by SARA FREITES
Weeks after this, I secretly moved into the cottage with him. By this time, I completely trusted Arlos, so much so that a passion blossomed between us outside of my dreams. There was not a fiber of my being that doubted him anymore, that didn’t want him.
Psychologically, Arlos had abducted me, but I'd fallen into his trap long before this, his demonic hold on me well-rooted. He fed off my gaining trust for him. I’d unknowingly become vulnerable, opened myself up to his abilities of mind-control and brainwashing. I knew what I was doing was wrong—leaving my husband-to-be, my people and my friends behind. But a peace continually rose in my mind, assuring me that everything was okay. I felt indifferent about the damage I had caused myself and the Vampire Nation by leaving them.
Part 2
The Forgotten Sons of the Vampire Prophecy
Soon, I’d no longer be in control of myself. The decisions I’d later make, which I originally believed were of my free will, would change everything for me. These are some of Arlos’ greatest and most dangerous powers—the power to control the thoughts and even the actions of those around him. He could even set their minds at ease to make them numb to their own actions, no matter how gruesome.
I am still, even now, confused about this. Arlos had placed numerous thoughts and suggestions into my head. It was hard to discern which were mine. Was leaving the manor an idea of mine or had Arlos planted it there, making me feel as if I were leaving on my own accord? I will never know for sure, but the blame cannot all be put on Arlos, as I had acted on these thoughts.
There are gaps in what I remember. I was caught in a constant daze, feeling as if I were living in someone else’s body. Everything happened so quickly. I was a stone in a river bed. Around me, a rapidly flowing stream zipped by like I wasn’t even there, the passing water gone forever. The past was the past. But new water always came rushing through, new circumstances, a constant change while I was unsure of what was next to come.
There came a time when I remembered noticing my physical changes. They quite literally happened overnight. My skin tone changed from near white to gray and the already predominate veins in my arms and neck darkened. Normally, this would be a cause for concern, but again, there was that peace that told me nothing was wrong, that this change was a good thing. Arlos even told me how much more beautiful I was with the changes.
Soon, Arlos asked for a child. I was inexplicably thrilled. Nonetheless, since a vampire is unable to bear children, I quickly lost hope. But Arlos claimed he knew a way and described how we could conceive. And there we were on a dock of the English Channel the following night, mixing my tears and his blood between our palms. We allowed only a drop of the mixture to fall into the water. Several nights passed before we found our children roaming about the city. I was so overjoyed to see them, the evnauts, Arlos called them. We’d created fraternal twins who were already fully matured at birth. But as I later learned, our children were dark evnauts. This meant they were soulless beings of pure evil.
The boys resembled a perfect mixture of us. They had his hair, square jaw and thin lips with my almond eye-shape and oval face. They had radiant skin, a soft blue much like Arlos’, with perfectly blacked veins in patches. Their eyes were wild with bright colors, unlike anything I’d ever seen before! Arlos had given them strange names, as well—Vex and Scythe. But they didn’t want anything to do with us when we brought them to live in the cottage. They were very rebellious, angry and violent. Only three days passed before Arlos threw them out.
I wasn’t as upset as I should have been over the whole ordeal since I was unknowingly trapped in Arlos’ hex, though it seemed he allowed me to feel emotions when it only involved him.
He began acting outlandishly and seemed agitated most nights after this. Almost anything would set him off and send him into violent fits that involved smashing furniture and punching holes in the walls. He’d even leave for days without telling me where he was or what he was doing. Heartbroken, I’d lay in bed, fearing he’d left me until he’d return as if nothing happened. And I’d forgive him every time. He’d build me up at times, set me up on a pedestal only to tear me down days later all over again in different ways, and this left me constantly drained and needy. And he would belittle me, make me feel like I was crazy when I tried talking to him about how he made me feel. I soon fell into a depression that I can’t even begin to describe.
