They sit uncomfortably close to each other. Two children forced to sit on their mother's laps. For the younger child, it is comforting. She would have preferred to sit on her Mami's lap even were they alone in the back of the van. Despite its ample cargo space, this van is not equipped to transport people except for the two seats in the cockpit, which is separated by a protective cage.
For the migrants in the cargo area, comfort does not come as easily. For those who still have them, their coats or sweaters serve as seats on the rubber floor mat. But it does little to cushion against the jostling of the van over the desert landscape. Nineteen people seated along the floor of the nondescript, unmarked white cargo van barreling over untouched, desolate desert all struggle just to maintain an upright, seated position. There is no conversation, no sounds but the shocks of the van and the humming of the young girl. She appears to be enjoying the ride. Feeling safe in her mother's lap, seeing the world with a child's innocence, her nearly 4 year old mind finds humor in the bouncing of the transport. It's a ride children beg their parents to take them on at the carnival. With the largest of bumps, when these tired and desperate people collide with each other in the momentary loss of gravity causing the only conversation among them in the form of polite apology, the child laughs with glee. In any other surroundings, far from this dire circumstance they find themselves, a child's laughter would be a welcome, warming sound. Here, in the back of a cargo van, being smuggled across the US border under the cover of darkness, it is an eerily somber sound.
Even Cesar, the nine year old boy that is quite upset by having to sit in his mother's lap for the ride, found it slightly disturbing. While he likely couldn't put it into words, he understood the nature of this journey and could feel how inappropriate that laughter sounded.
Cesar did his best to hide his fear. Men do not show fear he would tell himself, men should not be afraid. Boys feel fear. Boys and women, but not men. But he saw in the faces of the men in this van, those hardened from years of living difficult lives of long, laborious hours at multiple jobs for meager pay, that they felt that same horrible fear when they looked at the "Dark Man". They felt it deep within their souls, felt that they may be being driven to hell by el Diablo himself. Looking across at each other, without speaking, these men knew that they all felt that fear that Cesar did, and they all felt like nine year old boys under the weight of that fear. Felt the sum of all of the fear of all of the boyhood ghost stories flood their minds, the Dark Man personifies fear.
He drove along indifferent to their thoughts and emotions. He could sense all of their fear. He could hear all of their thoughts as if they were speaking to him directly. But it was too late for them. There is no action they could now take to escape what they so rightly feared. The only reason he allowed them to be conscious of those thoughts and fears was because it was too late. Otherwise he would have blocked it, allowed them to be blissfully ignorant, but there is no longer a need to expend that energy; and, it amuses him. Sensing their frantic fear coursing through their bodies, with every drop of blood pushed through their arteries with every pump of the heart, he could smell their despair and it tickled him.
They were right to be afraid.
Without warning the van skidded to an abrupt halt on the hardpan. The nineteen people in the back lurched forward as it did. Are we here? Cesar thought to himself. Have we made it to America?
Yes. The dark man's voice filled Cesar's mind like thunder over the tin roof of his former home, shaking him. He glanced around in fear. Then, reassuringly, the dark man's voice filled his head again, Stay calm. Your journey is nearly complete.
The dark man was getting out of the driver's seat. Hearing the door close, and then the door locks snap, Cesar found the thought of being locked in oddly comforting. Looking around he saw similar relief in the faces of his fellow travelers, as well. From outside, voices.
"Greetings Nikolas. You're early."
"Lanius. Greetings to you, as well." Nikolas replied, pointing casually over his shoulder at the van he had just dismounted,
"This vehicle offered both comfort and adequate handling at higher speeds. I am pleased. We should use this type more often."
"And the cargo?" Lanius inquired with his raised eyebrow.
"Docile now, but their fear of me was amusing during the ride."
"You should be mindful of their numbers, Nikolas. While it is certain that we could track them all down out here if they should sprint for the sake of their lives, it is a far cry easier to keep them calm. And our clients would likely not be pleased with having to wait. Nor would they prefer to select from those in a panicked state."
His tone was that of a scolding father, or older brother. But they were neither to each other.
The words from Lanius' mouth wiped the cool smile from Nikolas' lips. His face hardened into an angry gaze, betraying the message of his next words,
"Yes, my Lord. I see the wisdom in your logic."
Receiving both messages clearly, Lanius flashed a confident smirk.
"All is well, then, Nikolas." With a pause his smirk turned to a fiery glare. His ice blue eyes flashed of bright green lenses as those of a cat.
"Prepare our product for market," He spoke now with a sneer, revealing his fangs in glimpses between his words. "Our first customers of the evening approach."
With a shallow bow and sweep of his arm, Nikolas turned toward the van once again. His long coat trailing to his right with the strong wind, his gait of liquid grace carried him swiftly to the rear doors of the van.
It had been a few months since the coup attempt and the following activity had slowed in the past weeks. It had been noted, even by Lanius himself, that since his split with Diana he had been different. Not as stoic as he was known to be but rather easily irritated. He told himself it was the investigation dragging on but he was aware that he was lying to himself, as well.
