I was devastated when the vampire plague hit London. This was my city. Every night we launched counterattacks from Lord Alexandru’s new larger castle outside the city. We fought the rogue vampires wreaking havoc in the streets. Usually these vampires were new and untrained. They did not stand a chance against us. Their only advantage was that they had numbers.
Dawn would bring about countless bodies of both vampires and humans to dispose of. Elijah, Mary, Elizabeth and I would help with cleanup by placing the bodies in mass graves.
“Where are they coming from?” I asked on the morning of one such burial.
“Someone is turning humans into vampires at a rapid rate,” Elijah replied.
“We have to find out who,” Elizabeth said.
A human man noticed Elizabeth. “Hey! You there, get that child out of here. He should not have to see this.”
Elizabeth glared at the man.
“No one should have to see this, sir,” I said.
We continued our work, ignoring his disapproving glower.
I could only imagine what we looked like to the humans around us. Elizabeth and Mary with their short hair. My hair was worn back in a single thick braid that hung down to my waist. We wore tight, flexible breeches for fighting and metal breastplates. All garments were black for stealthy night movement. We were also heavily armed with swords and knives hanging from our belts. Clearly, we were not typical human women.
To see Elizabeth, a noticeably young girl, who looked like a boy, in such attire must have seemed even stranger. There was nothing we could do about that; the humans needed us and they did not even know it.
After another week of this nightmare, we stumbled upon an underground tavern that reeked of vampires.
“This may be it,” Elijah said. “This could be where the culprit is hiding.”
Our men surrounded the building after receiving a hand signal from Elijah. “Try to take the leader alive,” he whispered. In a flash, Elijah kicked in the door to the brothel and I was immediately behind him. With one swing of his broadsword, he severed the heads of two guards who stood on either side of the door. Several vampires charged us. They were clearly trying to protect a man sitting in a chair in the center of the room. Our troops filed in behind us and we made quick work of them. Elijah put the leader in heavy iron shackles from which not even a vampire could escape.
“Take him to Lord Alexandru’s dungeon to await questioning,” Elijah ordered.
The man pled for us not to kill him as two of our soldiers dragged him away. We searched the place for clues linking this man to Ramdasha or for any letters or written orders that might tell us where Ramdasha was. We found nothing.
The man who was the leader of this coven admitted to knowing Ramdasha. It was Ramdasha who had sent him to London. He claimed that Ramdasha did not stay in any one place for long.
“I have no idea where Ramdasha is, as he has certainly moved on since last I saw him,” the prisoner said.
“Where were the last known whereabouts of Ramdasha?” Lord Chastellain demanded.
Blood trickled out of the prisoner's mouth and one eye was swollen shut, thanks to the Court’s interrogation. “Athens, My Lord. That is where I last saw him. Please, don’t kill me. I am telling you the truth — everything I know, I swear it! He took up residence in a villa not far from town.”
Once it was apparent that the prisoner knew no more, Elijah and his father exchanged a knowing nod and this time it was the lord who executed the prisoner. Chastellain’s rage was out of control. He wanted his enemies to be struck down — at his own hand, if need be.
With their leader dead, we were able to clean up the last of the new vampires and stop the Black Death in London. The Court Elders agreed that we had to try to find Ramdasha in Athens. The lord called Riddick and Samuel back to Copenhagen. Riddick had been fighting in France and Samuel had been destroying new vampires in the northern regions of the Holy Roman Empire.
“All of our best fighters are to head to Athens at once,” Lord Chastellain instructed. “After Constantinople, we can be assured that it will be dangerous. There is no way to know what our enemy has in store for us.”
It did not take us long to spot the lone walled villa outside of Athens. Our combined armies of about one hundred vampires landed in the forest outside the city. Elijah motioned for us to stay hidden as he stepped out in front of a horse-drawn cart traveling along the road.
The horse started and so did the farmer driving the cart. He pulled back on the reins and the horse reared up on its hide legs.
“Do not fear. I mean you no harm.” Elijah slowly approached with his arms out, as if surrendering. He gently took the horse’s reins and ran his hand down the animal’s long nose. As the horse calmed, so did the farmer. In fact, the horse closed its eyes, enjoying the soft touch. Elijah had always been extraordinarily gifted with horses.
“I need to know what you can tell me about that villa up ahead.” Elijah’s voice was soft and cordial.
It seemed to work, as the man spoke freely about the mysterious place. “Aye, it belongs to a lord. Can’t quite recall his name. He is foreign — I believe. That place has been abandoned for a long time. There are many rumors flying around about it. You see, some folks think the place is haunted. I have heard tales of dark figures moving about the place at night, although I myself have never seen such nonsense. Still, I recommend you don’t go poking around there all by yourself, young man.”
“Thank you, kind sir. You take care as well.” Elijah released the horse’s bridle and stepped aside.
“Do you need a ride, sonny?”
“Thank you for the offer but I can manage.”
The farmer look at Elijah with curiosity. “Suit yourself.”
We emerged out onto the road once the man was gone.
“It appears that vampires may still be lurking about in the villa. Gather what large stones you can. We attack now, before Ramdasha hears word of our arrival,” Elijah ordered.
The stones were to be used to trigger any explosives Ramdasha would certainly have in place around the estate. Once we had surrounded the manor’s large walls, the stones were thrown over into the yard. Loud explosions instantly sounded off. Covering my ears, I hit the ground. Horrible memories of being trapped deep beneath the earth came flooding back. I fought back the panic inside.
