“Hmm, I think he is going to wake up with a nasty headache, I better run!” I said to no one in particular. Looking back now, I think I was a bit in shock about what just happened. I should have noticed the damage I did to that vampire.
This whole time I was not paying attention to the fighting behind me at the end of the alley, I was too concerned with trying to get away from the vampire. So I didn’t notice that one of the fae warriors was right behind me.
“You there, with the Star Wars shirt, STOP!” The ‘fae warrior’ I noticed earlier said to me. But I ignored him and tried to run away. Since he was faster and stronger than me, he had no problem blocking my exit from the alley.
“How did you kill that ripper?” said the warrior with the luscious black hair.
“Huh? Ripper? What’s that?”
Something else I failed to realize was that the wood I used as a weapon had a lot of blood on it along with some gross cottage cheese looking stuff hanging off of the end of the longest nail.
“A ‘ripper’ is what you just killed; your kind might call him a vampire. But vampires are not real, the myths your people believe in are based on rippers.”
“I didn’t kill anyone. I hit him across his face with a piece of wood after he attacked me, he’s just knocked out. I’m sure he’ll wake up with a bad headache, maybe need a stitch or two, but no real injuries, so I should go now. No harm, no foul, right?” As I said that I looked back at the ripper and the wood and realized that I might have killed that thing after all.
I wasn’t really sure how I felt about killing another being, granted he wasn’t human. But he was going to kill me, so maybe it was ok?
Wait, why was I worried about killing a vampire? Since he wasn’t a human I wouldn’t get into any trouble, and I most likely did the world a favor. This wasn’t something I should be worried about.
Just then I looked back at the other end of the alley and realized that the fae warriors were doing a good job killing the rippers. There were only three rippers left standing at this point.
I really hoped he was going to let me leave that alley. Fear started to envelope me and I wondered if I would see any of my friends again.
These guys looked like they were real black ops fighters who had either pointy ears, or pointy teeth. The ‘rippers’, as the warrior in front of me called them, had red eyes with weird blue veins, kind of like spider webs with the eyes in the center of the web. And an awful putrid stench – which was burning my nostrils - was either coming from them, or the alleyway. Since I wasn’t too far from skid row, it could be either or both. It was at this time that I wished for one of those little vials of menthol they always used in the movies whenever someone went to the morgue.
One of the ‘white hats’, as the ripper called them, just used his katana to cut the head off a ripper. Who were the bad guys and who were the good guys, I quietly wondered. And at the same time one of the other ‘white hats’ took out his gun, which had a silencer on it, and shot the ripper in the eye!
“Gross!” I said disgusted. “Is that brains all over the wall behind the ripper’s head?” I asked to no one in particular.
“Oh my gosh! Who are you guys? You aren’t going to kill me are you?” I asked the guy who I thought was even nicer looking than Orlando Bloom earlier, but now wasn’t so sure.
“Calm down, we aren’t going to hurt you, we are here to help protect you from the rippers. But it looks like you can handle yourself pretty good. Did you know that you pierced his eye with a nail from that piece of wood?”
“What? No I didn’t look too closely at him after he went down, I just want to go home.”
“That wood has a pretty long nail in it. Looks like it went all the way through his eyeball to his brain. That is how a ripper is killed, piercing his brain, kinda like a zombie.”
“NO WAY! Are zombies real too?” I couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Did I fall asleep in the movie? I thought it was kinda boring and lame, but enough to fall asleep and start dreaming? I had never done that before in a movie, so I couldn’t imagine doing it now. Still, I pinched my arm to see if I was dreaming…
I wasn’t.
While chuckling, he answered, “No, zombies aren’t real. But you humans all seem to think they are, and that in order to kill them you have to either cut off their head - which by the way, works for rippers too - or pierce their brain.”
“Wait, you keep calling me ‘human’, aren’t you human too? If not, what are you?”
