The avenging angel: Dhampyr!

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Chapter X: Peace

Like day and night (Solarin & Raven)
Copyright © Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 1999.
Used with permission.

When Lucy had left Gerkelan kneeling beside Venetia's dead body, she was on the edge of losing her mind. Angelan and Sane tried to console her but failed, and Lucy asked them to let her alone. She snuggled in a deep armchair and remained there, feeling dejected. Then she heard a discreet cough and she sighed.
"I told you to let me alone," she said without looking up.
"Err... The correct greeting is not 'Hello' or something like that anymore? Did they change it since my last visit?" asked an unknown voice.
Lucy started violently and jerked the head back to see a tall young man with jet-black hair a bit too long; a long white lock was lost among the black ones.
"Sorry, I don't think we know each other, so you have nothing to do here."
"My, that's not very polite," said the man, raising the eyebrows.
Lucy gritted her teeth.
"I do hate when a conversation begins like that," she muttered. "Alright, who are you?"
"I'm an Angel," said the man with an angelic smile.
"Sure. And I'm the Queen of Persia."
"No, really, I am an Angel," insisted the young man.
"And what's your name? Michael, Raphael or Gabriel? Uriel perhaps?"
"Err... Azzy."
"Azzy? That's not an Angel's name."
"Because it's not my real name. It's a nickname, for my real name is far too dangerous for mortals."
"Alright. And what does an Angel want me to do?"
"Just talk. Isn't it easy?"
"Sure, but..."
"Lucy, there's someone lurking outside around the house!" announced Venetia's voice accompanied by a thundering bang of the door. "Oh... and there's another one lurking inside, as I see. Who is it?"
"He pretends to be Azzy, Angel. I don't believe him about this last bit though," retorted Lucy without losing her calm.
But Azzy lost his: his eyes were almost popping out of his head as he looked at Venetia open-mouthed.
"Close the mouth, dear," said Venetia, "you really look ridiculous like that. I'm afraid he's right on the fact he's an Angel, Luce, but I'm sure he lied to you about his name."
"He said it was too powerful for us, poor mortals."
"Uh huh. Stop staring at me like that, dear, it's really rude. I know my clothes are a bit...err... strange, but I didn't have time to change. Now, dear Azrael, would you please take a seat? You see, no thunder, no lightning when I say your real name."
The Angel half-collapsed in his seat as Venetia fell graciously in hers, trying her best to cover herself with a blanket, as her clothes were quite scandalising.
"You are... I thought she was..." he said, pointing Lucy out.
"Not really good for an Angel. So what do you want?"
"So he's really an Angel after all?" asked Lucy.
"Sure. Lucy, facing you, is Azrael, Angel of Death. I hope he's quite happy with me."
"You are..."
"The strigoï huntress of Gethsen, yes, dear."
"My people would call you the life stealer, as they are called the soul stealers. And your people call you 'huntress'?"
"Your people, my people? I don't understand a bit. Yes, I kill strigoïs. Some people see me as a murderer, others as a liberator. What's the problem? And since you're qualified as a 'soul stealer', I guess you're a strigoï too?"
"No, but my friends are."
The door opened and another young man entered
"Azzy, I saw a girl some minutes ago. Any problem with her or the life stealer?"
"One of your friends, I guess?" asked Venetia, crossing her legs. "It would be very nice if you accepted to tell me what you did to my defences around this house; normally he's not supposed to be able to enter."
"That's the advantage of being with an Angel. His name's Cain. He and his two brothers are my usual escort."
"Cain? Funny name. Are his brothers named Abel and Seth?"
"Exactly," retorted dryly Cain. "My parents had a strange taste for names."
"Well, better to be Cain than Abel, since it means you'll survive."
"Better to be Cain than Seth, for Seth is too the name of an Egyptian God and I prefer to be a murderer as Cain was than as Seth was. And, by the way, I didn't kill my brother."
"True enough for the first point, even if both Cain and Seth killed their brother, and time will come for the second one. Where were we, dear Azzy?"
"You died tonight."
"Yup. Not a pleasant experience, you can believe me."
"But now, you're alive. And you are not a loajnice."
"That's not my fault," shrugged Venetia.
"But it means our predictions are false!" exclaimed Cain irritated. "You are supposed to become a loajnice!"
"Kill me before that," said Venetia wryly.
"Please, Cain," intervened Azrael, soothing. "The problem is not about our predictions. The point is that you're alive because your father gave you his soul..."

