“Nico, give me some good news before I have to choke these two.” Constantine sat down next to the unconscious Reapers.
“Nothing good.” Nico pulled out two parchments from his clothes, handing them to Sergius.
Sergius unrolled the parchment and spread them on the ground in front of Constantine.
“This can’t be right. These documents are addressed to the Emperor.” Sergius scanned the documents several times, reading to himself.
“We knew this could be a possibility. It makes sense,” Constantine told the group. “Who else could control the Legions?”
“What you are implying is that the Emperor of Rome is a vampire? That is impossible.” Julius threw his hands in the air and paced around the bodies.
“Constantine, we can’t win a battle against Rome. We are barely holding on now.” Sergius covered his face with his hands in resignation.
“Alone, no. They would wipe us all out,” Constantine told the men.
“I don’t like that tone in your voice,” Nico told Constantine, glancing at Sergius and Julius for support.
“What are you talking about?” Constantine replied, his eyes big and innocent.
“That one that says we are in serious trouble.” Nico pointed directly at Constantine.
“There is only one way to end this war. We need to cut off the head of the snake,” Constantine announced.
“By the Gods! We are all going to die a horrible death,” Julius added, taking deep breaths.
“What do you have in mind?” Sergius asked, sitting next to Constantine.
“You have gone mad just like him,” Julius shouted.
“I have some friends outside the border that have been waiting for an opportunity for payback. It’s time for us to join forces.” Constantine smiled.
“What kind of friends?” Sergius leaned in closer to Constantine.
“Some called them Barbarians, but they are a really nice group of people,” Constantine replied in a sweet voice.
“Yes, if the Emperor doesn’t kill us, the barbarians will.” Julius stopped fidgeting and sat on the ground next to Constantine. “Just tell us your plan. At least if we die, we will see it coming that way.”
“I’m starting to think being dramatic is contagious.” Constantine looked deep in Julius’s eyes. “You get that from Death. I’m positive.”
“Very funny,” Julius answered, poking Constantine on the side of his ribs.
“Stop that.” Constantine giggled. “Everyone focus. Julius, we need you to continue the attacks on the vampires. We don’t want them to realize anything has changed. Sergius and I will be traveling to meet my friends at sea and coordinate an attack.”
“Sailing is going to take forever. Why don’t you ask Death to take you there? We don’t have a lot of time.” Nico waved his hands in front of him.
“Hard to convince people to help you when Death is at your side,” Constantine explained.
“That is true,” Julius conceded. “Fine, you two head out to find the barbarians. We will continue to cause trouble for our dear friends. When do you leave?”
“As soon as Sergius gets cleaned up.” Constantine stood up and Sergius followed.
“Julius, are you going to be able to handle everything while we are gone?” Sergius faced his friend.
“Believe it or not, creating a little chaos is my specialty.” Julius gave them both a wicked grin.
“That is what I’m afraid of.” Constantine patted Julius’s leg. “Don’t burn the city down before we return. Sergius, we need to hurry. I know a guy who can give us a lift. And Julius. Take good care of them.”
Constantine took another look at the Reapers and his eyes shone with unshed tears right before he took off down the road.
“We will be back as soon as possible.” Sergius extended his hand to Julius, but he swiped it away and hugged him instead.
“Try not to let that silly fur-ball get you killed,” Julius whispered in Sergius’ ear.
“I will do my best, and you do the same.” Sergius gave Julius another hug.
Sergius hugged Nico and kissed both of his cheeks. Nico was ready to cry, but somehow Sergius pulled away and followed after Constantine. He never looked back to say goodbye to his friends. Instead, he rushed down the quiet streets in the early hours of the morning, enjoying the rays of sun.
At least the sun was part of their team.
Chapter 12
Constantine and Sergius approached a large ship off the coast of Italy. Their small vessel moved swiftly through the waters without making a sound. Their captain was covered in a dark wool robe from head to toe.
“Boatman, you have made incredible time,” Constantine praised the captain.
“How did you pull that off?” Sergius asked, looking around the empty ship.
“I have my ways, little brother,” the Boatman replied in a scratchy tone.
“Do I want to know what is underneath the robe?” Sergius whispered to Constantine.
“No, unless you are ready to take your final ride.” Constantine moved closer to the Boatman as he maneuvered his vessel towards the battleship.
“Are you sure this is safe?” the Boatman asked, examining his surroundings.
“I sent word, so Sunigilda is expecting us.” Constantine pointed towards the side of the ship where a rope ladder was hanging.
“You know that woman is trouble.” The Boatman directed his ship smoothly towards the ladder.
“Have you met any human who isn’t trouble?” Constantine replied.
“You are so right.” The Boatman laughed.
“You two remember I’m still standing right here?” Sergius asked them.
The Boatman and Constantine both spun around to look at Sergius. Constantine’s eyes glowed red in the moonlight, and so did Boatman’s. Sergius cringed and strolled away in the direction of the ladder.
“Never mind, you both can go back to facing the other way.” Sergius grabbed his bag and examined the edge of the boat. “Are you ready, Constantine?”