He was only interested in wanting to bring the children back, but the way he talked about them felt selfish to me. He made several comments throughout the days about how much he missed the children, how they were superior to the other races here, how they could aid him. He also went on tangents about opening a portal to hell and killing off the humans, even the vampire race.
When his talk turned to this, he revealed to me a special dagger he had hidden away.
The first time I laid eyes on it, I remember feeling an instinctual fear that nearly caused me to leave the house. I learned later that this was the same dagger Blake had warned Cavell about months before, one of two that could kill vampires. And Arlos had it in his possession—the Soleil Dagger.
Arlos explained that with my help and the second dagger, if he could find it, we would have vampires all over the continent fearing us. He advised that it was time for us to start experimenting with my spell casting. He wanted me to create a spell to use on the daggers that would open bridge-portals between dimensions—specifically, one that spanned between Earth and hell. I was ready to do whatever Arlos needed, but something snapped inside of me.
It was just a month after the birth of our children when I grew conscious enough to realize what had been happening, what I'd been doing. My subconscious became mine again. And then, memories and images came flooding back. They were confusing at first, but as I began making sense of them and started piecing everything together, I became overwhelmingly frightened.
The realization of my predicament threw me into hysteria. How had I allowed myself to be manipulated on such a grand scale? How could all of this happen to me? Anxiety flourished into fury that Arlos would do this to me. And then, I felt the guilt. My heart hurt from what I learned I'd done to my people, abandoning them as I had. I realized then that Blake and Terry had been right about Arlos. How I wished I’d left him lying in the street the night I stumbled upon him.
I also hurt for the love I thought I’d had for Arlos. It had never been real. He’d manipulated me. Most of what I’d felt for him was influenced by his demonic powers, the rest only there because I’d believed he was someone else in the beginning. That part of him I’d once loved wasn’t even real. Arlos was not the honorable, romantic, charismatic man he’d presented himself to be. I should have known better than to trust someone like him—a demon, selfish and incapable of caring for anyone other than himself.
To me, there was no other explanation for how I’d escaped Arlos’ hex than the fact that it had happened just thirty days after we created our children. New life contradicts what demons stand for. That is, the action of creating our children had deflected Arlos’ hold over me. I never let on that his demonic bind had been broken. I planned to leave the cottage in secret, but before I did so, I inquired about the second dagger. I had intentions of my own now. The demon told me of his search for the dagger and how he’d murdered a priest in London for the one he had now. He said that despite searching relentlessly, he never found the second dagger. He speculated that the priest’s teenage daughter Rosetta had disappeared with it.
I rifled through our cottage for the Soleil Dagger after he left me alone that night. When I came up emptyhanded, I feared Arlos was keeping it on his being, safe from any potential thieves. I didn’t have long enough to finish my search as the signs of my returned consciousness began appearing right before my eyes. My skin and veins restored to their natural vampire tones. I knew I had to leave before Arlos returned to see me. I left the cottage without a second thought.
I searched for Rosetta first to be sure that Arlos had not gotten his hand
s on her dagger. She was difficult to locate, seeking refuge in a cottage with an old woman. When I finally found her, she carried the Lumière Dagger just as Arlos had predicted. I cornered her in an alleyway just as she walked out of the old woman’s home one evening. Fear instantly shot across her face. She knew exactly what I was. I promised I meant her no harm and explained that I needed her help. I told her everything except of the birth of my children. It was something I wanted Cavell to know about from me, first and foremost. She told me that the man I described as Arlos had stalked her and her father recently. She also realized that he was the one who’d murdered her father and stole the Soleil Dagger from them.
After all of this and knowing what I was, the timid human girl came willingly back to my clan’s manor at my request. Yet I worried to return home. I felt so ashamed in representing myself as a vampire leader, knowing what I’d done. I’ve misled my people, and they will never know it as well as I do.
