by Susan Stumpf
Finding an Antecedent was not an easy task. It had taken me three months. I'd become a seed hunter hunter. I went to all the antique auctions in the area looking for seed hunters. I never saw the one that had come to my house, and I was glad but it made them hard to find. I spotted a suspicious looking set of men a couple times but lost them when I tried to follow them after the auctions. One evening I was sitting in my car after an auction and I actually saw two men grab a guy and shove him in their trunk.
"Bingo!" I said aloud and started my car. I followed them for hours. I almost lost them once we got into the heavy traffic of Charlotte. Had it been rush hour, I would have lost them for sure. Once off the interstate, I backed off a bit hoping they wouldn't notice me. It was after midnight and there weren't many cars on the side streets.
We drove on the side roads for awhile until the car pulled up to a large house with a gate at the bottom of a long driveway. I hung back and just watched. The car sat there for a moment then the gate opened then shut quickly after they went through. Well, this was it. I guess I was just going to drive over there and see what happens. I didn't drive all this way for nothing. I took a deep breath then drove up to the gate. There was a metal box on a pole about window level, and it had a button and a speaker. I rolled my window down and pressed the button, it made a buzzing sound. A voice came back a moment later.
"Yeah what do you want?" a man sounding bored asked.
"Um, I'm here to see your boss." I wasn't sure what to say really.
"Do you have an appointment?" the voice asked.
"No, but?"
"Then buzz off," he interrupted.
It was going to take more than that to stop me. I pressed the button again.
"I thought I told you to buzz off," the voice said.
"Look, I know an Antecedent lives here, I want to see him."
"I don't know what you're talking about now go away."
I pressed the button five more times.
"What the hell is your problem, lady?"
"I know you know what I'm talking about. I just followed two seed hunters here who had stuffed an unchanged seed in their trunk. I know he was brought here to be forced to become an Antecedent, and I know that you're probably an Ectype just doing your job. All I want to do is talk to your boss for one minute, please."
There was silence for a minute, and I thought the guy was just going to ignore me. Just when I was about to press the button again he said, "Alright, come on in." A buzzer sounded and the gate opened. Ok, that wasn't so hard.
I drove up the driveway that made a large circle in front of the house. The house was pretty big like the ones you'd see in Beverly Hills. I couldn't make out many details of it because there were no outside lights at all. The only light was coming from a sliver of a moon and my own headlights. The car I followed here was sitting in front of the house with the trunk open, but no one was around. I was almost afraid to shut my car off and step out into the darkness. Well, here goes nothing, I told myself.
I got out of the car and walked up to the door. I knocked and waited just a moment for it to open. Light spilled out as the door opened, and I wasn't sure what to expect. A very handsome man opened the door. He could have been a Stetson model with his square jaw and perfectly combed back hair. He was wearing dark jeans, cowboy boots, and a dark blue sports coat. Well helloooo, Mr. Doorman.
"Alright, little Miss persistent," another man said as I stepped inside. "What can we do for you this evening?"
I looked to my left and the man speaking was sitting in an office chair. He had thinning light brown hair cut close and facial hair that reminded me of a movie villain. He was seated at a long curved desk. It was a security station. I could see a couple dozen monitors showing different scenes, inside and outside.
"I um, I'd like to speak with your boss for a moment if I could please," I asked timidly.
I was known for being an intrepid girl but being in this house-one that was probably filled to the brim with vampires- I didn't feel brave at all. At any given moment any one of them could kill me in an instant for no reason at all. The movie villain motioned his head sideways and a third guy I hadn't seen walked off quickly.
"Wait here please," dreamy door hunk told me. I stood there looking around. This place was impressive. The floors were an ivory color with black diamonds shapes and small squares that looked like mother of pearl, very high ceilings; there was a gigantic crystal chandelier. In front of us was an ornate staircase that split in two different directions at the top, it reminded me of the staircase in Gone with the Wind, red carpet and all. There was a black statue of a woman who looked like a Greek goddess, and she was holding a glowing ball in her hands. That had to be the coolest lamp I'd ever seen. We needed to get a couple of those in the antique shop. Oh wow, I was starting to sound like Bo. I think antiques were starting to grow on me.
The scrawny little guy came back and motioned for me to follow him, "Well, it's your lucky night," movie villain guy said.
