Enjoy. Vote for long chapters?

(early post!) I know this was meant for July 4th, but I couldn't hold it back.  Been sitting in the draft for too long and I've already started the next chapter.

-January 15 Lansel, Z.14-

“Open your eyes little one.”

“I will hurt.”

“No, no it won’t, open your eyes.”

“Yes,” I open my eyes, the blinding light stings for only a second before they adjust.  This is my final time here.  That much has been told to me a hundred times.  After this I will not come back, after this I’ll be forever lost in the darkness.

Around me is the typical room I wake in, the walls are made of plastic and everything from the floor to the ceiling is white.  I look down at my body, the body I can see now.  I like seeing me, I like seeing the white world and I wish I could see more often.  There’s blond hair on my chest now, I didn’t have that last time, and my legs have more hair on them than before.  I guess that’s the sign of me turning from a boy to a man.

The world is already prepared for me, there’s clothes sitting on the floor, a simple white shirt and white pants.  I like the idea of feeling real clothes and requested these be by my bedside eons ago.  I blink twice and rub my eyes as I slide my feet off the bed, “How bad is it? Are you sure I’ll never come back?”

“Yes my dear, this is your last visit.  I need you to do something very important when you wake.” The female voice is soothing and it’s the only voice I’ve ever heard.  I like her and wish we could have these discussions more often.  Unfortunately the gaps between our meetings can sometimes be years.  Years in the nothingness, years of being fully aware that I see, hear, feel, smell, and taste nothing.  Years trapped in my own mind unable to escape the darkness.

The idea of our last visit is traumatizing, I don’t want this to be our last and want our meetings to go on forever, “Waking, you know I can’t do that.”

“But you will.”

“You’ve told me of this fairytale before, yet it has never happened,” I put the clothes on and walk around the room.  The idea of walking fascinates me.  I touch one of the plastic walls and inhale the fresh air.  I don’t want to leave this place, I never do—but I know I always will.

“The time has come, you are ill my little one, very ill and the sickness is going to win.  It’s going to win today.  But right before the brink, right before it finally defeats you you’ll get a moment in the sunlight.  It will be like walking on air and your eyes will open.  You’ll see for the first time, feel, taste, touch—but more importantly, speak.  You will have minutes, seconds, in the conscious world before it goes away, forever.”

“Death.” I rub my fingers together and feel the friction created by them, “I’m not ready for death.”

“Oh, no one ever is.”  The door to my room slides open and I walk out.  In front is the magnificent being I’ve come to know as the only other living thing I’ve ever seen.  She’s a white angel with wings a hundred feet across.  She has a long neck like that of an ostrich and large a flat face.  Her body is bird-like but her arms are skinny and long like sticks.  She has shown me everything and taught me everything.  She’s been the light in the darkness and every time those magical fingers touch me a billion images cross my mind.  These images give me a world to play in, something I can create and dwell in for hours.  Without her I’m sure I would have gone mad in the darkness, but she filled that darkness with mystical creatures, monsters, heroes and villains, champions and adventures. 

“What do I need to say?”  I ask as I walk around my savior.

“Morelious et falsce. Morelious et gane. Morelious et eem Belorize. Moree, moree sinie Lansel.”

“Gibberish.”

“Not to those who need to know.”

“What does it mean?”

“The message is not for you.”

“You’re saying I have to give my life to say a message to a bunch of doctors when they won’t understand and I myself don’t even deserve to know what it means?”

She pauses for a long time. We stare at each other before a single word comes out, “Yes.”

“Why?”

“That, I can show you.”  A single finger reaches out from under the feathers on her chest.  That finger slowly draws to me and I don’t move.  Even though my eyes only see for these short conversations I close them, taking that precious golden light away from them.

Her finger touches.

The blackness swirl.  My mind travels and suddenly I’m looking up.  There are two balls in the sky.  One is massive and as bright as the sun while the other is dim, almost like the moon.  I get turned away from the two balls and look at the ground.  Shadows come and go as the dual suns spin around, never quite casting complete darkness but almost so.

Below me is thousands and thousands of miles of dust and dirt.  Like a precise grid each torch below me is the exact same distance from every other. They are eternally burning staffs which cover the land.  The staffs are ancient in design and have skulls etched into their bases like they were put there to worship the devil.

As the shadows come and go the fires never move like there’s no wind.  Yet even though each torch is less than a dozen feet away the point in the center of a cube of staffs grows a bit darker each cycle of the two suns.  Every once in a great while those centers grow just dark enough that the earth between them swirls with evil.  Crude hands reach out of the dirt, the dust swells like a bloated tummy, and the earth shifts.  With each shift the torches sway and part, they draw near or get pulled away and with these small disruptions in the torch grid become uneven causing pools of chaos and small sanctuaries alike.

I fly further and further across the desert.  Many of the dips in the dust dunes are filled with hellish graves, thousands of bodies speared and left in a forever burning hell pit as a sign to those who many challenge the wicked that put them there.

Thousands of miles cross below me.  The moment I start think the desert is endless I come across something even worse.   I slow above an ocean of tar, the ocean bubbles and pops, it cracks and sizzles.  I can feel the heat radiating off it even from well above it.  On the other side of the ocean of tar is a black forest.  This forest doesn’t have any trees of my knowledge but instead massive black creations of steal and stone crafted into exact replications of Earth-like vegetation.

The trees creak and growl as steam rolls off them.  These trees are hard at work creating something.  I see one of the larger ones crumble and a massive machine get revealed under it.  The machine has two arms and stands like a human.  It’s boxy and its motions aren’t fluid.  There’s a small head on its top with a cockpit of sorts.  The glass is too dirty for me to see inside. 

