The Assassin and the Knight

by Rick Bonogofsky

  With a rising threat of vampiric outbreaks, the werewolves, who already disliked the vampires, would likely see the outbreaks as yet another expansion campaign, such as the spread of vampirism that led to what the humans called the Salem Witch Trials and the New England Vampire Panic. Both times, there was a sharp rise in vampire newborns and a subsequent dip in the human population. Without humans to raise livestock, the werewolf tribes were left without a steady food source, thus leading to a decline in their own population. The werewolves saw this as an attack directed at them, so they retaliated by teaching humans how to kill vampires. First, they convinced the superstitious humans that the vampires were witches sent by the devil. The humans believed the tales and set about burning the vampires they found at the stake. Eventually, enough newborn vampires were killed to create a balance of power.

  In New England, during the eighteen hundreds, there was an outbreak of newborn vampires that fed on humans after turning. It began as a result of the Salem Witch Trials and the dip in the vampire population. It was widely believed by the human population that the vampires that were in the process of turning were suffering from tuberculosis, or as it was called then, consumption. They knew that the families of the victims would spread the disease throughout the home, but what they did not realize was that one family member was turned by a vampire, then began to turn the rest of the household. The humans began to realize that the recently dead were coming back to feed on more victims, so they rallied together and killed many of the newborn vampires while they slept in their coffins. Eventually, the attacks stopped as the vampires who began turning humans in the first place had already moved on, seeking more settlements to turn.

  “That being said,” Montgomery continued, “I would like to introduce Sara, whom you all may have noticed is not a dragon. She is quite an interesting and unique being, having been created by the vampires as what I imagine to be the first in a line of new beings to supplement their army. She is unique in that she is made from the blood of vampires, werewolves, demons, and angels, and given a human form. She is powerful and intelligent, as well as a wonderful person in general. She faced the army of demons at Globe Tech in New York and killed many of their number.” He left out the part where she was struck down by the angel woman, much to the chimeric woman’s delight. She waved nervously to the dragons and felt miniscule under their scrutiny. They stared in open disbelief and muttered amongst themselves.

  “Do the vampires plan to make more like her?” Tiamat asked. Her large lavender eyes bored into Sara’s and the woman felt uneasy. It was as if the ancient dragon was staring into her soul.

  “It is very possible,” Montgomery replied. “The vampire responsible for her creation was released to go to his people to report on the demon attack. As the labs were spared the destruction of the rest of the building, the files would very likely still be intact.”

  “We cannot allow more like her to be created,” Tiamat interrupted. All eyes turned to her in surprise. “We cannot allow the vampires to create more like her just to be controlled like puppets. I can see into her mind and soul, and she is not as she was created. Something inside her has changed, and I believe I recognize the magic that was used. You were visited by Artemis, weren’t you, child?” Every eye in the cavern was turned on Sara once again, and the woman shrank back. She bumped into Jake’s scaled leg. He gently patted her shoulder with one large paw, assuring her that everything would be alright. After her defeat at the angel’s hands, her confidence was forever shaken, but she forced herself to step forward and address the Firstborn.

  “I was killed by an angel during the demon attack, and I saw Death. I was then led to Artemis, who showed me my true purpose. While Jake and Montgomery repaired my body, Artemis and Death put my soul back and I was given new life.” No sound could be heard from the dragons. Throughout the entirety of the last dozen millennia, the dragons had carefully watched the progress of the first nephilim, Artemis, and were all in awe of his growing power and ability. Ever since his involvement in what eventually led to the fall of Pompeii, Artemis was regarded as one of the most powerful beings to come into existence, including all but the oldest dragons. However, even the four founders of the Firstborn showed Artemis the respect he had earned. Since the fall of Pompeii, Artemis had a hand in nearly all of the major human events in history, often completely changing the plans many dragons had put in place, and he did so with the utmost respect for the ancient beasts. But, when faced with the might of the Firstborn’s founders, he never backed down, even defeated two of them in battle while Rome burned four hundred years after Pompeii. Since then, the dragons gave Artemis a wide berth, preferring to allow him to go about whatever business he had. No dragon had interacted with him since Rome’s fall, but every one of them respected and feared him.

  Then, at the end of the third World War, Artemis became a god, replacing the ones in power at the time. With his ascent, Artemis gained even more power, but became even more fearsome. His entire demeanor had changed, making him more irritable and strained for several decades. It seemed the only time he appeared was to personally smite an ancient being. It was rumored that he was responsible for the eternal imprisonment of Enlil’s eldest son, going back in time to stop the dragon from bringing an early apocalypse to Earth. To see that someone was visited by him directly, after his ascension to godhood, was completely unheard of. The dragons stared at Sara, struck by the notion that the last remaining god would appear to her in person.

  “What did he show you?” Quetzalcoatl asked after several moments of silence.

  Tiamat glared at him and opened her mouth to say something that likely would have been harsh, but Kur beat her, speaking up from behind her. “Her purpose is hers to know, and not for us to pry into,” he admonished. “We do not need to know if she does not wish to tell us.”

