This car that Rowan found herself seated in appeared to be the same one
she had ridden in with Kiyor and his cousins. She sat between Kiyor and
Manar on one side while Scythe and Zareen faced them on the other side.
Once the car started moving, Manira let out a breath
and slouched, staring at the window. “Where are we going?”
She did not sound particularly interested.
“The Intelli Institute,” answered Zareen. The bodyguard simply grunted.
“Intelli?” asked Kiyor. “Isn’t that one of ours?”
Rowan gave him a confused look. “It is in the Vilkon Territory and it’s the only Mental Institute in Dark Vangelion.”
Scythe raised an eyebrow at his son. “How is it she knows more than you?”
Kiyor’s eyes showed his lack of interest at this. “Family History bored me, you know that.”
The father chuckled. “But there are so many
fascinating things to learn.” His face became one of stone once
more. “It was set up almost 2 centuries ago under the patronage
of Lady Lorelei Vilkon. She wasn’t a humanitarian at all, she
simply supported it because Cairn Blethwell made a very good argument
for it when he was given the chance to propose.”
“That name I know well,” said Rowan.
“He was proud of his work. Did the institute charge rates by
patient income even at its foundation?”
“Yes,” answered Scythe. “But the
Vilkon family was not the highest in the society hierarchy, so they
weren’t charged so much as now.”
The party of five entered the foyer. The ground was
well lit. Light bulbs shone brightly on stone-grey candlesticks, shaped
to almost resemble headless demons with several limbs. There were six
of these candlesticks, placed at the same distance apart from each
other on the room’s circumference. So this foyer was clearly
round and had a carpet of scarlet red. To their left were two doors. In
front, two sets of stairs leading upward and an open doorway between
them, which led to a corridor. The stairs followed the curve of the
wall and the two sets faced away from each other. To their right was a
desk, with an empty chair behind it. On their left of the desk were
three filled bookcases, with a closed door at the end and relatively
near to a set of stairs.
If someone went up the stairs, their body would
appear to pass through the overhead balcony, before emerging on the
next floor. There were no candlesticks here, the light bulbs were fixed
to the walls. As on the ground floor, two sets of stairs faced away
from each other and led upward, with an open doorway in the middle. The
vacant walls wore uniform rows of closed doors, placed a small distance
apart from each other. This design was copied on the four other storeys
above. The ceiling high above them was shrouded in darkness.
They did not have long to wait to see someone. Once
they stopped walking they heard a shout. The sound was muffled. A door
to the left burst open and a woman stumbled out screaming. Scrambling
on the carpeted floor, she desperately tried to tear open her navy
slip-on shirt, which matched her uniform trousers. She wore nothing
else, not even make-up.
Two men hurried out immediately after her. They
pressed the wriggling patient to the floor. One pressed her arms on her
back, while the other held her legs. Once her arms were secure, both
shifted, allowing one to press his lower leg onto the backs of her
knees.
In the meantime, she kept shouting.
“DON’T LET GO! Get these off! I have to release! STRIP ME!
WHIP ME!”
One of the men no longer had to hold her down. He
pressed a hand against her forehead, saying quietly a spell word. The
charm necklace he wore glowed a soft blue and she fainted in his grasp.
The door she had burst through closed. A woman, who seemed slightly
younger than Scythe, had closed the door and walked calmly around the
patient.
“Take her back,” she softly ordered.
The two men, who wore the identical uniform of
sleeveless purple slip-on shirt, black leather trousers and a charm
necklace, lifted the patient carefully and walked to the stairs. The
calm woman had noticed the visitors and approached them. Her auburn
hair was in a bun and the only apparent clothing was her red robe, the
front of which was adorned with various spell icons.
“Lord Vilkon,” she addressed softly. “This visit is unexpected.”
Scythe inclined his head. “Madam Director.”
“What was wrong with the patient?” asked Kiyor.
She faced the young man. “She was sexually
abused during her later childhood and was often beaten during the act.
As a result she now believes she needs pain to feel pleasure, in the
extreme sense.” She slowly walked round them and to her desk.
“She has been here for more than five years with no sign of
improvement. I’m going to have to contact her family and
recommend she be put down. Now what brings you here?”