The further we get into the forest the fewer trees I see and the more of these machines.  Soon I’m upon a massive steal city.  This city is entirely unlike the clean and perfect one I’m actually in.  It’s dirty and everything that can spews black smoke.  The city is just as huge as the one I’m in but for every clean street Lansel has this city has a pile of burning garbage.  The inhabitants are these imp like monkeys no more than a couple feet tall, but there are thousands of them. 

I move further and on the far side of the city is a steel wall at least two miles tall.  Even now the steal wall is being build bigger, thicker, and taller.  The wall has cannons lodged into its sides and mounted guns everywhere.  At random there are holes in the side of the wall opposite of the city and several dozen of the imps sit with long rifles in their hands. 

Here I get a closer view of the imp-like creatures.  They are red from head to toe, only have pants on, and have long red tails with dual-pronged ends.  Each imp has large muscles on his arms and is able to carry a weapon two to three times his size.  I watch as one of these imps shouts something not in English and fires a weapon down off a wall bunker.  The single shot streaks across the desolate expanse leaving a thick green trail behind it.  I turn to see, several miles away, a single tall, skinny, two-legged creature gets slammed in the forehead.  This, easily fifteen foot, creature has legs and arms no more than two or three inches thick and before its head was blown off it had a large balloon-like head with what almost appeared to be a painted on smile. 

The stick giant falls forward and when it hits the ground a loud crack fills the void preceding the fortification.  I look beyond to see hundreds of these stick giants and other bodies lying dead at in a neat line about two miles from the wall.  Another half mile and a massive blue and yellow forest shoots so high up the trees threaten to actually compete with the massive steel wall. 

I wake, or more so open my eyes and come back to my savior, “What was that?” I ask.

“Once there were five great nations on the planet of Sazine.  Though each have their own names, their own traditions, and their own rulers let’s go with the names taught to children to lessen the historical load.  There once was the Empire of Light, the Empire of Darkness, the Empire of Steel, the Empire of Life, and the Empire of Death.  The Empires of Darkness and Life formed an alliance to eradicate the rest of the planet, heavy losses ensued and they were going to win.  The Empire of Darkness was able to rip our world out of reality and into a perpetual Darkness and despite how perpetual darkness would eventually destroy the Empire of Life they continued to fight on the side of night, creating trees which illuminate themselves with perfect artificial light.

“In the night the Empire of Darkness was unstoppable.  Right before the City of Light, Lansel, fell our scientists devised a plan.  They discovered a way to connect our world to two others and use their potential success and young civilizations to provide a different kind of light to the surface, a light of good, of what could be and the joy that comes with that.  The night our walls were breached and the City of Light began to fall one sector at a time two Nazzers set the machine on autopilot and hit go.  For the first time in a decade light filled the planet, all of it, and the two suns were created, Earth and Mose. 

“The sands of Belorize were once the great nation of Darkness, the torches keep the light, but the grid is breaking and one of the suns is beginning to wane.  When Earth goes out the Empire of Darkness will return and our defeat will be sure to follow.”

“What about the Empire of Death?”

She smiles, “Oh they love our connection to the two worlds more than ever, two entire worlds of souls to take.  That many living creatures provide them more than any war on our planet ever could.  The Empire of Death is by far the greatest nation of our planet, and they will side with whichever faction ends up giving them more bodies.  The Empire of Steel has a one-way fortification which keeps the Empire of Life at bay, but if the Empire of Darkness ever were to return the Empire of Steel has no defenses on its backside and will fall, if it falls we will once again be in an never ending siege, one we surely can’t afford,” Her neck snaps stiff and she turns, “It’s time.”

“Time?” I ask.

“Yes, you know what to say?”

“Yes.”

“Repeat it.”

“Morelious et falsce. Morelious et gane. Morelious et eem Belorize. Moree, moree sinie Lansel.”

“Say it, over and over.  Make sure they write it down, make sure it gets out cause when it does those who know what it means will know what to do.”

“Goodbye Allen.”

I nod, “Goodbye my Lady, let’s hope we meet again in the afterlife.”

“Let’s hope not…” she says, “For if that happens we will know we have failed—for I am eternal.” The light grows bright and I close my eyes against it, “Sleep my little one… sleep.”

Darkness my little world again.  But my little world is different; it’s empty, emptier than it ever has been.  There’s a loud ringing.  My heart pounds against my chest, I can feel that.  I can feel.  My fingers twitch and I feel a thin sheet over my body.  The ringing becomes louder as I feel my eyelids flutter.  I try with all my strength and open them.  Above is white with a sea of black dots.  I concentrate on the dots as the ringing grows obsessive.  I slowly tilt my head and see a small box, that box is going crazy.  Lines swipe across it rapidly, numbers run off every possible end, and the entire screen is flashing. 

A loud crash.  I look up to see a door get slammed open, I look at two men in white coats, one of them has a scope over his neck and the other has blue gloves on, “Allen?  Allen?” The one with the scope over his neck asks.  I try to move my lips but it’s like that’s the hardest task I’ve ever done.  In the saviors world everything was easy but in here even just looking is difficult.

“Allen?”  The man with the blue gloves rests his hand on my shoulders.

“I don’t think he can understand us, the man has been in a coma for twenty two years of his twenty three year life.  He’s never been exposed to language.”

“Allen…” the man with the blue gloves speaks anyways, completely annoying the voice of reason, “Allen, you’ve been asleep for a long time.”

“Mo, mo…” I try to speak.

“Mo?” the one with the gloves asks, he looks behind at his partner who nods his head as he sets the stethoscope on my chest.

“More…”

“That’s English.”  The one with the gloves says in shock, “More?  More what?”

“Morelious.”

He scowls and looks up at the other one who has stepped back and shakes his head, having no idea what I’m saying.

