The Dark Messenger

by Milo Spires

  The thing was, two weeks had already passed and now she wasn’t entirely sure that she even wanted to go back to her old life. Apart from eternal life, her senses were keener than they had ever been, and she possessed great strength, much more than she had ever had.

  They had also said that they had already lived for hundreds of years themselves and had seen things first-hand, like both the World Wars. They had lived in many countries and had had many friends in the past. Who wouldn’t want for a life like that? To her it sounded amazing!

  Becky thought back to her second day there. She remembered that she had cried a lot and had been so desperate to find a way to be changed back. She hadn’t wanted to see Jenny or the dogs--or anyone, for that matter. But now, looking back on it, she blamed her outlook and behavior solely on her transformation alone, suggesting it was her body talking and not her mind.

  Now, Becky was sure that she wanted to remain a vampire, and Regina and Kaine had said that she was more than welcome to stay with them, to learn their ways, hunt their ways. He would teach her how to fight, not just in hand-to-hand combat either, but with swords, bows, and firepower too.

  She had been given her own gun, and with just the one training session so far, she was totally hooked. It was plain to all of them that she thoroughly enjoyed blasting targets.

  She was also thankful to Kaine because he had taught her to resist thinking that Longinus, the vampire who had bitten her, was her master. Throughout the turning stage she was told that many times she had cried out his name. She was relieved to learn that this was normal. They warned her that if she ever saw him again, she might run to his side, since the vampire who turned a human naturally became its master. This was the only part of being a vampire that she hated though. Kaine had said he could change it if she was given Regina’s blood, just a little, the power that Longinus had over her afterwards, would slowly begin to fade away. She had drunk some and, although she found it weird knowing who had supplied it, she was happy to think that soon she would be completely free from the bastards hold over her.

  They’d also told her that a friend of theirs had come by the first night they had arrived, a man called Raffious, but she and Jenny had both been fast asleep and unfortunately hadn’t gotten to meet him. Raffious and Kaine had looked at Jenny’s neck whilst she had slept, and the old man had left healing cream for it, with special powers. This lotion was supposed to be from another time zone in a parallel universe. When Jenny had tried it, like a miracle, then within a day all the bruising around her neck had gone and it was fine again, even the unladylike hoarse voice had gone too. Three days had passed since then, and Raffious was returning for dinner, so apart from being able to thank him, they would also get a chance to meet him.

  ‘Hurry up, woman!’ Regina said to Becky, interrupting her thoughts. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, looking across at her doing the washing up. ‘Raffious will be here in half an hour, and I know you want to dress up, so go get changed. Those dishes can wait.’

  Becky turned and reached for a towel to dry her hands, before smiling back at her.

  ‘You guys have been so very nice to us ever since we arrived. Thank you so much for your kindness.’ she said.

  ‘Go, woman,’ Regina laughed. ‘You can thank us later. You know where the towels are--in the cupboard on the left. The water’s hot, so enjoy the shower. And believe me, we enjoy having you around too.’

  Becky walked past her towards the stairs and then went down to the floor where the bathroom was, directly under the kitchen.

  ------------------

  Half an hour later and dinner was ready. Becky had returned from her shower looking absolutely stunning in a full-length red dress that she had borrowed from Regina. She looked downright gorgeous, and she carried herself with a sartorial elegance.

  Everyone smiled when she entered the room. Jenny ran across to her, saying, ‘Oh my god, you really look so beautiful!’

  Becky blushed and thanked her, saying she still preferred her jeans though. Everyone laughed.

  Regina looked up at the wall clock to check the time and said, ‘Oh, its six o’clock already! We must hurry up and sit down. Raffious will be here any minute, and he’s never late.’

  Both of them had only been there a few days so far, but already they were well aware that there were only two ways into the underground house--the main entrance upstairs, which was heavily guarded by traps, and the second one being the emergency exit downstairs, but both were locked. It seemed to Jenny from their behavior that something was amiss. Somehow she got the feeling that no one was planning on going to either exit to let the old boy in.

  Strange, she thought, how was he going to have dinner with us if they didn’t let him in?

  ‘So shouldn’t someone go and let Raffious in before we all sit down?’ Jenny had asked. Regina and Kaine had smiled back at her before they started laughing.

  Jenny was confused. ‘Er, did I say something funny?’ she asked. Becky stopped reading a Vogue magazine that she had just picked up and also looked across at their hosts, just as confused.

  ‘Okay, so what’s the joke then? Come on!’ Jenny said slightly flustered.

  At that very moment, a man appeared, standing in the middle of the room on their white sheep-skin rug. He was short, dressed in a white robe, and had a knee-length, full flowing white beard. Jenny was startled and bolted to Regina’s side, whilst Becky’s fangs thrust down in attack mode.

