Reign Of Darkness

by E R Landron

  “It is hard to concentrate with your mind screaming. But I'm getting something, he has lost lots of blood and is concentrating on healing and I'm trying to crack him.”

  “How can you do it?”

  “Come closer.”

  “What?”, I almost shout.

  “Come closer.”

  As I’m getting closer, Kokolite is standing. I get to his side when Kokolite grabs my handgun quickly, and he shoots at the man the whole magazine of the handgun in a swift draw. I aim at Kokolite as many questions drive through my head.

  “Just putting more hurt on him.”, Kokolite says raising both his arms.

  “You’re crazy!”

  Hannah laughs incredibly loud from the other side as she is testing a glove with a handle that she just put in her hand. As she extends the handle, it looks like a retractable commando saw. Kokolite hands me the handgun.

  Kokolite ducks in front of the man once again and puts his hands side by side to his head and press them hard. We stand next to a pool of blood. To say he looks awful is an understatement. Bullet holes everywhere. Kokolite said that the man is hurting and his main concern will be healing more than blocking his mind. So I guess this means he has a way to crack him.

  KOKOLITE

  The man fixes his eyes on me and vice versa. I see he has age behind them. As I keep the stare down Mieke's voice, and the surroundings around me are fading. My hands are becoming numb. I feel like air is sweeping me away. The trance is starting.

  “I hear your name already… Ezequiel.”, I say.

  Our breathing is synchronizing. Everything starts to fade black.

  Night - VOID, 8:17 PM

  Ezequiel is standing next to me on a void. I pass around and try to look to the horizon but just see at complete darkness — not even a floor. We are standing in nothing.

  “Weird. So I guess your name is Ezequiel? Or is that what you just call yourself?”, says Kokolite.

  “You are not the first Seelisch that tries to enter my mind. I'll show you, but you know that at the same time... I can see yours too.”, his voice echoes through the void.

  I take a look around again trying to make something of the void. I look up and down at Ezequiel. He is just a figment. He is not truly here… is he? As I nod, rain pours with wind and thunder. Ezequiel vanishes. Water rises fast. I run, as I do the void starts getting trees, grass, rocks, life stock running, birds flying past. A hill! I sprint to it. The water is already as high as my boots. I struggle to maintain pace. The place looks like an open forest with small trees. The water keeps rising, now fishes are swimming past me. I feel my heartbeat raising quickly as I’m doing everything in my power to get to the hill that is slowly being covered in water. I climb it. There is no land high enough to be above the still rising water — just more hilltops. I pan from side to side. Some screams are overheard farther in the distance. Some people struggle to swim. I should save them. Oh no… my hands start shaking. Hesitation. I can’t move — river rapids scenario in front of me. I’ll get dragged. What do I do? What do I do? I panic and throw myself in a sitting fetal position and make a cross on my head and chest.

  “In Nomine Patris et Fili et Spiritus Sancti... Help me God, please... Please...”

  I raise my head as water starts getting to me. Something grabs me — a hand. I have no air. I can’t breathe. A drowned woman and child next to me. Redhead. I tremble. I’m starting to faint. I can’t control my breathing. I rock back and forth on and on.

  “No, no, not again... No!! No!!!”

  A giant wave comes by and knocks me out of what is left of the hill. I start paddling. Not-graceful at all. Panic. A weird sounds and at a brief moment a thunderstruck and it illuminated far away.

  “A boat... help! Help!”

  A giant boat appeared far away. My cries for help were pointless as every time I tried to scream; water filled my mouth. Something about the boat seemed odd yet similar. I stared at the boat while trying my hardest to stay afloat. My eyes open big.

  “Ezequiel! Ezequiel!”

  Another wave ran over a tree is riding the wave as well... Oh no. NO! NO! NO! As the pressure of the tree hits me, everything goes black.

  I’m still conscious. Did I drown? Did I die? Am I in heaven? Hell?