A cry from Lucy interrupted him.
"Father? Gerkelan is our father? And he's dead now?"
"You idiot!" exclaimed Venetia, furious, jumping on her feet and forgetting the blanket, which fell on the floor. "I succeeded in keeping that to me and in three words, you ruined it all!"
"Gerkelan is dead?" pleaded Lucy through her tears with the voice of a little girl.
"No, Luce, no, I swear it to you, he's alive. I gave him his soul back."
"And you should have died again trying that," noticed calmly Azrael, still in his armchair.
"But I didn't, for a friend of mine stopped him before. And you," she snapped at Cain who was staring at her breathless, "stop that immediately!"
Cain tried to recompose himself but failed miserably.
"I can't," he avowed. "It's beyond me!"
Suddenly Venetia had a bright smile and walked straight to him with the swaying walk she had used as Victorina. Cain swallowed hard and realised he felt like a hunted deer about to be caught.
"Am I troubling you, dear?" she asked with Victorina's voice.
"Venetia!" exclaimed Lucy, scandalised.
Venetia laughed heartily while Cain tried desperately to find a way out.
"How do you think I managed to survive in Damian's lair, dear Luce?" she said. "You remember that?" she added, removing her left silk glove.
Lucy's eyes filled with tears when seeing the ugly scars on the slim arm of her sister.
"I lost count of the times he tried to cut my arm or to kill me. I found only one way to keep him away from doing that: it was to drive him insane and I drove him insane with love. When I was Victorina, I was his love and he forgot everything in my eyes, especially the poor prisoner chained to her wall, bleeding to death."
"He loved you?" asked Azrael, sounding a bit surprised.
"Surprised? Let me two minutes to recompose myself as Victorina and I seduce your Cain in less than five heartbeats."
"Impossible!" protested Azrael.
"You bet?" retorted Venetia with a predator smile.
In a heartbeat, she became again Victorina and said with a low voice:
"Well, Cain darling, still breathless?"
She put her hand on his shoulder and he looked at her with adoration.
"Heartless," he replied in a whisper. "You stole my heart with one of your gazes."
"Convinced, dear Azzy? Your faithful friend is now my toy, as Damian was. Perhaps I should try with you, you might be a bit harder to seduce."
Lucy frowned, perturbed by this new behaviour of her sister. She saw Cain circle Venetia's slim waist and the girl leaned her back against his chest without losing her smile.
"Viny, you said Damian loved you as Victorina. And you, what did - do - you feel for him?"
"What can I feel for the strigoï who killed Duncan and transformed Sane and Meran?"
"What can you feel for a man who would gladly have given his life for you?" insisted Lucy.
Venetia sent her a strange look and shrugged.
"That's not important. We interrupted you, dear Azrael. Please do continue."
"I was thus saying that your father saved you thanks to a powerful artefact. I think it's still at your wrist."
"There! I was sure of that!" said Venetia, breaking free from Cain's embrace. "True, I'm still alive thanks to Herrikhan's glove, powerful artefact belonging to me because my father created it and gave it to me. Sorry, dear Azzy, but you have no right on it."
"This artefact is too powerful for this world. Only the divine world can control it."
"Let me guess what follows: you want that glove, so you gently come to ask it to me and you hope I'll give it to you. Guess again, Azzy! You chose the wrong escort to ask me such a thing: I'm a strigoï huntress and I'm not really willing to give my father's glove to a man whose escort is composed by strigoïs named Cain, Abel and Seth! Even if he pretends to be an Angel."
"You agreed with me on that point," remarked Azrael.
"True, but giving Herrikhan's glove to the Angel of Death would be worse than anything else. If you were Michael, Raphael or Gabriel, I would maybe think again, but Azrael, no way! By the way, even if I wanted to give it to you, Herrikhan's glove is a part of me and I can't take it off."
"Be reasonable! That glove saved you from death, now it's time for you to release its powers in another way!"
"Reasonable? You ask me to be reasonable? Do you have the faintest idea of what I endured because of that glove?" shouted Venetia. "Because of it, my sister was kidnapped, my other sister betrayed me twice, a young boy became a strigoï and then died for me because I was forced to use it like a pawn, one of my friends became a strigoaïca too and I was tortured during endless weeks! And you ask me to be reasonable! Think better, Azrael! Do you know how it is to feel the pain caused by someone cutting your wrist ten or twenty times the same day, to feel that wrist restructuring almost under your very eyes? Well, I know! This glove only repaid me for all I suffered because of it! Perhaps it protects me, but I protect it as well: as long as I wear it, it won't be used for black magic, nor blood magic, nor death magic. Keep your offer for you, Azrael!"
"My, my, aren't we aggressive tonight? I see you're not intimidated by a supernatural presence, but perhaps a divine one will help you to change your mind..."
He made a complex gesture with his hands and his white lock glowed a strange light. Then a new presence was among them.
"Venetia, dear child," whispered the ageless voice of Chyraz, "will you hear a God's request?"
"I'll hear it," replied Venetia with bad grace.
"Herrikhan's glove has done on this world what it was meant for, that is, to save your life during your fight against the Triad. Now it's time for it to do something else. The Gods need it, will you surrender it to us?"
"Why should I obey to your prayer? When I begged for Duncan's life, did the Gods hear me? I needed him more than you need my glove, but you didn't answer my prayers! Count on me to refuse you any help! And don't try to frighten me, you or your Angel and his strigoïs! I never used Herrikhan's glove to do black magic, but I would know if I had to! God or not, you don't frighten me!"
"Duncan had to die. If not, you would never have faced victoriously the Triad."
"Victoriously?" repeated Venetia. "Victoriously, indeed! Because of Julian, I lost Duncan. Because of Vivian, I lost my wrist. And because of Damian, I lost Sane, Meran, Ileni, lots of blood, my last hopes and my heart! I guess you planned it too, right? After all, a dhampyr madly in love with her worse enemy, it's so funny for the Gods!"
"Viny!" exclaimed Lucy, sounding shocked.
"You wanted to know what I felt for the strigoï who killed those I loved, Lucy," continued Venetia darkly, "well, I'll tell you: I hate him with all my heart, but I love him even more. Isn't that funny?"
"No, it's not funny at all," said sadly Lucy. "It's... it's awful."
"So, Chyraz, Azrael, Cain and such, get out of my way and right now, for I won't stand you any longer. And if you ever try again, be assured that I'll release my father's glove's powers!"
The threatening note in Venetia's voice was enough to make them understand she wasn't joking and they left without arguing.

