“You’re keeping them occupied until I can figure out how to take the Strong Hands down,” Kenneth shrugged. “If they would leave us alone, I would leave you to your fate.”
“Kenneth, that’s rude,” Tiffany snapped.
“So, I just want to spend time with my wife,” Kenneth admitted.
“Well, I have been doing a good job of keeping them occupied,” Maliki grumbled.
Shaking his head, “Maliki, if it wasn’t for Besseta, myself, and Tiffany, you would be dead already, so the high-and-mighty attitude doesn’t work with me,” Kenneth told him, closing his notepad. “I’m not saying that to be a smart ass,” Kenneth said, then looked off for a second. “On second thought, I’m being a little smart ass.”
Realizing Kenneth was correct, Maliki slumped in his chair. “You have the right to be an ass,” Maliki said and Besseta almost fell out of her chair. “I know of four times, your information has saved me personally, and in Vegas.”
“Hey, you will be important to me until this is over,” Kenneth said, putting his notepad away. “To be honest, you’re growing on me.”
Maliki looked over at Kenneth, clearly confused. “Oh,” Kenneth said. “I’m really beginning to like you. In time, I could see you being a friend, but be warned, when a friend screws me over, they lose me forever and gain an enemy.”
A genuine smile filled Maliki’s face. “I’ve only had one true friend and one close friend. When this is over, we shall work on this.”
“Can I ask another question?” Kenneth grunted as he leaned back in the chair and Maliki nodded. “What vampire had the most information?”
“Xu,” Maliki answered immediately, and Tiffany jumped in her chair, hearing ‘Shoo’.
“I have got to meet this guy,” Kenneth mumbled.
“When did you go to China and meet Xu?” Tiffany snapped.
“I didn’t meet Xu in China,” Maliki told her. “I met him the first time in Italy, five hundred years ago. The last time I saw him was in New York, like thirty years ago.”
“He leaves China?” Tiffany gasped.
Nodding with a grin, “Yeah, Xu goes where he pleases, when he pleases. The Asian League is nothing but ancient vampires. The cubus will make feints there, but they are terrified to take them on.”
“So, he’s the oldest?” Kenneth asked.
“Easily. Just from our conversations, I know he lived on the island for seven hundred years before the earthquake hit and the island disappeared, but it may have been longer,” Maliki explained. “He’s one of the most powerful psychics I’ve ever researched. His power rivals that of the leviathans. I don’t know all he can do, but he’s the most powerful pyrokinesis anyone knows of. His mental control of others rivals the cubus. He doesn’t have to touch his subjects. I know he’s a telepath, but I don’t know how powerful.”
“Just how long do you have to live before you’re ancient?” Besseta asked.
“Around three thousand years,” Tiffany answered.
Raising his hand, Maliki pointed over at Tiffany. “She’s the most powerful telekinetic I’ve ever heard of, though she denies it.”
“I’ll agree to that,” Kenneth chuckled. “I trust Xu isn’t the only one on the Asian League that has gifts?”
“Kenneth, there isn’t a member in any League that doesn’t have gifts,” Maliki declared. “You do have to fight for the seat, and fight to keep it.”
In shock, “Xu is like nine thousand years old,” Besseta mumbled.
Shaking his head, “Besseta, the island was destroyed over sixteen thousand years ago,” Maliki told her, and Tiffany let out a gasp.
“All the research I’ve done says 7-8000 B.C.” Tiffany mumbled. “I never talked about timeline with Xu. I just wanted information on how the cubus ran the island.”
“My best guess, is Xu is closing in on twenty thousand years,” Maliki said with a shiver. “I don’t think I could stay around that long.”
Nodding, “When do you head back out?” Kenneth asked.
“Tomorrow,” Maliki sighed. “We are going to hit a group outside of Pittsburg.”
“I trust you’ve made notes on what you’ve learned,” Kenneth stated, and Maliki nodded. “Can we read those until you leave?”
“I would be honored,” Maliki said, getting up. When Kenneth got up, Maliki stood in front of him. “I hope your friend is hidden well. I know you got to him because you’re still alive.”
Tilting his head, “If he’s alive, he’s hidden,” was all Kenneth said.
