Vampire Vendetta

by Hayblum, Sadae

  Getting out of our cells is the easy part, getting out of the underground compound is a different story altogether. You see in the year 1887 the humans became outraged when they found out that many of their missing persons cases were the work of vampires. They began to hunt us during the day when we were at our weakest; and our numbers began to dwindle rapidly. Vampire hunters started to rise in numbers and soon there was an all out war against humans and the vampires. Soon we were no longer able to hunt and feeding became impossible for our kind as governments began to enforce curfews before sundown. By the year 1910 most of us had perished and would continued to do so if we had not been saved by one who had lived on this earth as a vampire almost since the fall of man. This savior was Ramses; he found us dirty and hungry living in the sewers, and eating rats to survive. He went around the world for years finding vampires and teaching us from the book of Semele; how to live and how to survive. He then began creating covens and building underground sanctuary for those of us who had to live in darkness. He formed a counsel of the oldest and wisest of our kind; and soon we had a thriving society again, albeit a society that thrived in darkness. By the year 2000 the people of the underworld had begun to live a mostly normal life, through science we were able to find ways to go out in the daylight without burning or turning to stone. Soon some of the world’s leading doctors, politicians and scientists were vampires. We learned that by mixing animals blood with gold we could satisfy our lust for human blood, a similar mixture was also taken internally to allow us to be out in daylight for hours at a time. We were by no means perfect, but the brutal massacre of humans had ceased and this kept us safe for a time. Ramses had been vital in helping all of us to survive and for hundreds of years it was he who was our teacher, father, and our guide. He was an immortal that one could follow and know that he would keep you safe no matter what; we followed in the wisdom he imparted upon us without question. If Isis is the Queen of the damned; Ramses had surely become our king. As time has moved on we have become more sophisticated in our approach, with the invention of Invictus, we have been able to travel through time and rescue some of our sisters and brothers from the slaughters of our darkest days. Invictus has its downfalls as well; one of them being that you cannot remain in a time period for more than two days. If you do not reopen the portal before the timer counts down on the second day you will be trapped there, until someone else activates Invictus, and comes to rescue you. If no one comes to retrieve you or they cannot locate you, you will be lost in time. The compound where Kenji and I are now being held prisoner is deep underground in the sprawling metropolis that is New York. We are being kept in Quadrant Seventeen and in order to make it above ground we need to make it to Quadrant Two. This is no easy task with the high security measures that are in place. I believe I may have a plan to get us out of here, but I must think long and hard. I feel the press of time on me as the burden of decision lays itself before my feet.

  I watch her as she sits on the floor of her cell, half mumbling to herself. I can see the different images flashing through her mind quick as a leopard as she tries to think of ways to escape. I am still perplexed as to how I am even where I am. I do know that I must get back to Isis and tell her of what I have learned during my time here; that she has more to fear from Ramses than she could possibly imagine. I owe my life to Isis for it was she that saved me when she found me dying after a fierce battle between the covens that had taken place on the sandy dunes near Karnack. When Isis found me I was near death covered in sand and choking on my last breath. She picked me up from the ground and carried me how far I know not. When I wearily opened my eyes I saw we were in a great temple. The powerful scent of incense drifted over me and filled me with a thirst for life I had never known in all my days as a vampire. Isis then laid me down gently upon an altar of pure shimmering gold. She then drifted from my sight in a cloud of white. I could hear her talking to me gently like a mother trying to calm her child. After that there was a great heat; Isis had lit the pyre and I was soon consumed by fire. I writhed and screamed as the heat covered me, and I could hear her speaking loudly over my cries. As my senses began to fade I heard her say these words; her voice high and melodic the umber brown of her skin glistening in the light of the fire as she knelt before the altar. Her words were not lost to me; indeed they were the link that tied me fiercely to life. If I listen now I can still hear her every word. She said…

  “I pay homage to thee, Osiris, Lord of eternity, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy, thou being of hidden form in the temples. I beg thee to makest the soul of this man to be raised up. I beg thee Osiris god of the Celestial Ocean draweth from thee his waters. Sendest forth the north wind at eventide, and breathe from thy nostrils to the satisfaction of thy heart. With thine heart reneweth his youth. I beg thee; make this man as eternal as the stars in the celestial heights. Grant him life like the imperishable stars that are under thy supervision. Let him be like the stars which never set. These words I speak as your sister Isis. I hath given this man my protection. I have uttered this spell with the magical powers of my mouth. My tongue is perfect and has never halted at a word, so grant me this that I have asked of you Osiris son of Horus.”

