“You’re one of those people who thought that these things would be useful in the future. For such a young man you’ve been very cautious. The younger generation can learn a lot from you.”
“As long as it’s useful for something, it’s enough.”
The flight was longer and more tiring than he would have liked. Dee was bored and spent the length of the flight attacking Caleb with question’s. Due to exhaustion, Caleb chose to ignore her and she retaliated by spewing out more hateful comments.
Italy was of sufficient splendor in front of his eyes. They landed outside of Rome and it didn’t take long for them to find transportation due to their position as leaders. One of the men who formed Elizabeth’s entourage was sent to warn Ajax of their arrival. They didn’t want their sudden arrival to surprise him.
The city had recovered the magnificent splendor of its past, of its best era. Ajax was a rough looking man but he had exquisite tastes. Art graced the corner of every street. It was illuminated by well-placed lights. The city was very enchanting. Visually it was the best-looking place on the planet but its brilliance was eclipsed by the darkened streets. Ajax didn’t have as much control as he wanted because of Epsilon. Unlike Caleb who governed his zone with more freedom.
Ajax hated Epsilon for interfering in his business. Caleb had never understood how a man with such a strong character permitted it but now he knew the reason. The only unbreakable orders were those that came from the first vampire.
“I didn’t expect to see you here Elizabeth,” Ajax sat comfortably in a chair and observed the new arrivals. “You’ve surprised me.”
“Did you think that I would side with Epsilon?” Elizabeth tried to stay calm and speak firmly but you could hear in her voice what she tried to hide. Her feelings were hurt.
“A part of me had doubts,” Ajax admitted. He stood up and walked toward them, “and another hoped anxiously that you would join us.”
“Well, here I am.” Elizabeth opened her arms wide.
“Caleb, I’m glad to see that you’re safe. I imagine these months haven’t been good for you. All of this new information must be giving you a migraine.”
“Don’t doubt it, but there’s no time to talk. Amadeus told me to come see you.”
“Yes, I told him to give you the order. Let’s sit down. We have much to plan.”
Although Caleb tried to avoid it they spent more than three hours talking about unimportant things. Elizabeth brought up the topic of Meryl and excited over the novelty Ajax asked questions until he was satisfied. Finally, they talked about the war they were starting against Epsilon and the first vampire. They still needed more information about him.
“Yes, I have seen them several times, infrequently. Amadeus was their direct contact,” Ajax answered Caleb’s questions. “I have to say that you look a lot like him.”
“That doesn’t interest me. What is his power?”
“I don’t know.” Ajax admitted. “I have never seen him use it. He’s never had to. He’s a solitary person. I think you know already what is his only goal.”
“Yes, to have a son just like him and unfortunately I know how he will accomplish it. That’s what I’m trying to stop.”
Ajax smiled and the scars on his face deepened.
“Epsilon will send all of his men against us. Their numbers will be larger than ours,” Caleb continued, “but I want to know if he will enter the fight.”
“The moment you interfere with his plans he will enter the fight.” Ajax stood up. “With regards to Epsilon they might overpower us but I think you might have an ace up your sleeve.”
A confused Caleb looked at Ajax while he picked up some papers from a nearby table. He turned around and walked back holding out the papers to them.
“What’s this?”
“He knew you would be coming so he sent me this message.”
“Yong?” Caleb whispered. It had been almost 200 years since he last heard from him.
“You have to go see him. Both of you.” Ajax placed a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. “We will prepare everything in our zones. We’ll have to choose a meeting place for our men and prepare them for war.”
“Okay, when we have decided on a strategy I’ll let you know. If Yong wants to see me immediately it’s best that I go there. He’s not someone that usually urges people to do something.”
Caleb returned to the airplane with the small group of people that accompanied him. They boarded and he was a bit nervous and restless. The message was a bit unusual and the urgency indicated was disturbing.
Yong had been the person that had helped him overcome a critical stage of bloody vengeance after he had been converted into a vampire. Amadeus had sent him to South Asia and Yong had become his mentor. Caleb remembered those early days, they had been frustrating. Yong had made him meditate in the rain for hours and taught him ancient fighting techniques. And self-control had been torturous. However, a few years after Caleb arrived Yong had managed to make him into the man that he was today. Of course, Caleb never confided in anyone else except Amadeus. But Yong later found out that Caleb found a man that he would trust with his life, Alexander.
After Caleb left Yong kept an eye on him for certain periods of time. Caleb was his best student and Yong knew his potential.
After a few hours, Caleb felt terribly frustrated. They were spending a lot of time going back and forth when he could go directly for Meryl and it made him angry, but he quickly realized that he couldn’t do anything by himself. The problem surrounding Meryl’s abduction had to be cut out at the root. Caleb relaxed when he began to see the huge Asian mountains. The peace he felt when he saw that landscape had no name and no comparison with anything else in the world.
“We’ll land in a few hours,” Andre said.
“Okay, prepare everything. We might have to walk a lot.”
