The Call of War: The Watchers Chronicles: Book One

by Patricia Halladay

  “No I didn’t, but I was unsure of how you were going to get all three pieces out of here. It was found by a dive crew looking for one of the many lost Spanish Gallons, rumored to be carrying gold when it sank. What they found was that sword in that stone sitting at the base of Poseidon’s statue on the sea floor. It was bought under the notion that it was King Arthur’s Excalibur, but we have since proven it’s not. That is why the exhibit is being taken down, and the other pieces returned to Dr. Soren Thaddeus’s private collection.” She tells us just as we get into the research labs weapons area. I notice a lot of old weapons from my many lives used by the soldiers, many of them are in rough shape.

  As I look around, I see my brace and sword sitting on a table next to a matted floor area. This must be where they test those they think are the reborn Atlantean Battle Warrior. I immediately notice something wrong, my blade is activated already, or that is not my sword at all. My weapons should look plain and unattractive. The sword literally becomes a stick with a ragged piece of metal hammered into it and my brace looks like a simple piece of leather before I put it on. These are not the true weapons and I want to know where my real weapons are.

  “Ah welcome! You must be Ianna Foster! So very nice to meet you, I am Dr. Travis Thaddeus, Expert in Ancient Greece, and the world’s foremost expert on the Atlantean Battle Warrior. Welcome!” An older man, shaped like Santa says.

  “Cut the bullshit Thaddeus, where are my weapons? Or do you really want The Wave of Poseidon?” I say glaring at the man who seems unfazed by my greeting.

  “Well I haven’t heard that as my first name since before my death. I guess Soren was right, you are Aretha.” Dr. Thaddeus says with a sneer. It doesn’t last long, because like Octavian, I put a knife to his throat.

  “You know what, I made a promise I have kept for almost three thousand years to your wife. But if you don’t bring my belongings to me this instant, even she will forgive me for cutting your throat. Especially since it was Theron who murdered her.” I say pressing the blade into his neck. His reaction must be to the last part of my statement because his eyes looking like they are going to pop out of his head.

  “Jackson can you please bring the Atlantean items over? Thank you” Dr. Thaddeus’s voice is shaky, and he appears to be hurting emotionally. One of the guys in a lab coat brings over a small tray, and on it are exactly what my weapons should look like. A stick with poorly hammered metal sticking out of it and a simple leather brace. Helix comes over to me and lifts the brace so I can put it on and grab my blade at the same time. I only need to touch one for both to activate. Once Helix has the leather wrapped he ties it in place and the blade almost jumps into my hand as he does. Stepping back, I remove the knife from Travis’s neck and simply point my blade instead.

  “Now where is The Wave of Poseidon?” He asks watching me.

  “Right here.” I walk over to Helix and unwrap the parcel Kane gave me. He is amazing and this replica looks exactly like the one currently still sitting in the stone down the hall.

  “Perfect, Jackson if you please. Take this for testing and bring me the results as soon as they come in.” the doctor says as he hands off the weapon. I watch carefully as Jackson turns to leave and catch his eyes for a brief moment. He winks at me and gives a quick smile before he walks out, what I am just noticing is his eyes are pink. He must be one of the King’s demons, and he knows this is not the actual sword.

  “Well that is the first part of our transaction, now for the rest. Hand over your brace and sword child.” Dr. Thaddeus says to me. “They are no use to you, especially without your memories and a god to bind them too you.” He says as another lab tech starts to walk over to me. I look at Helix and nod slightly for him to protect Ika. I can handle the vampire the good Doctor thought I wouldn’t notice.

  “Well that is going to be a little hard because I do have my memories Thaddeus. My friend Dede helped with that, and I do have a god waiting for me to bind them. Now the question is how do you want Theron to find your body? In pieces or just missing your head?” I ask watching the vampire coming in slowly, out of the corner of my eye I see Helix has moved into place and has Ika covered. I watch as his eyes dart to something else quickly, and just as I turn I hear a pop. Moving just the slightest the needle is shot into the vampires leg, and he doesn’t look happy. The medication is starting to slow him down, so I start to move, keeping an eye on the dart gun, the vampire and Thaddeus. I hear a click of a door and move so that the person coming in behind me is the one to take the next needle, which works because just as he comes up to grab me another pop goes off and Soren is now a pin cushion.

