Ivy League Illusion, Part 15
Friends or Enemies?
Need an earlier part?
When I regained consciousness, Adreanna was bending over me with a look of concern on her face.
“What…what happened?” I asked. My voice’s hoarseness surprised me. How much had I screamed before I passed out?
“We learned that it’s not safe to tamper with the spell suppressing your memories,” said Agnar. “My attempt to lift it caused enough pain to make you pass out.”
“We’ll have to wait until we are back home,” said DL. “The first step in getting out of these tunnels.”
“I wish I could help,” I said. “But Nidhoggson was in control while I was running through the tunnels. I don’t know how to get back to the entrance. Even if I did, it would probably be guarded.”
“We must do something, though,” said Agnar. “The magic of this place presses on me with increasing force.”
I hadn’t noticed it before, but his sunlight was paler and covered a smaller area.
“It’s a miracle we haven’t encountered worse,” said Yong-Gam. “We should have been attacked again by now.”
“They weren’t expecting any of you,” I said. “And they want to capture me alive. They’re probably trying to work out how best to attack without risking me. There also seems to be a rift between the dark elves and Fjalar.”
“Save your voice,” said Etkaterina. By now, it had faded to little more than a whisper. “Now that they know we’re down here, they’ll have an easy time tracking us. That means they’ll know exactly where to attack when they’re ready.”
“Concealment is something that I’m particularly good at,” said Adreanna.
“Nor I,” said Agnar.
“Max, sorry, but I need you to use your voice a little more,” said Adreanna. “Can you still do a seidr trance? You might be able to help us find another exit.”
“Since I don’t know what a seidr trance is, probably not. But I did notice when I was above ground that the building layouts roughly match the illusion of Harvard that they had me trapped in.”
“How does that help?” asked Yong-Gam.
“Because there’s a tunnel system under Harvard—or at least, there was in the illusionary version. I’ve been in it, which means I have some knowledge of the exits. If they, like the aboveground buildings, match the illusion, I might be able to find us a way out.”
I closed my eyes and tried to recall what how I’d gotten in and out of the tunnels. Those memories already felt insubstantial, like a dream a short time after one has awakened from it.
“I stripped away the illusion while I standing on the south side of Memorial Hall,” I said slowly as I pulled the memories back to me. “From there, I moved south and a little bit east. That would mean the tunnel entrance I used was the equivalent to the Adams Hall one, though it wasn’t inside a building.”
“That one will be guarded,” said Yong-Gam. “What’s the next closest one?”
“I don’t know,” I said, opening my eyes. “I don’t know how far Nidhoggson ran me or in what direction. I wasn’t paying attention to that part.”
“Where is the closest entrance to the Adams one?” asked Adreanna.
“The only other one I know if is in Eliot Hall, far to the north west from the Adams one. But since we don’t know where we are, what good does that do us?”
“I can do a seidr trance myself, though I’m not quite as good at it as you are,” she replied. “Among other things, It’s a way of letting my mind explore without being encumbered by my body. First, I’ll pinpoint where the closest exit is. Then, I’ll move north west from there until I find the other exit. It should take me no more than a few minutes.”
I tried to get up and got dizzy again. DL grabbed me before I could fall, but I realized I wasn’t going to be much use to anyone for a little while longer.
“Rest,” said Adreanna. “Everybody else, guard my body.” She lay down and closed her eyes. I don’t know how, but I could feel her mind leave her body. The shell she left behind seemed frighteningly corpselike.
“Don’t worry,” said DL. “She’s practiced this a lot. Now, let’s get you down.”
I wanted to protest, but there wasn’t really much point in arguing, so I sat down and contemplated my general uselessness while Adreanna’s mind wandered. The idea of separating the mind from the body felt dangerous to me, but I had no other suggestion to offer.
I noticed Ekaterina was staring at me again. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Max, did a vampire ever bite you?”
I remembered looking in the mirror and seeing bite marks on my neck. I shuddered when I also remembered that a vampire had attacked me and tried to make me forget the first time I saw through the illusion.
I relayed that information to Ekaterina, wondering why she was asking.
“Does this mean…that I’m going to become a vampire?”
Ekaterina quickly shook her head. “Being turned involves drinking vampire blood and then being drained of your own, so that your mortal part dies. What you’ve described isn’t enough to change you. But drinking your blood does create a bond through which vampires can track you and potentially communicate with you, even give you orders.”
“I’m not getting any communication,” I said, worrying I might have been ordered to forget it.
“Doubtless, you are strong enough to resist compulsion,” said Yong-Gam, though I didn’t feel that strong at the moment.
“But you are tied into their network,” said Ekaterina. “That means we might be able to pick up some of their own communications. Vampires aren’t telepathic, but they can communicate mentally with each other and their victims through bonds of blood. They may have tried and failed with Max—but they have no way to break his connection to them until the bond wears off.”