Then, from behind him, Lanius turned and sniffed at the wind. It was Diana, her scent unmistakable. And she travels with a new escort, a young companion Lanius was certain he had not yet made acquaintance. From the east, as the wind shifted, Lanius caught the scent of another old vampire. Cinnin. He thought, It will indeed be a good night.
Lanius stood so as to face his customers as they arrived. He stood tall, wrapping his arms behind him and gripping his own wrists. The gusts wrapped his long oilskin coat around him like the membrane of an amoeba, continually moving and altering shape. The heels of his dark leather boots, scuffed and worn, made barely an impression in the hardpan he stood upon.
For a moment, he recalled a time when the wind would have blown his long, wavy brown hair behind him like a mane. Now his closely cropped hair gave almost no evidence of the air rushing past him.
With the same rush of air Diana appeared before him, with her companion. Lithe, she stood in black knee high boots, shining with the starlight. Her crimson dress like blood cutting across her milky white thighs. A wide black leather belt cinched across her waist contrasting further her shape with ample cleavage showing when the wind did not let her long, blonde hair rest across her chest. Her appearance was familiar to Lanius, but no less striking. That was, after all, the same manner in which she was dressed when the two of them last shared a happy moment. When they last feasted together before parting.
Her companion was slight, and dressed in all black without a coat. He appeared a stick figure to Lanius from the silhouette he cast against the desert floor of off-white sands.
Shorter than Diana and standing in a slight hunch behind her, and to her left. The position of a submissive servant. Her current plaything.
Lanius was already wondering why she had bothered to change him.
"Greetings, Diana." He said welcoming her. "It has been some time since you have allowed my eyes the pleasure of you." without so much as a glance toward her pet, "I see you have a new toy."
"Greetings to you, Lanius." she replied with a smile. And such beauty in a smile Lanius is certain he had never seen in all of his many years. "I believe it is you who disallows your own eyes the pleasure of me, is it not?"
She opened her mouth to make another statement, likely a retort to Lanius' reference to her companion, but then another rush of wind as Cinnin appeared before them. A large vampire of brutish appearance, Cinnin still clung to the garments of old, even a chain mail vest under the crude hide that served him as an overcoat. His long hair splayed across his squared chin and cheeks visible by the contorts of his scruffy beard with the wind.
"Greetings Diana!" he smiled broadly. "I thought that I sensed beauty in the area, it seemed so great as to surely be that of two women. I should have known it to be only you." He said with a wink.
"Greetings to you, Cinnin." Lanius interrupted. "Perhaps you sensed Diana's companion alongside her. I nearly confused him for a woman myself."
His condescension, without a trace of veil, as he stared down the stranger. Upon hearing the insult directed at him, Julian sprang forward to attack. His reaction so swift Diana was unable to catch his arm as he passed her and she could only watch as Julian took the bait. Diana knew he was lost already.
Covering the ground between them in a blink of the eye, Julian attacked Lanius head on. Without moving but his right arm, Lanius caught Julian's neck and held him up before him for a moment to observe. A snarling, salivating, and stupid vampire he was. Lanius held him there, a boy being held at arms distance by his father, swinging wildly, as father lugubriously watched.
"You are a pathetic idiot not worthy of being a vampire. I doubt that you were worthy of being a man before Diana foolishly turned you. Be there any rhyme or reason to your next incarnation, you shall live as a brain damaged sewer rat mocked by other sewer rats."
Lanius squeezed his hand into a fist and the neck he held squished between his fingers as mashed potatoes through the tines of a fork. Julian's body and head fell from Lanius' grip, turning to ash in the air before splashing on the desert floor and being swept clean away by a new gust of wind.
Absently wiping his hand against his side Lanius looked to Diana, "While I'm certain you were here to feed what now requires no sustenance, I question why you would turn such a man and, even after that bell had rung, why you would continue to keep his company. I fear your judgment slips, Diana."
"That is not for you to decide, Lanius" Diana hissed with restrained frustration. "You chose to leave. Your authority over those with whom I choose to spend my time vaporized like that vampire's ashes the moment the door closed behind you when you left me crying for your comfort."
Her voice wavered with a mixture of rage and hurt. Her eyes showing pain and love but her snarling lips and exposed fangs represented well the extraordinary anger that can only be invoked by someone for whom one cares deeply.
As she stood with fists clenched and trembling lips, Lanius stood stoic.
"It matters not. It is done and cannot be undone. A creature such as he was gives us all a bad name. This world is a better place less him." He said with a dismissive arrogance and then, without pausing to await reply,
"Ah, here is Nikolas with the evening menu. Perhaps you could find a more suitable companion, Diana? It is ill advised to be traveling without escort. What if a brute such as Cinnin were to happen upon you?"
Hearing his name, Cinnin laughed uproariously as only a brute can. Filling the night air with his deep laughter as Diana stood glaring at Lanius with hurt, hate, and love streaming from her eyes. And Lanius, studying Diana's face, showed no regret for either his actions, or his words.
