Gothick

Chapter Ten

"Come here, you little wench!"

"Please, don't!"

"Don't worry, you'll love it. We'll make you love being a woman!"

"I don't want this. Let me go, please. I won't tell the Majesty."

"Shut up, whore! Take it!"

Leon's eyes snapped open with the voices still echoing in his head.

Never again.It was always the first thought that came.

The coffin lid swung open on its own, and Leon lifted himself out of it. He flung his mind out, trying to find traces of unfriendly minds, but the only other person in the apartment was Balthazar. Leon's shoulders lowered, but his limbs remained tense. Those words still rang throughout his mind. How he longed to feel the crunch of bone beneath his grip, and the iron taste of blood on his lips.

Balthazar! Leon's thoughts roared. He could practically feel Balthazar jump. Leon retracted his thoughts, pacing the room and trying to rein his temper. He remembered finding those men, drunk late at night, roaming the streets. The first one didn't see Leon coming, or see Leon's arm thrusting through the knight's armor and chest. Leon could still feel the warmth of that still pulsing heart.

The door burst open, and a disheveled Balthazar appeared in the doorway. His gray hair stood on end, and his spectacles sat crookedly on his face.

"What's wrong?" Balthazar said in a raspy voice. "Is everything alright? Are you well?"

Leon stopped pacing, but kept his back toward the old man.

"Get my effects," he said. "I have a meeting."

Balthazar yawned, but walked to the wardrobe.

"Who are you meeting this late at night?" the old man asked.

Leon's eyes narrowed.

"What business is it of yours?"

"You're not going to raise the dead again, are you?" Balthazar said. Leon heard his footfalls falter. "As much as I appreciate the business your escapades bring in, as a doctor and a citizen, I must protest. You're putting innocent people in danger!"

"What would you know about innocence?!" Leon asked, turning on the man. Balthazar placed a navy-blue coat onto the bed. "Only the dead return to innocence."

"That's a negative way to view things," Balthazar said, taking two daggers in their scabbards out of the closet. A black belt connected the two. Leon snatched the scabbard belt and tied it around his waist, the daggers crossing over his tailbone. "I wish you would be more positive. You were thinking about the past again, weren't you?"

Leon threw open the curtains. Bright moonlight shined a blue hue over the cream-colored buildings outside. Frost coated the pointed rooftops, making them glisten in the night.

"Do be careful," Balthazar said.

Leon jumped out of the window.

Leon hid in the shadow of the tunnel and waited. A frigid gust ripped through the passage, announcing the approaching winter. The cold was all that he knew. Yes, his joints didn't lock and his muscles didn't freeze, though no matter how much he fed, the cold was a constant companion.

Shadows moved beside him.

"Is he here yet?" Kurtis said in a low voice.

"Soon," Leon replied. Kurtis' face, now cleanly shaven, looked so pale it practically shined. His sharp features—from his jagged cheekbones to his pointed jaw—put Leon in mind of a serpent. His long, blonde hair stuck to the sides of his face, as though constantly wet. "How many are we?"

"Thirteen," Kurtis said. "Will it be enough?"

"For now, it shall be."

The two remained silent—just two figures in the night. They stood there for nearly an hour before a cloaked figure appeared at the other end of the tunnel. The newcomer stood several centimetres above Kurtis and Leon, with a far thicker build. Its hood remained up, keeping its face hidden.

"You're late, Imari," Leon said. The figure stopped and bowed so low its head almost touched the ground. When the figure stood, he raised two massive hands to his hood and threw it back. The man was completely bald, and his skin so black he nearly melted into the dark.

"My humblest apologies," Imari said in a thick, African accent. "I was in need of a feeding."

"You didn't kill them?"

"No," Imari replied. "I have done as you have requested."

"Good," Leon said, whipping around and walking back toward the city. "I've prepared a place for you." The other two fell in step behind him.

"You are gracious," Imari said. "When are you to enact your plan?"

"Soon," Leon said. "Fairly soon."