The avenging angel: Dhampyr!

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Chapter II: Picking up the pieces

Bridge of wings: Where she waits, detail
Copyright © Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 2001.
Used with permission.

Beth-Lynn popped up quite regularly; strangely, Lucy was never there at those moments and, quite as strangely, Venetia was always in the nearness then, intervening each time Beth-Lynn was becoming almost odious. Once, she rushed into Angelan's, seized Beth-Lynn by the arm and hurled her outside. Beth-Lynn rolled on the ground and stood up almost immediately to find Venetia in fighting position before her. The dhampyr's eyes were flaring with anger.
"Are you mad?" shouted Beth-Lynn.
"No, but you are," retorted Venetia flatly. "You stop that now. I don't want a cruel girl as a friend."
"Cruel?"
"What you're doing to Angelan. He is a strigoï and normally, I should hate him. Well, I don't hate him and he's even my friend. So stop torturing him like that."
"But..."
"Beth-Lynn, if you don't want to see him anymore, you had to kill him when he asked you to or you only have to forget where he lives."
"You know that? I mean, when he asked me to..."
"You should know I know everything."
Beth-Lynn, ashamed, fled in the night. Lucy arrived at Angelan's three minutes later and neither Angelan nor Lucy saw the vigilant gaze of Venetia upon them. Seeing Angelan in good hands, the dhampyr left and the darkness swallowed her up.
Each time Beth-Lynn popped up, Lucy stayed the two or three following nights in her bed, trying to rest, and Angelan accused himself of being a monster. But under Venetia's stern gaze, he didn't dare to do something silly.
Once, Beth-Lynn found Venetia at Angelan's door, carving quietly a stake.
"Where's Angelan?' she asked impetuously.
"Inside, I guess. I didn't check," answered Venetia, raising an eyebrow.
"When are you sleeping, Viny?" questioned Beth-Lynn curiously, noticing for the first time the huge dark shadows under her friend's eyes.
"I don't remember. Somewhere around the morning and noon perhaps. It's not really important," shrugged Venetia. "Go on, Angelan's waiting for you. But don't distress him tonight, Lucy is in no condition to repair what you'll destroy."
"What does it have to do with Lucy?"
"Open the eyes, Beth-Lynn," sighed Venetia. "Lucy is not lazy. She stays at home during three whole nights each time you quarrel with Angelan. Got it?"
"She picks up the pieces?" risked Beth-Lynn.
"Of course, she does! Stop being so naïve!"
"That's why Angelan is still alive?"
"You're a child, Beth-Lynn. Yes, that's why. Lucy fights all she can to keep him alive for you. So be nice tonight, I have other things to do than spend the entire night rocking him in my arms to console him."
Beth-Lynn sent her a strange look but didn't answer. She entered Angelan's. Venetia swore under her breath, heaved herself up, slipped her stake in the small of her back and disappeared in the night.

After the seventh relapse of both Angelan and Lucy because of Beth-Lynn, Venetia decided it was more than enough. She waited for Lucy to recover before counterattacking. This time, Beth-Lynn didn't find Venetia at Angelan's door, but in his living room, her feet on the small table, still carving her stake with a silver dagger. Beth-Lynn wondered how Angelan could bear it. Venetia didn't even raise the eyes when the girl entered.
"Venetia, what the Hell are you doing here?"
"Well, I had enough to stay outside, so I decided to take a resting night."
"But why here?"
"Oh! That's a nice place, no?
"And Angelan? You killed him?"
Venetia noticed the worried tone and hid her smile.
"I didn't see him," she replied casually. "I'm not his mother, nor his girlfriend."
Beth-Lynn had a disgusted look and left the living room to verify that Angelan wasn't in another room. She found unbearable that he wasn't in his living room, mourning for having lost her. She knew she was unfair and childish, but she couldn't help it.
"No, no, not this way! I already told you twice!"
