Xairin wasn't too thrilled about that thought at first. He wasn't keen on having the ability to transform others into vampires if he evolved. However, after thinking about how his date went with Ezra, Xairin was had to admit that his thoughts were flirting with obtaining more power. Seeing combat already though, that had him looking out the window ruffling his face.
The Major turned back around just in time to see the craft raise above a cloud. The man looked at the beautiful nighttime sky. He too was a child of the night, a vampire. His black eyes beheld the bewitching power the night held. He almost shed a tear at how the thin layer of clouds that hid the world below became a white blanket reflecting a bright aura from the moon and the stars above. After a moment, he turned around and continued. "Sorry about that, sometimes the beauty of the night gets me at times... As I was saying. Every fiber of your being will be needed to complete some of the training exercises you will endure." He paused. "We have lost several good men and women in the fight against the creatures spawned from the Aeon Strain. Now that we have the Conclave adding back into the fray, we can't allow the unity between mortals and immortals to be disrupted. Our very survival depends on coexistence now. So yes, be prepared to be physically and mentally challenged."
Troger Smart, the man, sitting beside Xairin, leaned forward. Given Xairin had a thing for blond and brown-haired men, he stared. The man reminded him of Ezra in a way. The man wasn't as dashing in the face as Ezra was, but it was enough to prompt a thought now that he was leaning forward more and Xairin could get a better view. He noticed how Troger's brown eyes were keying in on the bald man sitting in the front passenger seat. Troger's voice wasn't exactly deep, nor was it soft but somewhere in the middle. "Wait, I haven't heard of any Conclave stuff going on."
The Major turned his head, looking over his left shoulder and eyeing Troger Smart. "Most of it has been kept out of the news for obvious reasons Mr. Smart, and to that end, we need to thwart the damage, before any of it becomes public knowledge."
Xairin lost his concentration while studying the man wearing the blue ballcap and realized what had just been said. Hearing about the Conclave was a significant concern which prompted him to question his choice of enlisting after hearing that.
Now he wondered just how soon they would dive into the training. "How soon will the training begin once we've arrived?" Xairin asked while leaning forward a bit.
Rosco looked back again, this time at Xairin. "The very moment we arrive Mr. Thunder. You will be given your arm band, training uniforms to set you apart from those who have completed the initial training. After that, you will be shown your housing, and then immediately report to your first training exercise."
"When are we to expect our team assignments?" Asked the woman in front of Xairin.
"You have up to fourteen days to complete what we call, the obstacle course. Think of it as, Olympic style grading. Once you complete the course with a score of an eight, nine, or a ten, then you will be assigned your team. You can start attempting the obstacle course on day three. If you don't complete it by day fourteen, then it is automatically assigned at that point."
Xairin sat back and looked out the oval craft's circular windows. He was wondering just what he had gotten himself into. Sure, it was quite a bit of currency but was it worth it? Fifty thousand on enlistment, which was already deposited, and then the twenty thousand per tour. But Xairin had to consider just how much his life was really worth. Not only to be an heir but to himself. Was this going to be worth it? The more he thought about it, the more he remembered the conversation he and Ezra exchanged after the date. He felt wrong about him and Ezra. He could still feel the lips pressed against his hand when he thought about it. He rubbed the top of his hand while trying to keep tears from flowing. This had to be worth it in the end. He kept wondering if he had been a stronger vampire, or more suited in combat if it would have turned out differently. Maybe those words wouldn't have been exchanged at all had Xairin taken all of them out.
"Here, we are!" The pilot announced.
Xairin looked out and pressed his face against the glass. The island was massive. He saw six towering singular mountains, separated from one another. Three near the center, and the others almost making the shape of a large U. Even at night, the stars above lit up the lush green jungles below. He could also see the white beaches.
"How long has this island been under Society Control?" Xairin asked.
Major Rosco turned his head to reply. "Society control, well, since the Society began. Before that, it belonged to house Ninlil. Donated by Lilith's own House. The island has a mind shard, one of six known to remain after the god wars. It helped cloak the island for years. Throwing off radar and navigation equipment, part of what gave the Triangle some of its mystery."
"What is a mind shard?" Xairin asked, along with Troger, both in unison.
Rosco shrugged. "Some type of crystal that absorbs psychic energies and in the hands of an Aeonian or an Immortium, those energies can react and be essentially programmed. No one really knows where they came from, all we know, is that Lilith has had it in her possession for, well, who knows how long really."
Rosco frowned. "Rumor has it, that the ancient gods, from Greece to Egypt all had mind shards once. Part of what started some immortal war centuries ago. When people would pray, those shards could collect the psychic energy from that prayer, and well, in the hands of the old ones, they would use it as a weapon."
"What happened to them? The mind shards?"
