by Dylan Keefer
“I’ve been a fool. I didn’t seek the wisdom of the Summoners because I knew that my mission was wrong. I knew you wouldn’t help me.”
“You were right,” Elizabeth said. “But now, I can help you. You have to direct Mei to the one who can help you gain leverage with the Dominion. One who can help you.”
“Who?”
Elizabeth reached out her hands towards Madi, and the girl grabbed them. A face suddenly flashed before her. European. Dark and brooding. Madi could sense pain and loathing. There was anger and hate. She shivered at the sight of him.
“Who is he?” She asked the woman. “Why are you showing him to me?”
“He is the son of the King and Queen of the Dominion. Sired to be prince and next on the throne if anything happens to the King and Queen.”
“What!” Madi gasped. “And child, if Mei is to get her rightful place on the throne, she must destroy him.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mei walked up the steps of the apartment complex and looked at the surroundings. Serge had chosen to live a simple lifestyle apparently. She had to take the stairs two at a time just to keep up with him.
“You take the stairs even though you live six stories up?”
“The elevator is broken more times that it’s working,” Serge said from in front of her. “Besides, I hate those things. One of the advancements that I’ve watched develop, and I never liked. Another one is computerized telephone systems. Those voices are just creepy.”
“I haven’t had too much experience with them,” she said. They arrived on the six floor and walked down the hallway to apartment 6G. Serge opened the door and sighed.
“This is home sweet home--for now. We’ll see how long it lasts.”
“So, you are still in the military? What exactly do you do?”
Serge closed the door when she walked inside and slipped his shoes off. “We don’t have to do this, Mei. I know that we haven’t seen each other in years, but we don’t have to catch up on my life.”
“But I want to know,” Mei said genuinely. “I really do. I’m--I’m still trying to remember you. I have memories about who you are and how I felt about you, but that’s different than really knowing.” “The person that I was back then is not the person I am now, so don’t worry about that.” She gave him a look that said she wasn’t going to let it go. “Okay. Okay. I work as an analyst. You know what that is?”
Mei shook her head. “Not in the least.” He pointed her to the small couch in the middle of the room, and she sat down.
“Basically, I help in gathering information and data that will help the American military decide logistical strategy and…” He laughed as he saw her perplexed face. “Simply, I gather data to help the military fight against threats and possible threats.”
“Got it,” she said. “I could use a military analyst to help me with the Dominion.”
She smirked as she said it, and Serge shook his head. “You’ve been awake enough to gain the American wit and sarcasm.”
Mei looked around the apartment. To be expected, Serge didn’t have a lot. He had the necessities and furniture, but there was absolutely nothing personal in the space. Mei felt sad. “You’ve never married? Never started a family?”
“No point,” Serge said going into his kitchen and opening the fridge. “Why would I want to subject myself to that? I mean, I’ve already outlived so many people. One of the guys I served in the American military in the 1800’s, I’ve served with four of his ancestors. After so many years, it just gets easier to live my life away from people as much as possible.”
“But don’t you think it would have been great to have a family--someone to love?”
“I did have family--someone that I loved,” he said throwing her an interesting packet of blood. She caught it. “I had to have her memory wiped and bury her in a crypt.”
Mei looked down at the blood packet and nodded. Serge ripped open the top of one and began to drink the contents. “I don’t know what you’ve been drinking lately, but I have a steady supplier that I’ve compelled. He makes deliveries to me twice a week; so, take as much as you need.”
“Thank you,” she said ripping hers open and drinking. It tasted good. Sweet. Lately, she had been only drinking Madi’s, which the witch insisted on, and her blood had a burn to it. Madi said it was the difference between drinking whiskey and drinking beer. Mei hadn’t had either so…
“So, you left off with the vampire hunter leaving, and you and the witch finding the priest,” Serge said. Mei frowned until she remembered that she had been telling him her story lately. She began to talk again, but Serge stopped her. His gaze was away from her, and his jaw was tense. Suddenly, she heard the difference in the change of the atmosphere. It was a familiar difference though. Before she could place it, there was a knock at the door. Serge’s fangs came out.
“Mei? Are you in there?”
Mei stood up quickly and rushed to the door. “Madi?” She opened the door, and the redhead walked in quickly.
“You’re not going to believe it. You really aren’t. We’ve got to talk about our plans. They had to change.”
“This is the witch?” Serge said his fangs still out. “She’s a girl.”
“I’m a girl,” Mei said. “I mean, to you I’m a girl.”
“What are you doing here?”
Madi raised her hands to bring the attention back to her. “The King and Queen have a successor to the throne. A recognized successor. A prince.”
“How did you find this out?” Mei said. “I finally started seeking the spirits of the Summoners before me. They’re finally not mad at me for being a--well--a bitch.”
Serge stood up straight. “Wait! Hold up! You said Summoner. Why did you say that?”
Madi looked at Mei and placed her hands on her hips. “You didn’t tell him about me yet?”
“No, I did,” Mei grimaced. “I just left out the part about you being a Summoner.”
“The Summoners are all dead,” Serge said. “They have been for a long time.”
