by Stina
“Yes, it shall.”
Risa looked up to see Cera take the seat next to her, and the two vampire women exchanged a look. After a few moments, they both turned to face the front until all of the seats were filled.
“Where is Kesh?” Cera asked.
“He’s coming,” Risa assured her. “He didn’t come back to run away again.”
“I hope not.”
They waited five more minutes for Kesh to finally come. He strolled into the basement as if he had no worries, and he walked with his head held high. His dreads were pulled back from his face, and he had changed into something more formidable. When Tiev saw him, his nose turned up instantly.
“So he arrives, finally!” Tiev started. “Only five minutes late, might I add.”
“But I’m here.” Kesh turned to the Sefu and offered their stale faces a smile. “As promised.”
Tiev stood to one side and Kesh to the other. An elder vampire by the same of Solé stood between them and faced the audience. He was short, and the long hair on his head and chin were whiter than the whitest snow. He wore silver robes, and Risa couldn’t help but think that he resembled something out of Harry Potter. His smooth skin barely had any wrinkles in it, and his voice boomed with a rasp in it that couldn’t be missed.
“We are here to determine our true king. We are here to choose our leader!”
The crowd began clapping and cheering. Solé put his hands up to quiet them all down. When they calmed slightly, he began to speak again.
“We need a leader who we can trust, someone we can depend on in this world where we have nobody but each other. Someone who will not leave us in the time of need and someone we can depend on to fight for our honor! Whoever we choose as our leader, we will vow in blood to follow from now to eternity.”
He paused and allowed the audience to clap. Risa felt her hands clapping too.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Cera whispered.
“Hopefully the right thing,” Risa responded.
They waited for the crowd to get settled again and then Solé allowed Tiev to speak. Risa watched him step forward, sure of himself, ready to fill them all with even more lies.
“I was not the first king of this clan, but I am prepared to be the last. This last year was not easy by far, but I think we got through it like a breeze. We are still one, and if not as strong as a year ago, even stronger. I plan to keep the energy we have going flowing for eternity. I, unlike Kesh, will never leave any of you high and dry.” He looked at Kesh and shook his head. “Believe me when I say that I would never want to take the place of my brother. I served beside him my whole reborn life, but I cannot sit back and let his path of destruction become ours.”
The crowd began to clap, and Risa couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“Why aren’t you cheering for your man?” Cera whispered sarcastically, and Risa cut her eyes at the young vampire.
“Kesh willingly brought a mortal into our home and, if that weren’t enough, turned her into one of us. He replaced his vampire family with a makeshift one of his own. Not only that, but he brought a war to our front door and left us alone to fight it. If it were not for me, the Malum would still be down all of our throats! Lastly, he refuses to share with us the magic of having children. Is he the only one who deserves to be a father to a child who is biologically his? Should we all be forced to walk the path of not being able to reproduce? To conclude, he is a selfish vampire, not one I see fit to rule over us any longer.”
Risa sucked her teeth and let her tongue linger on her right fang. Tiev had given a good argument and, by the looks of it, the rest of the vampires in the room thought so too. Risa hoped that Kesh had a good counterargument because, if not, things were not looking too good for him.
Solé motioned for Tiev to step back and for Kesh to step up. Kesh stood silent, allowing his head to swivel around the room. His eyes connected with each set of eyes staring back at him. They were expecting him to say why Tiev wasn’t fit to be their king, but he would not give them the satisfaction. The only things he had to address were those that had to do with him.
“Sefu! I stand here in front of you as your estranged king. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I know you are all expecting an apology from me. And, unfortunately, it is an apology that I can’t give.”
The entire crowd burst out in a fit of boos and angry shouts. Risa’s eyes were wide, and she wondered what the hell Kesh was thinking. If that was his idea of winning the clan over, he had another think coming. Beside her, Cera was wearing the same confused expression.
“What is he doing?” Cera whispered.
“Give him time.” Risa hid her worry. “Let him speak.”