“As ready as we are going to get.” Constantine leaped on Sergius’ back and wrapped around his neck. “Boatman, we shouldn’t be long.”
“I will be here waiting. The boss is handling the souls alone tonight.” The Boatman took a seat and made himself comfortable.
Sergius gave the Boatman one last look before starting to climb, and he was scratching his face with a white skeleton hand. Sergius snapped his head back to the front and climbed the ladder, not attempting to look back. At the deck of the ship, a beautiful woman waited for them.
“What took you so long?” The woman glanced around the deck, rubbing her hands on her tunic and glancing over her shoulder.
“Sorry Sunigilda, we came as quickly as possible, but it is a little hard to judge time when you are reading the ship of the dead,” Constantine replied sarcastically, jumping off Sergius. “Just take us to your husband.”
“Follow me and hurry.” Sunigilda wrapped herself with her blanket and led the way towards the haul of the ship.
Soldiers moved out of her way while their eyes remained locked on both Sergius and Constantine. Sergius kept his head down and stayed close to Sunigilda, and soon, she knocked at a wooden door on the far side.
“My husband, it is me,” Sunigilda announced.
A large soldier with long hair and a full beard opened the door. He allowed Sunigilda to enter but blocked the door for Sergius and Constantine.
“They are with me,” Sunigilda told the soldier.
“We don’t allow strangers near the General without proper inspection.” The soldier approached Sergius.
“We don’t have time for this.” Constantine walked underneath the soldiers legs and entered the cabin.
“By God, what kind of sorcery is this?” The soldier spun around to face Constantine.
All four people in the cabin stood up and pulled out their swords.
“Oh, everyone relax. If I wanted to hurt you, you would all be
dead by now,” Constantine told the group, jumping on the table attached to the wall.
“Odoacer, this is Constantine.” Sunigilda rushed to her husband’s side.
“Woman, what kind of witchcraft have you brought upon us?” Odoacer, a large man with a mustache, asked his wife.
“General, I told you it was bad luck to have a woman on board.” The first soldier pointed his sword at Constantine.
“Constantine is the messenger of Death,” Sunigilda explained.
“That is definitely not helping us,” Sergius muttered from the door.
“Are you plotting to kill me?” Odoacer grabbed his wife by the throat.
“Not you, barbarian. Let her go,” Constantine told him casually, making himself comfortable at the table. “We have a mutual enemy.”
“Who could we possibly have in common?” Odoacer released his wife and faced Constantine.
“Orestes.” Constantine licked his paws as the name settled over the room.
“Orestes?” Sergius was the first one to speak. “I thought we wanted Augustus dead.”
“The boy Emperor is only a figure head placed there by his father. The real power is Orestes.” Constantine directed his full attention towards Odoacer. “Unless you have made peace with his double crossing last year and denying you the lands that he promised.”
“You are very well informed for a cat.” Odoacer put his sword away and the rest of his troops followed.
“I make it my business to stay very well informed.” Constantine took on his Sphinx pose.
“What has the great General Oreste done to you?” Odoacer took a seat near the wall, while his men flanked the table.
“We have reasons to believe the great General is a bloodsucker.” Constantine stood on the table.
“A vampire!” one of the soldiers shouted.
“Is that so hard to believe?” Constantine asked the man.
“It actually makes sense,” Odoacer added. “I couldn’t figure out how he was always one step ahead of us. His power continued to expand, but his spies were always more lethal at night. What are you proposing?”
“A coordinated assault to take place in three weeks.” Constantine signaled Sergius to come over.
Sergius pulled out several maps from his toga and spread them out next to Constantine.
“We have been monitoring his movements and if we attack Rome at the same time, we should be able to force him out.” Constantine drew a line with his claws on the first map.
“What do we get from helping you?” Odoacer asked, walking to the table to look at the maps.
“Italy and the empire.” Constantine hovered over the map where Italy was located.
“You are giving me the entire empire? So what do you two get?” Odoacer played with his mustache as he looked at the map.
“Freedom from those creatures.” Constantine moved away from the map, giving Odoacer room.
“This seems too good to be true.” Odoacer moved to his chair and sat down.
“We are very well compensated by our employer,” Constantine said, looking back at Sergius, who nodded in agreement. “Besides Flavius Odoacer, King of Italy, has a nice ring to it.”
“King of Italy,” Odoacer repeated the title in a whisper.
“That is a great title,” Sunigilda supplied.
“I will be king and my army would finally have the land they were promised, and you get a bunch of dead vampires. Sounds like we are getting the better end of this deal.” Odoacer crossed his legs together and leaned back in his chair.
“Sounds like you shouldn’t pass on this offer,” Constantine told Odoacer, wiping his face with his paws.
“Fine, but if we are betrayed again, you are going to find yourself wishing Death would take you away.” Odoacer pulled a dagger from an inside pocket of his jacket and tossed it next to Constantine.
“If you are trying to intimidate us, don’t waste your time.” Constantine slowly lowered his paws. “I’m over two-thousand years old, and I have done things you couldn’t even imagine in your worst nightmares.”
