by K A HAMBLY
Draven handed me the first part of the prophecy. I looked at the parchment. Written in burnt red ink were several lines of text in hierlyglyphics, a very old language that neither of us could really decipher.
‘It looks as though pieces are missing?’
‘You're right, which brings us back to the papers that Stride found earlier. Dr. Matthews had copied them from the prophecy just before he was murdered. It was April who discovered the parchment in the book upon its arrival. I just only hope April hasn't managed to decipher it yet, not to that lot anyway.’
‘Well, from what I can gather from this piece of the prophecy it says something along the lines of, ‘the return of the chosen one.’
‘Return? That would mean you Jyrki? But where the hell are you returning to?’ Stride asked.
Draven got up from his seat and took the parchment from my hands.
‘It does too. I can’t believe I missed that.’
‘Then we’re going to have to find out and soon.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I could not listen to anymore of this talk on prophecies. The mere fact that I was about to leave for somewhere unknown disturbed me greatly.
I got up from the sofa, and walked into the kitchen, leaving Blaze and Draven talking amongst themselves.
‘Stride did you fetch us some blood?’
‘Aye, it’s in the fridge,’ he said as he poured himself a coffee.
‘Fridge! My fridge?’ Blaze yelled from the living room.
‘Well yeah I don’t have one in the back of the car like,’ Stride laughed
Just as I was about to open the fridge door Blaze came running in with a disgusted look on his face.
‘Is it human blood? It had better not be. I have left over curry in there I was planning on having later.’
Stride smirked at me, and then took a sip of his coffee. Even I did not know whose blood it was, which was slightly off putting.
‘Hell no lad, they gave that up, isn’t that right Jyrki?’
I held the sachet of blood in my hands wondering whether I should drink it or not. Knowing Stride I did not really want to ask where it had come from.
‘Of course,’ I said to Blaze. Although he did not really look convinced.
‘It’s cool, honestly; I haven’t touched human blood for a very long time. In fact I am over it, to an extent.’
‘What do you mean by that? Fucking hell man, you mean to say you have murdered people for their blood?’
That question hit a nerve with me.
I did not really know what to say to him.
‘Blaze, just relax for fuck sake,’ Stride said, lighting up a cigarette.
Draven walked in the kitchen wondering what the hell was going on.
‘What’s wrong Blaze? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?’
‘What’s wrong with me? You wanna know what’s wrong with me, well I’ll tell ya. He has lived with me for the past fortnight but somehow it slips his mind to tell me that he has murdered people to drink their blood. Now you fucking tell me what’s wrong with that!’
I did not feel like drinking the blood anymore so I threw it into the waste bin.
‘Blaze, we are vampires what else do you expect us to drink?’ Draven said.
‘Look, if it’s any consolation we weren’t to drink human blood. Our father had made an agreement with Mardok, that in return for his life he would not drink from a human so that we would never expose our identity. But, of course some things cannot be helped. It’s like nature. You can’t stop a cat from chasing and eating birds can you? Well the same applies to us. It is in our nature, our genetic make-up.’
‘It’s cannibalism, that what that is, not nature.’
‘Yeah, you are quite right, but we didn’t ask for this, you must understand that.’
Blaze nodded.
‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t think of you as a…meat eater. Not now, since I’ve lived with you for a while. So your secret trips out at night, weren’t you meeting some lady friend then?’
I smirked.
I only wish it had been.
‘Nope, I was too busy stopping myself from draining you while you slept. No, I’m just joking. I felt uncomfortable about staying here since you didn’t really know what I was. So, I was drinking twice the amount of blood to reassure myself I wouldn’t attack you.’
‘Oh jeez, thanks,’ Blaze laughed. ‘So, er this curse you mentioned then, how did it come about?’
‘Shall we go and sit down first?’ I said, and walked back into the living room.
I sat on the sofa and rested my legs on the coffee table. Draven stayed in the kitchen.
‘Well, the curse, as I call it, was passed down from my father. My mother was a human.’
‘Shit really?’
‘Yeah, I have a mother. Don’t looked so shocked. Her name was Katariina. Father met her when he first arrived in Finland a hundred and twenty three years ago. He was with the last of the New Bloods clan, who were friends of father’s from Egypt. As the story goes, he met her by the lake one evening. She was crying as she had missed the boat to the mainland. Father told me he did not want to get involved with her troubles but the woman noticed him and begged him to help her. At the time father was still struggling with his inner demon and snapped when he smelt that she was human. Once she had seen him change, he had no choice but to protect the clan and change her. He did not want to kill her. He said, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and knew at once when he changed her the demon would not last ten years at least. Well, after that he vowed never to kill another human again, and he never. That is also why I am not a half-blood, my mother was changed.’
Blaze looked at me inquisitively.
‘So how old are you then?’
‘I’m a hundred and nineteen. The demon keeps us young enough to slay, but I suppose we will age to whatever age is appropriate for us to live comfortably. I could stay looking as if I’m in my thirties for another hundred years. It depends. If I can get rid of the curse I will become mortal, a human being just like you, because that is essentially what I really am. The first vampires, like my father were humans. Many of them were killed in Egypt when the sun came up. They did not know that daylight could kill them.’