“That will have to wait until we can get you back to our HQ. Looks like we are done here. Maliki,” he called out to his friend, “Call this in with HQ for a clean-up. The rest of us will walk this lady back to HQ and make sure she stays safe.”
“Stop right there mister! I don’t know who you are, or what group you work for, but I know my rights and I don’t have to go anywhere with you!” I was starting to get really angry at this point. “How dare you think you can order me to go anywhere with you when I don’t even know your names!”
“Please forgive me miss, my name is Lancer. We are part of an elite force sent here to protect the Earth. I can’t give you any more info until we get back to HQ and you are cleared for more intel. And what is your name?”
“Oh right… My name is B’Lana, and I’m human. So you are admitting to being something other than human? Where is this HQ? I am still not sure I should be walking with you guys anywhere. I have a feeling that I might not ever make it back home if I do go with you.” I winced as I said that sentence; I couldn’t believe I said it out loud.
While Lancer and I were having this conversation, one of his guys went around to all of the dead rippers and cut off their heads, just to make sure they were in fact dead. One of the warriors shot the last of the rippers while I was learning Lancer’s name.
I was startled when the ripper I killed was beheaded and the head rolled to my feet, face up with the scary red eyes looking up at me. And silly me actually jumped towards the fae warrior. What a stupid girl move that was!
“That is disgusting! Why would you do that? And why would I go anywhere with a group of guys who are beheading dead… things in an ally!” I started looking out of the alley hoping there might be anyone around who could help me get out of here alive! Forget about safely, I knew that was not going to happen, but I would be happy to leave alive.
“Oh funkity-funk! I am truly sorry miss, I didn’t think his head would roll to your feet. Please forgive me for insulting you so.” The guy who beheaded the ripper, said as he quickly picked up the head and put it back with the body. “Please forgive me, my name is Nishni and I am part of Squad 1. It is nice to meet you B’Lana.”
“Seriously? ‘Oh funkity-funk’? What are you, from the planet ‘Lost 70’s cuss words’? Where in the world did you get that saying? Or should I say ‘Where in the Galaxy’?” I slowly relaxed my shoulders while laughing at that ridiculous saying.
Since they were being nice to me, I hoped that meant I would be able to leave.
“Forgive me, I have not been here long enough to learn what words humans use when cussing. If I were to cuss in my native language you would not understand a thing I said. What cuss word would be appropriate in this situation in front of a lady?”
“Well, it’s quite rude to cuss in front of a lady. And I don’t really cuss myself. Generally, I substitute the word ‘stink’ for anything that might be considered swearing. So I suppose what you said was appropriate, I have just never heard anyone say anything like that before. Who knows, maybe you can start a new saying?” I was quite sure that if anyone else heard him say that phrase, he would be laughed at. Especially if it were any of the local gang members.
I wasn’t going to worry about his safety. I had my own safety to worry about.
“Um, Ok so I need to get going now, have a nice night guys.” I really hoped I could get away from them without a fight as I was pretty sure I would lose.
“Not so fast B’Lana, you need to come wi
th us to HQ.” Lancer grabbed my arm carefully, as it was the same one the ripper scratched. This was quite easy for him since I had jumped closer to him just a few minutes before.
Now I was distracted by his musky scent that seemed to be banishing any of the alley’s disgusting scents. He had this earthy, sandalwood scent that was messing up my ability to think straight.
I tried to get out of his grasp as he was steering me towards the entrance to the alley. But he was too strong for me so I tried kicking his family jewels, thinking it slowed down the ripper so maybe it would slow down the warrior too.
I missed…
“Maliki, call for a van. I think we should drive back to HQ.” Lancer called out while eyeing me warily.
I was about to start screaming when I felt a pinch on my right arm and my body turned to jello. “Whath errsh yooth doingk?” Words came out of my mouth but even I couldn’t understand what I was trying to say. It was almost like I was drunker than a skunk, but I didn’t drink any alcohol that night, so it couldn’t be that.
