Invisible Elder

by T S Paul

  Chapter 10

  Stari Ras. The name today still gives me shudders. To my then self, it was a hole in the side of a mountain. The town above wouldn’t appear for another two hundred years at least. Whether it was above or below, one fact remained the same, Stari Ras was a Vampire city. One of the largest of its kind anywhere in the world.

  “Why are you doing this? Who are you?” I kicked. I screamed. I fought the men dragging me with every fiber of my being while using every trick and tactic my father beat into me. Nothing worked. Their grips were unyielding, unbreakable, and completely rock solid.

  Down, ever down, we traveled. The entrance to Stari Ras, the true city of Stari Ras, was a spiral. Think of a lined brick ramp hundreds of feet into the earth. I swear I was dragged across every single one.

  “We have arrived,” one of the men said as we stopped descending and the floor leveled out.

  Swiveling my head around, I could see what can only be described as a glimmering blackness. There was a city inside the earth! The architecture rivaled that of Rome. I should know, my father had shown me many of the projects he worked on. There were columns everywhere. “Where are we?”

  “Your new home. Come along, slave.” I was grabbed again, and the dragging continued.

  “Stop! Wait, I can walk! Let me walk,” I cried out.

  One of the pale men snorted and gave his companion a nudge as they continued to drag me. I felt tears once again trickle down my cheeks. Why would they do this to me?

  The city was dark. I could sense movement here and there as I was dragged past what appeared to be a town square complete with fountain. If anyone spoke or tried to stop the men dragging me I didn’t see it happen. Across the square was a massive building cut into the rock. To my eyes, it was influenced heavily by Greek architecture. It was similar to some of Father’s drawings from the Arabian provinces. The city of Petra was cut into the rock like this. The work of Nabatean people, he had told me. The Roman Governor had asked his advice for repairing the aqueduct to the city. Stairs led from the ground to a dark doorway. My captors stopped at the foot of the stairs.

  “You can come willingly, or we will drag you.” The taller of the two stared down at me. A malicious smile on his face.

  “I can walk,” I replied.

  “Can you? Will you?”

  The shorter man appeared behind me as I stood. He kicked me just as I started to stand. A sharp pain in my right knee caused me to stumble and fall. He kicked me again, this time in my side, making me grab my ribs and roll over into a ball. The punishing blows continued. Both men pummeled and kicked me until I could barely breathe.

  “How about now? Can you walk now?” Both men circled me as I clutched myself tighter and tighter.

  One grabbed me by my hair and gave a sharp pull. I screamed as my body was twisted and choked as dust from the ground was sucked into my mouth.

  “”Get up! Stand now, or we will drag you up those stairs.” The leader’s voice was harsh and cruel sounding.

  I brought my knee up under me. Carefully I pulled myself up on one knee only to be pushed over by the other man.

  “Get up!” Both men yelled at me now.

  Closing my eyes, I said a prayer to the Gods of my father. I would not be weak. Remembering my promise to Father, I tried to not be the rabbit. My ribs chose that moment to remind me of their pain. I groaned as I raised one knee and then another. Staggering I stood up. Both arms clutched around me as injuries to my ribs and belly made me cry out in pain.

  “It can stand. Excellent. What sport.” The shorter man smiled and licked his lips.

  “Come along.” The taller leader pushed me forward toward the stairs.

  Stumbling, I fell across the first couple of flights. My hands caught my weight as I tried to brace myself. I could feel the smoothness of the rock. Smoothness brought on by the tread of thousands of feet.

  “Get up, or we will drag you up!” Hands grabbed me from behind, pushing my body forward.

  I pulled myself up and stumbled forward again. Bracing myself, I balanced when the push came again. This dance was repeated numerous times. Each impact with the stairs ripping and shredding the palms and fingers on my hands.

  By the time we reached the final steps, I was crawling on the ground like an animal. All the while, the two men laughed. Kicking me with their feet, they nudged me into the dark portal.

