He remains silent.
“When?”
He remains silent.
“Why?”
“Because of a heinous crime you have committed. One that will, this time, not go unpunished. They are going to send you to us. Will you be able to handle it? The world that you commune with so freely, know so deeply? Will you be able to joyously become one of us?”
“Many have tried and many have failed. I am not going to fall into the hand of anyone anytime soon, young lad. Thank you for your message. I will take what you’ve said into consideration. Now, can you tell me anything else, or am I going into this blindly?”
The apparition turns around and begins walking off. They, like me, have a peculiar sense of entitlement. Where I do believe myself welcome to wear this entitlement on my cuff, they continue lording it over me as if they have some place in my world.
The audacity.
Still, I can’t help but wonder what this is about. I have a strong feeling I know which way it is leading; however, one can never be too sure about it.
Not in a world wrought with the supernatural crazies coming after you for everything and anything.
Chapter Thirty-Three: Ankh
Technicolor. A series of events that were created, in essence, to bring the world closer. Pictures on a screen that would lead to the destruction of free thought. Free thought, a common enemy among the wealthy, and a criminal burden to those who possess it.
When I heard about a second girl that had gone missing, I believed that this was my new existence. Life in technicolor. Beautiful irony set out in such a way as to disrupt the common thought. A drama piece. A monster steals a girl. In turn, he becomes the antihero by saving her before it’s too late.
Again.
A girl has gone missing. A seemingly unimportant girl with no connection to the story. Still, I wonder, could Mason have had anything to do with this plot twist? A corny novel that only blends reality with the misconception of fantasy.
“That is why I’ve called you here,” I say. An awkwardly long silence between us led to my statement. One that he would not quite understand. Not now, not ever. So long as I didn’t explain it. For how could he read my thoughts?
Had I been nothing but a mortal, there would be a difference in this situation, but that is not what I am. I am a god. Born from Ra, the almighty. A god worshiped and loved. Left to the void by his people when the new craze came about. I wonder how long this religion will last until it suffers the same fate as that of my people. A religion destined to fail. After all, they, the human race, all worship the same single entity. They simply change the name around to benefit the reader.
Again, I think about life in technicolor. A piece of a story coming together to burden the next generation. How is our story any different?
“I don’t understand,” Mason replies. I am still lost in thought.
“You can’t just say a few words and expect me to read your mind. Even if I could, I don’t think I would,” he reassures me. Mason knows that I am distraught. He’s trying to comfort me underneath the veil of a few terrible jokes. Reassuringly terrible jokes.
“A girl has gone missing. It’s the talk of the town. Many get lost over time to the vampire hordes, but when it gets spoken about so frequently, not only a passing comment or a headline in a newspaper, when the talk of these people lingers, not only with the human population but instead, infects the supernatural, then it becomes a problem. I don’t know why she is such a problem, but she is. I want to know: did you have anything to do with it?”
Mason remains silent. He’s not upset. Not in the least. Instead, he’s calculating. Always calm. Always calculating. The kind of antihero the story needs. The protagonist, yet antagonist. My Mason. What are you going to say next?
“I had nothing to do with it this time. I have no need for a child,” he replies, and I am inclined to believe him. Why would he lie? Has he ever? It’s not part of his nature.
Then again, I forget that his nature – the reptilian brain that commands his truest actions – is the same as that of any other vampire.
Kill.
Feed.
Power.
Repeat.
But Mason has never had the need to lie to me. We have always been open. We have always been communicative. What goal would he have to take this girl? I would have known of it, surely. Then again, ten years is a long time. He could have been misleading me from the very beginning. Telling me the sweet lies of being trapped with Zeus. Wouldn’t I have known?
I suppose not. After all, I have never been one to join in on the Forsaken realm’s dealings. The old gods find themselves stuck in their ways. I believe in the future. The next generation. I am not like them. I am merely a human born with eternal life. Eternal possibilities.
“I believe you,” I say. Another long pause between my words.
“Do you know anything about it?” I have to ask.
“No,” he replies. “I have been too busy with own dealings to dwell on such things. A girl goes missing. It happens all the time. What are we going to do about it?”
“Nothing we can do,” I answer. “But if there’s an uproar, someone is to blame. Mason, you were gone for a long time, but you have always had ways to find your answers.”
“And I will have them again. They merely need time. I am not all powerful, Ankh. No matter what I, or you, would like to believe. You have a better grasp on things. My spies are long gone or dead. This does not mean I am not building my new armada. Simply, we must provide time. I have great matters to decide on. I have communed with the others more now than I have in the eons I’ve lived here. A lot has changed, and a lot will change. We cannot rush this change.”
“I understand. But that doesn’t mean we have to let the world go to shit. You might not be one to care about it, but I still do.”
A comment that had no place in polite conversation. I know Mason still has his caring nature even beneath the monstrous extremities. He is a man shifted, but he retained some humanity.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“There are no hardships in our conversations. What is said in spite has no might over me.”
