Sands of Time Page 5

  Unfortunately, his last attempts at defeat met with failure and Caractacus moved north, into the territory of Queen Cartimandua. Though we remained within Caractacus's territory, unknown, our communication with the great chieftain continued. For a short while anyway.

  One night, very recently, a messenger who was under my influence to tell no one of our whereabouts, brought ghastly news. Queen Cartimandua had betrayed my beloved! Caractacus had been taken prisoner and returned to Rome to stand trial before Emperor Claudius. Whispers abounded that he was to be put to death. My heart seized in terror at the thought.

  If there was anything I could do to save him, I had to try. And so, against my better judgment, I returned to Rome.

  I left Lihua behind, so she may remain safe and out of the reach of Roman occupation. The cottage we had procured within Britannia was so far within the wooden lands no one would dare venture there. Besides the area had been reported as "haunted by the spirits of vengeful Roman soldiers," a rumour I myself had begun and manipulated into the minds of locals. This kept all away. And thus I held confidence that Lihua was safe in my absence.

  There was very little I could do in aid of freeing the man who provided mine and my daughter's sustenance, the man who had been my lover. Most trials were held during daylight hours. Though indoors, I could only watch from helpless shadows as Caractacus was paraded before the Roman rulers in judgment of his actions.

  The procession marched forth. First the king's dependents and retinue, and then Caractacus's wife and daughter, his brother Togodumnus as well—who had been reported dead, but was apparently very much alive.

  When at last Caractacus himself was marched out, I had to lower my gaze. I felt the dishonour Rome had tried to bestow on this proud man; naked and painted with characters and symbols of beasts. He was bound by chains around his middle as well as his neck. His silky hair hung in tangled waves along his shoulders and back. His face had begun to stubble with human hair. He stood proud before Emperor Claudius.

  So easily could I have overpowered them, taken Caractacus from this shame, away from his wife even and his daughter. Taken him for my own. But one day, my spell would no longer hold him and I could not be sure what action he would take. Would he be frightened? Would he run back to his wife? Would he bear me ill will? No, I could not do this to him. I held him in the highest regard. In my own way I loved him. I could do naught anyhow, as the sun within the sky would take me before I could reach him.

  As it turned out Caractacus needed none of my aid. His power of speech freed him, and his family, from the death that would surely have awaited others.

  "Had I made that prudent use of my prosperity, which my rank and fortune would have enabled me to make, I had come hither rather as a friend than as a prisoner; nor would you have disdained the alliance of one descended from illustrious ancestors, and sovereign over many nations. My present condition, disgraceful as it is to myself, reflects glory on you. Possessed as I once was of horses, men, arms and wealth, what wonder is it if I parted from them with reluctance. Had I sooner been betrayed, I had neither been distinguished by misfortune nor you by glory. But if you now save my life I shall be an eternal monument of your clemency."

  And so my time with Caractacus was over. He would return to his family and my influence will have wiped any memory of blood and sex from his mortal mind. Whatever role he played in human history would be noble; that of his conquer and bravery. Nothing more.

  And so I returned to Britannia. To my daughter and our simple life. I took what little blood I could get away with from locals in the village, using manipulation to erase me from their memories.