  “Fuck.” He swears as he stumbles to a chair off to the left, I am guessing it was meant for me if I decided not to give up my weapons. The serum is working fast because he is slurring his words and starting to slump over in the chair. I turn back to Thaddeus and the passed out vampire, he is white as a ghost and the vampire is snoring logs.

  “Well I guess that takes care of that. Please pay my respects to Hades, Lucifer, Satan or whoever you want to call him. I am sure he is waiting for you.” I say as I push my blade through Dr. Travis Thaddeus’s chest.

  “You won’t get away with this, you know that right?” He smiles as his shirt and suit become red with blood.

  “See, I was never here. All records of me being here never actually got saved in the system. Everything was hacked before we got here, to make it appear like I never was. We knew Theron was up to something, we still haven’t figured out what but you being taken out of the picture helps us. Goodbye Thaddeus, I hope you get your punishment for what you did in all the lives you have had.” I say, before pulling my blade, and then slicing through his neck decapitated him. I want to make sure he stays dead, and they can’t save him.

  “Holy shit! Umm Ok what now?” Ika says looking at the body.

  “Now, I go pull The Wave of Poseidon and take it with me to see Kane and Ares. You coming?” I say walking away from the doctors body and watching to make sure the other two won’t be getting up.

  “Hell yes lets go” Ika says almost running out the door. Helix and I are quick in following her back to the front doors. On our way I see the demon, he winks again and mouths “I got you covered!” before I make it back into the Arthurian Exhibit.

  “So either King Roglan was helping, or King Dagdred did.” I say walking back up to the stone. I brace one foot on the stone and climb so I am standing straight over it. I feel a humming coming from the sword when I grab the hilt and it intensifies when I pull straight up removing it from the couple millennia long encasement.

  “What do you mean, why would the demon Kings be helping?” Ika ask as I step back down, and the sword shrinks for better concealment. “How the hell did it just do that?” She looks between me and the sword several times.

  “We’ll explain once we get back to C.B. For now let’s go.” Helix says, I slide both my blade and the other into each of my leather biker boots. We start to walk out, leaving just as we came, unnoticed. Even the guy at the desk is not watching us leave. The subway station is in full swing as people are coming and going. I keep looking around to see if I notice anything unusual, and that is when I see the Watcher from the hotel. He gets on the train in at the same time we do, but he stands near one of the doors. As we head back and hit the first of three stops between the museum and the hotel, four demons get on along with two elder vampires. The vampire definitely make Helix straighten up and puts Ika on edge.

  “I do hope your trip to the museum was enlightening young battle warrior, although your awakened memories are already in play. You haven’t started to lose the look of life in your eyes yet.” The Elder female vampire says.

  “The weight of the lives that I have taken, always takes a toll on the body, but I suppose you forgot that Meena, the day Vlad made you his bride. You were no more innocent than I have ever been.” I respond with an uncaring look her way. Ika curses under her breath realizing just who it is sitting a
cross from us.

  “But that weight should be no more, now that the Atlantean Battle Warrior has saved countless lives and hopefully ended the war before it began. And why do you think I chose Meena for my bride dear child, after all I wasn’t allowed to have you.” The other vampire says and that’s when the glamour comes off.

  “Hello Vlad, fancy seeing you here. You wouldn’t be on your way to the council to discuss the marriage proposal my Uncle put on the table for your nephew now would you?” I say smiling at the Prince of Darkness. The four demons have come to stand beside Helix, Ika and I. Keeping themselves at an advantage point but also keeping far enough away.

