“Sure, thing.” said Mark.
Chapter 2
Falling off the wagon
Tudor found Amara and the two went to see her.
“It’s been almost twelve years since we met. I hope that one day you will try to find me. And I hoped it would not be too late.” said Amara, recognizing Ava. “Your father banished me from the city and I only returned for this meeting. If he finds out I am here he will not be gentle at all.”
“We will keep it a secret. Now tell me how do I get out of this situation? Can I stop this?” asked the girl.
“Have you killed again?”
“Once more.”
“If you kill the third time, you will never be able to get out of this situation. But if a full moon passes after your second kill, the curse will cancel itself out. I had tried to find out, since your father came to me with you, if there is a solution and this is it. However, kill before the full moon and you will have to go through the transition period and this transition is what will cause the most damage to you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Tudor.
“It can change her personality, her conscience, her soul. Once the third kill is complete, she will go on a killing spree. And when the boiling point is surpassed, she will not be the same person she is now. It will be the same body, the same voice, but a different mind.”
“That’s horrible.” added the girl.
“I met with a powerful witch in the New World and she is the one who taught me this. She said that everyone like you who survived their boiling point changed to the extreme. If now you feel remorse for your actions, afterward you will just be a shell of what you are now, you will turn off all your emotions.”
Tudor disliked what he heard more than the girl. He did not intend to lose the person next to him, a simple ghost of the past would not suffice. “So all we have to do is keep her away from any potential target until the full moon.”
“The full moon is tonight.” added Amara.
“It is already six in the evening, there will be a full moon in a few hours. I think it is safe to say we can keep you away from anyone for the next twelve hours.”
“Not really. Once the moon will be on the sky, predators will be attracted to where she is and I am afraid they have already began to be lured here. The more the moon moves to the center of the sky, the more they will come. I was too late in coming here.”
Sure enough, it was as Amara predicted. Men and women began to close in on the home. In a matter of minutes, there were so many that they formed a fence around it. Then more and more layers of people surrounded the home.
“So we just wait here and hope they won’t come in?” asked Tudor.
“We will not be able to hold them off. They might even attack us. If they do, you must make sure she does not kill. Besides it would be very hard to explain to the police the events of tonight.” said Amara.
“Or we might not have to if we will be killed.” added Ava.
“We can run from here.” said Tudor.
“There is no use, they will follow us. There are already too many in front of the house to run from. If they see us they will just surround us as soon as we step foot out of the house.”
“I’ll fight them off.” continued the lord.
“No! They are too many, too many even for you.” said Ava.
An hour passed, then the door of the house was slammed to the wall and rivers of people came in with stones and wood, with knives and swords. They attacked the girl. Amara and Tudor tried to keep them away, but they were far too many even for a draco and a witch to handle. Amara’s spell to push them away did not work on all of them and Tudor could not stop all of them at once. Two men and two women jumped to the girl with a knife and Ava received a cut to her palm and, in that moment, she was far away from both Tudor and Amara and she snapped the head of a woman and struck the neck of a man with the same knife. She did it with such violence that the blood burst out of his artery like a cascade. She then placed her hand to his neck to stop the bleeding only to let it flow into her mouth. As the man was being drained, the people suddenly felt like they were being awakened from a dream and ran. Those outside did not understand what was happening to them. Those inside the house were horrified by what they saw and rushed out. Tudor followed each and every one of those who witnessed and killed all seven of them. Meanwhile, Amara just stood there staring in dismay at Ava.
“You can’t be saved now. I was too late.” said Amara.
“I… I…”Ava was too shaken up by the events to be fully aware of Amara.
Tudor arrived back right when the witch picked up a knife and jumped to push it in the girl’s chest. He stopped her and then she yelled “I will stop you. I will find a way and I will stop you! You will only become a wild beast. The best thing is for you to die!”
Showing his fangs and his blackened eyes, Tudor said “Try anything like that again and I will make sure to kill you. Tell anyone about it and I will let the Order know where you are and that you are a witch. They forbade any witch to come to London. If they know about you they will burn you alive. The only reason the duke did not say anything about you is because he was not part of the Order at that time.”
“I could also let them know about what you are.”
Tudor then bit her wrist, drank some of her blood and said: “Try coming close to this city again and I will feel it. By the time you would step foot in London again you would already be dead.”
The girl woke suddenly and she put her hand to her chest, feeling tense and ravaged by a storm of thoughts and emotions. But now she was caught somewhere between the time when she was transitioning in 1807 and the present. Her body did not only feel the present, she also felt the past hunger. Everything had just intensified.
Throughout the day, Mark and Rene were busy trying to find out why Henry Burke returned to London, while Tudor met with Arnaud Thierry. Arnaud was an Algerian dabbling in the diamond business. He became rich from a very young age as he opened up his first business at the age of eighteen and then sold the company a year later for a million dollars, only to triple the amount in the next months and then to surpass the first hundred million two years later and gain his first billion another five years later. He also owed much of his profit to Jonathan who pointed him in the right direction, toward oil, diamonds and precious metals.
