Other scarlet eyes shone in the darkness beyond, more were arriving. Glowing rubies solidified into ceramic faces as they approached. Beautiful, exquisitely lethal, the sons and daughters of darkness had come to greet him.
He backed away, even his demented mind knew he couldn’t slay so many.
Then a chorus of other growls met him in the darkness behind, guttural, beastly. His brothers had arrived. His face split into a maniacal smile.
It was going to be a bloody night.
*
“I apologise for the lateness of the hour Brooke,” said Taretta. “But we just received word that what we thought was a low-risk mission has become high-risk, we must send someone out immediately.”
Brooke’s eyes finally broke contact with Arantay’s.
The Elfpire didn’t look angry at her appearance, but neither did he look happy.
“Please take a seat while I explain.” Taretta gestured for her to sit on the sofa. She sat down awkwardly, aware that Arantay was only inches away.
He wore a scarlet tunic and trousers, as was customary uniform for all Arch-Realmers, but on him the attire only brought out the brilliance of his eyes and emphasised the exquisiteness of his ivory form.
“I understand that you two have already trained with each other?” Taretta beamed, unknowingly making Brooke’s situation more awkward.
“Yes I trained her in weaponry not long after she first became a Venator.” Arantay answered without a hint of emotion in his voice.
“Ah perfect,” said Taretta. “Now, as I’m sure you understand Brooke, only the higher ranked Venators are eligible for missions. For your first mission at least, you must be accompanied by a distinguished Arch-Realmer to guide you. It’s good that you two already know each other, you’ll work well as a team.”
Brooke shot a glance Arantay’s way, but his eyes were focused on Taretta.
“My apologies if you think this too fast, Brooke. I know you haven’t been a Mid-Realmer long. But to be honest, I’ve been very impressed with your progress. You’ve proved yourself more than once in the face of danger.”
Brooke was taken back by the praise. But wait a mission already? Am I good enough?
Arantay remained silent.
“Now, this has recently turned into a higher-risk mission, so as a precaution your partner is one of our most able Arch-Realmers. For your first mission Arantay will be doing most of the work, this is mainly for you to learn and gain experience.”
Brooke nodded, some her nerves abating. That doesn’t sound so bad.
“And they’ll be no demons on this one,” Taretta said. “Well, there shouldn’t be, but they do have a habit of turning up.”
“So, what do we have to do?” Brooke asked tentatively.
“Fortunately, you’ll get the chance to return to Earth for this one. Instead of some alien dimension, where you could encounter Rueda knows what. Your mission will take place in London, England. Luckily for you, Arantay is our own inhuman expert, a veteran of countless missions dealing with the Moonlight Immortals.”
“Wait, what immortals?” She interrupted, fear creeping back into her tone.
“Oh, you’ll only encounter vampires and werewolves on this mission.” Taretta said. “Likely some shifter packs too.”
“Only,” Brooke repeated in a small voice.
“Your task is to locate and contain a rogue werewolf who has started to attack civilians. Reports suggest that he’s very large for a lycan, and possibly insane. Our contact has informed us of the current tense situation in the city. One half of London is ruled by the werewolf pack, whilst the other by a vampire coven. They are at peace, for now, but this rogue wolf threatens everything. The treaty between the wolves and the vampires only holds as long as no wolf kills a vampire, or vice versa. Whereas we Venators can only get involved if one of the Moonlight Races harms an innocent, such as this rogue has. You need to stop this rogue, not only to keep others from harm, but to stop all out war breaking out in London.”
Brooke struggled to process Taretta’s words. The fact that she’d be coming face to face with a werewolf was the thing she was most worried about at first, until she realised how bad it would be if London became a warzone. How many civilians could die if vampires and werewolves were battling in the streets?
“Unfortunately the werewolf pack is loathe to kill their own,” said Taretta. “Even we risk raising their ire if we slay the beast. With our magic we may be able to cure the rogue of his insanity. But if that’s impossible, you’ll have to dispose of him.”
Brooke swallowed hard.