Beth-Lynn froze: it was Angelan's voice and it didn't sound desperate at all, but rather merry. She gazed through the opened door and the first thing she saw was Angelan's back. Then she saw long hair on his shoulder and froze again. Then Lucy's voice rang out:
"I know, Angelan! If it was real, I should be dead by now!"
Beth-Lynn's heart sank when she noticed that Angelan's arms were around Lucy. She was about to turn the heels when Venetia appeared under her nose, biting in an apple.
"Oh! You found them!" she said the mouth full. "It's great!"
Beth-Lynn looked so perturbed and lost that Venetia almost pitied her. Then Angelan said:
"Try again."
"Alright," agreed Lucy, leaving his arms.
Obviously they hadn't felt their presence and Beth-Lynn saw them repeat a defence parry Angelan was teaching to Lucy. She blushed and paled under Venetia's merciless gaze. The dhampyr was still eating her apple and then she said innocently:
"You wanted to say something, Beth-Lynn?"
"No... no... I, they..."
Angelan turned so quickly on his heels that Beth-Lynn hadn't the time to recompose herself.
"Beth-Lynn!"
He said only her name, but there was so much sorrow, so much hope in his voice that Beth-Lynn understood at once he wasn't consoling himself with Lucy. She understood too the role Venetia was playing and her pride reacted immediately.
"Well, it seems I'm bothering you right now," she said with a scathing tone.
She heard a growl behind her: Venetia showed her dislike. Angelan had a sidelong glance toward Lucy who replied:
"Not at all! To kill the time, Angelan's teaching me how to defend myself against strigoïs. But now, I have to go home; I'm a bit weary."
"Sorry, Lucy, I forgot," mumbled Angelan in an apologise.
"It's alright, Angelan," she said with a shrug. "You come, Viny?"
"Sure, Luce. Remember what I said to you, Beth-Lynn," she added with a warning note in her voice.
As soon as they were outside, Venetia stopped. Lucy looked at her with surprise.
"I'm not going home, Luce," explained her older sister. "I have some errands to do."
Lucy sighed and left sadly.
"Why did you send her back home like a disobedient child?" asked a deep voice behind Venetia.
"Hello, Gerkelan," she replied, not bothering to turn the head toward him.
He wondered an instant if she was trusting him so completely she dared to expose her back to him and then he understood it was her way to provoke him. Answering to her challenge, he put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't even start.
"You didn't answer my question," he said softly.
"She doesn't need to see me becoming a monster lurking in the shadows," retorted Venetia calmly.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you know about dhampyrs, Gerkelan?"
"Not much, I'm afraid."
"Always know who your enemy is," quoted softly Venetia. "A dhampyr is born from a strigoï and a human. Torn between two worlds, he generally chooses one of his inheritances and rejects the other. Some become human slayers, others become strigoï hunters."
"But Lucy is a dhampyr! And she didn't become that! She didn't choose between two worlds!"
"Yes, I know. But it was possible only for one reason: I was here, watching her out, protecting her, me, the worse strigoï killer. My mother was a human, Gerkelan, but she loved strigoïs. She loved them so much she gave Lucy to one of her friends, a very fine lady indeed. I saved Lucy and now, I can't move backwards."
"Why?"
"In my country, we say that if we save someone, his life becomes ours; we have to protect him the rest of our life, if not, having saving him would mean nothing. Perhaps that's why there are so many deaths in my country: nobody dares to help the other one. Now Lucy's life is mine, is my only care. I would die protecting her."
"Venetia, when Lucy met her first strigoïs, she could have been killed! She should have been killed!"
"Not at all. They knew who she was and they knew too what would happen to them if they had touched one of her hair. They knew I was there, ready to strike."
"You were there?" marvelled Gerkelan.
"Of course I was there. My errands in the night aren't as erratic as they seemed to be. I spend my time watching out Lucy and Beth-Lynn."
"And tonight? You stay to talk with me!"
"Someone else wanted to do my job. Hello, Duncan."
