The Darness Beyond

Hannah heard the voices as though through a mist. She wasn't sure where she was or what had happened at first, but as she listened to them talk, she slowly remembered.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm insane, but what does it matter? I am truly immortal now. And you... you'll die anyway."

"Crazy bitch."

"I was honest with you, Cian. You could have had a few more days, had you given her up. I don't quite understand why you brought her along, to be honest, but it suits me just fine. That way, I won't have to look for her later."

Hannah blinked, trying to move her body and realizing that she couldn't. Her limbs felt as though frozen in place, no matter how hard she tried to get them back under her control. When the mist around her finally lifted, she spotted Cian.

He was pinned to the wall, several feet above the floor, naked and spread-eagled. There was a small puddle of blood below him, and more was dripping down from the cuts across his chest. Lizanne, standing several feet away from him, made a brutal slashing motion with one of her arms, and another deep cut appeared on Cian's skin. He screamed, his muscles tensing as he processed the pain. The torture sent tremors through his entire body.

"You'll have to heal eventually." Lizanne sounded calm, almost amused. Hannah had barely recognized the woman. She had been so much older only several days ago, and now...

"I must confess I'm nothing short of surprised, Cian, that you would kill yourself to save the girl."

These words finally jerked Hannah awake. She wasn't sure what Lizanne meant, but it was clear to her that Cian wasn't healing himself. He was allowing himself to die, to bleed out eventually.

"Fuck... you."

Cian was speaking through clenched teeth. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, mingling with the blood below. His anguish was clearly visible on his face, making Hannah want nothing more than to free herself from her invisible bonds, to run up to Lizanne and make her stop.

"You should have listened when I said it was too late to kill me."

Lizanne had turned, she was speaking to Hannah now. Hannah stared as the woman advanced towards her, casually slashing Cian again. She looked even taller now, and much more threatening.

"Will you tell me then, what happened in the Lost City?"

It wasn't necessary for Hannah to hear Cian gasping "Don't!" before shaking her head. She knew they would die either way, and she would not give up those secrets. She would not tell Lizanne about what was between them, and she certainly wouldn't tell her that Noor was alive.

"It's almost a pity.

Almost

." Lizanne turned and walked towards Cian, stretching out her hand for him. He slid down the wall until his feet almost touched the floor.

Lizanne reached into the pocket of her robe. When she withdrew her hand, Hannah needed several seconds before she realized that the woman was now holding a syringe, her other hand stroking Cian's cheek.

"Just a small dose, Cian. Just enough to weaken your will."

The needle went into his neck seconds later. Cian gasped in anguish, jerking away from the syringe and Lizanne's hand as far as he could, but without success. His eyes met Hannah's, and she tried and failed to read his expression.

Lizanne rubbed swiftly over the wounds, breaking the clotted blood apart to let fresh, red drops pour over her hand. Hannah bit her lip, unable to look away from him.

"Please heal," she whispered, tears in her eyes.

"She is telling you herself, Cian." Lizanne slapped him. "Heal yourself."

"No!"

Cian screamed once more, but he finally seemed to have lost the fight. His wounds started to close rapidly, the skin knitting itself together at a fast pace, and soon the only evidence of his torture was the blood left on his chest and beneath him. The next second though, Lizanne had slashed his skin open again. This time though, the wound healed right away. Cian was simply hanging there now, his head falling forward limply.

It went on for a long time. Hannah wished fervently that she was able to cover her ears, the small sounds of the flesh being torn were getting too much for her. She had averted her face some time ago, glad she still had control of this particular part of her body.

Lizanne had become too powerful. There was no way they would be able to get out of this place alive. She had realized this as soon as she had seen the woman heal a wound that should have been fatal. She had aimed carefully, she knew she hadn't missed the vampire woman's heart.

A small ringing sound entering her ears made her turn her head again. Cian was covered in cuts and blood, his eyes bloodshot and unfocused. He wasn't the source of the noise, and neither was Lizanne, who continued to cut him over and over again. Finally, a warm glow brought Hannah's attention to the glass pyramid, still spinning in the middle of the room. Its center had turned a distinct shade of orange.

"Aurai must be dead. I sent Coran to find her, and he was successful, as usual."

Lizanne turned, smiling at Hannah as she stretched out her hand. The orange glow passed through the glass of the pyramid almost instantaneously, collecting in Lizanne's hand instead. Hannah stared as the woman absorbed the essence. Her hair was now a spotless chestnut color, without any trace of gray. She seemed even younger now, almost Hannah's age, and her movement as she turned back towards Cian was graceful. The vampire had healed his wounds once more, but the act seemed to have taken the last of his strength.