  Blackness. Unlike outside there wasn’t any light at all. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see the faint outline of the entrance behind me, but both men were standing in the middle of it.

  “What have you brought us?” The words were just a whisper, but they echoed in my mind.

  The men behind me spoke. “A new slave, Majesty. Payment for services rendered.”

  “We don’t normally deal in slaves. Explain yourself.” These words were out loud and close.

  Both men hit the floor and were on their knees. “Master Alukah, she is a payment from the Roman, Demetrius. He said you knew and gave approval!”

  “Never assume anything. Is he here to make payment?” The voice came from beside me. I craned my head looking around, but didn’t see anyone.

  “No. We… We let him go.”

  “Interesting. And yet you bring this to me. Who is the girl?” Master Alukah’s voice once again echoed in my head.

  I tried to answer. “My name is ....” Suddenly I was unable to speak a single word. All that came out was grunts.

  “Answer my question. Who is the girl?”

  One of the men completely prostrated himself before the mysterious Alukah. “We weren’t told, Majesty. Demetrius just told us she was payment for his debt and that the deal was already made. We didn’t know. We didn’t know!”

  “You didn’t know, and you didn’t care, did you? The rules are there for a reason.”

  “We didn’t know!”

  Hearing one of the men wail set my teeth on edge. Having one of them hurt pleased me after the beating they gave me, but I worried about myself and my fate.

  “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.”

  There was a murmuring not unlike some of the sounds from the Hippodrome that father took me to. It was the sounds that people in large numbers made. How many others were here in the darkness with us?

  “What is the verdict of the court?” The voice was but a whisper in my mind. I opened my mouth to speak, and still, nothing came out.

  “Death.” The word seemed to not just echo but reverberate through the very air. Death was all around me. It was inside of me and part of me.

  I could feel tendrils like wisps of hair drift over my body. Both men started screaming and writhing on the ground behind me. As I turned, I could see another shadow in the doorway. This one snakelike and covered in long hair. The men convulsed on the ground and then lay still. The snake swayed back and forth catching the eye as it moved over the men's bodies on the ground. Its head slipped forward, and loud crunching sounds could be heard. They were sickly and moist as the creature began to eat the men in the doorway.

  No stranger to death, still I felt sick to my stomach and turned away. Suddenly there were fingers on my head. They held my face level. Looking forward I saw nothingness until a man’s face slowly, ever so slowly came into view.

  “What shall we do with you now?” The face spoke as it gazed into my eyes.

  Concentrating I tried to speak. Almost willing my vocal cords to say a single word, “Who.”

  The face smiled at me, “Interesting.”

  I could hear the word inside my head. This person was the source of the whispers.

  “What is your name?” The voice asked.

  Suddenly my voice worked again. “Aeliana, daughter of Apollodorus of Damascus, Architect of the Emperor.”

  “So, daughter of the architect. What brings you to our domain?” the voice asked.

  Stuttering I answered, “My tutor Demetrius sold me to you.”

  “Yes. Demetrius. We have knowledge of him. He stole s
omething from us and then tried to make amends. He knows we don’t deal in slaves. Why are you here, daughter of the architect?”

  “He said… he said I would be safe here. The Emperor… The Emperor killed my father…” I just couldn’t speak.

  “Ah, the plot thickens. Which Emperor are you speaking of, child? Augustus?” the voice asked.

  Augustus? “He’s been dead for a century. No this is Hadrian. Demetrius said my father angered him.”

  “Hadrian. The name isn’t known to us. But the ways of humans are like that. We have been away from the politics of men for many years. Tell us daughter of the architect, what is happening in the world today?”

  Around the room, I heard faint whispers of “Tell us. What is happening?”

  Where was I? What is Stari Ras?

  Chapter 11

  “Ivan Drago aka Ivan Potts aka Ivan Terror aka Ivan Drano, are all the same guy!” Chuck motioned toward the big screen.

