“How many?” Elijah looked worried.
“I’ll only take Abdullah and the boys.”
Elijah would not miss Cosmin and Costel. Sometimes they could be of use but more often than not, they were simply in the way. “How long will you be?”
“It’s difficult to say. We’ll return as soon as we can.”
Elijah nodded and went about his business. He was not one to pry into others’ affairs.
Teller and his closest comrades found themselves in the narrow siq leading to Petra. Stone walls rose high on either side. Only a narrow sliver could be seen of the sky above. Stepping out of the passageway, they paused in awe to gaze at the sight. Rising hundreds of feet high, covering the adjacent cliff wall was the front of a massive Roman building. It was carved into the stone itself.
“Indiana Jones was here?” Costel asked.
“The actor who played Indiana Jones was here and his name is Harrison Ford,” Abdullah corrected.
“Cool. Let’s go see if we can make it through the booby traps.” The twins disappeared into the main entrance to the Roman structure.
Teller shook his head and turned his attention to the Rose City in the distance. It was not truly a city. It consisted of many small hollowed out caves not far from the Roman edifice. The caves reminded Teller of swallows’ nests on the side of a rock face, only much more colorful. Red and white veins ran through the sparkling sandstone making them shimmer with a vibrant rose color in the sun — hence the name, the Rose City. These caves had once been an apartment-type complex for Bedouin people.
“Do those two not know the difference between movies and reality?” Abdullah asked.
Teller shrugged. “Who knows what goes on in their heads?”
“Or what doesn’t go on in their heads?”
Teller laughed. “To them, life is one big movie or video game, I suppose.”
“In a way, I envy them. The world is nothing more than a big playground to them. Long before movies or video games they moved through life with ease — not a care in the world.”
Teller nodded. “That would be nice, in some ways.”
Abdullah frowned at all the rose colored caves. “How do we know where to start digging?”
The twins appeared. “We could not get past the first challenge,” Costel admitted.
“It’s sealed tight,” Cosmin said.
“You do realize that Indiana Jones is not real? It was a movie. They shot some scenes in front of the great carved building and then the rest was filmed in a studio. It’s fake,” Abdullah explained.
“No! You mean there are no booby traps in there?” Costel was crushed.
Teller ignored the twins or at least tried to. He studied the caves in order to decide where to start.
The screech of a hawk pierced the air. He watched the graceful red hawk land on the ground and hop into one of the caves. This is odd behavior for a predator of the sky. The hawk seemed to be staring at Teller. He screeched again. “That’s the cave. That’s where we’ll find the scroll.” Teller pointed to the hawk.
“How can you be so sure?” Abdullah asked.
“Sergiu is showing us the way.”
Abdullah narrowed his eyes. He did not know what to make of Teller’s new way of looking at the world. He thought his oldest and dearest friend may be losing his mind after all these years. “Very well.”
They dug quickly at first.
“Careful,” Teller said. “We need to slow down. I don’t want to damage the scroll with the shovels.
They dug out most of the small cave floor so they would not miss the artifact. They found bones and a couple of gold coins. They were most likely only a couple hundred years old. They had to dig deeper. They needed to go back almost two thousand years. If Theodora knew of these scrolls or even hid them here herself, then they had to dig much deeper, as she was the empress of Constantinople in the 6th century. Once they had dug a hole as deep as they were tall, Abdullah’s shovel scraped against something that was not dry dirt. He quickly swept away the earth around the object in order to learn its size and shape. He forced his shovel underneath it and freed a large terra-cotta jar from its ancient resting place.
Teller seized the pot. “This is it.” He headed out into the sunlight and dropped the jar, causing it to shatter. As predicted, it contained a rolled up parchment.
The parchment was so dry that it was difficult to unroll without destroying it. They carefully managed to spread it out on the ground. Teller recognized the language of the scroll. He also knew what it was about and roughly how old it was after reading the first sentence. The language was Aramaic, the language of Jesus. It had to date to around the time that Christ walked these lands and to further confirm this, the first sentence read, When Jesus of Nazareth traveled to Magdalena he found his love.
Hebrew and Arabic had many common roots in Aramaic. The Aramaic alphabet had been used in this region for a very long time so it was easy for these very old Arabic-speaking vampires to make out the meaning. Teller and Abdullah read the second sentence out loud together. “Jesus and Mary of Magdalena were married in the spring of the following year.”
“This is blasphemy,” Abdullah said.
“Indeed. That’s why it was safely hidden away. The early church destroyed any documents that contradicted their beliefs.”
Teller took pictures of the document with his phone.
“Sergiu Pasha truly did lead you here to find this?” Abdullah asked.
Teller nodded. “I told you that already. Well technically it was Empress Theodora.”
“So you did see our Pasha? And he’s well?”
“Better than well.” Teller narrowed his eyes. “You, of all people, didn’t believe me?” Abdullah might as well have slid a dirk in Teller’s back.
Abdullah lowered his head. “I’m terribly sorry. I never should have doubted you. You must admit, you have been acting strange these past months. I was honestly worried you had gone mad, especially when you started talking about seeing our deceased Pasha.”
