by Rashaad Bell
He was in a kneeling position and underneath him the earth grew red hot, a bubbling froth of lava gurgling underneath him and as it developed and grew, Connor was lifted from the ground, straddling this molten lava mass between his legs. The magma began to take form, expanding in size, limbs and a head beginning to form just as horns began growing from that. In a matter of seconds, it was huge, muscled, lava mass in the form of a Bull, with Connor riding on its back.
This thing, this vehement Bull that was constructed from rampant lava roared and huffed, spurts of magma squirting out of its nostrils. It began stomping its foot, prepared to stampede at a moment’s notice as Connor rode on top of it, his hands gripping its mane, which was composed of raw flame.
“Prometheus.” Colonel Hawking stood in admiration. “It appears you’ve gotten quite a grip on those abilities of yours since we last met.”
“I’d have to thank the Marauders for that.” Connor gestured the Bull forward and as it marched, the molten creature left flaming footprints in the sand. “They endeavored to sedate me, give me something to prohibit me from engineering fire, but instead, all it did was make me stronger as I tried to burn through the drug.”
“You mean back in San Francisco?” Colonel Hawking backed up somewhat. “They experimented on you and then by hook or by crook, persuaded you that the outcome was all your doing? Nice.”
“What are you doing in Palm Coast, Colonel?” Connor demanded.
“You do realize that the Translucent Man and his merry band of Marauders are behind all the unlawful, Transhuman, gene experimentation in California and you just so happen to get a power level intensification and that doesn’t ring any bells to you?” Hawking seemed doubtful that Connor hadn’t put that together. He glanced at me. “Not unless you’ve got another angle you’re playing at here.”
The Colonel just smiled. “Same old Prometheus. Plots behind plots, schemes behind schemes, suspect loyalties in play and a nice, pretty, young thing smack dab in the middle.”
“What do you want Steven?” Connor was advancing again.
“You fucked up in California, son.” The Colonel stood his ground. “You attracted too much attention, left to many eyewitnesses. I mean, you blew up a fucking residential neighborhood. A Supreme Court Justice lived six doors down for Christ’s sake. Not to mention that little fiasco on the freeway. Come on man, what did you think was going to happen? Did you really think that there wasn’t going to be any governmental blow back on this one?”
“Get out of my city.” Connor demanded.
I felt a tingling in my toes, I was beginning to regain sensation again which means my shattered back was mending, the Vampiric healing sluggishly beginning to take effect. I attempted to move and a searing pain raced through my body. I wanted to scream, but I stifled off any sound, not wanting to divulge precisely how bad off I was to the Colonel.
“You forced the Presidents hand, Prometheus.” Steven Hawking never looked at one of us to long, shifting his gaze from Connor, then myself, then back to Connor. He was attempting to size up the situation, figuring out a game plan, determining if he and his squad could take us. “He’s going on TV later tonight. I’m not sure what it’s going to be about, or what he’s going to say, but it can’t be good.”
“The President?” Connor seemed apathetic. “You tell the old man that he couldn’t kill me twenty years ago and he won’t be able to now.”
“If memory serves, the only reason he didn’t kill you twenty years ago was because I stopped him.” Hawking fired back.
The ground began to tremble somewhat and six hot spots began to appear, scattered out in the sand, little crimson circles spreading, getting bigger and hotter, the sand solidifying to glass over top of them. Suddenly the glass exploded outward on all six and a bubbling lava pit was reveled underneath, the magma effervescing up, taking shape, its mass twisting and turning, elongating, taking on the form of a rhinoceros, flame and lava spurting this way and that as they all began to dig their hooves into the ground.
“Get out of my city.” Connor demanded.
“You caught me at a disadvantage.” Hawking raised his hands up, backing away. “I hate being at a disadvantage.” He turned around and retreated back up towards the thoroughfare, his legionnaires slowly following after him, their weapons still trained on us.
Just before Hawking disappeared from view, he turned around again and called out. “Oh yeah and about your colleague over there.” He pointed towards me. “She’s now officially on my radar.” With his left hand, he made a circle with his index finger and thumb, the rest of his fingers standing straight up. He then placed the circle over his eye briefly. “Be seeing you.”
Connor held his position, his beasts in a defensive circle around us. We stayed like that for a while, not moving until I could acquire my strength and stand on my own.
“Where is everybody?” Girard wondered aloud.
“Everybody like whom?” Connor asked.
“Civilians.” She said. “Just regular people.”
“This whole area has been quarantined off for the next twenty-four hours.” He explained. “Standard Defense Initiative protocol.”
Girard was helping me to my feet, brushing the sand out of my face. “How do you know that?”
“Because I was the one who wrote the protocol.” He exclaimed. The mount that he rode began to dissolve and as it did, the others began to disperse, shrinking in on themselves until they were nothing.
Chapter 2
That special little death…
“Can you walk?” Connor angrily brushed Girard away, looking me over to see if I was okay.
“Hey!” She protested. “Rude much?”
Connor shot her glance that silenced her completely.