The young priest's shape came out from the darkness. He smiled shyly.
"She's safe at home," he said as greeting.
"Yes. But she'll be out in two minutes thirty five."
"God! Do you want me to go back?"
Venetia laughed wearily and Gerkelan remarked for himself she didn't laugh often.
"No, I know perfectly where she's going. She doesn't risk anything."
This night, Beth-Lynn managed somehow to be nice to Angelan, but the following day, Venetia received lots of dark glances from her friend.

The dhampyr understood quickly Beth-Lynn hadn't learnt correctly her lesson, for three days later, she popped up again a Angelan's and this time, Lucy had to offer some blood. Venetia gritted her teeth when she saw her sister swaying on the way back home. As each time it happened, Venetia remained then in the nearness of Angelan's, ready to intervene in any case.
The following night, Angelan didn't see Lucy, but he knew why, but he didn't see Venetia either and that wasn't normal. Worried, he left his home and hurried to the sisters'. Through the opened window he saw Venetia holding Lucy's body in her arms and crying over her.
"Venetia! What happened?"
She raised toward him a ravaged face.
"Go away! She's bleeding!" she yelled.
"Explain, Venetia," begged Angelan, forgetting instantly his own problems with Beth-Lynn and feeling a cold bony hand tightening around his heart: what if his madness had killed Lucy?
"I found her like that when I was on the point of going out. She's bleeding by the ears and she doesn't answer me."
"Let me enter! Please, I won't hurt her, I... I can control myself."
Venetia sighed again and, for once, Angelan saw her for what she really was: a vulnerable girl who loved her sister so much she would have given her life for her gladly, that she had dedicated her life to protect her, that she had become a killer so that her sister could live in a safe world. And now she was believing she would lose Lucy; Angelan felt it, if Venetia lost Lucy, it would be worse than when he had lost Beth-Lynn.
"Let me enter, Viny!" he urged.
She looked up at him, tightening her grip on Lucy's body, and he saw distinctly the tears in her eyes.
"Come in," she said so lowly that he almost didn't hear it.
He entered by the window and knelt by Lucy. At once, he smelled the blood, but he refused to acknowledge it. He examined Lucy, wiping away the blood coming from the ears.
"I see," he said rather calmly. "It's not really serious. It's because she's exhausted. She probably tried to get up and it wasn't a good idea. It's my fault."
"Of course not!"
"Of course yes," he corrected her. "I weakened her by drinking her blood twice in the same week. I'm a monster, Viny."
"Come on, Angelan! In this case, the monster is not you. It's me," she added softly, lifting Lucy in her arms.
She carried her upstairs and lay her in her bed. She stroke gently the pale brow of her beloved sister.
"Rest quietly, Luce," she whispered.
When she came out of Lucy's room, she was again the dhampyr and somehow, Angelan regretted it.
"Viny, you're not a monster."
"Of course I am. If I wasn't, she wouldn't be in her room now. It's my blood you should have drunk last night, not hers! But I hate that and I let her do it, believing her stronger than she really was."
"You already gave blood to strigoïs?" wondered Angelan.
"Each time Beth-Lynn and you quarrel, who do you think nourish the other strigoïs? Not Lucy, I can guarantee you that!"
"But you could let them find blood by themselves!"
"No, because I'd have to kill them and they are her friends."
She raised toward Angelan the fragile gaze of a little girl and said with a small voice:
"Can you leave me alone now, Angelan, please? You can say to your strigoï friends that I won't go out tonight."
In two steps, Angelan reached the window; he turned the head to look at Venetia, who looked like a lost child, seated on the ground, hunched up in a corner.
"You have more strigoï friends than I do, Viny. For them, I am the renegade, their shame."
He disappeared in the night.