“No need to look so frightened Brooke,” Taretta attempted to reassure her. “Like I said, Arantay will be dealing with the brunt of the mission. It will be him that will capture and deal with the lycan. But you must be weary of any other Moonlight Races getting involved too. The situation in London is like a ticking time bomb. It won’t take much to set it off. If the mission becomes difficult we will send in reinforcement Venators. And if it gets too dangerous entirely, we’ll pull you out.”
“Okay,” Brooke managed to nod, trying to push back her fears.
“That won’t be necessary, Mistress,” said Arantay, “I can handle it.”
“Glad to hear it. Now, our London contact is one Phosian Phantom. You are familiar with him Arantay?”
“The former Dark-Venator. Yes, we’ve met a few times,” Arantay confirmed.
“What! Can he be trusted?” Brooke broke in. “I mean, I thought Dark-Venators are evil.”
“Not by choice.” Taretta spoke with great sadness. “Yes, some Rakarn are incredibly cruel, and they revel in that. But others are either manipulated, or forced into doing terrible things by Velkarath and its Masters. Phosian, however, refused to be twisted under Velkarath’s demonic rules. Many Rakarn have tried to resist, but they are broken down and turned against their will in the end. Fortunately, Phosian is one of the few Dark-Venators to ever escape Velkarath. His viciousness, cunning and powerful control over magic enabled him to escape where countless others had failed. Regretfully, he doesn’t wish to join Veneseron. But Phosian does give us aid on occasion. This evening he alerted us to another attack made by the rogue. Will you know how to find him Arantay?”
The shade of a smile flirted with the Elfpire’s lips. “If Phosian hasn’t changed since the last time I saw him, I’ll know where to look.”
Brooke was confused by the statement, but didn’t want to ask Tay a direct question. He’d purposefully avoided looking her way the entire time.
Here,” Aqenna placed two files on the table. “These are your mission reports that contain any information you may need. Please look through them tonight.”
Brooke took her file, asking. “How long will we be on the mission?” She wasn’t looking forward to spending much time with Arantay himself. Or maybe she was, she couldn’t decide.
“Time works differently in each world,” said Taretta. “But our time and Earth’s are almost exact, as our realms are so close to one another. If all goes to plan, the job should only take a few days.”
Brooke still didn’t like the prospect of coming face to face with a demented werewolf, even if it was Arantay that would be doing most of the work.
“Thank you, Taretta,” Arantay stood up then, nodding curtly.
“What, are we going straight away?” Brooke asked, astonished.
“You set off tomorrow morning,” said Tarretta. “Arantay will guide you through our mission preparations. Is that okay?”
“Um…okay.” She shrugged, unable to think of an excuse, she couldn’t believe how fast all of this was happening.
“Arantay will explain the devices used in roaming the worlds I’m sure. I suggest you two meet in the training courtyard at dawn. Urkzal will have some weapons specific to the mission for you.”
Arantay nodded again before making for the exit. She watched him go, filled with a mixture of sadness and anger. He’d acted as if she wasn’t there at all.
&n
bsp; “You will be fine Brooke I assure you,” Taretta said kindly. “But please, if you don’t feel ready for a mission yet, just say. We don’t want to put any Venators out there who strongly feel they can’t do it yet.”
She was sorely tempted to take Taretta up on the offer. Not only did she have reservations on her ability to handle her first mission, but Arantay wasn’t the ideal partner to have either, considering their current relationship. No, don’t! She shouldn’t back down, from Tay, or her responsibility as a Venator. She was ready, she could this.
“No thanks. It’s okay,” she replied. “I look forward to it.”
Brooke couldn’t help but feel reassured as the healing Mistress smiled back at her.
*
Evan didn’t get out of training until late that evening. They’d been creating enchanted jewels in Alchemy and simply lost track of time. After that Jed and Emi went ahead to the rec room without him, as he’d been busting for the toilet.
He headed to the Oval afterwards. All of the Fortress’s rec rooms were different to each another, but the one nicknamed the Oval was Evan’s favourite.