She and Kesh locked eyes, and she gave him an encouraging nod. When the shouts died down, Kesh placed his hands behind his back and continued.
“The reason I can’t apologize is because if you sit here before me doubting me now, then you have always doubted me. I have done my job as your king seamlessly and, because of that, you are all stronger than you could ever imagine. If I have betrayed you, then your faith has betrayed me. If you truly believe that I would willingly leave you, my family, then you are wrong.” He paused, and the entire room was so silent, one could hear a pin drop. “In order to keep my queen and my child safe, I had to leave. Sadly, I did not leave you in capable enough hands. As a clan, you should not be divided the way that you are. You have cliqued up like the college students you impersonate every day, and I fear that you have all forgotten the way of the Sefu. We are and have always been one. I am back to remind you of that.”
“What about the child?” someone in the crowd shouted.
“The key to reproduction never was in me. Whoever told you that was lying,” Kesh said. “Adirah Mesa, my queen, is the direct descendant of an Ancient vampire who was given the gift of life. That is how my son has come to be.”
“Ancient vampire?” Tiev scoffed from behind him. “Preposterous! Everybody in this room knows that there is no such thing. Those are just stories, folktales!”
“Well, I can assure you that the folktales are very real,” Kesh said. “I have seen them.”
“Liar!”
“Tiev, you can say many things about me, but when have you ever known me to be a liar?” Tiev’s mouth formed a straight line, and Kesh continued when he said nothing. “Sefu, the choice is yours. I know you will make the right decision.”
Solé motioned for Kesh to step back when he was done speaking. Kesh didn’t know if he was seeing things, but he could have sworn that the elder vampire smiled his way. He gazed into the sea of beautiful faces and took notice that their expressions were not as icy as they were when he first started talking. Some of them were giving him their nods of approval already.
“Now we vote!” Solé said. “It is time for us to choose the vampire we wish to follow until the end of time. We will do this simply: I will say the name, and you will raise your hands.”
Risa watched Tiev. She fought the urge to slap the smug look from his face. If only the Sefu knew that he was a traitor among them. She uncloaked her mind and shot a thought directly at him.
Traitor.
Her distaste for her former lover had caused a glare in her eyes so powerful that when Tiev looked for the source of the thought, his eyes grew wider than she’d ever seen them. He realized that it was her voice he heard in his head; and, just so there was no confusion, Risa shared with him the conversation that she and Kesh had had in the hallway. She wanted Tiev to know that she knew everything, but mostly the fact that he was the one who betrayed the Sefu. Not Kesh.
“By a show of hands, who is in favor of Tiev as the new king of the Sefu clan?”
Risa’s chest inflated with happiness as her insides smiled when she looked around and saw not a single hand in the air. Not one.
“By a show of hands, who is in favor of Kesh, king of the Sefu?”
Risa’s hand flew to the sky along with Cera’s. It wa
s a unanimous decision. Every hand was up in the air, including Solé’s. Kesh bowed his head to them and turned to Tiev. He shook his head as he looked at the sorry excuse for a vampire in front of him. When he spoke, he talked in only a voice that Tiev could hear.
“You were once my brother,” he said. “I gave you nothing but loyalty, and in return, you tried to kill my family. But now you are my enemy and a traitor to his own clan. I will not punish you by death, but you are no longer welcome, and I renounce you from the Sefu. There will be many long nights, but if any of those long nights lead you back to this clan, I will not be so merciful next time. Leave, and take nothing with you.”
Tiev thought about fighting Kesh right then and there, but with the Sefu choosing the side they were on, attacking him in front of them would not be very wise.
“Very well,” Tiev said calmly: too calmly.
“Show him to the door, Solé,” Kesh instructed. “We will have no more traitors among us.”
Solé nodded and glared at Tiev before doing what he was told. Kesh waited for Solé to return before making another move. It took about five minutes, but when Solé returned, he gave his king a nod.