Lancer and his friends helped me get to the van once I arrived. I think someone on the street asked them what was going on, and my response was total gibberish.
How was I going to get out of this trouble?
Chapter 2
“Oooowwwww, that light hurts,” I barely whispered. I started to think I might have a hangover, but I didn’t drink anything tonight. Not even when the waiter offered a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile to go with my steak.
So I wondered what happened to me. Looking around I noticed I was in a small room with one door and no windows. The room looked to be about ten feet by ten feet, I am not a great judge of room sizes, and so that was just a guestimate. Strange, I must be in a warehouse or something. What a weird looking room. And a very uncomfortable cot.
The floor was concrete, and made me shiver when I put my bare feet on the cold floor. The walls, if you could call them that, were just sheets of plywood with maps covering them. And the ceiling reminded me of a warehouse, with those big tubes that are generally used for the HVAC, and have a grill every few feet pumping out cold air. The room had a scent that reminded me of stale clothes and old, decaying wood. Too bad they had not heard of room fresheners, or scented candles.
“Oh come on! I’m already cold and you guys are pumping out cold air in my prison room?” I hope I didn’t say that too loud as I wasn’t ready for my jailors to come in just yet.
My jailers must have considered what I was laying in to be a bed. It was a green cot with a somewhat comfortable pillow, but the sheets and blankets did not make the green canvas cot cozy at all. My back was actually aching. How long have I been in this room?
Slowly, my memories started coming back to me.
I remembered I had been in an alley with a group of what, supernatural beings? They tried to force me to leave with them after killing what looked to be another group of vampires? No, I remembered they were actually called ‘rippers’ and I killed one, and the models I was following killed the other 6.
I tried sitting up. “Seriously, what happened to me? Did I get drugged or something? Where am I?” I muttered out loud. As I looked around the door opened and in walked the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen.
“Wait, haven’t we met? Aren’t you Lancelot? Or Lucian? Or something?”
Lancer gave me a smirk and said, “Yes, we met a few hours ago, my name is Lancer. You are in HQ. I am sorry I had to drug you to get you here, but you are safe and unharmed.”
“WHAT?????? YOU DRUGGED ME!!!!!!!!! I swear when I get out of here I am going to make sure you and everyone in this building are arrested for kidnapping and whatever else my attorney can make stick! How dare you drug me and then kidnap me and take me to god knows where!”
I tried to get out of the bed, but my head began spinning and I started to fall to the ground. Lancer rushed over and caught me right before I hit the floor.
I really wasn’t feeling well at all by this point. I thought I might throw-up and began looking for a trash can. No way was I going to spew right in front of Hotty – McHotty. My stomach started roiling and an acidic taste was in my mouth. “Oh God, please don’t let me be sick right now” I quietly sent a small prayer to the Man upstairs.
I tried to get out of Lancer’s arms and crawled on my hands and knees over to the trash can in the corner between the cot and the door.
Turned out Lancer was a bit of a gentleman. He moved me so that I was sitting on the floor with my back against the cot facing the door. And then Lancer put the trash can right in front of me before he went and grabbed a cold wash cloth. If I hadn’t been feeling so gross and awful, I might have thought he was kinda sweet.
“B’Lana, calm down and just breathe. The potion I used to sedate you is almost worn off, sorry it was so strong. You should not have been so out of it for the past few hours. Normally we use this when we come upon a human who has been in the hands of the rippers. They need a stronger mixture in order to be more compliant with our orders.”
“Why don’t you come with me and I will get you some water and Tums. Then we can discuss the situation and I’ll tell you all about who we are and where we come from. But I need you to be calm, and open to hearing what I have to say. I promise you, no one will hurt you while you are here. We are actually here to help and protect you.”
He helped me and we walked over to their conference room a couple doors down from my jail cell. I still thought I was his prisoner, even though he was being really nice to me.
As we walked down the hall I asked him how I got there and what happened after I killed that ripper.
