clichés with the fast growing friend she had by her side. So began a brief period in Mercy’s life where she actually learnt what being happy meant. There was no fear, no hate, and no judgment. It was a chance to be free for once. The two of them were inseparable, always causing mischief within the castle. The staff thought their antics to be humorous and loved to hear their laughter echoing within the castle walls but there was a black cloud hanging over them all. Thayer would soon return from the business that had sent him away, but Mercy was so caught up in the blissful bubble she found herself in that she did not read the signs.

One day the two were relaxing in the library, a safe haven if you will.

‘Mercy’ he spoke.

‘Yes Zach’ she replied, his name was Zacharias but she had shortened it to Zach.

‘I’ve never met anyone like you before’ he said.

‘Neither have I’ she replied, leaning into his embrace.

‘I never want this to end’ he whispered.

‘Neither do I’ she replied with equal quietness in her voice.

They shared that night the briefest of kisses, so short, sweet and innocent that it could have shattered even the hardest of hearts.

Mercy did not see or hear from Zach in several days. By which time Thayer had returned and Mercy was otherwise occupied. She simply assumed that Zach was making himself useful and staying out of harms way. Mercy should never have been so foolish. The smile on Thayer’s face when he entered the room, like the cat that got the canary, should have been enough to make her suspicious.

‘Been busy while I’ve been away have you’ he asked mockingly.

‘No more than usual’ she replied.

‘Don’t lie to me! We’re family after all’ he said.

‘I have nothing to hide’ she replied firmly.

‘Oh really, well the body in the dungeon would suggest otherwise’ he gloated.

‘No, no!’ she shouted distressed. She ran from the room, across the castle, all the way to the dungeon. Her mind clouded, her heart already breaking.

She’d thought somewhere in her mind that she’d be allowed to keep this person that bought her so much happiness, that fate would smile down at her kindly, she was wrong. She thought that Thayer would just punish her, humiliate her or banish Zach from the world, she was wrong. As she looked upon his body, hung up like a criminal, hardly recognizable, tears clouded her vision and her heart shattered into a million pieces before shutting off completely, unable to survive further turmoil.

‘Mercy are you crying?’ asked a voice she identified as Sam.

‘We all have emotions’ she replied angry at herself for remembering a memory that caused her so much pain.

‘Then why don’t you show them?’ he asked.

Mercy turned to look at him and for a brief moment he caught a look of care and vulnerability hidden there.

‘I am’ she said.

‘Then that’s all I can ask’ he replied with a small smile.

‘Where are we going next, unless there are more vampires hiding here?’ asked Laurence.

‘There are no more vampires here, Paris only appears to a certain kind of woman’ said Valencia, a smile playing on her lips – she was ignored.

‘Germany’ said Mercy, ‘the further east we go, the strong the scent I get from there, two scents if I’m not mistaken. One I recognize and one I’ve longed to meet’ she said.

‘How can you tell all that from all the way out here?’ asked Sam.

‘I am royalty’ she replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

‘The senses of the royal bloodline are heightened even more so than that of the average vampire. Not just anyone can rule, you have to hold significant traits, no ruler can rule without them, less they be vulnerable to attack’ Grifel explained to Sam.

‘Do you know whereabouts we are heading?’ asked Margret.

‘If I may’ said Valencia cutting in, ‘I once heard of two vampires living in the German village of Mittenwald, perhaps we should try there first’.

If it was not clear from their first meeting that these two females would not get along then it was even more apparent now, if Mercy’s growl was anything to go by.

‘What?’ Mercy said.

‘Do you know the way or shall I lead?’ questioned Valencia. It was clear to all that she was skating on very thin ice, whether her actions were deliberate on unintentional, she better keep them in check, should she want to continue living.

‘I know the way’ said Mercy coolly, taking off before Valencia could utter another word. Strangely it was Sam that followed her first, leaving the others to follow from a distance, both Grifel and Laurence keeping a close eye on Valencia should she open her mouth again.

‘You really hate her don’t you’ said Sam catching up to Mercy.