  Regina then stepped forward and smiled as she put her arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Bruce and Solomon then launched themselves up and started making a commotion around his legs, hoping he would say hi to them too.

  ‘Becky, its okay, this is Raffious,’ Kaine said to her, as he put his hand on her shoulder to restrain her.

  Regina turned to look at Jenny and said with a half-smile, ‘Raffious doesn’t use doors.’

  She turned back to the old boy. ‘Raffious, please let me introduce the women to you. This is Jenny, but you know that because you inspected her throat the last time you were here.’

  Raffious took hold of Jenny’s hand and gave her a smile.

  ‘How nice to meet you. I’m so sorry we couldn’t chat last time, but you were asleep and I had urgent business,’ he said as he crouched down slightly and then peered up at her throat. ‘How is your neck now, by the way?’

  ‘My neck is fabulous now, thanks to you. Really, that cream worked wonders,’ she replied, returning his smile.

  ‘And you must be Becky,’ Raffious said, turning to look at her.

  ‘I am,’ she said. ‘Sorry about the fangs thing. You startled me when you suddenly appeared out of nowhere like that.’

  Regina chuckled. ‘That’s why we laughed earlier when you asked how we would know when Raffious had arrived.’

  ‘Yes. I don't use doors. Sorry.’ He said as he gave a short laugh. ‘There would be too many keys needed for the amount of places I visit.’

  ‘Raffious leaps through time,’ Regina added.

  ‘Now, don't reveal all of my secrets at once,’ he laughed.

  ‘Okay, sorry.’

  Raffious squeezed Regina’s hand, his eyes warm.

  She turned to the others. ‘Come on, let’s all sit down and have this dinner that I have slaved over for hours to prepare. Hope everyone is hungry!’

  She walked across to their dining room table and then pulled out a chair, offering it to him.

  Then as everyone else got settled with Kaine in his usual place at the head of the table, finally he got a chance to talk to him too.

  ‘So how are you, Raffious?’

  The old man smiled broadly, then his face abruptly changed. He shook his head.

  ‘No sense in sugar-coating the thing. I am deeply troubled, to be truthful. There are dark times coming your way and you must be very careful.’

  Regina looked up from the oven when she heard this, and Jenny and Becky looked at each other with concern. Jenny reached across the table and
held her friend’s now icy cold hand. Suffice it to say, they were all shocked to hear the grim news.

  Regina shouted out, ‘Hey guys! Please wait till I am there!’ as she continued getting the food ready.

  Quickly she served dinner and deeply concerned about what the grim news might be, she took her seat. ‘Please help yourselves. There is raw venison, carrots, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and also blood or wine with water to sip.’

  They all took a serving of each delectable item.

  ‘Now, Raffious, what are these dark times ahead you see?’ Kaine asked.

  ‘I will tell you, but first I would like to hear Becky’s story.’ He regarded her warmly. ‘Yes, I think we need to hear Becky’s story about her being attacked. What happened to you, my darling?’ he asked.

  Everyone looked across at Becky, eager to hear the story now that she was not so full of rage. They had tried to find out before, but asking her anything over the past couple of days had been quite pointless. After she had her first pint of blood the day she had arrived, she had passed out and was unconscious but then when she came around, she was like a bear being rudely awoken from its state of hibernation. Today was her second day on the blue pills and now two days later, she was much calmer and an all round different beast.

  ‘Well, where do I start…’ she said as she swallowed a mouthful of raw meat down in one go before wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.

  She cast her mind back to the incident. ‘It was the weekend, and I had just left a wine bar in Brighton with a good friend, Laura. Then we went to another bar for more drinks. The ‘Tiger Tiger’, I believe.’

  ‘OH MY GOD!’ Jenny jumped in. ‘That was last Saturday night, when we went to town together from my house. I left you at the train station and then went on that horrible Internet date. Afterwards I stayed at Sarah’s till she dropped me off on her way to work Monday morning.’

  ‘Yep, after I left you,’ Becky said as she reached out and then grabbed more venison from the center of the table. The way she was eating in her primitive state, it was like she was in the wild making sure her days kill was eaten, before the risk of loosing it to another creature came her way. ‘Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the bars.’ She said with blood trickling down her chin.

  ‘So we had been to a few bars then finally ended up in ‘Tiger Tiger’ till it closed. Afterwards I was walking down Church Street on my way home, and the lights were out; I thought someone was behind me and as I turned it was like he was flying, he pushed me hard into a dark doorway and then sank his teeth into my neck. I had thought at first that he was just someone pissed on his way home from a fancy dress party, before the teeth ripped into my neck that is.’

  ‘Um, I have to ask. Did four men come to your rescue?’ Regina asked, remembering back to her IPad’s screen, and the headline. ‘FOUR LOCAL MEN MURDERED BY MYSTERIOUS BEAST’.

