The Dark Messenger

by Milo Spires

  Now though, he considered, could they maybe retreat back into the tunnel and fight from there?

  No, if they were going to be killed, then the armed warriors should stay hidden and watch from the tunnel. He would call out the ones who were unarmed to stand with him, and when they were all executed, the vampires above would probably jump down to rip them apart with their hands. His warriors in the tunnel could then blast the hell out of them and hopefully kill hundreds. At least he could die with the pleasant thought in his mind that they had not been the only ones killed here. He had a notable absence of sympathy for that evil bastard Angus, and even more as the seconds passed. He just hoped that after his execution, it wouldn’t be too long before Angus joined him down in the flames.

  But where was he? Mietioc couldn’t see him up there.

  Then he had an idea and started laughing, doubling himself up and pretending that he couldn’t stop himself.

  ‘Do you know what I'm laughing about?’ he shouted up to the silent vampires above him. ‘I’m laughing about what Longinus told me last week. Yes, that’s Longinus who left your coven! Anyway, he said one of the main reasons for leaving you, was because you were all weak! I have to agree with him because no one has ever heard that you fought against another coven and won. When we were at war before, ok it was called off but you lost a lot more than us. You never go on missions and just hide in here all the time. In my mind, I have to agree with him because looking at yours faces now, apart from being hideously ugly as we all remembered you were, you do look pathetic and weak too.’

  Their faces held their blank expressions but he thought he could see a slight change coming so he continued and pushed the abuse to the next stage.

  ‘Do you know what the really funny part was that he said though? It was that the reason you all are so pathetic. Because you have a pathetic weak leader!’

  Mietioc craned his neck back even further as he slowly turned on the spot, glaring at the silent crowd. ‘Yes, Angus, wherever you are! You are too scared to show your face, you weak fool.’

  WOW what a reaction he got to that too. They actually finally looked angry with him.

  Then from somewhere above, something swooshed through the air. He ducked as it came near him and heard it thud into the ground behind him. Turning around, his jaw twitched in fury. Lying there a few feet away was the head of the warrior who he had left outside to warn their coven if they were ambushed.

  ‘You dare to come here and try to kill us in our own home?’ Angus screamed out in an ancient, whiny voice.

  Mietioc looked up and could see the lanky fucker Angus, staring back down at him.

  The Scots leader was dressed in similar attire to that of his own leaders, which was a robe full in length with a hood that covered his face. The difference was that his attire was patterned in his covens tartan plaid. He was a tall thin vampire who stood, from what Mietioc could see, at about seven feet tall, or perhaps even more. Mietioc suddenly realized that the tunnel they had just come through must have been designed for him and him alone, as they had similar shapes.

  Mietioc then messaged his guards: ‘All of you who are armed stay in the tunnel. I am calling out the unarmed. If they kill us, take advantage of the distraction and blast them. Try to kill their leader--he's directly above the entrance in tartan. You will see him because he's so bloody tall; make sure you get him in the face though.

  ‘Yes sir. Pleasure knowing you, sir,’ came the reply. A shudder went through Mietioc at the words. But he knew that it was only the truth.

  He then turned to the tunnel and called out loud so that the vampires above could hear him. ‘Come out, men!’

  As they started walking out, the vampires above suddenly came alive, screaming at them and throwing huge rocks over the sides. Some of the rocks hit their targets and tore huge gashes in their arms as they were holding them above their faces, trying to block their heads from being caved in.

  ‘STOP!’ Angus shouted, and suddenly there was silence, except for the rocks that were still rolling around the floor beneath them, looking for a final place to rest.

  ‘So you came to kill us with infected humans, and hoped that afterwards you would steal my riches?’ Angus raged down on the captives below him.

  Mietioc stared up at the Scot leader, shocked that he knew of their plan.

  How did they know, though? Did one of our own coven tell him? It had to be, he thought to himself. Anger boiled up inside him as he wondered who the bastard was. If only he survived this day; if he did, he would hunt down the snitch and kill him slowly with his bare hands. Sadly though he could feel his own death was just around the corner. It could feel it calling to him.

  Maybe I could talk our way out of this situation, he suddenly thought, but then realized that it would be completely pointless to try denying their plan at this stage. Angus had found their weapons, knew they were guilty, and had obviously decided on the punishment too.

  Mietioc decided to go with the truth. ‘It’s your fault! You broke the age-old vampire rule. You killed in public; you didn’t think our coven would retaliate?’ he shouted back at Angus. ‘Keep in mind before you decide on our punishment, that if you kill us, our coven will be at war again.’

  Angus ignored the comment and moved on to the next stage in his judgement process.