"Let's see what we have here!" bellowed Cinnin through his laughter. "Ah, this female looks a fine specimen."
Sniffing the air in the direction of the 25 year old attractive Mexican woman standing in line with her fellow migrants, those seeking the opportunities of America. That glorious nation which held so much promise and reverence in her mind.
"Yes, she is healthy. And strong."
Walking down the line of nineteen humans on display with Nikolas at their end, Cinnin looked sharply at Lanius.
"I'll take her. And the largest male."
"I see you have not let any manners at all find their way into your life, Cinnin. I believe etiquette forces us to allow the Lady first choice." He said with an eloquence designed for radio as he made an over pronounced sweeping bow toward Diana.
"Please, my lady. For you only, a special tonight. Any male of your choice at no charge, with any purchase."
Diana, unable to look at Lanius through her rage and embarrassment, shaking under her self-restraint, managed to steady her voice, "The female Cinnin spoke of, and the male child."
"Of course," Lanius chided, "you do not have to choose the child simply to deprive me of the second highest priced item in my inventory. If you prefer a larger male you may choose one and get the male child for free."
"I've made my choice. Standard rate for the adult female. The male child at no charge. Nikolas has my information. I will take my goods, and my leave, with your permission. As you said, it is unwise for me to travel without an adequate escort. I should like to return home with haste."
"I thought that this was first come, first served!" Cinnin's booming voice seemed to shake the very ground. "I'll not stand idly by Lanius, I chose that female."
Before the dust rose from the desert floor where his feet carried him Lanius covered the several yards between himself and Cinnin and had his throat in his hand.
"You will do exactly that, Cinnin!" Lanius, now holding Cinnin's face just inches from his own and glaring into his eyes, raised his voice in anger. "And if you interrupt my discussion again, old friend or not, you shall share the same wind as Diana's former pet."
In the instant between Cinnin speaking his displeasure and Lanius making the threat Cinnin's face showed at once his immense fear and then unquestioning desire to comply. Upon Lanius then releasing him, Cinnin quietly rubbed his neck as he slunk away to stand next to Nikolas.
Lanius, pausing just a moment to regain his composure, turned back toward Diana with a smile.
"I should be most delighted to escort you myself, Diana. If you would be so patient as to await the completion of my tasks here. Certainly you could not find a more suitable escort than I, and particularly on such short notice."
"I am most flattered, my Lord, but must respectfully decline. I have pressing personal matters to attend to and my schedule hasn't an allowance for my patience this evening. Please accept my most humble apologies and grant me leave?"
Lanius stood silently, studying Diana's face. His own smile fading slowly as he waited for Diana to reconsider and accept his offer of escort. Lanius is not someone to whom many say 'no'. He is unaccustomed to accepting it as an answer. This time being no exception, his smile melted into the pressed lips of restrained anger, appearing no more than a scar below his nose.
"Perhaps you misunderstood, Diana. I have offered to be your personal escort for the remainder of this most pleasant evening. Provided it can remain so pleasant."
His voice turned rough at the last of his reply. Intending for the words to be warning to Diana, Cinnin, Nikolas, and the other vampire customers cautiously approaching.
The latter first approached with the manner of any human heading to market, list in hand and mind on matters beyond this errand. But happening upon this drama, sensing it as they neared, now milled about a short distance away observing. As humans approaching market and seeing an ambulance parked at the entrance, curious rubber necking. They believed that they were just out of range for those present to sense them. Were Lanius not there, they would likely have been correct. But Lanius knew their every thought; sensed their every motion. And he was annoyed with their gossipy ways.
"I heard and understood you, Lanius. I am most grateful at your generous offer. However, as you stated yourself it is unwise for me to travel without escort, and, as I have stated, my schedule does not allow me adequate time to await the completion of your tasks here. If you will grant me leave, I will return to the safety of my home with great haste."
"Be gone then woman." Lanius broke in gruffly. "I haven't the forbearance for such as you tonight. I only offered because it was polite considering that you had lost your previous escort by my hand. Your leave is granted, use it while you have it." He turned abruptly away from her and bellowed, "Nikolas! Gather the fools who wait idly a short distance from here and tell them that if they wish to make a purchase they should do so quickly. Go now, you useless dog. Before I treat you as such."
As Lanius addressed Nikolas, Diana took her two humans by their arms, Cesar and Abelina, still affected by the influence of Nikolas and Lanius. Diana swept away the commands of those two from the minds of her humans, replacing them with her own influence. Speaking softly into their minds. Her intent to be comforting, but the solemnity of her voice was unmistakable. Come with me, she comforted them, Your joys in the freedom of America shall begin with me.
Are you sad, my Lady? The reply entered Diana's mind and she started as if being slapped. It was the boy. The boy had asked that question of her mind. It was the boy.
She glanced at Lanius, now cursing Nikolas, and knew he must not have sensed it in the boy. Shh ... she thought in the child's mind, If you wish to live another moment, clear your mind and do not try to communicate with anyone. If he senses you, we shall all die here by his hand.
