A hallway of the dead

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Under the pale light of the full moon a little boy made his way through the town. Draped over his small shoulders was a cape of dark velvet. The child had pulled the hood up over his head so his face was barely visible in the darkness.

'Hey!' He heard a voice call out and slowly turned to face an old man who was seated on the porch of one of the houses. 'It's the middle of the night, a little child like you shouldn't be wandering the streets at this hour, it's not safe.' The little boy just stared at him a moment, nodded, and then kept walking.

Ursula backed up, her eyes wide as she saw the horrific sight before her. The boy who just moments before had been lying dead before them was standing there. The slit on his throat was gone yet the dried blood there remained plastered to his skin in an eerie circle of where the wound had once been. Autem had gone completely silent and currently stood in the corner, his hands clasped over his mouth. Ursula had to protect her brother. If this was the monster that they had been warned about by that man she would have to keep Autem from getting hurt by it. The boy stepped forward now and this time Ursula didn't back away.

"I'm sorry." He said, his expression unreadable. "I apologize if I...if I frightened you both. I don't want to be here either. I tried to die. I tried it again and again and again tonight." He attempted a laugh but his voice caught and Ursula caught the glimmer of tears on his cheeks.

"Who are you?" Came a soft voice. They both turned to see Autem had stepped forward.

"Who am I?" The boy shook his head slowly. "I don't know. I don't remember anything past tonight."

"Do you....have a name." At that the boy nodded.

"Yeah, I think so. They kept yelling something at me, over and over again. So I assumed well...that it must be my name."

"What was it?"

"Death." He said it casually. "They kept screaming it at me again and again and again until I escaped outside." Autem had made his way beside him now and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Ursula felt herself tense, becoming more on guard yet she knew whatever she said wouldn't matter. Once Autem had decided to try and help someone there was nothing else that could be done.

"Who's them?" Autem asked, his voice gentle. At that the boy shook his head.

"I...I don't remember."

"That's okay," Autem replied, giving the boy a little smile. "Uh...do you want me to make you something. I could make us all come coco, that might be nice."

"Yeah..." the boy said slowly, almost cautiously. "I would really really appreciate....a-appreciate..." Suddenly his eyes rolled back and his entire body started forcefully shaking and jerking. He collapsed to his knees. "Bella detesta matribus..." Ursula turned to her brother frantically, eyes wide.

"What's he saying?"

"I don't know!" Autem looked as frightened as her though he still stood by the boy's side. "I think it's latin-"

"Bibere venenum in auro. Bis interimitur qui suis armis perit...help... Facilis descensus averno....M-MAKE IT STOP....Fortuna vitrea est; tum cum splendet frangitur..." The boy looked panicked, terror evident on his face at that fact that he clearly was not in control of the words pouring from his lips. Suddenly Autem fell to the ground next to him and Ursula felt her stomach drop.

"AUTEM!" Her brother looked back at her now, an almost glazed over expression on his face. "BROTHER WHAT'S WRONG?" The boy didn't say anything, he simply held up his arm and Ursula saw to her horror a symbol slowly appearing on his forearm as if it was being carved by some invisible hand into his very flesh. Suddenly she felt a burning sensation on her skin. The girl slowly pulled up her sleeve and felt her breath catch. The same horror was taking place on her own arm, the black mark of some kind of symbol tracing its way into her skin.

--------------------------------

Lancelin stepped out into the hall, a frown on his face. Dead bodies lined the hallway. Corpses were propped up against the walls, lay face down with their head smashed in, one was even flipped on it's side with it's head sticking out from an odd angle.

"Isaac! Issac where are you dear?" A dark haired figure emerged from the end of the hallway, arms crossed.

"Oh God, you're finally here."

Lancelin pranced over to him through the pool of blood and bodies that littered the floor.

"Isaaaaac darling, why has no one delt with this mess? And by no one I mean YOU love." Lancelin bopped his nose with one finger and Isaac just shook his head.

"I thought it would be best to keep everything in tact for when his highness got here. He'll want to examine the scene for himself." They made their way to one of the less bloody rooms that hooked off of the hallway and almost immediately upon entering Lancelin flung himself into one of the chairs laying the back of his palm to his forehead in an extravagant gesture.

"Ugh." He moaned dramatically. "He's still not here yet? He's one of if not the most powerful vampire of all time and it still takes him FOREVER to get anywhere. Remember that one time...how long ago was it Isaac darling, 50...70 years ago? We were all taking part in that dreadful battle and he didn't even show up till about two days after it ended! Angelo showed up in his armor all ready to fight and then we had to tell him he missed the whole thing. I've never seen anyone look so heartbroken at missing a fight, the poor dear."
"Yes, I remember."

"Why are you being so somber Isaac? It's soooo boring."

"Because this is the most vampires we've lost at one time ever. This tops even the battles and wars we've fought in."

"Sooo what? They were all Novi. I think the oldest was only a hundred. It wasn't like we lost any pure bloods or-"

"But what if we're next? Lancelin they were still OUR responsibility. Do you think his majesty isn't going to blame us for this?"

"Oh dear. You're right."

"That boy...I've never seen killing like that." Isaac sunk into the chair beside Lancelin and let his head fall back. "It's horrible. I feel like...it's all my fault. If we just hadn't tried to turn him maybe this could have been avoided. I never expected him to turn on us."

"That's because," Lancelin said, suddenly scooting forward in his chair. "He's the one. We actually found him after all these years of searching."

"Do you at least know where he is now?"

Both figures turned to face the sound of the third voice that had just chimed in. In the doorway stood a little boy adorned in a crimson cape. Isaac and Lancelin immediately rose before sinking to their knees in front of him.

"Your highness."

The child gave a little nod indicating for them both to rise before sitting himself down in the seat across from them. The king of the vampires crossed one small leg over the other and draped his arm over the back of the chair.

"So, I trust you located him," he said. Though he appeared no older than seven or eight the voice that emerged from him was clearly that of a man.

"I did your highness," Lancelin said with a nod. "He was taken in by two children. I believe they are orphans. I didn't see him specifically but I could sense his presence there."

"Twins correct? One of light and one of darkness...just like the prophecy said?"

"Yes. He has risen again and this time those two children will be forced to be his protectors and stay by his side for all eternity."

"Should we kill him now sir?" Isaac said suddenly, stepping forward. "He's still fairly weak. We could sneak in during the night and perhaps try to burn their home down while he's still asleep-"

"No." Angelo said, raising a hand to silence him. "No, I was still the one that ordered his resurrection. If we kill him now the death of the other's will all be in vain. We wanted him so we could drain his powers for ourselves and become the strongest vampire clan not only in all of Europe but in the world. We need to wait for him to reach his full potential before we slaughter him."

"But sir..." Lancelin piped in. "What if he's too strong for us by then? We've already seen what he can do."

"So," Angelo said, suddenly standing up. "We need a Judas. We need someone to assure us that we will be able to take him out whenever needed. The prophecy did say that those twins would be forced to protect him but it never said that they needed to be loyal to him." He slowly turned to Lancelin and Isaac. "I need you to bring me one of those twins, whoever you think we will be able to make the most loyal to us. We will have our Judas yet."  

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