  I feel something below me. I’m lying down. Ezequiel stands next to me. I get up frightened and noticed everything is all dried up. How long was I out? But I have not been out. Ezequiel is starring at a fire a little farther away. I look everywhere to see if I know where we at. Darkness, the moon, silhouettes of trees is the only thing I can appreciate and far aside from some light from the fire. I run towards Ezequiel. I tried to push him but did not make him move a bit. I’m using all my force. I feel the tension all over my arms.

  “The flood! The flood! Why in God's name you bring me to this!?”, I scream.

  Ezequiel does not even flinch. He continues to stare down at the fire. Some voices are heard coming that way. I look at the fire, then back at Ezequiel and back to fire. I walk to see what is happening. I climb down the hill. My heart begins to thump harder and harder with each step. After walking for a while, I see a woman. She weeps to twelve people. She has dark skinned with what appears to be braids. The look is to modern for what this time appears to be. She has a black dress with black bracelets with some earth and tree designs. Her earrings are made of bones and a necklace with the skull of a small animal. She has a big choker with the same metal like the bracelets with the same designs and a little oval bone in the middle. She has a weird simple crown that looks like tree roots. Her eyes appear to be all white. There isn't anything humid, so this must be another time after the flood. I keep walking and step to the fire pit. It looks like the saddest campfire to be, definitely no kumbayas tonight. The woman is kissing the forehead of the twelve as she is putting a sphere like thing over them, that dangles like a necklace. I see there's both women and men amongst them but hard to appreciate their faces because of their hoods. The only thing I can tell is their height mostly. Some are tall, others small and others just average height. Some look skinny, some look chubby, obese, light skin, brown-skinned and other shades of skin color. Their hands adjust the necklace given to each one of them. Are those?

  “That’s the shiny!? That's the orb he spoke of? I held it before.”

  The twelve people start going in different directions. I stand close to the fire. As I start to move the woman moves in front of me like if she’s hovering and places her hand on my shoulders. I freeze. My eyes widened. I hold my breath. All background noise starts to fade, and a deep echoed voice of the woman surrounds through the air. She speaks in a native tongue I don’t know yet understood. Usually, I have a mental connection. I hear people’s thoughts. I got nothing on her.

  “This too is for the good.”

  The woman pushes me, as I gather my balance back I’m no longer at the campsite but in what it seems like a temple. Rust, dirt, torches walls are replaced where nature, trees, fire and the woman who just pushed me were before. The air is dry. I cough. The amount of dirt is impossible. Is mental. I think I feel it. I think I sense what surrounds me. It’s all in my head. Someone weeps. I follow the sounds. I enter a bigger chamber. A man is hugging a young man next to an open Egyptian sarcophagus. The man takes the orb necklace from his neck and places it on the young man. That’s the shiny I held. He speaks in an old Arab.

  “Protect this with your life since this is the only key to me. No man can harm you. No immortal can harm you enough to lose it. If they get me, destruction will be upon the living and the dead.”, said the man.

  The boy nods and starts pulling a chain that is lowering the upper part of the sarcophagus, and the man starts to enter it, now his eyes are tearing up too. A loud thump sounds that echoes through the chambers. The young man places the orb in the sarcophagus to lock it. The young man turns around revealing a young Ezequiel. He has a hood and underneath he has ancient Egyptian cloth, with golden bra
celets up to his forearm. He walks out of the chamber and continues through the halls. I follow as Ezequiel picks a torch and gets to the outside, where only a huge moon is illuminating the area. He was born literary, and grows? Today that doesn't happen. You get bitten, and then you start developing your powers. We are in a dessert. Some men with camels are waiting for him. They look strong with great physic and clothing accordingly to ancient Egypt.

  “The pyramid will start to build tomorrow. Khufu will give the order, and all will be in place. I'll be the next elder for the time being.”, said Ezequiel.

  A man with skulls on his neck makes some hand signals and moves one of the camels, and they ride out. I look at the moon — big shiny. It fades away. I’m left in the void. Whispers. I panic. I fall into a sitting fetal position. My mind is making me woozy.

