Muttering obscenities under her breath, Anna paced the perimeter of her prison. Over the winter months she had worn a trail through the woodland where the illusion met the ground. It was exactly one thousand three hundred and seventy steps round it. Despite her best efforts, nothing cracked the spell cast over her illusion. Every attempt ended with the magic deflecting back at her.
During the long cold winter months, food had been scarce. Very few living creatures had been trapped under the shell and, craving blood, she had long since killed and drained them all. In an attempt to survive, Anna had cast a sleep spell on herself, allowing her to rest for the duration of two full moons but as the Worm Moon approached, she was wide awake, thirsty for blood and angry.
Worms… the thought momentarily filled her mind. As she had stormed round the perimeter trail, she had seen several worms emerging from the soil. Worms contained blood.
With a swish of her clock, Anna headed back to her mausoleum in search of some sort of container in which to collect worms..
Some time later, Anna sat in the tomb staring into a large silver chalice writhing with fat juicy worms.
“How did I get reduced to this?” she muttered out loud as she delicately plucked a large worm from the cup. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth and swallowed it down whole. The sensation of it wriggling down her throat almost made her vomit.
For the millionth time she looked round her home trying to figure out a way to escape. If the worms were emerging, that would suggest the frozen winter earth had thawed. Could she tunnel under her illusion and the cloaking spell.
A fire was blazing in the word burning stove, keeping the beach hut cosy. Wrapped in a soft blanket, Meryn sat gazing into the flames, a glass of blood infused wine in her hands. Turning to Jem and Trine, who were both seated at the table, she said, “It’s time I went home.”
“Meryn,” protested Trine. “You’ve barely recovered. Can hardly hunt. How do you propose to get home?”
Casting the spell had drained both Meryn and the runner more than either of them had realised. Both of them had been too weak to get out of bed for more than a month. Jem had recovered first but Meryn had taken another full lunar cycle before she could walk from her bed to the sitting room unaided. Caring for them both had exhausted Trine but somehow she had found the strength to hunt for three.
“I need to go back to the castle,” stated Meryn plainly. “We need to tell Stefan what we’ve done.”
“But Meryn…,” began Trine shrilly.
“She’s right,” interrupted Jem calmly. “I’ll travel back with you.”
“What about Anna?” asked Trine.
“She’s going nowhere,” stated Meryn sharply before taking a sip from her glass. “Even if she is still alive.”
“We should all go,” said Jem, reluctant to leave the ice maiden home alone in case the dark angel escaped. He knew only too well how resourceful she was didn’t want to take any risks.
“Fine,” relented Trine with a sigh. “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow,” insisted Meryn. “I can draw some energy to travel from the full moon.”
Unfurling his wings, Jem loosened his grasp on his mother, making sure she was steady on her feet before he let go. Beside him, he felt Trine land lightly on the patterned rug.
“Well. Well. Well. Look who’s dropped in.”
“Father,” said Trine, stepping forward to embrace Stefan.
Smiling warmly, the senior vampire held his daughter for a few moments then noticed Meryn sway slightly as she moved towards the couch. With the lightning speed afforded to vampires, he was by her side in an instant.
“You’re ill.”
Meryn shook her head, “I’m fine, Stefan. Don’t fuss. I just…overdid things a bit.”
“I sense you three have a story to tell me,” he said glancing at each of them in turn. “Sit. I’ll send for more wine. “In fact,” he countered looking at the weary travellers, “I’ll see if we have any blood. You all look as though you need something stronger than wine.”
Gratefully, Jem and Trine sank down into the couch, sitting either side of Meryn.
Over several glasses of warm blood, Jem and Meryn explained about the illusion that the dark angel had created around her mausoleum. Paying close attention to the tale, Stefan listened as Meryn explained abut sealing Anna into her own illusion, with Jem’s help. With that part of the story told, Trine filled in the details of caring for them both while they recovered from their efforts.
“And you’re sure she’s still imprisoned in there?” quizzed Stefan calmly.
“There’s no way out of that shield,” retorted Meryn sharply. “It’s a complete sphere. She can’t tunnel under it even if she thinks to try.”
The elder vampire nodded then turned to Jem,” You’ve been in her tomb. Are there any hidden exits to it?”