She was holding the boy's chin between thumb and forefinger, looking in his eyes. She saw the understanding. She cringed a little when he made the most imperceptible nod, thinking it would be noticed. It was not. Lanius was too angry, and too agitated with her own impudence to see.
She gripped them each by their arms and with a rush of air, they were gone.
The lesser vampires now approaching, inspecting the remaining migrants displayed for them, were wary of Lanius. They felt his rage, and were frightened. They began making selections. Cinnin first, shouldering his way past the others to show his own limited dominance, selected a male and female. Gripping them by their arms, he nodded at Nikolas and was gone with a rush of wind. The others did the same, and quickly. Lanius recognized the woman that selected the small female child. He also noticed that was her only selection. Generally vampires who would select a child also select an adult. The adult to dine this evening, the child to use later, and more often, hence the price difference. But as he wondered silently why she did this, a sudden realization came to him. A frightening truth filled his mind with imminent importance.
He cursed himself a million times over for allowing his feelings for Diana to mask his detection of such an imperative and important specimen. A child descendant of a Carpathian.
Diana chose him. She chose him and then was in a great rush to remove him from Lanius' presence. She knew. She knew and she intends to raise the child to assassinate him. He could not allow it.
All of this understanding rushed into his mind like air into the vacuum of space with the release of a valve. He took to the air with violent abandon. With the strike of his hands he destroyed the lesser vampires and their purchases in rapid succession. Most had no chance to begin raising their defenses. Lanius radiated out from his position leaving naught but ashes and the puddles of bloody gore that had been humans a moment ago in his wake.
He destroyed them all, one by one, but many in a moment. After slaying all, and their cattle, that had left after him, Lanius caught Cinnin in mid-flight. Seizing him by the scruff of his neck as a schoolteacher of old snatching a truant child, Lanius pulled Cinnin to earth by one hand and slew the two humans with the other. Landing next to the puddles of human flesh newly fallen from the sky, Cinnin stopped with shock.
He had never been surprised by an adversary in all his thousands of years. Superb senses had abound in him even before being turned. And now, before he had known there was someone near him, Lanius had seized him, slaughtered his new livestock, and was already screaming orders at him.
Cinnin struggled to gather his bearings in the whirlwind of activity that had all happened in a fraction of a moment. As his mind caught up he began to make sense of the commands that Lanius was screaming.
"Cinnin, find Diana and bring her and the boy to me! If you do so, I will provide you with any riches you desire upon delivery. If you do it not, I will pull you apart with my bare hands so as to prolong the pain of your death for as long as it amuses me!"
Cinnin could not produce even one word from his clenched throat. He simply nodded and was gone, wanting to be away from Lanius before he decided to kill him to appease his rage.
Lanius stood in the desert. Alone now and far away from where Nikolas had left the blood spattered van, abandoning the site for the scavengers of the desert to clean.
He closed his eyes and stretched his arms out to his sides, concentrating. Lanius pushed his already incredible senses to the very edges of their ability. Reaching, searching to find any trace of Diana or the child. Was he too late? Had Diana had time to sufficiently cover her tracks? If he could not find them, surely Cinnin would not.
He decided that Diana would be too smart to just go home so he would start with the friends of hers that he knew and see if she has hidden the boy with one of them.
~ ~ ~
Diana sped across the desert with purpose. She must put as much distance as she can between her and Lanius before he senses the child and follows. As she ran with the two humans in tow she comforted them. I will not harm you. Be still and do not try to talk with me until we are at a safe distance. These words filled Cesar's mind and he felt at ease. As did Abelina.
Diana arrived with her two passengers at Angela's house. A human whom she had befriended some time ago and knows her secret. She was a rich widow of only thirty-two years. Her late husband, Steve Patrick, had made millions in oil speculation and Angela was beneficiary to it all. A fact her mother in law contested in court for several years and, despite losing, still has ill feelings toward Angela and believes that she is entitled to her son's millions.
Knowing that it was very late, Diana hoped that she could wake Angela by knocking on her bedroom window. She did. Angela signaled for her to go to the front door.
"Diana? For Christ's sake what are you doing here at this hour? And who are they?" Angela said sleepily gesturing toward the woman and boy.
"I have a favor to ask of you. Do you still own that cabin in Maine way out in the woods?" Diana asked as she hurried Cesar and Abelina into the house.
"Why yes" Angela replied "but what could be so urgent about a vacation spot that you wake me?"
Diana sighed. "It is far too much to explain now. I must ask that you trust me for the moment and do as i ask. I assure you that when there is time I will tell all you want to know. For now all you need to know is that this boy, Cesar is his name, is in grave danger. I need you to take him to your cabin and stay there until I contact you. Can you do that for me?"
Angela was bewildered. Although she was very confused and uneasy about the situation, she did trust Diana and she agreed.
" You must leave immediately. Every moment that passes is a moment closer to his demise." Diana ordered.
"I have to call for the jet and pack some things" Angela replied questioningly.