"Hungry, aren't you?" Lizanne asked, caressing his cheek, and Hannah realized what the woman was about to do, just before Cian's invisible bonds were released and he fell helplessly to the floor.

"No!" she screamed, just as Cian caught sight of her. His eyes were clouded, he didn't appear to recognize her. Yet he stumbled towards her, his hunger overshadowing what remained of his sanity.

Suddenly, her arms and legs were back under her control, and Hannah ran. She heard Lizane's laughter as she crossed the room, but just before she had reached the stairs, Cian cut her off. He grabbed her shoulders, bruising them as he pulled her close, but Hannah managed to wrench herself from his grip. He was weak, and he seemed surprised by her resistance, which was her only advantage.

Hannah saw Lizanne as she turned and crossed the room again in a sprint. The woman was using them for entertainment, likely wondering how long Hannah would survive before Cian finally caught her.

She stumbled close to the pyramid in the middle of the room. Cian had caught her legs, wrapped himself around them, and now he moved on top of her swiftly, pinning her down with his weight. Hannah screamed once more, kicking and clawing at him, trying to find something but hunger in his eyes.

Cian slapped her, and in the short moment she was disoriented, he tilted her head forcefully and lowered his mouth.

The bite hurt more than anything she had even endured, much more than the two times she had been bitten before. Cian was sucking her blood savagely, completely unconcerned with her. During her desperate attempts to fight off the mauling vampire above her, Hannah noticed the glass pyramid starting to glow again, just as her ears started to ring.

But something was different about it. Hannah froze when she noticed the difference in color, letting Cian drink undisturbed for a moment. The glow wasn't the bright, lively orange the other essence had been. This one was muddy, a sickly sort of greenish-brown that made Hannah dizzy when she looked at it.

Lizanne had heard the noise as well, she stretched out her hand for the essence without taking her eyes off the two of them, watching Cian's feeding with unveiled joy.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the essence reached Lizanne. As she absorbed the new power, the woman's face froze. Too late she realized that something was wrong, that this essence was corrupted.

Time stood still. Hannah was frozen, unable to breathe or do anything but witness the destruction of the woman in front of her. Cian above her had stilled as well.

Lizanne's eyes took the same sickly color the essence had been. She fell to her knees, gasping as the corruption spread further. Her face started to wrinkle again, her hair turned gray rapidly before falling out. As the long strands fell to the floor, Lizanne started to choke.

Hannah was glad that time had stopped, otherwise her body would have revolted most unpleasantly as she witnessed the woman in front of her decay at an alarming rate. Lizanne's skin around her throat and mouth turned dark and vanished, her eyes bulging as she raised her hands in front of them. Down to the second knuckle, there was no skin or muscle left, only blank bones.

Hannah was thankful when the woman fell over. What was left of her body exploded into tiny particles of dust when she hit the floor, and suddenly, Hannah could move again. Cian collapsed on top of her in the same moment.

It cost what was left of her strength to push him off her. He rolled over, blinking up at her as though he was sleepy. Then his eyes wandered to the pile of dust on the floor. All that remained there was Hannah's gun, and a small silver knife that Hannah recognized from her dreams.

"What happened?"

Cian was so hoarse Hannah could hardly hear him. At least, she noticed with relief, his mind seemed to have cleared.

"Noor," she whispered. "I think... I think she killed herself."

Cian nodded blankly. "It was the only way. She must have known that."

Hannah stared at the floor as the reality of the woman's sacrifice began to sink in. "Her essence... it was corrupted by the Lost City, wasn't it, along with the rest of her? It killed Lizanne when she tried to absorb it."

She looked back at the vampire. Cian was nodding mechanically, not looking directly at her, but rather at her shoulder. His eyes were wide.

"What?" she asked uncomfortably, just when he reached out and touched the side of her neck. When he withdrew his hand, it was covered in dark blood. There was a red puddle on the floor beside her, and her clothes were soaked in her own blood as well.

"You should be dead."

Hannah's stomach lurched when she touched the wounds herself, feeling torn skin, open flesh and muscle. Cian had mauled her in his thirst, ripping open the entire side of her throat. Even so, she couldn't help but wonder numbly why it didn't hurt any more.

She gasped when the glass pyramid next to them began to glow once more. Then the intensity of the glow doubled, tripled. Hannah covered her eyes when the glow became too intense for them, yet she could see the painful light even through closed eyelids. The essences Lizanne had absorbed had been released again, and now they were all collecting in the pyramid trap.