  “You’re a smart one aren’t you? Yes actually we are, but it’s a proposal that we have declined at my nephew’s request. He wants this to be something that both of you will enjoy, and with recent actions of your Coven Leader and your Uncle. He feels now is not the time, although he cares very deeply for you. Seems you have brought life back into his dead heart. I also have to take care of Francesca; she has gotten herself into a lot of trouble.” Vlad says kissing the back of Meena’s hand. In all the lives I have dealt with Dracula or any of the older vampires, this is a signal that death is on the horizon and that I would not want to miss the show.

  “Helix was the one who told me about it, but your nephew is going to be even more cautious now I guess. I don’t know too many guys who willingly take on my personality to have a romantic relationship with me.” I say looking at Meena. She smiles at me sweetly, giving me a calm feeling. It’s one I haven’t had since the first of my life with Hyda. The announcer comes on interrupting my thoughts and signaling our stop. We get off on the platform on the other side of the train, than when we got on. The four demons get off with us and walk back to the underground entrance to Chateau Bellevue.

  “We were asked to make sure you had a safe ride back from the museum. My brother notified me when you gave them The Wave of Poseidon fake. I trust you have the real one on you. Since I see you have your Atlantean Battle weapons. My brother also said, no one remembers you two even being there, or how Dr. Travis Thaddeus was killed by beheading without anyone noticing. Nicely done, that is one of the enemies taken out. I hope this time Elizabeth you find someone strong enough to take your place.” The demon with green eyes says.

  “Thank you Rabbit, I hope so too. Let’s hope the memory agent Kane pumped through the air vents doesn’t have severe side effects.” I say knowing that innocent people also had to breath that shit in too.

  “He had it targeted for the two rooms, and since you, your vampire, the guards and the two doctors were the only ones in those two rooms, everything will be fine. Hyda can now start to find some peace in the afterlife, the rest will come when Theron is dead.” Rabbit says, then grabs my neck and brings his forehead to mine. “May the Wolf Blood Witch protect you and guide you in your quest! Peace be with you sister or brought by your hand!” He says and give me a hug before he and the others leave for the surface entrance.

  “How did he know you as Elizabeth?” Helix asks as we start to climb the stair back into the Chateau lobby.

  “Well you know that show on Netflix called Cursed, the one I love about Nimue? Well not all of it is fiction. Some of it is based on fact, like the knight Percival was known as Squirrel to his friends and the fae. Rabbit is one of the fae. He is just a darker fae and not many at that time would associate with him or others like him. But I did, he always had my back when I got myself in over my head. Which helping Morgana, it happened a lot.” I say, then getting a playful shove from Ika as she shakes her head. When we get back up into the lobby, there are tons of people in suites and robs. Oh this is going to go so well, kind of like having a tooth ripped out without anesthetic. NOT!

  Ika grabs Helix’s hand, wrapping her other one around his arm and trying to hide herself. The Watcher Council is not going to be happy that I have her with me, but they can suck my big toe. As of the last word being uttered to bring back my memories again, my obligations to the Watchers ceased to exists. I see a tall woman with long silver hair and high cheek bones talking with Kane, Leader Maxum, my Uncle and Kya. My Uncle and coven leader look to be a little on edge. Like they want out of here quickly.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the little bitch in question. You’re in a lot of trouble, with this little stunt you pulled.” Franny sneers, to which some attention has been diverted to us.

  “You should be more worried about what Meena and Vlad are going to do to you, since I was just talking with them. Seems like your number is up and I would gladly be the one to run Arreon’s blade across your throat. Now that I have awoke my memories again, I am no longer part of the Watchers. So truthfully I can kill you any time I want.” I say stepping up into Franny’s face. She gasp while stepping back, it’s when she almost falls flat on her ass that she is quick to turn tail and run back to Leader Maxum for protection.

  “Aretha, the Council Members would like to speak to you in the Conference room now instead of tomorrow, it would seem something extremely important has come up. Oh and I looked over the recording from in front of your room. Nice work on the camera installation, you are going to love what we found.” Kane says loud enough that makes everyone freeze in the room.

  “Her name is not Aretha, it’s Ianna Foster. I should know I named her god damn it.” My Uncle yells at Kane.

