24

A knock on the door pulled Amelia from her thoughts. Hadn’t Mikhail said he’d be gone a few days? She wondered who it was, if not him.

Dave’s presence on the other side was a pleasant surprise. “Hi, Amelia!”

“Dave! I’m so glad to see you!” The unexpected warmth in her chest made her smile.

The boy glanced to the side, a shadow running through his lively eyes. His gaze returned to Amelia. “May I come in?”

Was that fear on his face?

“Of course.” She urged him in and closed the door. “Dave, what’s wrong?”

He exhaled a long breath, jabbing a finger over his shoulder, in the direction of the entrance. “That’s some serious security team you got there. Are they protecting you from the Tribunal?”

So he was afraid of her guards.

“Yep,” she said.

Dave’s expression relaxed, reminding her once again of her brother. “So cool! Although”—he leaned closer to her, his voice quiet as a whisper—“let me tell you, hybrids give me goosebumps.”

“Hybrids?”

Dave inspected the closed door as if to make sure they couldn’t hear him. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve seen them in the halls. The twins. They say they’re hybrids, but I call them shadows. They’re almost invisible, like ninjas, and they move fast… It’s just… creepy. And you know what they say about hybrids…”

Amelia took a wild guess. “That they’re very dangerous?”

“Among the most dangerous creatures on the planet!”

“Right…” She had sensed that the women were more than just regular bodyguards, but ‘among the most dangerous creatures on the planet’ … Why would they be guarding her?

Unperturbed, Dave settled on the couch. “Mikhail said I could come visit you.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone I came here or who I visited. I know you’re hiding from the Tribunal and it’s important you stay hidden.”

“Thank you, Dave.” She wondered if she could offer him a snack.

Her brother Sammy used to love chocolate chip cookies and Coke. Unlike most children, Amelia had never liked chocolate, so she’d always given him her share as well. But here, the food came at certain intervals and it was usually salad, fish, sometimes beef and fruit. Over the last week, she’d had so little appetite, she hadn’t paid attention to what she’d eaten.

Before she could figure out what to offer him, Dave said, “Did you hear on the news about those two billionaires who were hiding in an alcohol factory close to Sofia, when everyone thought they had escaped abroad?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t watch TV.”

“I heard that the Tribunal is hunting them, too. You’ll never believe it… they’re immortal!”

“Why is the Tribunal hunting them?”

“Because they’re criminals. But in the human world.”

“Hmm…”

“Mum says that on the Day of Judgement, every creature pays for its sins and since we live longer, we always have a bigger debt to pay than humans.”

For some reason, his words stung her. If Judgement Day was the day for paying for one’s sins, why was she atoning for hers much sooner?

“Your mum’s probably right,” Amelia said and her heart twisted with the sudden realisation that this child was walking a road of sorrow and pain, much like she had.

But he lives in a different world. Maybe his mother will wake up from the coma.

She would have asked about her, but what was the point? If his mum were improving, Dave would not have to grow up between the Hospital walls.

“You’re sad, Amelia. Are you sick?” The boy tilted his head, inspecting her closely.

She forced a smile. “I’m okay.”

He didn’t seem to believe that. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

“How about a story? It would help distract me.” Amelia remembered that when he was Dave’s age, her brother loved retelling the fables they taught him at school, and later he had even started making up short stories that he shared with the whole family at dinner. Sometimes, Amelia had been envious of him for stealing all of their parents’ attention. The thought made her insides churn with shame.

“Okay, I’ll tell you my favourite story!” Dave’s face glowed as Sammy’s had when given a chance to perform. “Oh, but there are a lot of forbidden words in that one, and Mum says I shouldn’t use them in front of the ladies. Hmm… Oh! I can tell you the story she often put me to bed with when I was younger.”

Amelia swallowed a lump in her throat. The Ugly Duckling was the bedtime fairy tale her mother always told her. For a moment, images flashed in her mind of the small apartment she had lived in with her parents before Sammy had been born. She willed them to go away before they completely broke her. “I’m all ears,” she whispered and settled on the couch as well.

Dave jumped to his feet in the centre of the room. “A long, long time ago, there were two brothers who had the ability to do things the world had never seen before… Or will ever see again! They were called Triceus and Gord. Actually… according to the legend, the two brothers existed long before there was any life on Earth, but lived on another planet. Some say they came from a parallel universe. Others believe they were gods, omnipresent and existing everywhere at once!”

