Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

  "Who else knows?" Helena asked.

  "Our sister Evette, and a few others in House Dracula, no one else."

  Helena sighed. "Okay, well, aside from finding out Dracula has an heir that may be alive and well, oh yeah, there are two of them…"

  Lulia interrupted. "Three if Cecilia is alive and can be converted to full vampire from a bat bite just as her apparent son was."

  "Fine, three… What about the traitor, and how the fuck did they find Dracula and Lilith anyhow?"

  Lulia digressed. "Dracula was going to tell Lilith what he had found out. He had a copy of those papers, Helena. Which means, someone else may have it too, but knowing Vlad, he would have died before he let that information fall into enemy hands. But… To answer your question, my dear sister... Lilith's private transport had a tracer planted on it a day before she left to rendezvous with him where they met. One of my forensic agents told me there was a scorch mark that could have only been made by something with a self-destruct mechanism built into it and small enough to go unnoticed by the trained eye. He found it right behind one of the back wheels which made it concealable when her vehicle was in hover mode the way the tires pull in and flatten against the undercarriage." She sighed. "As for everything else I know, Vlad told me everything before he left about where they were going. It is how I found both their vehicles."

  Lulia looked at her sister. She placed both hands on her shoulders as both vampires looked into the other's coal black eyes. "The only ones that would have had access to Lilith's personal transport would have been council members, and house thralls. Her personal transport had never left the council hanger until she left on her own accord. So far, I haven't found a thrall with information yet… That means it has to be a council member."

  Helena smirked. "Then it has to be a council member or possible one of House Ninlil?"

  Lulia shrugged. "I thought about that also, but the vehicle was new, so I would say it is someone on the council."

  Helena smirked. "Likely Lucifer's sister."

  Lulia shrugged. "Too obvious."

  Helena growled. "Sometimes, the most obvious is the answer, Lulia. Sometimes the one that appears to be the guiltiest actually is the culprit, hoping that obvious guilt will throw off the hunt…"

  Lulia considered that. "Confirm what Vlad suspected. If Mr. Thunder is indeed the great-grandson and heir, we have to keep him safe."

  "And him being a sentinel is going to keep him safe?"

  Lulia smiled. "Sometimes, the best places to hide is in plain sight. With proper guards keeping watch, I'm not too worried. But also, if he is a Dracula and a Ninlil, and not to mention reforged by this bat's bite, there is no telling what this young man may be capable of. After all, according to my research his mortal father was a Sensitive, if Vlad is right, there has never been a vampire like him before Helena, and Ethan Holiday went to a lot of trouble pulling strings so that Xairin had the best teachers, private accommodations, and paired with one of the deadliest Sentinels we have. Griffin, and now you…"

  Helena nodded. "My loyalty is to our maker and to his throne. If I confirm it, I will keep him safe, but out of curiosity, who is training him?"

  "Ethan arranged for Siren to be in Aywren’s class. Aywren Sateele and her first reports already indicate this Zirin, or however, it is pronounced, to be overly dedicated to learning how to protect himself."

  Helena recoiled. "AYWREN? THAT BITCH? WHY?"

  Lulia tried to console her sister. It was well known that Aywren was one of the top assassins for The Conclave. Her defection raised so many eyebrows that appointing her to teach was met with heavy resistance. Lilith, however, demanded it right before she departed, sending out an email to all council members and pulling her royal rank to assure the position. Something not everyone supported. "Lilith believed in her, and to my knowledge Lilith and four council members that I know, and trust laid hands on her, to tap into her mind, Helena. Aywren's defection as much as it pains me to say is genuine."

  "When do you want me to pull from Giovanni?"

  "You're stationed here until your team is full. I have two assignments, one, kill that fucking Thylan monster causing havoc in sector 5, zone 8, and then rendezvous with two other teams to hopefully rescue our maker and Lilith. I am arranging for a massive attack on multiple sites. Bide your time, just send me a text, with a simple plus sign if it is positive, and a negative sign if not. Then we will go from there."

  "But if he is an heir, he will need to be brought forward," Helena asked.

  Lulia disagreed. "No, not yet. If he is, then yes, eventually. If we run out of time in saving Lilith, then we will have no choice, until then, I want the best secret we have in keeping the monarchy stable, hidden in plain sight. Meanwhile, I am going to look into finding Sara, because if Sara is indeed alive, then she is the rightful heir and let us be honest, being the child of two Grand Alphas may make her powerful enough to take on anyone that challenges her. We need to secure the legacy."

  "And if not?" Helena asked.

  "Then we groom Xiren and use every element of our house to keep him safe and likely enlist the aid of House Ninlil as well." She paused, “Xairin, I am pretty sure it is pronounced Xairin.” Lulia sighed. “Anyhow…”

  Lulia persisted. "But first, I need you to confirm it, and if it is true, maybe Ethan knows where Sara is, which would make this entire effort a hell of a lot easier."

  "Didn't Ethan, say he was turned against his will?" Helena recalled.

  Lulia nodded. "He did unless he lied about it to cover it up. Wouldn't be the first time a vampire kept a secret to ensure their own safety, now would it?"