  “No my name is Aretha, I am the Atlantean Battle Warrior, always have been and always will be until another worthy of the weapons is found. Aretha was my name in my first life, and five other lives have been awakened in the last two hours. So let’s go have this meeting shall we? Kane, Tara, and Tanner are just checking the perimeter again, we had an unexpected visit on the train ride to and from the museum.” I say to Kane. He puts his hand on my back to lead the way, and as if on instinct my side blade shoots out from my brace.

  “Damn it’s out for blood girl.” Kane says laughing when the blade shoots out again before retracting in.

  “The weapons know you’re a demi-god and can do the ritual to bind me to them, until another worthy warrior is found. That’s why it keeps trying to play with you.” I say snickering too when he looks at me for using the term play. We walk down the hall just beside the elevators pass the dining room. At the end of the hall is the conference room and I can hear a lot of chatter already happening in there. Three of the voices I can make out distinctly are Marcus, Matthias, and Vlad. Of course he would be here, but how he got here before me is a question I will ask later. The door opens to show Marcus and Vlad having a serious conversation, but it’s in German so none of us can understand. That is so cheating the dirty buggers. While Matthias is telling Meena of everything that has happened since this morning. I know Vlad is the Prince of Darkness, but it’s Meena that scares the shit out of me, she can make you feel safe all the while killing you slowly.

  “Good, I am glad everyone was able to make it, your short legs took longer to get here Ianna. Or would you prefer we call you Aretha?” Vlad asks as Marcus looks to me.

  “Either is fine my Lord, and yes my legs are shorter than yours, I also don’t possess the great agility that a vampire does.” I say bowing slightly, causing Meena to giggle.

  “Alright then, everyone else get your asses into a seat or you will find out why I was given the title of Vlad the Impaler!” Vlad snaps and everyone scurries to find a seat. “First things first, Ianna you have an announcement that I believe will affect the Watcher Council and their dealings with you from this moment on. Please go ahead.” Vlad says taking a seat at the head of the table.

  “Thank you my Lord, as of 4:08 pm my obligation to the Watcher Council and Community became null and void. The Call of War has been heard and at that time the last of my past lives needed for the upcoming war was restored. I have gained my weapons and take my place as The Atlantean Battle Warrior. I will remain as such, until a worthy successor is found. The weapons will choose.” I say looking at each Council head. To say they are shocked is underm
ining the power that I have just stripped from them, in terms of my life and wellbeing.

  “How is that possible? Leader Maxum why were we not made aware of the child’s previous importance? It was your duty along with Stephan’s to inform us of this.” Council member Amber says. She is our Headmistress for Final Deviation. Basically we spend two years learning and training with her and 2 other Council members before we are given our positions. Yay, I don’t have to do this now! Happy dance with happy feet!!

  “We hadn’t put much thought into it, as she hasn’t expressed her interest in training or tactics Council member Amber. From all previous accounts, the warrior was head strong and showed interest at the age of 8 years old.” Uncle Stephan says trying to cover up the fact that he hasn’t been the one raising me.

  “Actually Council members, I have been training her since the age of 7. She expressed her interest and I made sure it was obtained. She would travel with me on Coven business and train with other factions, historical researchers, and weapons masters. Stephan wouldn’t know a damn thing about his niece because he is never involved in her life and hasn’t been since she was brought to us at the age of 3 months old. Isabelle and I have raised her, that was until Isabelle passed away three years ago from Cancer.” Helix says trying not to get upset about losing his human friend.

  “I would like to speak to you more about this Helix, obviously you were more of an influential role in the girl’s life then her own blood.” Rose Red Tear Coven Leader Natasha says, giving a supportive smile to Helix and me. “But first Helix, who is the gorgeous young woman you have with you?” She asks taking note of Ika.

  “Hello, I am Ika Nelson, I was research assistant to Dr. Travis Thaddeus in this life anyways. Many may know me by my more famous life though.” Ika say looking at the Council members, who are all glaring at her.

  “And that would be?” Leader Maxum asks.

  Chapter 7