“Whatever.” Girard rolled her eyes. “Sooo, are we near your car or are we gonna have to steal something?”
“I wanna go home, Connor.” It was difficult for me to speak, but I knew that it would only be a day or two before I was back at peak performance.
“Yeah, whatever you say.” He was so genuine, so concerned that my heart went out to him, my little dark haired savior. “Are you sure you can walk? I can carry you.”
“I’m fine Connor.” He can be so sweet when he wasn’t being a homicidal asshole. “Hell, I’ve already died twice; think a little broken back is gonna keep me down?”
We headed towards the street, the three of us, looking at the desolate emptiness there.
“Wait for me.” Connor instructed before whisking himself away.
After a couple of moments, Girard seemed comfortable enough to speak. “You move like him.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” It was something that had just become so second nature to me of late that I forgot how it would appear to someone who actually knew me from before. “He’s a lot faster though.”
“If you say so.” She was staring at me, examining me with her bookworm eyes. “Your wounds are all gone.”
“I still feel shitty, but yeah, for the most part.” I wish she would stop looking at me that way.
“You’re a Vampire.” She noted. “Like him.”
“Yeah, I am.” Score one for Captain Obvious.
“But you weren’t one last week.” She was staring at my eyes now. They must be glowing again. “What happened to you?”
“You were just my Principle last week.” I declared. “What happened to you?”
Nevertheless, the main question on my mind was what happens to us? Where do we go from here? After giving me the information that I need on the Eden Complex, does she just go back to being my Principle? Do I just go back to being her student? She knows my secret now, can I trust her with that knowledge since she’s already betrayed us before? Yet, even with all of those questions racing through my head, in the back of my mind I knew it didn’t really matter because Connor was going to kill her regardless and I wasn’t going to be able to stop it. I couldn’t protect her every hour of the day. The little bit I do know about C
onnor is I doubt he’ll let what she did slide.
He’s way to psychotically vindictive for that.
“I’ve never met one before.” She was in reverence, I could sense it. The way she was looking at me, studying me, like a scientist that just found a brand new species. “A Vampire I mean. I’ve read about them, read about Connor extensively, I did my dissertation on him for the Modus Operandi, but I’ve never really met one before.”
She did a what on him?
“So I’m confused, this cult that you’re in…”
“It’s not a cult Madison.”
“Whatever. So this thing that you’re in, this Modus Operandi, what is that, it’s like a university or something?” I realized that she was possibly the first human that I’ve been around in which I haven’t hidden the fact that I’m a Vampire and not endeavored to murder them directly afterwards. Well there was that one time in the Red Room, but that was more like me just intimidating her and she is still alive, so that doesn’t count.
Yay me!
“Well there is lots of schooling involved and even then, after graduating you still might not be recognized into the upper echelons. I was fortunate. I made it on my first attempt. I know scholars that have been applying for operational status for years and have yet to be granted the honor.”
“So, you just like, study creepy shit?” I could hear a roar of an engine approaching.
“Well yes, there’s that of course, but there is a whole versatile syllabus of things that we analyze. It’s kinda like Hogwarts.” She explained. “But without the spells.”
“Then it’s nothing like Hogwarts.” I replied.
Connor was speeding towards us now, in a convertible something, driving way to fast then called for.
“He’s going to kill me isn’t he?” She asked solemnly.
I didn’t find the need to lie to her. “Yes.”
“Well you help me?” Her eyes were becoming damp with tears. “Please?”
“I won’t be able to.” I admitted. “He’s going to wait until that one moment when I’m not around and do it then. Or maybe he’ll do it in front me, just to demonstrate that he can.”
The car pulled up, an all-black convertible Lexus with cream interior. Why couldn’t he have just stolen a Toyota? We are trying to keep a low profile.
“Or maybe I’ll just kill you now.” He was out of the car and in front of us before the vehicle had fully come to a stop. “Like when someone says they are going to do something on the count of three and they do it on two instead, just to save you from the horrible suspense of it all.”
I pushed him away. “Get in the car Connor.”
He gave Staci Girard one of his razorblade smiles before appearing in the driver’s seat. I took shotgun, while she hopped in the back and we sped off. Even though I only lived less than ten minutes away from where we were just at, it took Connor over an hour before he pulled into my driveway. He sought to make sure we weren’t being followed and doubled back and rerouted so many times that even I was confused. It took me second to even realize we were at my home when we pulled up.
“Look Girard, none of this Vampire, Werewolf insanity or any of that Modus Operandi shit once we go inside. This isn’t the place for it.” His tone was deathly serious.
“They don’t know about you do they?” She was astonished. “How would you even conceal something like that from them? Wouldn’t they be able to tell that something about you was…different?”
Connor became agitated. “Hey, what the fuck did I just say?”
“Sorry.” Girard hastily apologized. “My lips are sealed.”
“Good” He said. “Because we have other things to worry about right now.”
I didn’t say anything, I wasn’t concerned about either of them at the moment, the burden of what I was about to face finally hitting me. I got out of the car and headed towards the front door when it opened suddenly, the light from the living room inundating the front lawn. Aiden appeared, running out to meet me, engulfing me in his arms.