Pausing to visualise the mausoleum, Jem shook his head, “None that I’m aware of. There’s stone benches down two sides that she uses as storage lockers. She had a hidden compartment under a slab on the floor but no other ways in or out that I saw.”
Stefan nodded his approval, “And what do you propose to do next?”
“Leave her to rot,” muttered Meryn, her tone laced with venom.
“That’s one option,” Stefan agreed. “Or we fetch her and bring her here to stand trial and answer for her crimes. If that’s a further four children she has fed from that’s four more serious charges to add to an already lengthy list.”
“And how do you propose we get her out?” snapped Meryn, setting her empty glass down.
“That’s a finer detail still to be worked out,” Stefan acknowledged.
“Father,” began Trine hesitantly. “Why not let Court of the Elders decide? They may elect to leave Anna where she is.”
Stefan paused for a moment while he processed that thought then nodded, “A reasonable suggestion, daughter. A timely one too. The Court are scheduled to meet tomorrow.”
“Well, if that’s decided,” began Meryn, an edge to her tone of voice, “I’m going to retire to my chambers. I trust they’ve been prepared while we’ve been chatting.”
“Of course, Meryn,” replied the senior vampire warmly. He turned to Jem and Trine adding, “And your usual rooms are ready for you too. If you need anything, ring the bell in your room.”
“Thanks, Father.”
“Thank you,” added Jem, trying to stifle a yawn.
“Go and rest. I’ll send someone to fetch you tomorrow to tell your tale to the Court. Be prepared. All of you.”
“Damn you, Meryn!” raged Anna, her clothes and hands caked in mud. “Damn you to hell!”
Hours of digging had left the dark angel exhausted and angry.
The shield spell went deep underground.
Using her probing magic, Anna swiftly concluded that the shield was spherical. She was entirely sealed in.
Was there really no way out?
Drawing her cloak around her, she returned to her mausoleum to rest and to think.
Before she had started to dig, she had gathered more worms, fathoming that she would be too tired to hunt for them when she returned. As she entered the tomb, the chalice was the first thing she saw. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she watched the fat juicy worms wriggling and writhing for a moment or two before plucking one from the dish and swallowing it down.
There had to be something she was missing…
Once the silver dish was empty, Anna set it aside and lifted the tome she had been studying. It was an ancient magick book, written in a long-forgotten dialect making her progress through it slow. The book was her last hope of finding a way out. She had read and re-read all the others in her possession.
Shelf after shelf of books lined the walls from floor to ceiling in the castle library, the chosen venue for the Court of the Elders meeting. There were occasional tables and high-backed winged leather chairs scattered around the vast room. In the centre though there was an ornately carved round table and when Jem and Trine entered, they found the four Court members already seated.
With a silent hand gesture, Stefan indicated that they should sit at two spaces immediately opposite the elders. A servant placed a silver goblet of blood-laced wine in front of each of them, then retired to the shadows.
“Thank you for joining us so promptly,” began Stefan formally. “I trust you are both well-rested?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Jem calmly.
“Due to Meryn’s close personal involvement in this matter, she is here in silent presence today. By that, I mean she can take an active role in the discussion, but her court decision-making power is vetoed for this session,” continued the senior vampire. “Now, for the benefit of Alessandro and Michael, please re-tell the tale you told me last night when you arrived.”
In an effort to show that the situation wasn’t intimidating him, Jem took a mouthful of his wine before he began to explain about the four dead local children, discovering that Anna had hidden her mausoleum and about trying and failing to create a shield over the cloaking illusion.
“Who taught you magic, Jeremiah?” asked Michael, the American born member of the court.
“Jem,” corrected the runner, avoiding his mother’s gaze. “While Trine and I were held her, my mother taught me some basic incantations. I like to read so I borrowed some of her books to pass the time.”
“Meryn,” began Michael, turning his attention to the vampiress. “Were you granted permission to teach magic to your son?”
“All I taught him were basic spells a child could master,” she countered calmly. “I taught him nothing that merited seeking permission. He borrowed my books without permission. My son’s intelligent. There’s a lot of pure vampire blood running in his veins. He apparently has a natural aptitude for magic, judging by what he accomplished from merely reading those books.”