Caleb sat down on the soft couch with the sigh. He remembered the first time he had visited this place. Caleb had been furious, hysterical, and uncontrollable. A part of him had felt betrayed by Amadeus. The change had been huge. Going from London to a small village in the most inhospitable parts of Asia had shocked Caleb. He hadn’t understood the language. He’d been taken through deserted mountains and ended up in the middle of nowhere.
Yong lived in an ancient temple forgotten by everyone. A place that nobody visited and he lived with a small group of humans that voluntarily gave him their blood in exchange for his protection. It was an arrangement that Caleb hadn’t understood until years later. Now that Caleb remembered that time he felt ashamed of his previous behavior. Yong saw in Caleb what nobody else had been able to see. The great pain that had penetrated every cell of Caleb skin. Yong gained Caleb’s trust through hard work.
Caleb would put his life in Yong’s hands. He was a vampire that was almost a thousand years old. He looked like a young delicate man. His braided hair reached down to his knees. Caleb had never met a better fighter or strategist than Yong and though he hoped Yong would unite in their crusade. Caleb doubted it. Yong did not favor violence. He appreciated spiritual peace above everything else.
Caleb felt as the plane began to descend. It was a little bit emotional. Rain began to fall softly. the humidity was a little bit uncomfortable but his body got used to it almost instantly.
“You’ve arrived just in time,” a voice said as soon as the plane’s door opened.
Caleb frowned when he saw Yong standing there. It seemed like the man knew everything. Standing next to him were four of Yong’s men, guarding Yong. That he would have company, any company, was very unusual.
“Are they your students?” Caleb asked without hiding how strange it appeared to him.
“Yes, that’s right.” Yong laughed. “Come with me. Things have changed a lot during the last few years.”
“I can see that.”
With a gesture,
Yong invited Caleb to walk with him as the others followed them closely. They acted as if they had only spent a few months apart but in reality, they hadn’t seen each other in more than 200 years.
Walking through the city was astonishing. Caleb looked around, breathed deeply, and felt a normalcy that had disappeared with the fall of humanity.
“When did you occupy the city?” Caleb remembered that Yong used to stay hidden in areas where it was difficult to travel.
“Not long ago. I had a dream while I was meditating, Caleb. The dream showed me an imminent future. A new future. Where everyone would begin anew.”
“I see you still have your strange visions,” Caleb smiled, “but what happened to the vampires that controlled this zone?”
“I’m sorry to say that they died. When I tried to talk with them they attacked me.”
“I can imagine how the situation was for you and for them. However, this place is…”
“Marvelous,” Yong finished the sentence for Caleb. “This is the beginning. We will start from here. The humans and the vampires will live together and I know that is what you want to do. I knew from the moment you started this. Follow me, Caleb. I have something for you.”
When he saw that Yong was walking away without saying anything more. Caleb knew that asking any questions was useless. Caleb stayed quiet and followed Yong.
They walked through the city. It was incredible and fascinating. There were vampires talking with human’s and exchanging items. They had come to an agreement. Some would give their blood voluntarily and the vampires would not abuse their generosity. They would only take the blood that they needed to live. They also provided security and protection. Caleb could perceive tension and mistrust on both sides but given the situation it was logical. However, it was a start and if they continued correctly. It would result in a new era.
Everything had radically changed. Caleb had walked through all of these areas many years ago but he couldn’t recognize anything. They had rebuilt everything. Every building and every street now looked completely different. Everything was new.
“Where are we?”
“I see that your patience still has its limits,” Yong joked. “Come inside.”
They started up the stairs that ended in a huge double door adorned with a golden dragon. Yong stood there and turned to watch Caleb for a moment, the shine of his eyes showed his fascination for what his pupil had become. He was amused that deep down Caleb didn’t realize how he had changed. That he would take them all to a new dawn.
The force of nature was unknown to everyone except Yong and that same force was what showed him what would come after the bloody struggle, the future.
Yong stretched out both hands to fully open the door weighing half a ton. The hinges creaked loudly and the fire on the other side danced with a gentle current caused by the act of his opening the door. Caleb took a few steps forward and passed his mentor. Yong stood still and let his pupil see what was on the other side.
“What the hell is this?” Caleb was very rarely surprised and even then his voice weakened as he saw what lay before his eyes.
“Your army.”
Caleb looked again at the center of the magnificent plaza. There were hundreds of vampires standing in formation, his soldiers. Their eyes stared at them without blinking. Caleb’s body jerked slightly when they moved in unison. They all shouted as they raised a hand.
“I’ve been preparing them for you for a long time,” Yong said, laying a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.
Melody N⁰ 4
Pure Horror
It had been more than two months since the attack on the rebels. Meryl could not comprehend it all. Her brother, her little George was the most hated, cruel and evil being on the planet. She would have been able to accept that he was a vampire, but this exceeded all that she could have imagined. It shattered Meryl’s deepest desires and now she prayed for God to kill him because a being like him should never have existed.