“He put up a fight, but he is gone.”
“Good,” Kesh told him.
While everyone was already gathered, Kesh figured there would be no better time to tell them the true reason of his return. His eyes fell on the seats that Cera and Risa had been in, but they were not in them anymore.
“Looking for us?” The voice belonged to Risa. She and Cera were both standing behind him facing the crowd of vampires. “We figured that you could use some backup with what you’re about to lay on them all.”
Their presence empowered him. They may have voted for him to remain their king, but would they follow him into war?
“Sefu!” Kesh grabbed their attention once more. “I came here tonight to regain your trust, but there is also another reason. Danger is near.”
“Danger?” a few voices echoed.
“What kind of danger?”
“We have reason to believe that hunters are making their way here as we speak.”
“Hunters?”
“How do you know this?”
“The Malum told me. They have a spy,” Kesh said after a brief pause. As he expected, their response was deafening. “It is not what you think. The Malum are no longer our enemies! And their king has stepped down from his throne for me. Besides the hunters, there is an even greater danger that stalks us. It is time that vampires stop feuding with other vampires. Whether we like it or not, we are bound by race, and it is time that we act like it!”
On the last word, he opened up his mind to the room. Words would only do so much, and he knew it; they would need to see what he saw. He showed them everything that he’d learned and even gave them a glimpse of the Ancients’ castle.
“Is that real?” Solé asked once Kesh blocked his mind from them again.
“Yes,” Kesh said. “The more time we waste feuding, the less time we have to prepare for the Ancient Lykan’s return. I know I am not the only one in this room who feels its presence. We must get to the Ancients’ castle and prepare for war.”
“What about our home?”
That time, Cera answered. “We all knew that eventually we would have to leave this campus.”
“Yes,” Risa intervened. “This place has served us well, but now, especially since the hunters know where we are, we must go. The choice is yours.”
“It is time that we leave this childish life behind us and become who we were all meant to be.”
Cera and Risa shared a look before turning back to the crowd and saying in unison, “Warriors.”
“We don’t have much time. We have wasted most of what we had on this vote that you all just had to have.”
“Risa,” Kesh said.
“What? It is true. It is only hours until sunrise and—”
The sound of feet running down the stairs made Risa stop midsentence. The vampire named Aman was dressed as if he had just returned from a party, but there was no hint of fun anywhere on his face. He was in a state of panic and soon they would understand why.
“Hunters! Hunters are here!”
Chapter 22
The Sefu, skilled as they were, were caught off guard. The Malum spy had been wrong; the attack happened hours before sunrise, and there were more hunters than expected. They were war ready, and the ammunition that they brought with them let Kesh know that they didn’t plan on letting any vampire leave alive. These hunters fought differently; Kesh took immediate notice of it. Not only were they wearing military gear, they were fast like vampires and even as strong.
“Do not be intimidated, Sefu!” Kesh called out as he launched a hunter to the side. “Do not let them into your home! This ends right here!”
“Aughh!”
Kesh heard the battle cry of one of the hunters coming his way, but the man was never able to get close. A hand through his chest made him stop in midstride, and he dropped when that same hand removed his still-beating heart. The hand belonged to Risa, and she dropped his heart next to his body.
“Not my king,” she snarled.
“Thank you,” Kesh said. “They are different.”
“They have gotten stronger!”
Risa’s face and hands were completely covered in the blood of the hunters she had defeated. She was a dangerous weapon and Kesh was happy to have her there with him. As soon as Aman made the announcement that the hunters were on their grounds, Kesh and Risa immediately went to meet them. She and Kesh fought side by side outside, not permitting the hunters access inside. The Sefu followed their leader into battle without a second thought.
“Their bullets—”
“Ultraviolet,” Risa finished for him. “How are they moving so fast?”
“I don’t know, but there are too many of them.”
