Hollow Immortal

Samuel and Evelyn

Word had spread through Castle Dracula, of a Fledgling with extraordinary strength, unmatched grace, immense magical ability and no sire.

Ragnar wouldn't shut up about him. From what Evelyn understood, Ragnar had taken over the former duties of Dmitri and had been appointed as the new trainer. He'd spent a lot of time in the training room with Samuel that week and had nothing but complements for him, yet Evelyn hadn't even met him.

She slid her hands into her gloves and picked up her bag of weapons. It was time for her lessons.

Outside the training room, she could hear Ragnar instructing someone and the clashing of weapons as his students sparred. Judging by the muffled shouts and grunts coming from inside the rooms and the obvious sound of someone losing a sparring match, Evelyn assumed that Ragnar had gotten one of the Draculesti to 'assist' him in training a Fledgling. That was why, when she peeked through the door, she was surprised to see Dmitri being helped up by a tall individual with black hair.

"Bloody hell," he said, as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, "where did you learn?"

The other vampire shrugged, "I guess I just have a knack for it."

Dmitri was grinning from ear to ear, "That's one hell of a knack."

She pushed the door open a bit more to enter the room. All three vampires turned their heads to look at Evelyn. Recognition caused her heart to beat faster when she saw the face of the unknown vampire. He had a calm smile on a smooth face that was framed by soft, black hair. The only difference was that his eyes weren't dark, as she had first seen them, they were lilac and his skin was a bit paler too. She disguised a gasp with a little cough.

Both Ragnar and Dmitri were all smiles, completely oblivious to what was going on between Evelyn and the Fledgling at that moment. He stared at Evelyn in a way that made it quite clear he knew exactly who she was. She felt like a deer caught in the headlights of a very large vehicle and she was paralysed in his gaze.

"Evelyn," Ragnar's voice made her snap out of it, "this is Samuel."

"H...hello," she said, extending her hand to him.

His smile widened a little bit as he took her hand and bent to kiss the back of it, "Hello, indeed."

Evelyn risked a glance at Ragnar. As expected, his smile had quickly faded and a territorial brightness had entered his eyes but he controlled his jealousy.

"You did very well this evening, Samuel," he said, the hint in his voice obvious, "I'll see you again tomorrow."

Samuel nodded to Ragnar then to Dmitri and Evelyn. He strode past and, when he was almost at the door, Evelyn got over her shock and quickly walked after him to tap his shoulder. He turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Have we..." Evelyn thought it was really odd asking him, "have we met before?"

His smile returned, "I don't believe we have. One would think I'd remember a face as lovely as your own."

She returned his smile, "I guess I was mistaken, thank you."

She watched Samuel as he left and shut the door behind himself. Once he'd gone, she let go of her smile and turned back to Ragnar and Dmitri.

"What was that about?" Dmitri asked, as if he'd picked up that something was wrong.

"That character was trying to chat Evelyn up is what," Ragnar replied, missing the point.

"He's the man from my dreams," Evelyn said, then realised that those may not have exactly been the best words.

Ragnar's right eyebrow climbed his forehead so fast, "Excuse me?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes, "Oh, stop being jelly. I mean, before Caine gave me this," she held up the dream ward around her neck, "I saw him in a couple of dreams."

Dmitri's eyes widened at the news, "And you only think of mentioning this now?"

She shrugged, "I didn't think it was that important."

"Dreams among the dead are very important!" Dmitri shot back, "What did you dream?"

"I dreamt that I was walking through a strange place filled with souls," she answered, "and he was there. He called me sister."

"Could that just be a coincidence?" Ragnar asked.

Dmitri glared at him, "Do you really think that it could be a coincidence?"

"No, I do not," Ragnar replied.

Evelyn nodded, "Yeah. When is anything ever a coincidence around here?"

"Never," Dmitri said, "and usually when things aren't coincidences, it usually has something to do with Caine."

The three shared worried glances before dashing for the doors out of the training room.

                               ***

Nearing the crypts was almost unbearable. Evelyn used her sleeve to cover her nose and mouth. It smelled like a two month old corpse that had been left to rot in the heat of the Sahara.

"Crikey!" Evelyn exclaimed, her voice muffled by her sleeve, "What the hell is that?"

"How should I know?" Ragnar replied, imitating her by using his arm to cover his face.

Dmitri did exactly the opposite. He inhaled once, sharply, and raised an eyebrow. Then he sniffed the air again.

"That is the unmistakable stench of death," he concluded.

Evelyn returned his quizzical expression, "You don't say. Where is it coming from?"

Dmitri shrugged, "I don't know. Its not very likely that Caine's corpse is rotting and even if that were so, we shouldn't be able to smell it. Not here, at any rate."

Ragnar gripped the door handle to the crypts, "Hold your breath, this is about to get a whole lot worse."

Ragnar pushed the door open and a wall of stench hit Evelyn like a smack in the face. She felt her stomach tighten and gagged a little. It was absolutely horrifying. Ragnar took the lead and began walking down into the crypts.

Once they reached Caine's stone sarcophagus, Evelyn was more than ready to lose the cereal bar and coffee she'd had for breakfast on her shoes, but she managed to hold it down. Dmitri and Ragnar went to opposite ends of the sarcophagus to lift the almighty stone slab off of it. Then Dmitri began unlocking the padlocks on the sides of the coffin.

When the two male vampires opened the coffin, Evelyn was perturbed at what she saw. It was empty. Her eyes widened as she wondered how he'd pulled that off. She knew that Caine was strong and possessed a vast knowledge of magic but how the blood soaked hell had he escaped a silver-lined coffin with silver padlocks on it, without leaving so much as a scratch on it?

"He's gone," Evelyn said, her voice soft. 

"I'd say he is," Dmitri answered as he crouched to reach inside the coffin.

When he lifted his hand he sprinkled a grey, powdery substance into the coffin. Sadness, mixed with a hint of worry, portrayed itself on his face.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Ash," he replied, "it's ash."

Evelyn frowned, "Ash? Where did the ash come from?"

Ragnar placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Evelyn, when a vampire dies - really dies - they turn to ash. He's gone, I'm sorry."

Evelyn stepped towards the open sarcophagus. There was, indeed, a sheet of ash that resembled the shape of a human on the bottom of the coffin. She felt as if someone had punched a hole in her chest.

"That's not right," she said, utterly confused, "he's... he's not supposed to die. He can't die, he's a true immortal."

Dmitri shrugged, "I guess it was his time, this time. I'm truly sorry Evelyn but do you realise what this means?"

Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut then opened them to try clear the fog from her mind, "It means that he's not behind this one."