“Sounds cool.”

Dave puffed out his chest, taking his role as storyteller seriously. “As life appeared on Earth, one of the brothers, Gord, became curious and decided to take the shape of a human and visit the earthly creatures. Soon after, he met a gifted young witch who was strong enough to bear his children. They had two sons and one daughter, all three very special. Quick like vampires!” Dave swung his hand through the air. “Strong as manticores!” He flexed his bicep. “Furious like lycanthropes!” He grinned. “And incredibly beautiful like nymphs.” He glanced at Amelia, his cheeks flushing red. “They could wield magic like witches, but their most impressive gift was the ability to talk to the dead!” He faked a horrified grimace.

She straightened up. Her initial purpose had been to deflect the boy’s attention from herself but Dave’s fervour was contagious and she found herself engrossed in the story and his acting it out.

“Some say that before Gord came down to Earth, the only immortal species were the witches and his children’s descendants established the other five species. His daughter, Ana, was more beautiful than Aphrodite, but she used that power for evil. She would humiliate the men who fell in love with her.” Dave crossed his arms and shook his head in disapproval. “Ana’s supposed to be the mother of the nymphs, but, of course, you knew that already.”

“Of course…” Amelia nodded.

He beamed at her. “Anyway, Ana followed no rules and loved to play games with humans. One of her victims was a regular man called John. He was young, with a small child and a wife who was pregnant with their second son. One day, as he came home from a hunt, John met Ana and was not at all impressed by her beauty. She got so upset that she cast a love spell on him. Hours later, John abandoned his family and rushed back to the mountain to look for her. She told him he could be her lover if he killed his wife and child first. Bewitched by Ana, John went back to his house, grabbed his axe and murdered his entire family. As soon as his wife’s body hit the ground, the spell broke and he realised what he had done and who had forced him to do it. He went back to Ana pretending he was still under her influence, carrying the bloodied axe with him to prove to her that the deed was done. Then, when she got close enough…” Dave raised his hand and slashed the air with his palm. “He swung and chopped her head off, without even knowing that it was the best way to kill an immortal creature.”

Amelia gasped. How was that a bedtime story for children?

Dave’s smile disappeared. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s probably not very nice when someone reminds you why nymphs were punished.”

Amelia narrowed her eyes. “No… But what do you mean?”

“Well, you know… Nymphs are the only species without males. Every nymph gives birth to a nymph girl, no matter who they… mate with, I think it’s called. My mum says a man must really love a nymph if he’s willing to have a daughter with her, what with their bad reputation and all… I mean, some of them, obviously. You’re not like that.”

Maybe she shouldn’t pretend to be a nymph anymore.

Before she could say anything, Dave continued with his story. “Anyway, Ana wasn’t Gord’s only child. His eldest son, Sandir, was a true hero for mortals and immortals alike. Unlike Ana, who used her powers for evil, he wanted to help others. He used his speed to capture criminals!” At that, the boy waved his fist in the air. “His strength, to punish them!” That same fist smashed on the table. “And since his favourite thing was trips to the Beyond, he often served as an intermediary between the living and the dead. No wonder everyone thinks he’s the source of vampires and necromancers. Of course, Sandir was very handsome and some say that he needed three women to satisfy his needs.” At that, Dave scratched his head, lips pursed in a cute thinking pose. “I guess that would explain why vampires are the most widely spread species! Necromancers would probably also be like that, if they weren’t so creepy…”

Amelia blinked. “And this is the bedtime story your mom told you every evening?”

“Mum had enchanted a radio to tell different stories with her voice, but I always loved this one the most because it’s real.”

“Real?”

“Amelia, sometimes I wonder if you’re not an alien or something! As if you haven’t already figured out that this is the children’s version of The Origin of Immortal Species .”

Amelia pursed her lips. As in Darwin’s On the Origin of Species , but the immortal species version? “There’s a grown-up version?”