  When Isis finished her prayer, the fire was cool upon my skin; my breath came smoothly to my lips. I stood up and stepped down off of the altar; feeling a new strength coursing through my veins. It was a power unlike anything I had ever felt when I had only been a vampire. I turned to gaze upon she who had saved me not able to find the words to express how I felt. I gazed upon her for a long moment it seemed, drinking in her essence with my eyes. She was tall and stately, her limbs lithe and toned. Her silhouette was so perfect it did not seem real. When my eyes reached her face I saw kind almond shaped eyes staring back at me full of love. Her nose was small and cat like and led down to full perfect lips. Wind had begun to blow softly through the temple and the sheath that was her dress drifted in the wind. Isis had hair that fell in soft curls of all shapes and sizes. To say she was beautiful would be an understatement; she was majestic and ethereal. She seemed to have one foot in this world and one foot in the next. Finally my mind returned to me and I had the sense to speak

  “Why have you done this thing for me? “ I asked her. She stood away from me and said “I saw you in battle, you fought brave and true. I could see a light about you that I did not think should be extinguished from this world. I mourned you when you fell in battle. When I saw that you yet had life in you, I knew I must do all in my power to bring you back. You are still a vampire mind you, but now you are also a true immortal. Silver will not harm you and you no longer need blood to survive. You also have other gifts which will show themselves to you in due time.” She then took my hand and led me out into the night, “Come you have a long journey ahead of you.” “A long journey? “ I asked “to where? “ “I am sending you to the Sennin coven in Japan; they are a coven of immortals of all kinds; their leader Aiko will welcome you with open arms.” I kneel before and take her hand “I wish to serve you Isis, do not send me away from you after all that you have done for me. I pledge my loyalty and life to you.” Isis raises me up from the ground still holding my hand.

  “I accept your allegiance, and I will call upon when I have need of you. For now it is my wish that you join the Sennin. Be blessed in your journey.” Since the time of my rebirth I have served Isis many times; as a friend, assassin, and spy. Over the ages my love for her has grown, but I will never act upon the feelings of love I have for her, because there are too many that need her in the silent secret world that we live in. There is now the mystery of Eva; she reminds me of Isis in many ways, they look very similar except that Eva has the sharp eyes of a hawk and the stern mouth of one unused to joy. Eva is bright though and after our fight on the rooftops in Egypt, I can say that she is a skilled fighter. From what I can tell she is only a vampire, definitely not a hybrid of any kind. I wonder how long I should wait before I tell her that I do not need her help to escape
this cell our captors have so carelessly tossed us into. For vampires with so many advantages you would think they had a way to tell if a vampire had the powers to break through their high security prison. Eva needs to hurry we do not have much time before they come for us, and the punishment they have in mind for us are not for the faint of heart. I put my fingers to my hair and find the lock of hair where I have hidden the ring that Isis gave to me before we last parted. I still cannot figure out what it could possibly be for, but I will keep it safe until I know its use.

  “Kenji.” I whisper through the bars “I have a plan to get us out of here.” I explained the plan to him as quickly as I could “I helped design these cells and I know how to open them without raising the alarms. I feel like we must go back through Invictus to Egypt. I know that if I have failed in my mission Ramses and the council will be readying a new assassin to do what I did not accomplish. That means that we have a few hours at best, before they have someone ready to go through the portal.” “Eva they are not sending a different assassin to Egypt to complete your task. The council has agreed to send Ramses himself. If he gets there before we do he will surely find and Kill Isis. There is much that I must tell you about Ramses that I think you do not know. I will tell you when we have more time. “I nod at Kenji and begin my work on my cell door; once I have recalibrated the system I enter my backdoor code and the bars unlock with a hiss sliding into the ceiling quietly. I walk over to Kenjis’ cell and repeat the process and soon he is free as well. There are no guards here as no vampire has ever been able to break out of the cells before. The bars are made from a material that gives off a high dose of UV rays of they are tampered with. The only way you can get out without unleashing these powerful rays is by knowing the code. As we race down the slim hallways we keep watch for any guards that may be idling nearby. As we near the end of the hall I spot a guard sitting in a glass room, his back is to us and I am trying to decide how we will get past him. I signal to Kenji that if we slide past him low to the ground we should be able to get past. Kenji whispers in my ear,” We must take out the guard, they are holding my weapons in that room as well as yours.” I inwardly cringe at not having thought of this.

  Before I can offer to go in and take care of the guard, I see that Kenji has already entered the room and has his hands around the guard’s neck. In a blur of hands and arms the guards head was ripped from his body. Kenji tossed the guards head to the side and walked past the body as it blackened to dust. I run into the room and once we find our weapons we head out; I lead the way quickly to the chamber where Invictus is housed I don’t trust our luck to hold out much longer. As we make our way down the dark halls, we can hear sounds of life coming from behind the different doors we pass. We run quietly and make no sound, we don’t even blink, which is not hard to do when you are a vampire. We finally reach a wide steel door; the palm reader next to the steel door glows an ominous blue.

