by JN Moon
One of the stones looked like an animal face and I knew this was a sign of a portal but something else nagged at me.
“Is this it?” Marcus whispered.
“Yes, but there’s something else here. I feel it. Some sort of knowledge for me to know.” I crouched down and closed my eyes, breathing in that clean crisp air. I’m not sure how long I was doing that but I felt a swishing and a whirling around me.
To my knowledge, Marcus didn’t feel this sensation. Without questioning, I opened my eyes, got up slowly without knowing I was doing so and went to the side of the waterfall. Putting my hand behind it, I looked at Marcus and nodded my head for him to come.
With one hand holding onto him, I put the other behind the water and felt something like glass. The water was icy cold but this object was hot and the size of my hand. Pulling it out, I saw it was a clear crystal with flecks of gold inside and remarkably, a tiny blue flame. I gasped, seeing that flame, how was that possible? I didn’t know what it was or what it meant, but within seconds we were hurtling through a whirlwind of energy, me still grasping tightly to Marcus and the stone. I felt dizzy again, disoriented as we seemed to be travelling through a tunnel again. Everything was whirling and rainbow lights flickered around us as before. I prayed in that instant that we would end up where we’d begun.
Breathe. I had to remember to breathe and as I opened my eyes we were back in Rachel’s room looking at the dark mirror.
“Thank God,” he panted and sat on the bed. “Whatever that is, you were meant to find it!” We both collapsed on the bed exhausted.
As we sat there I pulled out the crystal flame. It was hot and the blue flame flickered strongly and bright. I pulled him up by his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to end up somewhere else. I don’t feel safe in here!”
Nodding and moving quickly, he agreed. He looked normal now and we went downstairs to the living room and sprawled out on the sofa, so relieved to be back in our world. Warmer and where everything looked solid.
“If I hadn’t had your blood in me I may not have survived that. I had the strangest sensation of disappearing!” he said quietly.
I threw my thoughts elsewhere. I didn’t want him to know that he had been. Thank God it had been him with me, not Acacius! At least with my blood in Marcus, that had helped, I guessed.
“Next time you do something like that, don’t take me!” He laughed, letting out all that fear, that anger.
I spluttered a laugh, too, the relief of all that anxiety, all that cold and those Hellish creatures. I still couldn’t speak much. I was too in awe of the whole experience. I wanted to know, though, what the time was and hard though it was to pull my tired, heavy body off the sofa, I went to kitchen to look at Rachel’s world clock. Four days! We’d been away four days! And still no Rachel. Despair would have gripped me, but I was too tired and shocked for it to get to me.
I went back in the living room and sat down, still clutching the crystal, and now I put it on a table. Quietly I told him, “We’ve been away for four days! But it felt like just a few hours.”
“One very long freezing day. I told you, Anthony, portals are the strangest places.”
“What do you suppose this fire crystal does?”
“Kill demons, I guess. You were obviously meant to have it and that’s why you were allowed into the portal.”
“Have you ever seen one before?”
“No, and I've never heard of one, but the others may have. Nephilim have been around a long time so I suspect Acacius or Halina might know something, even Aaron. Lucius would no doubt love to get his hands on it. You need to guard it well. Don’t blab anything to Nathaniel either, that would be my advice! Keep it hidden for now. I can’t even text them, my phone’s melted just like yours.”
I was weary and slowly warming up after the bone chilling cold of the realm beyond the portal. I wanted to go hunting, but my body aching and weak, I resigned myself to just staying put until I was rested and warmer.
After a night and a day of resting in Rachel’s home with the heating on full and several hot showers, I felt ready to see Acacius. I wanted to go with Marcus since I was taking this strange crystal with me, so we headed to the North-East area of the city, where Acacius, Aaron, and Halina had rented a house. I didn’t want to hunt until I had left it in their careful possession, and I hoped they could tell me something about it.