  I heard no more of Caractacus.

  ~~~

  “Yin's Experiment”

  This short "note" was found in a location similar to the previous, but dates well into the 4th century

  Entry One

  It has been a very long time since life has offered more than a fleeting glimpse of danger or chaos. For the most part, the past century has gone off without a hitch. Or has it been two? It is so hard to tell, as each day passes into the next with such ease, they melt like ice in the hot desert.

  Lihua and I lived an obscure life hidden within the woods and wilds of the countryside, but I grew bored. Each night passed like most. I would find my way into the village, take a man who fell easily into my manipulation, bring him home for my daughter and I to feast upon, then leave him before his home, dazed and with no recollection of his whereabouts, blaming lack of memory on too much indulgence. If he was to my physical liking, I would please him with a night of passion.

  To make our lives a bit more interesting, on occasion I procured a ride into London to spend a few days, drinking in the local 1lavor. There, we would rent a room with as much privacy as could be afforded given our circumstance. By day we would remain within, but once night fell upon the city, it belonged to us. Ah, what a time could be had…

  London.

  I sit now, wine untouched in my hand, its earthy elegance greeting me with no pleasure. I stare out at the fog of a grey sunset that washes the dank streets, filled with waste and decay. Life goes on for people, but mine has ended. I am dead. Not a literal death, as humans experience, but the most fervid death of heart and inner being. More profound even than when I lost Jabari. I breathe still, yet I merely exist. I am un-dead. I do not think. I try not to feel. I am an empty shell. I have not taken sustenance in over a week. I have not left my home, this seat by the window. I wait now. I wait to sense him, he who ended my life. And when I do, I shall end him!

  No other writings had been found until the discovery of this next entry. Carbon dating confirms the year mentioned in the entry. Mid 13th century. Written on paper in ink, it was located by a civilian doing renovations, inside the wall of an old townhouse outside London in 1995.

  ~~~

  Entry Two

  The year is now 1279 by the Julian calendar. Nearly a thousand human years and yet to me a day. Time, pain. We experience it so differently than other beings. We are eternal. Time does not exist, but pain and suffering are forever. Even now, I can well recall the details.

  How do I begin? How do I relay in words the day I died? I shall begin from the start. That is the best place, is it not?

  London in the 4th century shielded Lihua, my daughter, and myself well from Yin. We spent a mote of time there, Lihua and I. In a public house with heating under the floor and hot tubs, bath houses and more. The place was amazing, even with all I had seen. It was Roman built and so columns stretched floor to ceiling, gorgeous marble tile all around. Unlike most Roman bath houses, this one boasted some measure of privacy. And privacy was something I treasured.

  One night, after all humans had gone off to bed for the night, I enjoyed the baths to myself. It was a typical London eve, fog rolled over the city and the chill of the air was visible in the mist of my breath. Naked, I lowered myself into the warm bath, my muscles relaxing on contact.

  Lihua had remained in the room as she wished to catch up on studies and reading. I kissed her forehead, expressed my love, and said I would return shortly. That was the last I saw of her for awhile.

  I returned to an empty room. "Lihua?" I called out.

  Her manuscripts remained on the table, as if she had been interrupted in midst of a thought. I searched our small room, but she was not in sight. Perhaps she had gone for a meal, I thought. But, she never went out without me. Heart pounding, I ventured out of doors. Terror pounded within my breast. Well without, I searched, and close to the Saint Paul's Cross, I found what I had been seeking.

  I sensed his presence long before I saw him; that familiar quiver within my mind that I felt so rarely, only when near one of my own kind. Yin. He bore his own energy, and I felt his particular presence long before I laid eyes upon him. He detected me as I did him.

  "I knew you would find me," echoed a voice from the shadows of the Cathedral. He stepped out and as the minuscule light struck the sparkling black hair my hear
t jumped. Time had done well by him, and I wanted to leap into his arms. But I knew better. This man was a monster.

  "Where is she?" I asked, my attempt to remain calm betrayed by the rattle in my voice.

  Yin stepped forward, his steps confident, his smile vicious. "Lihua is safe I assure you."

  "Where is she?" I repeated, fighting to keep my voice steady.

  "Now Kesi," he stated calmly. "Why would I ever tell you where she is—she is mine, after all. You took her from me." His tone was cool yet composed.

  "To save her from the tortures you planned." I could feel my patience waning.

  "Torture. Such a harsh word, don't you think?" He was playing with me.

  "No games, Yin. Please, give her back to me. Your fight is with me for taking her. She is innocent." I could hear the desperation in my own voice and I was sure he could as well.