With a smile, Maliki led them out of the library. “Tiffany, don’t try to rearrange my work again,” Maliki said over his shoulder as he led them into the basement.
“Your system of filing sucks,” Tiffany pouted.
Glancing over his shoulder, “Tiffany has certainly picked up your language,” Maliki told Kenneth as he unlocked a metal vault door. “I take it, ‘sucks’ means ‘bad’, right?”
“Yes, very bad,” Kenneth laughed. “And I had nothing to do with her language. That was all TV.”
Opening the door, “I need to check that out,” Maliki mumbled.
“Oh, Maliki, start out with Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Tiffany cheered, then proceeded to explain why.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next night, Kenneth was standing with the girls on the historic site of the Civil War battlefield of Lookout Mountain. “Babe, why are we here?” Besseta asked, only hearing a murmuring of thoughts in his mind. “This Leviathan was killed, so we can’t track it. Besides that fact, it was here almost two hundred years ago.”
“I want to see something,” Kenneth told her, walking off. He stopped and looked around. “Maliki said he was here and looked to the northeast,” Kenneth mumbled and Besseta heard Kenneth’s thoughts getting louder, building into a roar. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand and realized they were both still wearing their riding gloves.
Besseta yanked them off, held his hand and sighed, hearing the crescendo die away when she touched him. “Will you explain and stop thinking?”
Taking a deep breath as Tiffany came closer, “You remember the T-Rex?” Kenneth asked and Besseta shivered, casting her eyes around.
“I’ll never forget that as long as I live,” Besseta vowed.
“Well, I started thinking about what led up to that,” Kenneth said. “While I was out, I was thinking about learning about dinosaurs in school, and wondered what a real T-Rex would look like. After going through a tunnel of lights, I was standing right beside one. Somehow, I went to where a T-Rex was. I want to take baby steps, so I came to the spot where I want to see the past.”
As another shiver ran down her spine, “Babe, you take me to another dinosaur, I’m cutting up the shirt and breaking one of your cars,” Besseta warned.
“No reason to be vulgar,” Kenneth snapped.
“Can I come?” Tiffany asked with a smile.
Besseta turned to Tiffany. “You won’t be excited if you see a dinosaur,” Besseta mumbled.
Pulling off his other glove with his teeth, Kenneth dropped it to the ground. He reached over, grabbing Tiffany’s hand. “If something happens, let go and knock me out,” Kenneth told them, taking slow breaths.
When Kenneth had grabbed her hand, Tiffany had felt a shock and could feel her mind joining with Kenneth’s and Besseta’s minds. Tiffany noticed her vision was getting fuzzy and closed her eyes when her body started feeling lighter. A jolt hit her, and Tiffany was in a black void and ahead, she saw a pinpoint of light. “Oh, shit,” Tiffany mumbled as she zoomed toward the pin-point of light.
Getting closer, she saw the pin-point grow into a circle. As she fell through the kaleidoscope of swirling lights, Tiffany could still feel Kenneth holding her hand, but couldn’t see him. Before she could study, sounds filled the tunnel and Tiffany looked ahead and saw the end coming up fast.
Fighting the urge to raise her arms and brace for impact, Tiffany lost and raised one arm over her face. Then, she was hit with anothe
r jolt, and the sounds of men shouting, gunfire, and cannons firing, sounded around her.
Tiffany dropped her arm from covering her face and stared in awe at men wearing gray uniforms, shooting down the slope at men wearing blue uniforms. She could smell the gunpowder in the air as the battle raged around her. In awe, Tiffany looked around at the history she was watching.
A man wearing a blue uniform ran toward her and stopped to shout over his shoulder. Tiffany was about to move when the man ran right through her. “Whoa,” Tiffany gasped.
“That was weird,” Kenneth said, and Tiffany turned to see Kenneth looking around. On Kenneth’s right, holding his hand, Besseta was staring around in wonder.
“There’s Maliki,” Kenneth said, lifting his hand that was holding Tiffany’s and pointing down the slope.
“Has he ever worn any other color other than black?” Besseta cried out.
Looking down the hill, Tiffany saw Maliki talking to a man wearing a blue uniform with a lot of gold braids. When Maliki looked up the hill, Tiffany saw him drop to the ground. Tiffany was about to physically turn around, but Kenneth jerked her, stopping her.