“You were trying to get away so I injected you with a calming potion. You should have just been relaxed and open to listening to my directions, but it seems it was a bit too strong for you. The past two hours you have been going back and forth between singing 80’s love songs and yelling at me for kidnapping you.”
“Well of course I was yelling at you, you did kidnap me. In case you didn’t know, taking a woman against her will anywhere is considered kidnapping here on Earth. Webster’s Dictionary probably says something very similar if you were to look it up.” I couldn’t believe he thought it was fine to drug me and take me against my will. What a jerk! Maybe he isn’t as handsome as I first thought? Wait, why did I keep thinking about how good looking he was? It hadn’t been that long since I went out on a date, had it? I really needed to get these drugs out of my system so I could think better.
We walked into the conference room where a man who appeared to be in his mid-forties stood at the head of the table and glaring at us both. Oh great, it looked like I really was a prisoner after all.
Lancer directed me to sit in a chair on the opposite side of the table from the door. “I guess you don’t want me to make a run for it, huh?” It really felt like I was being put into a police interrogation room or something. Even though the room was quite large, bigger than my jail cell, I was feeling a bit claustrophobic.
“B’Lana, you are not a prisoner but we can’t let you leave just yet. I promised you some answers if you came back with me. And that is what this about, getting answers, for both of us.”
The man at the head of the table cleared his throat right about then.
“Forgive me sir, B’Lana this is Commander Terra. He is the head of our organization for the west coast.”
“Commander, this is B’Lana, the woman who killed a ripper with just a piece of wood and a rusty nail.”
“Nice to meet you B’Lana, please have a seat so we can get this interview started.”
“Nice to meet you too, Commander Terra. So I am not a prisoner?” By this time I was just so confused as to what was going on. And thirsty too, my throat was dry and scratchy by this point. Thank goodness I didn’t throw up back in my room.
There was a pitcher of water on the table with four glasses, but how could I be sure that the water wasn’t drugged? “Do you have any bottled water that hasn’t been opened yet? I am rather
thirsty and I only drink bottled water.” I said with a bit of a scratch to my voice.
Lancer walked over to the wall next to the door and reached into a mini-fridge and pulled out what appeared to be an unopened bottle of Evian. After he handed it to me I tried to slyly check that the bottle wasn’t tampered with. I turned it upside down and after not seeing any water drip out, I slowly opened the top. Thankfully, it seemed like it was sealed.
I saw on one of those cop shows once that you could use a tiny needle to puncture the top of the bottle and inject something into it without anyone really noticing. I wasn’t sure if they had drugged the bottle before I came into the room, but since no water came out, I decided to go ahead and try it.
“Ok, let’s start with my questions first. Since vampires are real - or rippers as you call them - are all of the mythological creatures real? If so, are you guys fae warriors or something? What about werewolves, pixies, witches…..OH! Are there real dragons flying around somewhere?”
I was getting excited thinking of all of the possibilities; imagine flying around on the back of a dragon? Or pulling a practical joke on your friends by sending in a werewolf to shift right in front of them! Oooh, and what about shaking a pixie above DeeDee’s head? Would she fly? Ok, I admit at that point I actually started snickering to myself and when I looked over at Lancer he had a very confused look on his face.
I should have been more concerned with getting away from my captors, but the thought of learning about the fantasy world these guys came from was a bit too much for me to fight at that moment. My crazy curiosity was definitely going to be the end of me one of these days.
“Um, B’Lana, what is a pixie?” I think Lancer needs to watch more of our movies. I thought with incredulity. I couldn’t believe he didn’t know what a pixie was.
“What, don’t you read our books or watch our movies? Just last year a great rendition of the Peter Pan story was out at the movies, I think it even hit number one on the movies charts. You know, the story about a boy who never grows up and is best friends with a pixie named Tinkerbell? Sound familiar?”
Eclipse of the Warrior: The Interdimensional Saga (Book 1) Page 2