“Sounds like we are understanding each other.” Odoacer smiled broadly at both Sergius and Constantine. “What is your plan?”
“In three weeks, we coordinate an attack on the city that would force the general out of hiding,” Constantine said softly. “We need to get him away from the Emperor and his troops.”
“That is it?” the first soldier asked.
“We have found simplicity works best every time.” Constantine winked.
“Simple but brutal…I like it,” Odoacer proclaimed to his soldiers. “Aulas, it seems we will be changing course again.”
“As you wish, my general.” Aulas saluted Odoacer and headed out of the cabin.
“Sergius, please give the last documents to our new allies.” Sergius followed Constantine’s request and provided two rolls of parchment to Odoacer. “There is the location of our forces and details of the enemy. On August twenty-second, we will be in a position to charge the castle. We will need you and your men to attack the legions all around the capital. Can you handle that?”
“We are trained soldiers,” Odoacer answered.
“Perfect, don’t be late,” Constantine told the man as he hopped down from the table. “We have things to do.”
Sergius followed Constantine out of the cabin and to the upper deck. They made it to the top floor in silence.
“Do you think this is going to work?” Sergius asked as they reached the edge of the ship where the ladder was located.
“Revenge is a powerful motivator, so yes, it will work.” Constantine leaped on Sergius’ back and once again wrapped himself around his neck. “Now we just need to make sure the Reapers are ready for the upcoming battle.”
“They will be ready. For now, we need to concentrate on getting down from here.” Sergius dove over the edge of the boat and landed smoothly in the Boatman’s ship.
“Now you are just showing off,” Constantine muttered.
“Not bad timing, fur-man,” the Boatman told Constantine.
“It was a simple proposal.” Constantine bounced off Sergius and landed near the Boatman. “How quickly can you get us back to Rome?”
“Hold on tight, my friends. We are going to fly.” The Boatman let out a long, eerie laugh that echoed even when he stopped.
“Sergius, hurry and get down here.” Constantine dropped to the bottom of the boat beneath one of the wooden seats.
Sergius made it just as the Boatman picked up speed. Water sprayed all around them as the boat cut through waves faster than the craft should be able to move. The Boatman sang to his own beat and moved the boat like he was the only one in the sea. Sergius held tight to the seat in front of him. Constantine, on the other hand, made himself comfortable on the floorboards and prepared himself to nap.
Chapter 13
The team found out that three weeks was not a lot of time to mobilize an army, especially one that was half depleted. As Constantine and Sergius returned to Rome, they learned they had lost more than half of their Reapers. In an attempt to maintain their assaults and numbers, Death charged Julius the task of recruiting more candidates.
“Where exactly did you find these guys?” Constantine asked Julius for the tenth time in the last week.
“Our options were quite limited,” Julius replied looking at two Reapers sparring with each other. “Most of our supporters were terrified once they learned we were going against the empire as well.”
“I understand that, but these men are bloodthirsty.” Constantine watched as one slammed his sparring partner against the ground. “Is he trying to kill him? He does know they are both on the same side?”
“I don’t think so,” whispered Sergius. “Are you planning to tell him?”
“I’m not getting near that mess in a thousand years,” Constantine muttered back.
“By the way, what is wrong with their eyes?” Sergius pointed to three different Reapers walking by. “Why are
they black instead of silver?”
“You noticed that? too.” Julius leaned in. “Half of the new guys have eyes that way. The more ruthless they are, the darker the eyes.”
“I don’t like it.” Constantine sniffed the air. “There is something off about them. I need to ask Death about it.”
“It will need to wait until after the assault because we are attacking at dawn.” Julius patted Sergius on the shoulder. “The fur-man might not need sleep, but you should get some. We only have a few hours before we move.”
“I will,” Sergius told Julius. “Constantine, the plan is going to work.”
“It better work.” Constantine turned his gaze to Sergius. “We have five-hundred Reapers scattered around the city waiting for dawn. You gave the orders?”
“Yes, made sure they were repeated back at least five times.” Sergius held out five fingers. “None of the civilians should be harmed but eliminate any and all vampires. What are you worried about?”
“I don’t know,” Constantine admitted.
“Julius is right. I need to get some rest before we head out.” Sergius patted Constantine on the head, who in return swatted his hand away, laughing.
“It’s going to be a brutal day,” Constantine told himself as he marched to one of the windows to contemplate the stars.
***-***
Before the first rays of sunlight hit the earth, Reapers were in the position to attack the royal palace. They all wore long robes with hoods hiding their faces. Their scythes were sharpened to a fine point. Constantine watched the sky carefully from the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings.
“The madness ends tonight,” Sergius told Constantine.
“I hope you are right,” Constantine whispered.
As the sun broke through the clouds, Reapers descended on the palace. Some plummeted from rooftops as others ran across the streets. Sergius gave Constantine one last smile before dropping to the ground. Constantine watched the assault from his position, waiting for the first servants to be evacuated from the grounds. Instead of being escorted out, a Reaper chopped down two defenseless girls trying to leave.
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