Ekaterina pulled back my shirt collar and looked at the fading bite marks on my neck. Then she gently pressed her hand against them.
Suddenly, I could hear distant voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Still your mind,” said Ekaterina. “We don’t want them to be able to hear us.”
Instead of trying to parse what the voices were saying, I did the best I could to clear my mind. The voices faded away, leaving me with only silence.
After a while, Ekaterina withdrew her hand. “I can’t get enough this way. Max, I’m going to need a little of your blood.”
“What?” I tried hard not to sound as frightened as I was. “I though you weren’t a vampire anymore.”
“I’m not,” she said. “But I did mention I retained a lot of vampiric abilities. I can make use of a blood bond, but trying to do that through your bond is too indirect, even though you and I are linked in other ways. I only need a little to blood-bond with you—and hence with your vampire captors. Yong-Gam can prick your finger to get me the drop I need.”
I could hardly refuse a pin prick, though my hand shook as I extended it. Young-Gam, precise as a surgeon, used his katana to prick my finger, after which Ekaterina sucked the blood away. Suddenly, the situation felt disturbingly erotic, and my heart rate quickened. No wonder vampires could sometimes find willing donors.
“Ah, that’s better,” said Ekaterina. Her eyes glowed for a fraction of a second, though not with the redness of a true vampire. The glow was only faintly bloody, more like pure white light with the slightest hint of red.
“Remember not to give yourself away,” said DL. “Listen only.”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve done this,” said Ekaterina, giving him a smile. “I won’t give myself away.”
She closed her eyes, presumably focusing herself entirely on listening. As she opened her eyes, she smiled again.
“Max wasn’t wrong about discord among his captors. A lot of the vampires seem convinced that the dark elves and Fjalar are just using them as cannon fodder. Their refusal to come down here unless our ability to generate sunlight can be neutralized hasn’t pleased their supposed allies.”
“Anything about their plans?” asked DL.
“They’re no longer privy to the discussions among the dark elves. But there are a couple of them coming down to negotiate with Max.”
“What?” asked DL, looking around as if a pair of vampires might attack us at any moment. “Why would they do such a thing?”
“I gather Max knows them from his time in the Harvard illusion. They came in through the other tunnel entrance Max has described to us. I’m not sure what their purpose is, but I can confirm they’re nearby. I can smell them coming.”
Adreanna came out of her trance and stood up as rapidly as she could. “I found the exit, but vampires are on the way!”
“We know, but they may be…peacefully inclined,” said Ekaterina. “Agnar, dim your light. You can always brighten again if they should prove to be up to no good. Adreanna, protect us with your love magic.”
“I can only dim down so far,” said Agnar. “Otherwise, the darkness will render me helpless.”
“Do what you can. We need to let the vampires approach, but they only need to be close enough to talk.”
Yong-Gam looked at DL for instructions.
“Ekaterina has good instincts,” said DL. “We shall do as she suggests.”
It was harder to see once Agnar had dimmed his light, but I did notice a white flag moving slowly in our direction.
“We come in peace!” one of the vampires shouted.
“Carlos?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s me. Susan is here with me.”
“Approach slowly,” said DL. “If we see anything we don’t like, we won’t hesitate to fry you.”
“Understood,” said Carlos.
Adreanna’s amber light brightened, I suspected partly as a way of filtering Agnar’s sunlight so that the vampires could move a little closer without bursting into flames.
Carlos looked very much as he had in the illusion. His skin was dark rather than vampire-pale, and his eyes weren’t glowing red. It made sense that vampires would be able to appear as normal humans if they made the effort. Otherwise, how else could they prey on us? Still, having seen Carlos in a more obviously vampiric form, I didn’t feel any residual friendliness. Nor did his tentative, fangless smile warm my heart. He was one of my captors, nothing more.
I didn’t feel any warmer toward Susan, my fake girlfriend. She looked as human as Carlos, though she remained pale, not tan as she had been in the illusion. Nor did her blonde hair look sun-bleached—which, of course, it couldn’t be. She was pretty and had a shapely figure, but neither stirred me at all now. After all, she was just a reanimated corpse. I had my faults—but necrophilia wasn’t one of them.
She also gave me a tentative smile—which I didn’t return. If anything, I wanted to fry them without even hearing what they had to say.
“If you have something to say, spit it out,” said DL, his normal, laid-back manner gone.
“Look, Max—” began Carlos.
“Don’t address yourself to him!” said Adreanna with surprising vehemence. “Speak to all of us.”
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” said Carlos, his eyes on Agnar’s glow, still visible even through Adreanna’s filtering. “I never intended any harm to Max.”
“You were one of my captors for weeks,” I said, still hoarse. “What part of that experience did you think wasn’t harming me? You must have known all along that your allies would kill me if they didn’t get what they wanted—and if they did.”
Carlos looked down at the ground as if he could no longer look at me. “I…I wasn’t sure what would happen. I’m not one of the leaders. Neither is Susan. We were both turned right before you were captured—picked because we had best-friend or girlfriend potential. We had no part in planning any of this.”