During two whole days, nobody saw Venetia nor Lucy. Duncan and Beth-Lynn came at their house, pounded the door, but it remained closed. At night, Angelan, Gerkelan and some others tried to find a way in, but they had to give up. Then, the third night, Venetia emerged from her house; her eyes were dark, haunted and she was obviously exhausted. Duncan and Angelan almost jumped on her in the same time.
"Venetia! How are you?" asked Duncan.
"And where is Lucy?" asked Angelan.
Venetia raised the head and met Gerkelan's gaze over Angelan's shoulder. He made a light gesture with the hand and left silently. She sighed.
"I'm well. Lucy's well too, but she's still tired. She needs calm."
Duncan, who was staring attentively at her, noticed that her eyes were red - and the huge dark shadows under her eyes did nothing to decrease the feeling of ill-being - as if she had cried too much.
"Can't I see Lucy?" implored Angelan.
"No!" replied Venetia sharply. "You should be with Beth-Lynn, not lurking around this house!"
She bit her lower lip, as if she regretted her outburst, and the shoulders falling heavily, she disappeared in the night. Duncan noticed the stake in the small of her back and the tight-fitting clothes she wore each time she went out to hunt.
"Sometimes," sighed the young priest, "I wonder why we are engaged. I'm afraid she doesn't like me very much."
"We're both in the same case," said softly Angelan.
Still looking at Venetia's back in the night - or what he still could see - Duncan imagined her attacked by hordes of strigoïs who were biting her and drinking all her blood. He shook violently the head and the nightmare faded out, but the impression of vulnerability attached to Venetia remained.
"She's so fragile!" he exclaimed in an undertone.
To his surprise, Angelan didn't laugh in his face; the strigoï remembered the look she had sent him.
"Yes, I know," he agreed softly.
He distinguished a slim silhouette behind Venetia and he recognised Gerkelan, but he didn't breathe a word about it. Duncan sighed again and left Angelan alone, following Venetia's track.

In the middle of the night, Beth-Lynn met Venetia and Gerkelan. The dhampyr was shaking the strigoï by the shoulders and it was not meant to be gentle, especially considering that the whole town was probably hearing Venetia's yells.
"You can trust me, I'll kill him without mercy for that!"
"Hello, Viny. Did you see Angelan? He's not at home."
Venetia turned to her like a fury.
"I don't care," she barked. "I have far better to do. My Lucy disappeared!"
Beth-Lynn looked at her coldly.
"Is that one of your tricks?"
"No, it's not! I don't know where's your Angelan and frankly, I don't care. But I tell you one thing: if he's the one who kidnapped Lucy, he'll pay dearly for this, no matter what you feel for him, no matter the fact he's my friend!"
"Why are you so sure it's him?" snapped Beth-Lynn.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I went to Angelan's and there was nobody; I came back home and Lucy was gone! Add to this that when I left home earlier in the night, I let Angelan and Duncan behind me and Duncan told me he let Angelan alone. A bit too much, huh? You can do whatever you want with your darling Angelan, as soon as it doesn't have anything to do with Lucy. So if you love Angelan, pray for him, because if he's the one who kidnapped my Lucy, you will have only his ashes to weep over!"
She drove her stake deep into the ground in an angry gesture; she was on the point to leave when Beth-Lynn said suddenly:
"But Angelan can't enter in your house!"
"Of course he can! I let him enter not so long ago! Now he can enter whenever he wants. I hadn't the faintest idea he would do a thing like that!" yelled Venetia. "And before you say anything silly, I know I made a big - huge - mistake, alright? So keep your comments for yourself!"
Angry, she left in the night, striding along furiously. Gerkelan sighed, moving cautiously his shoulders.
"I think we better hurry before she meets him. Even if he's innocent, she will kill him before giving him the time to explain."
Beth-Lynn agreed immediately and they broke into a run. They were not the only ones to follow Venetia: Duncan, for quite a long time, had got used to follow her during the night, intending to protect her as she was protecting Lucy and Beth-Lynn.