“Where the hell have you been?” He was in tears, hardly able to hold it together. “I’ve been calling you for nonstop, but it’s going straight to voicemail.”
“I…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “I…lost my phone.”
“You lost your phone, wait…why are you covered in blood?” He was ushering me in the house and in the back of my mind, I could hear Connor calling out to me, but I just ignored him. I was finally safe, at home with my brother with people who loved me and for just five minutes, I wanted to feel normal again.
“We…we got...” As soon as I entered the house, it was challenging for me to concentrate, that dull throbbing in my head returning again, drowning out my thoughts. “We got into… a car accident.”
Great Madison, a car accident? You got into a car accident? The same thing that just killed your parents, that’s what you tell him happened to you?
It was so difficult to think. I could see Abigail on the sofa, I think Ethan was there or…my head is killing me, the pain so penetrating that I dropped down, Aiden catching me before I struck the floor.
I screamed out in pain.
Connor was there, along with Girard, they were attempting to separate me from Aiden, but I was fighting them, the pain was just so extreme, like spikes being driven into my eyes.
“I know what’s wrong her.” Staci whispered to Connor.
“So do I.” He said. “I’ll run interference.”
“I’m going to take her to get some fresh air.” She expressed to everyone.
“Wait, Principle Girard?” Abigail was getting up now. “What are you doing here?”
Girard was shepherding me back outside, but everyone in the house was following after us. That’s when Connor stepped in the way.
“There was a little calamity at a red light…” He was explaining, doing that thing that Vampires do with their eyes to get people to listen to them. I had stopped paying attention however; the pain was so intense I assumed my head was going to explode. I couldn’t walk any longer and Girard literally had to drag me the rest of the way, pulling me outside.
I collapsed on the front portico, yet as soon as I did, I felt substantially better; as if someone had decided to take the screws they were twisting into my temples out. I just rested there, trying to regain my composure. My nose and ears were bleeding; blood was running down the side of my face and forehead, oozing from out of my scalp itself. I wiped my face on my shirt, just more bloody stains for it to soak up and watched as Girard walked back into the house, stopping just after she passed the threshold.
“You’re a Vampire now. You have to be invited into someone’s home before you enter.” She bent down and held out her hand. “Madison, won’t you please come in.”
It was odd the way she said it, as if it was such a simple thing, but I took her hand anyway and tentatively made my way back into the house. To my amazement, the pain didn’t return at all. It was hard to imagine that only moments ago, my own home tried to repel me, but now, everything was as safe as…houses?
“I don’t understand.” We stayed by the door momentarily so we could talk. “I live here. Why do I need to be invited in?”
“I don’t know.” She admitted. “It’s just one of those things you don’t need to understand to know that it works. You should be fine now.”
“Earlier, when I crashed through the window of this condominium…”
Staci’s eyes grew wide. “You what?”
“Never mind that, when I was inside this condo, it kinda felt like what happened here, but it wasn’t that intense.”
“How long were you in there?”
I thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Two, maybe three seconds tops.”
“Well there’s nothing preventing you from entering uninvited, it’s the staying that causes problems. You just weren’t in there long enough for the pain to take ahold of you. But if you had stayed…”
“Madison!” Abigail was rushing over.
“Connor explained everything. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, everything is fine.” I lied. “What do you know about my parents, Abby?”
We headed towards the living room. Aiden was sitting on the couch, just staring at the floor, counting the patterns on the tile. I haven’t seen him do that since we were eleven.
“I’ve been dealing with all the particulars.” Abigail stated. “Your brother…” She glanced over at him. “…he just hasn’t been able to handle everything.”
In the distance, I heard the bathroom door close and Ethan walked in. “Madison.”
“Ethan.” His name was like honey on my tongue. I turned back to Abigail, but she was just staring at me, trance like.
“Abigail.” I said softly. “What happened?”
“I...uh…” She appeared rattled, confused and she backed away suddenly. If I didn’t know any better, it was as if she was frightened of me, but a split second later, she was fine. “Well…the police are saying that it was a drunk driver. There was a high speed chase, they were pursuing him...”
She hesitated, looking back at Aiden. He wasn’t counting anymore; he was staring directly at us.
“The drunk driver, he uh, well, he lost control and… he was speeding through an intersection and he hit…” She couldn’t finish, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Oh...” It was all I could manage.
Abigail wiped the tears from her eyes quickly. “So, I’ve talked to your cousin.”
“Cousin Frankie?” I asked.
“Yeah, I explained to him what happened. He’s on his way up here now. Should be here sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning.” She clarified.
Everyone was watching me, staring, waiting on me to tell them what to do, how they should act. Specifically Aiden, sitting there on the couch, eyes swollen red with tears, contemplating what’s going to happen next. Connor and Girard were both in the kitchen, while Ethan, my beautiful Ethan Blackwood was leaning up against the wall and all of them, every single one of them all looking at me, like I’m supposed to know what to do next, like I have all the answers, when the only thing I do know is that I wanted to kill every single one of them and drink their blood.
