Blood Reign

by Harvey W. McCarthy

  "Yes, My Queen," he repeated.

  "Now, I order you to calm down and tell me what those council bastards are doing," she said.

  She snapped her fingers and he blinked several times. She batted her big blue eyes at him.

  "Y…Yes?" he asked as he glanced around as if he had suddenly become completely lost.

  "Good," Vladimir repeated as he rubbed his cold hands together.

  "You were just about to tell me what you have discovered about the council," she said.

  "Oh…ah…yes," he stammered as he tried to remember what had just transpired. "The council…they are…ah…"

  "Say it!" she ordered as her patience was waning.

  "Yes, yes, yes," he said, "The council, in my opinion, is playing you."

  She nodded approvingly. "I had surmised as much. Go on."

  "I have been tracking their communication and this activity appears new."

  She folded her arms across her chest. "In what way?" she asked.

  "If I may return to my computer, I will be able to better explain it from there," he said.

  "Go ahead," she urged.

  The computer programmer dashed back to his seat. He began to enter commands into his keyboard. His fingers worked at remarkable speeds. Vladimir watched intently as the programmer attempted to hack into council computer mainframes and penetrate their firewalls. He clicked several icons along his taskbar. Programs activated. Eventually, all the programs merged into one small screen that the programmer watched intently.

  "What are we supposed to be seeing?" Vladimir asked.

  "Patience, Vlady," Mikhaeli ordered. "We know the world of darkness, but this man knows the world of technology."

  The large screens above his station flashed. The same maps that Vladimir had just showed to Mikhaeli appeared.

  "Impressive," the elder said sarcastically.

  Mikhaeli shot him a stern look before turning her attention to the screen. "I have already viewed this map."

  "I am aware," the programmer replied, "But you did not see this."

  The map changed to add dates and times to the areas. Mikhaeli scratched her chin and watched as another area was highlighted. Another date and time appeared.

  "Interesting," she said.

  "These dates are several weeks or months old," Vladimir protested, "You said that they are all recent."

  He clicked several more keys and small screens opened next to each date. It was a page of encrypted binary code.

  "What does it say?" she asked.

  He clicked several more keys and his translation code loaded. The page changed from binary code to a series of commands and dates. The program showed that all the dates were entered only hours ago and the code was rewritten to show different dates and times.

  "Very interesting," Vladimir said.

  Mikhaeli smirked. "I see what you mean about how they are trying to fool us. However, what is this new circle?"

  "The truly interesting part," the programmer said as he clicked the image on his screen.

  The program window opened again, but the text continued to scroll. Unlike the previous screens, live data streamed. Conversation after conversation rapidly rolled along the screen. The programmer feverishly typed to keep up with the coded messages. He smirked and chuckled as his cyber foe tried to stay one step ahead of him. His fingers danced over the letters. Mikhaeli was impressed. His skills rivaled those of a concert pianist. The clicking soothed her like the fine music created by the dexterous fingers of the finest musicians in the world. She closed her eyes and listened only to be immediately interrupted by a short chuckle.

  "It appears that someone is trying to mislead your…ah…vampires into believing that the orders are coming from here," the programmer said.

  "Interesting," she said. "How do you know that it is the same person?"

  The programmer turned and smiled confidently at the vampire queen. His smirk quickly faded as he saw her stunning, but cold stare. "Ah," he said as he turned back to his keyboard, "The programmer is good. Very good, but not to brag…"

  "Ohhhh, please do," she ordered, "Confidence is so sexy."

  He blushed and turned back to his queen. "Ah well, I'm better."

  Good, Vladimir thought as he watched the exchange. "In what way?" he asked.

  "Yes, do tell," she said as she licked her lips and raised her eyebrows.

  The programmer forced himself to focus as he took his eyes off of his beautiful queen. He turned back to his keyboard and the musical clicking of the keys resumed. He clicked his wireless mouse several times and several programs opened on his screen. The programs triangulated the origin of the hacking computer. A flashing dot appeared on the map. Slowly, it moved across the screen.

  "Make it bigger," she ordered.

  As ordered, he double-clicked the flashing dot with his mouse pointer. The map zoomed in. The continent was replaced by the country. Another click and the country became a region. It was a region that Mikhaeli knew very well. She smirked.

  "They are coming for him," she said.

  "He who?" the programmer asked as he turned in his seat.

  "Unimportant," Vladimir stated. "Recall our minions!"

  "No, let them go," Mikhaeli ordered. "Actually, order even more of my minions away from this castle."

  "But our defenses?" Vladimir protested.

  She smirked confidently. The programmer admitted that it made her even more attractive. "Let them think that we are weak," she said.