I followed the little guy down a hallway to the right. We walked past the longest painting I'd ever seen. It was probably twelve feet long. It was men on horseback, like a Revolutionary war scene. We continued down the hallway passed tons of hideous pictures in gaudy gold frames, then finally we stopped at a door. The little guy walked through, held it open for me, then left shutting it behind him. I suddenly felt a chill of impending doom. I walked into what I guessed was a game room. The walls were blood red and looked fuzzy, it was an eyesore. There were two large pool tables with gold yarn sacks for pockets and a card table where half a dozen men were sitting playing poker.
I walked over and stood there for a minute and no one spoke to me or even looked at me, so I cleared my throat. One older looking man held his finger up to me then threw a stack of chips in the middle of the table. The rest of the men followed in placing their bets and then revealed their cards. The rest of the men groaned while one raked all the chips in the pot to himself and started stacking them in front of him.
"So," the older man spoke, "I hear you know all about vampires, little one. What is it exactly that you want?"
He had a bit of an accent but I couldn't place it. I guessed that this man was the Antecedent. He was much older than I thought he'd be. Wu said most Ants were turned between the ages of twenty and thirty. This guy had to be around fifty. He had black hair that was slicked back and gray around his temples. His eyes were red, not his pupils like in the movies, but bloodshot. He looked old and tired. He was wearing a red shirt that I could only describe as an ugly woman's blouse.
"I'd like to speak with you for just a moment in private if I could please," I replied.
"The only way we will have a word in private is if you plan on making that private time worth my while." He looked up from his newly dealt cards to look me up and down.
No way, Dracula, I thought to myself. "I just wanted to ask you something."
He sighed, disinterested like he was bored with our conversation already.
"Let me guess, little one, you want me to turn you. Your little heart has been broken, and you don't want to be mortal any longer. Am I correct?"
Ok, so I guess he's heard this all before.
"So will you or won't you?" I got right to the point.
"What's in it for me?" he asked. "Shall we go have that private time?"
"Ew! No!" I said, not caring if I offended him.
"Franco," he said and motioned with two fingers and a man who had been standing in the corner walked over.
"Kill her. Take her upstairs for someone to eat," he said flatly.
"Wait NO!" I protested.
The Antecedent motioned for Franco to take me away and the guy grabbed my arm. I pulled and jerked and fought to get away, but this guy was a vamp and way too strong for me to escape his grasp.
Franco pulled me along out the door. I fought him the whole way. If they were going to kill me, it wasn't going to be an easy task. He dragged me flailing down the hallway. He had a grip on th
e sleeve of my sweater and I was able to pull my arm through it, stripping it from my body. I tried to run but only made it two steps before he grabbed me again. He dragged me up a set of stairs. I fought so hard we both stumbled on the stairs. We passed another man who spoke.
"Hey you need a hand, Franco?" the man laughed.
"Sure, this one's a pistol," he answered.
"Where we taking her?"
"Arlo said to take her upstairs, feed her to one of the guys."
"No, nooo!" I protested as I squirmed even harder. They paid no attention to me at all, just kept talking about me like I wasn't even there.
"Seems a shame," the new guy said. "She's kind of hot. I wonder if she's this fiery in the bedroom."
With that, I kicked him in the leg as hard as I could, but he just laughed and they continued to drag me down another hallway. Now I wished I hadn't backed out of my sweater. They pulled me along in nothing but my bra and capri tights. I'd lost my slippers on the stairs.
We came to a door and Franco knocked a couple times then opened it. It was a large fancy bedroom, but I didn't see anyone inside.
"Hey buddy, we brought you a snack," the other guy said.
They pushed me into the room, I felt something hit the back of my head and everything went black?
Em's new life and new family have been turned upside down. After stumbling upon the people responsible, Em must escape their grasp, as dangerous at that will be. She needs to travel halfway across the world to seek counsel with the oldest vampire in existence, who unearths some long hidden and heavily protected secrets. With this new found knowledge, Em hatches a plan to put things back in order, but it will come at great cost, and she doesn't know if she can do it in time. How far will Em go to save her family and get the answers she needs?
The thrilling sequel to Antecedent?Antecedent: Reborn.
Susan Stumpf is multi-genre, independent author who brings a realistic?gravity to her stories. Her characters are relatable and wonderfully flawed, like herself.?She is?an Air Force veteran and West Virginia native. Her writing is fueled by copious amounts of coffee and an over active imagination?that has?prevented her from ever watching scary movies alone.?In between novels, you'll find?her?working with her?husband and two children?on their farm in southern West Virginia. When?she's not chasing kids or shoveling manure, she enjoys?movies, reading, hiking, camping, and kayaking.
Look for her author page on Facebook.