  "That is where you are wrong, Kesi, my darling. I know well the reason you took her, but you see, she was my experiment. And I need her back."

  "In all these years, surely you have found many to take her place," I pleaded.

  "Oh yes, I have continued my experiment, of course, and to some measure of success. But you see, I chose Lihua due to the very rare nature of her blood. I have found none other like her and I believe she is the key." His confidence unnerved me.

  "Key to what?" I asked.

  "To my complete success of course... Oh, Kesi, I am so very close to finally curing this plague. Time is of the utmost now. So many humans have been turned into night stalking monsters, I must stop this immediately. Only you and I and others from the Pet Mer deserve to share the gifts our fathers bestowed upon us. These humans do not need this gift, they are not true to our race. They are merely – copies. Quite flawed copies at that, for they do not share our nobility. They are but monsters, you see." He took another step closer until I could smell the blood on his breath, Lihua's blood!

  "You fed from her?" Rage built deep within and surfaced quickly. I was on him in a second, grasping his throat in one hand, lifting him easily from the ground. "Tell me where she is now or I shall end you!"

  Yin gasped, taken by surprise, but his strength matched my own. He pried away my hands until he'd dropped back to the ground. Rubbing his throat, he rasped, "Of course I did. I had to be sure you had not corrupted her blood in all this time. You do not understand, Kesi, she is the key! She is the cure!"

  "I do not believe they need to be cured."

  "Then you need to open your eyes, my darling. Come with me."

  He knew I could not overpower him any more than he could me. And so, in resignation and with hope to see Lihua again, I followed. He led me down several back roads and allies.

  The building where we stopped was a dark obscure place nestled into a chasm between larger and more obvious public places. Together, we disappeared into the shadows.

  When I saw Lihua at last, my heart seized and I thought sure it would stop altogether. He had her bound hands and feet to a vertical slab, such as an upright table. Her mouth was gagged and blood was still fresh from the wounds on her throat, wrists and even her thigh. Anger roiled within my gut and I wanted Yin dead directly. Instead I rushed to my daughter's side.

  But, as I attempted to loosen the bindings on her wrists, a cold hard hand stayed my actions. I looked up into Yin's glacial eyes.

  "Please!" I begged. "Let me take her home."

  "She is home." He released me with a shove. "Do you not understand, Kesi? Lihua belongs to me. I have taken her blood, her flesh, her essence. I am on the verge of a cure, and you cannot stop me!" He went to Lihua and touched her arm tenderly with the back of his fingers. "If you try, I shall be sure she dies now."

  I knew his words were in earnest. As I had with so many humans, I looked him in the eyes, my words concentrated on his mind. "You will let her go and I shall take her home."

  He nodded. "Yes, Kesi." But, then he began to laugh. "Do you think your power of persuasion will work on one of your own kind?"

  My gaze darted to Lihua and the fear in her eyes pleaded with me. "Please," I whispered, speaking to him yet looking at her. "I love her."

  Yin's mocking laugh continued, but I couldn't draw my gaze from hers. My heart thrashed within my breast and fear I had never before experienced surged within. If I lost her...No, I couldn't.

  I wouldn't.

  "Get away from her," said Yin. He had stopped laughing yet a hint of jape remained. "I do not have eternal patience, my love."

  Something fractured within me. I turned on him.

  "I am not your love!" I bared my fangs, a wild animal ready to kill for its offspring. I stepped slowly toward him. I had always known I had the power to manipulate minds to an extent, but that night I discovered a new power stemmed from emotion and inner turmoil that I never knew possible.

  As Yin moved toward Lihua, all enmity within me focused on him. I so desperately wanted him away from her. He stepped back suddenly, bending as if a blow had landed him in the gut. But he had not been touched.

  He looked up then, his brown eyes burning anger and fire at me. "How did you do that?" he asked through bared fangs.

  I dared not reveal my own ignorance of my powers. Better to use them in my favour.

  “Stay away from her!”