  "W…Why?" the programmer asked.

  She smirked again and placed her hands on her hips. She never replied.

  She and Vladimir smiled sadistically.

  * * *

  SIBERIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

  Darkness fell across the Russian countryside. A cold wind whipped leaves across their path. The rain was slowly becoming mixed with snow. The mini convoy of vans had pulled over along a dark dirt road. Warriors shuffled from one vehicle to another as they joined their assigned teams. Two vans were nearly empty except for a lone driver and their equipment. They were designated as the 'getaway cars,' but most warriors knew that they would never see the inside of a moving vehicle again.

  They sat quietly as they were huddled together in the back of their vans. Most members of the team stared directly ahead but a few had their eyes closed. They were deep in prayer. Others checked their weapons. Warriors, who specialized in blades, repeatedly sharpened their already lethal weapons. Some stared into the distorted reflective surface. The overall mood was solemn, but they were focused. They were ready.

  Larry, at his request, had moved from the back of his van to the driver's seat. He had David sit next to him in the passenger's seat. As the wind whipped rain, leaves, and snow against their windshield, Larry struggled to keep the van on the winding forest path. David continued to work on his laptop. He fed false information into the vampire computers. Beads of sweat, created from a combination of nerves and the heat escaping from the vents, pockmarked his forehead. Occasionally, he wiped his brow with his left sleeve, but the droplets of sweat would quickly return. Valiantly, he would repeat the action, but his nervous state remained.

  "It's never easy," Larry said as he watched the road.

  David lifted his head from his keyboard. "Yeah, I know," he said before returning his attention back to the computer screen.

  Larry kept the van steady despite the rapidly deteriorating condition of the road. They were bounced several times as the van hit some deep puddles. Mud splashed onto the window. The wipers and the driving precipitation quickly cleared his view. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.

  "Yes?" David asked.

  "Got the hint that time, I see," Larry said.

  David continued to type. "What do you want to talk about?"

  Larry kept his eyes on the road. "I am proud of how you are handling this," he admitted.

  David chuckled. "Thanks Dad. Can I have the keys now?" he joked.

  "David, I'm serious."


  "Sorry Dad," he quipped as he continued to type, "Kind of too busy here for your all-emotional speech that happens near the end of every movie before the decisive battle."

  "This could be our final battle," Larry said, "Or at least mine."

  David finally looked up from his keyboard. "What the hell? Planning on retiring? You can't retire from this remember?" he asked sarcastically.

  Larry chuckled. "Actually, I did retire. When I recruited you and Myles, my plan was to stay in the background and off of the frontlines. And then…"

  "And then she showed up and changed everything," David stated for him.

  Larry paused momentarily and watched the water hitting the windshield. He sighed heavily. "Yes, it changed everything."

  "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm glad that you came out of retirement because it has made dealing with Myles' death that much more bearable."

  He chuckled again. "If you say so."

  "I do say so. If you weren't here to keep me focused, I'd still be blaming everyone but her for his death," David said.

  "Well, at least that makes one of us," Larry admitted.

  David blinked several times as he stared directly at Larry who refused to look at him. "Don't tell me that you believe that you are responsible for his death!" he exclaimed.

  Larry shook his head. "No, I know that Myles died trying to stop evil but I did bring him into the fold. What bothers me is that I should have been more upfront with the two of you."

  David laughed. "And we would have told you to take your crazy old ass to the nuthouse."

  Larry still would not look at his friend. "Still…" His voice trailed off as he became lost in thought and the storm.

  "Larry, you have told me over and over again that no one else was at fault for Myles' death but her," David stated angrily.

  Larry sighed heavily. "I know, I know," he said tiredly, "But…"

  "No buts! Just shut up and let me rant!"

  Larry nodded. "Continue."

  "I blamed Chris because he never admitted to being a vampire or a semi-vampire or whatever the hell that he is. I blamed you because you recruited us but in reality, we could have walked away. I, in turn, was angry at Myles for dying. However, I was really mad at myself for not being able to stop her. Nothing, absolutely nothing, took the pain away. In fact, I made it worse."

  Larry continued to look ahead. He felt an excited churning of his stomach. He was hoping that this conversation was headed in a direction that he had wanted to hear for months. "Go on," he urged.

  "It wasn't until I saw Chris unconscious on the floor of the cathedral and the crossbow bolt protruding from his shoulder that it all truly started to make sense. I couldn't stop myself from shooting him because she had complete control over my body. I had pulled the trigger but she was the only one who should be held responsible for the deaths and destruction at the cathedral.