  Thankful, Sara allowed herself a small smile. Admittedly, she was reluctant to reveal what Artemis had shown her to the assembled dragons. As far as she saw it, it was her life to live, especially with the newfound freedom the nephilim had granted her. She offered a thankful nod to the elder dragons, who seemed to smile at her in support. A stymied Quetzalcoatl shrank back into the rest of the dragons around him and kept silent.

  “With the potential vampire threat to Earth at hand,” Montgomery said, bringing order back to the meeting, “it is up to us to guide the humans through the coming years. If you have questions for Sara, I urge you all to schedule interviews with her at her leisure. As for the task at hand, we must discuss options. Beyond that, I have been given word that our elders wish to speak of something that has been weighing on their minds as well. So, on to our next order of business.”

  “Perhaps it is time again to offer an alliance to the werewolves,” Jormungandr suggested. “Having them working with us in the same capacity the vampires have may prove useful in keeping the peace.”

  “They would have to agree to it,” Typhos countered. “They have declined our offers in the past, and may do so again.”

  “Still,” Jormungandr pressed, “they would prove to be pivotal in maintaining order if the vampires do get out of hand. It would be prudent to gain their assistance.”

  “Not a bad point,” Montgomery praised. “Who here wishes to seek out Lycaon for a meeting?” At the mention of the werewolf leader’s name, an uncomfortable silence fell over the cavern. It was clear that none wished to speak to the ancient king. Finally, Jake stepped forward and volunteered.

  “I will go,” he said. He looked at Sara, who gave him a confused look. She was obviously shaken by the fact that every dragon assembled was uncomfortable with the notion of talking to Lycaon. Seeing the resolve in Jake’s reptilian eyes, she nodded her support. “I will talk to him and offer him an alliance.”

  The dragons seemed to hesitate, not wanting their newest member to go along with the idea. “You will not go alone,” Montgomery stated.

  “I’ll go with him,” Sara said. “I’m part werewolf, maybe I can use
that to our advantage.”

  “That is all well and good, my dear,” Montgomery smiled, “but you are not a dragon, therefore not a member of the Firstborn. I mean no offense when I say this, but you do not have the authority to speak for us. You are, of course, free to accompany Jacob on his journey, but I meant that he will not be the only representative of our people.”

  “I will go with him,” Fafnir offered. “I am in good rapport with Lycaon’s son, Fenrir. I will contact him and bring him with us to meet with the king of the werewolves. It has been far too long since we have offered an alliance with them, and it would be a good idea to get their prince on our side prior to the meeting.”

  Montgomery nodded, and said, “Good. That is settled, then. While our emissaries are meeting with the werewolves, what other plans shall we put into place in case the vampires to decide to spread faster than necessary?”

  “We should first find out what their plans really are,” Tiamat mentioned. “As much as I would enjoy seeing the werewolves united with us, we do need to make certain the vampires are, in fact, keeping things together. I imagine there is a rather large power vacuum with Ibsen dead and millions of his children gone. We need to find out what the new hierarchy will be and who will be in power. During that time, we may put contingencies in place to stem the flow of vampirism in the world. While it is fine that they increase their numbers, we do not want to see them overtake the human population. There needs to be a healthy balance.”

  “Agreed,” Montgomery said. “That brings us to ask who we shall send to meet with the various vampire leaders.”

  “I will send my sons to meet with them,” Ryujin offered. “They are proven to be excellent infiltrators, and can blend into any group if needed. They will find the information we need.”

  “And I will send my children to the vampire leaders as diplomats,” Typhos said. “We will learn what the vampires want us to know, while Ryujin’s sons gather the truth. If they are truthful with us to begin with, then there will be less to worry about.”

  “My children will spread throughout the world to monitor the vampires who will begin turning humans,” Tiamat added. “If they prove to be overzealous in their tactics, the turned humans will be herded and kept from the rest of the human population until they can control themselves. We will educate them and make certain they are not a threat.”

  “Excellent,” Montgomery grinned. “It sounds like we have multiple bases covered here. The rest of you, see to your different areas of power and keep the world turning as you always have. If there is nothing else to add to the matter of the vampires, I will turn the meeting over to the elders.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Enlil moved his massive bulk to the center of the cavern moving gently so as not to shake the stones loose from the ceiling. Each footfall, while as gentle as possible, could be felt beneath the feet and bodies of every dragon there. His claws, each longer than two humans, gouged immense valleys into the stone floor. As Jake looked over the huge elder dragon, he noticed, with the help of his draconic vision, that there was a faint magical aura surrounding Enlil. As he concentrated, he realized that the gargantuan beast had magically shrunk himself to fit into the cavern. Not knowing the full size of the dragon in front of him, Jake was left to guess at Enlil’s true size. He feared and hoped for the day when he would find out. As the behemoth came to the center of the cavern, all eyes rested on him.