"Very well" Diana said with obvious frustration. "But do it as quickly as you can and do not use your credit cards. Only cash. File your flight plan to a different city and change it mid flight. Do not rent a car or use your ID anywhere. Nothing that can be traced"
Diana turned to Cesar and spoke " If you do as I say you will live. Go with this woman and stay at her cabin with her until it is safe. The only way you will know it is safe is when I contact you. Until then do not leave any trace of where you are going."
Cesar slowly nodded. He could sense the urgency in Diana's mind and knew that it was genuine fear.
Diana turned back to Angela
"Good luck. I hope to see you soon."
Diana took Abelina by the arm and was gone.
`
Angela, trusting Diana's sense of urgency, snapped into action. She called her pilot from her landline and told him that he must ready the jet as soon as possible and to register a flight plan for Charleston, South Carolina. The pilot, in a sleepy voice, said that he understood and was about to ask what was so urgent but Angela hung up as he opened his mouth.
She turned to Cesar "Do you have any possessions that you wish to take with you, have you eaten anything or do you have to use the restroom?"
Cesar calmly replied "I have nothing but what I am wearing. I am hungry and yes, I must use the bathroom"
"Hurry" she said "down the hall on the left. I will get you something from the kitchen and I will gather a few things while you eat."
Angela swooped into the kitchen and whipped open her refrigerator. Leftover wheat crust tomato and mushroom pizza. Perfect she thought and snagged the plate. She popped open the microwave and set it for 2 minutes.
"THE PIZZA IS IN THE MICROWAVE" she called out down the hall hoping Cesar could hear and dashed upstairs.
She frantically threw clothes and toiletries into a suitcase and then, in the back of her closet, the most important thing. She pulled up the carpet in the back corner and there was a floor safe. She dialed the combination and it didn't open. She jerked the handle frantically a few times and then realizing the problem, she took a second to calm herself. She spun the dial a few times to clear it and then slowly entered the combination. This time the handle clicked and she was in. There, in the safe, was a stack of cash that most people dream about.
My "Just in case" money she thought gathering the stacks of bills. She threw most of it into the suitcase and slid a small stack into her purse. The suitcase was a small carry on but it had a handle and wheels. She threw her purse on her shoulder, grabbed the handle of the suitcase and headed downstairs.
There she found Cesar sitting at the breakfast nook gulping down the last couple of bites of pizza.
"Are you ready?" Angela asked, trying not to sound as panicky as she felt that she was.
Cesar calmly said "Let's go. When will I see my mother again?"
"Soon, honey." Angela lied easily. "Step lively now."
The airport was nearly empty at this hour. A few lonely business travelers stuck in a layover. She took her bags and Cesar through the private security screening and was on the tarmac soon enough. She thought that they were doing well for time.
"We're nearly ready to depart, Mrs. Patrick" the pilot, Tom, greeted her. "Who is your friend?"
"This is Cesar, Tom. Glad to see you were able to get here on such short notice."
"What's the big hurry, ma'am?"
"It's a long story, Tom, let's leave it for another day. Shall we take off soon?"
Tom, sensing the secrecy in his passengers voice and posture, decided it was best not to pry.
"Very well, ma'am. We will be able to take off shortly."
~ ~ ~
Diana arrived at her home having already sensed Cinnin's presence. She was, however, surprised at what she heard from him.
"Diana, what have you done with the Carpathian boy?"
"I have hidden him where nobody can find him, report that to Lanius" Diana retorted.
Cinnin's response shocked her.
"Good. We must keep him away from Lanius until he has matured. Then we will turn him and help him to assassinate Lanius. It is time for his reign to come to an end and The Council shall be ours."
Diana, hiding her shock that this long time friend of Lanius' has betrayed him so openly in her presence, feigned concurrence.
"Yes, my plan precisely. Besides what you speak I have personal reasons as well. He hurt me deeply. And I want vengeance"
"Where have you hidden the boy?" requested Cinnin.
"I should think that the fewer minds which possess that knowledge would be the better. Lanius is powerful, indeed."
Cinnin, clearly displeased, pondered this for nearly a full minute. Diana stood stoic. Finally, Cinnin agreed.
Having made that decision he informed Diana of the rest of his plan.
"I will go to the nearest city and seek out a boy who resembles that child. I will drain his blood and return to Lanius with the body. I hope that it will be enough to convince him that the boy is dead and he will discontinue his search."
"Very well" said Diana. "Speak not of this to any other. I shall keep the boy hidden far away from Lanius until it is his time. Shall we share the blood of this female as a toast to our plan?
They drained Abelina dry where she stood.
"I will dispose of the body. You have a boy to find"
Cinnin nodded and left. Finding the small city of Benson, it didn't take long to find a boy who was close enough to Cesar's features. The boy was walking alone through the empty lots on the southern edge of the city. Cinnin waited next to a building and put the thought in the boy's head to go check out what was behind that warehouse. When he turned the corner, Cinnin was waiting.
The boy was frozen with fear and easy for Cinnin to take. He drained him quickly and escaped with the body. He was too close to civilization to reveal his secret and could easily be seen carrying the boy's body. He returned to Lanius' home to await him.
