by D C Young
Suddenly alone, Marcus tried to outrun the light, zigzagging through the jungle trees, but nothing seemed to work. He passed one large trunk and pressed his back to it. The tree gave him a short reprieve and time to look around for a better hiding place. His eyes fell on three trees that had grown together, creating an intricate lattice work of roots and branches. Marcus was sure he could find a safe, dark space inside. The problem was he would need to cross thirty feet of pure sunlight to reach it. He didn’t know why the sun had become his enemy, and he didn’t care at the moment. All Marcus wanted was to be safe from its burning clutch.
“I can make it,” Marcus muttered, “if I can handle the pain of losing Cleopatra and a fight against the undead, I can survive a race against Apollo.”
Marcus braced himself against the tree and then pushed off, running as fast as he could. When he entered the patch of sunlight, the pain filled Marcus’s entire body. He could smell his own skin cooking, but he kept running. Halfway through, his left foot got tangled in a root, and Marcus crashed to the ground. Luckily for him, most of his body was outside the sun patch, so he made it out of the worst of the sun. Marcus made it back to his feet and then to the three entwined trees. The light was less, but Marcus could still feel the heat, so he dove inside the small cave created by the roots and branches.
Marcus leaned back on the trunk of the largest tree, relishing its coolness and the absence of light. He ran his fingers over his burned skin, which at first felt crisp to the touch. After an hour, his skin began to heal, becoming soft once again. Marcus fell in and out of sleep as the sun tried to find a way into his cave. When it finally gave up the chase for the day, Marcus decided it was time to leave his small sanctuary. He still had questions, and knew they would not be found in the jungles of Egypt.
After climbing out of the tree, Marcus put his hand on the largest trunk, “Thank you for your shelter. I will remember always the power of three working together.”
Marcus opened all of his senses as he walked through the jungle. He heard the heartbeats and breathing of numerous creatures. He also realized that he did not breathe or have a heartbeat of his own. As he got closer to Cleopatra’s palace, Marcus realized his new talent was not relegated to animals. He quickly pinpointed the heartbeats of several people, including members of his own honor guard. They were all huddled around a fire pit, arguing about what they would do now that Marcus was dead and his body was missing. Aetius, the most superstitious of them all, exclaimed the gods would surely punish them for losing the body of their favorite warrior.
A plan quickly formed in his mind, and Marcus ran off in search of dark robes that would work as burial shrouds. He found them quickly in the washroom and returned to the fire pit.
There his men stood, still debating their fate. Marcus draped the robes over his face and body, and grabbed two of the biggest men by the neck and threw them across the fire. All heads turned towards Marcus and several swords appeared in hands.
“Who are you? How dare you attack!” Sergius yelled as he pointed a sword at Marcus.
“Who am I? I am Pluto, come to make sure you return the body of Marcus Antonius to Rome. What have you done with it?” Marcus yelled in a deep voice.
Sergius laughed, “You are no god. I should kill you where you stand.”
“Do your worst, mortal,” Marcus said and braced for attack. Sergius stabbed at him, but Marcus moved faster than thought, grabbed the man’s forearm and threw him twenty feet into the darkness beyond the fire pit. “Who is next? Who else dares to threaten Pluto?”
The rest of the guard shrank away. The three men Marcus had thrown stayed where they were, afraid to return. Finally, Aetius spoke up, “Oh Great Pluto, we do not know where our leader’s body is or who took it.”
Marcus shook his head in the robes, “Is this how you treat my favorite warrior? You let some scavenger take his body as a trophy?”
All of the soldiers looked down at their feet in shame. Sergius said from behind Marcus, “I stopped the scavenger one time, and did not expect him to come back.”
Marcus said, “Well he did, and now it is up to me to find Marcus. While I search, you will make a crypt big enough for his body to be transported back to Rome. Fill it with the soil of Egypt, so his body can be surrounded by the land of his beloved. Leave it out here tomorrow night, and I will lovingly place his body in the crypt. You will nail it shut tight and not open it for any reason. You will then take it back to Rome, where it should be placed in the Senate at night. Do not tell anyone of your plan. Do you understand?”
All of the honor guard nodded, but Sergius asked, “Why do all of this for Marcus Antonius?”
Marcus dramatically drew back the robes from his face, “Because I gave him my face. Now do as you are told!”
Aetius fainted to the ground while the others ran away. Marcus could not help but chuckle at their superstitions. He looked at Aetius, lying on the ground, and noticed the way the veins in his neck pulsed with blood. It made Marcus hungry, but he had a different plan for his next meal. He made his way into the palace and quietly entered the priest’s chamber once again. He made no sound, so the priest did not realize he was there until Marcus tapped him on the shoulder.
“Marcus, you gave me a fright,” the priest said, “you have come back. Do you now accept what you are?”
Marcus nodded, “I do, priest, but I can’t let anyone know about the change I have gone through.”
The priest said, “I understand, my liege, and I promise never to tell a soul.”
Marcus smiled and placed his hands on the priest’s shoulders, “Thank you for understanding, but I need more than your promise.” With lightning speed, Marcus bit into the man’s neck and drained the life out of him. When finished, Marcus took the priest’s body back to the trio of trees.