“Pencil.” I get that word out a lot quicker.

“Pencil!” the more concerned one shouts, “He wants us to write something down.”

“There’s no way he should know that word, he’s never been awake.”

“But he does, write it down.”

“Morelious et… falsce.”

“Morelious et falsce,” the doctor repeats as the other writes the gibberish down, “what does that mean?”

“Morelious et gane… Morelious et emm Belorize.”  It’s hard to force the words out and the more I speak the more I feel my throat tighten.  My savior told me this would be the moment before I die, I can feel death coming upon me but I have to finish.

The doctor repeats my next two phrases in even more confusion and the other one writes them down also but with a deepening scowl.

“Moree, moree sinie Lansel.” I reach my hand out from under the sheet and grab onto the arm of the doctor nearest to me.  I smile, this is the first time I’ve ever felt the touch of another human being… it’s also my last.  I have to make sure the word gets out, I don’t want them writing it down and blowing it off as nonsense, it need to be known, whoever needs to hear it must hear it.

“What does it mean?” The doctor asks as he looks down at my skinny fingers on his arm.

“Repeat… please…”

The one by my side looks up at his partner who, after shrugging repeats what he wrote down, “Morelious et falsce. Morelious et gane. Morelious et eem Belorize. Moree, moree sinie Lansel.”

I take a full breath in and taste the sweet, stale air of the hospital, “Good…” I tighten my hold on his arm, “Tell… everyone…” I exhale and my throat closes, not allowing me to take another breath.  The machine goes even more insane as I feel my face go warm and probably flush red.  The doctors panic.  One drops his notepad and starts pushing on my stomach as the other feels my throat with his finger and tries shoving one down it.  Everything spins as the one with the gloves brings out a scalpel and shoves it into my throat in an attempt to free my air passage. 

I hope I did enough, I hope my life has meaning and I was able to get out the message I was meant to say.  I sink back into my dark little world, ready to be taken to the Empire of Death.

-January 16 North of Los Vegas, NV-

Breathing heavily I roll over and lay flat on the bed.  I look at the ceiling and see a single strip of light striking across it.  That light means the sun’s up outside and with how long it’s been there it’s been a while.  The blackout blinds do a great job at keeping the room pitch black but there’s still that single sliver that peaks through the center.

Clare lets out a deep exhale and I look over.  She’s lying naked on top of the covers with her legs spread out, her hands are lightly resting on the headboard and she’s also looking right up at that sliver of light.  Her hair is drenching wet like she just took a shower, but I know that isn’t the reason.  “Damn… how does that get better every time?” she asks while trying to regulate her breaths. 

“I don’t know,” I say as I slide my feet off the edge and roll over.  I stumble, naked, over to the curtains and knowing I would regret it an instant later pull down on one of the two sides.  The curtain shoots up sending blinding light into the room.  I go temporarily blind and shield my eyes from the burn as I reach one hand over and pull to allow the other half to go up.  What’s before me is a massive double pane glass door which opens to a huge balcony.  The balcony overlooks a fenced up pool and some sort of golf course with its green rolling hills.  The golf course is no longer in use, but Gilbert keeps its watered and maintained because it makes the place look better than the dreary desert it would be otherwise.

“I’m going to go check on the girls,” I say, going back to the bed to retrieve some boxers from a drawer and my pants off the floor.  Gilbert insisted we dress with class and bought us new everything.  By noon the day we arrived the closets were filled with brand new designer clothes, hell even the damn boxers were silk.  If Clare was to be the Queen of the Vampires and I to be her King we ought to at least dress the occasion.  I thought it was ridiculous, but so was living off thrift store clothes and the same four shirts for weeks.

“Okay, I need to rest, be out in a bit.”  I look at the clock which is faced away from the bed so we didn’t have to worry about time when sleeping.

“It’s eleven thirty.  We went to bed at like ten.”

“I know,” she pulls one side of the comforter over her body, “it’s great isn’t it?”  I don’t think she’s had this luxury of sleeping in or staying in one place for months, maybe even years.  I could see her taking full advantage of it when the opportunity arrived.  I also admit going to bed and falling asleep are two entirely different things, it appears we don’t sleep much.  She’s gotten even more addicted to sex than ever before and whenever she’s ready there’s no way I’m not.  We literally have been screwing three to four times a day since we arrived at the Denz Manor as Gilbert so kindly called it.

I slide a pair of purple silk boxers on and retrieve my deep blue jeans from the floor.  In the closet I find a black button up shirt and throw it on, buttoning all but the top one so a bit of my chest can be seen.  Royalty must dress as such, no more t-shirt, etcetera, etcetera.  I brush the mess out of my hair until it’s at least somewhat in unison and step out into the hall.  The girls are in a room three down from ours.  At first I didn’t understand why they were so far away, but now I think it was because Gilbert knew what we were going to do in the room and didn’t want the girls near that in case things got loud.

The door is cracked I go to open it but stop when I hear Lil speak, “I still don’t know why you’re even still here,” no reply, “you’re just food.  They’re gonna kill you, if not Clarine then one of the other Vampires.  You really think you can just stay here and they won’t do anything?” I nearly open the door but hold off, “Look at you, you’re weak… pathetic… bet you never fought a day in your life.  All you’ve done since you got here is cry for your mom in your sleep and hide in a corner.  What’s the point?” 

I hear Lil move around, and there’s a low whimper from Sarah.  Lil continues, “Vampires killed my mom and dad.  My dad told me that, or well, Ted.  You wanna know how?  He said the Vampires ripped their arms and legs off and let them freeze to death in the snow, they watched my parents die and laughed as they screamed for the pain to be over, to just let them die.  Freezing to death is a slow process for a wolf and the cold prevented them from bleeding out.  He said it could have taken hours before they perished… What do you think they are going to do to you huh?  You’re nothing to them.”