  "Now if you will excuse me, sister, I have a select group of council members I need to conspire with."

  Helena looked at Lulia with curiosity. "Conspire?"

  Lulia smiled. "To play the game that keeps the throne intact and it continues under the rightful blood, certain bargains must be approached."

  Lulia's white hair vanished as she became a bald creature with a haunting beauty to her monstrous side. She flew off, leaving Helena to her thoughts.

  _____

  Xairin had made it to class on time with little complaint other than the hints of a black eye and a few faint bruises on his arms and legs. The lesson he was so interested in started off with throwing knives which Xairin excelled at and then progressed to sword fighting.

  He was very studious for this class today, sitting there, he watched and listened to everything Aywren had to offer. He loved it when she began to display several different types of swords and melee weapons. She went over their origins, the stances required, and spent a lot of time repeating based on some of the questions she got.

  Staves bored him, it was the blades he was interested in. She showed the class a basic broadsword, followed by a scimitar, and then kukris last. She went over a few necessary swipes with them and had a holographic simulation ready for the class to perform.

  "Today, we are going to use holographic weapons. First, you will spar with a holographic partner, then you can spar on the training mat for those that wish it. While training with your holographic sparring partner, of those that enter the mat, a kill swipe, of course, will result in the blade becoming noncorporeal to avoid death and injury."

  The sleekly looking man Pete Dodson was sitting across from Xairin. He was proud of what he had done to the vampire and turned around smiling. "I see you recovered quickly?"

  His girlfriend, Helen Risko smirked.

  The pair reminded Xairin of goth kids gone bad in every essence of the look they gave off. If it wasn't for the dress code, and the fact that they could regenerate, Xairin was sure the two would have been sitting there in black clothes and covered in piercings. Xairin had dated a goth guy before, and it worked out well until the man's depression kept causing ripples, so the look didn't bother him too much unless they had far too many piercings. Xairin had a thing about that. Either way, he was trying to avoid being judgmental, but there was no way their
hair being that black was even natural.

  "How're the eyes, man?" Pete asked.

  Xairin took a breath while keeping his calm.

  Aywren walked over to Pete and hovered. "Is there a problem, Mr. Dodson? Why are you interrupting my class?"

  "No problem Miss Sateele, I'm just making sure two holes here is okay is all."

  Xairin grit his teeth.

  Aywren had heard why Xairin had been called that, and what she did next had no bearings on the name itself, it was merely the fact that she hated being interrupted and she despised a bully. She thrust her left foot forward, kicking the wererat in the chest and sent him flying across the room. He crashed against the chrome colored wall leaving a dent. Pete's girlfriend Helen protested. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

  Aywren grabbed the girl by the chin and lifted her off the floor. "You're not young enough to know the bad things I can do to you and those like you. As for what I did, you little rodent cunt, it is well within my bounds to punish anyone for interrupting my class or antagonizing another student in which it leaves the class being counterproductive. Why I could rip your limbs off and beat you across the face with them for doing such in my class. Instead of a slap on the wrist for maiming a student, I would be offered a handshake for teaching a lesson in being insubordinate you pernicious pup!... You or your emo mate interrupt my class again, and I promise you it is well within my bounds to do far worse if I so chose. Understand?"

  The woman tried to nod; she too was flung to the side.

  Aywren looked at the class. "We are a team, not the enemies within our own ranks. Causing such friction will only lead to one thing, failure in a mission. Competition is fine, it is healthy and promotes people pushing themselves, but antagonizing another recruit just for the sake of it, will not be tolerated, especially in my class. Do so, and I promise you after I am finished, you'll need days to regenerate. Is that clear?"

  She waited until everyone nodded.

  "Now, as I was saying. We will work on disarming swipes only. Zone one, the head, two and three the arms, four the chest, five and six the lower limbs, understand?"

  She waited until everyone nodded, and Pete and Helen were back in their seats.

  "Defense program blade-1, activate."

  The holo-emitters in the room shot out their purple sparkles forming a realistic metal weapon rack beside each student. After they developed, a bald replica of a thin man was created before each student. Aywren called out. "Stand up, check the rack beside you. I will call out the weapon, once you are armed, the training program will cause the attacker to have the same weapon. You will attempt six swipes to disarm, as will the attacker. Use the techniques I showed you. This simulation will be at full speed, so be ready."

  "First, start with the long sword." She said.

  Xairin pulled it from the rack, and no sooner had he felt it in his hand, his holographic opponent had one to match. He took a stance she had shown earlier and defended six swipes and made his six attempts before hearing her call out. "Switch off to a Claymore."

  Xairin didn't care too much for it, it was as clunky as the long sword, but he did defend each attempt and managed one disarm of the lower left leg.

  She switched them to the Arabian Dadao, followed by a similar Arabian weapon, the smaller Dao. Xairin fared well, but not as good as he did with the long sword. The Apache beside him, Ambrose Landlear excelled with both.

