“Don't worry about me. I'll see you in a couple of hours with a victory to your name.”
“Now get out of here before you are burned to a crisp.”
The ancient chuckles at the boy, and I watch as he races off back to wherever he came from.
“Are we ready?” I shout, and the massive crowd behind me gives one cheer.
The sun slowly inches over the mountains. The moment it has fully risen and its rays wash over the earth–that is when we will strike.
~~~
It's not an extra half-hour before the sun is up. Now is do or die. There's nothing to do but get ready to fight. We have come this far. We have our warriors ready and our second lines of defense ready to strike once battle commences. I stand still, where we left Mason. None of us speak. We're not nervous, not worried, we are merely silent with quiet contemplation. We are gods. They were created by us. We should not lose, at the same time, we all know the fate that awaits us if we perish. The darkness, an eternal void of suffering. Not a fate we'd like to face.
“To war,” I call over my troops, the moment I sense our contemplations have come to end. We charge.
I am the first to strike the building with a tremendous bolt of lightning. A second and a third followed, only in the time that it takes us to run down to the building. I am prepared. I grab my sheathed hilt and again, a source of electrical energy explodes from it to create a grand sword.
Before us, suddenly two massive hands grow out of the earth. They form two large fists that hurtle themselves into the building. Two sections of the castle are shattered now, and the screams of the inhabitants that immediately catch alight filter out.
Atlas has done his job well.
“Now we fight,” I leap high into the air, reaching the second floor of the building, jamming my electric sword into anything and everything that gets in my path. Executing those who burn and those servants who come to heal the wounded.
Beside me, Ra's boy throws his spear, which turns into a boomerang and flies back into his hands. He dodges and ducks and strikes with the various weapons that the tool shifts into. Impressive. Hercules too, strikes and fights with great proficiency. We are merely a cleanup crew. Those who are on the higher levels are going to be taken by us now, while the Shifters and Werewolves prepare themselves for the great battle we will face below. We move through the castle. It's large. Housing many dark corridors still, even with the massive structural destruction Atlas had created. Each hallway leads to new problems. More vampires on day shift, meeting the end of my blade or one of my many partners.
Bedrooms and lounging areas are filled with many of the creatures. They are resting for tonight. How could Daffyd have been so blind? He must have known we would have struck by day. Blood fever. The hunger. It could have been, I consider. This is too easy, though. Even for me.
Why? I can only assume it's a trap in the long run, but I can't be sure.
“Search and destroy. Leave no trace of the vermin!” An order that has thus far been followed to its fullest.
And I couldn’t be prouder.
Chapter 44
Mason.
With time comes a few perks. The ability to learn when rest is a necessity. When feeding is no longer a top priority. When choosing to benefit the greater good outweighs personal needs.
I lead myself through the hallways that I only know thanks to the witch. The rumbles, shakes, and explosions that echo through this old building get me rather excited. I haven't been to war in eons. I miss it. This is the closest I have been and will be, I assume.
I make my way to the room where the two girls have been kept. Outside stand two guards. Two guards and a young girl. Sarah-Lynn, I remember her name being. The two guards run at me. Why? I would have asked since I feel their fear. I return the gesture. My speed and strength a thousand times greater. Their hearts are in my hands without a second hesitation. Their soft, bare chests giving no push back to my fingers.
“Sarah-Lynn, step aside,” I urge.
She listens and dashes off. Those who stand against those fighting will be slaughtered, they just don't know it yet. It has all come to plan too well for the others to fail. She knew this.
I enter the room, and the two girls sit cuddled in Aliana's lap.
“It's time, Aliana,” I extend a hand towards Madison. The young girl looks into the witch’s eyes. She gives the go ahead.
“What's going to happen to us?” Aliana asks.
“I don't know,” I reply honestly. It's the least I can do, “We can just hope for the best.”
“I understand,” she releases the Deicine and she rushes to me.
“I promised your safety, Madison. I never return on my word,” I pick her up and step towards the door. One last glance over my shoulder at Aliana and her daughter, and I leave. I fear the worst for their safety, but there is nothing more I can do.
~~~
A wise vampire somewhere along the line came up with the idea to tint the windows of a vehicle so that we could move by day with less strain. The windows that we use are black, more than anything else.
Madison and I drive down a long, deserted road.
“Tell me, Madison,” I begin. We have been driving for hours, “Do you trust me?”
She shakes her head.
“I don't blame you. Now, I'm going to take you somewhere. You will be safe. Safer there than you will be at your own home. I know you want to go back, dear child, but we cannot risk that,” She may not understand, but I will be honest. I will tell her precisely what she will suffer through now and until the turmoil is over.
"I am going to put you to rest. You will lay dormant, as if dead. The power your blood produces, untraceable. It's a venom, you see. A venom that will give you the ability to sleep for a great period of time. In your dream state, you will live as if you are alive. A living dream. Your mind will age. A unique ability, you see. You will be taken care of by dear friends," I turn to her for a moment as I speak, and then again, I turn to face the road so that I don't crash.
“How long will I be asleep?”