“How may I be of service to you?” asked Arnaud.
“I recently found out that the Jameston Company is looking to buy four of the seven major oil companies in Africa.”
“If that happens Jameston will almost monopolize the African industry. What do you need from me?”
“I need you to give me all your shares of the company.” answered Jonathan. “I need to be a majority shareholder so I can stir it in a different direction.”
“But with my shares, you still will not have a majority.”
“I will, once Max Graham gives me his shares also.” added Jonathan.
“Why are you so hell-bent on taking down this company? I will do as you say. Oil is the least favorite of all my business. It is just too tiring for me and I owe you this, but I need to ask why is it that you do what you do? You never showed up to any of the company meetings. Not only that I had to represent my interests there but also yours. The board does not even know what you look like, you kept yourself unseen since you acquired the first set of shares. Those men and women only know your name, but not your face and they all seem to be thinking you are not interested at all in the company.”
“Well, they will see me soon. The current majority holder, John Pierre will soon realize he is no longer in charge. He currently holds 36%. I own alone 25% and you acquired 7%. Max owns 19% so, with your percentage and his, I will own 51%. Not only will I have the most shares, but my word, according to the bylaws of the firm, will be the veto, so I will be able to do as I please even if they do not agree.”
“What if they will want to change the bylaws?” asked Arnaud.
“A
s I said, I will be the one deciding what to do or what not to do. By the time they will realize what hit them it will be too late to change anything.”
“Fine, then I’ll start the process of giving you my shares. So will you stop the process of acquisition of the 4 other companies?”
“On the contrary. I have no intention of blocking it. I do, however, have every intention of acquiring them and, after that, all the dirty secrets of the companies will start coming to light. I’ll open the books to any lawyer willing to sue.” continued Jonathan.
“You will make the company lose all its money.”
“Yes! But do not worry too much. It will survive, sure it will break into smaller companies, but when the trials are over they will have to make sure they respect all the safety measures, all the environmental measures known to man today.”
“But the board will be ruined.’ said Arnaud.
“Yes!”
“And you will be seen as the man who put an end to oil tyranny. The members of the board will not be able to touch you because, if something were to happen to you, they would be the first ones the people would point the finger at.”
“Exactly!”
“Well then, you shall have all my shares by tonight. This is a lot of money that I am giving away. But then again, you helped me make a lot more and I knew what I was getting myself into when I acquired these shares. Good luck to you Jonathan” said the Algerian.
“I will never forget this.” added Jonathan as he walked away.
Meanwhile, Mark found out what Henry Burke was doing in London and, after that, he met with Max Graham.
“I suppose everything is working as planned. Remember, if you don’t donate your shares to Jonathan Mill your wife will find out about your extramarital affair and you don’t want that to happen, isn’t it?”
“Damn you! This is blackmail.”
“Call it what you want, but do as I said.” continued Mark.
“The shares will all be his by the end of the week. You gave me two weeks, remember?”
“Time is running out.”
“All will be his at the end of the week.”
“Good.”
“Damn you and damn him for this.” said Max as he exited the bar where he met with Mark.
Jonathan met Mark and Rene right in front of the house they were staying at. It was almost 9pm and Mark proceeded to explain what had happened.
“Max will deliver by the end of the week. And the Henry Burke who came here is the duke. He is here seemingly on business, but I have a contact who will follow his every move so we will always know what he is up to, just to make sure he is not looking for Ava.”
“We should also…” continued Rene, but Jonathan interrupted her.
“Shhht. Do you hear that?”
“What is it?” asked Rene.
“Silence!” said Mark.
“The house is completely silent.” said Jonathan. And then they all entered the house and called the girl, they looked but there was nothing there.
The girl went into a small hotel in the center of the city. She entered and looked for any cameras; there was none. The receptionist noticed her and asked “Are you looking for something miss?”
She had a little white dress on her as it was her favorite thing to wear. The dress was not tight but it showed the line of her body. The black combat boots and the large long copper locks gave her an air of innocence. She had seen the man walk outside to smoke a cigar. She looked into his eyes and saw all the pain he caused. She followed him as he went back to reception. It was an old hotel with not too many clients so no one would notice if he would leave for a few minutes.
“I would like a room.” she said. “But I do not have any money.”
“Then I cannot give you a room,” he said “unless… we can work something out?”
She knew then she trapped him. Pretty little thing she was. Innocence and good looks attract all sorts of predators.
“We can, if you want to.”
He then picked a key and said “Follow me!”