“Myth,” Madi shrugged. “Honestly, I just think that the Dominion were wishful thinking.”
Serge looked at Madi with a sense of disgust. “That,” Mei pointed at him. “That’s why I didn’t tell you right away that she is a Summoner.”
Serge growled. His fangs went back in, but he backed up a little. Madi looked at him. “I get it. You and I come from opposite sides of the spectrum, but I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mei, and Mei loves you. So…”
The look in Serge’s eyes changed. He softened a little, and Mei felt a little more relaxed. “So, there is a Prince. I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything less. I don’t know why it wouldn’t have crossed our minds. That makes it hard.”
“Not necessarily,” Serge said. Both women looked at him. Serge took another drink of blood. “He doesn’t know who you are. He is not threatened by you because he doesn’t know that you exist. In fact, there are probably only a few Dominion who know you exist. The King and Queen were very purposeful that the acknowledgement of a hybrid vampire not be made known. My thinking is that Gregory knew, but the vampires that he had with him to attack you both times were clueless to who you were other than an enemy of the Dominion.”
“So, you don’t think that they even told their own son that there is a threat out there?”
“There hasn’t been a need to,” Serge said. “You’ve been MIA for so long that it’s obvious that either something happened to you or that you didn’t want to come back.”
“Then, that’s good,” Madi said. “Except that I saw Elizabeth in a vision.”
Mei looked at Serge. “You remember Elizabeth, of course.”
“Of course,” Serge said. Mei motioned to Madi.
“Meet her ancestor.” Serge rolled his eyes.
“Of course, why wouldn’t she be,” he said snarkily. Madi ignored him.
“Elizabeth said that the only way you were going to reclaim the throne and t
he Dominion is to destroy him.” Mei’s eyes widened.
“Kill him, you mean?”
“Can’t think of a nicer way to destroy someone,” Madi said.
“You’re sure that Elizabeth wants Mei to engage the Prince of the Dominion,” Serge said with some concern. “If he is already the recognized Prince then there is no way that killing him is going to make her dear and near to them. It doesn’t matter if she is the rightful heir or not.”
“Maybe, we need to think about this strategically?” Mei thought out loud.
“What do you mean?” Madi asked. Mei nodded at Serge. “We have a military analyst here,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure that he can help us come up with a way to be stealth in how we do this.”
Serge scratched his head. “We do have somewhat of an advantage in the fact that no one knows about Mei.”
“Except for Gregory, and the King and Queen,” Madi said.
“But how many others beside Gregory know what Mei looks like? No vampire that is alive has seen her except for Gregory.”
They were all quiet for a moment. Mei was the one who broke the silence, and she did so while she looked at Serge.
“This means, that we have to kill him,” she said. “In order to go ahead with this, we have to kill Gregory.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Thank you, Mr. Wilkins,” the barista said with a smile. “We’ll see you tomorrow for your regular.”
Gregory raised his cup and exited the shop. He took a sip of the hot beverage and nearly spit it back up. When he had walked down the street far enough away from the shop, he opened the cup and poured the contents on the side of the street. He started walking again and pulled out a small packet of blood and emptied it into the cup. Sure, he could always just take a bunch of cups, but it kept up the rouse to buy coffee every morning. It wasn’t like he was wasting the money. He had enough of it.
He hopped into the expensive Benz that was parked on the side of the street and started it up. Just as he was about to pull out, there was a knock on the passenger’s window. He stared at the face peering back at him and sighed. She motioned for him to open the door, and he hit the unlock on the side of the door. Lao climbed into the car and closed the door.
“I thought that this was yours. You are the only Dominion that actually drives a car.”
“I’m a lawyer,” Gregory said. “And a very successful one. I have to keep up appearances.”
“Successful,” Lao said with a smile. “We both know that you more or less just compel the jury when you feel like it. Success is a term I would use loosely.”
Gregory shrugged. “We can agree to disagree.”
Lao shifted in the seat. “Well, we can agree that you haven’t been successful in bringing in Mei,” she said. “You never actually told me what happened when you went after her in Salem.”
“Nothing much to tell. She ran,” Gregory said. “Her witch friend took out the rest of the vampires. She is stronger than I expected. We haven’t been able to locate them since then.”
“Gregory, the King and Queen have given us a lot of leeway and freedom in keeping things running in Salem. It’s worked for years and years. What do you think they will do when they find out that Mei has resurfaced? We’ve kept them out of the loop as much as possible, but if they find out and find out that you’ve failed to bring her in…”
“And you?” Gregory challenged. “What about you and your precious little pet, Larent? I give you a lot of praise having the spin that he was killed in a car accident, but what are you actually doing with him? He’s been useless to you.”
“He hasn’t,” Lao said. “He’s been very helpful in understanding a lot. He just hasn’t had success in remembering all of what he studied and wrote down.”
“Bull,” Gregory said. “He’s stalling and having him as a slave to your daughter probably isn’t helping.”
“Nya has been the one keeping him agreeable; especially after your torture techniques.”
“And you’ve kept trying to compel him?”