An odd quote.
Suddenly, a phone begins to ring. It’s Mason’s. I sit quietly and listen.
“Right,” Mason replies to whoever’s speaking.
“Why do you all think that this matter concerns me in the slightest?” I have a feeling the person on the other end of that call is speaking to him about the girl that’s gone missing.
“Where do you want to meet?” The reply comes through. “We will be there.”
Mason ends the call and looks up at me. “That was the human agent, Jack. You weren’t wrong. This has caused quite a struggle, especially if the Agency is sticking their noses in it. We meet with him tomorrow night. I’ll come to fetch you. Be ready.”
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I have to sort it out,” Mason finishes, stepping out of my home.
Chapter Thirty-Four: Drakka
The bar is full tonight. The rapturous laughter and enjoyment of company that comes with the good times of a drink, which is why when the bar becomes so still there must be an issue. The issue is simple: an Ancient vampire has walked in the door.
He walks through the floor, toward the bar where I’m still working. The crowd whispers among themselves, but they know why he’s here. He’s here on business, all the same.
“So, what brings you to my neck of the woods then?”
Mason takes a seat and says nothing. He keeps his eyes on me. I don’t spend much time with him before I continue going about my business on the bar. It’s packed, after all. And apart from his awkward stares at me and others at him, the atmosphere returns to its more sprightly nature soon enough.
I may have asked him why he was here, but I know. He’s here to gather information. The information I do have, but I want to see how far he would come to get it.
“Drakka,” hi
s slow drawl and crooked smile put me on edge, “I think it’s time you tell me what I want to hear before I lose my temper.”
He speaks softly. Still, the rest of the shifters overhear this threat, and none of them are taking too kindly to it. The bar goes silent again.
“It’s a busy night, Mason. Let me conduct my business, and then you will get your answers. Keep things civil and there won’t be a problem, right?”
“Right,” he responds. He sits back in his chair, watching me as I go about delivering drinks and talking rubbish with my patrons for the evening. Then, as the last few clear out and the only ones that are here to protect my best interests remain, I return to Mason who has not said a word since we discussed.
“So, what are you here for?” Again, I know the answer, but I’m not going to rush into giving it out.
“I’m hearing a lot about a girl. Do you know anything about this girl?”
I wait for it. Pretend to tap my chin, and then in a moment of blissful euphoria, “Yes. Who doesn’t know about this gi…”
Before I can finish my sentence, Mason’s hands are around my lapels, pulling me over the bar. The force in which he uses to pull me is only enhanced by the force of his throw, launching me into a back wall. I’ve never been tossed around like a puppet before, and it’s not quite something I can admit I fancy.
The men I’ve hired are weary, knowing that they won’t be able to do anything to Mason, but still they draw weapons. Normal guns. They have no place in the same room with an Ancient, let alone one of this caliber.
“Hold up!” I gesture with my hands that they put their guns away, rubbing shards of glass and splinters of wood off my jacket from whatever of the many wall adornments stuck in there.
“I know why you’re upset, but don’t be a dick about it,” I slip in. Mason doesn’t move. That looming tower of fury just looking down at me.
“You know what our arrangement was, shifter. Tell me about the girl.” When a nugget of information this good falls on your lap, you don’t necessarily care to give it out. It’s something you sit on. Wait for the highest bidder to give you their offer before you spill the beans. The problem is, I know Mason is probably the highest bidder.
If not that, he’s probably the person who’d care less about tearing my vocal chords from me.
“There’s a girl.”
“I know there’s a girl.”
“Yes, well, the case hasn’t been dismissed by any parties yet because she’s special,” I build up to it. A little showmanship is exactly how I got into this position.
“Yes. If she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be getting the blame for her abduction, now would I? It’s peculiar that the moment I return from the Forsaken realm something like this comes up. Almost a setup, I could feel,” he murmurs to himself.
“I don’t think it’s that serious. No one’s after you, big boss. No one cares about the name Mason apart the few folks you’ve re-infected with your presence. Ten years to a vampire might be a blink of the eye, but to us? Well, that’s an eighth of a life just gone.”
“Then I should re-establish my certainty.” He draws a pistol from his pocket and slams it on the table. A second one following. They’re massive from what I can see. The recoil alone would be near impossible for any living thing to handle.
Interesting.
“Now you will tell me about this girl in full detail. If you do not, I will kill you. Then them.”
“Well, that’s not a way to treat your workers,” I tease, knowing the threat is definitely serious.
“I’ve offered you money, and you laughed it off. You don’t respond to the carrot, so now you get the stick.” He sits down again. I still haven’t moved closer to him. I do now to get back behind the bar.
“A drink?” I offer.
“No,” he answers. I pour myself one and light a cigarette.
“So, the short of it? The girl’s a demigod. She was taken by someone we don’t quite know or understand for reasons we definitely don’t know or understand. So, that’s the information I can give you. The Forsaken are freaking out about it. Word is, it’s the big man’s daughter.”