  “There is a grave problem with our world,” he whispered, not wanting to use his full volume in fear of bringing the cavern ceiling crashing down around them. His hushed voice came out in a steady, rhythmic rumble, as if the very earth was speaking. Its cadence was slow and methodical, like the movement of glaciers. “I have sensed it on the winds and felt the wrongness of it as I have traveled. It took me some time to ascertain the truth of it, and I enlisted the aid of another being nearly as ancient as myself. Amun-Ra of Heaven has met with me about this new problem. He believes it is due to a powerful imbalance caused by the recent king of Hell and his actions on Earth. I feel it is much more serious than that. Either way, we agree on one thing. Reality is coming undone. There are new places of dead magic that Amun-Ra dared not enter, and they are growing. I walked among the humans in those places and tasted the poisonous air. If left alone, this infection will spread to the rest of the world. All creatures born of magic will be wiped from our planet. The humans can survive it, as can dragons, but vampires and werewolves, among the other magical creatures in the world, will not. At the center of these areas of dead magic, reality is becoming thinner and easier to damage. I fear that in time we will witness the fall of reality and existence.”

  “Who else knows about this?” Montgomery asked, his voice shaking. The news was obviously distressing, and no dragon in attendance could think of a way to stop the spread of dead magic. Fixing all of reality was simply too far outside of the realm of their abilities. The fact that Enlil could even sense the problem spoke of his ancient existence and his immense power, not to mention the primordial connection he had with the planet itself. The first dragon was the closest thing to a true god as any of the other dragons had ever seen, apart from Artemis and the old gods, who had only been physically seen by scant few.

  “Just us, Amun-Ra, Death, and Artemis,” Enlil replied. “With any luck, they are all hard at work to fix this mess.”

  Sara moved her gaze to Jake, a fearful look in her eyes. She had been warned of this by Artemis and was shown what could happen if things went on as they were. Without some sort of major change, all of reality was going to unravel and plunge the universe into an unimaginable chaos. She knew what change was needed, and she knew that she was the one to bring that change. All she needed was Jake to help her. She placed her hand on his scaled foreleg, causing him to look down at her. He saw the urgency in her eyes and a confused look crossed his reptilian face.

  “What is it?” he whispered, bringing his snout to her level.

  “I can’t say in front of everyone here,” she replied. “We’ll talk once the meeting is over.”

  Jake nodded, but was left wondering what had her so nervous. He turned his attention back to the Firstborn and listened to the discussion. None of the dragons had any clue how to aid in fixing the abnormalities caused by the breaking down of reality. Instead, they began forming plans to divert travel away from these areas to minimize the risk of accidental vampire and werewolf casualties. They went through the logistics of it all, while also appointing dragons who would go about finding and identifying more places where reality’s walls were thinning and turning the areas into regions of dead magic. Without any idea of how it had started, there was no way to know how to stop it, so they all formed plans to live with the spreading problem until it could be fixed.

  After the meeting, the dragons each took their respective human forms and made their way up the stairs and into the main house. Many of them had rooms set aside for their use, while others, lower ranking members of the council, had suites reserved at the nearby hotels. Many of the dragons wanted to talk to Sara, but she made herself unavailable soon after the meeting was over. Keeping to the lesser used halls, she snuck back to the room she shared with Jake, who was held back by the older dragons welcoming him to the Firstborn. There were countless handshakes and shoulder claps and heartfelt words of welcome. He smiled through all of it, partially out of courtesy, but also due to the swelling of pride in his chest upon seeing those who valued and respected his beloved father so much. It was clear to him that his father was greatly loved among these dragons, and it was stated often and loudly that the older Hearst dragon would be sorely missed after his brave sacrifice during the war. After several minutes of this, Jake was pulled aside and addressed by Tiamat, wearing the form of an alluring woman with olive skin, deep lavender eyes under delicately arched eyebrows and thick brown hair cascading over her shoulders. Her mouth sat in a perpetual wry smile. She wore a beautiful gown of traditional Iraqi make, with gold and gemstone accents. Her entr
ancing eyes bore into Jake’s as she spoke.

  “Jacob, dear,” she said with a lightly accented voice. “Has Nidhogg, or rather, Montgomery, told you much about your father?”

  Jake shook his head, his words stuck in his throat. He had never seen a woman so enchanting as Tiamat’s human form, and he was embarrassingly enthralled by her beauty.

  “Well, history will tell you all you want to know of what Mr. Hearst did for the humans,” Tiamat explained. “But what he did for the world was much greater. You obviously know all about what he did in the war, which unfortunately led to his death.”

  Jake nodded.

  “Were you ever told his real name?”

  Jake shook his head.

  “His name was Draca,”

  Jake’s mind snapped to attention upon hearing his father’s true name. It was as if something was awoken inside him. His pulse quickened and he felt his inner fire blaze. However, even with all of the new sensations, Jake was left puzzled. He felt he knew the name from somewhere, but he could not place it.

  Seeing the confusion in the young man’s eyes, Tiamat decided to explain the familiarity to him. “There was no name the humans could give him that could possibly define his tale, so we gave them the word in their language of the time. The humans feared him as he was the first to slay one of their so called heroes. Your father is the dragon that slew the great Beowulf. Of course, to save face, the humans added the part of Beowulf’s companion, Wiglaf, slaying the mighty Draca, but we let them keep it.”