Simon heard gunfire rattle out of the cave and looked up, distracted and worried about his men. The Maiden squeezed his hand gently and laid her head on his shoulder. “The Order will be fine darling, have faith in all you have taught them. To answer your question, no I’m no longer seeking any revenge. It’s hard to avenge the death of a loved one when you are clearly not dead.” Simon breathed a deep sigh and tried to relax. “I’m sure you are right, and we do have quite a lot of catching up to do.” Simon and The maiden sat and talked, catching up and making tentative plans for the future. After all, he had just officiated the first and only wedding in the history of The Order. Perhaps they could be together as well? Sure there would be a lot of complications, but they had both lived a very long time and knew how to navigate whatever life may throw at them.
Prolog
A few months later. Lakeland Fl
Mouse:
We are settling into our new home here. I think we are still in Lakeland, we only drove about 20 minutes to get to our new home. There’s more space here and Angiola has an office now. She painted it last week and is busy setting up her computer equipment. Tobias surprised me and returned with a new kitten! Her name is Meatwad, she’s blind but she's still super sweet. She isn’t like me, just a normal kitten but I’ve been a cat for several lifetimes so I’m doing what I can to show her the ropes. I think watching over her will be a good way for me to honor my ancestors memory. We were always taught to look out for nature and help anything in need.
Tobias
We were still getting settled into the new house, but for now this was home. We found a nice 4 bedroom house on the northside of Lakeland with a pool. I would still need to move the range over here but I would get to that before the old house sells. There’s a really nice out building with power and I’ve gotten most of my machine shop and reloading equipment set up in there. Inside, the home was a split plan with 4 bedrooms. There was a master bedroom sharing a bathroom with a smaller room likely designed as a nursery. The other 2 bedrooms were on the opposite side of the home. We had one set up as a transit room like in my old house. We also set it up as a museum or trophy room. I had pamphlets and photos from all the Manus Patris members I worked with over the years, as well as skulls, bits, and random relics that weren’t too dangerous to have laying around. After doing this for as long as I have, it’s nice to be able to put some of this stuff up and display some of it. Plus Angiola loved seeing all the crazy bits I’ve collected over the years. She proudly added the Vampiric flamingo skill and spine to the lot. I figured as much as things had changed with our traveling lately, a few random bits wouldn’t affect anything. Besides, with the lights out, we wouldn’t see any of it anyway. It was amazing, being married really changed things for me. My outlook on the job and my internal struggle of staying on with The Order and continuing the fight, or retiring so I could be happy in a relationship was over. It seems like now I can have both by some absolute miracle. Angiola was still settling in but she had set up in what would have been the nursery as her computer room, and was quickly setting up a local surveillance network. The bedroom opposite the transit room was her new art studio. With all the extra room in this new house, we set up the front living room as the theater room with my moving picture obsession. We still had a nice living room with a fireplace off the kitchen. Speaking of the kitchen, the new one is as big as my old living room. No more galley kitchen for me! I can’t wait to start cooking in there. Meatwad, the kitten Angiola rescued at the compound, is settling in nicely and Mouse has been her shadow lately, guiding her around the home. They now both sleep in a pile at the foot of the bed between Angiola and I. “Almost done setting up the network my love, What would you like to do for dinner?” Angiola came into the living room where I was sitting down taking a break from unpacking. “Well, the fridge is still pretty bare. Between the last mission and the move, and unpacking I still need to get to Publix. Do you mind if we just order a pizza tonight? I'll make sure to go grocery shopping tomorrow.” Angiola smiled broadly at me before nodding. “Piazza's fine tonight, but you're not getting out of cooking forever. That steak and asparagus you made us makes me think you're not the horrible cook you claim to be.”
