Darkness Denied
"Oh, hell no, we are not apologising to them. We are ready for the wierd. We thrive on it. We tape our flamethrowers to our pulse rifles, and we make the wierd submit. We're going to the library."
Okay, Carmilla thought as she tried to get her smile under control, Maybe I'm warming up to that one. The look on Laura's face when she turned to her didn't help.
LaFontaine's zeal for information may have been responsible for the vampire's hasty retreat in the morning, but she didn't push it when Carmilla returned, and now that same zeal was turned against the ginger giant... and Pollyanna, for some reason. Laura set the latest video to upload before standing and picking up her bear spray and large iron frying pan; while less enthusiastic about returning to the library, she was willing to see it through. She walked out the door only to hear it close a few footsteps later and glanced back... to find Carmilla on this side of it.
"You're coming!?" the teenager asked in high-pitched surprise.
"Well, after that little speech, I just have to see what happens."
"...Oookay," Laura said once it was clear no further explanation was coming. "We'll probably need all the help we can get. And it'll be nice to have some supernatural on our side this time."
Carmilla was hoping that her presence would make the library less hostile, but if she mentioned that she might have to explain it, which the vampire doubted was possible. "So what happened between side-swoop and curly?" she asked instead as she followed the teenager down the corridor.
"Huh? Oh, you mean... well, Perry kinda freaked out after you... left." Laura hoped it didn't sound too much like she had been about to say 'freaked out' twice. "Part of it was because of all the wierd that's going on, but... they grew up together. Did you know that? And LaFontaine was always Susan back then, but now Perry's kinda confused because her best friend wants to be just LaFontaine, and use they/them pronouns."
"Why?"
"They want to be non-binary. Gender neutral."
"Ah."
Laura glanced back over her shoulder. "That's it?"
The vampire shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. I was just curious. Not like I care."
"But you'll use the pronouns, right?"
Carmilla smirked. Laura didn't even make an issue of the fact that she hardly ever referred to anyone by their name, and somehow, it as cute. "Sure, cupcake," she answered.
LaFontaine was waiting outside the Crowley Hall entrance, presumably because it had taken them that long to notice Laura was not hot on their heels. Their eyed widened when they realised Carmilla was joining them; the vampire merely shrugged, and got a grin and a nod in return. With a combination of marching, walking and ambling, the trio headed across the quad to the library.
Vale did not scare easily, but this was getting... unnerving.
When the Lasombra had begun the final leg of his journey, he had noticed the presence of an Abyssal entity almost immediately. It did not attack or withdraw, it was merely present. In Vale's experience, such behaviour was unprecedented.
The same could be said of it following him. It's distance fluctuated vaguely, as far as he could tell, but it never actually closed the distance. If a rational mind had been involved, he would have thought that it was already travelling in the same direction and had merely hesitated in surprise at his appearance, or if it was merely curious about his destination. Vale knew better. Over the last fifteen years, he had summoned various Abyssal entities, and they were all deranged, obsessive fragments of intelligence rather than a complete personality. The trick was not to find a somewhat sensible one so much as find one he was capable of working with.
When he had drawn Decius into the physical world, it had quickly become obsessed with shapes, specifically curves and spirals. The Lasombra had drawn the name he had chosen for it in the shadowstuff of which it was comprised, and it had been as delighted with the shape of the letters as such a thing could be. As its understanding of the physical world grew, it also developed an unreasoning curiosity with accidental death. Light could banish it back to where it had come from, but not destroy it; the notion of bodies and minds ceasing to function was an alien concept. If left to its own devices, it would have spent its nights flitting about New York, arranging bizarrely unlikely and potentially fatal accidents just to see what happened. Vale had tried to turn that talent onto his fellow Cainites, but he had yet to achieve any success; the greater challenge of 'pranking' the undead simply did not appeal to it, probably because they were not alive to begin with.
Decius itself was getting twitchy as more of its kind sporadically joined the first in following them. Vale felt like a motorboat being chased by a pod of dolphins, but the image was far too optimistic. And the longer it went on, the more it resembled a shoal of fish moving in unison. Not so much dolphins as piranhas.