  “In nomine Patris et Fili et Spiritus Sancti.”

  A big scream makes me jump. I run where the screams came, and a woman is dead next to a more adult Ezequiel. The room is big with curtains and is looking at a small pyramid outside. A woman helper is screaming as now Ezequiel is starting to wake up from a very detailed, and luxurious ancient bed. He sees the dead woman next to him and starts crying, holding her, screaming. Soldiers come running to the room including the Vizier. They shout in Arab once more.

  “Cease him! That's the pharaoh’s wife!”, yelled the vizier.

  More soldiers continue to pour in the room with ropes, staffs, swords. Some begin to wrestle Ezequiel; others start swinging the ropes. He continues screaming at the woman as more soldiers are hitting him, and finally restraining him. He has ropes over his neck and limbs. The guards take Ezequiel outside and continue carrying him through the desert into the pyramid.

  Ezequiel is all tied up laying in an open sarcophagus and in a dark chamber. The Vizier enters the room with a torch. Ezequiel looks at him upset and tries to wrestle his way out the ropes. The Vizier orders the guards to get out. The Vizier laughs and Ezequiel gets more upset.

  “Make a wish to a djinn, the order is set for your execution. Buried alive!”

  Ezequiel sees that it is pointless to continue fighting. He calms down.

  “I can make a deal with you. Tell me about the orb, and I will kill you, that way you don't suffer much.”

  Ezequiel starts struggling again and screams.

  “You set me up! Fool! You will die! You will die! I can't be harm by you. They will kill you!”

  The Vizier gets a dagger from his waist and stabs Ezequiel and takes out the dagger, but it falls inside the sarcophagus. He looks at Ezequiel that is in pain but were the wound was now has healed as if nothing had happened. The Vizier looks frightened.

  “Impossible! They said you are not a god! You are no god!”, screams the Vizier.

  “You have doomed us all! You have doomed us all!”

  The Vizier starts lowering the top of the sarcophagus fast. Ezequiel continues to scream as the top of the sarcophagus lays upon him, his voice fades out. The Vizier goes outside. Three men are closing the entrance with a huge rock. I’m aside of the Vizier that waves his torch upwards and looks where four men in horses are standing by. A sandhill far away. The horsemen light up a torch and wave it, and the vizier responds with a quick wave downwards of his torch. The Horsemen shut down their torch and leave, the Vizier looks confused but still mounts on a camel and leaves with the other three men. A low “Kokolite” resonates. “Kokolite!” It continues a bit more aggressive. Mieke is standing behind me, and she gives me a tug.

  MIEKE Night - Alley, 8:18 PM

  Kokolite is still crouching in front of Ezequiel. I give another tug to Kokolite.

  “Are you ok?”, I ask.

  “Um... How long was I out?”

  “How long? You said, Ezequiel. You sounded weird talking in Arab, and I gave you a tug?”

  “It seemed forever inside his head.”

  Hannah is close by and is readjusting the glove in her hand with a handle, and she has some chains on her neck as well.

  “I told you he's crazy. You gonna get yourself kill, man. Just like my clan if you keep being with this freak.”, she says.

  “I didn't ask you.”, I snap.

  Hannah raises her shoulders and rolls her eyes. Hannah starts walking away.

  “Whatever man. I'm out.”

  I lower my gun. This guy is bleeding over here. Hannah heads out. Kokolite, I don’t make him that much of a threat.

  “Let her be. She's still emotional.”, Kokolite says.

  “I don't know her. I don't know you! And I don't know him either.” I point to each of them.

  Some police siren sound off closing to the alley. Kokolite opens his trench coat and takes out a red pouch. He places it close to the man but far enough, so he has to move.

  “Ezequiel. You’re no evil man. I have many questions. You heal fast so that blood will help you.”

  Ezequiel sees the pouch and nods. Kokolite stands and pats me on the shoulder and a gesture that we have to move. I keep staring at Ezequiel, and he nods to me. I leave the alley with Kokolite. Ezequiel is left bloodied, with bodies still scattered from Hannah's clan and starts leaning towards the blood pouch.

