Last Light, page 1
Last Light
Copyright © 2024 –A. Lawrence
This book is a work of Fiction. Any references to historic events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, places or persons (living or dead), is entirely coincidental.
All Rights Reserved –No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author
Published by: Cloaked Press, LLC
PO Box 341
Suring, WI 54174
Cloakedpress.com
Cover Design by:
Carmilla M. Ravensworth
carmillacreates.carrd.co
ASIN: B0CW1N6X79
For the librarian that gave me my first fantasy book.
Chapter 1:
The Library
Andi waited in a vampire’s library.
It was relatively small, not even a tenth of the size of the library that she worked in back at the coven hall. Dark wooden shelves lined cream walls, interspersed with heavily curtained windows.
There was something charming about it. Cozy.
And it had a crystal.
Every library she’d ever been in, which was sparingly few, had a crystal orb roughly the size of her fist floating somewhere within its halls. It glowed a soft white, surrounded by golden bands. They were always in a different formation, like an astronomer’s ring. She’d never quite figured out what it meant.
In the coven hall, it was under glass.
Here, it hovered above a table, completely open to the air. She tilted her head, trying to get a better view, but she’d never seen any of the symbols etched on the bands anywhere else, and without a cipher she had no way to break the code. She glanced at the door, but it was still firmly closed, and activated her archive.
Her magic looked like golden sand. It shimmered around the rings, but never got close, forming loose rings of its own around the slowly rotating bands. Strange planets around a small sun.
She frowned and pushed harder, leaning across the table, but some invisible force stopped her magic from even brushing against the symbols.
The door opened.
Andi squeaked and only grabbing the edge of the table stopped her from toppling to the floor. Her magic scattered across the table-top and dissipated.
Chrys stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “Am I interrupting something?”
She sighed and flopped down into the chair behind her. “Oh. It’s just you. Where’s our host?”
“She’ll be along shortly.” They sat next to her. “What were you doing?”
“Just curious about something.” Andi shrugged.
Chrysanthos was the head of the Rose Briar Coven. Andi had been studying under them since she was very young, but they looked nearly the same. Their brown skin was smooth and ageless. The only difference was their thick, dark braids were streaked with more silver than they used to be.
They had been one of the most powerful healers in recent memory.
Before magic began to fade.
In that moment, they looked tired and older than ever. “I need you on your best behavior.”
“I am absolutely on my best behavior.” Andi sat up straight, tucking a stray strand of her unruly, carrot-colored hair back under her hat. She hated wearing it, it always pulled on her bun and kept trying to slide over her eyes, but Chrys insisted it made her look professional. “I could not be better behaved if I tried.”
“Please try,” Chrys said. “We need her help.”
“You think a vampire can help break the curse?” Andi asked. “Aren’t they a symptom of it? Are we studying her? That’s been done before, you know, twenty years ago they did a very thorough investigation on an entire colony of the afflicted, I think I have the information, if I just—“
Chrys put a hand on her shoulder before she could activate her archive again and pull up the relevant information. “I know, Andi. I was there.”
“Oh. Right.” She primly folded her hands in her lap. “Of course. Then…what exactly are we doing here? And why me?”
Andi was an archive witch. Any book she read or scanned was stored in a magical archive she could access on a whim. She was one of the few witches who wasn’t affected by the fading of magic, though she hadn’t been particularly strong to begin with.
“All in good time,” Chrys said. The door opened again and Chrys turned to face it. “And here is our lovely host. Blythe, thank you for agreeing to our meeting.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice.”
The first thing Andi noticed was the cane—black, the silver handle shaped like a raven’s skull. Blythe held it in her left hand, its foot tapping softly against the carpet with each step she took.
Blythe herself was dressed in reds and blacks, contrasting her pale skin and short, white hair. Her eyes were an unsettling shade of gray, so light that if it weren’t for the red ring around her irises they would have been indistinguishable from the whites.
“You always have a choice.” Chrys stood to greet her. Andi hurried to follow their example. “I want to introduce you to someone. Blythe Camden, this is Andrea Madsen.”
“Charmed.” Blythe held out a hand. She was wearing a heavy looking silver ring with a dark stone.
“Likewise.” Andi accepted the offered hand in a short, firm shake. Blythe’s skin was cool to the touch.
“Andi is the archivist for our coven,” Chrys explained.
“I’ve already told you everything of note, but if you insist I repeat it to your assistant I suppose I can oblige.” Blythe sat down, indicating they could do the same. The crystal’s light painted her like she was carved from marble. “It’s not like I have anything better to do, being your…domesticated vampire.”
“As fascinating as I’m sure Andi would find that, it’s not why we’re here,” Chrys said. Andi did her best to keep her expression neutral, fighting the pout that threatened to purse her lips. “I bring news.”
“And you came all the way out here to deliver it? Must be juicy.” Blythe inspected the handle of her cane. “Did you leave your dog in the car in some ill-fated attempt to let the blow land softly?”