The girl followed and, as soon as he closed the door behind them in the room, he moved his hands on her and got close to smell her perfume of cherry blossom. When his face was close enough she put her hands around his neck and bit as hard as she could. He then pushed her aside and she grabbed a vase from the table, broke it to the floor and grabbed a piece and stabbed him in the neck. As he fell to the floor bleeding she proceeded to describe his crimes: rape, torture, murder. The girl drank and when she had enough of his blood she went into the bathroom, washed herself, then took a lighter and burned the white dress in the tub. The girl pulled the man to the tub and put him in. She then took out a new white dress from her purse and put it on her. She lit the clothes of the man and fire enveloped him masking the bite and the stab wound. Next, the girl left in search of new prey.
The lust, the desire to kill was stronger than ever, doubled by the memory of 1807. The girl felt the hunger from the present and the hunger from the past, and this, coupled with the fact that the transition was occurring a lot faster, annulled the effect of the pills given by the professor and made her a ticking bomb. It was only a matter of time until someone would find out what she was doing.
She left the hotel room and locked the door taking the key with her. As she exited the hotel she threw the key in a garbage bin and went on to a club notorious for its bad crowd. But now she knew better than to kill someone in a restroom. The girl went to the bar and ordered a glass of whiskey, it stung and she did not like it. A man came next to her.
“How come a beautiful girl like you is all alone at the bar? Now we can’t have that, can we?”
Then the girl said “What if you were to change that?”
“Well then, I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Maybe two. I feel the need to get a bit numb tonight.”
The man smiled wickedly. He ordered the drinks and when they finished he asked if he could take her to his room to which she said yes. They left at 12 and they arrived at his apartment in over ten minutes.
“Would you like some of this darling?” asked the man holding a small plastic bag filled with a white powder in his right hand and a similar bag but filled with pills in his left hand.
The girl then went next to the bed, grabbed a pillow and answered: “the powder would be nice.”
The man turned his back and let the bag of pills on the table while taking a small plate and parting the powder in thing lines. She got close to him and pulled the gun from his jeans.
“What are you doing?” asked the man angered.
“Are you afraid?”
“Oh, so you want to play?” continued the drug dealer thinking she was just toying with him.
“Would you like me to play?” asked the girl innocently.
“You can do whatever you like baby, but it would be better if you would give me the gun. We don’t want you hurting someone now, do we?”
The girl moved slowly toward him and placed the pillow in front of him and then quickly fired the gun into the pillow so as to not let out a strong sound.
“You crazy bitch!” said the drug dealer as he was falling.
“At least I don’t put drugs in the drinks of people so as to give them an addiction. But you see, I too have an addiction. But mine is a little different and I really enjoy seeing you give your last breath. You too have seen others give out their last breath. This is for them.”
The man died right there and she drank some of his blood but not too much, just enough to keep her feeling good until her next victim would emerge and she was convinced she would find another one soon. She wiped the gun clean with the bed sheets and then she burned them in the sink. Next, The girl dragged the body of her victim in the tub and cleaned the blood off the floor. She was tired and she did not feel like going out again. She looked at the pillows on the bed and decided to rest there until morning.
When light hit the windows, she woke and burned any trace of her being the
re. The pillows, the bed, the body, they all burst out in flames when she walked out of the building. Meanwhile, Mark, Rene, and Jonathan were getting more worried as they were still searching, but their efforts led to no result.
As the fire was burning bright, Jonathan arrived at the scene and felt the smell of flesh burning. He went inside the building and in the apartment. An ardenti does not burn, so it was not possible for him to be hurt by the fire, still, he had to take care his clothes would not burn completely. He went in fast, saw the body and saw the bullet wound and the neck wound. It took no more than a minute for him to go in and get out of the building and, with the help of his coat and hat, he covered himself so that nobody could see who he was.
“She was here!” he said to himself.
The girl entered a shop to bay a bottle of water and, while she was waiting at the counter, she saw a man and pierced through his conscience. What she saw disgusted her and made her want to drink his blood at the same time. The man was talking to his colleague and then went to his office. After he finished work he went to grab a drink with some friends and then he was finally alone. He walked into the elevator and Ava walked in with him.
“What floor?” asked the girl.
“Nine.” answered the man.
“What a coincidence, so am I.”
He then smiled and tried to talk to her a little more. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”
“And you won’t see me again.”
“Visiting someone?”
“You might say that.” said the girl.
When the doors opened the two walked out and she went in front of the opposing door, while the man pulled out his key and opened the one to his apartment. As he took a step in his hallway, the girl went next to him and asked “It looks like my friend is not home. Do you mind if I join you?”
“Not at all.” he answered, not knowing what was coming.
“Do you have something to drink?” she asked.
“Wine, whiskey?”
“Wine would be fine.”
The man then went to the bar and took two glasses to pour wine in them. The girl got close to him and he enjoyed it, but she grabbed a bottle and hit it to the table breaking it. The sharp glass she held was directed into the neck of the man and he was left with no time to react.
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