“You’re so funny!” He chuckled and shook his head as if she was the child, then resumed speaking. “Let me finish, will you? So, although Sandir could talk to the dead, everybody loved him, instead of fearing him. He was bad only to those who deserved it – thieves, murderers and other criminals. He didn’t really see a difference between mortals and immortals. Everyone was equal and his friend. He spent his days among humans, ate their food, and drank their wine. His body didn’t really need any of it, but I guess he liked doing it? After hundreds of years with regular people, he forgot that he was different and should be more cautious around them. Once, a stranger asked him to help make contact with his recently deceased son. By that time, Sandir had grown so careless, that he didn’t even ask the man how he knew of his abilities. He didn’t check the room for weapons, either, like he used to do in his younger days. When he sent his consciousness to the Otherworld and his body was left defenceless, the man took out a sword from under the table and sliced his head off.” Dave sighed, as if he felt his hero’s demise deeply. “It turned out that this man was the father of a criminal, who Sandir had thrown off a cliff a few years earlier as punishment for killing a small boy.”

“I can’t believe this!” Amelia exclaimed, but quickly added, “That he was so careless, I mean.”

“Yeah, but he was!”

“What happened to the other son?” Now she was as appalled as she was intrigued by this story.

“Callan was the youngest of all of Gord’s children. His life is a mystery because, unlike Ana and Sandir, he didn’t like to interact with either mortals or immortals. There’s almost no information about him anywhere… All I know is that, according to legend, he lived alone for many years in a fortress high up in the mountain. The only company he had were his two pets – a lion and a wolf. They sometimes prowled down to the villages and stole people who never returned. The few who saw the supernatural animals and stayed alive to tell the tale, claimed that the lion was black from head to toe, and on his back, he had two giant wings. The wolf was just as scary, with his enormous size and long sharp teeth like sabres. Probably neither of them actually existed and the animals were just Callan’s secondary forms. Unlike all others, he had two, so he’s believed to be the ancestor of manticores and lycanthropes.”

Shivers crept up and down her spine. “So, not everyone who can become… um… a lion, can also become a wolf?”

Dave threw her one of those are-you-an-alien looks again. “Nobody can turn into both! Except Callan. The locals believed that Callan was merciful, because he never sent the two beasts at the same time, so once he was a wolf, and the next time, a lion. Why he kidnapped people and creatures, though, nobody knows, but there are theories, including that he experimented on them… like Frankenstein, you know.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You know about Frankenstein?”

“Of course! I’m top of my class with Miss Susie. The other day, we had a maths test and I got the highest score!”

“You go to school?”

“All children in the Hospital go to school three times a week. Miss Susie’s the best! You remind me of her a little.” Dave smiled at Amelia again. “But she’s a witch, like Mum, and she taught me how to make potions. She even said I’m very talented because of the vampire perfume I invented. Not many witch children can cast spells before reaching immortality, you know.” He beamed with pride.

Amelia crossed her legs on the couch, suddenly uncomfortable. As much as she was fond of the boy, his last words had reminded her of his true nature. It was confusing. He was a… witcher, and yet he was a child.

The immortal creatures were creatures , and yet they were suffering from sicknesses like people.

Mikhail Korovin was a manticore, and he was…

Her heartbeat accelerated. She ignored it. “I’m really loving this story, and it’s helping distract me. Would you mind finishing it?”

“Oh, right!” Dave nodded. “Well, at some point, Callan also began living among humans, but kept his identity a secret, pretending to be a foreigner, a merchant or some other stuff. His death is as much a mystery as his life, to be honest. All the story says is that Callan was also killed by human hands. We don’t know how or why, but we do know that his end wasn’t any better than his brother’s or his sister’s, who were long gone by that time.” Story done, he pulled out a deck from his pocket. “Do you wanna play cards? Mum taught me to play poker when I was five.”

Amelia wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know how to play…”

“I’ll teach you!”

While Dave explained the rules, her mind wandered, and she struggled to pay attention.

Mikhail was a manticore, and he was…

As real as any other man could be.

Her belly warmed at the thought of him. God, was it possible that she was attracted to him?

He was intelligent, driven, handsome, and he was…

A beast, Amelia.

Had she lost her mind, seeing him as anything but the monster he’d shown her he was?

She stared at Dave, who was dealing the cards. He was a boy who resembled Sammy, but he was also a witcher and he could cast spells before reaching immortality .

A wave of panic went through her. Mikhail was as real as any other man, but he was not like any other man. For a short moment, she had forgotten his true self and had been charmed by his mask. His words, pleading for the salvation of his species, had deluded her. He might have presented himself as a saviour but he was still a beast, and she had no reason to trust that he would let her leave.

She swallowed hard, gazing at the boy. Not a boy – a witcher, Amelia.

That was when an idea formed in her head.