“Ten years,” I reply, turning off and driving toward an old house. The sun is hanging low now. We've been driving for hours. More than I am willing to count.
“Why so long? What about my parents?” Her innocence breaks my heart.
“Your parents will be fine. I assure you, and we need to make sure that when you awake you will no longer be weak. You must fight, my dear girl. Your life is no longer your own. It is linked to the blood in your veins,” An old lady opens the garage door that's only light is from the sun that hangs low in the sky now.
“When I've entered and parked, she lights a candle and meets me alone outside.
“She's nervous. I will put her to sleep here. Ten years, then I will return. The cave, as usual,” She nods her head. I make my way to the car and pull Madison from the seat.
"It will be over sooner than you think," A soft squeal escapes her as my fangs pierce her tender neck. I feel bad, enjoying the taste of her blood so. The venom takes hold of her quickly. The squeal–that almost turned to sobbing–quickly turns to a sleepy whimper before she is gone. I give her to the old lady. She takes her out.
There is nothing more for us to say to one another.
I wait in the garage until the night comes.
Chapter 45
Romulus.
With the massive wave of power that the Forsaken threw over the vampires in the early morning, and the shifters’ and the wolves’ introduction into the battle moments after, they began sweeping and clearing, I had an honest feeling that we would have a chance to win this war. There was truly nothing that seemed as if it could get in our way.
The hours went quickly, however. With our kinds each suffering only minor losses against the hordes of undead that were slaughtered at our hands.
Drakka and I had taken to counting the number of kills we got. His tallied over forty. Mine just behind at thirty-seven. It was a truly wonderful thing, st
anding side-by-side with a man that I never knew existed until now, a being of a race I never particularly cared for who had the ability to shift into a fantastic dragon-like beast. Whatever it truly was, I don't actually care. All I know is that it slaughters the scum, and it's an ally.
A friend, even, at some point.
“We were in the east wing and didn't really get much action,” Drakka tells me, as a few of his kind begin piling in with the team of wolves that joined me.
“Same for me, hey. Not much action. Can't find that Daffyd prick anywhere either," I return, looking around. We can hear the howling of vampires that have been taken or bitten, or what have you. Still, it's not nearly of the same magnitude as it had been when we first struck.
“You think they're plotting something? It's the Blood Harvest, man. They wouldn't be too stupid about it, would they?” Drakka asks, and I feel a pit growing in my stomach. Have we made a massive mistake? But I shun those thoughts from my mind.
"No, they are here, we just have not found them," As I say this, Zeus appears to me.
"We have word from Odin, Ra, and Thor. A similar issue," he shakes his head, "A heavy wave to begin with, but in the true resting areas, there was nothing or no one. I don't understand what's going on." He seems confused. Just the same as we are.
“Where's the throne room?” I ask.
“Never been there. Only some dining hall,” Zeus replies.
Drakka shrugs it off.
It's then that I catch the scent of something nerve-wracking. Something off-putting. Fear.
I say nothing. It seems like a second, and I am in my wolf form, sprinting in the direction of where the scent comes from. Drakka shifts and chases after me in his lizard form, but I am too quick. Zeus doesn't even try. Not that he wouldn't be able to keep up, but because he knows that whatever it is, this is my own complication to deal with.
There's even a chance he has the same feeling towards whatever the situation is.
I run.
I run as fast as I can. The tunnels are long, they're winding. I pass members of our various clans, still hunting the monsters we are to slaughter. None of them can find another soul. As I run, the sense becomes stronger. I catch the scent of Aliana and my daughter. They are afraid. Then I hear it. The wicked laughter of Daffyd himself.
“You better run, Wolfy. Run, baby, run,” he cries out, in between the laughter.
I track the scent all the way to two massive doors. There is no one outside it. I turn back into my human self. I wait a moment.
“Come in,” I hear from behind the door. It's no longer only them that are afraid, it seems. I am, too. My heart is racing. I'm tense. Nervous.
“Come in!” Daffyd shouts and I push the two doors open. There they are. Daffyd on his throne, Aliana and my precious girl in the hands of vampire thugs.
Chapter 46
Daffyd.
I can't imagine what must be running through the wolf's head right now. The man he came over to kill, standing with his family in shackles and chains at his mercy. It's a beautiful thing. Terrifying, maybe, for him. Beautiful for me. I look into his eyes. It's there that you can truly tell what he's feeling. Disappointment. It's so thick I can taste it in the air.
“Welcome, welcome,” I speak, “To the greatest show on Earth.”
I can see he wants to attack. He's angry. I'm giddy. It's funny to see a man in this state. I've not reached a point in my life like this in years. The quiet dedication. The seething rage, hidden by his calm demeanor. He knows that one wrong move means the end of his family.
“Let them go,” he says calmly.
"Now, where would the fun in that be?" I'm sitting lazily on my throne, "I just have a question for you. Did you really think that the fight would be that easy?" I look between the wolf and the pair, "I mean, we didn't even put up a fight against you and your friends. Did you think that just because it was daytime we wouldn't come in for a few good blows before we really threw in the towel? Not even you, in that thick country-bumpkin skull of yours, could be that thick...."