Perhaps their growing numbers was why, in a realm devoid of light and sound, Vale began to hear whispering.
At first it was no more than unintelligible background noise, in a place where it should not exist in the first place. Then he began to make out the sound of words. At first it sounded like Latin, which he was only familiar with because of his decades in Madrid, where the Sabbat were ruled by an archbishop whose Embrace had twisted his roman catholic origins. The more he heard, the less certain he was that he recognised it; and without the usual clues people learned to take for granted, it was impossible to tell if he was hearing with his ears or his mind. All he knew is that, the closer he got to Silas University, the more intent the whispers became.
Much of Styria was mountainous or forested. Vale was passing over the latter to the former, slowing as he guessed the area in the distance was obscured by the lights of his destination, when Decius flooded upward from the collar of his trenchcoat and enveloped the Lasombra's neck and head. The whispering became a loud hiss in his ears as the treacherous shade began to constrict...
The basement of the library was not in as good a condition as the rest of the building, probably because no contracting agency would be willing to effect repairs even if the archives existed during the daylight hours. The walls were a combination of crumbling plaster and subsiding brickwork. The water from the sprinklers triggered during their last visit could not have helped, but the sub-level was not as damp and musty as expected.
The trio were creeping down a cramped corridor when LaFontaine commented on the condition of their surroundings, and Carmilla's sarcasm responded. "Maybe the fires of hell dried it out whenever it wasn't here."
"You don't mean that, do you?" Laura asked with nervous optimism, and the vampire made sure she saw her roll her eyes at the question. While the teenager was momentarily silenced - they were supposed to be listening for the sounds of skittering or gnashing pages - it did not stop this line of questioning for long. "How does that even work, anyway? How does a basement vanish without the library collapsing through where it used to be? And why? Is it some sort of security feature? Are only vampires supposed to have access to the archives? Does your mother control the library?"
Carmilla sighed as the barrage of slightly more sensible questions continued, waiting for the teenager to take a breath. "I'm not sure, okay? I don't even know if she had it built, or if she found it and built the university around it. All I know is... the library has a mind of its own."
"So it chose to vanish the stairs and attack us, the last time we were here."
"Maybe."
"Or maybe it doesn't have that kind of control," LaFontaine chimed in. "It could have been an automatic response to intruders, like antibodies reacting to foreign bacteria."
Laura tried to wrap her head around that. "So, it's more like the card catalogue and the books were attacking us, instead of the library itself."
"And maybe the basement doesn't go somewhere else, otherwise the building would collapse." They flashed a grin at Laura for her logical thinking. "If it can shift stairs around, why not the entire floor? It just does it in a way that makes it inaccessible but keeps the library standing. Ooh, maybe some sort of non-euclidean architecture..."
They reached the end of the corridor and came to a halt, peering into the first archive room. As before, the only sound was the soft hum of the computer network, its monitors dark until prompted otherwise. Carmilla huffed impatiently at the hesitation of the other two, walked into the room and to the nearest keyboard/monitor combo and tapped the return button. Her companions cautiously joined her, but once they were assured that nothing else had changed, LaFontaine placed their baseball bat on the desk and typed 'the hungry light' into the archive search box. After the last time, she expected the list to come up almost before she had finished typing. Instead, a small square popped up in the lower corner of the screen, looking like an old photo of a heavily-dressed young man. A typing sound effect began, and text appeared beside the photo.
Hello again.
Vale didn't have time to consider betrayal under his current circumstances. While tearing at the entity with Potence-fueled fingers, he tried to open his mouth just enough to get his fangs ripping into the shadowstuff that had turned on him. Decius had the superior leverage and was more likely to crush the Lasombra's jaw than let his secondmost dangerous weapon against it free. That left the first, which bore immediate consequences, and possibly beyond... but if the mass of Abyssal entities following him were also going on the offensive, he had little choice. The Cainite could not see through Decius as could the effects of his own Obtenebration, but perhaps he could buy a scant second or two in order to orient himself when the immediate consequence occurred.