“Don’t move because you move where we really are,” Kenneth told her.
Before Tiffany could question, they all spun around, but never moved. It was then that Tiffany realized Kenneth was guiding their vision with his mind. “I want to leave,” Besseta said suddenly, jerking Tiffany out of her thoughts.
“Whoa,” Tiffany gasped, seeing a massive human behind the men wearing gray uniforms. Then, Tiffany realized they were floating closer, going through the line of men shooting down the slope, and the man was still getting bigger.
“He’s got to be twelve-foot-tall!” Besseta cried out.
“No, babe, he’s over fourteen-foot-tall,” Kenneth said when they stopped. “We are fifteen feet away and if he laid down, his head would almost touch us. I’ll bet he weighs twelve hundred pounds.”
Tiffany gawked at the massive man dressed in rawhide leather, wearing sandals that covered feet that were as long as she was tall. Unlike the tall humans she had seen, this giant was massive and then it hit her. He was massive, just like the werewolves were.
Watching men run past, Tiffany was shocked that none turned and looked at the giant in wonder. “They seem complacent with a figure this big in their midst,” she noted.
“They don’t see him,” Kenneth said, noticing three figures wearing full-length cloaks and hoods pulled over their heads, talking to a Confederate officer. “The giant is concealing himself mentally, somehow.”
“You can’t hide something that big,” Besseta panted, realizing she barely came to the leviathan’s knees.
As Besseta spoke, one of the hooded and cloaked figures turned, and Kenneth couldn’t see the face that was hidden in the shadow of the hood. The figure looked around as the other two continued talking to the officer. Glancing to his left, Kenneth could see the spot down the slope where Maliki was. “You aren’t looking down the slope,” Kenneth mumbled as the figure turned back to the officer.
“I’m so proud Maliki was fighting for the Union,” Tiffany said, but was still gawking at the giant.
“Tiffany, Maliki was with the Confederate soldiers yesterday, and these guys were with the Union. Maliki was jumping back and forth across the lines to avoid them, helping whoever he was with,” Kenneth told her, but Tiffany didn’t respond. Her head was tilted back, staring at the giant’s bearded face.
“I’ve seen some mean people, but that giant’s face looks positively malevolent,” Tiffany shivered, and Kenneth saw the same cloaked figure turn and scan around.
“Captain, you will assist us!” a female voice bellowed out. Even over the sounds of battle, it was easily heard.
“Ma’am, I don’t care how much money you gave to the Confederacy. We are in the middle of a battle! I can’t send troops out to look for a scout! After we push the blue bellies back, then come and talk to me!” the captain bellowed back and then spun around.
The captain shouted orders to men on the line as he walked off, and the woman pulled the hood of her cloak off. Tiffany was rather taken back by the exquisite beauty. Golden blonde hair flowed out over the back of the dark brown cloak. “Succubus,” Tiffany gasped, and Kenneth nodded.
Looking up at the giant, “Thysan, do you smell him?” the succubus asked.
“No,” the giant replied in a deep hollow voice. “I feel he is close, but this battle will cover his scent for months. There are too many men fighting and dying. The smell of gunpowder will take me some time to get rid of, not to mention there are several hundred horses and mules here. Not even the wolves can guarantee that Maliki hasn’t escaped.”
“I know that voice,” Besseta mumbled, looking at the succubus.
Giving a nod, “I hope so, that’s Elizabeth,” Kenneth told her, and Tiffany sucked in a breath as Besseta lunged for the figure. Kenneth yanked her back beside him. “Besseta!” he snapped. “You take off running, lord only knows where you would end up. We aren’t here. Neither is Elizabeth. Now watch, so we can learn.”
“I’m scalping the bitch,” Besseta snarled and saw the figure that was glancing around take his hood off, and glance around again. But that was lost on Besseta, seeing the incubus’s face. “A man shouldn’t be that pretty,” Besseta huffed.
Shaking his head, “I’m a guy and I think he’s hot,” Kenneth admitted. The man’s face was perfect, with soft gray hair that fell past his shoulders.
“He is close,” the incubus said, glancing around.