Rosco turned his head again. "War Mr. Thunder. A war happened. Aeonians fought against other Aeonians to capture more mind shards so that the different factions could overpower the others. Egyptian Aeonians against the Greek, the Sumerians, the Norse, all of them. After that, a new war started when the Immortium realized that they too could use them. It was an all-out battle for supremacy. A war that some say happened at least six thousand years ago or more. The mind shards were destroyed except for a few, like the one here."
The craft arrived along a landing strip, not one out in the open, given the size of the craft, but one that was surrounded by trees. Xairin felt the craft switch to land mode. A few moments later, he was looking out to seeing a sight of hundreds of brown dome-shaped tents. Several structures recently erected, not made of canvas mind you, but solid hardened structures, many of them dome-like. Around the tents and various other structures, he noticed the mountain, many of the trees towered over the dome-shaped domiciles and gathering points. It was well secluded.
Major Rosco was the first to exit the craft. Xairin noticed dozens of people wearing red shirts, t-shirts, and tan shorts. A few wearing white t-shirts and tan shorts. Quite a bit more were in full red kevlar gear. There were a few that were distinct in their colors. He wondered what they were, especially the ones wearing blue t-shirts and shorts.
Troger, Xairin, and Cassy Pratt, each exited the craft and stood there with a backpack or satchel in hand awaiting orders. Major Rosco walked back and forth for a moment while the aircraft remained in place. It was just a little bit after 1AM.
"Let me be the first to say, welcome to boot." he pointed to a sizeable greenish-grey dome off to the side. "There is where you will report in. Off you go."
Xairin sighed. "Guess this is it then."
Troger yawned. "Guess so."
As for Cassy, she just up and left the two men as fast as she could make her way to the registration dome.
"I'm Troger, Troger Smart." The man said while extending a hand.
"Xairin Thunder." The man's handshake wasn't as firm as Xairin’s was.
The two began walking over. Two men ran in front of them, almost knocking them down. One blurted out. "Watch it recruits!" Xairin looked over his shoulder, he had to admit the one that yelled had a nice ass. "Wait for a second, I'm not an ass man. I'm a bottom..." Still, he looked back.
"Guess we need to get used to people being rude," Troger announced.
Xairin smirked, "I guess so."
&n
bsp; "So, what tempted you to sign up?' Troger inquired as they entered the dome, to find there was a waiting line.
"Honestly?"
"Yeah, sure, honestly?"
Xairin shrugged. "I took down a gorgon, and well his family came after me, I figured, instead of getting my ass kicked, I would come here and learn how to defend myself better. What about you?"
Troger thought Xairin was joking. The look across his face made that evident. "No seriously, why did you sign up?"
When it was Xairin's turn, Xairin stepped forward as a woman wearing white kevlar, used a pen to scan his eyes. Her tablet popped up his name and face. "This is your tracking band; it stays on at all times. Remove it, and it will sound an alarm. It is waterproof and can expand to compensate for transformations. If you need assistance, press the blue button, if you're injured, press the blue button. Got it?" Xairin nodded. She placed the armband on his right arm. The band had some elastic links, but for the most part, it reminded him of a cell-watch.
He turned around and smirked. "I told you. I had a run in with some gorgons."
The woman repeated the same for Troger, "Yeah, the man on the airvan told us, keep it on, and if we take a shit, it will record everything we do, got it." The woman didn't appreciate that and rolled her eyes.
"Your armband will give you all the details you need. Get your gear quickly, gentlemen. Just like the human military, we do not like those being idle."
Next, there was a line of shirts, it reminded Xairin of going shopping. The clothing was all laid out by sizes. Above them was a flashing laser light that indicated. "All recruits are to take up to six white shirts, and ten red shirts, no more than ten pairs of shorts are to be taken."
There was a brown large duffle bag to his right, he grabbed one and started looking for large sized t-shirts, and size 34 waist shorts. It was the same for shoes, only three pairs of those were allotted, along with two pairs of boots.
"Why did you join up?" He asked while going through the shorts.
Troger smiled. "I signed on for the fifty thousand currency dude."
Xairin made a duck face. He couldn't blame anyone for being tempted with fifty thousand currency. It was, after all, a life-changing sum of funds. "I can't blame you for that Troger."
Xairin and Troger's armband lit up. A voice sounded out, a woman's voice. "All recruits are expected to report by 4AM to designated training areas."
The voice called out again. "All recruits, after obtaining your initial gear, please report to housing. Follow the holographic display prompted from your armband, then proceed to your training."
No sooner had Xairin put everything into his backpack, his armband vibrated. A holographic image of a red arrow formed in mid-air. Followed by the representation of a woman in a white robe, the hood keeping her face from view. "Follow the arrow to your designated domicile, then report to training Mr. Thunder." The same image appeared for Troger."
Outside, Xairin followed the arrow that led him out. He looked over at Troger as he was looking in an entirely different direction. "I guess this is where we part ways then."