When Lanius returned home and found Cinnin clutching a dead boy he was relieved. He greeted Cinnin
"So, my old friend, you were successful. How did Diana take it?"
"She informed me that she was prepared to take him to you as I arrived. She was glad to remand that duty to me."
"Very well. Dispose of that and we can go on about our regular activity." he said pointing to the lifeless boy.
"Good bye my friend, we shall see each other soon, I hope" replied Cinnin and he left..
He did dispose of the body but certainly did not resume his normal day.
~ ~ ~
He hastened to the hideout of the former Sergeant at Arms, Oberon. He ran to the door and knocked feverishly.
Who could have found me? Oberon thought, panicked. Is Lanius here to deliver proper justice upon me? He approached the door, weapon in hand and a racing heart. Peering through the viewer he saw Cinnin. What relief.
Cinnin rushed in speaking so quickly and over himself that Oberon could not understand a word.
A slight of stature figure was Oberon. In stark contrast to the size of Cinnin. His thin face and small body made him appear sickly. He was turned late in his human life and is forever 62. He was selected Sergeant at Arms by Lanius himself.
"Calm yourself, Cinnin. You're making no sense."
Cinnin stopped and gathered himself a moment.
"The time of our ascension is here after all. The Carpathian has been found. He is yet only a boy but he is in safekeeping and Lanius believes him dead. When the boy grows to manhood we will change him and he shall carve
a new order into the lives of all vampires. Our Council will achieve the power that it should have with the failed coup."
Instantly excited and bewildered by the news, Oberon was now the one speaking nonsense over himself. Asking of the preparations that must be made and when. They retreated into Oberon's quarters to discuss their plan.
~ ~ ~
Diana didn't so much as seek Lanius out. She knew Cinnin would be giving his false report and was unsure of how long he would be there. She needed Lanius to find her, when Cinnin had left. She let her thoughts of him drift. After some time, he decided to pay her a visit. To tell her that she would not be charged for the boy, of course. And not because he wanted to see her.
When he arrived she had a look upon her face that Lanius had seen before. In the dark times, when humans hunted them feverishly as witches. Certainly there could be no danger like that now, that was millennia ago.
"Thank the gods you have come" she said feverishly. "You must trust me now. Cinnin is planning your death."
"Cinnin only just left my side. Lucas had suspected him of being behind the coup and said to be on guard. What did he say to you?"
She took a moment to collect her thoughts and began
"I have hidden the Carpathian boy. The corpse Cinnin presented to you was a random child he found nearby. He told me of his plan believing I would be a co-conspirator but I do not seek your death, it is your life that I desire."
"It's true that I found it odd that Cinnin had already killed the boy rather than letting me do it myself but that is not proof of a conspiracy" Lanius replied. "And what do you mean 'you seek my life'?"
"I can give you the Carpathian boy: Alive. Would that not be proof of Cinnin's deception?"
"If you have knowledge of the whereabouts of a Carpathian boy I would hope that you would not hide him from me, but seek me out and lead me to him!" He commanded.
Diana, shaking with nervous energy, began slowly. Knowing that what she would tell him would enrage him she had trouble getting the words from her brain to her mouth. Her tongue felt ten times its normal size and her mouth was so dry she thought no amount of blood would quench her thirst at this moment.
"I will take you to the boy," she began finally "but only after we are married."
"What treason is this?" thundered Lanius. "How dare you blackmail me into a wedding using my impending death as a lever by which to move me!"
He advanced on her and Diana had no time to react. If Lanius meant to kill her at that moment, she could not have even thrust a single blow in her own defense.
Lanius did not kill her. He grasped her by her shoulders and held her at arm's length.
"Give me one good reason why I should not end your life right now!" He bellowed.
"I'm the only one who knows where the boy has been hidden. Without me you will never find him. He will grow to be a man and will be drawn by his blood to vampires. And one of those vampires will change him, knowing his fate, and yours."
Lanius squeezed a little tighter on her shoulders. For a moment she thought her bones would give way under his grasp. She imagined dry twigs crackling under her footsteps in the woods nearby.
And then he released her with a grunt.
"Damn you, woman. You will be the death of me."
"As I said, my lord. It is your life in which I am interested."
He cast her a sharp glare. His eyes flashing green in the light. His lips parted just enough to reveal that his fangs were ready to devour her.
He tried to pry into her mind to find the location of the boy but he could not see clearly. He could see the inside of a house but that was not enough to know where he was.
He did, however, see a face of a human woman. Perhaps if he could find out who she was, he could find the boy.
"Who is the woman with whom you trusted the boy? You know that I can see her." He was still scowling at her.
She had gained confidence since first stating her intention. Now that the hard part was said, she stood there with calm reserve.
"You do not know her. I met her after you left me. You will not find the location of the boy in my mind because I have not seen it. You will not find him without me. You must acquiesce."
Lanius strained under the concentration as he searched her mind. She was not even fighting him. Clearly she is telling the truth.
"Ugh!" he grunted in frustration" this conversation has not run its course. We will continue soon enough. Right now I must find Cinnin."