Some strigoïs were on Venetia's way and they quickly learnt - to their cost - that it was not their lucky night: Venetia destroyed them without mercy, her eyes blazing with fury. But she failed to notice some other strigoïs were following her too...

Then, her veins carrying along a blood burning with anger, Venetia saw a large back she knew only too well. She broke into a silent run, along the way followed by the silhouette. He was carrying a slim girl in his arms, holding her tight against his chest. The girl's head was laying on his shoulder and she looked motionless. Suddenly the man saw an avenging girl before him, a stake in her clenched fist.
"Where do you think you're going like that, Angelan?" she asked coldly.
"Viny, I..."
"Don't call me 'Viny'! This nickname can only be used by my friends and no friend of mine would steal my sister behind my back!"
"I didn't kidnap Lucy!" protested Angelan.
"Release her immediately!"
"No: as long as I'm carrying her, you won't attack me, so perhaps I'll have the time to explain everything to you."
"Don't play that little game with me, Angelan," warned Venetia. "I can perfectly kill you without hurting Lucy."
"Vi... Venetia, please, listen to me!"
"Why is Lucy in such a state? I didn't leave her like that! What did you do to her?"
"She told me she needed fresh air," said Angelan almost imploringly. "So I took her out, in my arms, so she wouldn't tire. I... I think the fresh air knocked her senseless. I...we never thought you would see that like a kidnapping!"
"How do you call this? I can't trust you, Angelan!"
"Venetia, I would never ever hurt Lucy!"
"Oh yes, I forgot that! 'Never ever'! Of course! I don't remember how many times I heard that. It means nothing! It never meant anything at all! Give me Lucy; if you do it now, I may forget to chastise you the way you deserve."
"Don't be stupid, Venetia! You'd have to carry her and I could attack you whenever I want!"
"You're the stupid one, Angelan, if you think a single strigoï can defeat me!"
"A single, perhaps. But what about a half-dozen or more?" said a new voice filled with satisfaction.
Venetia turned on her heels; about ten strigoïs were behind her, grinning none-too-gently, and it was obvious they had already tasted blood in the night.
"My," said the leader, feigning surprise, "isn't that our little friend the dhampyr? What a nice encounter!"
"Great!" said Venetia in return. "At least, I will laugh a bit tonight."
And she attacked, stake in the fist. Angelan interpreted her behaviour correctly; it was as if she had said:
"If you're the one you say you are, keep Lucy safe. If not, I'll find you again and you'll pay dearly for this betrayal."
Ten was not a number that could frighten Venetia, even if her adversaries were good fighters. Two of them received the stake in the chest before understanding what was exactly going on. Then Venetia noticed she wasn't alone anymore to fight the strigoïs; the long dark hair were indubitably Beth-Lynn's and the other silhouette was familiar to Venetia too: it was Gerkelan. A brief instant, the dhampyr wondered where was Duncan.
Two strigoïs - the leader among them - managed to flee; Beth-Lynn was ready to hunt them down, but Gerkelan stopped her.
"No," he said softly. "They are hers."
Beth-Lynn agreed silently.
Venetia was standing before Angelan, who noticed she hadn't her stake in hand anymore.
"I saw you killed a strigoï to protect Lucy," she said calmly, her eyes showing their soft depths again. "I'm sorry; I was wrong."
"To apologise suits you well," retorted Angelan. "I couldn't do what you just did with such a control, ease and sincerity."
"Can I have Lucy back now?" pleaded Venetia.
"No. I'll come with you to your home. I'm stronger than you to carry people, you know," he added with a half-smile.
"But..."
Venetia bit her lower lip.
"I know what you're thinking of, Venetia, but it means something for me. I know a lot about hurting... and being hurt."
In spite of him, he glanced quickly toward Beth-Lynn and sighed slightly. Doing as she hadn't noticed, Venetia examined her sister; a silent laugh made her tremble from head to toes.
"She's not stunned by the fresh air! She's asleep!"
And she laughed heartily.