Andi bristled, but Chrys shot her a warning look before she could say anything.
“Yes, I know you and Lexa aren’t on particularly good terms,” Chrys said, smoothly.
“What a kind way to put it.” Blythe looked amused.
Lexa was Chrys’s personal guard, Andi’s best friend, and a werewolf. Before most of the packs had been wiped out, werewolves had been the best weapon against vampires, other than the sun lamps that surrounded the few remaining strongholds.
They became the only thing keeping humanity safe when darkness began to cover the sky two decades prior.
Vampires had existed before then, but with the daylight faltering, their numbers swelled until only a decade after the darkness began. It was nearly impossible to leave the cities safely.
The elder vampires were hardly a concern, locked away in their towers and haunts. Regular vampires like Blythe were dangerous, but they could be reasoned with.
The afflicted were the true threat. The vampire curse spread through bite, and if it wasn’t done properly, there was a high chance the person bitten would become one of the afflicted—so consumed by blood madness their reason was burned away.
Judging by her white hair, Blythe must have been one of the afflicted at some point in her life.
“Well, consider me mollified by your supposed show of goodwill.” Blythe leaned back, regarding Chrys down her strong, aquiline nose. It gave her otherwise soft face character. “What’s the news?”
“We’ve uncovered the library.”
Blythe glanced around her bookshelves. “Have you, now? Well. Make sure to get me a card if you ever let me leave this house, but as you can see…”
She gestured to the shelves around them with her cane.
“Not that kind of library,” Chrys said. “The library. The great tree.”
Andi stared at them. She had no idea how or why they’d kept that information from her. She was supposed to be their archivist. She held every spell that every member of the coven had ever learned. All of the names. All of the research.
“But that disappeared…centuries ago,” Andi said. “Three-hundred and ninety-seven years to be exact. What do you mean its back?”
“I mean that the great tree has once again unfurled her branches to shade us with her knowledge,” Chrys quoted a very old book. One Andi had read so many times she didn’t need her archive to recall it.
The library. A massive, hollow tree that held all of the knowledge of the world and connected to everything through its roots.
When she was younger, Andi tore through every piece of information she could find, but there had been sparingly little. When it disappeared, it took so much knowledge with it, that it had taken decades for witches to get back to where they had been. Andi was certain that there was information still out of their grasp.
“How do you lose a giant tree full of books?” Blythe asked.
“That’s the mystery, isn’t it?” Chrys smiled a bit. “But it’s reappeared. And if I’m right, it holds everything we need. Including the origin of the vampire curse. That began around the time this library disappeared. I can’t believe that it’s a coincidence.”
Andi was glad she was already sitting.
“So you think you can waltz into this big tree, find a book on vampires, and break t
“Which is why we need to beat them to it,” Chrys said. “And I don’t think we’ll find the origin in any book, but at the library’s core.”
“Not much of a library without books.” Blythe waved a hand dismissively.
“Oh, there are books, just—“
Blythe cut them off. “No. Thank you. I might not be enchanted with my life, but I’m in no hurry to end it. Anyone who goes to this tree is going to die.”
“I have to believe you’re wrong,” Chrys said. “Things are more dire than I care to admit. Our magic is fading, Blythe. The sun lamps grow weaker every day. Without the werewolves, it’s no longer just a possibility that the elder vampires will take the continent. It’s a certainty. This is our last shot.”
Andi knew things were bad outside of the coven hall, of course she did. She wasn’t blind to the dark clouds that covered the once blue sky, or that the sun lamps were pulled back a little more every year, tightening the defenses of the city.
She hadn’t known it was quite so bleak.
“Then make more werewolves.” Blythe shrugged.
Chrys sighed. “You know it’s not that easy. The art was lost a long time ago, only naturally born—“
“I don’t care,” Blythe said. “What exactly do you want me to do about your library situation?”
“I have a theory.”
“I am not staking my life on a theory,” Blythe hissed, and the room seemed darker for just a moment. Her pupils flared. They were red, like rubies, or perfect drops of blood. Chills crawled up Andi’s spine.
“It’s the only choice we have.” Chrys’s voice was cold, ice breaking on a winter morning. “Either you can help us, or you can be at Carmine’s mercy when she razes the city. It’s your choice.”
Blythe slumped back in her seat. “Fine. I suppose I can at least hear you out. What’s this theory?”
“That’s better,” Chrys leaned back, their tone thawing. “I know that there is only one way to find the information we need. And that’s why I brought Andi today. She’s an archive witch, she can access the core, and with you along, I am completely confident that she can find the curse’s origin.”
Chapter 2:
Agreement
Andi’s elbow slid off the arm of the chair. She’d known, of course, that an archive witch would be the most useful person in a library, and particularly The Library, but Chrys hadn’t even run the idea by her. “Excuse me. What?”