It was named simply because the chamber was a giant oval shape. He thought the name sold it rather short, considering the room had a narrow moat encircling its walls. Two tiny waterfalls filtered out of holes in the walls either end, pleasantly gurgling water at all times. As winter slowly invaded Veneseron, the small moat often crystallised into ice in the mornings. The Oval had a miniature drawbridge over the moat for Evan to walk across as he entered.
Strangely, his friends were nowhere to be found. He did spot Nova, however. He hadn’t spoken to her since they’d met, when a ball had almost whacked him in the head. He'd seen her a few times since. Each time she'd been in the fields, playing one of the Venator sports.
She sat on a sofa with an Apprentice girl he didn’t recognise.
“Hey you… Evan, wasn’t it?”
He turned in surprise as Nova called after him.
“Hello again.” She smiled at him.
“Umm, hi,” he held up a hand clumsily. Damn, why am I so awkward.
“Oh, this is my goofy friend, Iris.” Nova nudged the girl beside her. “She’s my vice captain.”
“Oi, I am not goofy.” Iris nudged her back, grinning.
Evan noticed Iris’s mouth was rather too big for her, making her look quite goofy indeed.
“Vice-captain?” he asked.
“I'm captain of an Arengi team,” said Nova.
“Arengi?” Evan asked another question, feeling stupid.
“Yeah, Arena Battle, you know. It’s proper name is Arengi, the elvish word for anarchy.”
“Didn’t you know that?” Iris sniggered. “You must have arrived here yesterday.”
“Don’t be rude,” Nova scolded Iris, before turning back to him. “So, have you played before? We'll be needing new players soon."
“No, sorry. I’d like to though.”
“What! You’re an Apprentice and you haven't played yet? Arengi is only the best game in Venator history. Don't let anyone else tell you it's Twinsphere or Jewelball, they're dead wrong.”
Evan could clearly see the passion in Nova’s expression. He'd never met a girl so sports-mad.
“Well, if you think you’re tough enough, stop by the tryout’s next month.” Nova said. “We need new substitutes for the upcoming season. Be warned, I only accept the best and if you haven’t even played before… Yeah, on second thought, maybe you shouldn’t try out.” Nova grinned at him.
Evan sensed Nova was only messing with him, and yet he wanted to prove her wrong.
“No, I’ll go. There’s no harm in trying out, right.”
“Well, you may get seriously injured, or die with your lack of experience. Then again,” Nova studied him in approval. “You’re the dude who battled a Dread Lord, aren’t you? You could turn out to be a star player for us. Evan the Evader, the boy so fast not even demons can catch him.”
“Ha, I reckon I’d be better than you on my first go,” Evan chuckled. He felt very comfortable around her. The fact that Nova wasn’t scared of him like some other Venators, or angry and wanting him exiled from the Fortress was reassuring. At least she could joke about the situation and didn’t appear to be judging him just from what she heard before they’d met.
“Why did those demons want you anyway?” Iris asked.
He paused. Iris was studying him with great interest, like he was some curious artefact.
“Hey, you can’t ask him that?” said Nova.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Truth is, I have no idea. I think it was a mistake or just a random thing. I reckon the Dread Lord planned on eating me.”
He didn’t like telling the lie, but it was what Jed had started telling all the Venators who’d been constantly questioning him. Iris frowned, unconvinced. Fortunately Nova saved him from the conversation.
“Well, I’m glad you got back here safe and sound, Mashok,” she beamed. “I can’t imagine being eaten by demons is a nice way to go. Talking of going, we’ve got practice early tomorrow.” Nova turned to Iris. “I told the team to get plenty of sleep, so we should, too. We can’t let the Golden Dragons beat us again.”
“Golden Dragons?” He asked as Nova and Iris hopped off the sofa.
“A rival Arengi team,” said Nova. “We’re named the Raging Squids.”
“That’s…unique.” Evan chuckled.
“I think so too.” Nova smiled back, punching him playfully on the arm as she and Iris left the room. “See ya’ around, Mashok.” Nova called behind her as she went.
Evan waved awkwardly back, noticing Iris throw him another curious look.
As the two girls departed, they passed Jed, Emi and Elijah who’d just entered the rec room. They’d blatantly heard the tail-end of the conversation as Jed was looking between him and Nova excitedly.
