Chapter Twenty: In the Mourning
“Sara? Sara? Please. Please, live. Please, Sara.”
Leon finds he cannot relinquish his hold of her body. He can no longer hear the grounding beat of her heart, the sweet sound of her breaths, but he finds he cannot accept what he knows to be true.
He... if he can only save her, make her... but he knows not if he could even damn her to such a fate.
If even there is opportunity. But no, he will not consider such a possibility.
Tears of thick crimson cloud his vision as they cascade from his eyes, splashing upon Sara's still face. “Sara? Speak to me! Please!”
“She is dead.”
Leon’s gaze flits upward, to his dearest friend.
“Mathias. Mathias, please, you must help me. Sara, she—“
“She is dead, Leon. You cannot bring her back.” He sighs, then remarks, quietly. “As with Elisabetha.”
“She—surely, she cannot be, she must live—“
“She is dead, and she has taken this damned stone with her,” Mathias snaps, gesturing at the spiderwebs which crackle deeply into a gem he wears at his throat, before attempting to calm. “none could survive magic of such magnitude.”
“If you knew of this possibility... then why… why not warn her, Mathias?”
“Sara knew such magic bore risks,” he answers blunt, cold.
“Surely she would not have thought such risks would have ended in her... her end“
“Yet they remained necessary were we to escape this place! If she had known for certain, most like she would make the same choice herself!”
Leon pauses for a minute, his mind working for a moments.
Joachim, from his place, lounging ‘gainst a great pillar, questions, “Mathias… how exactly is it you found yourself in this castle? Surely news of that girl’s disappearance could not travel so quickly, nor that of Sara's departure.”
“You… her father sent word quite quickly, what claim you to know of such things?” Mathias asks of Joachim coldly.
“Merely an observation. I should not dare to accuse a mere human, even one who might reference the stones, the treasures of the vampires, one such thing he should know nothing of, of such deception.”
“Joachim, please, enough.” Leon chastises
Leon turns to speak to Mathias, “when Joachim and I remained locked within the prison, he… he had made mention of a man who made work with Walter and he, before he and Walter had turned upon him and betrayed him. A man he described to be foreign, raven of hair, and human. I thought such a description familiar, yet, surely... there are others to fit such a description, surely-”
“I assure you, Leon, I have never— surely you would not believe the words of one such as him?”
“Of course you haven't,” Joachim states, looking rather like a cat who had gotten the cream, “humans hardly have the intelligence for such manipulations.”
“How dare-you know nothing of my capabilities. I have managed machinations you could hardly conceive of-”
“The... the one who brought me to my prison-not Walter, another-they said his end goal was to 'watch the betrayer squirm.' What... what could that mean? In what way could i relate to any betrayer?”
“Leon, surely-”
“I had assumed it a mislead assumption, but... Lady Octavia... you mentioned...”
“Leon, we have worked along side the other for nigh on a decade. Surely you trust me over some... common vampire? One who would just as easily cast you aside?"
“What did they mean?” Leon demands, leaving no room for question.
Mathias hesitates, seeming to be left without answer.
“Even now, that Sara lay… lay dead, you find yourself more concerned of the stone around your neck than the life of my beloved. Why?”
“Leon—”
“Why?” Leon asks, leaving little room for argument.
A silence fills the room, thick and choking as the smoke of a fire.
Mathias drops his pretext, face settling into a but hardly contained rage. “Because God took Elisabetha from me.”
The room is filled with a heavy silence, as the full weight of realization blankets Leon, slowly.
“After all I have done for Him, in His name, waving His banners, slaughtering people for His glory, what is my reward? He takes from me the one I love most.”
Leon murmurs, voice colored with pity and shock alike, “Mathias…”
“Surely, Leon, you must understand. You have done no wrong in your life, and yet He took from you, before even you were old enough to recall, your parents. And now he takes from you your beloved—”
“I believe 'tis actually you, who took his beloved,” Joachim interjects wryly, and Mathias looks upon him, rage in his eyes.
“Mathias, why?"
“You must understand,” he repeats, attempting to impress this upon Leon as he pointedly continues his ignorance of Joachim. “Has He not now forsaken you as well? You, who served and followed him so loyally your entire life? You, who now find yourself a creature of the damned, denied the kingdom of heaven for reasons outside your own control?”
Leon appears conflicted, scarlet gaze flickering betwixt the two. “I… I know not, but—“
“Then surely, surely you understand, Leon. I had to do this thing. I had to turn against Him, and if that means leaving behind humanity for total damnation, then so be it!”
Leon appears appalled. “Mathias… what are you saying…?”
Joachim gives a sly smile. “Come now, Leon, surely you’ve noticed his aforementioned prized gem? It sits on his throat, bore proudly to the world.”
“I see it, yes. It appears… new, I have not seen him don such a piece before. 'Tis red as blood.”
“Or as crimson,” Joachim adds, drily, smiling lazily.
Leon takes a moment of pause, as his meaning dawns on him, understanding eclipsing his face.
“No. No, surely, that could not be—“
“The crimson stone? Of course. It was thought lost to the ages, but it was I who recreated it after it remained lost to the eras. All it requires is the soul of an ancient vampire. Walter would do perfectly—that is, he would have, had your girl not slain him, and utterly destroyed an ancient, indestructible stone besides.”
“Mathias, you… you would have left humanity behind so easily?”
“Just as such!” he states, vindictively. “By becoming a vampire, I could have obtained immortality, and completed my revenge against God! If it is by His decree that humanity shall live limited life, then I shall defy Him! And in such eternity, I should curse him forever more, so long as I live!”