  This is the tricky part, because I don’t know if my palm print has been deactivated and I will only have one try. If my palm has been deactivated it will set off a silent alarm and the guards will be upon us in moments. I lift my palm to the palm reader, but I hesitate; if I am wrong then we will die. “No!” Kenji hisses in my ear. “I have a better way, we cannot risk it.” Again he has read my mind I wonder exactly how much of my mind he is able to read it’s pretty annoying. “I cannot read your every thought Eva, I can only see your thoughts if they are a danger to me.” I roll my eyes at this. “Well Kenji if I am not going to put my palm up to the scanner, how exactly do you propose we get in? This door is three feet of steel and it is also enforced with UV bars, if we break it the light will obliterate us in seconds. “Just trust me Eva; wrap your arms around me press your body as tightly to me as you can.” I look at Kenji like he has completely lost his mind; we are in a life or death situation and he’s asking me for a hug. If that’s what he really wants to do then so be it at least I won’t die alone. I sigh shrug my shoulders and wrap myself against him like a python. Kenji wraps his arms around me; one hand rests against my head and presses it into his shoulder. Suddenly as I look around my vision becomes hazy and everything begins to melt away like dripping wax, before I can check to see if I am dreaming I feel lighter than air, and for a moment I am floating like a droplet of water in the ocean spray I feel myself fall away. In the next instant I can feel my legs again and the things around me start to come back into to focus. I push back away from Kenji and hiss “What the heck just happened?” He just let a small grin slide across his face and said “No time I will explain later.” Well I couldn’t complain too much, at least we were finally inside of the Invictus chamber. We quickly check the small labs surrounding the main chamber and all seems deserted. I can’t understand where everyone is, but then I glance at a computer screen and see the time. Everyone will most likely be in Quadrant two for their doses. Doses are the only time when everyone is basically in the same area. Our daily doses of blood or other life sustaining substances are given out at the same time every day. That at least is in our favor. I also note that we have about fifteen minutes before the Invictus team returns.

  I hurry over to the console and begin typing in the information we will need to open the portal. I set the timer and the date and then turn on the shields. The console begins a countdown we have to wait five minutes for the machine to prime. Once the machine is set I run to the storage closet and pull out clothing to match the time period. I also grab a transporter watch for Kenji if he decides to return for some reason he will need one. I quickly dress and remember to grab three vials of my daily dose from the emergency case. I grab Kenji who has been inspecting Invictus with wide eyes. I pull him into the machine and tell him the simple instructions. “Keep your hands next to your side at all times, and try not scream, beaming out hurts a bit. When the purple light comes on the transporter is ready.” He looks at me and I can tell he is about to say something, but he is too late.

  399 B.C.

  We arrived safely and in one piece; Invictus transported us to a location an hour outside of the city. Kenji obviously knows the way so I let him lead the way. During the short journey he has told me the true story of Ramses and how he came to be. I of course am shocked to learn that Ramses is a Hybrid of proportions that I had never dreamed were possible. Now that I know what he is, I can fully believe that he is behind the attacks on the covens. I also see that by sending me to eliminate Isis in the past, he would have had a clear shot to power long before 2021.Had I been successful and returned to 2021, killing Isis would have changed the world of the damned in ways that my mind can barely wrap around.

  It scares me to know that I almost brought an age of darkness upon the world. Humans would have been all but wiped out and vampires would no longer be ingesting mixed blood. Kenji explains to me that he gleaned from the thoughts of Ramses; That Isis is alive in 2021. He tells me that Isis is in a deep Slumber in a hidden place. Ramses it seems had been searching for her for centuries; and when Invictus was created Ramses had finally found a way to murder her. Kenji explains that once the blood of innocents would have begun to run through the streets. Isis would have heard their pleas for help and would have awakened from her slumber. This is Ramses great fear, for although he is a hybrid, he might not be able to defeat her in battle. It pains me to see that I would have been used to bring about such a violent end to the world as we know it, and for once I wish I would have taken the time to really look and judge my mission properly. I walked blindly into a mission having full faith in my commander and the council. I am quite for a long time after Kenji has finished talking; I realize after some time that we are walking into the city instead of running at full speed, we could have reached the city long ago. “Why are we walking so slowly?” I finally ask, “It is night no one will see us at this hour.” He nods “You are correct; however I wanted to speak to you before we reached our destination. I also thought that there was no better place to speak with you. The quite of the desert at night is good fo
r thinking.” I looked around surprised to find that he was right. For the first time in a long time I was thinking things through slowly and carefully. “Thank you Kenji I say softly, but he only nods again. I watch him as he walks through the sand, his step sure and steady; his hair is onyx in the light from the moon and his skin shines as bright as silver.