The Dark Messiah

by Michael Anderle

  Kerri put a hand on his shoulder, “No, no you can’t, Paul.” She turned to Michael, “I guess you can tell me to break any rules you want to, can’t you?” She folded her shirt and put it on the bed. She unzipped her skirt to take it off.

  “Bethany Anne already rescinded those rules, but if you two are going to change Chicago, Paul needs to understand,” he informed her.

  Soon, Paul realized the clothes had seriously hidden the perfection of her body a lot more than he had thought they could.

  She was flawless.

  Then, there was a large ebony wolf with white feet staring at him, the intelligence in her eyes shining brightly.

  Then, she growled, and the size of her teeth shocked him. He backed up on the bed, “Oh shit!” he called out, never taking his eyes off of the wolf.

  Michael put his hands in his pockets, “Paul Mullins, you are familiar with the UnknownWorld. There are many more of those that are humans, with abilities, than you know. We are not demons. We are not devils. We are merely enhanced.”

  He looked over at the wolf and nodded his chin in her direction. “Kerri is older than you, and will probably live longer than you, as well. However, she is stronger, and more deadly, than you ever thought possible. Should she want to, she could kill most of this ship. That she chooses not to, is a civilized decision.”

  Michael turned to face him, “Unlike yours.”

  He paused before continuing, “Every drop of vampire blood you drink, didn’t come from demons, it came from people. People killed for the selfishness of those with power and money.”

  “My, my grandfather?” He asked, staring at Kerri.

  “What about him?” Michael asked.

  “He died, looking young,” Paul explained.

  “Probably killed, or received a bad batch of blood. Or,” he considered the possibilities, “Someone switched out a batch with Were blood and he drank it.”

  “What?” Paul looked back at Michael, pointing to Kerri, “Her blood can kill me?”

  Michael shook his head, “Only if you continue to consume vampire blood would anything happen to you if you drank Were blood. However, once your blood is cleaned of the nanocytes, and most have exited your system, there is a possibility that Kerri could provide you with her bite. Making you a Were.”

  “She could do that?” he asked.

  Michael shrugged, “I would wait a couple of years, and then I would make sure that it is something you both talk about, often.” he agreed. “I’ve known couples to do that, but it is dangerous.”

  “I still vote to toss him out,” Jacqueline commented. This time, Paul threw her a dark look. She merely returned it, raising an eyebrow, “What? Your partners killed a poor young man, I saw his body, gaunt on a table.”

  “He was a Demon…a demon…a…” he faltered when Kerri changed back to a woman and walked over to him, her bare body catching his attention.

  The animal in her was drawn to him like it had been for oh so long already.

  The problem with Paul, Kerri had explained to Michael back in his suite, was he had great ambition but few inhibitions. He wasn’t immoral, just amoral. She argued that he could be redeemed. Michael gave her the option, save his life with her own, or not. Paul would not be allowed to leave this ship without his sins being paid for.

  She agreed, she would be the one to save it, with her life if necessary.

  “Am I a demon, Paul?” she asked, reaching up to push some of his hair out of the way.

  “What?” Paul asked, trying to understand how everything was changing so fast. One minute, he is trying to figure out how to not be killed, now Kerri was sitting next to him, nude, playing with his hair. “What are you doing?” He finally asked, staring into Kerri’s eyes.

  “I’m trying to save you, Paul Mullins,” she told him, allowing a little of her animal to show in her eyes. “Michael isn’t a savior for everyone. I made a deal with him. You can only leave this ship if I make a promise you won’t do this again on my life and I go with you.”

  “You would do that?” He asked, confused.

  She nodded.

  “What happens if you make a promise for me, and I get off this ship and leave you behind?” he asked her, but Michael answered from behind her.

  “She dies in your place,” Michael explained.

  “No!” Paul reached out and pulled Kerri to him, into his protection. He turned his head to Michael, anger flashing in his eyes. “I may not have thought all things through, but this is someone I know.” He turned to her again, “Well, I thought I knew,” his head slowly lowered until he was touching her forehead with his. “You can’t do this for me, Kerri. I don’t know what promise I could give that anyone would believe. I may focus on the outcome, but I won’t do this.” A small smile played at the end of his lips, “My mother would come back from the grave, and I’d never hear the end of it.”

  “Dammit,” Jacqueline hissed.

  “Indeed,” Michael agreed, watching the two. Michael had read Paul’s mind and his intent. He was honest. He would not give up Kerri’s life to save his own. Even when he had seen she wasn’t entirely human, but something else.

  Something he might have thought as demonic.

  “Marry me?” she whispered, so quietly Paul had trouble understanding before his eyes softened. She was making a promise to him so he could live.

  There was no doubt in Paul’s mind that Michael, or even the other woman, would kill him and not lose a wink of sleep at night.