“You’re nothing to them.” Sarah repeats.

“No!” a crash.  I swing the door open to see Sarah flat on the ground in the middle of the room with Lil standing over her.  Lil has her fist in a ball and is ready to plunge it into Sarah’s face, “I’m important, she said I’m important.  I know that, they need me.”

Sarah looks at me in the doorframe, “He’s like you right?”  Lil looks at me then back at the girl on the ground, “they don’t need you anymore…”

Lil’s face loses all color and she pulls away.  She stands up and looks at me before turning back to Sarah, “No… I’m important.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Lil growls.

“She was telling me to go away.” Sarah says.

“Do you two need different rooms?”

“Yes.” Sarah says quietly as she sits up.

“No.” Lil says, without keeping her eyes off the other girl.

Sarah stands up.  She towers over Lil who is at least a foot shorter.  She also has longer hair and looks to have more weight than Lil.  Yet it’s Lil who is the bully in this relationship, probably because of the unseen strength she has in being a werewolf, she could probably tear her opponent up with ease.  “Girls,” I stop to think.  I didn’t realize being dragged into Clare’s world would also mean becoming a babysitter to two unstable young girls.  “Nothing is going to happen to either of you.  I’ll make sure of it.  Sarah, you are a guest amongst our household for as long as you’d like and Lil, you’re going to have to live with being a part of our family, no matter how… complicated… it is.”

“So I don’t get a choice?” Lil says, “Sarah can stay for as long as she wants but I have to be part of the family?  You kidnap little girls off the street often?  You’ve got two so far.”

“You had a bear trap on your leg.”

“So?”

“There were men taking you to your sure execution.”

“Okay?”

“You,” I step into the room and up to Lil, who backs away until she’s against one of the two twin sized beds in the room, “dragged me into a gunfight I had no interest in being in, you led me into a field had me surrounded and I had a gun to my head—all to try and save you.  We would have died if Aleniese didn’t come to save us right then and there.  You conspired with Clare, you turned me into a werewolf against my will, you led several assailants to our motel room, you got shot twice and had me float the medical bill, which wasn’t cheap by the way, yet you still seem to have no gratification, haven’t said thanks, and hardly even help do anything except consume food and do Clare’s dirty work when she asks.

“And the funny thing is I get this impression you don’t even like Clare because she takes my attention away from you.  You want to know what I think the problem is?  You’ve spent your whole life on the run with Ted.  You spent your entire life being told you’re important, you’re the last of your kind, and you’re the most special person in the world.  I think that’s gone to your head and you feel you’re better than everyone else.  Is that right?  Are you better than me?  Are you better than Sarah?  Clare?”

“I… I…” she’s unable to say any other words.

“Yeah!” I hear from behind me.

I turn like an enraged lion in the zoo when some kid throws a rock at it, “I have no idea why you’re here or what your deal with Clare is.  You worship her for some reason only the two of you know.  She hates it, she absolutely hates it.  The only reason your ass hasn’t been thrown out is because I pity you.  You think it was her idea to let you stay in the truck?  Ha!  We’d of never left the hospital if I didn’t tell her to just go.  Look at you; you’ve got scars all over your arms like you have some fascination with pain.  You’re what, eight?  That’s not healthy.  I say if you two are to stay with us you start contributing.”

“Contributing to what?” I hear Lil.

I stop.  I realize even I don’t know what we’re building up to.  Why are we here and what are we trying to accomplish?  Contributing to living?  Clarine just had a fucking mansion donated to her.  Contributing to keeping us safe?  There is or will be soon a small army out to protect us.  Really, what is the goal here?  I knew before we had to get to Alaska, we had to break my bond to Aleniese and free Clare of a crippling disease.  Well Clare was cleansed and not in the way she expected and I’m still hooked to Aleniese but that’s my own damn fault.  I didn’t let him break the bond when he tried. What do we do now?  Grow a big happy family?  Fuck?  Exist? “Contribute to the safety and wellbeing of our family,” our family, it’s a bit weird for me to even say that.  Just a month ago I was a loner living in a pointless life in a pointless apartment being strangled by debt and trapped at a dead end job.  Now I have a family?  Should I even call it a family?  It seems more likely that we’re just a bunch of misfits brought together due to the similar problem of being alone.  We’re just a group of loners that call ourselves a family.

Look there’s Clarine, father unknown, mother taken away from her when she was sixteen.  Cursed with a darkness she’s wondered aimlessly around North America for the past six years just trying to stay alive.  There’s no meaning, no purpose, just food and blood to sustain her.

There’s me, the recent college graduate so consumed with work and paying off debt I got trapped in a job I couldn’t escape.  I got lured into a relationship which was built on obsession instead of love and was pushed around by nearly everyone I met, forced to isolate myself due to the inability to go out and have real relations.

There’s Lil, parents killed when she was an infant, left on a doorstep and raised by a man who told he she was the world for a decade.  Withdrawn from school for being different she and Ted were forced to live in hiding until he was killed leaving her absolutely alone.  The only source of connection left for her is being forced to live with the archenemy of her entire species, Vampires. 

Finally there’s Sarah.  I haven’t got much off her but I know something happened between her and Clare, something fairly recent.  Whatever happened she grew more isolated, began hurting herself on the arms, and ended up dumped in a church so they could “pray the devil away.”  She escaped and forced a woman into leading her right to us.  I thought for sure Clare feeding off that woman would scare the kid off, but it made her even more persistent in following us.  There’s nothing more isolating than following a leader who doesn’t want you around.

“I’m not your family,” Lil snarls after the break in conversation.

I grab at my shirt and pull it up until the long claw marks across my back are visible, “You became family the second your claws dug into my back.”