He holds his tongue. I understand why. It's nice to hold such power over a man. A man that was so foolish to give it all away.
"I had it all worked out from the start. The Blood Harvest comes and goes, you see. It's not really all that big to us. I know that she's only here to be your eyes and ears. Was she even able to relay the message to you in time? I mean, Hamish...." If he doesn't know who Hamish is, it doesn't really matter anyway, "Thought that I was being honest. To throw away every ounce of my people's trust, just so that we could celebrate a God-damned holiday that means nothing to me. All it does is make us lose our minds. Mindless zombies running around trying to claw our way back from a time that was simpler. Like, what you would consider being drunk."
“Why are you telling me all this?” I can feel the rage behind every word he speaks.
“Because don't you see I enjoy the torment?” I laugh.
“I must say, getting Mason to fight on your side was quite the feat. I mean, he's never liked me, but I have been good to him. Well, better than I could have been, you know? Now he's run off with the girl that was supposed to be my saving grace. How do you think that makes me feel? To know that I will not be able to bring an end to the Forsaken, who believe themselves to truly be the almighty?”
Romulus opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, “I will tell you how that makes me feel. It upsets me. I had this one opportunity, and, now, it's gone. Taken and disintegrated by you and your merry band of homeless and hooligans.”
“Just let my family go. We can settle this ourselves,” he plea's again, and I shrug it off.
“I am very sorry, Romulus, but that's not the way this is going to go. You're going to watch everything you've ever loved die before your eyes, the same way that you made me watch my dreams crumble and burn at my feet. Do you think you will be able to bounce back from that?” I chuckle. He moves, but my guards bring the shackled witch and the hybrid daughter tighter in, blades against their throats this time.
"You will not step out of line again, if you know what's good for you, pup," I get up from my throne and step down the stairs, "You, the Forsaken, the shifters, you all work under the same code. None of you think ahead. You're brash and rush in headlong. Mason, he thought ahead but his actions did not have the benefit of you, your family, or any of your parties in consideration. Well, maybe one," I digress a second, "But he doesn't care to watch you burn. He just made a promise to a girl. Innocence and all that, right? What a load of total nonsense. He doesn't care to watch you fall. Neither do I," I clear my throat, "We've planned it for months. From the moment war was declared up until the first battle. My vampires are all together at the Council. These were fledglings and prisoners all sentenced or unready. They meant nothing to us. Just like these two," I raise my hand and snap my fingers. The moment I do, the blades that my vampire guards are holding against the neck, pull through the flesh and they begin gagging.
It's a terrifying sound, to hear someone gasping for air as their lungs fill with blood instead. The desperate cries for help, without a word, since there's no way to get one out. Watching the only man in the room that would ever care for them rush to their sides, weeping, as my guards begin flogging him with whatever they have, a rage-filled aggression that drives his actions to have him transform into the beast he is and tear them to shreds without a care in the world. I watch these actions from start to finish, like clockwork. I have seen it before, and I will see it again. The death of two very insignificant figures serving such a stressful ordeal to one man, who loved them.
How tragic.
I step forward and before the wolf's attention can be placed on me from his blind rage, I am gone. To return to my vampires already at the Council.
Everything has come together nicely.
Chapter 47
Mason.
When darkness takes the land I return to the city. Here, I have set up a meeting with the human agent, Jack. He has been
tasked with finding and protecting a young girl. I have done half his job, it would seem, though I am not here to tell him this. I am here to discuss the safety and the care for the girl.
I walk into the small, hotel room he's been staying in for the last few weeks. The room is a mess. There are notes scattered about, a chart on the wall, and even photos on everyone he's dealt with. He's gone in depth. I understand why. His organization has always been against our kind. From the great Van Helsing that founded the Agency onwards.
They have been the best at what they do.
“What is it you want?” he asks.
“You should know why I am here. I have held up my end of the bargain and would merely like to extend an olive branch.”
"Then where's the girl?" he asks. I'm hesitant to say that the information is confidential. Not that his opinion or his actions would have any effect on me or my being. Rather, it's because, for a brief moment, I remembered what it felt like to be human.
“She's safe and will be for a decade. I have arranged that when the time comes you will be the first to know her whereabouts. Then, you will be allowed access to her when she is awoken. She's in stasis now. A dream-like sleep that will keep her mentally active. Keeping mentally strong is key here. You know what they say, ‘mind over matter’ and what not,” I can see this was not the reaction he was looking for.
“And, how can you assure me of her wellbeing?” The pompous attitude he flaunts does not impress me in the slightest.
“Your opinion means very little to me. I have come here in good faith, not to give you anything more. She will be fed. She will be cleaned, and she will be maintained. All you need to worry about, is being where you are meant to be when she wakes. If you are not, it all collapses.”
“What all collapses?” shocked, he asks.
“Everything we've been fighting for. Everything we've been fighting against. I have no direct play in this war, but I can tell you now that it's going to be a big one. Nothing is as it seems. You will come to realize this. Your father was a good man. A good agent. Do not let him or his name down....”
The Vampire Touch 1: The Forsaken Page 12