Slowing as much as he dared, Vale raised a hand before his face, palm upward. From it, a flame akin to that of a wooden torch flared.
Decius convulsed, coiling away from the light and retreating to the far side of the humanoid's head with the speed of a cracking whip. The Abyss itself convulsed with it, expunging the source of the offending light. Vale was suddenly falling, long enough to extinguish the flame in his hand before he landed on his side, breaking his hip and several ribs. The Beast within him snarled at the pain, but he needed to keep his wits and kept it buried as he willed his vitae to his injuries in order to heal. He found himself in a high open space, but indoors, in what felt like a cathedral, except there were bookcases everywhere.
He was in a library.
So was Decius. It had been in physical contact with him when he had come through, and now it writhed on the ground beside him like a worm in upturned earth.
Recognition of the treacherous minion only infuriated the Beast further, the thirst for vengeance in danger of becoming all-consuming.
The Camarilla considered succumbing to frenzy to be a weakness, while the Sabbat preffered to 'ride the Beast' which essentially meant giving it a long leash without letting it loose entirely. Vale was more experienced in the latter. His rational mind wanted to destroy Decius, damage its shadowy form to the extent that the fragmented intelligence was banished back to the Abyss. There it would remain, without him summoning it back... but instinct demanded punishment. The Beast wanted the thing destroyed utterly, and Vale saw no reason to disagree.
Decius was a circular swirl of shadow, now. As its former master watched, it spiraled upward like a giant toy slinky, arching toward the Lasombra in order to trap and constrict him once again. It would be so easy to burn it down to tatters and consume it, but Vale would not risk Thaumatrugy here, especially now he knew the Tremere were actively seeking practitioners outside their own clan; and not while he was so close to the Beast, which was the source of the Cainite fear of fire and sunlight, just as it was the source of their bloodlust and mindless rage.
The Beast of a Lasombra drew on darkness, not light.
Eyes darkening from yellow to orange as he gave the Beast its due, Vale drew Arms of the Abyss from the surrounding shadows and set them to entangling Decius before he leapt into the fray, tearing at the betrayer with hands and teeth.
"So if we're still in here when the sun rises and the basement does its thing, we might get sucked into the library catalogue too?" LaFontaine asked.
I fear that is the most likely outcome, J.P. Armitage replied with the usual click-clack accompaniment of his interface.
Dawn was hours away, but the notion of joining J.P. in a state of disembodied consciousness sat well with no one present. "Where's the book on the hungry light?" Laura asked.
A map of the archives showed up on the screen, along with an image of the book in question. "You two stay here," Carmilla said, "I'll go get it." She walked off before anyone could argue otherwise.
Laura was torn between staying put and following Carmilla. LaFontaine was already asking J.P. about his involvement with thier previous visit, so they wouldn't be alone, exactly... and Carmilla might be better off without having to look after the frail human... but she still didn't like the idea of the vampire diving into the archives alone.
Watching her walk away, though... Oh, stop it, she thought to herself. Even if Laf is right about me crushing on her, now is not the time to enjoy the view... wow, she doesn't have a bad curve on her, does she?
"You paying attention, Laur?" LaFontaine's voice interrupted.
Laura started, and hoped the darkness would disguise the blush she could feel coming. "Sorry! What?"
"J.P. doesn't think the Dean controls the library, she just uses it."
"Oh... right, that's... what about when it attacked us, the last time we were here?"
I'm afraid it often does that, J.P. communicated, Though I have observed both a pattern and preference regarding nocturnal visitors.
"How so?" LaFontaine asked.
Well, first-time visitors are invariably attacked, but if they survive and choose to return, there is typically less resistence to their presence. At first I thought it resembled a biological response, but since deducing the library's sentience, I began considering the possibility of an emotional motive.
"Respect for seekers of knowledge?" LaFontained glanced about themselves with a grin. "Cool. I guess that's why we're still on one piece."
"Don't jinx us," Laura whispered urgently.
It may also be due to your arrival with Miss Karnstein. The library behaves more sympathetically toward her, yet remains antagonistic with Mr. Eisen.