“We came to see Tanus,” ordered Scythe
with his stern voice. “We want information regarding his aid to
the Twilight Coven.”
The director looked at him wearily. “He came
here so that he could hide, or at the very least not be seen without
permission. I can ask but I cannot guarantee he will see you.”
From her desk she picked up a small glass ball coloured with a pinkish
hue. “Tanus.” Mist appeared inside the ball. “Lord
Scythe Vilkon here to see you. There are five visitors. They want to
know about your meeting with the Twilight Coven.” … She
frowned in confusion. “He has given you welcome.” The mist
disappeared and the ball was placed on the desk once more. “If
you will follow me.”
These stairs went downwards, leading underground.
There was little light here. Manar descended slowly, followed by the
other four. At the bottom was a dark chamber; things cluttered the
floor. Something glowed green around the corner. Manar followed the
light.
The little corridor opened into a bigger chamber.
There were little lamps here and there, glowing soft blue and green. In
one corner was a large tank of some piranha fish. There were
bookshelves, tables, books, displayed fossils, notes and a stiff,
rounded figure wearing a hooded cloak.
“Tanus?” enquired Manar strictly.
“Yes!” he snapped, hunching down as he did so.
Rowan stepped forward. “We were wondering why you helped the Twilight Coven-”
“They forced me!” he snapped.
“Before leaving the Sorcerer’s Guild I had done some
research concerning spells and rituals that gained a person power over
another. The Twilight Coven found out about this and told me they would
kill my daughter if I didn’t help them develop the ritual for the
ultimate power: enshadowing this city eternally at night and having the
loyalty of every creature, including the Vampires. 10 years ago, they
experimented with my proposed primary testing and took the life of a
powerful Light Kingdom Priestess: Larass or something.
“Then they left and took the life force of my
daughter as well!” He seemed grief-stricken. “I have also
been punished for my part in the ritual development.” He turned
around then. He had the hard, sickly green skin of a Demon. His
shoulder-length hair was rather stringy and his teeth were pointed. His
eyes were still humanly blue. “A non-believer of the rule of 3
would think I merely suffered a spell-gone-wrong. But I know. And I
deserve this.”
Zareen was quite openly curious. “What were you doing?”
Tanus smiled widely. “I was testing the
evolution of one of my piranhas. As you can see it didn’t work.
I’m not a run-of-the-mill Sorcerer you know: I’m a Scholar
and I am investigating our evolution. You see, everyone agrees with the
theory, there is plenty of proof, but no one can work out the link to
the animal world when it comes to our set of humanoid species.”
He smiled with pride. “But I have made progress. I have
discovered, that the Vampires formed first; of course they were not as
powerful as the ones today, or as long living. But they evolved from an
advanced form of Vampire Bat, so they started out quite small and
seemed to grow with their age. They also had to develop their
sight.”
“Are you investigating the Elves as well?” asked Kiyor.
“Elves?” Tanus spat. “Who cares
about them? They’re vermin!” The young man rolled his eyes
at the Dark Citizen prejudice. His eyes slid from Kiyor to Rowan.
“I take it you two were the pair they were about to sacrifice.
Good thing you weren’t.” He gave them a suspicious look.
“I trust that the Twilight Coven met their punishment?”
“They were eaten alive by Demons,” murmured the voice of Scythe.
Tanus grinned a sickly grin and put his hands together. “Splendid!” He then looked worried.
“Was it only members of the Twilight Coven you worked for?” asked Manar logically.
He thought about this. “No…about twice
there was a very rich man, very likely a lord. I remember him saying
that to keep people quiet he could always throw them
in…here.” … “Have you taken the proper
precautions?”
The youth seemed confused by that. “What do you mean?” asked Rowan.
The scholar explained. “Well, whenever it is
people who are the main tools of a ritual, they are properly prepared
to…perform it. This ritual was interrupted, so the preparation
used on you is still there, waiting to unleash its spells and power. I
had unfortunately deduced that a couple had to mate and be killed in
order for the ritual to work…If you two mate again, the spell
might take place and then everyone will be on a mad hunt for you, the
first ones to kill you two will be in possession of a great
power.”
A shocked silence followed. Scythe and Manar gently led Zareen and Rowan out. Kiyor dumbly followed.
“Thank you for the information Tanus,” said Scythe.