“But vampires and werewolves? Come on, Lucian, they are imagination.” Maggie shook her head in disbelief. “A children’s tale made up to scare us.”
Lucian loosened his cravat and undid a couple of buttons before craning his neck. Maggie’s gaze widened as she saw two round marks on his neck.
“Vampires are real. A master vampire gifted me these scars when I was all of eight years. Papa saved me. While he cared for me, another ravaged our mother and stole her life. Father was never the same after. So, roll your eyes peahen, but those monsters exist. It took me decades to understand only a minor percentage are evil. My mother’s death blinded me to them. The gift of the aura stopped me from killing innocents, but I can inform you, it didn’t stop me from hating their race.”
“Lucian, I am so sorry,” Maggie whispered, humbled.
“As am I. We lost a mighty warrior in my father, Richard. He died when I was eighteen, and I took over his title and estate. I had to raise my younger siblings and ensure their training was beyond adequate. But we’ll return to that later, back to the story.
“Around two hundred AD, Nortons learned to use smell to tell from afar what type of creature we hunted. We were God’s ultimate warriors with our accented speed, strength, fighting skills, and intelligence. My ancestors suffered terrible losses; family lines were wiped out before another line could aid them. Some of our bloodlines became evil, and we had to hunt and destroy them. It was a harsh existence, but we were rewarded in the service of God.”
“This is one hell of a story,” Maggie whispered. Lucian turned a stern gaze on her.
“This is my legacy, Maggie; it is no myth but the truth.”
Maggie ducked her head, clearly a little ashamed. Good, he thought.
“In thirteen hundred and forty, a war broke out. Because there was no speedy communication, we were unaware our European family lines were being hunted down and wiped out. When word finally reached those of us who survived, we banded together. But over half our numbers had been eliminated. A witch born thirty years earlier, one of the most powerful to walk the earth, had gathered allies of the darkness. Margery Cross was born of a warlock and witch. Their bloodlines ran as pure as the Norton’s.”
“Margery!” Maggie gasped. Her jaw dropped open, and she continued, “But that makes her centuries old, and she’s in her early twenties.”
“May I continue?” Lucian sighed.
“Sorry,” Maggie whispered.
“Margery made a deal with the devil. In exchange for longevity, she sold her soul. She began gathering evil to her in many shapes and forms. The vampires with her started seeking lineage and hunting us down. With half our numbers depleted, it left Margery free to continue her plan. In thirteen-forty-seven, the Black Death swept Europe. It wasn’t a disease. It was the creatures that Margery had gathered. They were feeding indiscriminately across Europe but avoided England at first.
“Between them, they butchered sixty per cent of the European population. Yes, there was a plague; it was to be expected after supernatural diseases spread amongst humans. But the disease itself only killed ten per cent. The remaining fifty were food for the Dark Masses. They rampaged through Europe, killing mercilessly. The Norton lines rose and fought as hard as they could but were often overwhelmed, albeit at a significant loss of life to the Dark Masses. For every Norton slain, at least thirty of the enemy died with them.
Finally, Margery forced her way to England on June thirteen-forty-eight. There she made inroads into the cities and populations until we met her army. To say we were outnumbered a thousand to one was an understatement. Lord Terence Norton, the commander, had one goal. To reach Margery and stop her. Without their leader, the Dark Mass would flee. He lost both his sons and two nephews in reaching Margery, but his blade slashed through her torso, and Margery fled.
“With Margery not at the helm, the Dark Mass fell into disarray and was slaughtered by the survivors. Lord Terence also survived and remarried and had three more sons. His sword was passed from son to son, a beacon against Margery.”
“But if she died, how is haunting the Jekyll and Hyde?” Maggie asked.
“I never claimed she died, Maggie. I said Margery vanished. Margery lived and plotted even deeper revenge. In sixteen-sixty-six, her Dark Mass had invaded London; for every human left alive, there were one hundred creatures. Lord William Norton rode down and set London ablaze with his small army. Several hundred humans died, but the majority we freed. Lord William used his troop to encircle London and execute any creature attempting to escape. Margery once again fled. By now, her bitterness and hatred of the Nortons were well entrenched.”
“The Great Fire of London was a battle to wipe out evil?” Maggie gasped.
“Yes. My birth occurred in sixteen-ninety. I passed in seventeen-sixteen. I was twenty-six years old at the time of my death and had been fighting evil since I was a child. Our mother died in sixteen-ninety-eight. Father accompanied her a decade later. Next in line to me were Elias and his twin brother Isaac, who were a full year younger than me. They were followed by Benedict, two years younger than them. Kit and his twin Cecilia were four years after Benedict.
“Margery’s plans changed because the Norton lineage had grown again, and we were more prevalent in my era. This time, the witch wished to open a portal to hell and free the demon population and the dark souls we’d sent there. To achieve this, Margery needed ley lines, and on those, she required buildings to contain the power. Margery discovered the Cotswolds had exactly what she required. And even better, her old enemies owned inns on the ley lines in the shape of a pentagram with the Jekyll and Hyde in the centre.
“Each of my siblings and I controlled one of the inns, but we rarely visited because they were running very well. A good, clean reputation, and they made money. I had estates and other businesses to control, as did my siblings. Even Ceecee, at nine and ten, managed her own holdings and cash. Villagers sent word that youngsters were disappearing and dying, and we came immediately. We sensed the darkness that had fallen over this area as we approached.
“Each of us made our way to our own inns, and here is where I discovered Margery’s plan. Margery had already killed twelve children and had the thirteenth at the inn. Ready to be sacrificed. The child’s death would harness the power of the thirteen innocents and provide energy to the spell to tear a rift in the barrier between hell and earth. It would allow the demons to escape. The Two Moons was empty of villagers when I arrived. Most had holed up, wary of the witch hiding in the hills.
“Margery and I fought. I freed the captive child while taking a mortal blow. But the girl escaped into the night. With my dying breath, I threw myself into battle, determined to take Margery down for once and for all. I desired so badly to end the blight on our lives, and then nothing. I remember nothing but waking here as a ghost. My body was gone, and there was no sign of Margery. I thought I’d failed and tried to flee the inn, but I was trapped here. The guilt that I had flowed and allowed Margery to escape was encompassing. But that evening, Margery left that room you saw her leave tonight, and we argued and clashed once again.
“Both of us inflicted heavy mortal wounds that didn’t pain us, and we both concluded we were spirits. Margery tried to flee the inn, and I stopped her. And then I realised we were both trapped here. My duty was now to stop Margery from leaving and finding either her body or a new body she could take over. And for three hundred years, I’ve succeeded. Should Margery’s evil escape, she will seek to finish the ritual, and I do not know if there are Nortons out there to kill her!”
Maggie
Maggie sat stunned at the story. It was too detailed, and Lucian’s voice was saturated with too much pain to believe it to be anything but the distressing truth. Lucian stared at her, patiently waiting for her to speak. The question was where to start? There was a lot to unpick.
“Your siblings?” Maggie asked.
“I do not know. It has tortured me for three hundred years what happened to them. There was evil lingering in their inns. They should have been successful, but I cannot comment for sure,” Lucian replied with heartbreak.