‘Why did they not know?’
‘Well, nobody really knew of the curse, except a select few. It was a dangerous thing to unleash on the world, and that’s why it has been hidden for thousands, if not millions of years. The spell came from a very special edition of the Book of the Dead, so light being the opposite would banish the darkness.’
‘And what about the Ankh, that allows you to walk in daylight, right?’
‘Yes. I am not aware of its history, but the reason I have it is because father overheard Mardok arguing with Jafar one day in the temple. He wanted the Ankh but Mardok would not tell him where it was. The Ankh is a very important symbol. It is the universal giver of life. Whoever has it, it would give them the power they desire. Obviously, ours were to walk in sunlight. However, before Mardok trusted my father with the Ankh, he was shown the ancient prophecy. On reading it, he vowed to protect it and return it when the deed has been done.’
‘Deed?’
‘Well, Stride mentioned something about trying to stop an apocalypse.’
‘Oh for fuck sake, I don’t think I want to hear anymore.’
‘I know what you mean. I never really understood why father never spoke about what he read in the prophecy though.’
‘Perhaps there was something a little too close to home in it?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘What I mean is, maybe he read something that concerned you or Draven and he did not wish to talk about it. Or maybe there was something about him written in there.’
Stride walked into the room.
He obviously overheard our whole conversation.
‘Did you ever think he was at risk of jeopardising his position if he was to talk about any of t
he contents before its time?’
‘Yeah, I see what you mean. Although it doesn’t make any of this easier to deal with. I still have the worry of not knowing where I am going.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The tension was beginning to show in us all, especially in Blaze, who was now pacing about the living room. He was unshaven and had been wearing the same Guns N Roses t-shirt for the last few days. I had to get him out of here before he would lose it completely.
‘Blaze, do you want to go and get something to eat? There's not much we can do here at the minute.’
‘Huh?’ he said. ‘Er, yeah I guess I could do with some air. But what about what Draven has found out, what if you're in some sort of danger?’
‘I think I'm capable enough of handling whatever it is.’ I called to my brother, ‘Hey Draven, we're just going out for a bit, if you need us ask Stride to call Blaze on the mobile.’
‘Sure, I'm just going over some of April's books anyway. Not much else to do,’ he said looking up from the book he was holding.
‘Looks like he has the right idea eh?’ Blaze laughed, pointing at Stride.
Stride was half-asleep on the sofa, clutching an empty bottle of Scotch. I tutted, and shook my head at him, as I walked out the door.
‘Oi, here’s your sunglasses, Jyrki. You don't wanna strain those eyes with the sun now do you?’ Blaze said, handing me my sunglasses.
‘I guess not, we'll go to Danny's Diner a few blocks over, yeah? I reckon it'll do me good to try your human food for a change. I quite fancy trying some cheesecake.’
I was only trying to crack a joke to ease Blaze's dark mood. Judging by his beaming smile under the freshly grown beard, it seemed too have done the trick.
Blaze narrowed his eyes and grinned. ‘You are going to eat cheesecake? With what? Strawberry preserve, the vampire kind?’ he laughed.
‘Now, don't tempt me,’ I said in all seriousness.
I saw him flick me a worried look.
‘I’m joking, ok.’
The sounds of the city this early in the morning was actually a breath of fresh air as we walked from Blaze's apartment through the streets of downtown Manhattan. The steam rising from the grates and the passing of the yellow cabs was now a familiar sight to me; it was as if I had adopted this place as my second home.
‘So what do you think is going to happen?’
I shrugged and continued walking with my hands in my pocket. ‘I don't know. Anything is possible.’
‘Anything is possible?’ That's right, vampires and wolves running around the city and nobody but us is any wiser. It just doesn’t seem right does it?’
‘Nope, it doesn't, but it's a good thing,’ I said, looking at a bunch of kids walking past on their way to school.
‘I wouldn't like to see the innocent get hurt.’
I could smell the freshly made coffee lilting in the air and the sound of Elvis Presley coming from the door. It certainly smelt better than the dreaded blood I had to force down my neck every day.
‘Here?’ Blaze asked.
He pointed to an old firehouse, which had been reformed into a 1950's diner.
‘Yeah this is the place.’
We walked in through the double doors and was greeted by the smile of an overly keen blonde waitress in a tight fitting red and white uniform.
‘Table for two?’ She smiled as she walked us over to the corner booth at the back of the room.
Blaze sat down opposite me on their red leather seats by the window. I glanced around at the 1950's decor when my eyes caught sight of a retro poster hanging just above his head.
‘All customers with serious personal problems will be served first.’ I smirked. Blaze glanced up and looked at me oddly.
‘What? What’s so funny?’
‘Never mind,’ I said, still trying to contain myself.
‘Here's the menus, just give me a holler when you're ready to order. Oops sorry,’ she said as she dropped the menus on the floor.
‘Do you want a hand?’ Blaze grinned.