  “And the little guy we picked up in North Carolina. Do we know what happened in Washington?” Agatha responded.

  “I’m getting there. Chuck handed Ivan over to Agents Kosnowski and Squiggman just outside of Quantico. They had instructions to transport Ivan to the Portland, Maine office. He was then to be released into the custody of your Grandmother Marcella. She was going to take responsibility for him. But he never showed up in Briarwood,” Cat said

  “Is there a report from those two agents? And why are we just now hearing about this?”

  Bill stood. “I’ve got the next part, Agatha. According to my contact in the Portland office, those two showed up the next day without Ivan and drunk as skunks. All the records associated with his transfer were wiped from the system. It was their word against Chuck’s and since he doesn’t show up in the regular database as being an assigned Agent...”

  “They assumed they were lying.” Agatha shook her head, “Have they explained their actions yet?”

  “According to them, they received Ivan from Agent Winthrop. Then everything took a left turn. They remember driving onto the interstate and then nothing. You will love where they ended up,” Bill laughed.

  “I’m afraid to ask. Is it bad?” Agatha grimaced.

  Still chuckling, Bill replied. “No, just funny. They claim they woke up inside the beer storage facility at the Blotz bottling plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All the doors were locked from the inside, and the plant was abandoned.”

  “Why was a brewery abandoned? Beer is big in that part of the country,” Cat asked.

  “Not the brewery. The bottling plant. There was a strike, and the local bottlers union shut the place down for an entire week. According to the Agents, all they had to eat or drink for an entire week was beer. When plant operations opened the doors up again, they found them surrounded by empty bottles and cans. The plant is suing the Bureau for contamination and misuse of its product,” Bill replied.

  “Why contamination?” Chuck asked.

  “It was the storage facility, not the production line. No bathrooms,” Bill said.

  “Eewww. That’s nasty! Remind me to not drink that stuff anytime in the future.” Cat looked grossed out.

  Chuck laughed, “Like you even drink.”

  “Alright, you two stop it. Bill, contact Portland and pass along the fact that Ivan is a Russian mercenary and Magick user. I’m not calling him a Witch. His power levels are way too low. We dropped the ball here somewhere, guys. Did we tell them that he could possibly zap them? Chuck?” Agatha asked.

  Chuck looked up from his console. “I assumed it was written in the transfer order. My fault, Agatha.”

  Agatha sighed, “Just take care of it. Let me know if they need to hear it from me. Let’s try to keep them from being fired. Do we know for sure it was Anastasia that deleted the records?”

  “No. Not a bit. I can tell you it happened while she and I were on the road to Montana but not if it came from any of these terminals.” Chuck spread his arms to encompass all of the computers in the area.

  “OK. I’ll add it to my report, but note that we cannot prove it yet. Could Ivan have had outside help that didn’t include Ana?” Agatha asked.

  Chuck looked at Cat and Bill. “We have no idea. Ivan claimed to us that he was cut off from his contacts in Russia, but we only have his word for it. Is there any way we can check?”

  Agatha pulled back from her computer and stared off into space. She had no real connection with Zhanna in Russia. No official connection that is. Fergus received a package from Dascha not too long ago, but it didn’t have a return address on it and the merc that delivered it was long gone. It might be possible to send a message through the Badger Hole Bar to her, but with the time lag in there she might not get it for days or months.

  “Agatha?” Chuck called.

  “Boss?” Chuck tried again.

  Cat shook Agatha’s arm. “Aggy, are you OK?”

  Agatha widened her eyes and stared up at her friend. “Sorry. I was totally lost in space there. I was trying to figure out how to find out if Ivan was in touch with Russia. The FBI has some contacts over there both official and nonofficial.” She held up her hands. “Don’t ask how I know any of this.”

  “OK. Whatever you say.” Cat gave her a strange look.

  Internally, Agatha cringed. She was going to have to have that conversation with her friends about her summer vacation. And soon. There was too much stuff leaking out. Agatha's new Magick and new skills were really hard to hide from her friends.

