“I was in Legrant’s resistance. I thought we were the only ones,” Johana said.
“We have records of you,” added the first man, “the members of your group and those who come from this zone, we sent them.”
Johana frowned instinctively.
“Do not think bad of us. We didn’t spy on you or anything, but our anonymity is what kept us alive. But now that’s over.”
“Now that you explain it I understand the position you were in, but we should have helped each other out.”
“We know that, but the risk of Epsilon or one of his men finding us was too great.”
After nearly two hours of walking through the dark city.They entered a large, neglected building that didn’t attract attention. They descended into the depths of the building. In addition to a gigantic layer of grime, they found two men stationed near a door. Or rather a hatch that was on the ground.
“Jeremy,” one of them said, “I’m glad you’re well. Rebecca told us that a there was a fight at Epsilon’s headquarters. Many have died.”
“Yes, but our goal has been met. Now we deserve a little rest.” The guard nodded and with his companion opened the heavy hatch with effort.
“Come on. Our base is near.”
Johana stared at Meryl and raised her eyebrows with a sigh. They hid underground. It was certainly a good plan and in a city of these dimensions. Where there were so many nooks and crannies. It would be difficult to find them.
They walked about a kilometer through the sewers until they finally they reached a collapsed wall. They continued through an area where the walls were made of natural rock. It was almost magical and there was a halo of mystery in the atmosphere. It was an ancient site, very old.
The humidity was refreshing and soon they felt the air caressing their faces.
Although exhausted physically and mentally the feeling of freedom renewed their strength and when the different sounds drew all their attention to the lights that let them see up ahead, curiosity took hold of them. They began to walk faster, past the silent vampire who had saved them. They crossed into a grotto. There they saw a huge esplanade full of worn old tents. Many of which had been made out of curtains and other fabrics.
“Dear God! I never thought you were so many,” Johana said in surprise.
“The resistance movement in the Omega Zone was the first to be created,” they heard a female voice. Johana and Meryl both turned their heads to see a dark-skinned woman who smiled, welcoming them.
“I’m Rebecca, leader of the council.”
“Johana.” Johana shook the woman’s hand. “This is Meryl.”
“We know. Surely you’re exhausted. Come with me.”
They walked through the crowd and Meryl noticed the difference instantly. She remembered the moment when she had walked through the crowd of Legrant’s resistance in the Alpha Zone. The faces of the people. Their smiles and their sense of humor. In this place in the bowels of the earth, there was none of that. Their faces expressed tiredness, desolation, and pain, much more pain than Meryl expected.
Her eyes teared up and she almost wanted to begin apologizing to every person here, because the cause of their pain shared her blood and as an older sister she felt the call of responsibility.
“Enter, the council is already assembled.” Rebecca pushed aside the fabric of the entrance, showing them an austere place of considerable size. Only a few tables and their chairs occupied the room among mountains of papers.
“It’s a pleasure to have you among us.” An almost white-eyed smiling old man grasped both women’s hands.
Johana saw that the color of his eyes was due to the blindness that began to obscure his vision, soon he would only see darkness.
The council was made up of four people, Rebecca, the old man and another older couple.
“We are very grateful for the rescue.”
“We hope so, for we have lost many men,” The woman who had introduced herself, sat in her comfortable seat, and spoke in a deep angry voice. “Carol came, rushing the plan we had in place. I hope we can at least know if the loss of our men accomplished anything.” The woman stared at them with her lips pursed. She looked to be in her fifties and her skin was tanned. Probably from working in the sun.
“Calm down, Ronda,” Rebecca tried to mediate.
“No, she’s right,” Johana said. “We deeply regret the sacrifice of your men, but it was tonight or never.”
“We understood ...” said the last of the men, “that you were in no danger.
Meryl began to feel anger. They were being blamed for those deaths. Well, they were right, those men had given their lives to save them, but she was beginning to feel that they were implying that they were the ones who had their hands stained with blood.
“It’s a little bit complicated.”
“I think the lives of those men are more important than your secrets,” Ronda said, moving into a dominant position. “If they gave their life because you were not comfortable …”
“It’s not that,” Meryl said, at last, almost bursting with hysteria. “Are you insinuating that we wanted someone to die to save us?” Meryl paused and waited for the woman’s answer, which was only a raised eyebrow. Yes, she was implying it. “If we didn’t get out of there in a short amount of time, Johana would have killed me.”
The people present, surprised, looked at both women without understanding a single word.
“Epsilon said that ...” Meryl’s stomach twisted with a single memory.
“No, don’t talk,” Johana said, placing a hand on her shoulder affectionately. “I see that you think that you are so smart. You think you know everything and you have no fucking idea, just like us. Let’s all be clear,” Johana added sarcastically. “You,” she pointed to Ronda, “answer truthfully. If your own little brother tells you that he will rape you again and again until you become pregnant and give him a child, would you let him?” Like a beast watching her prey, Johana stood in front of the woman. “And if he admits that he will enjoy doing it, would you allow it?” Johana took a few seconds, sighed and managed to let go of the sudden anger. “No, right? Well, Meryl, wouldn’t either. You didn’t see her when she arrived. You didn’t see the desperation in her eyes. I promised her that if we couldn’t get out of there I would kill her, and I would have done it because I love my friend. That violent act would have destroyed her.”