Johana tried to comfort her friend, but she also imagined everything as if she were in Meryl’s place and shuddered. The situation was extreme and she didn’t know what was going to happen to them. Epsilon was completely unbalanced. Johana was aware of what he was capable of. Epsilon could simply enter their room and kill them.
“I’m sorry, Johana. You shouldn’t be here,” Meryl murmured as she walked through the room, thinking. “I swear I will do my best to free you.”
“Don’t say silly things, Meryl. I wouldn’t leave without you and you know it. The best we can do is be patient. Caleb won’t let things stay like this.”
“That’s what I’m most afraid of.”
Meryl smiled bitterly as her heart and mind fought. Thinking about Caleb fighting for her made her feelings for him grow. She had the infinite urge to see him. If something happened to Caleb Meryl knew she couldn’t live, not without him. Meryl tried to remember the way he had whispered to her and she hated herself for not telling him about how she felt. That she was crazy in love with him. She felt like hitting herself in the face for having doubted him, for thinking that it was impossible for him to feel anything for her.
Meryl had scarcely seen Epsilon since they were locked in a room exquisitely decorated in shades of green.
♫♫♫
The journey had been long. They spent day after day in a boat filled with Epsilon’s men. They had been able to feel their hunger. The vampires kept looking at both of them and although they had a large group of humans that fed them during the trip. It didn’t eliminate the vampires desire to feed on them.
When they finally reached the Omega Zone Meryl couldn’t believe that they had traveled across half of the world. She was now in a city that she had once wanted to visit. Meryl saw the statue of liberty welcoming them into a dark and bloodthirsty land.
When they arrived the vampires put both of the women in a car of considerable size accompanied by two vampires while Epsilon went somewhere else. As Meryl looked out of the window and saw the dark sky above her she remembered the day she woke up to find her city in an unimaginable situation. Now, in the middle of New York, Meryl was shocked at the city’s destruction. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fix it. Most of the skyscrapers would have to be demolished. Some of them were in an extremely dire situation. They could fall at any moment causing a domino effect. Yes, this place was undoubtedly the perfect example of devastation and decay.
“This is horrifying,” Meryl murmured, unable to look away.
“You can’t imagine the stories the refugees told me, Meryl.”
The laughter of the two men who watched them was utterly disgusting. They were having fun with their expressions of terror as they saw the people and the situation in which they had to live.
♫♫♫
Meryl rubbed her brow tiredly and felt a weight on her heart. It couldn’t be true. It must be a dreadful nightmare. Meryl sighed as she moved away from the bedroom window. The door opened to let a woman younger than them inside. She was poorly dressed and holding a huge tray full of food. The young woman looked at them with a knowing expression, left the lunch on the table, and left without saying a word.
“What should we do, Johana?”
“I don’t know,” Johana admitted with a slight movement of her head. “All of this is crazy. We could try to escape, but the guards and lack of help will make it an impossible task.”
“We have to get out of here,” Meryl murmured, sitting down on the bed. “Johana,” Meryl called for her attention again, “do you think ... praying for my brother’s death will make me into someone like him?”
Meryl’s voice cracked slightly as Johana looked at her in surprise. Johana was affected and wasn’t aware to what extent. She moved closer to Meryl and tried to comfort her by placing one of her arms on Meryl’s shoulders. Meryl looked like she was about to burst into tears.
“That’s
not your brother, Meryl. That monster only looks like him. George died a long time ago.”
“Yes, yes. You’re right!” Meryl shouted. “He only has his face!”
At that moment Meryl decided she must kill and completely exterminate any feelings towards him. Her sweet George had already died and in his place, there was a dark, unreal shadow of what he once was. It would be difficult to accomplish her goal. Though George’s appearance was far from what she remembered Meryl was still able to see the traits of who he’d once been, in a distant past.
An hour later, when the two of them had calmed down, a rough-looking vampire entered the room. He fiercely glared at Meryl and gestured with his head. Meryl understood his message and followed instinctively. But as she was not invited to the meeting, Meryl was shoved away from a door that slammed shut leaving her alone and irritated.
Meryl took a breath and walked with her head held high. She was aware that her life was not in danger at the moment and she was probably not even close to it. She had to get all the information she could. It would be useful in the future when she was free once again.
Epsilon’s base was situated in the Empire State Building and though Meryl had never been there before. She suspected that this place remained almost in its original condition except for the shabby looking decorations and a number of vampires that occupied each floor. Of course, no one would do anything to her in this place. It became clear that it would not do any good to try to remember where everything was. The place was too big and some areas too similar. Meryl sighed and quickened her pace at her bodyguard’s disquieting look.
They climbed a good distance on foot. The rest of the way they went up in an elevator that stopped occasionally. It made the trip dangerous and terribly slow. After a long time, they managed to reach the top where her brother lived with all of the comforts. Luxurious-looking cushions of bright colors, a view of all the area he governed, extreme cleanliness. It certainly looked like the bedroom of a sultan.
“I’m sorry I haven’t paid much attention to you since your arrival,” Epsilon said,
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