“You would kill us if you could—and you wouldn’t hesitate,” said Agnar, brightening his sunlight just a little.”
“We’re here under a flag of truce,” said Susan.
“Our colleague isn’t going to burn you—unless you break the truce yourself,” said DL. “That was just a reminder. Now, what do you want?”
“We want to show you the way out,” said Carlos.
“And what do you want in exchange?” asked Ekaterina.
“We want to go with you,” said Susan.
I did not see that coming. Nor, judging by their incredulous expressions, did any of my friends.
“Why would you want to go with us?” asked DL.
“Because we’ll be killed for letting you go,” replied Susan.
“We aren’t unleashing more vampires on the world,” said Adreanna, her voice hard as the stone that surrounded us.
“You don’t understand,” said Carlos. Looking at Ekaterina, he added, “But you might.”
“What do you mean?” asked Ekaterina, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“We know about you,” said Carlos. “We were briefed on allies of Max who might show up at some point—thought I didn’t get the impression that the leaders expected any of you to find this place, at least not as fast as you did. Anyway, we know you somehow avoided becoming evil as part of becoming a vampire.”
“She’s the only one who ever did that,” said DL.
“That you know of,” replied Carlos. “Susan and I were both decent people who got turned against our will. What makes you think we couldn’t retain some shred of goodness?”
“Why you?” I asked. “Why did the vampire leaders think you were good fits as best friend and girlfriend?”
Clearly, that wasn’t one of the questions we needed to be asking right now. But my curiosity was gnawing on me. Why bother turning specific people when most of my environment was going to be an illusion, anyway?
Carlos glanced at me, pain showing in his eyes. “Max, you know us.”
“From before my abduction, you mean? You know your friends took my memory, right?”
Carlos looked surprised, as if he hadn’t remembered how much my mind had been manipulated. He was either an incredibly clueless vampire—or a excellent actor. We had to figure out which.
“You, Susan, and I all went to the same high school,” he said. “You don’t remember us, of course—but you were supposed to see something familiar about us. That would make you more likely to trust us. At least, that was the theory. Obviously, that part didn’t work out.”
“Have you ever killed?” asked DL.
Carlos looked down at the ground again. “The first time I fed. I didn’t mean to, but I did.”
“As did I,” said Susan, who was doing a good imitation of guilt. Or was she being genuine?
“But you’ve been here for weeks,” said Ekaterina. “You must have fed often after the first time.”
“We did,” said Carlos. “But once we had proven our willingness to kill, the leaders let us feed as we chose. There’s a fixed portal back to Earth—the one we’re going to show you. Susan and I are both decent looking. Between that and having vampiric compulsion, it wasn’t hard to do some controlled feeding—enough to diminish the intensity of the thirst for blood without taking too much and killing someone.”
“That is how I fed,” said Ekaterina slowly. “For centuries.”
“But that doesn’t mean they’re like you,” said DL. “By their own admission, they’ve been briefed on you. Who’s to say they aren’t feeding you what you want to hear?”
“Is there any way to judge the truth of their words?” asked Yong-Gam.
“With living people, I can usually tell from the heartbeat,” said Ekaterina. “But of course, vampire hearts don’t beat.”
“Since I can penetrate the illusion, maybe I can tell,” I said, starting to sketch Kenaz in the air.
“That’s not really the same thing,” said Adreanna, though she didn’t try to stop me.
The rune blazed to life, bathing the two vampires in the light from the fire of truth. Though they winced at the brightness, it couldn’t hurt them the way that sunlight could.
“Are they telling the truth?”
The flames reached out toward them, and they didn’t back away. In only a few seconds, fire burned all around them—and they were not consumed by it.
I let go of the rune, and the flames faded. “That’s good enough for me,” I said. “Show us the way out, and we’ll take you with us.”
My friends had varying reactions. Ekaterina looked almost pleased. At least, she managed a faint smile. Adreanna looked more skeptical and raised an eyebrow at me. Yong-Gam looked stoic at best—hardly a ringing endorsement of my choice. DL and Agnar looked downright horrified.
“There are just two of them,” I pointed out. “If they decide to put knives in our backs or fangs in our throats, we can reduce them to ashes. But if they are telling the truth, they offer the best chance of getting out of here.”
Despite the earlier mixed reactions, no one tried to argue with me. Carlos and Susan gave me what looked like genuine smiles.
Unfortunately, because my control over my own magic was impaired, I couldn’t be a hundred percent certain that my Kenaz test had actually proved anything. Carlos and Susan might very well be leading us into a trap.
But the best we’d figured out on our own was how to get to the surface. Even without the threat of enemy attack, It might take years to find the portal, particularly if it was well enough concealed.
I put on a brave face—and prayed that I had made the right choice.
Ivy League Illusion is related to the Different Dragons series. (The action falls after the end of the third book.)
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