I could not keep my eyes off her cleavage as she deliberately bent down to pick up the menu she had dropped.
‘Here you go. I'll be back to take your order when you're ready,’ she smiled as she walked back to the counter.
‘I think she has the hot’s for you,’ Blaze sniggered. ‘What's your secret man? Whatever it is, can I have some?’ he said, as his eyes followed her about the room.
I shook my head, slightly embarrassed by it all.
‘Whatever I have, you really don't want mate. I can assure you,’ I said fiddling about with the ketchup bottle.
‘Yeah, but aren't you vampires supposed to be really attractive to the opposite sex or something?’
‘Well, yeah. When we turn on the charm,’ I grinned
‘So what are you having? I don't want to be long in case something happens.’
‘Just a slice of cheesecake will do and I'll try a hot chocolate,’ I said, still reading the menu.
‘Wow, you’re going all out today aren't you? I wonder what the Count would say if he saw you eating this shit?’ he laughed, ‘he'd probably defang you!’
‘I'm trying to be as human as possible.’
‘Yeah,’ he nodded towards the blonde waitress. ‘I think that one prefers you as you are.’
I snatched a sneaky side-glance at the woman wiping the counter top down. As she saw me looking, she turned away. It was becoming quite an annoying game with Blaze now, but at least it was easing the stress of what tonight would bring.
‘Err miss;’ he said, snapping his fingers, ‘We're ready to order.’
‘So,’ he said, turning to me, ‘Did you know about these wolves?’
‘No I didn't. I sensed an animal watching me back in Finland but I couldn't quite connect with their breed...’
‘You've seen them before?’
‘Not seen, but they've spoken to me.’
Blaze was about to ask me something else, when he was interrupted by the waitress.
‘So guys, what are you ordering?’
‘Err, just a black coffee for me and a hot chocolate, and some pancakes for him.’
He was still sniggering and I am sure the waitress caught on, as her face went as red as the blood in her veins.
Blaze grinned at me and I had a sneaky suspicion what he was about to do.
‘What's your name doll?’
‘Jules. Why, who's asking?’
I turned to look out of the window.
‘My mate just there?’ he said, pointing a finger at me.
‘Well that's a shame because I thought you were. Anyway, I'll get your order,’ she winked at him.
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my smirk from Blaze.
Blaze looked dumbstruck.
‘Did she really say me? Fucking hell. I'd better ask her for her number. Too late my friend,’ he grinned.
I was somewhat relieved anyway as I already had my eye on April.
‘There you go, enjoy,’ she put the drinks on the table and handed Blaze the receipt.
‘Thank you,’ he said staring at her.
‘No problem, all part of the service,’ she said smiling.
Blaze looked down at the receipt and smiled.
‘She left her number on here.’
‘Did she, well she must be desperate.’ I joked. ‘Hey, isn't that your mobile I can hear?’ I said.
‘Oh fuck yeah,’ he said, putting his coffee down.
‘Hello? Who’s this? Hang on I'll put him on.’
‘Who is it?’
‘Draven.’
‘Hi, what's up? You're serious? Well tell him to stay put until we get back.’
I could tell by the sound of his voice that something was wrong. I listened to what he had to say before relaying it all back to Blaze.
‘Er, Stride had a call from Jimmy,’ I said
‘The wolf?’
‘Yes, the wolf. He wants to meet him later,’ I shrugged<
br />
‘Why? But hold on, how is he human anyway, does he transform when there's a full moon or what?’
‘I have no idea why he is in human form or what his game is; in fact I don't trust him at all. I'd better go with Stride, are you coming?’
‘Of course,’ he said as he gulped down the remainder of his coffee. ‘That bastard has my sister. Anyway, what does he want to see Stride for?’
‘He wants to come to some sort of an arrangement.’
‘Yeah right,’ Blaze scoffed then realised that I wasn’t joking.
His expression hardened.
‘I’ll rearrange him if he touches her. Come on, let’s get out of here.’
‘What time is it?’
‘Going on for eleven,’ I said, turning back to look through the café window.
‘Do you think April is ok?’
‘Of course she is, now don't worry.’
‘I know a shortcut back, just through that alleyway across the road.’
Blaze was chatting away about having Jules’ number when he noticed I was not paying him any more attention.
‘Hey, did you hear anything I just said?’
‘Huh? Yeah I did, it’s just that I can sense something bad had happened here last night.’
‘Something bad happens every few seconds in New York bud, don’t worry.’
We carried on walking up the lane between the buildings when I saw an elderly homeless man sat against the wall, shaking and looking as if he had been frightened by something.
‘What do you think is wrong with him?’ Blaze whispered.
‘I think we should ask him, but I've got a bad feeling about this though.’
Blaze knelt down beside the man who did not seem to notice we were here.
‘Hey fella, are you ok?’
‘Vampires,’ he muttered, still staring blankly ahead.
‘Vampires? Is that what he said?’
‘Yeah, but look Jyrki, on his neck, two puncture holes. Oh my fucking god man,’ Blaze jumped up from the ground.