From Old Legends

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks to you. If you hadn’t arrived in time, both your brother and I would have been…”

Milena didn’t finish her sentence, a heavy silence floating between them. Ellias looked like he had aged a few years in a couple of days. Both Milena and Rayan were recovering well, but the human Prince was still unhappy. Most servants thought the b****y scene had been too much for him, or that he was dealing with the guilt of coming too late to save his twin.

Rayan was still in bed, but by now, Milena suspected he was acting up instead of a real need to rest. For a vampire, he had drunk plenty of blood to recover, faster than in two days. On the other hand, Milena was the one still feeling weak and tired. She had passed out several times after Rayan had drunk from her, and was still under the surveillance of their family doctor. Blanche was on her lap, too, keeping her warm in her form of a furry arctic fox.

Even today, Ellias was the one who had come all the way to visit her. They were sitting in the De Crescent’s garden, in her favorite part with all the midnight lilies, having an early morning tea. 

Of course, His Royal Highness wasn’t simply paying her a visit. First, Ellias was sitting closer than what the usual protocols would have allowed, and they were talking softly to each other. If the Duchess and the Human Prince got together, it was like a mysterious bubble appeared around them. No servant dared to approach or to interrupt them.

“Any news?”

“Yes, the bodies have been confirmed to be the undertaker’s family. As we predicted, his wife was the only vampire, and the only transformed one. Father and daughter both died before anything happened, looking like this.”

“What was it then?”

Ellias frowned, shaking his head.

“No source of poison or bite was found, we are still in the dark about her transformation. One thing’s for sure, she wasn’t a vampire anymore. The corpse is being studied at the moment, hopefully, we will have more clues later…”

He was about to add something else, but while he talked, Ellias had noticed a strange expression on his friend. It wasn’t like Milena to be distracted, but now, she was clearly thinking of something else, her eyes wandering away and with the frown he always found so cute on her.

“My dear friend, why don’t you share your thought with me?” He asked gently.

Hearing him use their nickname brought Milena back to the present moment, and she turned to him, a bit unsure.

“Actually… I couldn’t sit still after what happened…”

Ellias chuckled.

“Of course you couldn’t. So, what is it?”

Milena blushed a bit but tried to keep her train of thoughts.

“It may seem odd, but those people’s appearance reminded me of something I had read about in a book, a few years ago.”

It was Ellias’ turn to frown. Milena was as much of a bookworm as himself, but for her to actually raise such a detail up meant she already knew it was relevant. What kind of book could be of use to them…?

“It was in some very ancient alchemy book. To be honest, I’ve been agonizing trying to find where I had read it of borrowed it from, but nevermind, I will keep looking. Anyway, it mentioned a creature very… Very similar to what that woman looked like. A human, all skin and bones, with an appetite for animal, vampire and human flesh alike, and no recollection of their past.”

“It does sound similar…”

“In that book, the creature was a legend, something like a vampire’s body woken up by some ritual of some sort. It would attack anything alive, like some beast. Its strength was that of a vampire, and it couldn’t feel pain… Damn it, if only I could remember where I read it!”

“It’s okay, Milena, we will find it together. Did it say anything else?”

The Duchess frowned, trying her best to gather her memories. Had she missed something?

“Those things… I mean, those creatures, they had a name. The author pretended they had met a few, and named them. Back then, I thought it was some fiction story, like the adventure books I always read about! But this was some alchemist’ biography or anthology about his discoveries on blood, I think… It was an old book, very old… What did he call those things again… Oh, the Wendigo!”

Ellias was a bit surprised. For once, he had never heard about something at all. Whatever that thing was, he had never read about it… Milena was nodding.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was it. Do you know about it, your Highness?”

“No, but I’ll make sure to do my research when I can…”

THey both agreed to look for as much information as they could, though it would be easy. Between the two of them, Milena and Ellias had easily read hundreds of books in the Imperial Library. If only the Lady had come across that word once, it would most likely be hard for them to find it again...

Though, each of them had secret ways to obtain more information, which they wouldn’t mention here. At least they had something concrete to investigate now.

“... Father is keeping Rayan under tight observation,” finally revealed Ellias, much to Milena’s surprise.

“What? Why? I thought it was odd his Highness wasn’t up and out of the Royal Infirmary yet, but…”

“There’s something… Strange about his injuries. Despite drinking a lot of fresh blood, he isn’t healing as he should. It’s actually as if his body was fighting something. His injuries will seemingly start closing up for a while, but an hour later, it turns grey and the flesh rots.”