Teller smiled. He had made some drastic changes recently. It must seem very odd to his old friends who had known him to be constant for so long. “I’m sure I would have thought the same thing had it been you,” Teller said. “Yet, you followed me here without question.”
“We will always follow you.”
Chapter 50 Middle East 2034 A.D
Once Teller was sure he had the entire document photographed on his phone, he tore off a small piece of the parchment that contained no text and placed it in a plastic bag. They carefully rolled the scroll and sealed it in a glass jar. Teller placed it gently back in the hole in the cave.
“You’re not going to take it with us?” Abdullah asked.
“The only reason this parchment still exists today is because it has been preserved in this dry climate. The wet Amazon rainforest would destroy it in no time. It is safer here.”
They reburied the scroll and took flight for home.
“I can’t believe there are no traps inside Petra,” Cosmin’s voice was full of dismay.
“We found an ancient religious text and they are upset because an old movie ‘lied’ to them.” Abdullah shook his head.
Teller laughed. The mission had been a success and Teller could hardly wait to read the script in its entirety.
As soon as they returned to the tunnels, Teller went straight to Aaron. Teller handed him the bag containing the piece of parchment. “Can you date this for me?”
Aaron rubbed a piece of the scroll between his fingers to get a feel for the texture and then tasted his finger. “It’s very old, possibly thousands of years. I can run some tests and get you a more exact date.”
“That would be much appreciated,” Teller said.
Teller sat in his small room and began to read at once. He had been completely lost in the text and didn’t notice that Abdullah was standing behind him trying to make out the small writing on the phone.
“You don’t have to
do that. I backed the photos up on my computer. You can read them from there.”
This Abdullah did. Neither one moved a muscle until they had read every word.
Teller finished first and was speechless. He simply stared into space.
Abdullah closed the laptop. “Holy shit.”
Teller nodded.
“Do you think this is the truth?”
Again, Teller only nodded.
“What does this mean for us — for humans? If this is true then Elda is right. Vampires were meant to rule the earth.”
“Not necessarily. I don’t think that’s why we were created. Think about it, we had to be created by something and for some reason. Some of us are good and some are terrible, like humans. So why would we not have the same creator or perhaps creators…?” Teller had never given much thought to why vampires existed — they simply did.
“Perhaps it’s only a myth, like Greek mythology,” Abdullah said.
“That could be. Yet vampires are not myths.” Teller knew in his heart that the words on the scroll told a true story. It was the origin story of the first vampires. Teller was not sure others would be ready to hear it. “Let’s not tell anyone about this — for now.”
“That does seem wise. No one would believe us anyway. In fact, I’m going to try to forget I read the damn thing.” Abdullah left. Teller picked up his phone and began to read the scroll again. He had to figure out what it meant and why Sergiu thought it was so important at this time.
Chapter 51 Northern Canada 2034 A.D
Even though Vera and Veva had been born twelve years earlier, they were developmentally about six years old. They were very smart; with four teachers, the girls read well. Valentina would bring them a fresh round of books from the abandoned library with every trip she made for supplies. The girls would then devour them. They loved children’s books about geography and history the most. This was their only way to know the outside world. They never left the inside of the volcano.
The only electricity they had went to preserving the blood supply. They did not waste precious energy to watch movies or play video games. Books were it and Vera and Veva — who preferred to be called Eva — lived for them. Val would often speak Greek or Latin to them. The girls were well educated and knowledgeable about the world despite never having seen it.
While Eva, the smaller one, was content in her quiet and humble home, Vera was not. She wanted more than anything to experience the world. She would beg and cry and even scream at times but their grandmother would insist that it simply was not safe and that they must stay in their secluded little valley. They were like two princesses, locked away for their own good. Vera did not buy it.
“I sense that our time is running out here,” Angela said after the girls were fast asleep.
“We will not be here forever. That I have always known,” Sasha said.
“How could someone possibly find this place?” Val asked.
“I have no idea but we must be prepared to leave at once. Let’s go through our emergency packs to see if they’re missing anything. I’ll head to town tomorrow if needed,” Valentina said.
“We can’t stay here forever, as our blood supply will eventually run out,” Val said. Angela and Sasha added to it when they could but the supply was still dwindling. Once the girls stopped breastfeeding Val went back to a diet of blood. “It takes fourteen humans to comfortably sustain a vampire. It’s easy math. Two humans can’t feed us forever.” This had been a growing concern of Val’s. She was relieved to finally voice it.
Valentina’s brow furrowed. “Perhaps we should leave as soon as I return from town tomorrow? We should not sit here and wait to be found. Our goal was to get the girls to their thirteenth birthday. That day is quickly approaching.”
Val felt a twinge of excitement. “Where will we go?”
“To your most trusted allies, of course. We have succeeded in keeping the girls safe for this much of their lives. It was our greatest chance of keeping them alive this long. Let’s hope it was enough. If it is Elda who is about to discover this place then the girls are not likely to be a secret for much longer. They will be relentlessly hunted. They’ll need all of their family’s protection.”