  ‘You might be wondering how we all knew about your plan? Have you in that small mind of yours got any ideas as to who truly arranged your coming here, and the punishment you are about to receive?’

  He paused to chortle, whilst Mietioc started to think.

  ‘Then Angus said, ‘I could tell you that someone sent me an email 85 years ago in 2014, but to be truthful the email was illegible. Then I could say a time shifter gentleman, who hops about a bit told me, but then that would be true in a sense, only he was not the true perpetrator. Any ideas yet?’

  Angus was fully aware the guy who had told him 85 years before, had only known because he had jumped forwards in time to find it out from someone else, and wasn’t the true culprit as you might be thinking.

  ‘I honestly have no idea, but truthfully if you aren’t going to say, then well if the punishment is what I think it will be, it wont matter if I know or don’t know, will it?’

  ‘Ok I will tell you who, but only because I really want to see your face, and your anger when you realize that you were doomed before you even set foot on the train that brought you up to the highlands.’

  Angus told him the name and in response, Mietioc with a completely shocked look across his face, just stood there completely lost for words.

  Then to prove the story, Angus threw him down a voice recorder, and told him that he could keep the device as he had other copies. Mietioc had pressed the play button and then heard the telephone call between the Scot and a vampire he knew from his own coven. They had arranged a twisted sordid deal together, and as part of it, the traitor had said the Elite warriors had to die.

  ‘A great plan eh?’ Angus said as he then harrumphed into silence.

  ‘You fucker.’ Mietioc retorted as Angus then grinned in reply.

  ‘Well it seems you have nothing more to say, and we don't either. So then, with everything taken into consideration, and by the powers invested in me, I hereby sentence you all to…’

  He paused, laughed to himself, and then said, ‘Oh yes. I remember the word I was looking for.’ His eyes narrowed and a wide smile came over his face.

  ‘DEATH! Guards! Kill them all!’

  Mietioc tensed himself for the inevitable, and it came as expected, with much pain. His warriors had leapt into the air, opening their wings, but it had been a pointless effort. They were able to fly up about thirty feet before an immense spray of silver bullets savagely ripped them to pieces. Mietioc had been the first to die; he felt bullets tearing through his face and chest in all directions as he fell backwards. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  Gunfire filled the air, leaving the trapped vampires with no possible way
to retaliate before they were annihilated. Eighty-nine vampires were torn to pieces by silver bullets, and not one of them had made it half the distance between themselves and Angus’s vampires. As soon as the bullets stopped, as predicted, the Scots then leapt over the sides to rip apart the bodies by hand, and to laugh at the dead in front of them.

  Back up inside the tunnel though, one of Mietioc’s warriors had an idea. With no leader, he took the initiative and messaged everyone with him. After hearing his plan, they agreed that it was excellent, and a perfect way for them to leave this life, unleashing hell on Angus and his coven.

  The new plan was to knock out the infected prisoners and then surreptitiously bury them in shallow, mud-covered graves at the park’s entrance of the tunnel. The warriors reasoned that, by doing so, not only would the humans not be seen, the smell of their blood would be hidden with them beneath the surface too. Just leaving a tiny hole for them to breathe from.

  They would lay there for hours, until the full moon came that evening. The mud would first begin to shake gently, then as the beasts began to change, the mud would start dancing around like a 9 on the Richter scale, as a huge earth quake was about to hit. Suddenly a hand would appear up out of the soil, probably half covered in fur and claws. Then the face would launch itself up and seconds later the whole werewolf would spring itself out of the hole. The beasts would then as a pack, charge up into the coven’s upper levels, taking the Scottish vampires completely by surprise, and killing hundreds of them in a very short time.

  Their new plan fully formed, they set to work.

  As soon as they finished burying the infected, they released the non-infected females who had been bound and gagged up to this point. As the humans ran down the tunnel, they pulled the gags out of their mouths, screaming in terror. Just as the warriors had planned, Angus’ coven heard the screams, which distracted them from tearing apart the dead. As they looked up into the tunnel, they smiled at what they saw running towards them.

  The women suddenly came to a stop, staring in horror at the bloody scene before them, and at the gore-streaked faces of the Scottish vampires coming toward them. Turning round as one, they fled back up the tunnel, the blood-lusting vampires chasing after them. They were desperate to drink their warm fresh blood, and nothing would get in their way.

  From above, Angus messaged them to stop immediately, but his subjects ignored him. They knew that he probably wanted the women for himself, but these vampires were not prepared to share. They knew that their leader for sure would not share with them.