‘What is there to like about her’ she replied.

‘I don’t know her well enough to judge’ said Sam.

‘Well I for one hope you don’t get to know her’ said Mercy.

‘You are afraid she’ll seduce me?’ he asked.

‘No, but I would not wish for her to hurt you, as ultimately that is what she does’ she replied.

Sam thought this over in his head, it was a close enough admission he was going to get from Mercy to show that she cared for him, so he took it.

‘Do you really know where we are going?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I may not have spent much time in this realm, but I am a good tracker and I recognize scents quite easily’ she said, ‘why the sudden interest in talking to me?’ she asked.

‘I don’t hate you, you know’ he said.

‘Change of heart?’ she asked mildly curious.

‘You could say that. I judged you and I was wrong to do that, I was angry it’s true but I cannot change what has happened, I have to learn to live with it. I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about the whole drinking from people thing but Grifel is helping me to understand and adapt’ he said.

‘I’m glad’ she replied with a small smile.

‘Are we running the whole way?’ he asked.

‘Why not, it will be good to see if Valencia can keep up’ she said grinning.

‘Ha, I’d hate to be on your bad side’ he replied.

She didn’t respond but knew it would be incredibly hard for him to get on her bad side.

They didn’t stop on their run across France to Germany for food, having drunk so heavily when they had first arrived in Paris. Mittenwald, it seemed wasn’t a large village and was well known for its porcelain, it was like a forgotten theme park come alive, the stuff of children’s nightmares, well not nightmares but the places their parents would force them to while on family holidays where the children would pretend that they were neither related nor knew who their parents were. However, Mercy could see what the appeal of the town would bring to a vampire, it was secluded enough that it would be quite easy to hide away within the village. Though you couldn’t stay too long unless you decided to create a myth around yourself, ‘the crazy man in the wooden shack that no one went near’, that sort of thing.

In a place like New York in America, you could afford to live within the population of humans and not cause suspicious and quite frankly Mercy was surprised that more vampires didn’t choose to live in highly populated areas, however there was a certain danger in living in a less populated area that a fair few vampires would desire. In the case of the two vampires they were searching for, Mercy felt, like many other vampires that had been banished, that they had picked this remote location as a way to avoid the royal guard (that Sam had assassinated in America), the smaller the town the easier it was to tell if someone was after you.

After searching to town from top to bottom and finding no sign of the vampires, Mercy concluded that they must be hidden out of town. Following her nose and ignoring all others – especially Valencia – she led them all into the dark forest that lay on the outskirts of the town. There nestled between several large trees and a variety of other plants lay a forgotten cottage. The paint was peeling, the roof wasn’t in good condition and the porch looked one step away from collapsing, but don’t wright if off on appearances, this cottage was very much lived in. Unlike the meeting of others, there was no surprise involve for the suspecting vampires, rather they surprised Mercy.

The door to the cottage opened, an elderly man (whose physical appearance was that of a fifty year old) stepped out of the door followed by a younger woman who Mercy recognized. ‘We’ve been expecting you’ said the man.

‘You knew we were coming?’ questioned Mercy.

‘I know a lot of things’ he replied.

‘Well that’s cryptic’ said Sam sarcastically.

‘You are young’ said the man.

‘Yes’ replied Sam.

‘But you have great things to accomplish’ the man added.

Sam looked slightly confused.

‘I have seen the rest of you before’ he said, they nodded.

‘It has been some time, please come in’ he added, stepping aside and allowing them entry.

The inside of the cottage was much different from the outside, it looked lived in and homely.

‘No broken bones this time’ said the woman to Mercy.

‘No’ replied Mercy with a small smile, ‘not for a long time’.

‘I suppose you’d like to hear our stories’ said the man.

‘If it is not too much trouble’ replied Mercy.

‘No, it is not, besides, I hear you’ve always wanted to meet me’ he added.

Mercy cocked her head but said nothing.