  <<<>>>

  “Has the Vampire been found yet?” Lord Clearchus asked.

  Marcella Blackmore, the leader of the Council, looked down the length of the table. For once they had an almost full session of delegates. Even the Unicorn elder, the newest member, was in attendance. His horn gleamed in the low light of the council chambers. He stood between Peter Oldrock and Lord Fionnbar, the Fae representative.

  “Not yet. The FBI has promised to find and detain her, but she’s in the wind,” Marcella replied.

  “That is not acceptable! We need to marshal our own people and find her,” The Vampire lord demanded.

  Marcella glanced at Consul Robert Moore and inclined her head. This was his question to field.

  “My Lord Clearchus, if I may?”

  All heads at the table looked in Moore’s direction.

  “Do you intend to announce our presence to the world at large? Marshaling our own people might trigger that event. The world is not as it was and humans are not cowed easily. Allow the Magical Division to track her down. We have our own people on it as well,” Robert pointed out.

  “She is a Vampire. We have put out a calling. The very blood in her veins should be crying out for her to connect with her people this very instant. We do not understand why she has lasted so long among nothing but humans.” The Vampire lord almost spat the word 'human.'

  “Is it possible she is shielding herself somehow from your influence?” Robert asked.

  The Vampire lord looked down at the table for a moment. “It’s possible. She could have been given direct orders to ignore any call, but there is only one other elder with that much power, and he is the one that sent me here.”

  “Could it be a range issue?” Rune, the Vampire Consul, asked.

  “No. You should know better than that. If my own master still lived, I would be able to feel his presence no matter the distance. This is something else.” He looked at Marcella. “Have we ascertained how she avoided detection for so long?”

  Marcella looked at her notes for a moment. “She has been inside the human FBI for more than seventy years. According to her file, she was forcibly recruited during the Demon War. Agents discovered her in a sweep of a refugee camp in California. J Edgar Hoover himself recruited her for the Bureau. She was his aide for many years before taking over the forensic division.”

  “Forcibly recruited. What does that mean?” Lord Bowie asked.

  Robert Moore answered. “Exactly what it sounds like. They coerced her
to either join or be deported. She was without papers of any kind and was in the country illegally. The human authorities took advantage of the situation, plain and simple.”

  “But why? I remember that time. For the Were, it was chaotic. Demons everywhere and the humans running about. For us, it was a way to gain some legitimacy and escape the camps. Fighting Demons had a certain appeal to us. There were places a paranormal could go, though. Canada was accepting of everyone then,” Lord Bowie muttered.

  “Canada? You forget yourself, Bowie!” Lord Beorn, the other Were councilman, shouted.

  “Lord Beorn. You will calm yourself and act accordingly, or my guards will have you removed from this body,” Marcella snapped.

  The large man inclined his head and made a calming motion with his hands. “What I meant to say was that Canada had ulterior motives for accepting Weres at that time. Fleeing there meant mandatory service in their military. It is only now that MY people are breaking free of that servitude. I doubt a Vampire would have been as welcome.”

  “My own people can attest to Lord Beorn’s statement.” Lady Derketo, the Mer representative, spoke up.

  “Our pods have oft been restricted by the Canadian Navy, directing us from waters that have been ours forever. My people have been pressured to join their submarine service more than once.”

  “It was our impression from the human media that Canada was a refuge state. Do they not allow certain groups asylum?” Lord Roven asked.

  The Mer representative looked across the table towards the Gargoyle and nodded. “They do. For humans. Our kind is treated differently. The rules change. We give them an advantage, an edge over other human militaries.”

  Marcella leaned back in her chair and listened to the argument. Better to have them debating one human country’s merits than wondering about her granddaughter's search for a runaway team member. This job was hard sometimes. She motioned to Robert Moore.

  “Yes, Majesty?” Robert asked almost whispering.