"Do not confront him about his conspiracy" pleaded Diana. "I fear how he may react. Who knows how many allies he has found against you."
"Confront him I shall, and as soon as possible. Should I wait until his plan comes to fruition and the boy turns to a man turned to a vampire and will assassinate me? I shall do no such thing. I will end this plan before the boy is of age to minimize the danger. Cinnin, even with allies, cannot kill me."
"Let me come with you, and let us bring arms. I fear this will be a great battle." said Diana as she opened an armoire full of swords and other weapons.
"Very well" said Lanius, picking a large broadsword and holding it up to the light, a gleam of light reflecting from its sharpened tip. A battle he shall have. If Cinnin truly is plotting my demise, we will find him."
~ ~ ~
Cinnin and Oberon were calculating their next move. Cinnin stopped suddenly. "Lanius comes. Here. Now. And very quickly. He is not alone."
Rushing into the chamber Lanius and Diana feel the tension in the very air as Cinnin sees his foe, armed and with Diana, and realizes that his ruse has been defeated.
Oberon struck first, seeing an opportunity as the two great men stared at each other drowning in the memories of years of friendship and overwhelming betrayal, he lashed out at Diana. His thrust was met with an expectant clang on her sword as she easily parried. She was a far better swordsman than he, but she knows he is a sly one, so she fears being too cocky.
Cinnin finally broke the silent stare between him and Lanius with a scream at the top of his lungs,
"You shall rule over me no more! I will no longer have a master, I will be the master!"
He charged Lanius and swung his mighty axe meeting with a loud clang against the two swords Lanius now crossed in front of himself to block the thrust.
"You haven't the temperament to be a master nor the skill or strength to defeat me!" He cried in reply.
Cinnin spun and swung his huge axe again and Lanius shed the blow aside with a clang of his sword, deflecting, as he spun from the force. With his big swing, Cinnin left himself open briefly and Lanius struck out with his off hand sword and scarcely missed, slicing the cloth of Cinnin's blouse.
"And that is as close as you will have ever been to killing me, old friend." Cinnin laughed and from behind three vampire members of the Council rushed out of the shadows and grasped Lanius. One on each arm and the other climbed right on his back and began choking him.
Lanius spun and thrust but the vampires clung to him. He avoided Cinnin's first thrust and the second but it proved to be too much for a third dodge and the big axe came down on the shoulder of his off hand and cleaved him, separating his shoulder and arm from his torso down more than eight inches. A mighty blow from Cinnin, indeed.
The three vampires clawed at Lanius and stabbed him with daggers. Another vampire on the balcony now fired an arrow which struck Lanius in the neck.
Knowing he was severely wounded, Lanius spun, dazed, and finally flung the vampire off of his right arm. Before Cinnin could gather the large axe for another blow, Lanius had shaken off the other vampires and was clutching his shoulder which was gushing blood. Just in time he saw Cinnin thrust again with the axe and, strafing to the left he struck with his right and took Cinnin's right hand clean off of the arm. Cinnin dropped his axe and screamed in pain and disbelief. He picked up the hand and dumbly tried to push it against the stump. The three vampires which had been cast away now attacked again and Lanius dispatched them in order in short time, slicing their heads off with his good arm. Another arrow then pierced his cleaved shoulder sending new waves of pain. He began to feel dizzy and he stumbled toward the door. Looking back he saw Diana, holding her ground against Oberon and another vampire as they took turns attacking her. Oberon was bleeding from his face and the other vampire appeared to have a torso wound as his side was crimson with blood.
Lanius then felt yet a new bolt of pain as Cinnin drove a short sword through his back. And, now being close to Lanius whispered, "Your reign has come to an end my friend. Die like a warrior."
Lanius gathered his strength and threw Cinnin over his shoulder and fled, flying high into the air and swiftly west. He knew he would not remain conscious for long.
~ ~ ~
Stumbling in his safe haven broken, battered, cleaved and bleeding profusely he is disoriented.
His injuries too substantial to merit explanation. Several of them mortal wounds. His left shoulder cleaved through by an axe past his armpit, or what was an armpit. His right leg broken, folded over a few inches above the ankle and, the tibia protruding serving as a kickstand to hold him up when he misses with the swing of his foot and it rolls over. Three daggers had pierced his chest and abdomen and a sword thrust clean through his back. The arrow in his neck he had been able to break off so that it was but a small stick jutting out of his shirt collar. He had thought to pull it out but, all things considered, did it really matter?
The claw marks began on the left temple carving four bloody lines. One from the earlobe terminating below his bottom lip, two in the center with origins in the ear and ending on his left nostril and top lip, respectively. Leaving a piece of his nose and his top lip entirely separated from the rest of the flesh of his face and dangling, bouncing as he moved about. The fourth beginning by cleaving his eyebrow nearly in half and then puncturing the eye itself, whose jelly still dripped along his gouged cheek, and then pushing deep into the nose itself exposing the nasal passages slightly north of where they generally find access to the ambient environment.