“Wait!” murmured the man who was almost blind. “Did you say, brother?”
“Epsilon is my little brother,” Meryl said, looking down in embarrassment.
“But you’re human,” Rebecca said, confused. “Okay, I think you have a lot to tell us.”
Yes, of course, there was a lot to explain. Meryl also needed someone to answer her questions. The fact that she was the only one that could breed a vampire child was very strange, and she knew it had to do with her genetics.
Meryl sat down next to Johana, who took Meryl’s hand in hers to give her the strength to be able to tell her story from the beginning. It had turned into a kind of routine, Meryl began by explaining how they put her to sleep. How suddenly she found herself in a devastated world and how she met Caleb and the boys. Johana helped her recount the parts that they had lived through together. Such as when they met at the auction and Johana discovered the terrified girl came from the past. They talked about the resistance, the attack, and the kidnapping.
They omitted many things that those listening already knew.
“I would never have guessed that he was your brother,” Rebecca said wearily. “I’m sorry.”
“Why do you apologize?” Meryl frowned at her. “I’m the only one who should do that. He’s my own blood.”
“It’s not your fault,” the old man added blindly. “However, it is better that no one knows. There’s much hatred and rancor toward Epsilon. If they knew they would retaliate a
gainst you.”
“Though I don’t understand how you can possibly give birth to a pure vampire child?”
“I don’t understand it either, Rebecca. But just imagining it disgusts me so much.”
“Whatever,” said Ronda dryly. “You’re already here. The only thing that matters is that Caleb knows we have you so he will send his army.”
“And that’s something we want to know about,” Johana growled, looking at the nasty woman.
“The information came to us almost at the same time that Epsilon was returning to Omega,” Rebecca said. “Amadeus is dead. We don’t know how or when. I imagine that the battle that you have told us about, in which you were kidnapped, had a lot to do with the current outcome. It seems that he appointed Caleb to take his place. He has completely disassociated himself from the others.”
“They told us that seas of refugees began to arrive in his zone,” continued the blind man. “Many lords have joined Caleb. The ones that opposed him ended up without a head. It is the first time that we see liberation as a real possibility. It seems that many of our enemies are going to turn out to be the perfect allies. But we are concerned about many nuances of the future, because those vampires on our side will have to feed, and we fear that this will only lead us to another era of darkness.”
“Caleb would never allow that,” Meryl said quickly. “I know he doesn’t like humans. It has something to do with his past when he was human. But I also know that he does not like how things are and that he wants things to change. I can assure you that he has a plan for all those things that concern you.”
“I think the same thing. His eyes. I saw more than hate in them,” Johana added. “I know we can reach a consensus between both parties, something that benefits us all.”
“Maybe so.” Rebecca smiled. “For the good of all, you had better be right. For now, we will trust you. Although I can assure you that it won’t be blind trust. We have to watch out for our own.”
Melody Nº 6
Blood and Pain
On the coast of ancient South Korea, there was a fleet of boats of all sizes, models, and colors. Caleb watched the fleet with some uneasiness. He couldn’t understand how Yong had managed to prepare not only that but also achieve a peace much more real than he could have imagined among the citizens. To train a fearsome army without him giving himself away was incredible. Caleb didn’t have the slightest idea of what had happened. But he thanked heaven it was for the good of all. However, for a moment Caleb thought of what would happen if Yong had been his enemy. In that case, Yong would have crushed them all with a small movement of his hand. On the other hand, thinking of the face Epsilon would make made Caleb smile, because after the surprise that he himself received his nemesis would be furious.
With the pieces on the board game, Caleb left the plane aside and embarked with his new army. Watching the vast, dark sea, all the fears about the coming war had disappeared. With their odds of winning increased they had a real chance of winning. Caleb trusted the rebels and their determination to win but they didn’t have enough vampires in their ranks to win. With the army provided by Yong, their numbers were superior to that of the enemy and they had what it took to cross the sea and attack.
♫♫♫
Upon his return to Auckland, Caleb was instantly aware of the changes. Many of the buildings were surrounded by rudimentary wooden scaffolds where dozens of men and women were busy rebuilding the capital of the new order. Caleb walked into the city center with a thousand soldiers behind him, all of them vampires. It was a strategy he hoped would inspire the hearts of the people. The answer he had expected came. The workers left their repairs and stared open- mouthed at the sea of red-eyed beings traversing the streets like statues without feelings. Feeling scared the workers whispered. They watched the spectacular formation of the army, listened to their footsteps, which made a loud sound as they walked as one. The cheers for Caleb suddenly exploded as the sleeping numb minds of all the workers awoke with unprecedented emotion.
“Dear God! Who are all these vampires?” Alexander asked, impressed, as he rarely was. “Where did you get an army?”