A shot rang out, and the light faded just as Cian pressed Hannah down to the floor. They were showered in tiny glass splinters that penetrated Hannah's exposed skin and sliced her open even more. Still, there was no pain.

Cian finally moved off her, and she was able to raise her head. He had shot the glass pyramid, causing it to explode and release the essences it had once again captured. Just as she wondered where they were now, or whether they had been destroyed, she saw them.

Cian gasped as well when the first one came into view, an incorporeal, misty form. Hannah recognized the man from her dream, the one Cian had called K'meer. He was glowing faintly orange as he looked down upon them.

"At least one of us lives." He sounded tired, but smiled at the looks on their faces.

"Alanes is something, isn't it? Bringing the dead back to life... though only for a second. Stopping time, too, when Lizanne died."

"Lizanne stopped time?" Cian looked peeved at not understanding the other vampire. K'meer only nodded.

'Who knows what disturbances she caused in the non-dimension with the power she had. This seems to be a side-effect." He nodded at Hannah.

"She won't bleed or feel pain while she's left here, since time won't pass for either of you."

"She'll bleed out though, as soon as you bring her back to earth."

Hannah recognized Meraja, the red-haired woman, as the other speaker. She had appeared next to K'meer, along with Satne. The crazy woman didn't say anything though, she only glowered. Meraja, however, seemed delighted with Hannah's impending death.

"Maybe she'll live," K'meer commented as his misty form faded from view.

"No, she won't," Meraja said, pressing her lips together. "And you should be glad to be rid of her, Cian. Those feeling you have for each other will never go away, however artificial they may be. She makes you weak. It's disgusting to watch, you know."

"You shut up," Hannah growled at her through clenched teeth, watching as Cian cringed under the woman's words. Meraja shrugged, and faded from view just as Adrian appeared.

It was as though a switch had been flipped. Cian's face lost all vulnerability, and his body lurched forward as he threw himself at Adrian's form. He couldn't touch the ghostly form, but Adrian, sensing that he wasn't welcome, vanished again.

Hannah expected Aurai to appear next, but the space around them stayed empty for a minute or so. As soon as Hannah opened her mouth to say something though, another misty cloud formed a person before them, and the ugly green glow left no doubt about its identity.

"Well done," Noor commented, giving them a grimacing smile. Next to Hannah, Cian frowned once more, apparently unhappy with her words.

"We didn't really do anything," he commented. "Lizanne would have killed the both of us, if not for you."

"But you distracted her." Noor's eyes were glowing an intense green; Hannah suspected that this meant she was happy. "Had she noticed my essence, had she not been so distracted and greedy, it wouldn't have worked."

Cian nodded weakly, and Noor turned towards Hannah, inspecting her wounds.

"The fire-haired one was right," she told them, sighing. "She will die, should you bring her back to earth in this condition. And time in Alanes will not remain stopped forever either. But there may be a way to save her nonetheless."

She turned, fixating Cian with her gaze.

"She hasn't enough strength left to heal. You stole it from her, you drank her blood to strengthen yourself," she said. "Your blood will do the same for her. Just a little, just enough for both of you to survive until her wounds are taken care of."

There was silence as she faded from view. For a few seconds, both of them simply stared at the spot where Noor had stood. Then, Cian stood abruptly and walked towards where Lizanne had died.

"Cian, don't..." Hannah protested weakly, but he had already taken the small silver knife and sliced open his wrist.

"Drink," he commanded as he pressed the wound to her mouth. He had to squeeze the blood out of it by force, because just like in her own wound, it would not flow on its own. When she hesitated, he swore.

"I'm not letting you die, damn it, and you know that. I don't want to spend the next few centuries pining over you."

He tilted her head back, forcing the blood into her mouth. Hannah could barely bring herself to swallow. She coughed when the blood ran down her throat, burning her insides. Cian's blood wasn't like that of an ordinary human. There was raw power contained within it, power that now spread through her body. She felt the wound on her neck tingle, requesting to be healed. This time, the act did not happen automatically. With time stopped, everything needed to be forced. Her head hurt as she concentrated on knitting the torn flesh together again, not fully, but to a point where it would not instantly kill her upon her return to earth.

Cian pulled his wrist away with a small groan. His wound did not close, either.

"This is as much as I can give you without..." He broke off his sentence, but Hannah understood. He wouldn't risk losing himself to his hunger again.

She was in the process of standing up when a wave of dizziness hit her. Everything turned black, and Cian caught her just as she slumped. She was shaking with weakness; the healing had taken her last strength.

"Take me home," she asked Cian timidly.

"I will," the vampire answered. She trusted him, and she closed her eyes in relief as he carried her down the stairs.