When Rosetta and I arrived at the manor, we found Blake on the roof. He was astounded to see me. However, I broke down and cried blue tears into him. Like Rosetta, I told Blake everything excluding the children. I promised to explain everything to Cavell myself. But Blake took hold of me firmly and warned me what would happen if I did so. I told him I deserved whatever punishment lay before me, but he promised he would handle everything from there on out and that I was not to say a word about willingly leaving the manor with Arlos. He would tell Cavell and the rest of the court that Arlos had abducted me.
I am sickened by this half-truth. I want to be honest with Cavell in telling him everything, and I plan on it as soon as Arlos is dealt with tonight. Right now, it would only add to the chaos around us. I am also unsure of my fate once I tell Cavell the truth. I may have my own charges to face.
Blake quietly told Cavell and a handful of guards only a portion of what had happened, leaving with them in search of Arlos that very night. When they were gone, I brought Rosetta to meet with Terry, Bijou and the captains of the Royal Court Guards. We presented them with Rosetta’s dagger, the Lumière Dagger, and I explained what it was and what it could do in case something were to happen to Rosetta or me.
Afterward, Terry and I had a private conversation with Rosetta. Surprisingly, the girl held extensive knowledge of both hell and earth-demons. She confirmed that, indeed, I’d fallen victim to demonic brainwashing put upon me by a very powerful hell-demon. She explained that Arlos took advantage of my trust, and that was how he’d entered my mind. She also confirmed that it was impossible to kill a high-level demon such as Arlos, but that his powers and demonic holds, for the most part, were ineffective against humans…which left me wondering.
After learning that Arlos could not be killed, I ordered Rosetta to take her dagger as far away from Paris as possible so Arlos couldn’t get his hands on it. She then bravely requested that I turn her. She wanted to be strong enough to defend herself and escape the city. I agreed yet warned her that the life of a vampire is not for the faint of heart. She seemed unfazed by the morbid details, and I turned her. Terry volunteered to go with her, protect and aid her through her transformation. I allowed it because I knew she’d need him. She would remain weakened until midnight of the following night when she’d become a full-fledged vampire.
Secretly worried that I might be forced to dispel Vex and Scythe if I found out they were as evil as their father, I asked Rosetta if she had any information on evnauts as they prepared to leave. She seemed baffled by my request but gave me one of the books she carried and told me that it entailed specifics about demon hybrids. I tucked it away and planned to read through it during Arlos’ trial.
That was the last night I saw Terry and Rosetta as they left within the hour with the Lumière Dagger in tote. Blake, Cavell and his team returned hours later emptyhanded. They found that someone set fire to the cottage Arlos and I shared, and it had spread throughout a small part of the city. They‘d also discovered that Arlos had been torturing and forcefully mix-breeding humans and vampires in the basement of that house. The partially burned, half-vampire, half-human bodies found there were proof enough. This had me speechless.
Everything has all led up to this. Blake and his team traveled as far as Spain and Switzerland and eventually returned with Arlos. They relieved him of the dagger he stole from Rosetta’s father, the Soleil Dagger.
There is no doubt in my mind that Arlos allowed himself to be taken in. He could have easily evading the vampires if he wanted to. I don't know why he gave in, but I fear he wouldn’t have unless he had plans of his own. He's not only being charged with kidnapping the future queen of the Vampire Nation but also with intentionally blurring the bloodlines of the vampire and human races. If convicted, his execution will also be set.
I was mortified after hearing of this, that the Vampire Royal Court sincerely believes they can kill Arlos! I tried to explain to the former king and queen that, according to Rosetta, it was impossible to kill a demon. But they maintained that the vampires are the superior race, therefor no one, not even a demon from hell, can survive their wrath. They are gravely mistaken. I fear Arlos may attempt to take on the Vampire Court tonight. And succeed.
Thus, I leave behind my story as a precaution to you. If you are able to read this, rest assured, you are the one I’ve chosen for this. I chose a human, thanks to Rosetta’s insight—humans are strong against Arlos’ power. You see, I am preparing for the worst. I have cast a spell over my soul and body. If Arlos attempts to murder the vampires of this court and I die tonight, the spell cast will draw my partial soul from my body. My spirit will lie in wait for the birth of a particular human. I’ll, in a sense, be reborn as a human through the one I choose.
