Читать книгу Alchemy of Blood - - Страница 3

When you live for more than two millennia, time doesn’t matter. It flows slowly, like a river, washing the epochs, and you just watch it flow, as if from the top of a mountain. So Selene sat on the edge of her desk in the ancient library, watching her new student with unruffled composure.

The new girl, young and eager, was trying to move a massive bronze goblet with the enthusiasm of youth. Her face was impatient, and there was a stubborn wrinkle between her brows.

Selene, watching her struggle, smiled. She understood this feeling perfectly – the eagerness, the desire to learn everything at once, without wasting time on long and boring exercises.

“You know, Chacey,” she said slowly, taking a drag on her cigarette. “If you stare at something like that, it’s bound to look back at you sooner or later.”

Without taking her eyes off the goblet, Chacey snorted.

“We’ve been circling this piece of metal for two hours now, and it’s no use!”

Selene couldn’t help but roll her eyes. The eternal problem of neophytes is lack of patience and discipline. She’s been through it, too.

“Good results are the fruit of long and hard work,” Selene said calmly, stubbing out her cigarette and putting the silver holder in the inner pocket of her black jacket dress. “But I know it all sounds crazy to you right now. You’re just a child.”

“A child?” Chacey outraged. “Actually, you’re not much older than me!”

Selene just grinned, “Appearances are deceptive, it’s time to understand this already. Be patient.”

“God, how boring!” Chacey whined. “You’d think I wasn’t trying!” She pouted childishly.

Selene crossed her legs.

“You’re thinking about the wrong things,” she said, looking at her with understanding.

Chacey asked dejectedly, “And about which ones?”

“Being a member of the Supreme Clan won’t solve your problems. Until you learn to defend yourself outside these walls, you are nothing. Find the best motivation,” Selene said sternly.

Chacey thought about it and said, “I have motivation. Maria says that I am very lucky to get into the Supreme Clan. It’s an honor,” she smiled foolishly, ignoring Selene’s words.

Selene grimaced at the mention of Maria. In her long life, she had rarely seen such cruel and vile creatures. However, Selene admitted that there was some truth in her words. Membership in the Supreme Clan offered many advantages, but not everyone was accepted. There is no telling what Chacy’s fate might have been if the guards hadn’t discovered her two months ago, feral and thirsty, and brought her to court.

“Don’t forget that I’m your mentor, not Maria,” Selene reminded her sternly. “Besides, you haven’t been accepted into the clan yet.”

The clan took the lost ones like Chacy under their wing, helping them get back on their feet. The most gifted were accepted into their ranks. Selene was assigned to mentor Chacy and several other neophytes. She was engaged in training them and developing their abilities.

“How were you trained?” the girl suddenly asked.

Selene’s gaze darkened and went off into the distance, as it always did when remembering the past.

But she quickly regained her composure and said grimly, “My mentor wasn’t so forgiving.”

Chacey turned away and pretended to stare at the ancient leather-bound books that filled the huge dark wood shelves to the ceiling. Selene sighed and pushed her long black hair off her shoulder as she slid off the table and walked over to the girl. She was staring intently at a rack of various relics and artefacts. Selene noticed that Chacey’s gaze lingered on the obsidian statue of an ancient Egyptian deity. Its smooth black surface seemed to absorb the sunlight, and its ruby eyes, on the contrary, burned brightly with a blood-red fire. The student’s blue eyes shifted from the statue to the silver medallion that rested on Selene’s neck.

“Just like yours,” Chacey said, studying the beast’s elongated face with its long ears that looked like they’d been chopped off at the end. “Is it something Egyptian?”

Selene touched the locket, instinctively trying to protect it. The metal pulsed slightly under her fingers, like a small heart. With a barely perceptible effort, Chacey turned her attention from the god’s ruby eyes to the silvery ones of her mentor.

“Yes,” Selene said. “This is Set, the god of death, storms, and the barren desert. Our God.”

“What do you mean?” the girl asked, surprised. “Do vampires have a god?”

Selene smiled a little. She liked it when the students showed interest in history, and now she was glad of the opportunity for a little distraction.

“Long ago, when the gods lived among humans, the god Seth fought for power with his nephew Horus,” she began. “They fought for days and nights, but they were evenly matched, and neither of them could gain the upper hand. Then the sun – god Ra, the lord of the gods, tired of this enmity, judged between them and gave the crown to Horus.”

Chacey was intrigued. She knew something about the history of vampires, but she’d never heard that they had a god before.

“What’s next?” the girl asked.