  ‘Yes. How did you know?’ Becky replied.

  ‘It was in the local news,’ Regina replied. ‘Did you hear what happened to them?’ Becky said between mouthfuls.

  ‘They were killed, I am sorry to say,’ Regina said.

  Upon hearing this, Becky was furious and she slammed her chunk of meat down hard, smashing into her plate, as her eyes then turned wild and her fangs thrust down.

  Jenny shivered at the sight. She knew that her hosts were vampires, but she didn’t need to keep seeing the fangs. It scared her, and she doubted that she would ever get used to it. Raffious saw her discomfort and put his arm around her.

  ‘Calm down Becky, please! You are scaring your friend,’ he said in a soft, gentle tone.

  The fangs quickly disappeared. Becky looked over at her friend and apologized. ‘I’m so sorry, Jenny. I can’t stop the anger. It scares me too--the slightest thing makes the rage flow.’

  ‘Don’t worry, it will become far more controllable with time. I was just the same,’ Regina said as she glanced across at her husband, hoping he would confirm it.

  ‘Yes Becky, even though it was a long time ago, Regina was like that to start with. It does become much easier to control. I can turn it on or off now whenever I want and it never controls me anymore,’ he said, hoping she would feel reassured by his words.

  Quickly changing the subject, Regina then asked the old boy, ‘Raffious, so tell us about the dark times ahead. How dark are they? Also, I thought you couldn’t tell us of things that have an effect on the timelines of the future.’

  Raffious sat back, and his face grew stern. ‘I am only saying now because it is irreversible anyway. The future has been changed, there’s a huge war between vampires, and many humans will die.’ His eyes locked onto Regina’s as he said, ‘And it’s all your fault, Regina. You sent an email warning them, precisely what I told you not to do.’ He looked at Regina crossly.

  Kaine and everyone else was shocked at his outburst.

  Raffious softened his gaze as he continued, ‘Regina darling, I warned you not to mess with the future when we spoke on the phone the other day. You wanted to warn the priest and the Church, but I strongly advised you against doing it, do you remember?’ he asked.

  She nodded, wondering how he could have possibly known about the email she had sent. Yes she sent an email warning the Scottish coven about Rex attacking them, but she couldn’t remember saying anything about Jenny and the priest in it. But maybe I did, she thought. She couldn’t remember the details, because she had been in deep panic mode when she had heard about Kaine’s vision. It was only a quick email though, she thought.

  ‘I don't understand,’ she said, looking at Raffious. ‘I did send an email as we were racing around trying to locate Jenny. I didn’t think anything of it though--I only quickly looked up their email on Google and sent a short message. I didn’t even know if it was the right address, and I don’t think I mentioned anything about Jenny and the priest in it, did I?’

  Kaine gazed across at his wife. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, darling?’ he asked.

  ‘I didn’t think anything of it, and I suppose I just forgot, what with everything going on and all. We went racing out to save Jenny from the hospital, and then have been busy with errands like getting those blue pills and stuff.’

  She suddenly looked very sad. ‘I’m…I am so sorry.’

  Kaine stood up and went over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, massaging her neck softly. He fully understood that it had really been only an email, and yes, she had been very busy with everything. ‘It’s okay, baby. You couldn’t have possibly known. I started this mess, not you.’

  He tilted her face to look up at him. ‘I just wish you had asked me first. Not that I would have told you not to--I am quite sure I probably would have said yes anyway. You couldn’t have known, so don't be upset. Vampires are always warring with each other anyway. And Rex—well that old vile ugly bastard, he starts wars wherever he goes, so I truly doubt you really caused this war Raffious speaks of,’ he said. He laughed softly and then bent down to cuddle his wife. As he did, he looked up briefly to scowl across at Raffious for the way he had blamed her. How dare he upset her, he thought.

  ‘That stupid vision of mine has caused all of this,’ he whispered in her ear. She squeezed his hand in silent reply.

  ‘Please go on Raffious, tell us the rest,’ Becky said. She had been ripping apart another chunk of venison after picking up the vegetables from the floor, that went everywhere from her last wild outbreak of anger when she had smashed the plate. Jenny seeing her in the beastly state found herself turning to look the other way.

  ‘Raffious sighed and nodded. ‘I'm sorry you feel that way, Kaine,’ he said, as he turned around to Becky. ‘But as you have just asked, my dear, I will continue.

  ‘The email was received, and the Scots checked its veracity. They sent a vampire called Longinus back in time to look for the orphanage where Jenny was sent, but discovered that someone had set fire to it before he got there. It was burnt to the ground, and nothing remained. The Scots never forgot the email, and in 20
99 were ready should Rex try to attack them. So you see, the future has been altered by your own doing, and the war is directly your own fault, Regina,’ he said.