Bite marks and other, less significant, claw marks covered his body like pox scars still bleeding. His clothes in such tatters and having nowhere on them not steeped in blood and he thought, ridiculously, "I didn't like this suit, anyway".
His vision fuzzy and his mind muddy he leans too far to the left and his shoulder, torn from his torso clips the wall. The new pain is somehow unnoticeable among the pain he is already enduring and simultaneously unbearably fresh. The force of his misstep, and the involuntary jerk caused by the pain send him careening in the opposite direction. In his pathetic attempts to right himself on his own two feet among the twists and is walking backward when his broken right leg struck the sofa table hard enough to be audible, and hard enough to send a new wave of pain through his body and he simply could not endure it any longer. The trail of blood he left was thick on the floor from the door he fell through, smeared across the wall where he had struck his shoulder in an arc oddly resembling a backward Nike Swoosh©™. Sprayed in gobs along the floor and to the new, intentionally aged to look antique, sofa table and appearing as a liquid red throw blanket over the back of the white real imitation leather sofa.
At intervals there were his own handprints, in his own blood and he thought hazily that at least they would get the fingerprints and know it was him.
As he hit the floor feeling his consciousness slip away he thought "just a few more steps ... "and then, the world was gone.
~ ~ ~
He awoke unaware of how much time had passed. He studied the living room of this apartment he kept as a secret getaway. This was a place he came to hide. Built underground originally as a bomb shelter, a relic from the 1950s, it was equipped with all the comforts of suburban living, with the added bonus of being completely hidden underground with nothing but a steel plate at ground level to access the stairwell inside. What was a place of study he always knew that it may one day serve as a refuge for such a predicament that he now found himself in.
Betrayed by those he trusted, as much as Lanius trusted anyone. Attacked by those that he considered old friends, as much as Lanius allowed anyone to be his friend. Weak, tired and severely wounded he began to rise to his feet. Many of his injuries had already begun to heal, offering him some measure of how much time had passed since he left the bloody trail down the stairs and through the halls of his refuge.
He discovered that his leg had not yet begun to heal with a wince and decided that getting to his feet would not yet be something he could manage. As he lie there waiting for the momentary spike in pain, and the dizziness, to subside he thought about the events leading up to this most unfortunate turn, he made note that only Diana, after all he had done to her, had been at his side when all others betrayed and tried to kill him.
He thought of Cinnin, a vampire he had counted on for millennia. He remembered Cinnin's booming laughter from countless occasions that they kept company and that smiling face gave way to the image of Cinnin when Lanius last saw him, hours ago. He saw the snarling hatred of murder in those eyes as Cinnin first swung his two handed axe and came down with it onto his shoulder nearly removing a quarter of his torso.
With this image in his mind he rolled over and rose to all fours with a painful push up. Crawling across the floor of the shelter now carpeted with his own thick, coagulated and dark crimson blood he made his way slowly to the kitchen, and to the refrigerator.
Rising to one foot and carefully positioning his other before using it to balance himself he opened the door of the refrigerator revealing the bags of blood he routinely restocked.
Limping across the kitchen with three bags he drank one down cold as he threw the other two into the microwave. Blood tastes awful when cold, like cheap cough syrup, but he needed it badly in order to heal.
Pushing the buttons on the timer of the microwave he felt a dizziness again and propped himself against the counter. Appearing too drunk to walk or stand straight he fought off another fainting spell now feeling the blood he had just consumed begin to work.
The timer beeped and Lanius drank with fervor. He straightened his ankle and pressed down so the bones, broken and jagged, would fit together and heal with as strong a bond as possible. As good as new, he thought, watching the bone edges grow together and then the flesh begin to heal around it. He downed the third bag of blood and felt some of his strength return and then cocked his head to watch while he lined up his shoulder to heal as his leg had.
Now feeling a little more like himself rather than a butchered carcass hanging in a meat truck, he put two more bags in the microwave and, once heated, brought them to the living room to drink as he rested on the sofa which was now partially covered in his own dried blood.
He reclined and closed his eyes with the empty bag of blood in his hand and felt sleeps' insistent call.
No time for sleep just yet he told himself forcing his eyes open with a degree of effort that surprised him. It was yet harder to force himself to rise but once he was on his feet he felt stronger and more aware. His wits began to return to him. Just as the blood had healed his wounds it now replenished his brain.
Running at about 25%, I'd say ... up from the 1% when I found my way here. I don't remember much of the journey. I cannot be sure I wasn't followed.
He headed into the bedroom suite of his hideaway and found a clean suit from the closet before having a shower. After cleaning up he heated the last bag of blood and drank before carefully venturing to the stairs. Were he followed the zealous ones would have followed him in to finish him in such a weakened state.
However, the smart ones would be wary of a trap being sprung once inside and would await at the entrance knowing he would still be weak when he emerged.
He scarcely escaped with his life and knew that an ambush at ground level would surely be his end. He also knew that without a fresh meal, he would not be able to regain his strength here. And Diana, his love, must be found. Whether she was dead or had managed to escape as he had, he simply must find her.