As we walked across the city that evening, the atmosphere hadn’t changed from when we’d left and the mortals looked as gloomy and despondent as ever. Wraiths were thick and wailing, it disturbed my mind a lot as it did Marcus, and for a second I swear I saw him fade again.
Aaron was in the garden imparting divine energy on all the neighbourhood cats, dogs, and wildlife. An angelic Dr. Doolittle. Halina was on the Internet or the Light web, yes there is a hidden internet for immortals, their own encrypted version.
“You think because we’re old we’re computer illiterate?” Acacius laughed. “It’s not only you vampires that have your own technology!” He was happy to see us, sighing then smiling he guided us into his home. “So, what happened to you two? We couldn’t get hold of you and we picked up something had happened. Marcus, something has changed about you. I sense it.”
Marcus looked at me to explain and sunk down into a chair seemingly exhausted, which was unusual for him.
“I opened a portal, we both went in, and I was led to this!” I blurted out, pulling out the fire crystal and laying it carefully on a table. Gasping, they all stopped, staring intently at it, moving towards it.
“Do you know what that is?” Halina asked me.
“Nope, I was hoping you would tell me. Marcus thinks it could help rid us of the wraiths and the demons.”
“It will certainly do that and more,” Halina whispered looking in awe of the crystal. She edged towards it, reaching out to touch it, but stopping just before her fingers reached it. It was as if it was the Holy Grail. “And you, you carried it?” she asked, her face frowning, voice confused.
“Yes!”
They looked at each other.
“C’mon, the suspense is killing me.” I laughed.
“A fire crystal is a rare thing indeed, and there isn’t much knowledge on them. Few have heard about them, even fewer have ever seen one. None from this dimension have ever seen one. You are right, you were led to this. These objects pick their owner. They are never found by accident. They contain massive power, a force to dispel and destroy evil. But you have to know how to wield them. We can help you and find some information on that.”
“I, we, wanted to bring it here. We were concerned about others stealing it, misusing it. Can you help to keep it safe?”
“You were right to do that,” Aaron interjected. “If this fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be diabolical. Yes, we can definitely help.” He turned to the others. “This will help enormously, but...” He looked at Marcus. “I fear for Marcus. I’m not sure how we can help you, I am so sorry to say. I know I speak bluntly but we all know it, you are fading into eternity. The blood was probably the first thing to start diminishing your life force and now you’ve entered a portal that has strained your life force even more. You need to write everything so we have a record. Maybe give us an idea how to save you. Maybe you could access your Akashic records for clues. I don’t know, but although I have found this whole nephilim-vampire blood sharing fascinating, I had a deep suspicion that it would lead to the destruction of yourself and the vampires.”
Marcus sat up. “I know. I don’t want to die, but I’ve felt this way for a few days now. Like a weariness but... Don’t blame yourself, Anthony, about the portal. I made this decision when I tasted her blood. In an instant I changed my fate, and even though now I sense it’s leading to my end, my only regret is the consequences that have led to the veil opening and affecting humans. I would never have wanted that, and I will do everything to right that wrong. I intend to correct it at all cost to me. And then
at least, I can pass away with peace.”
We were all silent and sad. We knew he spoke the truth, in our hearts we knew. He was such a character he would leave a large void in our lives.
“Plus,” Marcus continued. “No nephilim has entered a portal and though it was physically uncomfortable, I am glad I got to experience it. We saw the strangest things there. I don’t regret that. My story might be different though had we not found a way out!”
Waxing Shadows
Rachel
It was Nicolas who found us. I hadn’t seen Nicolas since Nathaniel held me captive at the Elite headquarters and after the Elite were wiped out. I’d assumed Nicolas had died alongside them.
Nicolas had been their assistant, merely a pawn for those in power to use, and it was suggested that his maker had turned him simply to do his bidding. Nicolas was not liked by his superiors because he had some semblance of a conscience. He was too weak and powerless to question them, but it was evident that he wasn’t happy with the atrocities they performed. He was seen as feeble, but seeing him now in the park with these creatures I’d helped escape from the portal, was welcome relief.