It had been a long time since Kesh had come in contact with a hunter. Moving the Sefu around so often helped, but eventually it was inevitable. The last time he had come face-to-face with one, they were still fighting with garlic and trying to get close enough to shove a stake through the heart. Their guns were so loud that the entire campus must have heard the fight that was ensuing.
Around him, all he heard were battle cries and the sounds of death: death of his people. Ashes were everywhere, but so was blood. The entire front lawn was stained. The Sefu held their ground, not allowing the hunters access to the house, but how much more could they take? Kesh, fully transformed, let out a loud growl.
“Not my people!” he shouted. “Not my home! Ahhhh!”
A hunter tried to sneak up behind Risa with his automatic weapon aimed, but Kesh was too quick for him. He grabbed the gun by the nose and yanked it, causing it to fly into the face of another hunter. Kesh landed a power punch to the chest of the one in front of him and, when the hunter flew back, Kesh used his speed to catch him before he hit the ground. Kesh grabbed the hunter by his hair and forced his head to cock, giving Kesh the perfect view of his jugular vein.
“You want a savage beast? I will give you a savage beast!”
With that, Kesh bared his fangs and bit down on the hunter’s neck, feeding until the man no longer moved. When he was done, Kesh threw him to the side like a rag doll and went on to the next. He fought brutally, with no regard for the lives of anyone but his own kind. He felt himself grow stronger with each hunter he fed from; and, by the time he stopped to look at the war zone, he’d already caught fifteen bodies. Still, there were so many of them, and he felt like they just kept coming. Vampires were dying left and right around him. The Sefu would need a miracle if they hoped to survive.
His senses tingled, and he jumped high in the air to avoid being riddled with the bullets of an automatic weapon. They had come from the right of him, and when he looked, he saw that the shots had not come from just one gun. It seemed as though the hunters had targeted him as the deadliest, because there were five of them gunning for him.
> “Kill their king! Aim and fire!”
Kesh had to move faster than he’d ever moved before. None of the bullets had a name on them so he raced to the back of the house so that none of the other Sefu would get hit. The hunters followed him, and they were fast, but not fast enough to see where he went.
Kesh was perched up on one of the gargoyles on the second story of the old frat house. The shadows were his best friend at that moment, and he used them to shield him. He watched the hunters creep into the back of the home, and he tried to read their minds. He got some images and pictures, but their thoughts were completely shielded, and he wondered how that could be.
“We lost him, sir,” one of the men spoke into a walkie-talkie.
“No, we didn’t,” one of the other hunters said. “He’s back here somewhere. He’s watching us.”
Kesh recognized the female voice. It was gruffer than he remembered, but there was no mistaking it. Lina. She was suited up like she’d been hunting for years. The way she held her gun, sure of herself, she seemed like a completely different person. Her eyes graced every inch of the back of the house, trying to find where Kesh was hiding.
“There!” she shouted, spotting him perched on the gargoyle.
Kesh moved just in time and evaded another set of bullets streaming his way. He leapt down from the gargoyle so fast that when he attacked the first hunter, his gun was still aimed at the place Kesh was previously. Using his claws, Kesh quickly slashed the throats of the three hunters with Lina. When they dropped, Lina tried to throw a punch at Kesh, but he caught her fist in midair, spinning her around. As he was pulling her to him, she attempted to get a shot off. Bad idea. Kesh dislocated her arm, forcing her to drop the gun with a cry of pain.
“You brought these people to my home,” Kesh growled in her ear.
“You are all monsters,” Lina panted and tried to stomach the pain shooting up her arm. “You all deserve to die.”
“Even Adirah? Wasn’t she your friend?”
His question caught her off guard. In all the time of planning and training, not once had the relationship that she had with Adirah crossed her mind. She thought of Narum often, but not so much of Adirah. But, at that moment, she felt nothing but loathing toward her former roommate. Maybe it was because she’d left her high and dry to become popular. Or maybe it was because Adirah had found true love. Now she too had a purpose, one that wasn’t going to be changed because she used to be friends with somebody.