“Perhaps,” mused Alessandro, who until now had remained silent. “Can you explain to the court, Meryn, just how you came to be visiting your son and Trine at just the exact moment he needed your assistance?”
“I was long overdue to visit with them,” replied Meryn, smoothing out the dark purple skirts of her dress. “You all know its easier for me to travel around the time of the full moon. I just happened to choose that particular full moon to drop by.”
“Convenient,” muttered the Italian half under his breath. He cleared his throat then asked, “Did either of you attempt to contact Meryn prior to her arrival?”
Taking a deep breath, Trine said simply, “I did.”
“How?” quizzed Alessandro sharply.
“I tried to reach out to my father, but I failed.”
“By what means did you reach out, Trine?” pressed Alessandro.
“I’m guessing my daughter used the crystal ball that I gave her,” interjected Stefan. “We regularly use it to stay in contact. That particular evening though I had left it in a locked drawer in my study. You’ll recall we had travelled to Florence to settle a territorial dispute that night, Alessandro.”
“We had,” conceded the vampire.
“Meryn,” continued Stefan. “Tell us what happened when you arrived at the home of your son?”
Keeping her voice quiet, Meryn remained unhurried as she explained about arriving at the beach hut, transporting to the woodland beside the dark angel’s illusion then working all night, with the support of Jem, to create a spherical shield. She confessed that her memories of the next few days were hazy due to the exhaustion she had suffered once the shield was in place.
“How confident are you that Anna remains trapped within that shield?” asked Michael.
“There’s no way in or out without breaking the shield,” stated Meryn confidently.
“No other existing exits from that tomb?” pressed the American.
“None that I am aware of,” replied Jem. “I’ve visited the tomb several times. I’ve never seen any sign of any other ways out.”
“Whose tomb is it?” asked Alessandro casually.
The question caught them off guard.
Eventually, Jem said, “It’s at least a couple of hundred years old. I don’t remember seeing a name on the outside of it but the land belongs to the estate that lies to the north of the village.”
“How far away is this estate?”
“From the mausoleum?”
“Yes.”
“The best part of a mile,” Jem replied. “There’s a main road between the tomb and the main estate.”
“Does this estate have its own private chapel?” asked the Italian.
“Yes, but its ruined.”
“Could this be important, Alessandro?” questioned Stefan with a worried frown.
“Potentially. It would depend on the architect. It’s not unheard of for the owners of wealthy estates to link their private chapels to the family crypt. It allowed them to grieve with their dead in private. Tunnels often ran deep underground but a tunnel of that length does seem improbable.”
“But not impossible?” challenged Stefan.
“No, not impossible. Anna, of course, may not know of its presence. These were often hidden in the tombs to prevent people from discovering them.”
“Hidden where?” asked Jem, trying to picture Anna’s mausoleum in his mind.
“I’ve only seen two personally,” admitted Alessandro. “Both were gothic tombs with ornately carved panels on the rear wall. A trigger was hidden within the design. The rear wall is false in part. Once the trigger has activated, part of the panel would slide down or up depending on the ceiling height to reveal the tunnel’s entrance.”
“Jem, is there a carving on the rear wall of Anna’s tomb?” asked Stefan.
Feeling his blood suddenly run cold, Jem nodded.
“That may change our decision here, gentlemen,” mused Michael, looking thoughtful. “I had been of the opinion that we leave her in there to desiccate, but now I’m inclined to say we need to visit this site and the chapel for ourselves.”
“I agree,” nodded Alessandro. “If there’s a matching carved panel in the chapel then we will know if there is or was a tunnel. Time may have collapsed it.”
“Agree,” stated Stefan firmly. “We travel tomorrow. All of us.”
Tossing the book aside, Anna let out a long sigh of frustration. There had been nothing in it of any use to solve her current predicament. She sat staring at the carving on the end wall of the tomb. It was an intricate Celtic pattern that she had always been fond of. Mentally, she traced its intertwined lines realising for the first time that if drawn correctly, were all actually one line. When she got to the centre of the Celtic design, she discovered that there an extra short line that she had never noticed and that didn’t fit with the single line flow of rest of the design.
Intrigued, she stood up and moved to stand directly in front of it. Tentatively, Ann ran her hand over the section of stone.
It moved.
Coral McCallum 