“Well, find him, Damon,” Elizabeth spat, and it was then, Besseta saw the blatant arrogance on their faces. “Maliki is the youngest and least experienced member of any League. We submit him to us and it will make our plans easier. I’m not going back to the conclave and telling them we failed.”
The last figure took off his hood and they saw it was another incubus. “I say, we gather up the wolves and bloodsuckers and head west. We can gather more followers from the indigenous people and return in a year with an army,” he said.
“Tonklyn, the last time we fought large scale, we, the chosen, were almost wiped out,” Elizabeth growled, then jerked her head toward the giant. “Not to mention the fact, we’ve lost many of our most powerful slaves.”
“Ah, but we wiped out the free Nephilim,” Tonklyn grinned.
Leaning close to Kenneth, “Who?” Besseta asked.
“That’s what leviathans were called in ancient times,” Kenneth said and saw Damon swivel his head around. “What is he hearing? There is a battle raging around him.”
Damon stopped his scan looking down the hill, and Kenneth almost shouted for Maliki to run. “So did I, baby,” Besseta whispered, hearing his thought.
When Damon turned back to Elizabeth, Kenneth saw Maliki’s form moving off down the slope and was soon out of sight. “I say, we head back to Boston and wait for Maliki to show up,” Damon said.
Besseta tensed up, feeling Kenneth about to push his mind out to the cubus. “You even try it, and I’ll rip your arm off. I speak from experience; it will take months to grow back.”
Relaxing his body, “I was just going to try,” Kenneth pouted.
“Thysan, have any of the werewolves caught Maliki’s scent in the last two days?” Damon asked.
“No,” the giant answered. “We should head west and gather an army,” Thysan suggested.
With her face in a snarl, Elizabeth spun to Thysan. “No one asked, slave!” Elizabeth shouted and they all saw the giant’s face twitch in anger and he tensed his body up. “How dare you do anything, but submit to the chosen! Now, kneel to me!”
Thysan’s enormous body trembled and Elizabeth grinned when Thysan’s face contorted into a grimace. “A slave should never disobey the masters,” Elizabeth laughed, watching Thysan fight against her command.
Giving a painful groan, Thysan fell to his knees and all of them felt the earth shake from the impact. A malicious grin split Elizabeth’s face, w
atching Thysan bow his head. Even on his knees, the giant was twice as tall as Elizabeth. “See what obedience does? Takes away the pain,” Elizabeth said as Damon moved closer and Elizabeth jerked, spinning toward him.
“Quit playing,” Damon snapped. “Something is wrong.”
Turning to Thysan, “He obeyed, as all who are told by the chosen,” Elizabeth spat.
“I swear, we are being watched,” Damon said looking around.
“Of course, dungeater,” Elizabeth shouted. “We are the chosen and surrounded by mortals! They always watch us because we are the true gods of this world! We are perfect in every way!”
“Oh, I’m so going to kill this bitch slowly,” Besseta growled.
After Besseta had spoken, again, Damon glanced around, but looked toward their direction. “I was put in charge by the conclave for this duty,” Damon finally said, turning back to Elizabeth. “You and I will head to Boston with a few dogs and servants and wait for Maliki. Tonklyn will take Thysan and the rest and head out west. Nobody will miss a few hundred natives and we will use them to scour the land in a year, if we haven’t found Maliki by then.”
With blatant hatred on her face, Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and she pushed her cloak off her shoulders. “You attempt to subdue me and take another child, and I don’t care what the conclave rules, I will kill you,” Elizabeth snarled.
A sly grin split Damon’s perfect face. “I think you enjoyed it, but I’ve taken five children from you and have no desire to take another. At least, at the moment.”
“Why haven’t these arrogant assholes killed each other off?” Besseta cried out, and they all saw Damon turn and look in their direction.
“Someone with power is close,” Damon said, staring in their direction. Elizabeth and Tonklyn both started looking around.
“Idiot, none can cloak from a true servant,” Elizabeth spat, waving at Thysan who still had his head bowed. “Thysan, do you sense another with power close?”
All three cubus jerked, spinning to look at the giant. “Raise your eyes to me,” Elizabeth commanded. When Thysan was looking at her, “You felt a presence and didn’t tell us?” Elizabeth asked.
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