  "When we went in front of the council, I finally truly understood how Chris must have felt. Nothing that we said mattered. I was guilty and they wouldn't find anyone, other than me, at fault for our failures. Chris repeatedly took my wrath and he never said anything. He continued to do his job regardless of how poorly that he was treated. When I saw the video of the bolt hitting him in the shoulder, I would have done anything to turn back time and trade places with him. It was right then and there when I truly got what you have been telling me. Now, you are trying to tell me that you feel blame?"

  "Interesting speech," Larry admitted.

  "Larry, answer the goddamn question!" David ordered.

  Larry curtly nodded. "I feel badly because the same choices, which were offered to me, were never extended to you."

  David glared at Larry. "Please explain," he stated as calmly as possible.

  Larry sighed deeply as he recalled his first encounter with Christopher Bloodheart. "My…ah…er…my," he stammered, "Initiation, if you will, into this never-ending struggle was one of a victim rather than a recruit."

  "You're not?" David asked.

  Larry chuckled. "No, no, we only have one half-vampire in the group, but I was in the process of being food, however, when our tall, dark and somewhat undead ally came into my life. I never knew that vampires even existed until three rather attractive female vampires tried to seduce me."

  David chuckled. "Well, not much has changed."

  Larry nodded but he did not see the humor in his story like his friend had enjoyed. "They had me pinned and they were licking my neck," he said as he shuttered. "Their fangs slipped into my skin and it burned like a wasp's sting. I knew that I was going to die. Fortunately, Chris had been tracking them. He killed them before they could finish the job. I didn't even know who he was. He came and went like Batman does in the movies. However, his face was the last image that I saw before I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I was in the university hospital."

  "Why the uni…" David began to ask.

  Larry shot him a glance before returning his attention to the rapidly deteriorating road. "Does the name Daniel Campbell mean anything to you?"

  "As in Dean Campbell?"

  "One in the same," Larry replied.

  David blinked several times. "He's a council member," David said slowly as he realized what Larry was telling him.

  "He hired me to teach at the university in the hospital with the understanding that it would be so I would have access to the archives hidden beneath the library. When he transferred to Regis, I followed him. Alas, unlike you, he gave me the opportunity to decline," Larry stated.

  "So why me?" David inquired.

  "I knew that when my time had passed that you'd step up and be ready to lead."

  "How did you know?" David pressed.

  Larry finally chuckled. "I didn't for certain. It was a hunch."

  "What is that hunch telling you now?"

  Lightning flashed. The entire sky illuminated. The black forest suddenly became as clear as a bright summer's day. On the top of a hill, a large ominous castle briefly came into view. Despite the distance, it was dark and intimidating. Larry was suddenly overcome with a deep sense of dread. The image of the castle, which remained in his eyes, told him that it was a lair of certain death.

  "It is telling me that I should have stayed retired."

  The same terrifying image also remained in David's eyes. He stared directly ahead. "That makes two of us."

  Silence.

  CHAPTER 29

  SIBERIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

  Approaching midnight…

  The ferocity of the storm continued. Rain, snow, and hail pounded the ancient castle. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the sky. Windows rattled as the wind whipped harshly against the stone structure. Lights lowered briefly within the castle and then they slowly returned to full illumination. For the populace of the lands owned by the castle lord, it was a night described in frightening folktales. For the creatures of those tales, such as the beautiful vampire queen, it was a night to be cherished. Even if she had been afraid of the storm, nothing would ruin her mood.

  A group of vampires encircled their queen. They worked slowly and methodically. Their goal was perfection. Her favorite beautician, who she had turned into a vampire decades ago, had also created her own minions of stylists and cosmeticians. Mikhaeli, who had flawless skin, was a cosmetician's ideal model. They, along with a photographer, who used a digital, interchangeable lens camera, to take photos of their queen, worked their magic. He would pause briefly to upload the photos to his laptop computer and he would show her their progress. Though she couldn't see her image in a mirror, the wonders of technology had given her the ability to admire her beauty.

  Her dark hair was pulled back, but hung in long tight curls down the sides of her head. She had requested a very regal style from the eighteen century. Her eyes were lined with a light shade of purple which heightened the color of her blue eyes. They had painted her lips a dark purple. Her cheeks were given a tint of light purple and her eyebrows were accented to perfecti
on. She would be the perfect model for any magazine cover except her gown, which she was having custom made for the ceremony, was quickly being completed by the best designers money could buy. Instead, she wore an extremely, plush terrycloth robe.

  She nodded to the photographer and he bowed. He closed his laptop and departed. The hairstylist was putting the final touches on her hair when Vladimir marched into the room. She smiled sweetly at him.

  "Vlady," she said cheerfully.