“Hm.” Blythe didn’t look impressed. “Seems to be news to your archivist. Let’s say I go along with your plan, as terrible as it sounds, and for a wild minute we can even pretend that you actually do break the curse. What happens to me?”
“I’m not saying that we’ll break the curse.” Chrys leaned forward. “I’m saying we’ll find the information to do so. You have my word that your safety will be paramount. And, of course, during the expedition we will take every precaution. I am preparing a team. I understand that I’m asking you to put yourself at great risk and I’m willing to compensate you.”
“Fancy way of saying you don’t know,” Blythe said. “So, if you’re just finding the information, why do you really need me? Seems to me like you’d be better off not worrying about what happens to me.”
“I’m not that cold,” Chrys said.
“Agree to disagree,” Blythe shifted her cane. “Don’t be coy, Chrys. I’m not in the mood for your little games. Not today.”
Chrys sighed. “There are concerns that there is a blood seal—“
“And there it is,” Blythe cut them off. “Let me guess. Only a vampire can get in.”
“Yes.” Chrys sighed. “I had hoped to convince you to join out of the goodness of your heart.”
Blythe put a hand to her chest and shrugged. “Still not beating. Can’t appeal to my better side if I don’t have one. I assume we’re leaving immediately?”
“Then you’ll help?” Chrys perked up.
“You—“ Blythe tapped their knee with the beak of her cane “—need to stop playing things so close to the vest. Besides, Miss Archivist hasn’t agreed.”
“It’s Andrea.” Andi knew that Blythe couldn’t have possibly forgotten her name already, but she felt like she should say it, anyway. “Of course I’ll go.”
“It will be dangerous, I won’t lie to you,” Chrys said. Blythe muttered something that suspiciously sounded like there was a first time for everything. Chrys ignored her. “The library disappeared a very long time ago, and we have very few records of what it was like on the inside.”
“Really? How convenient,” Blythe said.
“There was an invasion, the library was hidden to keep it safe.” Andi accessed her archive. While she knew most of the information, she could easily check it, golden sand moving through the air around her. “And it worked. The Empire of the Dawn retreated soon afterwards. Of course, this was shortly followed by the first known vampires, and the very beginnings of the curse—“
“And now the whole sky is black, and you think this library can solve things,” Blythe interrupted her. “Why hide a library?”
“It wasn’t the library, not exactly,” Andi explained. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it must be an incredible wealth of knowledge, particularly on magic. It’s the roots. They’re magical lines. They connect the entirety of Obrye.”
Blythe nodded. “Take the library, take the island. Whatever that’s worth, sea battered hunk of rock in the middle of an eternal night.”
Andi frowned. “While it is an island, Obrye is several hundred miles long, and before the darkness there was more magic here than anywhere else. Not to mention important agriculturally. So not just a hunk of rock, thank you very much.”
“Oh, I stand corrected.” Blythe was definitely doing her best not to laugh at her. Andi’s cheeks flushed with heat. “My apologies, Miss Archivist.”
“Andrea.”
“Miss Andrea Archivist.” Blythe was smiling too widely. “I’m well aware. I’ve been alive for quite a bit longer than you have, and I doubt you’ve ever left Rosewood.”
“I was born out in the country,” Andi murmured.
“Well, we have a world traveler here, I’m feeling better about this expedition already,” Blythe said. “Fine. It’s not like I have anything to do around here. I’ll break the seal and get you into your little library. But I get to make a few demands in turn.”
“I was counting on that,” Chrys admitted. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Blythe said. “You haven’t heard my requests.”
Chrys ignored her. “Andi, go back to the car. Warn Lexa we’ll be down soon.”
“I…” Andi actually wanted to be there for the negotiations. And she wanted to have a word with Chrys herself. She knew they didn’t tell her everything. Coven head was a position that was rife with secrecy.
But this was the biggest thing they’d ever kept from her.
She glanced at Blythe, who gave her a warning smile, fangs showing. She knew nothing she said would keep her in the room. Or make any difference at all. “Okay.”
She stood up, brushed non-existent dust from her skirt, and left the library. The house was large, but it was easy to navigate her way back to the grand entrance and through the front door.
She walked down the steps, her heels clicking on the stone.
The house loomed behind her, like it was a sentient thing that was aware it was a prison. The spires of the roof pierced towards the ever-dark sky. The only light on was the library, soft and golden. An island in a dark sea.
When they’d driven up, she’d thought it was a little ridiculous to house one person in a huge house, so far out of town. Even if it was a vampire. Leaving, it felt lonely and sad, opulent.
“Where’s Chrys?”
Andi squeaked and jumped when Lexa threw an arm around her shoulders. As usual, she hadn’t heard her approach. Lexa cackled at her pout, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “Man, you are too easy. How was the leech? Was it scary? Were you scared?”
“Oh please, I wasn’t scared.” Andi shoved Lexa’s arm off of her shoulders. “I was just thinking that it must be terrible, being alone like this.”