I look up to see Gilbert in the hall with a typical glossy shirt on, “I heard shouting,” he says.

“We’re fine, just blowing some steam.” I look back at Lil, “Not everything can be perfect when you meet in the conditions we did.  Everyone has their ghosts.”  The room rattles like an earthquake.  I turn to see a massive shadow cover the windows.  A loud crash.  The roof gets peeled off like the skin of an onion.  Brick, steel, dust, and glass get thrown across the room as the entire ceiling gets torn off.

“Shit, my building!” I hear Gilbert as the demon responsible for the destruction throws the peeled away roof off.  The entire chunk of stone smashes into the pool and bricks shower the outdoor furniture smashing anything in their wake.  The devastation knocks both the girls over.  Sarah struggles to her feet and begins to run away leaving Lil on the floor.  As Lil starts to stand she turns to see that familiar creature that saved us in Fairbanks. 

Sarah’s eyes grow big as she watches the massive brown breast curl his wings in and reach out one of his muscular arms.  Lil, fearless, dusts her pants off right before the demon grabs her like a child would pick up a doll.  Aleniese looks at me, no through me.  He lifts Lil up and lines her face up with his.  They sit there for a second then Aleniese opens his mouth and moves Lil towards it like a popsicle.  She squirms just a bit in his hand before he sticks her head into his mouth and crunches down.  Her entire body drops like a ragdoll as he pulls.  Tendons in her neck rip as a spray of blood covers the floor.

Sarah screams as Aleniese throws the body off the edge of the fourth floor and spits the head right at me.  I stand frozen as the head flies inches over me and splats behind us.  I slowly turn to see the soaking wet clump of hair and flesh roll right up until it touches Gilbert’s feet.  Numbness, that’s all I feel.  I look at Aleniese and back at Gilbert who has no words to speak either.  Sarah screams again and is freaking out so much she’s unable to decide to run to Aleniese or to what’s left of Lil.  She instead lowers herself into a ball and covers her head to hide the sound from her own moans. 

Rewind.

“I heard shouting.”  I look at the glimmering man in front of me but don’t really see him.

“Yeah…” I say.  I walk right up to Gilbert, take a hard left and go the three doors down to the room I knew Clare would be in.  I have this feeling Gilbert is still standing there confused.  I open the door.  Clare has managed to get out of the bed.  The room is empty but the light in the bathroom is on. 

I go to the bathroom and swing the door open, there’s fog coming from the shower and the glass door is shut but too cloudy to see through, “I saw Aleniese,” I say.

“What?” she turns the water off.

“I saw Aleniese.”

She opens the door and pokes her head out, “Is he here now?”

“No, no.  A vision, like, in Washington.”

She steps out of the shower.  She’s beautiful there covered in water with the mist behind her.  I want to just dig myself into her and make that clean body of hers all dirty again.  No, I can’t, “What’d you see?” she asks, picking one of white towels off the rack and covering her body.

“He broke into the building and tore Lil’s head off, spit it at… Gilbert.”

She stops and looks at me; she pouts and slowly grabs a second towel to wrap her hair, “What the hell does that mean?”

“I, I don’t know.”

She wraps her hair, “Is it something about Lil?  Is she bad?  Do we need to get rid of her?”

“No,” I say without thinking, I take a step back letting her into the room, “I can’t believe it’s her.  It’s something else.”

“Okay, give me examples, what’s happened in the past?”

“Uh, he took off my past girlfriend before I finished—letting me knew she’s baby crazy and has no love for me.  He showed you dying when you touched the wall at the Canadian border to tell us to turn away.  He showed me your boyfriend’s death so I could go there to do it.” I freeze, I never told her that.

“What?”

“I saw him die. I went to stop it, only to be the one that caused it.”

She sits there still, I’m not sure if she’s going to attack me for that or not.  After a bit she turns to the closet, “So it’s the idea, the concept.  She doesn’t need to die.  What does she represent that would be relevant to us?”

I scratch at my head, “Why the hell can’t he just come and tell us what he needs to say.  This shit is ridiculous.”

“Maybe speaking or actually being here is difficult for him; the images are the only thing he can do to communicate when things don’t line up perfectly.”

“That’s true,” I say, “What does Lil represent?  What is she?  A werewolf?”

“The last of her kind.”

“Yes,” Clare pulls both a red and a black dress out of the closet.  She rolls her eyes at the idea of having to wear either one.  I could tell she’s not too into this whole dress like royalty thing either. 

She sticks the black dress back in and lays the red one out on the bed, “Before you were talking what happened?  Tell me everything.”

“I was… yelling at the girls, they were having a fight.  I was showing Lil the scratch on my back and telling her because of that she’s part of the family.  Then Gilbert walked up because he heard the argument.”

Clare tosses a pair of underwear and bra on the bed, both black, “The scratch, she made you.  I made Gilbert…” she looks at what she’s picked out, “The head landed in front of him right?”

“Yes,” I’m not sure where she’s going.

“Off with the head.”

“Huh?”

“Decapitation, off with the head, it was the main source of execution for a vampire. Makes sure the bastard doesn’t get back up.”  She twirls one of her fingers with the bra strap on the bed, “I’m a kingpen.”

“Kingpen?”

“A hierarchy built with a single person pulling all the strings.  When that person dies the entire organization falls,” she looks at me, “I’m a kingpen, the Mother of all vampires.  I alone hold supreme control over every vampire that has been and will be created.  That’s a lot of power in on person’s hand.  I have it all.  If I were to get my head cut off… the next line would get all that power…  Gilbert.”

“Oh shit, is that bad?”

“Very bad.  He probably already knows.”  She picks the bra up, “We need to be careful.  We need to put in precautions to make sure no one will ever try to grab for power.”

