Empty hallways greeted the two. The usual sterile smell of antiseptic was overpowered by a cold, oppressive aura that seemed to emanate from Valerica herself. Keith was walking behind her, trying his absolute hardest to be inconspicuous.
Reaching the entrance to the surgery room, seeing Liv sitting on the floor, they stopped.
Liv heard them and stood up. Her fangs were elongating.
"What are you doing here?"
Valerica looked her niece up and down.
"You're letting your emotions run wild again, Olivia," she said, a flicker of disgust in her eyes, "I won't clean up your mess again."
A shiver went down Liv's spine as she remembered the blood on her hands from a childhood incident she tried so hard to forget.
"I... I am calm," Liv said through clenched teeth, her knuckles white as she gripped her own arms.
Her aunt gave a dismissive wave and the doors of the operating room opened for her without anyone touching them. She and Keith walked in, Liv trying to follow after them but was blocked by her magic.
"Just as useless as your mother," the door slid shut and Liv punched it with her ice covered fist.
Inside the room, Maddie was observing her son through the glass. She didn't need to turn around to know who had entered. The air itself became heavy and unbreathable.
"Hello, Madelyn."
"Valerica," Maddie's reply was clipped and cold. She kept her back to her sister. To show her any form of emotion was to give her a victory.
The sisters were finally reunited. They were the perfect mirror images except for their eyes. One had vibrant purple eyes, the other ruby red.
Valerica was now standing next to her, staring at their family member.
"Shattered hand?" she said as if reading the medical report herself, "Classic signs of space magic unbinding. He's clumsy."
Maddie's jaw tightened.
"Fix him. And then leave," Maddie said.
"Come on now... a little thank you is in order. I had to disrupt an important military operation for this," Valerica's tone was light, a mocking singsong.
She gestured to Keith.
"Restore the hand," Valerica commanded the healer.
Keith approached the operating table, his earlier drunken bravado completely gone. He placed his trembling hands a few inches above the mangled stump. A soft, green light, like sunlight filtering through leaves, began to glow. He was sweating.
Flesh started to knit together, muscle and sinew re-threading, bone fragments fusing with sickening crunches. The process was slow and laborious.
"Done," Keith stammered, stumbling back.
Ryker's hand was whole again. It looked perfect, as if nothing had ever happened.
"But the mana poisoning is still there," he added quickly, not wanting to be held responsible if the boy died.
"Leave us," Valerica said to him.
Her wish was his command. He scrambled out of the room.
"Does he know?" Valerica asked, her gaze never leaving Ryker's face.
"No."
"What a cruel thing to do Madelyn."
Flaring her nostrils, Maddie finally turned to face her, her eyes cold and dangerous.
"You were the one who wanted me to raise him! You were the one who abandoned him when he turned out to be magicless!"
"Yet I've never lied to him," Valerica shot back, a cruel smirk playing on her lips, "Unlike some people."
Blood trickled from Ryker's nose. The beeping of the heart monitor became erratic.
"I think it's time you left Madelyn," a purple light flashed on Valerica's palm as a portal opened, "And don't return until I summon you."
Gritting her teeth, Maddie was left with no choice but to comply.
Calmly, Valerica walked towards Ryker, stroking his hair with an intimacy that was entirely false. She brought her face closer to his neck and then bit him.
Licking the aftertaste of blood, a small drop fell onto the floor.
"Space and... healing?" her eyes went wide in disbelief.
She inspected Ryker's neck again where she had bitten him. Then a thought crossed her mind as she realized what happened. Her smile turned genuine, it was predatory.
"You might just be useful after all," she whispered.
Her nails turned sharp and she cut herself, allowing the blood to drip in his mouth.
"It's time we had a talk, little bat."
An hour later, Ryker's eyes finally opened. His head was pounding, a dull, relentless ache. The world swam into focus, a blurry mess of white ceiling, and a woman sitting beside him. The woman looked just like her mother.
"Mom?" he mumbled
Valerica chuckled.
"Yes?" she responded, "That's right."
Squinting at her, he noticed her eyes weren't red but purple.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I answered that question already," she said, her tone leaving no room for further questions. The finality in her voice was absolute.
He couldn't understand what this woman was saying. The words made sense but they were lies.
"No," he shooked his head, "Where's my sister."
"In the east. On a diplomatic mission," Valerica answered without missing a beat.
"Liv's in the east?" Ryker couldn't believe that. Liv would never leave him without saying goodbye.
"No your sister is in the east. Your cousin is outside," she raised her eyebrow, as if to point out the distinction.
Cousin?
His thoughts were a tangled mess. He felt a profound sense of disconnect, as if he was watching this scene unfold from a great distance.
"Enough about your family," she said, changing the subject with practiced ease, "What did you see?"
A memory surfaced, vivid and terrifying. Dracula. A throne. Finally a meteor.
"I saw..." he stopped himself, he felt like he shouldn't tell her. A survival instinct.
"Let me help you," she leaned closer, "You were on a throne. There were millions of people, no, humans, chanting his name."
Ryker's breath hitched in his throat. How did she know that?
"You opened your hand," she continued, "and you wiped them all away with a single thought."
"That wasn't me."
She burst into laughter, "Of course not. That was Vlad Dracula, our ancestor."
A silence filled the room, a space to let that sink in. His heart hammered against his chest.
"I know you think you're no longer defective," she raised his regrown hand, "That you simply lacked the knowledge to properly cast right?"
Without knowing, he nodded.
"You're still defective," her words were as cold as ice.
Purple light glowed on her palm as she teleported a half-full water bottle from a tray to her hand. She held it out to him.
"Do the same."
Confidence rose in him. He held out his own hand, trying to replicate the same feeling from Dracula. He pictured the bottle, aimed for it.
Purple light surged from his hand. His hand started to feel on fire.
A wet pop. A spray of warmth. His brain couldn't process the pain fast enough. It arrived all at once, like being dropped into boiling water.
His screams echoed, tears streaming down, staining the bed.
"You see? Defective," Valerica's face was void of emotion.
Ryker couldn't think straight, the pain was blinding. He just wanted it to stop.
His mother rolled her eyes and snapped her finger, "Focus."
He looked at her with hate and tears but he still obeyed.
"Try to heal your hand," she ordered.
Shaking, he pictured his hand reforming, focusing every ounce of his will on the wound.
His stump was glowing a faint white but it wasn't reattaching the missing limb. The blood simply stopped flowing and the wound closed. A clean cut.
"See?" Valerica gestured to the stump.
But Ryker passed out from exhaustion.