“An enraged Seth, unwilling to accept this turn of events, decided to rebel against Ra and his allies,” Selene continued. “Seth has mobilized his loyal mortals, lavishing each of them with his divine blood. This elixir gave the followers of Seth superhuman abilities, turning them into ruthless and unstoppable warriors who possessed lightning-fast agility, remarkable strength and fierce rage inherent in Seth himself. But despite their newfound power, the rebel forces suffered a crushing defeat. Ra and Horus joined forces to defeat Seth and his henchmen. As a severe punishment, Seth was imprisoned in the dark depths of the Duat, the underworld, without the possibility of having offspring. And his loyal warriors, deprived of their master, are doomed to wander the earthworld in the dark of night, reaping the fruits of their treachery. However, some of Seth’s followers found a way to circumvent the gods’ ban.”

Chacey, startled by her mentor’s story, was silent for a long time, digesting what she had just heard. Finally, she asked hesitantly, “And what became of Seth’s warriors after he was imprisoned?”

Selene, lost in thought, replied, “Free from the bonds of their master, they have spread out across the world, mixing their blood with that of mortals and creating new kindred. And so, from generation to generation, we continue to exist, forever hiding our eyes from the light of the sun.”

Chacey raised a skeptical eyebrow and said, “But it sounds like a legend, a fiction. Fairy tales for scaring children.”

“Even the most terrifying fairy tales have some truth in them. And this story is no exception.”

The distant sound of footsteps echoed through the dim hall from behind the closed door, making Selene and her student alert. The sweet, salty smell of human blood hung in the air, enticing and exciting the vampire’s senses. The cheerful voices of the staff coming from the corridor only served to reinforce the contrast between the carefree lives of humans and the dark existence of vampires.

Selene glanced at Chacey and was alarmed to see an inky network of veins spreading around her eyes, the whites turning cloudy, and her upper canines elongating. Hunger gnawed at the young vampire, ready to break loose.

“It’s starting again,” Selene thought, rolling her eyes. She snapped her fingers in front of Chacey’s face, forcing her to focus, and cupped her chin, gently turning her face to face her.

“Keep your breath steady and focus on me,” Selene whispered, looking into her student’s hungry blue eyes.

As the footsteps receded, Chacey gradually calmed down. Her breathing slowed, and the inky veil in her eyes began to clear.

“Well done,” Selene said, patting her on the shoulder.

Chacey grimaced as if at an unpleasant memory.

“But I don’t understand why all these rules apply,” she sounded annoyed. “I want to see the world outside the palace! How long can I stay locked up?”

Selene has already heard similar complaints from new converts. Young vampires with a burning thirst for life often did not understand why they should obey the strict rules of existence in a human society.

“These rules aren’t just a whim,” Selene explained patiently. “They are the key to the security and preservation of our world. The sooner you realize this, the better it will be for you. As for your desire to leave the palace… Go ahead. But remember: the slightest mistake and your head will roll off your shoulders in the blink of an eye.”

“What should I be afraid of?” Chacey snorted, tossing her shock of dark brown hair. “Mortals are just useless idiots,” there was a hint of contempt in her voice.

Anger flared in Selene like a hot flame. How quickly this young convert had forgotten her human origins. But what was even more surprising was that Chacey had absolutely no memory of her past. Sometimes this happens to some converts: fate seems to take pity on them, erasing the tragic events from their memory. Sometimes oblivion is really better.

“And what use are you?” Selene raised a dark brow, her silver eyes glinting dangerously from under thick lashes. “So far, you’re not of any value to the clan. Besides, you were a mortal yourself not so long ago, weren’t you?”

“That was in a previous life,” Chacey said.

“Is that so?” Selene said, turning her back on the neophyte and walking slowly toward the tall marble fireplace. “Remember when I said you needed motivation?”

“Yes,” Chacey said.

Selene went to the mantelpiece and picked up a fae dagger with a blade made of gold threads, similar to the pattern on a dragonfly’s wings. It gave off a soft, melodious chime.

“You asked me how I was trained,” Selene continued, turning the dagger thoughtfully in her fingers, examining it. “The most important lesson I’ve learned…”

With a sharp turn, Selene threw the dagger at her student with lightning speed. Instantly, Chacey raised her hands. The blade froze in midair just inches from her face. She stared at her mentor in a daze: with her close-cropped, disheveled hair and petite build, she looked like a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest.

“It’s fear,” Selene hissed, her face as pale as porcelain and icy calm.

Chacey dropped her hands abruptly, and the blade clattered to the marble floor. A look of horror crossed her face, and she hurried out of the library, slamming the heavy wooden door behind her.