“How will we do that?”

She drops the towel off her body, “I’m a witch too, I’m sure I’ll figure out something.”  She smiles and puts the bra on.  I smile, half fake.  I sure as hell hope that’s the case.

-January 17 North of Los Vegas, NV-

I crane my neck and yawn.  From too much sleep to too little sleep, I really can’t regulate my schedule.  I look over what’s in front of me, an emergency procedure built from scratch over the last twenty-four hours.  I’ve cleared vehicles out of what was one of many garages and made sure no one came in.  Since then I drew a complex diamond-like symbol on the floor.  In the center of this diamond is a particular blood splat using a particular blood.  Scattered around the diamond is more blood, this blood is nearly black and almost not human.  Old-fashion gunpowder has been spread across the entire symbol. 

Nearly everything on the floor with exception of the chalk and the gunpowder would normally be incredibly hard, if not impossible to gather.   The black blood is what blood witches would call the Ultimate Sin.  It’s super compressed blood.  The quantity on the floor is enough that whoever took it quite probably had to kill tens of thousands of people. 

The center is a blood forcedly taken from a demon, yes; it has to be forced from an unwilling demon for this particular spell.  The final ingredients are the blood of those I wish to cast the spell on and the blood of those who the spell will protect against, a lot of it.  Ironic a spell would require the death of the very one it’s meant to shield against.  What’s the point of a spell if I have to kill the one it’s meant to stop in the first place?  Well, this particular spell is meant to protect against a bloodline.  This means I can kill a son to protect from the father. 

In pale comparison this is a very complex spell which three of the six crafts can produce, the only difference is in two of them decades of practice and perfection is needed.  In Bloodcraft everything is easy as long as I have the blood and Beatrice had literally every kind of blood one would need for even the most complicated spell.  Hell, several of the vials she had are so hard to get I doubt even she acquired them herself but rather stole or had them given to her.

I look up at the far side, the chest is sitting there open and half of its contents have been spread out on a couple work benches which were in the garage.  I’ll have to cast a shroud on this room.  I move over to the bench far and find my half-filled container of fertile earth.  I set that to the side with five sheets of cloth. 

I go for the door and open it, inside is a long hall, one way goes to three other garages and has a glass door at the very end.  The other goes back into the main hall.  I go into the main hall and look around to see Neel meandering around outside by the pool.  I turn and walk through the main hall, into the back room, and through one of the many doors that leads to the pool.  “Neel!”  I shout, he looks at me, “Come here, bring the girls.”  I have no idea where the girls are, but I’m sure he does, “First garage.” 

He doesn’t know why, or what I want, but I like that he doesn’t ask.  He nods and turns away.  I’m guessing the girls are somewhere on the golf course.  I go back inside.  The back room is massive, square and at least two of the three floors above it are just its ceiling.  It’s long and square with a massive fireplace at one end and a long table on the other.  The table is typical of those movies of royalty where the seats are far apart and everyone sitting at them is disconnected from everyone else.  We’ve slid multiple chairs close together at the end closer to the main hall and tend to eat together instead of staying disconnected like intended.

I walk over to the table and find a push door which is blended into the wall on the other side.  I go over and I push it, it opens into a large kitchen.  This kitchen is stocked and designed for a full kitchen crew, but is only manned by the same butler who greeted us at the front.  I cross by a stainless steel counter and several burners to find a closet.  I open the closet and find several containers of salt; I pick out two and turn to exit.  On my way out the butler, Samuel, stumbles into me saying, “My Lady, whatever you need you don’t have to retrieve yourself, simply ask and it will appear.”

I look at the butler.  Samuel has no hair and a thin mustache.  He’s wearing a black suit with black tie and white undershirt.  He always stands very upright and looks to be around his mid to late forties.  I do admit I feel terrible for forcing the poor guy into slamming his head on my truck.  What’s worse no one went out to retrieve him and I’m sure we awoke cold and covered in mud.  Yet he hasn’t shown any resentment to that.  In fact he’s kind of grown on me, he’s incredible nice and literally will do anything I ask of him without question.  Not to mention since he’s running the kitchen he’s an excellent cook.

“Of course Samuel, can you get me one of Gilbert’s whores?  I think they will be of use to me after all.  Get me… Irene.  Bring her to the first garage, but don’t go in, just knock.  Okay?”

“Yes my Lady.”  He bows and swipes himself around.  He exits the door but holds it until I go out.  When I exit he speeds ahead and turns to go up the stairs right for the Grand Suite Gilbert was bound to be in with his women. 

I head back into the main hall myself but turn opposite of Samuel and find the small hall that leads to the garages.  I reenter my first garage and go right for the corner.  I start dumping salt on the ground, making sure to keep it right up against the wall.  I go around the room slowly making sure to dump a healthy amount.  A little more than half way around I run out and use the second container of salt.  Getting under the benches is a little trickier, but I manage to finish an entire loop of the room before I hear three knocks on the door.  I open to see Samuel with Irene. “Thank you.” I say.  Samuel bows and turns to leave.

“Uh, what can I do Mother?”

“Come in.” I say.

As she walks in she takes one huff and scowls, “What is that smell?”

“Nothing, I need your help.”

“Mine?” her smile broadens.

“Yes, yours,” at least now she’s fully clothed even if it is in something of a Christmas theme.  Looks like before I interrupted whatever they were doing Gilbert was banging sexy Miss Santa.  Fucking ridiculous. “I need you to put a pile of dirt in each corner of the room,” I say pointing at the dirt in the cylinder.”

“Ew, that?  It’ll ruin my nails.”

“It’ll ruin mine two, but good news is you’re not the Queen.” It looks to take the idiot several seconds to process that concept before some sort of recognition comes to her eyes and she moves over to grab a handful of the soil and place it in one of the corners.  Good girl.