  Paul’s smile was gentle, “No,” he answered, and her shoulders dropped, just a little as he let go of her. “This isn’t the way it is done, Kerri.” She looked up and watched as he slid off the bed and onto one knee, holding her hands.

  “What are you doing?” Kerri asked, letting go of one of his hands to wipe a tear off of her face.

  “I’m doing what needs to be done. I’m providing the promise that is needed. Trust me, while I may be a lot of things, I understand trust. I don’t care about people I can’t see. I didn’t care about someone else’s ethics when they stopped me from gaining what I felt was the elixir of life.”

  He paused, his mind thinking back over the years, the decisions that benefitted people, while still filling the bank accounts of his family. “Yet, you are willing to die for me, to believe in me for something that has absolutely nothing to do with my money. That is love that I’m not worthy of, but I am not stupid enough to throw away.” He looked over at Michael, “Would you kill her?”

  “Justice must have blood, or Justice won’t be served,” he replied.

  Paul dipped his head and turned it back to Kerri, “I’m a bastard, I get that. But I’m not such a bastard I’m willing to run from my mistakes and let you hang for them.” He smiled, “Even if you do turn into a wolf.”

  “Is that because I’m sitting here naked in front of you?” she asked.

  “Well, to be honest, it is a bit distracting,” Paul admitted, “But at the end of the day, Kerri, you never hated me for anything I did. You’ve always been nice to me, and … well… if it weren't for the elixir, the blood, and your damned ethics, I would have tried to get into your pants fifteen years ago.”

  “So,” he looked into her eyes, “You have the option to say no, and if you should say no, I’ll take the punishment. My father might have taught me business, but my mother provided me with manners.” He paused, “Kerri, will you marry me?”

  Kerri, shoulders shaking with her silent sobs, just nodded her head and pulled the man into an embrace, her tears falling onto his hair.

  Neither one of them noticed the man and woman stepping out of the suite.

  Twenty paces down the hall, Jacqueline said, “Still think I should have tossed his ass out.”

  “And, if he had been dishonest, you would have been able to,” Michael replied.

  “Would you have really taken her life in his place?” she asked as they walked towards the door to the dining rooms.

  “Justice would have been ap
peased, Jacqueline,” he told her.

  After they had finished passing through the dining rooms out into the hallways leading to their suite, Jacqueline continued. “Michael, that didn’t answer my question.”

  He looked down at her before looking ahead again, “Yes, it did. Consider what Justice would want, and go from there, young one.”

  Even when she went to sleep, Jacqueline couldn’t figure out a solution that satisfied her.

  Michael had Jacqueline use the bed in the suite while he sat in the parlor. Alone in the dark, with his thoughts, he occasionally pushed his ability to connect with Kerri to confirm the authenticity of Paul’s decision.

  Kerri may have a hard choice ahead, but she had taken it on willingly. Should Paul Mullins ever decide to stray from the path, she would kill him herself.

  Or, the Dark Messiah would visit again, and it would be her Pack that paid the penalty. She had seen the deaths in Denver and didn’t doubt for a moment he could, and would, make good on his promise.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Dirigible Pittsburgh, Route from Chicago to New York City-State

  Jacqueline, after packing all her stuff and setting her bags next to Michael’s, locked and left the suite.

  She was headed towards the observation deck.

  She passed numerous berths, where she could hear people packing, arguing or occasionally making love, as she walked down the hall. On her way through the dining rooms, she didn’t find many people. A couple was drinking coffee, and she shared a smile with the lady she had spoken with the previous morning.

  It was nighttime, and the lights of New York City-State shone brightly. The cacophony of the colors along with the lights blazing into the night sky, trying to attract revelers on the ground. It had the effect of making it very easy to find the City-State from a distance.

  She found Michael, hands clasped behind his back, looking out at the city. His reflection shimmered in the window, his expression blank.

  Michael might often know what others were thinking, but Jacqueline always found it difficult to understand his thoughts, unless he was angry. That emotion was all too easy to judge.

  The glowing red eyes tended to be a dead giveaway.

  She walked up and stood next to him. His eyes glanced at her reflection in the window before returning to the scene below.

  “Different?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he replied as he started pointing. “All of this area should be lit up. You could see the whole East Coast of the United States from space, it had so many lights. Now, there are little clumps, like campfires, and then the blazing bonfire that is New York City. After the absence of power in so many towns and cities we have passed, to see it wasted here in New York seems like a mockery.”

  “That’s because you didn’t see Chicago at night,” Jacqueline told him, “It isn’t quite this bad, but it is lit up pretty well. The Chicago City-State has more ground lit up, but it doesn’t have the buildings that New York does. Plus, New York has a wall.”