"Who?" they asked simultaniously, and a new image appeared on the screen. It was another older, monochrome photograph, but the subject was instantly recognisable.
"Will," Laura murmered.
"What about the Dean?" LaFontaine asked.
Her visits have been rare, at least since I have been here, but the library has never been hostile toward her.
"Well, if Carmilla is any indication, it probably knows better than to upset an ancient, powerful vampiric cult leader." The redhead blinked as the inference struck her. "Maybe there's information on her down here, too."
There is no direct reference to her in the catalogue, but she is likely mentioned in the records of the board of governers.
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of distant skittering. After a moment, Laura called as loudly as she dared, "Carmilla?"
Wrestling with a giant snake would have been easy. Wrestling with the T-1000, not so much. Wrestling with an elemental shade unhindered by the notion of maintaining a vaguely humanoid form was infuriating, especially when it involved a former minion and what that familiarity entails. Ultimately, Vale was tearing Decius to pieces because they were in his world, not the Abyss; though riding the Beast had its advantages, such as ignoring the pain of his wounds until the destruction of whatever vexed him was complete.
Focused on his opponent as he was, the Lasombra did not notice they was more going on until a hardcover copy of Alan Wake's "Return To Sender - An Alex Casey Thriller" landed on one of Decius' extrusions and bit down before twisting back and forth in an effort to inflict some nasty paper cuts.
The sight caused enough confusion to distract the Beast, and as the frenzy faded, Vale stepped back from the fight, a fragment of shadowstuff in his teeth disintegrating as he looked about himself. Books were flying through the air, surrounding them both. The Abyssal Arms he had drawn from the shadows of the bookcases were covered in them; the shelves were still emptying as more volumes of modern fiction slid off their shelves and continued their horizontal trajectory instead of succumbing to gravity. He realised that the weaker strikes he had been experiencing during the fight had not been from Decius at all, as several tomes took the opportunity to launch themselves directly at him. He batted one away from its collision course with his head and ignored the rest. A few books had latched onto his trenchcoat in various places, pinching the fabric between their pages and... growling? Growling as they tugged and pulled like a pet trying to wrangle a toy away from its owner.
As he plucked one book after another off of himself and tossed them at Decius, he realised that this must be the Silas University library described by Laura Hollis in one of her videos, hostile reading material and all. He was exactly where he wanted to be, despite being blinded at the time, which suggested something deliberate. Had he been followed through the Abyss tonight, or herded? Was flying literature the result of a protective - and ironic - Tremere ritual; and if so, why use it on kine literature instead of thaumaturgical tomes?
The Lasombra's line of thought was interrupted by a more thorough battering from the surrounding literature, raising his ire once more. Act now, think later, he told himself. Decius was weak. If it was banished to the Abyss, the various aspects and attributes of its personality and intelligence would likely seperate and never come together in the 'Decius configuration' again. But the denizens of the Abyss were behaving in a uniquely atypical way, and until he knew why, he could not be sure whether or not allowing the entity to return to the void would give someone or something else an advantage over him. That simply could not be allowed, which meant consuming him.
The act was similiar to diablerie, though there was no soul to desecrate with the act. He had done it before, in anticipation of a fight he might not otherwise win. Draining the darkness into himself added to his own strengths until the next sunrise; the drawback was, he also took on its weaknesses for the same amount of time. The obsessions Decius harboured would become his. Perhaps he would also understand what had motivated it to betray him.
Vale summoned a Shroud of Night that encompassed himself, Decius, and the written whirlwind that surrounded them. The books that were in flight slowed to a crawl, swimming through something similiar to tar. Trahern could see and move freely through his own creation, and as he gave the remaining Arms of the Abyss the new task of tearing the hostile literature off the treacherous shadowthing, he set upon Decius itself.
When the skittering started, Carmilla stopped browsing the contents of the bookshelf and sought the specific one they had come to find; the chances of finding anything else she could use against her mother were remote, anyway. The collection of oversized books were laid flat against each other, and it took time to find the one with the symbol she had seen in the photo that the disembodied librarian had shown. Until she found it, she worried that leaving the humans alone might have made them fair game as far as the library was concerned... or maybe it really was just a defense against anything other than vampires. The notion did not ring true with her, but after Laura had accepted her as she was - more or less - the vampire suspected that she was due some bad luck.