She finishes the four piles and I ask, “Can you move to the center of the diamond?  Yes, just there, sit in the middle.”

“It’s dirty.”

“I don’t care; you will listen to your Mother.”  I hate the word but that registers the most with her.

“Yes Mother.”  She kneels in the middle of the room.  I walk over to the chest and swipe a small black box off the table.  I hold it in my hand and hover my finger over a small black button.  I come up behind Irene and stand behind her, “What are you doing?”

“Just hush.” I dig my fingers into her fake blond hair and pull her head back.

“What are you doing?” She asks again.

“Hush.”  I push the button and a four inch blade appears.  I press the blade against her throat as hard as I can and drag.  Her scream is so short no one would even notice it.  Her hands go up to try and pull me off and she tries to stand, only getting partway up before her feet go forward.  I keep her up in my hand and drag the blade back and forth across her throat like cutting into a steak.  Blood pours out of her neck and covers her body.  She gurgles as I slice into her wind passage and arteries all the same.  She continues to claw at me longer after any mortal should have perished as I feel the knife dig into her spine.  Finally that cracks and she goes still.

I pull my hands away and let her drop.  I look down at myself.  I only got blood on my hands and have managed to keep most if not all of it off my clothing.  Irene on the other hand is covered in her blood due to the nearly severed neck.  I hear the door open.  I look up, Neel is looking the other way.  I hear the girls some distance down the hall, “It’s because Lil doesn’t like being inside, she likes being outside.  But I think she’s just scared of people.”

“No I’m not!” Lil snaps back.

“But she’s also afraid of being alone, that’s why she takes me with her.”

“That’s not true!”

“Girls, just come on, this is probably important, it really doesn’t matter why you were so far away right now.  As long as you’re on the grounds you should be safe.  But be careful, Lil, you know why.”  He turns and looks into the room, “Oh for fucks sake.”

“I didn’t say it was going to be pretty.” 

“God damn, did you have to kill her?”

“For this, yes.” 

“Woah.” I hear Lil.

“What is it?” Sarah asks.

“Dead people, lots of dead people.”

Neel looks at me and raises an eyebrow, “It’s for our own safety, tell them they have to come in, it’s a spell to protect us.”

Neel turns, he doesn’t even open his mouth and I hear Lil, “I know, I heard.  Come on Sarah.”

“But you said dead people.”

“You’re the one that wanted to come here. Get used to it.”  Both the girls turn the door at the same time, Sarah gags at the sight and Lil shrugs, “I didn’t like her anyways, she was dumb, not like Hannah.”

“What’s this?” Neel asks, still not coming in or letting the girls enter.

“A very strong protection shield.  Ultimate Sin, Wrath of the Demon, Blood of the Killer, all I need to do is activate the spell with us inside and it will protect us from any vampire created.  They can’t touch us, they can’t even think of touching us.  Hell, they can’t even get someone else to touch us for them.  Kingpen right?  Well, this will solidify my reign and bring you into it with me.”

“All of us?” Neel looks at Lil and Sarah.

“Just Lil and you.” She looks at Sarah, “sorry.”

“Then why am I here?” She asks.

“I need you.”

“For what?”

I go over to the table and pick up a beaker and a rag. I wipe my blade on the rag, “The same thing as last time.” 

“No!” says Neel, “Leave her alone God Damn it. What could you possibly need her for?”

I flip the blade over and hand it and the beaker to Neel, “I have too much blood on my hands, I need you to slit her wrist and bleed her.  We need her blood to shroud the garage, can’t have Gilbert stumbling upon my witchcraft.”

“No,” says Neel, refusing the items.

“I’ll do it.” Sarah says.

“What?” Neel turns, “You’d do it?”

She shows her wrist, “I’ve already done it once, you said yourself we need to start contributing.  This is important, I’m contributing.”

Neel takes the beaker and knife.  He steps into the room with the girls, but the trio avoids the bloody center.  Sarah holds out the wrist that has been cut before and closes her eyes, “Pain killers? Medication? Something?”  He asks.  I shake my head, it has to be all natural, otherwise it’s no good.

“It’s okay,” Sarah says, “I’ve done it before it doesn’t hurt.

Neel shakes his head, “This is crazy,” and rests the blade right on top of her previous wound.  He sits there but doesn’t swipe it across.  The time he’s there feels like years even if it’s only seconds.  Sarah reaches her hand up and puts it on his.  She grabs his arm and pulls his hand while yanking her arm the other way.  Blood spews out of her wrist.  Neel panics and most of it entirely misses the beaker. 

Lil goes down and grabs the beaker to catch the blood.  Before it’s even done filling I stick a small brush into the blood that’s already fallen and begin painting symbols into the fabric.  By the time I get two done I can see Sarah cringing the best she can to not cry.  Her hands start shaking by the third sheet and by the fourth she’s grown weak, “Clare, this is enough, we need to stop it now.” Neel says as Sarah goes still in his hands.

I agree, I run over to the chest and grab my herbs out, I find an envelope and open it, the leaf inside is brittle and brown.  I bend the envelope and leaf cracks, fuck.  That’s my only way to stop the bleeding and save her. “Shit, I got nothing!”

“What?”

I throw a rag across the room, “Cover it.”

Neel covers the wound and puts pressure on it, it’s not enough and the rag goes red fast, “We’re losing her.”

“I know!” I thrash through the chest and the tables, there’s nothing here to heal, nothing at all.  Shit.

“She’s hardly breathing, I can’t stop it!”

“Fuck!”

“Lil, put your hand in the beaker now, put a handprint on the last piece of cloth.”

“Why?”