  Next, it was the Japanese Odachi. Xairin performed well with it also, as did Troger and Faith Rosenberg. A curved saber was next on his list, Xairin clearly did better with this one... While he was practicing, it felt natural to him, unusually natural. His blood memories were pouring into his muscle memory, making it very easy for him to perform just about every technique Sateele had shown the class. In the back of his mind, knowing that Vlad Tepes was his great grandfather, he wondered if that was where it came from. After all, Vlad Tepes was historically known for being a man skilled with a sword.

  Aywren stalked the class, going up to each student, critiquing some, and praising others. Xairin, Troger, Faith, Ambrose, and Julius were on the praise list for now.

  It was time to switch things up. "Now try the Broad sword." She waited until everyone had done so. Xairin and a man with bleach blond hair, Julius Armand, were the only two to defend and disarm with that specific sword. The broad sword came even easier for Xairin.

  "Now, the Katana."

  Xairin and the Apache by the name of Ambrose Landlear did well with the Katana. Xairin managed five full swipes on his holographic partner and defended all six. Ambrose defended all six and managed six disarms. The pompous man grinned at Xairin; it was clearly competition to him.

  Scimitars, shamshirs, and rapiers were next. Xairin fared better with the shamshir, he took a couple disarms but overall did well. For Xairin, the shamshir felt oddly natural to him. It was a Persian design, the specific one he was using wasn't as drastically curved like some of the others, nor was it as wide ended as a few of the scimitars he tried. The curve felt good when he swung it in the directions of the body zones. Ambrose didn't take a hit at all. Seeing Xairin take two disarms, a swipe to the leg and left wrist caused the tan-skinned man to smirk.

  Watching the class, Aywren typed on her tablet. Julius Armand and Ambrose Landlear were clearly deadly with a blade. Xairin was third at displaying natural talent. Julius was like Ambrose. He was out to prove himself. The bleached blond vampire had been observing Xairin over the past couple days. He made Xairin admittedly a little nervous. It was as if he was targeting him already, sizing him up for when they might meet in the Labyrinth. Xairin could feel it. The same thing went for the towering Ambrose. He had at least a foot on Xairin. Ambrose's height made Xairin wonder just how powerful he would be in nosferatu form. Not to mention Ambrose had a lackey, he had heard Ambrose and his hot-headed friend Austwick would have scored all the points they needed to move on to the teams had it not been for something that happened in the swamps.

  The next one, Xairin, had to worry about was David Highborn. Now David came across as a nice guy, just as lovely as he was to look at, but like Julius and Ambrose, he was good with a weapon. Sure, Xairin was ranking third on Aywren's lists, but each of them acted as if they had something to prove. David was just less upfront about it. As was Xairin to some degree.

  Aywren wanted to spice things up a bit and really test the mettle of the class. She walked over to her console and began typing. "Run program Blade-9." She said.

  The program created four copies of the holographic attacker. "I want you each to defend yourself against multiple targets. Pick the weapon that suits you best. One hit and you're out plain and simple. One hit to your attackers, they are out. The goal is to, of course, be the last man or woman standing. Begin."

  Xairin readied himself. He chose a blade that wasn't quite uniform with the others. A hybrid of sorts, looking somewhat like a curved sword, and a scimitar. He had two of them, he was going to attempt two-handed attacks.

  Aywren watched the class engage several times with the holographic attackers. Half of Xairin's classmates were out within the first few minutes. Out of the seventy-six students, Xairin, Ambrose, David, Troger, Julius, Pete, and the woman named Faith, was still going at it.

  Aywren watched David; first, He was about Xairin's build, same height, and having short dark brown hair which contrasted Xairin's rich auburn. He carried himself well, often smiling, friendly most of the time, but did show off to some degree. He lasted ten full minutes before he was taken out. He had managed to get two of his attackers down, but the other two overpowered him.

  Next, she watched the six foot seven dark-skinned Ambrose go at it. He lasted ten minutes too until one of the attackers pulled on his long-braided hair. She had warned him it would be a hazard, but he insisted on his tribes' semblance being the reason for keeping it.

  Troger lasted ten minutes but never once managed to down either four attackers, for him it was an ongoing fight. Finally, he was just worn down and a head
chop would have been the end of him had it been a real blade and not a holographic one with the safety protocols engaged.

  Julius was downright deadly. He pulled moves that impressed Aywren. He downed all four of his attackers in less than five minutes, while the woman beside him, Faith Rosenberg, did the same.

  As for Xairin, he decided to up the stakes by going in with two blades. By doing that, each of his four attackers was equally matched. He managed to down one with a chest thrust, the second with a head slice he performed while going into a twirl, the third was simply a jab to the abdomen, but the last one sped up, he was still fighting the previous attacker. With three down, one to go, the fight went on for fifteen minutes until Aywren had no choice but to call it. "End Program!"

  "I ALMOST HAD HIM!" Xairin yelled.

  The blades vanished from his hands, the racks vanished, as did the simulated attackers. Aywren walked through the purple sparks and approached Xairin with a stern face. "Almost doesn't cut it, Mr. Thunder, you either did, or you didn't. Now I will say it was an impressive fight and had you more time, sure, you might have. But we only count what you succeeded in. Class dismissed."