19/21 (300 Years of Sin)

by Cristina M. Sburlea

  “Gratitude? You are to blame for the mess we are in now.”

  “I hoped you would one day be worthy of the Order, but you proved a failure as in everything else you did. The city is crawling with vermin while you lead the Constantines. But no more, little brother, no more!” said George as he took out a knife out of his belt and pushed it into the stomach of his brother. “It will take a long time until you will recover from this, and when you do, everything will be in order in London, again.”

  The duke did not die from the blow. He was protected from the energy he absorbed out of the kills of Ava and George knew it very well. He did not intend to murder his brother, in all his ruthlessness, he still had a soft spot for the man.

  “Us Burkes have to take care of one another, even if that means we have to hurt ourselves in order to achieve a goal.” said George as he was looking at Henry fall to the floor. “Don’t worry little brother, I’ll set things right again. I’ll bring order to this town.”

  The butler was also on the floor, he suffered a blow to the head and he lost his conscience but he finally managed to wake up and five more Constantines entered the house and helped George take Henry to his room, helped the butler, and took Ava to her chamber. By the time Ava was waking up, George had shaved off his beard and moustache, cut his hair and he finally looked like the duke he was. Ava immediately recognized him as her uncle, but she did not remember the attack on her house, nor did she remember what she saw in his eyes and, no matter how much she looked into his eyes, she could not see a thing. The Latin words whispered by George when the girl was unconscious made her completely blind to the acts he had committed. The man told Ava how he survived the attack on his ship and was taken care of by an old tribe on the island he got to. He was very ill but they managed to take him back to reasonable health. He then spent years building a ship out of the wood of the island to get back to England and he managed to learn how to communicate with the people of the tribe. However, he omitted to tell her that he had found a witch there who taught him how to stop Ava from seeing the acts he had committed in his life. She was now blind when it came to his sins. He also changed the story of how her father got hurt, he blamed another draco for it.

  “I’ve hurt an innocent boy, uncle! I…”

  “Shhht dear girl. It was an accident; it is not your fault. Do not worry about that.” said George.

  The duke was glad his plan worked. The girl took an innocent life and now all he had to do was to wait for the full moon to rise to the sky. On that full moon, he would finally be able to create the leader he always wanted for the Order. George was able to walk, was able to speak and act fully healthy, but the truth was that he had only a few more months to live. His health started to deteriorate before Ava was born, but he always managed to keep himself walking with the help of medicine and magic. However now, he knew he had reached his last breath unless he finished his plan. The doctor of the Order reassured Ava and the Constantines that Henry would be alright, but that it would take a few weeks for him to fully recover and George was reintroduced to the Order.

  On that day, Tudor arrived at the mansion after hearing about the attack. He had been hunting the whole night with Wesley.

  “Are you alright?” asked the lord.

  “I am. Do not worry. Look, my uncle is here, he is alive!” said Ava as her uncle was arriving in the hall.

  Tudor knew immediately who the man was and he felt a wave of anger rush through all over his body. George was responsible for the lives of many men being stolen away from them. But what Tudor felt, was nothing to how Wesley felt when he saw the man. George did not recognize the Irish, but Wesley remembered him giving the order, after his capture, to turn him into the beast he was now. Wesley was taken away from his town, put in a dungeon along with fifty other men and George came in with the leader of the Order of that time, and said the words “Turn the bastards in our slaves!” He had never forgotten those words as those were the words that took away his life and turned him into a shell of what he used to be. It was the year 1772. Wesley was thirty seven at that time and George was only a boy of seventeen, still in training to become a Constantine. George could not remember his as he did not even take a look at the faces of the men he was condemning to a life of nothingness. He only came to the gate of the dungeon and gave the order. As he saw him as an old man now, he wanted to rip his heart out, but as he took a step forward, Tudor put his hand on Wesley’s shoulder and said “Duke George Burke, I have heard many stories about you, maybe one day you would be kind enough to shed light on some of them. The people in this town remember you fondly.”

  “I am an old man Lord Emery. My stories are far less interesting than those of a man who lived so long in the New World. Tell me: is that a good place to live in?”

  “It is a wonderful place.” said Wesley, keeping his composure. But the draco knew he was in the same room with the devil himself.

  After Tudor and Wesley saw Duke Henry, they asked if there was anything they could do, not knowing who hurt the man. Ava and George said that the best doctors of the city are taking care of him so he will soon get better. George did not leave Ava’s side so Tudor could not speak to her in private and then the two dracos left the mansion. On the street, Wesley turned to Tudor and said: “I want to kill him. I waited since 1772 for the day when I could take his life.”

  “Calm down man! We need to keep our composure now more than ever. His time will come, that is a sure thing, but you need to calm down now!” said Tudor and then he asked “Did you notice something peculiar about Ava?”

  “Her eyes. They were black, but I remember them brown.” answered Wesley.

  “Exactly! So how could a human’s eyes turn black in the course of a night?” asked Tudor and then continued “We need to find Amara. There is something more to this story. Not only that her eyes were of a different shade, but she also acted like she had no care in the world.”