“Do it or all this is for nothing,”

She puts her hand in in disgust.  I lash across more of the room, finding nothing of value.  Fuck, I should have checked the herbs before I did this.  I see Lil imprinting her hand on the last sheet.  I head back over to Sarah, “Lil, put the sheets in each corner, doesn’t matter which ones, leave the handprint there.” I look at Neel, “I have nothing.  I can’t save her, nothing short of a hospital can.”

“Should I call 911?”

“Won’t matter, we’re too far.”

“There is one thing you can do.”

He looks at me, I look back at him, “No, absolutely not, I don’t know her or how she’ll react to it.  Gilbert is very precise on who he picks, getting an unstable person could result in chaos and disaster, controlling the urges is very difficult.  Even those… whores… have talents.  He only picks those who knew of the vampires but were not yet vampires.  See the bloodlines had gone on for so long no one is ever just brought into the fold without awareness; they are chosen, trained and bred then after years or decades of schooling finally turned into vampires.  She can’t.”

“It’s the only way.”

“She’s going to die.”

“Please don’t let her die.” I look up to see Lil, “I like her, don’t let her die.”

I shake my head and grab the cloth with a hand on it. There is not time for the show.  I pick a small needle off the edge of the table and poke my palm, “Close your eyes or it will blind you.”  I don’t even check to make sure they listen as I put my palm against the handprint.  I close my eyes as the entire room explodes with light.  The flash of light lasts only a few seconds before it goes pitch black because the lamp in the middle of the room got blown out by the explosion. 

I don’t even have time to think before I hear Neel, “If you don’t save her I’ll leave.”

“Shit, please don’t do this.”

I can feel his glare on me.  My eyes adjust to the darkness quickly and I look at him.  He’s not joking, his face says everything.  He will leave if I don’t save her.  Who cares?  She’s just some random kid who followed us.  What connection does he have to the stowaway?  First letting her hitch a ride with us and now wanting me to do the unspeakable just to save her?  This breaks every law.  “Fuck it.”  I move over and pick up her wrist, the one most the blood has come out of.  There’s no pulse left, medically she’s already dead, but I could still save her.  “She’s your responsibility.  You take care of her, she does anything too far it will be you that kills the kid.  Got it?”

He nods his head once.  I bite into her wrist right over the slash.  I don’t even take any blood because she doesn’t have enough to take.  I force my blood into her, this is a terrible idea, nothing good will come of turning an unstable unknowledgeable girl into a vampire.  I doubt she’ll even be able to control her urges and it will only be when she does something terrible that Neel will understand that.  It will only be when she’s gone too far that he’ll have to put her down anyways and by that time it will be too late. 

When I feel I’ve done enough I rip my teeth out.  I spit her blood out of my mouth and reach down next to Neel to grab the knife.  He drops Sarah.   She looks more dead than ever.  “hand,” I say, reaching my hand out to Neel.

He slowly puts his hand up for me.  He doesn’t even see me put the knife on his palm he’s too concerned with Sarah.  I slide the knife just a bit.  He pulls away in shock, but his blood drops onto the floor.  That’s all I need.  “What the hell was that for?”  He curses, cupping his hand next to his chest.

“For the spell to work.”

“You’re still doing that shit?”

“It’s for our safety,” I go to Lil, “Hand.”

“No.”

“Hand.”

“No.”

She stands up and tries to back away, but I catch her.  “Stop!” she screams as I catch the knife on her arm and slice.  I let her go and she stumbles back.  I move to the center of my diamond and cross the knife along my own hand.  It stings, but I squeeze causing a drop to land on Irene’s back.  Nothing happens.  Something should have happened.  Did I do it wrong?  There should have been an explosion, a light, a sound—something.  My blood should have sealed the deal and shield all those in here.  I did read the spell correctly right?  It said a protector, that it protects those brought into it from the bloodline of the one slaughtered. 

Why did nothing happen?  I squeeze harder and cause several more drops to fall and land on Irene.  Still nothing.  “Her eyes,” I hear Neel.  Screams, ten thousand screams.  Wind blasts out of the center of the diamond throwing me back so hard I slam into the wall.  The screams grow more intense as a glowing skull appears in the middle of the room.  The skull splits into four parts and each, like ghosts rushes at the four people in the room.  When the skull slams into me my head burns and it feels like my chest is being ripped open.  I look over in the dizzying pain to see Lil on the floor with her mouth opened in a silent scream.  Neel has his hand over his chest and is bent over and Sarah is flat on the ground with her eyes open, but still too weak to lock up against the chest ripper.

What looks like a thousand souls spiral around the room as the diamond turns into blue flame.  Irene turns purple and a blast of intense heat flies out of the middle, in the wake of the wave her body is gone and soot fills the room as if it’s snowing.  Souls, the skull, the fire.  This wasn’t mentioned in the spell.  This spell isn’t a shield, it’s something more.  There’s something the books aren’t telling me.  The glowing balls disperse, the screams hush and the room goes stale.  “H-holy shit…” I get out.  I smile, I can’t help but smile.  I let out a single laugh and the garage door crinkles like a smashed can.

I turn to look at the door and see it crunch inward more and get throw off.  Daylight floods the dark room.  I look out into the light with one hand shielding my eyes to see a massive black beast standing in the driveway.  Aleniese?

“Just get it over with!” I hear Neel shout, “What do you want now?”

“Morelious et falsce,” he replies.

Demon tongue, I assume it’s the same language he spoke with the Queen. What does it mean?  “Huh?” says Neel.

He reaches into the garage.  I take a step back but his massive hand gets me anyways.   He takes a step back into the open and crouches down.  “Neel!”  I shout, knowing what comes next.  I don’t even hear what he says as Aleniese pushes off the ground and we blink into the sky.