Leon gives a resigned, lamenting sigh, “…you wretched fool.”
“And who are you, to make such judgements, Leon? Now that you yourself have gained life eternal?”
“This is not a fate I would have chosen for myself! I was damned not by my own hand, but by that of another, and had I the choice, I would have allowed myself to die! You… you would choose… this? Is this truly what your Elisabetha would have wanted?”
“Elisabetha… was a kind, and honorable woman. She was concerned for my own wellbeing until her end. And still, He took her. And so I shall hate Him, always. And I shall go to any extremes needed to deny Him his rules, to refuse His decrees!”
Joachim snorts. “Including, it would seem, the murder of your ‘dear friend’s betrothed.” Joachim rolls his eyes. “At least one such as I does not hide my true nature behind smoke and mirrors. Leon knows what I am. Can he say the same of you?”
“Leon, do not listen to this… drivel. This venture may have failed, but I will find another way. Join me. Together, we shall seek revenge against all He has taken from us.”
“No,” Leon answers, aghast. Then more firmly, “no. I will not. You are so driven to exact revenge that you would kill innocents? That you would allow my Sara to die, simply because 'tis... convenient to you? No. I cannot accept this. You… this is not the Mathias I know. He would not do such a thing as this. I do not know what manner of person you must be to commit such a vile act, but it appears my dear friend Mathias Cronqvist died alongside his wife."
“Take your leave of this place, and do not return, Mathias Cronqvist. I do not wish to see your face or catch scent of your blood ever again. You have become something abhorrent to me. The man I knew, I befriended, I shall remember fondly, but he was not you.”
“Leon, I—”
“I do not wish to speak any longer of this.”
Leon can feel tears, thickened tears of blood, once again crawling down his face. He hates such tears as these, as they cannot be readily hidden. But he cannot bring himself to turn away. Not knowing that this will be the last time he will ever see Mathias again.
A silence takes the room, before, Mathias huffs a breath, and Leon can smell the salt of his own tears. He turns to leave.
His footfalls begin to click out of the room, slow, before Leon hears another set of footfalls, sudden, rapid steps. And they approach loudly, quickly.
And Sara screams as she leaps onto the back of Mathias, wrapping her whip around his neck, taut.
The chains clink, as Mathias claws at the chains, at his neck, grasping desperate for air. But Sara only tightens her grip on the whip, intent on garroting him.
Sara's voice, afill with sorrow, desperation, wrath, asks of him, “you would kill me? So easily? As though I was nothing? Just simple refuse to cast aside?”
“Sara! No!” Leon cries.
Mathias answers with only more gasping for air.
“I spend months, I exert time and my every resource searching endlessly for my beloved, for your very own dearest friend, whence you had long given up on his life, whence you would have left him to die, and I manage succeed where you fail. And this is the gratitude I am presented with?”
“Sara, please! Stop!”
Mathias gags, spluttering, hardly managing to choke out “Sara—“
“No. You do not get to speak. You have spoken enough.
“If I have learned one things in my months of searching, endlessly, for a seeming fruitless endeavor all else have long since abadoned hope of, 'tis this: people must fufill their dreams with their own power. You have been consumed by the power of evil. You no longer have the strength to determine your own fate.”
“Sara, let him go, please, please, please—“
He continues to claw at his neck, desperately, nails tearing off of his fingers as he scratches fruitlessly at the chains which suffocate, and as his face turns deeper crimson, his clawing becomes less, and less, and less, till finally, his hands drop limply to his sides.
And only whence she is certain he is dead, does she relinquish her grip on the whip.
“What have you done!” Leon cries.
She appears to shake back to her own, look upon her face appearing though she is lost. “I—I—“ Sara stutters.
“Sara, what have you done!” He repeats, lost for words.
“Leon, he—he would have seen me killed—!”
“I know, Sara, by God I know. But you needn’t have killed him!”
“Does my life mean so little to you, Leon?” Sara questions, genuine is her fear.
“Of course not! You are—you are everything to me, Sara. Only… you needn’t have killed him!” Leon echoes.
He continues. “Mathias, he… he was a good man. A kind man, once. He was all I knew for a time, and he was my dearest friend! Far as he had fallen he did not deserve such a fate as that!”
“Leon, he—he would have—he—“ Sara cannot finish it, finding her breaths shuddered, tears falling of her eyes.
“You have killed one of three people in this world who truly mattered to me. I cannot… I cannot…”
Leon sighs. “Leave me, Sara.”
“But—Leon, please, I have come so far for you Leon. I searched for you. I-I love you.”
Leon lets out a shuddering breath. “And I love you, Sara Trantoul. But this… lost as he was, I cannot… I cannot forgive this.”
“Leon, please-”
“Leon,” Joachim cuts in. “The sun will soon rise.”
Leon sighs. “I see.” He turns to Sara for the final time. “Goodbye, Sara Trantoul. I have loved you, and I will, always. We will not meet again.”
And so, Leon has lost two of the most important people to him in one fell swoop.
Leon and Joachim, depart into the forest, sitting upon the ground cloaked in silence.
Joachim gives him his time, and his space, perhaps not quite understanding him, but willing to accommodate, still.
It is minutes later when he stands, hand extended to Leon, informing him “come. We must find shelter.”
And they depart, leaving the castle far behind them.
And Sara Trantoul is left alone in the castle.
She paces toward a small, grey lump, to confort her Clea, only to find her little one lay dead, sacrificing herself to save Sara. Sara must bury her, then.
And as the dawn comes, and the sun rises on the castle for the first time in centuries, Sara finds herself beginning a life anew. And she must do it alone.