“What? What the… How… How is that…” Stuttered Milena, shocked.

Ellias sighed, looking at his hands.

“Truthfully, I wish I knew exactly why too, but all I have are suspicions. For one, all flesh-deep injuries caused by the creature are harder to close.  I’ve observed it, and… It’s as if his body is fighting some very aggressive poison to heal by itself. Honestly, I don’t know how long it will take Rayan to rise again. I have been doing my best to be very positive about my brother getting better, but he really seems to have his life on the line there. 

Milena was unable to understand. Why? Why would Rayan need some extra time to get better after this? She had seen countless vampires get injured, Milena couldn’t believe he wasn’t already better by now.

“It can’t be… He should… I mean, if he’s…”

“Infected?” mumbles Ellias. “Yes, scary enough, but we have to take into consideration that he might have been…”

“No!”

Milena’s anger had appeared so quickly, the Prince almost dropped his cup. The Duchess looked furious, her amethyst eyes shining with anger.

“His Highness can’t be infected! We don’t know what happened to those people, we can’t talk about a disease or an infection of any sort…”

“I don’t like the idea either, Milena, but thing is, we have to get used to that idea as well. If it is what we both hope it isn’t, our Kingdom will have to face it. It could be a catastrophe if an epidemic of any sort spread out, let alone one that would turn our people into… into b****y murderers.”

Milena’s brain was already not there anymore. A hundred ideas were raging like a storm behind her apparent calm, trying to sort this situation under control. Rayan couldn’t be sick. Not fatally sick. And even if he was sick, it couldn’t have been this. 

The young Duchess was already consumed by guilt over the fact that the Prince had put his life on the line to protect her, now this…!

Unaware of her inner turmoil, Ellias kept talking, concerned about the situation as well.

“...As of now, the Royal Medical team is examining all three bodies, on top of my brother’s condition. They want to understand what caused this woman to do this. We already know she was the one to kill her husband and child, but…”

“It’s horrible,” hissed Milena. “This whole situation. Not knowing what we are fighting against, or what will happen next; I hate it. It’s even worse than having my hands tied. If only we could do something…”

Gently, Ellias took her hand.

He was not supposed to have such a daring gesture with a young maiden, but at that moment, neither of them cared, and no chaperon was there to keep them from it. Ellias addressed Milena very seriously.

“We can do something, Milena. We will both research about this creature you think that woman had become, and introduce his Majesty to a plan against an epidemic, just in case.”

“I am no doctor. I can’t plan against an epidemic when we don’t know what we are dealing with… Worse, it could create panic among the people. This is a closed country, people won’t have anywhere to run, it could freeze all of our country's economy in a matter of days!”

“Then let’s at least warn the Royal Hospital about the situation, alright?”

The young Duchess nodded, but she was already thinking about something else, frowning with a focused expression. 

Despite the situation, Ellias smiled. He loved her ever-so-serious self, how she was already acting like an adult with a million of thoughts despite her age. She was the youngest daughter of a powerful family and could have lived in their wealth without a single worry in the world for her whole life. Yet all Milena wanted to keep herself busy with were b****y crimes investigations, political intrigues, and a brand-new Glass business… It was as if she hated getting any rest for her mind.

“I can’t help but think someone did this…” she suddenly whispered.

Ellias frowned.

“What?”

“The murders, this rogue vampire suspect and those creatures… If it is linked, it was no accident. Someone did this to that vampire woman. “

“A mastermind, you mean?” He asked, intrigued.

“I’ve had this suspicion from the very start. Someone is pulling the strings from behind the scenes…”

After a few seconds of thinking, Ellias had to admit she was probably right. He had the same feelings. This whole situation, everything happening at the same time, was no coincidence. In such a small country, at such a crucial time for vampires and humans, it couldn’t be.

“Why, then? Why would someone commit those murders and push the blame on…”

“...Vampires,” whispered Milena. “Everything goes back to vampires. At first, it was a rogue vampire attacking humans and getting all the attention, now this creature…”

“What if it’s the same culprit? If the vampire attacked the human victims we know, and then…”

Suddenly, Milena jumped on her feet.

“Oh gosh, I know! I know where I read it and what!”

Before Ellias can add anything, the young Duchess runs back into the De Crescent Manor, and, when he’s still wondering if he should have gotten in or not, she suddenly comes back carrying a very old book. She has her maid remove all the cups and cutlery and drops it loudly on the table.

The young Prince frowns. A book about old Lunarian legends…?