The next night, Marcus returned to the fire pit and found the crypt. He eased into the soil, pulled the cover over himself, and then spread soil all over his body. He was worried it would not work, but when first light came, the soil kept him safe. Marcus’s honor guard surrounded the crypt an hour after dawn, and quickly nailed the cover in place. Before the sun reached its highest point, the Romans were on their way back home.
When the ship arrived in Rome, Marcus’s honor guard did as they promised, and left the crypt in the Senate. Once Marcus sensed they had all left and night had fallen, he broke out of the crypt and went in search for a safe place to hide from the sun and decide on his next step. Marcus knew he couldn’t return to his life as a Roman leader, since Octavian had declared him dead and killed his family. For the first several decades, he existed on the outskirts of humanity, taking lives sparingly. When Rome burned and Nero sang, Marcus left his home for the first time since becoming a creature of the night. He decided to look for others like him or find and kill the dead witch, and failing that, he would build on his military knowledge and perhaps found a new kingdom from the shadows. His attempts eventually led him to Luni, Björn Ironside and Scandinavia.
Chapter Twelve
“There is a very old story that the women tell the children around the fire pit at night about the dødehekse. I always thought it was just a way to fool children into behaving themselves but then…”
“But then what?” Veronica asked Björn curiously.
“But then, after I had met Marcus and become a werewolf, one of these creatures hunted Marcus down and found us in Norway,” Björn replied. “He’d tried to prepare me for its arrival but let’s just say I wasn’t always the most cooperative pupil.”
“Really?” Veronica said sarcastically. “Please, say it ain’t so!” She burst out laughing, thinking her little quip was quite hilarious, but I was beginning to lose my patience with her interruptions.
“With all due respect, Veronica,” I said. “Would you please just shut it so Björn can tell the story? We need to know exactly what we’re up against.”
“Alright then,” Veronica said, with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Shees
h!”
Björn grinned at her admiringly. It was clear that the blond Scandinavian warrior was smitten with Veronica Melbourne. It shouldn’t have been too far for the imagination to stretch; with her line and work and the ferocity with which I knew she went at her assignments, it was possible that Björn likened her to the shield maidens of his time.
He must feel as if he’s hit the damn lotto! I thought.
“In summary, two hunters were lost in a storm as they traversed the fjords tracking a herd of wild goats. When the weather cleared, it was apparent to them both that they had completely lost their way and they wandered in hopes of finding a landmark with which to catch their bearings.
“Soon, they came to a grove of trees and decided to settle in for the night. Darkness was falling fast and the only thing worse than being lost was getting even more turned around in the darkness. They built a fire and bunkered down for the night.
“In the wee hours, one of the men was awakened by the sound of gnawing. He looked around and found his friend had moved a little distance from the tree and bundled into a big ball of his fur garments. He called to the man asking if he heard the strange sound but his companion didn’t answer him. He decided it must be a wild animal feeding on frozen carrion in the distance or just his imagination. The sound continued but eventually it stopped and he soon went back to sleep.
“In the darkness before dawn, the man woke up and went to rouse his friend but when he shook the man, there was no response. When he rolled his friend over there was blood staining the snow beneath his body and when the furs were pulled back the man’s entire left side was chewed away and his heart was missing.
“The hunter fled for his life and before too long he realized that something was following him. It was moving very quickly and gaining on him fast. He made it to the outskirts of a village and seeing the women already about attending their duties he called out loudly hoping that the village warriors would come out to help him.
“When the warriors came out to see what was happening, they saw the hunter running wildly toward the village gates and following him closely was a huge ball of light. The dødehekse. They recognized the fiend immediately.
“Hoisting their spears and nocking steel arrows, the warriors fired into the ball of light. It slowed and soon was transformed into the wounded form of a beautiful, long-haired blond woman. She was naked and bleeding. The hunter heard the scream, stopped and looked around to see the woman wounded on the ground. Despite the warriors shouting at him to keep running towards the village, he stopped and went back to where the woman lay on the ground. As soon as he bent over her, she grabbed him and tore the vein from his neck. When she had feasted on his blood, the beast changed back into a ball of light and vanished.
“A few days later, the warriors came upon the mutilated body of the dead hunter’s companion in the grove. They searched the trees and found a giant nest in which the body of the beautiful woman lay reposed in death. On her lips and neck was fresh blood; that of the hunter and his companion. The men pulled the body from the tree, burnt it and scattered the ashes to the wind.”
“That’s a children’s story?” I asked curiously.
Björn laughed and replied, “It was a different time, Samantha Moon. Life was very difficult and the balance between survival and death quite fragile. If children were to survive to adulthood, they had to follow their parent’s instructions carefully.”
“That’s a weird story, Blondie. What exactly were the kids supposed to learn from it?” Veronica asked.
“That if they listen to the men of the village and trust in them, they will be protected from evil and harm.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, laughing.
When Björn’s story was done, I turned to Julia who had been lying on a chaise as still as a statue. She looked like polished marble until she batted her eyelids. I’d heard about vampires who got so old they no longer felt the drive to feed and without the warmth and metabolism of blood in their bodies, they slowly petrified and became like living statues. I shuddered at the thought.