Venetia looked sadly at her sister.
"So, am I disgusting you now?" she asked wearily.
"No, Viny darling," replied Lucy immediately, embracing her. "I pity you, for the Gods played a nasty trick to you. How do you feel?"
"Miserable, dejected, betrayed by myself and utterly unhappy. And you, are you happy?"
"No: if you're unhappy, I'm unhappy too. Your mood is my mood."
"Huh? I almost never saw you in a foul mood and I am always in a foul mood."
"True enough," agreed Lucy. "But this mood was made especially for you, so I can't have it."
Venetia had a light laugh. Lucy understood all her sister had endured and she added gently:
"Come; you'll change clothes after a hot bath and then, you'll tell me everything you want to tell me."
For once docile, Venetia obeyed without protesting and followed her sister.
The following morning, Venetia was ready quite early, dressed with her usual clothes, her stake in the small of her back.
"Where are you going?" protested Lucy. "You should be resting."
"I'll try to find him before he kills someone else."
"Him? You mean... Damian? And what will you do once you'll have found him?"
"I don't know," replied Venetia with a less-than-happy tone.
"Could you bring yourself to kill him?"
"No, probably not. But I'll try nonetheless."
"Viny, not so long ago, you cared only for me and my security. I don't say it was right, but you seemed happy then. Now that you care a bit for yourself, you're always sad. Can't we... can't we change that so you'll be happy again?"
"Yes, you're right, I was happy; quite worried, but happy. But this time isn't anymore, Luce."
"Why?"
"Because then, I was the only one in your life. Perhaps you loved Angelan, but he didn't love you then. So I was your confident and even if you were speaking of him, I could think I was your world as you were mine. But now you have someone else to care for, to speak to and I don't count as much as I counted for you before. That's life. Little girls become women. It's just that I didn't see it coming..."
She had a sad smile and left, closing softly the door behind her.

