What Plagues Vicenza (In Another Life Part Six)

Chapter Eight

It was night, Serana had been awake for an hour, and there was no sign of Elayn. While she had slept she had had nightmares, about a horrible smell clogging her nose and muffling her mind, like she was being buried in cotton. At first she had dismissed it as just a dream and gone back to sleep, but now that it was getting to late, she was worried.

A knock at the door distracted her, and she opened it to find Trystan on the other side with a wooden box under his arm. “I got what we needed,” he said. “I had to, er, borrow it, and we'll have to clean it before I give it back.”

“Come in, come in,” she said, stepping back. “Have you seen Elayn? She should have been back by now.”

He looked surprised. “No, I haven't at all. Do you think..?”

“I'm starting to,” she said, guessing where he his logic was going. “We need to go after her!”

“Alright, we will, but--” He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “I heard once that if you go into a fight distracted, you'll lose that fight.”

She glared at him, why did he not understand? “My mate is in danger, I can't just sit here.”

“I'm not saying you should,” he hurried to assure her. “But we need to be ready.”

Recognizing the truth in what he was saying, Serana stopped, and took a deep breath she did not need. “Okay,” she said once she had exhaled. “You're right. We need to be careful, especially if the demon was able to take Elayn down.”

Her words seemed to make him think, and thinking seemed to make him nervous. “If she couldn't fight it, how can we?”

“We've got a weapon,” she reminded him, gesturing to the box. “It should be enough.”

When there was nothing left to plan or discuss, Serana and Trystan left the tavern and started for the cathedral. The day had been hot enough to dry the rain from the day before, and now it was humid even without the sun beating down on them. It did not bother Serana overly, except that it made the air seem heavier, and that made it seem like what they were about to do was that much more insurmountable. Elayn was easily the most combat capable of them, and the Striga had taken her.

Soon, too soon and yet not soon enough, the cathedral was in sight. The doors were closed. “Do you think they're barred?” Serana asked, pointing.

Trystan hummed. “Likely, but I think I have another way in. Follow me.”

On the backside of the cathedral was a graveyard, gated and chained. She called to her the blood and strength surged through her enough to break the chain and the metal gate swung open with an eery screech. She would have to feed soon.

“This way,” Trystan said, and led her to a crypt. “There's a way into the catacombs below the cathedral in here, we can get in through there.”

The crypt had no lock. Inside, the air smelled of mildew and stone. There was indeed a trap door in the car right corner, and a ladder under it leading down into a short tunnel. They entered a series of low-ceiling rooms carved of the stone. In the walls were tombs.

A few steps in, Serana stopped, because she heard… Singing? It was too faint to make out the words, but the sound of it raised hairs on the back of her neck. She turned to Trystan, put a finger to her lips, and pointed in the direction of the sound.

As they crept closer through the torchlit passages, the singing grew more distinct, and more unpleasant. Serana wanted to claw at her ears to make it stop, but she pushed on, feeling her lips bare her teeth as she did.

Around a corner ahead Serana saw brighter light and she held up a hand to stop Trystan as she crept closer to look into the room.

What she saw nearly sent her wild.

Elayn was bound to a chair in the middle of the space, and she had a dazed and hollow look. One that worsened when Serana saw a creature like that which she had never seen before lean down and kiss Elayn like it was trying to devour her. When it moved away, the singing started again, and her mate looked even worse.

There was a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked back she realized she had started to growl.

“Can you shift?” she mouthed, not daring to even whisper.

At first Trystan looked confused, then his eyes widened as he understood. Then frowned, and shook his head, and she had to fight to keep from cursing, a habit she had picked up from Elayn.

Alright, she thought, then the original plan.

While the creature's back was to the two of them, Serana drew the silver knife and crept forward. She was a foot from the creature, knife raised, when--

“Oh dear,” the beast said, chuckling as it whirled and swiped in one fluid motion, sending Serana into a collision with a tomb. “Visitors!”

Its voice was as horrible as its singing, sweet like poison and full of the motherly love of a spider. It floated around her as Serana called the blood to repair the bones that had broken when she collided. She panted as she came back to her feet, felt the skin of her face tighten and her hunger grow.

The Striga did not rush at her. Instead, it moved in a way that forced her to circle the room, until it stood behind Elayn and dragged a talon down her face. “You've come to rescue your love, but she is already mine. You should die soon, or I might play with you before I finish you off.”

“You will not touch her!” Serana screamed, launching herself through the air at the Striga.

The knife came down on its arm as it brought the limb up to block her attack. Her blow did force it back toward the wall, away from Elayn, and Serana felt a vicious thrill. One that increased when she heard a cracking battle cry and Trystan attacked the creature from its side, and Serana heard bones crack where his fists struck. Clinging to its arm, her feet swinging in the air, she drove the knife down toward its heart.

If only it were so easy.

The Striga screamed again, and the sound bored its way like an iron poker into Serana's ears. She dropped the knife and clapped her hands to her head as she fell to her knees, and it did nothing to ease the pain. She saw Trystan collapse to the floor through watering eyes, and then saw the Striga shake.

It was with laughter.

“Now,” it said. “Now I have two. Ah, the luck.”