Troger made a smug look. "I guess so. Nice meeting you Xairin, hopefully, we get to train together?"
"That would be nice," Xairin said with a warm glowing smile.
The young vamp walked off, feeling better that it seemed like he had made a new friend. This he hoped would help him stop thinking about Ezra. Deep down, the events that happened on their date still were on replay, the good and the bad.
Xairin followed the armband's directions while rubbing the top of his hand where Ezra had kissed it.
Chapter 4.2
Janice St Clair was as savvy as they came when it comes to running a corporation. She owned one of the handfuls of corporations that survived the G.A. takeover, a company called Maradine Industrial. They produced synthetic metals.
Janice was sitting behind her desk, working hard at her computer. She usually didn't work this late. It was nearing two in the morning. She was reviewing some recent legal issues that the company was facing. She was once a lawyer in a previous life, so she knew a thing or two about loopholes.
The GA had found a way to begin buying into the company. Janice was less than pleased, even if the Conclave wanted it to happen. She had spent years keeping her company out of G.A. hands. Now that The Conclave was wanting her to be absorbed, so they had people on the inside, she was wondering if she should have just gone her own way. Mortals had no business stealing from Immortal spoils, and Janice St Clair was one of those immortals that believed humans were inferior.
Janice got up and walked around her room. She walked past the glass cabinet that had various new-age weaponry. She smiled at her newly forged claymore. She went over to a large window that ran the stretch of the left side of her office and looked down at the metal works below. The view relayed the busy bees working around the clock in creating new materials. Astronite was the latest creation her company had furnished. The metal was nearly a thousand times stronger than titanium. She was hoping that this new metal alloy would be the perfect currency producer to get her company back on track. She hoped to sell it to Chevy Corp, the new government division of flying cars.
To make matters worse for Janice, The Conclave was on her heels too. They wanted her company absorbed into the G.A. so that they had operatives. Janice was too proud to let that happen.
Janice looked out the window at the factory floor. She saw a blue liquid flowing from vats into flat molds on a conveyor belt. Her eyes went from brown to yellow. The black pupil of her eye zoomed in on the man running the vats, then shifted to droids, droids more machine than man, spraying the conveyor belt with liquid nitrogen to harden the flat sheets they were making.
While she stood there, she thought about how far she had come. She was human once, a law student in her previous life that joined on with Jackson Boone Law firm, a firm that originated in West Virginia. She came from a coal family, one that pushed her to go into law, hoping she would make something of herself.
When she met a man named Jackson Boone, that all changed. He gave her a job, and more than that, immortality.
She learned what she could from Jaxalon. Janice became a taker, taking anything that she felt would advance her path. He loved that about her.
After a wayward vampire destroyed the firm, she defected to The Conclave right after The Hand was destroyed. Now, the youthful Brunette was challenged again at fighting for what she built.
She was given a million dollars, and that million became several with thoughtful investment strategies until one day, she was able to purchase the company she presided over. No one was taking this away from her… No one…
Thinking herself better than human, she wasn't about to defect to being society human loving scum. She was better than that.
She went back to her desk and started researching on the web, that was when the alarm went off.
Her room was flashing red, as was the factory floor below.
The woman rushed as fast as the skirt matching her black business jacket would allow. She ran to her computer desk, pressed a few keys until a man's face popped on the screen. The man was older, a thrall, and he was panicked. "Why are the alarms going off?"
The salt and pepper haired man's eyes hinted at fear. They were large and dilated, filled with adrenaline. "Miss St Clair, we have an intruder."
Her yellow crow like eyes reverted to human brown. "What?"
"Two of them Miss St Clair, two of them."
Janice stood there with her jaw dropped. Who would dare attack her factory? Before she could react, she saw a figure in a black conforming suit coming up behind the man running the control desk. She watched as a pointed object burst through his mouth and watched as the feed turned to static.
Janice leaped back, startled by what she had just witnessed. She quickly pulled up another screen nearby. She watched as the cloaked figure took out another thrall, cutting his head off while impaling another before he could get off a s
hot with his laser rifle. The person that killed her thralls, was dressed in solid black conforming body armor, even the head was covered. They were wearing a gray cloak over top of it. It reminded her of some modern take on what a ninja would wear. It wasn't something she recognized from either The Conclave or The Society. "WHAT THE FUCK?"
Janice reached for a microphone speaker near her keyboard. She screamed. "Security, to hallway D9 now, we have an intruder, I repeat, we have an intruder."
Another security screen popped up. The east side of the factory was under attack by another woman dressed in the same wears. This one was taller. Janice again watched as three thralls died, this time by gunfire. It was a handgun, an older model, one that Janice recognized. The woman dressed in the black body armor, with the grey cloak was firing twin SIG Sauer P226s. The way the bullets lit up; Janice knew for sure they were silver.
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