  But he did not heed my advice. As his hand grasped her arm, anger ripped through my soul, lashed out; his arm bent backwards at a most awkward angle. He cried out in pain and I heard the bone snap. Somehow I had fractured his arm without ever touching him. This was my moment.

  I rushed to Lihua and unbound her as quickly as I could move. Yin had already begun to heal as I took her hand and rushed towards the door. But, as I found, he had a gift as well. One he had hidden. His movements were incredible and he was in front of me before I could exit. His hand on my chest sent me sprawling backwards, my grip on my daughter's arm released.

  I saw her slide across the floor, flung by Yin's strength, stopping only when the wall came into her way. Her back hit it with incredible force and I saw her go limp, rendered unconscious by the force. I thought for sure Yin would run to retrieve her and I was determined to get there before him.

  Once again, however, he arrived first. He had her in his arms. I wanted to use this new power I discovered, to send him flying away from her, to free her of his grasp. But suddenly it was as if I was rendered mute. I could not lash out at him. And then I realized the reason was because he held my daughter in his arms and somewhere deep within I feared harming her. My protective nature towards my daughter may just have caused her demise.

  Yin was immediately aware of my disability. I had scarce moved when I saw Lihua on the floor then all was black.

  When next I opened my eyes, I was back in my room. My head pounded with each beat of my heart and I found it hard to focus. The room was a fog. But slowly, it cleared and I was in my own bed. All too quickly, everything crashed back on me. Lihua!

  I sat up quickly. The room was bathed in dark but I could see her. In a chair in the corner she sat, alone, and still.

  "Lihua! You are safe! By Ra I am so happy!" I rushed to her side.

  The horror hit me before I reached her but I let it go because I could not accept it. I smelled death, I sensed death. But a mouse or even a cat had passed recently. I ignored the strong scent that could not be something so small. I reached Lihua in mere seconds.

  I refused to accept the truth. She was safe, she was with me now. "Lihua, please..." I shook her shoulders but the moment I touched her the truth became all too obvious. My vision recalled the truth, but my mind rejected it. The fang marks in her throat, the slices of flesh missing from her neck and chest. Her body naked, only draped in a blanket that I removed to find more fang marks, more flesh missing. Her blank eyes stared out at nothing. He had done it. He had taken all her blood and what flesh he needed and killed her in the name of what he called a cure for a disease that did not exist.

  My scream must have been heard by all of London that night. I coll
apsed to the ground, vowing with every laboured breath that I would one day find Yin and kill him.

  In the dead mist I buried the only child I had ever known. And that was the night I died, not to reawaken for almost a thousand years.

  ~~~

  "The Ghost Witch of Paisley Wood"

  Well into the late 20th century in Scotland, the following entries were discovered not far from Paisley. Once again, these documents were found by civilians during routine renovations. They were turned in to preservation societies and eventually found their way to the Smithsonian to join the others.

  I have written nothing in over three hundred years. But what I have recently discovered cannot go without documentation. I do believe Yin has somehow come up with his version of a 'cure' for what he considers a disease—the disease of our kind, of allowing us to reproduce the only way possible.

  The year is now 1697. I have not found Yin himself and have heard nothing of him for all this time, but I met a man who had been 'turned,' for lack of a better term, into what Yin always referred to as an 'aberration.' This man, however, is anything but so.

  For so long I have lived in secret, moving from place to place in order to escape my past, to keep out of sight, preventing my whereabouts from detection. Yes, I needed Yin dead, but in my emotionally compromised state I could not have won against him. However, our kind is long lived and patient. One day, I knew, the opportunity would present itself.

  In the meantime, I moved from England to France, then to Romania, and other areas within my range. In the late 15th century, I voyaged to a new world. The Italian, Cristoforo Colombo, was on mission to find a new trade route to Japan through the Indies. As it turns out, he was sadly dreadful at navigation and we landed within a different place altogether.