She wandered all day like a lost soul, answering politely to people asking her where she had been, for they had worried because of her absence. She never had one of her well-known outbursts and none of their familiarities - or sometimes insults - sent her in one of her rages. It was as if everything was indifferent to her, even their kindness.
As the night fell, she became a bit nervous, even if her hand never took her stake. She was walking in the dark streets with a queenly bearing until a now familiar shape appeared suddenly before her.
"So they were right. You're still alive," said his sad voice.
Venetia didn't reply; she merely gazed at him.
"How did you survive, my love?" he asked.
"Is it so important?" she answered softly.
"Why are you torturing me like this? You know I must kill you, I don't have the choice, but killing you is killing me too."
She came nearer.
"Why are you forced to do it? Damian, don't you love your Vicky anymore? Don't you love me anymore?"
"Are you here to kill me?" he asked dryly, stepping back.
"No. I couldn't raise the hand against you. I would rather let you kill me ten thousand times than threaten you once with my stake."
"Why do you say that? Your death would be mine and you know it!"
"Can't you understand, Damian? Can't you understand why I was so weak in your arms?"
"What do you mean, Venom?" said Damian, obviously forcing himself to use that name.
"Not Venom," she said, deeply distressed. "I'm Vicky, your Vicky..."
Seeing Damian's strange look, she stepped back.
"No, as I see, I'm no longer your Vicky... I'm nothing more for you. Alright, I should have known," she said with a low voice, as speaking to herself. "If so, I have only one choice left..."
She took off the scarf around her neck and offered her throat to Damian.
"Go on!" she said with a choked voice. "There's no one to save me again, so I'll die and wake up as a strigoaïca, as I was told yesterday. Then Beth-Lynn will give me eternal rest and everything will be over. Go on, Damian! What are you waiting for?"
"You want to die? Why do you want to die?" he asked, sounding utterly surprised.
She didn't answer, she merely gazed at him, her throat still offered to the bite.
"Is it because of me? I thought you hated me, because of what I did to your friends..."
Venetia's lower lip trembled.
"My vengeance should be the strongest but it isn't..." she whispered.
Damian stepped forward and took her in his arms.
"You mean you love me? Vicky, do you love me?" he asked, excited like a little boy.
She circled his neck with her arms and, her eyes bright as ever, she said with a low voice:
"You asked me not to drive you away and I answered that I was yours for eternity... I should hate you, but I don't. I was playing with your heart to save my life, but you took mine... Yes, Damian, yes, I love you, you and you alone."
He wrapped his arms more tightly around her and she laid her head against his shoulder with a moving trust.

When Venetia came back home, all her friends were gathered chattering quite joyfully, even if Sane was almost hiding, as if she was ashamed. Silently, Venetia sat by her and threw a dark glance to Vladan. Gerkelan was near Lucy and even if he looked paler than usual, his face wore an expression of pure joy. Venetia thought it was as if he had just found his daughters... only to lose one of them almost at once, she mentally added, quite bitterly, looking down at her arms covered with red scars.
She shook the head to drive away those dark thoughts and listened to the conversation. Lucy was telling with humour the encounter with Azrael and his three strigoïs. The others laughed quite a lot, but became suddenly quiet when Lucy talked of the way Venetia had retorted to Chyraz. Duncan's name sounded loud and clear in the heavy silence. Venetia bit her lower lip; each time she heard that name - or pronounced it - she felt a sharp pain in her heart and a cold embrace around her. Despite everything she had lived, she knew that Duncan would always be the first in her heart; no other name had that effect on her and would he raise from the dead, asking her to follow him, claiming her as his, she would obey without any hesitation, leaving everything behind her without looking back.
"So you defy the gods by now, Viper?" asked Vladan quite ironically, as if he didn't really believe Lucy's story.
Venetia shrugged.
"He fears the power of Herrikhan's glove, so it wasn't fair. I had the advantage."
"But you faced the Angel of Death and three strigoïs at the same moment!" protested Beth-Lynn.
"Herrikhan's glove doesn't like strigoïs very much."
"Can it give life back to a strigoï?" asked suddenly Vladan.
Venetia turned his gaze toward him and her eyes had a disgusted look.
"Who do you think I am exactly? Do you really think I wouldn't have cured Sane if I had the power to do so? Do you think that of me?"
Vladan's voice was low when he retorted:
"I don't know what to think of you, Viper. Everybody swears you're Sane's best friend, but you're not here when she needs you, but you don't avenge her, but you fall in love with her torturer!"
Vladan's last words froze everybody and Venetia felt a chill going down her spine.
"Enough, Vladan!" said Sane. "I won't allow you to insult her. I don't know why Viny is with Damian now, but I trust her anyway. There must be a reason."
"There isn't any reason. At first, I was with him only to survive, but then I get caught... He seemed so different! I am atrociously ashamed, but I can't react. I would like to, to be free at last, to be able to defy alone the whole world with pride, but I can't... I'm powerless in front of him, he broke me..."
"Viny!" exclaimed Lucy, shocked by her sister's resignation. "You're not broken! You're just going through a difficult patch, that's all. Time will help you and we will too... if you let us do."
Venetia looked around her; all her friends were there, except one, and it was this one she wanted to be with. She stood up and said:
"Maybe... maybe someday I'll let you..."
She crossed the room and went out; nobody dared to stop her. She closed the door behind her and began to look for Rusalkan.