  I leave here with more questions than answers. I know that Kokolite at some length will answer a few of them but still will not satisfy the urge for so much information on the event that just occurred. Still, the words children of the night and vampire lingered in my head, making it difficult to concentrate on what will happen next. Diane is still at the hospital, maybe she will get out soon, the church is burned out, and yet I’m with a stranger that the I don't know... at all! I feel a little more comfortable knowing that he has put his life on the line for me in this short period of time. We get in the car and drive off. The lights of the police car get nearby as I speed up before a street light turns red. Did it take that long for the PD to get here? I’m starting to think that I can’t confide in anyone on the force. Maybe Ortiz. I’ll put a wall up for everybody at the moment. What now? What now?

  “Now? Either rest or go see Diane.”, Kokolite interrupts my thoughts.

  “You should not be entering someone's mind without consent.”

  “Can you shut your ears up?”

  Before I could answer, Kokolite kept going but with each sentence angrier.

  “You can't, can you? I hear everyone's voice all the time. You want answers? So do I! How about who is Ezequiel? Why the urgency of the orb? What does it do? Why I've been cursed? Why my family was taken away from me? Why don't I have the urge to eat you?”

  My feet slam the brakes, making the car come to a halt sending Kokolite's head to hit the windshield. I draw my gun out. Kokolite rubbed his forehead.

  “Easy peasy! I will not hurt you! However, will it kill you to tone it down?”, he says.

  I keep the gun up. Why the hell I haven’t pulled the trigger? Situations like this are when dad's voice would have taken over and as a defense mechanism, the bullets from the gun would of continue the conversation. I don’t know why I continue to doubt myself as of why I’m not acting as I was trained. As a police cadet, soldier, war, the special missions which were even higher stressed situation than anyone could have thought of. But now I’m dealing with something completely different, and for some reason, I’m not trigger happy. My whole body is tensed holding the gun, but at the moment it felt heavier. Maybe it was the time. It’s late. Maybe is all this new information bursting my brain creating more and more questions.

  “Let’s get you something to eat, and I'll talk.”, he says.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  Kokolite raised his eyebrow while pointing his fingers to his head and quickly squinting since he touched where he hit his head. I do not take my eyes out of him but lowered my gun and started to drive again. Fast. He's unnaturally fast, agile, heals quick, knows very well how to fight and still can read minds, so he will know my every move. At least inside the car, his movements would be limited, an
d I could crash the car if needed.

  “You got to understand, that the man whom we fought is not normal, even for us. So for you now... yes the word in your head is true. No! Not all of us are the same, and not all of us want to suck your blood. We need blood, just not yours... you know what I mean.”

  “Not really.”, I keep staring at him from time to time.

  “How about you ask questions?”

  My head shakes without permission. I lick my lips. I’m looking for questions. They disappeared. Why I care if the questions sound weird. This is weird as it is.

  “So you're a vampire?”, I start.

  “I thought we established that earlier, but yeah, I am a vampire.”

  “So the red pouch was…?”

  “The red pouch was blood.”

  “Immortals?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Explain.”

  “We can live forever as long as no one kills you.”

  “How?”

  “Many ways. Next question.”

  I grip the wheel.

  “Powers?”, I say with a sigh.

  “Depending on clans.”

  “How so?”

  “Depending on how you turned is how you get your powers. If the person who turned you can read minds, you my friend, are able to do so. Just not other abilities. Imagine getting into boxing, but you can't learn dancing.”

  “Weird how you said it, but I get it. How many clans?”

  “Twelve. You know after this you cannot go back to your normal life?”

  “How so?”

  “You know too much. They watch you; they watch me.”

  “What? Explain.”

  “They are everywhere. You are paranoid at the moment, and it will get worst.”

  “Explain.”

  “We... they control everything. Cops, politicians, religious leaders, the old lady that always asks you help to cross the street. Everything. You will find out that your words could even get you killed, depending on whom you talk to. Your sister will be on danger from now on.”