  “Someone whose father had suffered such a wound, would not be so carefree. What are you thinking of?”

  “Duke George Burke convinced Henry to curse his child. He knew she would be able to see what he had done.”

  “But Ava did not show signs of seeing anything.”

  “Exactly! So we must find Amara and ask if someone could stop her from seeing into his conscience.”

  The two set out to find the witch and they reached her house in the evening, but they did not just find her inside. Three other witched were inside the house and they were expecting the two dracos.

  “I am Amelia Nicolescu. I have just arrived from Moldavia.” said one of the witches.

  “I am Marie Cardain, I came from Paris.” said the second.

  “And I am Mariana Docchio, I arrived this morning from Rome.”

  “And you are all witches.” said Wesley.

  “All born at the same time.” said Amara. “They came as they were attracted by the accumulation of supernatural in England. If witches are born at the same time, we can feel if some great danger is going to spread across the world of one of us.”

  “So you felt attacks of the dracos on London?” asked Wesley.

  “That is not the danger that she is talking about.” added Marie. “The attacks of the dracos will pale in comparison to what the girl will do with her Order.”

  “The girl, her Order? Continue woman, speak up!” said Tudor.

  “We do not know yet. We need to perform a spell to see what is happening. The four of us together will combine our powers and we will be able to see what will happen. But you need to let us do it, now!” added Amara.

  Tudor and Wesley moved back and let the four of them perform their spell. The four witches sat at a round table in the middle of the room, held candles in their hands and chanted words neither Wesley nor Tudor could understand. After a few moments the fires burned stronger and moved away from the candles in the center of the table only to intensify for a moment and then disappear. But the voices were heard in the room, screams, and ghosts
of people being hanged, impaled, tortured appeared, even the ghosts of the four witches burned on stakes appeared and then it all stopped.

  “The girl will be the demise of us all.” yelled Amara. “His plan was not to give Henry eternal life to hunt the likes of you. His plan was to make a creature that would in itself be able to control the beasts and then use them to rule anything and anyone it wants.”

  “Ava?” asked Tudor.

  “No! Himself. He used Ava. He tricked her into taking an innocent’s life. And he used a spell to protect his soul from her sight. Now he will absorb Henry’s energy.”

  “How will he do that?” asked the lord.

  “During this full moon he will take an innocent life and then he will use a drop of the girl’s blood and he will drink it. By doing so he will bound Ava to him and all the energy of the ones whom she killed will be transferred into him. Duke Henry Burke will die and, from there on, George will control the girl. She will kill on command and indiscriminately. It will not matter if her victims have sinned or not.”

  “How do we stop it?”

  “Go, before it’s too late, go and kill George Burke before it is too late. He has to drink that drop of blood right before sunrise. If he does it he will continue living, the girl will be forever at his mercy and, with every new kill, he will receive more and more energy and, one day, he will be able to control dracos and humans with just his mind.”

  “He will rule anything and anyone.” said Wesley.

  “Yes. That means not only your demise, but also ours, the witches will be doomed.”

  The two men left the house on their horses and galloped back to London. But by the time they arrived, it was almost morning and George had already taken the life of the butler. Ava was being held by members of the Order. She was tied to a chair, unable to move. Tudor and Wesley sensed, from outside the house, that there were seven more people inside the house, besides the two dukes and the girl.

  “If we go in now, they will discover our identities and our revenge against the Order will not be completed.” said Wesley stopping Tudor from entering the house.

  “I don’t care about revenge now. All I care is to get her out. Besides, if we don’t get her out now, there will be no chance for revenge ever again.”

  “In a different life then.” said Wesley.

  “In a different life.” said Tudor and broke down the door.

  Chapter 3

  Fugitives

  The two dracos, with black eyes and swollen veins under their skin, barged in, fought the Constantines, shattered glass, bent wood, rose their swords, pulled hearts out, and set Ava free. But then more Constantines arrived at the mansion and Lord Emery and Wesley realized they could not kill them all so Tudor took Ava onto his horse and galloped as fast as he could. Dogs were released after them and 4 members of the Order hopped on their horses and left on their trails. The other Constantines were there on foot so they had to go take horses and carriages, but as each moment was passing by, they were being left further and further behind the dracos and the girl. One of the Constantines caught up to the three and Wesley pushed a sword through his neck.

  The fugitives managed to lose the men following them and they kept galloping till they got to a river. They entered the river and walked a few miles through the water.

  “The dogs will not be able to find us if we walk through the water.” said the lord.

  Once they got out of the river they changed direction. Instead of continuing to move southward, they moved north and they took refuge in an abandoned house.

  “Tomorrow we go west and we take a boat to Spain!” said Tudor

  “We can’t leave with so many young dracos roaming the streets of London! We must do something” said Ava.

  “And we can stop them.” said Amara walking in with the other three witches.

  “How did you get here?” asked Wesley.

  “We were able to foresee the future and you think we would not be able to find you? We knew you would come here even before you did.” said the witch.

  “Being together, our powers have greatly increased.” added Marie.