Lao nodded. “I have. Whatever that Summoner did to him, it worked. It hasn’t worn off yet.”
“Yet? Lao, it’s been four weeks!” Gregory snorted. “I think you need to come to grips that both of us have been stupid in the way we’ve handled this. Don’t worry though. I’m going to take care of the hybrid. I found that there was another priest that was helping them other than the young one we killed here. I’m going to pay him a little visit tonight.”
“How many of the Fallen are you taking with you?” Lao asked. Gregory shook his head.
“None. They never do anything but get in the way. It’s just one little priest--he might be a vampire hunter, but I’ve taken out a few of them in my day.”
“You should take someone else with you. Peter would go with you,” Lao said.
“Not that I have anything against your sired spawn, Lao,” he said. “I think I’ll take my chances alone. Now--I believe we both have to act like we are actually needing jobs to do.”
Lao took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. “Don’t be stupid, Gregory. Take someone with you.”
“Goodbye, Lao,” Gregory said as she shut the door.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Father Moore closed the doors to the church and made sure that they were locked. It was a chilly night. He was thankful that the parish wasn’t too far from the church. He began to walk down the sidewalk trying to think of something warm to keep him from shivering. It reminded him that the annual chili cook-off was coming up, and he still needed to make sure that the church had a team prepared to go against the other participants. They had never one. One year, they had come close, but the fire department seemed to always have the best chili, and there was no way to tell what ingredients that they used. He smiled at the thought of trying to outdo them this year.
The priest began to slow down once he got into the middle of the field behind the church and on the way to his little house. He could sense that he was being closely followed, and he was pretty sure that he knew by who.
“So,” he called out in the darkness. “You finally found me. Let me guess, you are--Gregory.”
A shadow not too far ahead of him began to move. Gregory stepped into view with a grin on his face. “So, they told you about me. I’m glad that I don’t have to explain myself. I honestly don’t like doing it. It’s exasperating.”
“I’m surprised that it took you so long to find me. Of course, that may have to do with the fact that you received such a beating from the two girls the last time. You think that you can do better against an old priest.”
Gregory laughed. “You’re pretty ballsy for a priest. I’m not stupid. I know that you are a vampire hunter. I know that you aren’t some weak old man, and of course, you are no match for me even if you were in your prime. I don’t want to kill you. I am a proprietor of the church, and I truly believe that the church has done some good for people. Not always honest about things, but I can overlook that.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Father Moore said without a bit of fear. Gregory stepped forward.
“Father Moore, please. Just humor me, and I’ll leave.”
“You won’t,” the priest said taking his own step towards the vampire. “On second thought, I do have something to say to you. I have something to say about how you found me.”
Gregory narrowed his eyes. Father Moore nodded. “You think that it’s a coincidence that you are in your favorite coffee shop, and you hear two seminary students talking about an old priest in Salem who had to take some time away from his flock to tend to injuries that he acquired on the same night you attacked Mei?”
Gregory’s fangs came out, and he rushed the priest. Father Moore barely had time to put up a struggle before Gregory had him subdued. The priest laughed.
“Oh, go ahead,” he said. “I’m an old man. I’ve lived my life.”
“Father, I suggest you tell me what you know,” Gregory growled.
“How about I tell you,” a voice came from the darkness. Gregory looked up as another figure emerged from the shadows. His grip on the priest relaxed. The voice of the newcomer was one he could never forget. He had practically grown up with that voice. Serge stepped into view. Gregory looked him up and down. This Serge was not the Serge that he remembered. This Serge was hardened. He wasn’t weighed down by looking after a child and being on the run.
“Brother,” Gregory said. Serge shook his head.
“Not brother. We will never again be brothers,” Serge said. “The only brother I had, you killed, and you tried to kill the only other family that I have. Hell, you tried to kill me.”
“You can’t take that personally, brother. We both know that to serve the King and Queen means to do things we don’t want to do.”
“I don’t,” Serge said. “I did the right thing, and I disobeyed their orders. And you want to know why? Because I serve the rightful heir to the throne.”
Gregory looked at the priest. “Why are you here, Sergius? Are you going to try to kill me?” Serge was quiet. Gregory laughed. “You are here to kill me. Did Mei ask you to do it for her? She is not leader material even if she wasn’t an abomination.”
“Gregory, this has to be the end,” Serge said. “You can’t get away from it.”
Gregory stared back at Serge. It hit him then. “Oh, I get it. You’ve all just realized that I’m the only one who knows what Mei looks like. I’m the only one who has actually seen her of the Dominion.” He looked around. “Is she here? Is that witch bitch here, too?”
“Panic,” Father Moore said. “I can hear it in his voice. God will not have mercy on your soulless heart.”
Gregory gripped him tighter. “I don’t need you anymore father. Tell God, hello.” Gregory sunk his teeth in to the priest’s neck and fell back onto the ground clutching his own throat. He began to gag and spit out the blood he had begun to suck. The burning sensation in his mouth made it impossible for him to talk as he writhed on the ground. His vampire senses tried to excite. He tried to get up, but his mind was delirious with pain. Serge walked up behind him.