Finding the leatherbound book they were after, she eased it out from under a much heavier tome and tucked it under her arm as she walked briskly back to the others.
Carmilla still had difficulty believing how Laura had been so accepting after everything. Yes, she had saved the teenager from Will... and then turned around and bit the girl that fed her... after she had lured her into a trap... but when the vampire had chosen to flee Silas and abandon her, Laura had convinced her to stay... and their relationship returned to the love/hate dynamic it had been beforehand.
Complicated was an understatement, but by now, Carmilla had to admit that she wasn't trying to save Laura just to mess with her mother, anymore. Foiling the ginger giant's attack, even the look on her face as Laura crushed her romantic dreams, did not compare to the smile on her roommate's face brought about by the sarcastic tirade she had levelled on the mad scientist.
The look of relief on Laura's face when she came back into view was better.
Carmilla held up their prize as she approached. "Time to book with the book."
"Wait!" LaFontaine cried, "What about J.P.?"
"What about him?"
"Well, he's still trapped in the system, down here..."
"And what do you expect to do about it?"
LaFontaine's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before her eyes widened and she started searching her pockets, provoking an increasingly familiar sigh of impatience from the vampire. The redhead finally found a flash drive from a back pocket (as sensible a place to keep it as an emergency syringe) and plugged it into the USB port of the nearest computer tower in the network. "J.P., can you transfer yourself onto that?"
After all this time, I am certainly willing to try, he replied, and his image disappeared from the corner of the screen for an increasingly tense moment. Finally, he reappeared. I believe I have been successful.
"Then we'll see you soon," LaFontaine said before pulling the flash drive and grabbing the baseball bat.
"Time to go?" Laura asked.
Carmilla nodded. "Time to go."
The trio rushed back down the corridor.
Vale did not understand, could not understand. Either a thing was in the Abyss or out of it, there was no inbetween. And yet, since consuming Decius... he could hear the whispers.
The Arms had dissipated with the act, but the Shroud had changed; it was now a tornado of darkness, carrying the books within it, preventing them from reaching the center. The Lasombra crouched there, concentrating on the constant movement of the Shroud, trying to find the focus he needed to reason things out, but the whispers were too distracting. The words were ancient and important, he could feel that much, but it had nothing to do with understanding them and it was becoming... inconvenient.
"What the..."
The Lasombra turned, and there was Carmilla. And Laura, and LaFontaine.
And under current circumstances, the only way to provoke a potentially fatal accident was to terrify the fuck out of them.
The shadowy vortex began to spin faster as it moved toward them, tentacles of darkness burst from the spinning mass, twirling like the stick ribbons of gymnasts but in reverse, reaching for the girls like some Lovecraftian monster. Laura screamed and fled with LaFontaine half a step behind her. Carmilla backed away slowly until the sound of the doors opening indicated the increasing distance between her and Laura, and she turned to give chase.
Vale increased his pace as they moved beyond his sight, but during the walk over to the doors, he noticed the change in the whispers and paused. The spinning Shroud slowed, and the whispers returned to 'normal'.
Most Obtenebration effects involved drawing on an existing source, but the Shroud was not among them. A Lasombra does not conjure darkness out of thin air, as one seems to do when invoking a Shroud, which meant...
The swirling shadow vanished with a thought, sending the books tumbling in all directions, and silencing the whispers. Vale plus Decius plus Abyssal cloud. Removing the cloud from the equation was all he needed, and he would have picked up on that almost immediately if he had been of his own mind.
Stepping up to the doors and peeking through the small windows set into them, he detected no movement, with or without his Night Sight. He slipped outside before the books could regroup. He needed to find a dark place where he could meditate without supernatural assistance, and to spend the day in his own body instead of Tenebrous Form.
Sticking to the (natural) shadows, Vale snuck off in the direction of the nearest building in sight.