  Then Tudor explained to the girl what the witches had done and Amara said “We can help the girl increase her ability as well, but that will have consequences.”

  “What consequences?” asked the lord.

  “That we cannot say.” added Ana.

  “You must!” continued Tudor.

  “If she knows the consequences and they are too much for her to accept, then her mind will fight our spell. So you have a choice girl. Will you accept to do this without knowing or will you not?”

  “This is a test of some sort.” added the Ava.

  “Yes it is and you decide whether you pass or not.” said Mariana.

  Tudor tried to argue against it, but Ava would not hear any of it and when he tried to get the girl out of the house, it was too late as the four witches had already formed a circle around her and no one could pierce it. Tudor tried, but an invisible wall was keeping the women out of his reach. The witches then performed a spell and a terrible wind shattered the glass of the windows and opened the door. Then it all stopped and the spell was complete. Tudor could finally reach the girl.

  “What did you do?” asked the lord.

  “She can now locate each and every one of the beasts with the intention to cause harm to people. And, by concentrating on them, she will be able to destroy them.”

  Ava then felt deep pain coming straight from the center of her head. She moved to the bed and sat there. Her mind was now going to all of the dracos in London. One by one, the beasts who had committed crimes began to fall dead to the ground. But the pain was only getting worse and she started to scream.

  “Make it stop, now!” said Tudor as he grabbed Amara tightly by the hands.

  “We cannot undo what is already done.”

  “Did you think we would let an entire city be destroyed by these unnatural forces, by these beasts?” asked Marie.

  “This was your plan all along. That is why you came here. You were going to do it whether she chose this or not.” said Lord Emery angered.

  “Yes! But if she chose this, we decided we would grant her life. If she would not have chosen this, we would have killed you all right after this process, and another one, was complete.”

  “What other process?” asked the lord.

  “You are all unnatural beings. This world is not for you, nor will it ever accept you.” said Amara, pretending not to have heard the question.

  “Aaaah!” screamed the girl and the lord rushed to her side. He held her close and tried to comfort her. He even tried to give her his blood, but Amara warned it would not work at that moment.

  It took an hour of hell and Ava finally reached Raj’s mind and then her screams stopped. She was exhausted and her eyes closed and she did not respond to any of Tudor’s words.

  “Why is she not responding?” asked the lord.

  “The process is complete. All the dracos are now dead and she needs to rest if she is to see another day.”

  As the night was passing by Tudor, Wesley and the four witches calmed down and talked about the Order.

  “So what now? What else is it that you intend to do?”

  “Now that the threat on London is gone, the Constantines will be more powerful because they will be more united. All that is unnatural was awakened by them. The last time witches had active powers was over a thousand years ago. Our powers were reactivated once the Order was founded and the first draco was created. As long as unnatural energy is being used, we will also be able to perform our spells.” said Marie.

  “The unnatural has no place in this world and the girl is the key to getting rid of it!” added Amara. “From generation to generation, for over a century, we have expected some sort of anchor that could bind all the unnatural to appear and, finally, we have it now.”

  “So what, do you intend to destroy us also now?”

  “It is not how this wo
rks. When Ava will be awake again, she will have her strength back. We will bind all members of the Order and we will wipe their memory clean. We will not be able to kill them as they are human and we can only take the life of unnatural beings. But they will not remember the Order and anything connected to it, as we will take away all the memories they have about it. This way we stop them from ever using unnatural energy. And, once this is complete we will be able to reverse the curse placed upon the ones like you.” answered Amara.

  “What? We would be human again?”

  “Yes! You would not need to feed on human blood, you would not feel the pain of the beings you fed on, you would not need to fear anyone discovering the beasts you are and then trying to hunt you down, and you would not need to fear other humans will be used the way you were all used.” said Amara.

  “If you make her hurt like that again…” added Tudor.

  “This time she won’t. Every spell is different and this one will not require so much effort on her part.” interrupted Marie.

  Ava heard all the discussion while resting and when she woke up she agreed to what the witches asked of her.

  “I want this to stop just as much as you do, so do what you have to do and let’s finish this once and for all!”

  The four witches began chanting again and a strong storm began outside the house again, leafs and even rocks were lifted off the ground. The noises of the storm made it hard for anyone, even the dracos, to distinguish any sound.

  “She is bound to the Order now and the Constantines are bound together!” screamed Amara.

  “Now we will start destroying their memories!” yelled Ana.

  But as soon as Ana finished her last word, Constantines stormed the house, pulled their swords and struck the four women. Tudor told Wesley to get Ava while he slowed down the Constantines and the Irish did as he was told. He grabbed the girl, hopped on a horse and ran westward. No matter how much Ava did not want to leave Tudor behind, she had no choice in the matter.

  As Tudor was fighting with the members of the Order, Amara, struck to the ground, said “While the Order lives, the girl will live, she is bound to them, so there is still hope.” Ana, Marie, and Mariana were dead, but Amara was still breathing. Tudor grabbed the woman helped her on his horse and managed to flee the scene, but Constantines were on his trails. The two reached a river, walked through it and then stopped for a few moments as there were no more men after them.