  Michael turned to her, “A what?”

  She pointed down, “Look near the water. They have built a wall they can raise and lower. There are a lot of crazies that get attracted to New York.” Pulling her hand back, she continued, “We’ve even had a few Weres that seem to start talking about seeing things or feeling a buzz, and then nothing. Bright colors affecting their vision, something we don’t see standing right next to them. They don’t seem to be living in our world, at times.”

  Michael pursed his lips, taking the information in, but not sure what to do with it.

  “There are a couple of buildings I don’t recognize,” he admitted, “and I see floating police vehicles down there.”

  Jacqueline shrugged, “New York is a tough town. Harder to live, but I understand there is a lot of money to be had. Lots of people all living in this small of an area. But, the infrastructure from before makes it easy to stay supplied with parts. The Nuclear Power they have run from a reactor up north is almost overkill. So, they expect to continue growing. Their manufacturing is good as is their ability to procure food from the sea.”

  “Which is good, if you like seafood,” Michael agreed.

  She looked up at him, “You don’t?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’ll eat it, if I have to,” he admitted.

  “Wait, I’ve never seen you eat. I’m always eating.”

  “You,” he agreed, “are a Were. Your metabolism requires you to eat more. My nanocytes are powered differently.”

  “That must be nice,” She mused aloud, “No worry about dealing with food anymore.”

  Michael pursed his lips, “True, I don’t have to worry about it like you do, except to keep normal body functions from degenerating. I do eat, if nothing else, to keep some vitamins and minerals in me. I just don’t do it very often,” he finished.

  Try never, she thought to herself.

  The airship turned, taking them further south of the city before it turned due north, Michael noticed the tall towers which had locations to hook up the airships and elevators to offload passengers. He looked down.

  Not enough ground space to let everyone land.

  —

  After retrieving their bags, the two passengers joined the line of those waiting to disembark. Walking with Michael, Jacqueline realized, was a pleasant exercise. Just like on the observation deck, people seemed to naturally give him space.

  Or, she supposed, it could be his bald head making him look fierce.

  “Where are we going?” She spoke as the two of them made it out of the elevator at the bottom, the bright lights of the city some blocks away. Michael looked around and started walking towards the lights. There were a few taxis lined up to carry people, something that wasn’t available in Denver. Michael also noticed two police cars and a few men up at the top of buildings holding rifles.

  That was a new development.

  He turned to look at Jacqueline, “We are going to get you some new clothes.”

  She looked down, “Why?” She rubbed at a spot that she couldn’t get clean on her shirt. “Not that I’m complaining too much, because…girl here. But, these are still in good shape,” she asked as she tried to catch a view of herself in a passing window.

  “You stick out with the fashion you are wearing,” he explained. “Look around.”

  Jacqueline surreptitiously glanced at the others on the street and realized her more rustic clothing style wasn’t similar to the general populace. “Hey,” she pointed with her head to two men who seemed to be trying to chat up a woman across the street, “I see people that look like pirates, what’s wrong with this?” she finished by pointing at herself.

  Michael paid attention as those on the top of the roofs kept watch, not only eyeing the people coming off the airship but those on the streets around them, as well. “Those men are trying to be noticed, Jacqueline. Are you?”

  Jacqueline didn’t answer before a bearded portly fellow yelled out, “If you are NEW to the city, make sure you REGISTER! If you are NEW to the city, make SURE you register!” His booming voice caught everyone’s attention. Many of those on from the ship went over to the man and accepted one of the papers he was handing out.

  “No,” Michael told Jacqueline before she got the question past her lips, “We are not registering.”

  “You know,” she grumped, “that mind reading gets annoying.”

  Michael smiled, “It wasn’t mind reading,” he replied, his mind trying to match up what he could see of this city, with his memories of New York when he lived here.

  “Then what do you call it?” She asked as she jogged to catch up with Michael.

  He blew out a breath, sounding weary as he answered, “Being around people for a thousand years.”

  Jacqueline didn’t have a good response to that. She spent the better part of the next four blocks keeping an eye out for anything strange or concerning until she noticed the jewelry shop window. She paused in front, looking through the glass at the mul
tiple rings and bracelets, some of them sparkling from the lights aimed down on them.

  “Ohhhh,” she murmured, wanting to reach through the glass and pick one up. The brilliance of the reflections made her heart giddy with joy. She would look at one piece, and then go to the next. She tried to understand why certain stones seemed to reflect more than others not realizing she had stopped paying attention to her surroundings until she was interrupted.

  “Looks like we have a new recruit,” a deep voice spoke behind her. She glanced up to the reflections in the window and saw four guys standing behind her. One was looking out towards the way Michael had continued walking. “Are you coming along with us passively, or are you going to make us rough you up, sister?”