“Ooh Evan, who was that?” Jed asked loudly. “You into sexy alien girls now? Hey I don’t blame you, she’s pretty fine.”
Jed danced out of the way as Evan threw a pillow at him.
“Oh Nova? Yeah she lives in my village,” Elijah said.
“Village?” Jed asked.
“Where I live, well, where my family live. It’s a village in the New Forest of England. It’s one of the supernatural settlements. You know, a whole village full of Venator, vampire or shifter families.”
“Hey, I was born around there,” said Evan. “Well, not in a supernatural settlement, but, you know.”
They sat down on the just vacated sofa, Emi picking up a magical sport magazine Iris and Nova had left behind.
“Where were you guys anyway? Evan said. “We were supposed to meet here after Alchemy.”
“We got distracted,” Jed said. “First Emi and I bumped into Elijah. Then these two statues started fighting. We had to stay and watch. Anyway, tell me about this Nova?”
“I don’t think so Jed,” Elijah intervened, “we’ve all got assignments to do before tomorrow. Remember, we can gossip tomorrow.”
“Okay…mum.” Jed groaned.
*
Brooke was surprised to find her friends still studying at this time. The four of them pored over their vellum notebooks as Brooke made her way toward them.
Jed complained loudly. “I can't believe old Getty wants us to write three pages of facts about Soluda aliens. Who cares what type of insects they eat?”
“You have it easy,” said Elijah. “Our Culinary Survival class have to fill up five pages on all the uses of Amilien seeds, there's like a hundred and fifty.”
"Have you written that digesting them can let you breathe in space yet?" Brooke asked, surprising them all with her appearance as she pulled up a chair.
"Yes," Elijah sighed. “Two seeds let you breathe underwater, four seeds enables you to breathe in space and eating twenty seeds turns you into a tree."
“Oh gosh, really?” Emillia gasped.
“So,” Evan looked up at her. “Where’ve you been?”
“Well actually,” Brooke paused. “I just found out I'm leaving for my first mission tomorrow.”
“No way!” Her friends chorused in unison.
For the next half hour she answered a barrage of questions, and received much advice, ranging from helpful to bizarre.
“If this wolf dude is about eat you, throw some raw meat to get him away,” Jed said seriously.
“Er, where am I going to get raw meat Jed? And how do you know that even works?”
“Just trust me,” said Jed, “and I dunno’ take some turkey slices with you and keep ‘em in your pockets at all times.”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Elijah. “Just please don’t get yourself killed, Brooke.”
“I’ll try not to,” she chuckled. “Well, I leave first thing tomorrow, so I guess this is goodbye, for now.”
Elijah moved forward to hug her tight. “Let Arantay do all the fighting, as long as you stay safe.”
“Shut up, Elijah,” she shoved him off playfully. “He’s just my guide, not my bodyguard.”
“You should hide behind him though,” said Emillia as she hugged her next. “You could turn into a werewolf if one of them bites you, although that might be pretty cool, actually.”
“She’s already hairy enough,” said Jed, giving her his own man-hug.
She felt herself becoming rather emotional. Stop it, you’ll see them again. But missions are dangerous, what if I die? No, don’t think like that.
Evan hugged her last, smiling warmly. “You’ll do great, I’m really happy for you.”
She hugged him back hard, feeling reassured that he believed in her. She was ready, she could do this.
Brooke’s mind was awhirl with excitement and fear as she headed to her room. In only a matter of hours, she'd be embarking upon her first mission as a Venator. She immediately set to looking through her mission report, trying to take it all in.
Afterwards, she climbed into bed, nervous, scared, but excited too. Tomorrow, everything would change.
*
Brooke jogged to catch up with Arantay’s smooth strides as they walked through the silent castle. It was early in the morning, even earlier than she expected. She’d woken up to a heavy banging on her door, only to find Arantay on the other side. She’d been mortified, dressed only in the oversized Realmer shirt she’d slept in, but he hadn’t even looked at her, just murmured, “It’s time.”
Moonlight War- Act I (The Realmers Book 2) Page 17