Know that I must wait for not only the right human but also the right time—when everything in the universe stacks up against Arlos. Timing is everything in this.
In the event of my demise, the spell will have my body falling into a state of preservation. I have directed Bijou to take my spell journal along with my body and pass them down to the most trusted sub-leaders and guards of the Vampire Nation. When you come into contact with my body, it will become one with you so that I can use it when the time comes. Your blood-aura, which will appear when the timing is right, will prove to the vampires who you are and draw allies to you, but be warned. It may also draw those to you who mean you harm, those who have taken sides with Arlos.
Bijou is to also inform the vampires that you must be turned in order for my dark magic to awaken me. That is when I promise to return and take care of Arlos myself. While you are human, use the spells in this book to elude the enemy. You’ll be strong enough to use them. However, even if I were to give them to you, you wouldn’t be able to use the spells more powerful than the ones I have written down as you are not a vampire. They may not seem like much, but the spells you have here are enough to ensure your survival.
I hope that, as my reincarnation, you can further understand the threat that Arlos poses on Earth, my promise to take him out of it, and your purpose. You are not just a vessel that carries my vampire soul until I awaken. You are not helpless in this fight, and you are not only strong because of the vampire soul that rests inside of you. You are a soldier in a war you don’t even know you are a part of. You are my partner, one my soul will choose, in sparing this plane of existence from a real and very possible hell on Earth.
I have nothing else to tell you now. I must leave to be present at Arlos’ trial. I sincerely hope the journal portion of this incantation book is all for nothing. Unfortunately enough, I fear that countless lives may be affected for years to come or even end at the hands of this demon after tonight.
Trust and follow those who may have gathered to aid you. You need them. They are my people, and they will protect you with their lives.
- Latresma
“And that’s the end of the journal,” I spoke in a whisper.
By then, my tears had all but dried except the dampened trails they’d left behind on my cheeks.
Blake looked up from his hands. He’d sat there, unmoving like a Greek statue since I started reading along with the rest of the vampires. Thade stepped away from the pillar on the other side of the couch. Terry got up from the sectional before me. Blake sat up straight at Terry’s sudden movement. I closed the book in my hands.
“I can fill in the blanks here,” Terry’s voice broke the silence, his eyes glowing dimly. “I was there, of course, but I never knew anything of Latresma's willingly leaving the manor with Arlos, nor did I know anything about her children. Although I had colleagues who were there for the trial, I’d already left the manor with Rosetta by this time. But I soon got word of what happened.
“Pierre, one of my men, came to find us. He informed me that the court sentenced Arlos to death. But Arlos fought off the guards, took back the Soleil Dagger and slew the former king and queen, Cavell, a few of the guards who dared to fight him, along with Blake and lastly, Latresma. Pierre, who’d escaped Arlos’ rampage, could only watch in horror as Latresma lay dying. She warned Arlos that she’d return as a human to make sure he’d never hurt anyone again. That’s when Pierre said her body radiated a golden aura that Arlos couldn’t penetrate as he attempted to run the blade into her once again. As what was left of the court realized what was happening and vampires came by the hundreds from the lower levels of the manor, Arlos took the Soleil Dagger and fled, leaving Latresma in some sort of suspended animation.
“Bijou was the only one whose touch broke the barrier-like aura around Latresma’s body. She ordered the body to be preserved, passing Latresma’s spell book over into Pierre’s care. The court felt that splitting up would make it easier to evade Arlos. So, the Vampire Nation separated into three different clans. Pierre became a leader of his own clan, and the other two guards who survived Arlos’ attack gathered others with them, initiating clans, as well. The Lune de Minuit Clan traveled to Japan, the Yeux Nocturnes Clan, Pierre’s clan, traveled to the United States with Latresma’s body and spell book and the Nuit Froide Clan journeyed to England. It seems Arlos began his own, unofficial clan with his haviden creations.