About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang. I stood up and set Meatwad back on the couch, as she was sitting in my lap but didn't hop down like Mouse did when the doorbell rang. “Dinners here sweetheart.” I called to Angiola as I walked to the door. Checking the peep hole, I was NOT expecting to see an absolute knockout of a beauty on my door step. “Hey love, can you come here a sec?” I called to Angiola, something in my tone must have let her know this wasn’t the pizza. She rounded the corner with a Remington 870 and pumped a round of silver and Iron buckshot into the chamber. “Hello Lilith, How on earth did you find us?” I said once I opened the door. Lilith walked inside, pausing to look down the street before closing and locking the door. I noticed there wasn't a vehicle in the driveway or cul de sac. Then I noticed the goddess of lust was wearing a slightly bedraggled, although gorgeous party dress and high heels. “I'm sorry, I wasn't sure where you would be. Is this your new home, when did you move?” Lilith asked before coming in and sitting down on the loveseat in the theater just off the entrance. “We just moved in, still unpacking and getting settled in. Not that we don't like company, but like Tobias said, How did you find us?” Angiola answered, a bit of frustration clear in her voice. I couldn't blame her really, having an Enchantress as an Ex is bad enough… Having that Enchantress drop by randomly over and over again, right after your wedding, not good. “I guess like last time when I showed up in the bathtub at the… In Rome. I needed to talk with Tobias and my magic just brought me here.” I pulled 2 chairs from our dining room table and sat down across from the couch, Angiola sat in my lap and pushed the other chair back, making her claim clear as Lillith talked. “Sooo, I was at a party somewhere in the U.S.S.R. and I had been bouncing around that area for a bit now. The party was held by these crazy rich Vampire clan, they claim to have a bloodline going back to Vlad the Impaler but anyways. Crazy rich Vamps, party, then they start to talk about this massive contest of champions for this year and how it will be such a great show or whatever. Long story short they pin a bunch of fighters, human, vamp, necro, were, whatever against each other and the winner gets a few million in gold and a prize. Everyone shows up, gambles and bets on the contestants. Then one of the younger vamps who was telling me all this was bragging about the grand prize trying to impress me. He said this year's prize is The Spear Of Destiny! I didn't believe him at all, then he showed me the room it's being held in, behind guards and under glass but I could feel the power coming off of it when he opened the door. It was like being at The Order compound in Rome but way stronger. I figured you wouldn't want that out in the open so I excused myself, went into the restroom and stepped into your new driveway.” My jaw hung open and so did Angiolas, The Spear Of Destiny… That couldn't be. We had it in Rome, I knew that for a FACT because Simon and I retrieved it from the Nazi’s during the second world war. “Excuse me a moment will you, I need to make a call.” I said as I moved Angiola out of my lap before standing up to call Simon. I needed to get this straightened out...
As the phone rang to call Simon, I walked into the kitchen. The phone rang once before Simon answered, sleep heavy in his voice. “Tobias, Is everything alright? I was just getting to sleep.” Simon had been… Slightly different after that last mission, understandably so in my opinion, but worth noting. I wasn't sure how bad this news would hit him. “Lillith is here, at our new home. She brought news that some ridiculously powerful Vampire bloodline in Russia is offering The Spear Of Destiny as a grand prize for some competition they are having. She said it genuinely felt like the real thing when she got into the same room…” I trailed off. I could hear Simon running down the halls of The Order’s compound. “Tobias, there's no way that's possible, I'm checking now.” There was a long pause on the line and I could hear him typing on an electronic keypad to access the vault. There was a loud ca-chunk from the bolts being retracted then I could hear Simon taking in a deep breath before muttering a prayer in Latin. “Tobias, I'm sorry. I know you are just getting settled into your new home but we need you back in Rome. All of you, as soon as possible.” The line went dead and I pocketed my phone. Flashbacks to the last time The Spear of Destiny was out in the world flew through my mind. Simon and I had retrieved it then as well. But the cost, and what it took to get it back then… a shutter went down my spine and I knew Lillith was telling the truth.
The End, for now.