And more so, he began to share his knowledge and helped us.
“Rachel! Thank the Gods, you’re alive! I had no idea.” His smile filled his face and I felt that he found great reassurance, as he had been alone and scared amongst this chaos. I couldn’t blame him. Since I had been away, the situation had escalated and more deadly creatures roamed. I had taken the shadow people back to my tiny home. It was cramped and claustrophobic, and tonight we were going across the park towards Acacius’ home. The shadow people stuck together in huddles as we crept towards the other side of the city, their eyes full of fear and flinching at every sound. Even the shadow birds above were silent. We had seen the entities oozing out of humans, the wails and screams piercing our ears, and the flashes here and there of green lights. Green flashes I now knew meant the presence of demons. No wonder they were scared of this dark twisted reality that I had brought them into.
Nicolas stopped short and looked at them in amazement and trepidation. And he looked long at me. I allowed him time for his assessment, interested in what advice or knowledge he could offer.
“Where have you all come from? In all my years I haven’t seen a Shadow person. And you, Rachel? I sense a change in you. Something’s different.”
I smiled and nodded slightly.
“Where have you all come from? What has happened? Rachel, I feel an immense power coming from you.” His shaky voice gave him away.
“Good to see you, Nicolas.” I took a deep breath before relaying my misfortune. “I was kidnapped by a demon and taken to a portal, where I befriended these creatures who helped me escape.” His face dropped, mouth open, aghast. “I killed the demon. And so here we are, and I know nothing of what to do next. We were in fact on our way to see Acacius.”
Now he nodded and scratched his head, walking closer towards me and the shadow people, eyeing us as if we were some new unknown thing.
“How did you kill the demon? They are immensely hard to kill,” he asked tentatively.
“I drank his blood, ripped out his heart, removed his head, and burnt the remains.” I spoke so matter of fact that when I heard those words I myself was shocked that I had done this, but that now seemed an age ago.
His eyes were wide with astonishment. Looking from them to me he seemed too shocked for words. His words stumbled out, “You drank its blood? And yet you live? I never knew they even had blood...”
“He was physical. It wasn’t like the blood of mortals, or vampires. I don’t know what it will do in the long term. I feel very different and I felt a painful transformation after. But more from the light that emitted from him when I removed his head. Without that, without killing him, we would still be trapped, wherever we were. Nicolas, we need your help.”
“Shadow people can fight demons, did you all know that?” he spoke directly to them. He continued, more animated in his new role of helper. “I had read in an old text a long time ago about this. As you have no physical substance, and demons once materialized take on physical form, it is possible to take their energy from them, to take it for yourselves. I believe you simply track them and merge into them, although—and this is the fatal bit—you have to do this when they are unawares.”
“You mean we could become physical again?” one of them asked.
“Yes, but what happens after that, little is known. There is no other way that I know that you can become a physical manifestation.”
“But wouldn’t we become evil? Damned?” one of them asked.
Nicolas raised his eyebrows, as if trying to remember the text he had read so long ago. “Are you not damned now? Are we not all damned? Look at Rachel, the blood of demon in her. Have you become malicious, Rachel? I would consider that it has much to do with the individual. The energy of a demon is cruel, spiteful. Usually, because of their reliance on a mortal, they’re full of anger over not being able to exist on their own terms. They can only exist once their victim acknowledges them, to become physical. Ah, but once that victim dies they go back to a nonphysical state and the whole process starts again.
“They are also hated, pretty much by everyone, mortal or otherwise. And their victims are mostly not evil, they are susceptible, naïve, but not evil. What you do with that power would be up to you.”
“So, will you help us?” I asked him again.
He paused, looked at the shadow people and back to me. “Rachel, it would be a pleasure.”