‘My name is Gustavo and I find myself feeling older than my years, I think perhaps I have lived too long but I cannot give it up for there is still so much to learn. I was – and despite your brother’s attempts, still am – the keeper of the doors, or the navigator. I stood charge over the doors between words for many centuries and as a result see all that goes on between the worlds, what has passed and what is to happen. When Thayer took control of the Kingdom he wanted the power to control the doors himself but it doesn’t not work that way. He tried many times to get me to hand over the power, and grew quite angry when I didn’t. The magic of the doors is unlike normal magic, it doesn’t work on the same formula, it answers to no one and only ever chooses one person to carry its power at a time’.

‘Thayer tried to manipulate the power of the doors, of me the navigator but it was not a power given freely thus he cannot control it and as a punishment the doors banished him from entering. He was enraged by the actions that had befallen him and blamed me for it, I tried to tell him what would happen should he force the issue but he did not listen to me and as a result had to pay the consequences. For this slight against me, he banished me from the Kingdom and into the human realm, thinking that without me he would gain control of the doors, but again, it does not work like that. I may no longer be within out Kingdom but I still control the doors. It was not fate that sent you to specific places when you were banished but my guiding hand. I sent you to the place I thought you would most likely fit in, and have been continuing my job since I was banished here myself’.

‘It is more difficult from this realm as I have to imagine my body is floating between worlds to find the power to help but the magic has gifted me well and I am able to do it successfully without putting too much strain on myself. I was also able to watch over what was happening within the Kingdom as well as look after those who were banished here, it is a full time job but one that I still enjoy’ he finished.

‘So being banished had no impact on your duty as navigator’ questioned Mercy.

‘No, my job transcends the barriers between realms as we travel far and wide. I cannot control the species of each realm only us who wander into them’ he said.

‘You are more interesting than I thought you would be’ she said.

He chuckled, ‘Most people do not come and see me for a conversation, and it is either guidance or force of hand’.

Mercy nodded then turned to hear the story of the woman.

The woman chuckled quietly at Mercy’s intense look that seemed to contain a warning that the others couldn’t see.

‘My name is Anya and I have long since worried about the Kingdom since I was forced out of it, I know there are others there but none so skilled as myself and I worry for what Thayer is restricting them from doing. Let me explain, I am a healer and skilled potions maker. My healer skills were most commonly used within the castle, I was one of the few that remained after Thayer took over the throne, he knew my skill and knew he’d need me. It was my job to patch up those who got in the way of his anger, the people he didn’t mind hurting but still needed in his great plan. That is until one day, he discovered that I also had skill as a potion maker. He tracked me down during the first few years of his reign – honestly I’m surprised it took him so long considering I lived within the castle – and wanted me to produce a potion that would allow him to never die. I told him it was impossible, while we live for thousands of years, we can still die. It was an obsession with Thayer, he wanted to be indestructible, he wanted to avoid death as much as possible. I did not understand his reasoning, oI thought perhaps he feared an uprising, but we were all too scared to even contemplate doing such a thing. Our only hope was Mercy and looks like our hope paid off’.

‘You were correct to place your hope in me’ replied Mercy sincerely.

‘I would follow you to the ends of the earth and back again, you know that’ said Anya.

‘I do’ replied Mercy seriously.

‘Why such a close bond between the two of you’ asked Valencia.

‘She helped me in my times of need’ replied Mercy, her face void of expression.

'What’s that supposed to me’ said Valencia.

‘It means keep your nose out!’ replied Sam, taking the words from Mercy’s mouth and surprising everyone.

‘Alright, I was only asking’ said Valencia pouting.

‘We’ll join your cause’ said Gustavo.

‘How did you…’ began Laurence.

‘You forget I see all’ replied Gustavo, ‘It would be foolish not to join in with this venture’.

‘Thank you’ replied Mercy.

‘A word of warning though, it has been easy sailing from the start, the ocean waves will not lie still for long, I believe more dangerous waters will reach us soon, you will need a strong head on your shoulders to make it through’ he said seriously, his words directed towards Mercy.

‘I heed your warning, I too feel the unsettling air changing’.

‘Then we will all wait for it to arrive’ said Gustavo.