“You mean their father’s protection as well?” The worry for her girls came second as Val was filled with joy. I will get to see my family again. I get to return to them … to him! How will Elijah receive me? She felt as if she might explode from all the emotions overwhelming her, anticipation, excitement, fear … to name but a few.
Val could not sleep that night. She tossed and turned, paced, checked on the emergency packs at least fifty times and checked on the girls a hundred times. When the sun was rising, Val drifted into an uneasy sleep. She saw Elda’s face, many times larger than life, glaring down at her. She woke with a start and ran to the girls’ room. They were not there.
“Girls!” Val called as she tracked their scent. Val stopped in her tracks as she passed the seeing stone. It was uncovered — open to the world! Her heart raced as panic fully set in. How could the crystal be uncovered? Everyone here knows the danger of leaving it uncovered and unattended. Without its cover, others could see us as well — Elda can find them! Val sped to the crystal to cover it. Maybe it’s not too late.
Staring back at her from the crystal was Elda’s face.
“You must bring the girls to me.” Elda’s voice was calm, almost pleading.
Val covered the crystal to stop Elda from seeing any more and ran for her swords.
Angela and Sasha were tilling the land with hoes.
“Where are the girls?” Val demanded.
“I thought they were inside with you? Valentina should be back from town any minute.”
“Get your packs and get out of here! I’ll find the girls.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The crystal was uncovered! Elda has found us. Her men are most likely on their way as we speak.” Val yelled this as she sped away, following the girls’ scent.
She took flight but remained low to the ground so she would not lose the path Vera and Eva had most recently taken. She flew up the steep side of the volcano wall. As she spotted her daughters, a loud sound rang out. It was as if she were under a giant cymbal at a rock concert. Val covered her ears and looked up to find vampires flinging themselves into the layer of protection above. One of them placed their hand on the protective layer and chanted. Val could feel their spell weaken. They’re coming through!
Her wings could not carry her to her children fast enough. A vampire grabbed both girls, each by the back of her shirt, and lifted them into the air. Val did not slow as she moved forward at full force. She cut the vampire’s head off and turned to catch her babies. Their screams stopped as they landed in Val’s arms. Val flew out of the volcano toward the south.
“Is that you, Mama?” Vera asked.
“Yes Baby, it’s me.” Val tried to reassure her with a smile but her long fangs and bright yellow eyes did not help to comfort the terrified girls. The girls had seen their mother and grandmother in this form before and it was always scary but under these circumstances it was doubly so.
The vampires chased after Val. They were only interested in the children. Val could not fight them off with her girls in her arms and they would eventually catch her, as they were not carrying a load. Val barely touched the ground as she set the girls down.
“Run! That way.” Val pointed south.
This they did without question.
Val had a moment to survey the attackers. Eight remained. She wished she had grabbed her gun. She could at least slow some of them down with it. Her trusty swords would have to do. She swung them around, readying them. In a blur, she moved toward the closest of them. She did not want them to get any closer to her daughters.
They exchanged a couple quick blows but Val was more skilled, not to mention she was a mother protecting her young. Her assailant’s head fell to the ground. She only had enough time to tackle the nearest
vampire. They fell to the ground. When they landed Val’s sword was in her opponent’s chest. With her second sword she finished the job. The other vampires were forming a circle around the girls who had not made it far.
Valentina sped overhead, “To the girls!”
Val had never moved faster. In a flash, Valentina and Val stood with their backs to each other and the girls in between them. Valentina readied her shield.
Six vampires surrounded them. “Hand over the girls. They will not be harmed. Elda needs them alive.”
Valentina fired several rounds hitting two of the vampires. Gunfire whizzed back at them. Valentina kept several bullets from finding their mark with her shield. However, Val was unprotected. She dodged one bullet but a second one hit her shoulder. She charged forward, taking off the head of the gunman. She spun around to face two other vampires. She charged after them. Her injured shoulder would not let her fight well. She was barely able to block blows with that arm, and in no way able to attack at full force.
Valentina decapitated the vampires she shot and was fighting the last of their enemies one on one.
Val kicked the legs out from under one of her attackers as the other ran for the girls. With her good arm she threw her sword into the girls’ attacker. With the last of the strength in her bad arm, she cut the head off the one she had just knocked to the ground. Val sped to the vampire closest to the girls and snapped her neck.
Valentina decapitated the last of the assailants. The girls screamed as the head landed at their feet.
They ran to their mother who flinched in pain as she tried to hug them.
“I have to get that bullet out before you heal around it.” Valentina looked around. “I have no tools to extract it.” She unceremoniously stuck her fingers into the wound.
Val moaned. For a moment she thought she might pass out.
“It’s too slippery. I can’t get a tight enough grip. The bullet is lodged in bone.” Without warning, Valentina bit into Val’s shoulder.
Of Gods and Goddesses: Book 3 (Lords and Commoners Series) Page 19