21st Century Vampire
Anthony
Nathaniel and I went out to the outskirts of the city to hunt, where the once seemingly grand Georgian building surround the city. Once these buildings held the upper classes of Bath, but now most were tiny flats with many people packed into them.
We climbed the walls of one of these buildings and sat at the top on the roof and waited. All we had to do was open our minds, our emotions, and we would sense where in the building the vile mortals were, and the type of maliciousness they were engaged in. We could smell it.
It felt better hunting like this, rather than just being out in the open.
This time, Nathaniel had a plan. Evil, it seems, attracts evil. His vampire friends had created an app that would hack and store information taken from our victim’s hardware, hence why particularly that night, we were hunting victims in their own home. The details, Nathaniel wanted Darren to explain to me.
I was impressed with Nathaniel. He had not only come up with this plan, but with the help of others, they had started a database of vile criminals that was being shared throughout the paranormal world. I found it an amusing concept, almost like ordering from a fast food place. I could go on line and pick who I wanted to eat! And since there were no rules since the demise of the Elite, technically we didn’t have to keep them alive.
Mainly, the rule of not killing was imposed, not because of compassion but because getting rid of hundreds, if not thousands of bodies is far harder in the twenty-first century. Or so I’ve been told.
And so we sat and waited. Ridiculous how fast we felt their corrupt minds and emotions of those in that building, and the sheer amount of delinquents. Awareness of their cruel intentions, their self-loathing, their fear. So many in this building. They really do attract each other.
Nathaniel refused to do anything until he had text his other vampire friends so that we could all clear up that filth in one night. I’d never known he cared that much about humanity. I’d never known him to be so responsible.
“I hear you, Anthony. I am not the same vampire that I was when we first met. Being staked and set on fire changed me.” He laughed sarcastically. “But really, with everything going on, I am livid with the amount of diseased sick mortals on the increase. So we got organised. We’ll easily hack into their software and then Darren, who you’ll meet, will upload all their details, their friends, family, contacts. If we discover any of these to be cruel,
we’ll add them to our list. The app Darren created gives you all their information. It’s a new world my friend, and that means we no longer have to prowl the night like creatures from a bygone age. No, now we just go online. We have infiltrated their dark web with our own. Our blood web.”
Using human technology against humans, it was elegant and brilliant. A new age indeed. If we kept up like this, whatever they created we could use. No more hanging around dark, wet parks in the freezing cold waiting. I liked this idea much better; it was much more sophisticated.
I hadn’t met his friends and it was amazing to see, one by one, all these vampires appear on the roof alongside us. The few that managed to escape the clutch of the nephilim.
Darren was the first to arrive. He was gracious and excited to be using the app he and his friends had developed. I didn’t know how long he’d been immortal, but his manner was so gentlemanly that I guessed he wasn’t of the twenty-first century. He was about my height, just under six-foot with short, blonde messy hair that he’d run some product through. Like most vampires, he was dressed in jeans, jumper and coat. It was cold tonight and we feel the cold more than humans. Gone are the archaic days of cloaks and top hats, although some wear modern clothes with antique accessories.
He showed me the tech on his phone and within twenty-minutes there was a dozen vampires with us, ranging in ages from when they’d been turned. Eight of them were female, quite a few were flamboyant. They did wear the more traditional vampire goth clothing, flowing coats, leather jeans. Nathaniel introduced us. Some were clearly loners. Their manner was reserved, indifferent. Others were eager to make my acquaintance, having heard about my adventures. Rob and Julian introduced themselves and their vampire partners, Louise and Alicia. They were richly dressed with tailored long coats. They were local. I was surprised at how many I’d never met.
And the vampire brothers who I and my nephilim friends had saved from the rogue nephilim, arrived. Their names were Johnathan and Patrick, and they looked well. We all chatted eagerly but quietly amongst ourselves, hidden from mortal view high up on that Georgian roof top.