  More vampires on the top level began to swarm down, even though they were warned not to follow. But how could they resist? For years they had been forced to drink the blood of diseased humans, and from their scent, these women didn’t have diseases and were completely fresh.

  Angus lost all control over his coven, and the women became a free for all, first come first served. Everyone leapt over the sides, paying no heed to Angus’ bellowing for order. He could not believe how they were all ignoring him. He was left wondering if what Mietioc had said about him being pathetic had somehow affected their views towards him. Was this the beginning of a revolution, meaning that his reign as their leader was over?

  Deep inside the tunnel, Mietioc’s men were ready.

  ‘Give ‘em hell, boys,’ their self-appointed leader said as the Scots came tearing down towards them. The warriors started firing, tearing their enemy to pieces with their machine guns. It was almost too easy--just point in one direction down the tunnel and fire. Angus had, in fact, designed the tunnel, and it had been made so that he could easily walk inside it, as Mietioc had suggested. It was unlikely that the coven leader had even considered what would happen if his warriors might need to use it. If the passageway had been a bit wider, his vampires may have had a chance to dodge the bullets. As it was, its narrowness was their doom.

  Their deaths happened so quickly that they didn’t have a chance to message their leader when they realized that the humans were just a trap. By the time their minds had registered the presence of the nine warriors behind their prey, it was too late. The last thing they ever saw were the smiles on the faces of the London vampires, grinning at how sweet revenge was for them. They were giving the Scots back the same pain that their fallen brothers had experienced just moments before.

  One hundred and seventy eight of the Scottish coven died in the tunnel before the ammunition finally ran out. The nine then launched into the air and started to beat the approaching vampires with their now-empty rifles. The remaining Scots witnessing it began to message Angus.

  As expected, Angus was furious. He had been thinking that the gunfire was from his own vampires, celebrating the deaths of the women as they drank from their bodies. He was dismayed to learn that Mietioc still had warriors alive in the tunnel, and that they had weapons. His scout had told him that all of the weapons had been taken, but now he realized with dread that no one had counted them to be sure.

  Soon the armed vampires went down into hidden parallel tunnels that ran alongside the main one. Aiming their weapons through the secret openings, they killed the nine brave warriors almost instantly.

  As Angus received the report that the last of Mietioc’s warriors were dead, he was furious because the plan he had agreed to with his partner in crime in Rex’s coven had never included his own vampires dying.

  Furious, he stormed off, but not without making yet another error that he would regret that evening.

  He had phoned Rex’s coven and spoke with his contact there. In the phone call with him he had told him that his scout in Holyrood park had seen Mietioc with female prisoners and male prisoners, only he himself had only ever seen female prisoners. This had alerted him that the infected prisoners must still be in his coven somewhere. With this terrible news in mind, he had also told his contact that he had ordered his warriors to remain on guard above the ambush room, whilst the rest of the coven were to search Holyrood park itself and the tunnels too.

  Still though by midnight, and as the moon had cast it’s eerie luminescent glow across the land, the infected prisoners had yet to been found.

  That night the werewolves burst through into the parallel tunnels and then they came up the back way, killing even more of his vampires.

  The next day Angus had screamed down the phone to his old business partner, the traitor in London, and then ended the phone call harshly, by telling him that he could fuck off and to never call him again.

  Chapter 16 - A chance to talk

  Becky stood at the kitchen sink whilst she was washing up the dishes, and humming under her breath. She had been feeling so much stronger over the last couple of days. She was so happy; finally, after all the headaches, being sick, mood swings, smashing things, and being restrained by Kaine, she finally felt like she was beginning to settle down inside. The transformation into a vampire, in her own words, had been absolutely terrible. For all the super strength she could now feel surging in her veins, throughout the change she had felt so weak and dizzy. It had got to where she wondered if it would ever stop.

  Kaine and Regina had said they thought her body seemed to be fighting it, so acting on good advice, they had given her some tablets from a friend. Becky didn’t ask what they were made from, and Regina never told. However, they seemed to do the trick. Blue pills, ‘something special in the vampire world’ was all she had said. They had worked too, because as soon as she had taken her first dose, and almost immediately afterwards, the violent feelings inside went away.

  Jenny said she had started to feel so much more relaxed too as time went on. Funny, because she normally freaked at anything when the two of them were growing up. To see her now living with three vampires, just didn’t make any sense.

  Two weeks ago Becky had been a human, a middle-aged woman renting a flat in Portslade with a steady job and a great social life. Now she was a vampire, and her old life was gone. She was told that she could go back to it though, if they found Longinus. If she kill
ed him herself within a month of her being attacked, then after doing a special ritual with his head and spells said, that she would be able to revert back to her mortal self.