“This is just an advance. On the coast, we have thousands of them, also humans, in addition to a fleet of ships.”
“They are…?”
“Yes,” Caleb said, understanding his question. “A gift from Yong. Do not ask me how he did it. I suspect he’s been preparing everything for years. Let’s go inside. Let me tell you what he’s shown me. Andrew!” Caleb called out. “Give them some tents. During the next few weeks, they will train us. Take care of the ones on the coast, too. For the moment they are self-sufficient but they may need something.
“Immediately!”
“Legrant, come with us.”
“Of course,” Legrant said, “by the way, some of your friends have arrived.”
“Yes,” Alexander continued. “Ajax and Elizabeth. They are in the living room. They haven’t done anything.
“They won’t,” Caleb joked, knowing them.
♫♫♫
Gathering all the important people, Caleb told them of his experience on the Asian continent. They were as surprised as he had been when they heard how the vampires and humans were living there. No one understood why no one had discovered them because it was something that had definitely been in the works for years.
“The man seems dangerous,” Caleb heard Legrant say. “I wouldn’t want him as an enemy.”
“No one knows much about his past,” Caleb began, rummaging through his memories. “But I have always thought that he has more than a thousand years of life behind him. His strategies are impeccable. However, he always uses force for defense. He has a very clear philosophy of life. We are fortunate that Yong has decided to enter the war because it goes against his principles. There is little more to say. If everything goes as planned. Yong will come in a couple of weeks. Then we will leave for Omega.”
“Well, then, we’d better get started. With so many people here it’s going to be chaotic,” Legrant murmured. “I wish I could have Johana here. She’s an impeccable organizer,” Legrant stopped talking when he saw the hardness in Caleb’s eyes.
“Alexander wait,” Caleb called him when they started to leave.
“Is something wrong?” Alexander was slightly concerned at his seriousness.
“I need you to choose someone to go ahead. I need to know where Meryl is.”
“A spy?”
“Something like that.”
“I’ll go.”
“What?” Caleb stood up and felt an uneasy tension. “Find someone else to go.”
“You know the best candidates are those of us who know the Omega Zone. I’m not going to let Pein go. With his hot blood he will end up triggering the war himself.”
“Damn it, Alexander. It’s too dangerous. Don’t even think about it. It won’t be you and there is nothing more to say. When you know who is going to go. Send him to the coast. I have left everything ready for the trip.”
Caleb spun around without letting his best friend and most faithful companion reply. But Alexander had already made up his mind. He knew only the people in his closest circle would accomplish the mission effectively. He was the best candidate.
“You’re not thinking of going alone, are you?” Alexander heard from behind. When he turned around he saw Jeoff standing at the entrance to his room, with dark glasses on, and arms folded.
Alexander closed the small travel bag he was preparing. After a few seconds, he sighed and spoke, but still guarded the contents of the bag.
“You know perfectly well that the best men for this mission are you, me, and my brother.”
“In that case, it offends me that you have not thought of me.”
“Don’t get confused, I have, but I think you’re more useful here with Caleb,” Alexander said, closing the zipper.
“That should be your place,” Jeoff growled. “You are the best at calming him down and you know that since Meryl disappeared his mood is not good. Besides, it’s a dangerous mission. I fight better than you.”
“I am the one who makes the decision by order of Caleb,” Alexander replied, already with the bag’s strap on his shoulder. He looked at Jeoff and smiled calmly.
“I will go with you.”
“No.”
“You know it’s no use denying me. Two will get more done than one and Caleb won’t go crazy if he knows I’m with you.”
“You always do what you want,” Alexander laughed, knowing it would be no use denying him. “Although, that is what we like most about you.”
“Let’s go,” Jeoff said, ducking and revealing to Alexander that the driver and bodyguard had already packed his luggage.
“You’re a demon, Jeoff.” Alexander smiled, starting to walk after him.
♫♫♫
Meryl listened to the people. She felt the same as the first time she arrived in Legrant’s rebel camp, but everything here had a dark and gloomy atmosphere. The laughter was barely whispered. The children weakened by hunger sat down instead of running in the fields. And the people had dark circles under their eyes, caused by the pain in their heart.
“Seriously, Meryl,” Johana’s voice whispered as she grabbed Meryl’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Please get it out of your head.”
“I can’t help it,” Meryl sighed, lowering her head between her knees, almost wanting to disappear. “All these people are suffering because of my brother. Although, he really isn’t my brother any longer,” Meryl added knowing what her friend was going to say, “a long time ago he was.”
“I’m sorry I can’t give you more,” Rebecca’s voice interrupted them, attracting their attention. “We have already prepared a tent for you. It isn’t much, but you will sleep calmly. Besides, Luxt will take care of your safety,” she added, pointing to the mysterious vampire who saved them.
After saying goodbye and apologizing for her departure Rebecca left the mysterious young man there. He looked like he was about twenty years old. He sat down without saying a word and watched the blazing fire that highlighted the bright blond hair of their new bodyguard. They scrutinized him with a mixture of curiosity.
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