Not you, Moon. Never you. Humanity has so much more to offer than that.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of the dødehekse lore and what it had to do with me and the woman who’d confronted me in Calabasas. I couldn’t put it all together. Figuring out the real threat from her was proving quite difficult.
“Julia, what do you think she wants from me now?” My question snapped her out of her repose.
“Oh, Sam! It’s obvious and disconcerting, to say the least.”
“Obvious?” Only Julia could make me feel so oblivious when she wanted to.
“A few months ago I told you of my concern about how out of hand things were getting here with immortals and their irresponsible behavior. This was just one of the reasons for my concern.”
“What?”
“Think of it like this... life is a constant struggle for balance, is it not?”
“Indeed, that’s true.”
“Then if there is so much of a tilt in any direction, such as it has been recently in favor of Los Angeles’ supernatural residents, will nature itself not put additional effort into restoring the balance of things?”
“Are you saying something or someone sent the dødehekse here to calm L.A. down?”
“Somewhat. The dødehekse has been cosmically drawn here by our irrational behavior. She feeds on immortals primarily, Sam, only resorting to humans in the absence of supernatural prey.”
“Her kind is designed to cull our numbers,” Björn interjected, “As such; she is quite a formidable enemy. Marcus can vouch for that. He fought her the night he was turned.”
“So, the creature that you sensed on Sapelo Island after the arrival of Julia and the others?”
“It was this very beast.”
“How?”
“She followed me back to Italy, then to Scandinavia,” Marcus interjected. “She disappeared for many years but then when Björn and I went to Scotland, she reappeared there. When we finally settled on Sapelo, it didn’t take long to confirm that she had followed us across the Atlantic as well.”
“Is it obsession?” Veronica asked.
“No,” Julia replied, “It’s survival. Vampires were on the decline in Europe at the time. It was the height of the Spanish Inquisition. We were being rooted out at every turn. When our kind fled to the New World, so did hers.”
“Fine,” I blurted out, “I get why she came here but what the hell does she want?”
“That is where the mystery lies, Sam. If her aim was just to kill us, she could have picked us off one by one in a matter of weeks,” Julia concluded.
“Okaaaaay…” Suddenly, I was more afraid than I was confused.
“There’s something more going on and the quicker we find out what that is, the better.”
Chapter Thirteen
1563 A.D.
By the time the ship dropped anchor, Björn had already bullied the captain into letting him and his soil samples go ashore before anyone else. Not a big feat when you are a 6’2 blonde haired Viking who had been prowling the deck as he was the captain for most of the voyage. The captain was looking forward to having Björn and his strange crates off his ship.
It took two boats to carry the crates and a third to carry Björn and his luggage. Once on dry land, Björn directed the sailors to carry the crates into the storage barn he had commissioned before the ship had sailed from Barcelona. After the crates were safely placed in the dark building, Björn pulled a sack of gold from his pocket and generously doled out coins to everyone.
“Remember men, I am paid handsomely for work done. For anyone who thinks all this money should belong to them, there is a stiff penalty for theft. Understand?” Björn asked. All the men nodded their heads, but Björn could tell there would be a few returning once night fell. They would make an excellent meal for Marie and Marcus.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Björn went to work on the crates, loosening the b
oards on top. He started with Marcus, and as soon as the lid was off, the 1600-year-old vampire rose from his bed of soil. To the human eye, Marcus looked mostly normal, maybe a little pale and gaunt, but nothing out of the ordinary. To Björn, Marcus looked hungry, and that was too bad for anyone who crossed his path tonight.
“Thank you, Björn. I trust the trip was an uneventful one?” Marcus asked as he climbed out of the crate and landed on his feet. He was dressed in the Spanish fashions of the day, complete with hose and ruffs. They looked out of place in the barn, but would do for the moment. Marcus could feel the heat of the day through the green wood used to make the barn. It was slipping away, which meant Marcus could soon feed his hunger.
“These Spaniards think they know how to sail, but I could have run circles around them during my thirteenth year,” Björn said.
Marcus chuckled, “I have no doubt. Just as I have no doubt that you baited a trap for a few of them after they brought the crates in.”
Björn nodded, “I would guess three of them are planning to relieve me of my gold in a few hours. Bad luck for them.”
Marcus walked over to Marie’s crate and ran a hand over the thick wood. During its construction, he had impressed on the builder how important it was that none of the soil spill out during the long journey. The flip side of that was no sunlight would be able to make it inside, allowing Marie De Guise to sleep peacefully and safely.
“Let’s get her out of there, shall we?” Marcus asked. Björn leaped to the lid and loosened the nails so Marcus could pry open the top. Immediately, Marie jumped out of the crate and landed with a stumble on the ground. As if fearing an attack, her head whipped back and forth, searching for an unseen enemy.
“It’s all right, Marie. You are safe in the new world with us,” Marcus said as he took her shoulders in his hands.
She jumped out of his reach, her eyes continuing to dart back and forth, “Do you hear those sounds? This place is full of life and things that want to take our lives.”