Elijah pulled me to my feet. “What is wrong?” His eyes were full of concern.
I shook my head. “I’m fine.” Yet I struggled to breathe.
He jumped effortlessly to the top of the tall stone wall. We followed his lead. The scene was nightmarish. The entire grounds were blackened; trees and shrubs were on fire as well as parts of the villa itself. The instant destruction of explosives was a fascinating and terrifying thing. We watched intently for any sign of movement inside and saw none.
“They must have abandoned the place already,” I said.
“It would appear that way,” Elijah frowned. “Samuel keep your men on the wall to make sure no one escapes. Riddick, take your men in from the top and we will enter at ground level.”
Riddick nodded and took flight, gesturing for his soldiers to follow. Elijah did the same.
My heart was pounding in my ears. The ground level would be the most likely place for explosives. We threw stones into rooms before we entered. Thankfully, there were no more explosions.
When we entered the kitchen, I said, “Look at this.” I pointed to two cups of half-drunk hot cider.
Elijah picked up one of the cups. “It is still warm.”
We looked at each other with wide eyes. “We just missed them!” we said in unison.
“They must have spied us coming and fled,” I added.
Elijah disappeared in a flash. I followed him.
He yelled to Samuel out the front door, “They can’t be far; they must have left recently. Try to catch their scent and follow them.”
Riddick appeared in front of us. “What is it?”
El
ijah spoke quickly. “We’ve barely missed them. Go with Samuel; you are our best tracker. We will stay and look for any more clues they may have left behind.”
Riddick nodded and took flight. His best men were close behind him.
We continued to search the villa. We found a brazier filled with hot coals. Remnants of scrolls could still be seen. They were all but destroyed and no longer legible. We continued to search and found nothing.
It was not long before Samuel returned with an update. “We lost their scent not far out over the ocean. They must have dived into the water and we can no longer track them. Riddick is still searching the area. He sent smaller groups of men out in different directions to increase our chances of finding Ramdasha.”
Elijah nodded and did something uncharacteristic. He yelled in frustration and kicked the brazier over, causing me to jump.
“We almost had them.” Elijah spoke through gritted teeth.
I understood his frustration. I too wanted to end this boundless search for Ramdasha more than anything.
We used the villa as a base and continued to search for Ramdasha and his men for several more days. Once it became clear that he would be impossible to find from here, as he was long gone, we destroyed what was left of the villa. This was in hopes of finding any hidden chambers or the like. It was a fruitless endeavor and we eventually headed north once again. This time we moved slowly, fighting the Black Plague — Tarantism. There was plenty of vampire destruction to tend to along the way.
Epilogue
With my left thumb in my right palm, I would often rub the faint scar that remained. This barely visible white line was all that was left of the day Teller had proposed to me, so long ago. It was all I had left of him — of us. A constant reminder of our love that was now lost. He was out there somewhere. It was a wide world, after all.
The End of Book One
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About Book Two
Fantasy Meets History in an Epic Adventure
If a hero is the character who changes the most, then that is TELLER! His story is one of action and adventure as he learns to function, somewhat, as a vampire amongst humans. Enough is never enough for Teller. He must get more, more wealth, more power, more … all in the name of winning Vallachia back. But will he ever have enough to satisfy her? Or is it himself who is insatiable?
Something or someone must stop him.
Follow the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the eventual fall of the 1400 year old Byzantine Empire as the vampire battle to end all battles is coming. Who will Teller side with?
Notes to the Reader
This book is a work of fiction. It is not meant to be an accurate depiction of the places and times discussed in this book. Possibly one of the largest known historical inaccuracies is that the main characters travel across medieval Europe and yet they can understand and communicate with the foreign people they meet. This would not have been the case, as often times neighboring villages in medieval Europe would have had different dialects making communication difficult. For ease of telling the story this fact was ignored.
The Julian calendar would have been used at this time. Again, to make the story flow better for the modern reader the Gregorian calendar was used. Since the story does not have a narrator it would have been difficult to translate the dates for a modern reader.
Acknowledgments
This book would not exist without all the help from my family and friends. Many thanks to my professional editors and preliminary readers; they all helped to make this book much more than it originally was! My editors, Eliza Dee, Leslie Safford, Marcia Kwiecinski and Colleen Kenney (I know that is a lot) helped to improve my writing many times over. I am grateful for all their education and insight. Thanks so much to my fellow writers. Their lessons in creative writing have saved me and made me into the writer I am today. A special thanks must go out to my parents. It is a cliché but they are my biggest fans. I’m very thankful that they have always believed in me. They are forever supporting my decisions no matter how much they change or how far out they may be. I thank my son and husband for their sacrifices.
A very dear friend and “sister” absolutely demands her own acknowledgements here. She helped to push me to do better in the best way possible. Her enthusiasm and hard work on this project have been paramount. Thank you all very much!
About the Author
Lynne Hill-Clark was born in Colorado and raised in a small town of eight hundred people. She received her masters of science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and her Doctorate of Psychology from the University of the Rockies, Colorado Springs, where she majored in criminology and justice studies. She has enjoyed living overseas on several different occasions, including her time as an American Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and a semester abroad in Xin Xeo, China. She is an advocate for Restorative Justice.
Find out more on her website at lynnehillclark.com.
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Of Lords and Commoners: Book 1 (Lords and Commoners Series) Page 34