Life became quite a routine for Venetia from that moment on. She spent a great deal of time with Rusalkan during the day, a part of the night in Damian's company, both of them trying to understand better the other one, and the rest of the time, she was hunting down strigoïs. Damian wasn't pleased at all to see Venetia continue her deadly activities - most of the strigoïs she hunted were his friends - but one single dark glance from her dissuaded him to say anything. He protested only once and she retorted wryly:
"You did worse to Sane."
Damian didn't dare to add anything else. Quite surprisingly, when Sane first met Damian, she almost didn't react. The strigoï apologised immediately - he knew it was the price to pay to stay in goods terms with Venetia - but Sane waved her hand as to say it was nothing. Vladan almost pounced on Damian as to attack him, but Beth-Lynn stopped him.
"That's not your problem," she hissed. "That's Sane's. If she doesn't react, you don't have to."
"He transformed her!" protested Vladan, his eyes glowing with anger.
"I believe you feel more concerned than Sane. Sane accepted her transformation, you don't. She's sill the same, Vladan! She's still the Sane you loved."
Vladan looked at the dhampyr and sighed.
"No, she's not. Viper changed her. Not directly perhaps, but she behaves in a way Sane had never seen and she would never have had the idea to act like this. But she admires Viper so much!"
"Everybody admires Venetia, including those who hate her."
"What do you mean?" asked Vladan, surprised.
"The strigoïs are waiting for the moment Venetia will become one of them. But I think she will remain the same, because she fights out of love. She doesn't fight because she hates strigoïs, she fights because she wants to protect Lucy. But then... I doubt very much Lucy will still be alive the day Venetia will become a strigoaïca."
"Why?"
"Because Venetia won't allow to herself to be transformed as long as Lucy will be there: she wouldn't be able to protect her properly if she was a loajnice."
"You're speaking nonsense! She can't decide what she will become! Do you think Sane chose?" exclaimed Vladan angrily.
Beth-Lynn shrugged.
"Venetia was dead in Damian's lair. And now, she's alive. Not a strigoaïca, alive. That's why I say she can decide."
Vladan didn't dare to discuss any longer: Beth-Lynn was obviously on Venetia's side, even if the girl had helped her sister to conquer Angelan.

Lucy watched out her sister quite carefully during this time and, quite often, Angelan had the impression she wasn't listening at him at all. That was how she remarked that Venetia never invited Damian to enter their house. Each time he knocked at the door, Venetia went out; he never passed the threshold. When she asked Venetia about it, her older sister remained silent a moment and then said slowly:
"If Damian becomes again the strigoï he once was and if he is able to enter here, he will kill us all during our sleep. That's the same with Gerkelan, but Gerkelan is our father. But if I hadn't forced him to drink my blood, he would have been a danger for us. That's why I took the risk. That's the same for Angelan too..."
"But you let Angelan enter!" protested Lucy.
"Damian is worse than Angelan, Lucy. I may love him, I'm not blind for that. I know who is the one I love."
"And Rusalkan?" asked then Lucy, still intrigued by this mysterious man. "You never allowed him enter here either. He never showed up by the way."
Venetia had a dreamy smile, quite tender, a smile she never had had for Damian.
"Rusalkan prefers to see me in the outside," she said.
"Or in his home?" retorted Lucy quite brutally.
Venetia frowned.
"What do you mean?" she asked sharply.
"Do you think I'm blind? Once you came back home with a jumper that was his... There's something between him and you, Viny, and you can't hope to hide it from me!"
Venetia relaxed a bit and laughed.
"And perhaps I run to him each time I leave Damian," she said ironically.
Lucy blushed.
"That's not what I meant, Viny! But you trust him completely and we know nothing about him..."
"You know nothing about him. I know quite a lot. And he was the only one to have found me when I was captive in Damian's lair."
"You speak of him as if you loved him! I thought you loved Damian..."
"In a certain way, yes, I love him. If not for him, Luce, I would probably be a loajnice by now, or even dead..."
She left on those words, as she did each time she didn't want to be interrogated on something - and particularly on Rusalkan. Lucy sighed. Her sister was so secret! It was hard to obtain from her the entire truth and Rusalkan wouldn't help her at all.