Sixty-Six

I held Liz to me for a long time. She was restless, battling her demons inside her dreams. Maybe Anton went too far. The entire time he was squeezing the truth out of her, my heart clenched to see her suffering. The only thought on my mind was to get her out of there, from his grasp, but I was glad I didn’t, because at the end I realised the powerful father and daughter bond they had. Liz would have defied me word by word, and at the end I’d have nothing out of her. He knew her better than me this time, and also to what extent to push her buttons. It was strange to see them as family, but little by little I was getting used to it.
I brought her palm to my lips, gently kissing it. It was icy cold, even though I had covered her with heavy blankets. How could they be so different, and yet the same? She had that protective streak in her just like before, a big heart that would welcome every living soul she thought deserving, the loving nature that made her so special, and her independent, fierce character which put her in trouble in the past, and now gave her so much freedom.
Unfortunately, her horrible experiences in this life also hardened her, making Liz do things she shouldn’t. So much so she felt guilty when she did something improper and against her values, but she did it anyway, because her tortured self didn’t stop to analyse those feelings, since the people she trusted betrayed her. They put misery into her life, and the freedom this century allowed her altogether with the knowledge she gathered, helped her deliver her sentence onto them. They deserved to suffer as much as she did. I understood that, I’ve been there once, and only God knew the shortcomings of it.
I didn’t want her to walk the same path I did, but I didn’t listen back then. Why would she? It was amazing how the curse worked. It said it would end only when I found a troubled Liz and did right by her. I hoped this was it, because I didn’t have the mind to endure another round of it. It was too damn painful and both of us were tired. I could feel it in her soul. I was almost sure the time had come and we would break this spell. When she stopped struggling in her dreams, quieting down, I left the room.
***
“What are you? You’re not like me, not even a bit!” I spat, finding Anton by the living room with a peppermint cigar dangling in his mouth. The smell assaulted me, and it was nauseating. “Why do you smoke this crap?” I made him a face.
He glanced at me, his eyes scintillating red. “Look who’s complaining, the bloodsucker.” He gave me a smug smirk, sitting comfortably in an armchair and taking a long drag on his cigar as he puffed the smoke upward. “Let’s say I’m your guardian angel, Vlad.” His eyes fixed on mine. “If you think you are old, think twice, I’m much more.”
“If you say so, you suck at your job!” I said, grinning, and I got a hearty laugh from him.
“Those days started all wrong. We needed help, and I didn’t want to leave your side, but we were the only ones who could go to our allies. There was no one else. So I did what you asked me to, leaving a few helpers behind. If something went wrong, they’d inform me.” He sighed and puffed another round of that shit. “A day earlier from my return, I got the news the enemies were getting ready to ambush you, and I came back right away, but I got there five minutes too late, it was already done.”
“Why, after all this time, you’ve never told me, and why me? Why did you stick by my side all this time?” There was a tone of disbelief in my voice. I just couldn’t hide it.
“I’m not telling you now, believe me.” There was a resolve in him. “I remained by your side, because I took a liking to you, you gave me a purpose to fight after so long wandering around alone in this world, and you were the first loyal friend I got in ages. Besides, I had to clean up Ioan’s mess afterwards.” He stared at me, finishing with that stinky cigar.
“Likewise. I thank you for your friendship, old friend.”
“I knew my time by your side would be short, and when they mortally injured you, they cut that time shorter, and I felt guilty for failing you. But it was beyond my powers as I’m not allowed to grant eternal life to anyone. Father Ioan, as you knew him, was like me, but he got corrupted by his righteousness, and took the free will from people.”
“What?” A bark left my lips. “You’re telling me that the son of a bitch wasn’t a monk?” Man, I was fuming. They had built my entire life on charades, and I thought I was the one in charge of it!
“Not even close, my friend. When you sent me to warn Stephen, I wasn’t far from you when the sky darkened, and I knew he did it again! I turned my horse back, and I caught him leaving the place. I didn’t imagine he’d be around, and he had already condemned you. You were dead, but I knew it would be just a matter of time before you breathe again, so I took you to my place, and kept you there for a while. Before you ask, I moved you once I knew you were back, and I let you think I had the same fate as yours.”
“Where’s he now? He put me and Liz in this mess, I’m gonna rip his heart out.”
“Don’t need to. He died that same day, and believe me, nothing made me happier in this long life than to end his pitiful existence.”
We stared at each other for a long time. I didn’t know what to make with all this extra information. God had given me two brothers by blood, but they were taken from me. One by death and the other by treason. Anton was life’s way to make it up to me. He was a faithful brother, my second in command, and never once betrayed me. I found a genuine friend in him. But in all these centuries together he never let it transpire his true self, not even once. I just sat there in front of him, dumbfounded, digesting all of it. I felt deceived at the moment, but he had his reasons, and throughout the centuries, he backed me up in everything. Yeah, I’ve come a long way since fate put a puny girl in my life.
“Thank you, for your trust, old friend. It goes both ways. Now, about Liz, what are the plans? I won’t lose her again.” Anxiety corroded inside me, that I couldn’t even sit straight. I didn’t remember feeling this way, and it was annoying.
“You won’t Vlad. I think this is it. We must go back soon and find the ones who attacked me. They will lead us to the one we want. They may have their powers, but ours surpass them, even with our limitations. I think with the right plan we can take them down and get to him. Then we should worry about the asshole. We don’t know what kind of curse he carries, nor the powers granted to him.”
“I like all the surrounding progress, but I swear, sometimes I wish to chase down my enemies, and deliver my sentence on them, no questions asked.” I growled low, more to myself.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t go around chopping limbs and impaling people these days, Vlad.” Anton chuckled with mischief. “But there are other fun ways to do it, believe me.”
“Where Liz will fit in our plans, you know her better than me. She won’t sit around and let us do the job.” I smirked at him, and he gave me a funny look. Yeah, we thought pretty much alike.
“Let her think, she’s the one giving the cards.”
He had a nasty grin on his face, and once more his eyes glowed red. He was ready to get some action as I was. Anton was eager to bring the ones who attacked him to justice. No, we didn’t want revenge this time. The major goal was to break this loop. We’ve had enough already, and we needed some peace. We deserved it, all of us.
“She’ll roast and eat us up if she catches us. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’m sure about that.” He chuckled, finishing with his cigar. “However, beneath all that carapace, my Alex believes in giving people a second chance, just like your Liz did back then. Life hurt her so bad this time, that anger was the only way she found to deal with and not go mad with her pain.”
“Talking about that, how did I sleep for over a hundred years, that never happened, and why didn’t you wake me up?”
“The answer to your first question is, I don’t know. Second, I couldn’t find you, I knew you were alive and at close range, but every time I tried to pinpoint your location something would throw me off radar.” Anton stood up and got a can of beer from the small fridge in the room, opening and gulping the entire content at once. “Always that dark energy lurking around, and it drove me nuts! Knowing who’s behind it all, my guess, cloaking is one of his gifts.” He smashed the can, throwing in the trash.
“Well, Anton, at least we’ll have our questions answered this time, won’t we? I just can’t figure out how he is alive.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I raised my eyebrows to my hairline in a mocking fit. He turned to me, laughing.
“Mister Lucard Udar? My guess is Ioan did to him what he did to you.” Then he glanced at me with a derisive face. “Couldn’t he come up with something more creative?”
“Who, Radu? Nah, he wasn’t the creative one!”