“Zeus?”
“Yep, so he’s not happy. He’s going on a rampage about this. So there.” Mason puts his guns away.
“Do you think it could be Deicine intervention?”
I have to think for a moment. “Deicine? They’ve not been around since that girl.”
“She’s awake now. What would her goal to this be?”
“Nothing, I don’t think she would do it. You know her better than I do, though. You’re her captor, after all.” Mason bursts out into laughter. I’m glad he found the humor in it. That may have been unpleasant otherwise.
“Good. You’ve done what you’re being paid to do now. Next time, I better not have to come back here.”
Chapter Thirty-Five: Jack
“I’ve gotta know…did you do it?” I’m leaning against my desk. Mason is sitting in front of me. Ankh, the demigod, beside him, and Madison standing behind them. I’m sure neither are intimidated the way a lower-level creature would be, but it’s good to stick to the roots that you know. This gives them the sense of being trapped. Nervous. The answers will pour out of them.
Again.
Not these two, but normal suspects.
“No, I did not have anything to do with this girl’s disappearance.” That was the first and most important question to answer.
“No one can tell why she was so special, but there was a lot of powerful magic in that house. Her room, specifically, had immense power pulsing from it. Madison and Vicky, my old partner, both gave it the go over, and they both felt the same thing. I’m just trying to place what’s going on here. Why would someone want to take another girl? Is it some sick prank? After all, it’s happened nearly exactly as you came out of the Forsaken realm.” I don’t think I would generally place much trust in Mason or his Forsaken friend.
Together, they do seem like the troublesome schoolboys. Especially in this situation now. I feel like a school principal disciplining them.
Then my mind turns to Madison. What would she be in that situation? The naughty school girl? I quickly drop them. The thought of the outfit hugging her body alone is too much for me to handle right now, and that kind of distraction may not be the best right now.
“Ankh here came to me last night with the same concerns as you have. Then he gave me a thought. One that goes along the lines of, I don’t have any information. A man like me, Jack, needs data. So, I have remedied this problem. Don’t worry your little minds how, but I have found out something about the girl that may benefit each and every one of us. Why? I don’t know yet. I’m sure we will find out soon enough.” He’s stalling.
“So, what’s this information?” He remains silent. Playing with me. I can’t stand being made the fool. Not like this.
“I don’t see what you’re going to do about it, Jacky boy. Or you, my lovely Madison.” He looks over his shoulder. A soft smile escapes her precious lips. He’s her protector. She said it herself. She will always have a special place in her heart for him. “But the girl was a Forsaken.”
All eyes fall on Madison.
“What?” she announces. “It can’t have been me. I don’t know how to tap into the Deicine powers yet. I haven’t found a teacher.”
“I am curious, though, what implications do we believe this will have on anything that’s even going around?” Mason asks.
“It depends on a few things. The main one, I suppose, would have to be, whose daughter was it?” I reply.
“Zeus.”
The man with all the answers has returned, it seems. I can’t say I’m not for it. Having someone like this on your side does make things a little easier, even if you’d prefer not to admit it.
“And you have no clue on who it could be?” My question is asked to the group.
“Nope,” Maddy replies first.
“Indeed, not,” Mason might have most of the big an
swers, but the important one is neglected.
“I may,” Ankh finishes.
“Then speak!” I near shout.
“Ritual sacrifices were done in order to give the gods the power of who or whatever was sacrificed. The Deicine was established in order to shatter the true gods of the day, not the demigods. So, you wouldn’t necessarily need a Deicine witch to kill this girl. That being said, whoever killed her could have killed her unknowingly. Sacrificing a half-god to a god without realizing. Alternatively, there are hundreds of offspring sprouted out from the Forsaken. So, someone could have felt the power without noticing that she was directly a Forsaken because she didn’t carry her magic well, and they took her somewhere else for some other reason I can’t quite imagine.” The options Ankh provided were helpful, but also not really. “No matter what happened in terms of her power, there would have to be a sacrifice involved. That’s the only way any of this would be done to benefit. Otherwise, I can’t see what the girls use would be,” he continues.
“Thank you.” I write down a few of the things that were discussed here today. There’s nothing of true importance that came out, so I’m not necessarily sure if I should even consider any of it further. It was interesting, though. To speak to a god and the world’s most powerful vampire in polite conversation.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Brooke
Lying to a vampire is not the easiest thing to do. Luckily, the skill has been picked up and well developed through the years that Daffyd and I have been together. A girl at the prime of her life, shaped and molded by a man slightly off his rocker. It’s a peculiar thing to think about that. Daffyd’s rule has spanned what seems like an eternity. As queen, I have been part of that rule since near the beginning. It’s odd to think about where I would have been or what I could have accomplished had I never met Daffyd. Would I have ever had the opportunity to become the High Queen? Would the opportunity provide itself again, had things been different? I remember those who were at my side when I was young. My sisterhood. None of them are around anymore. None of them stand a chance to be queen. I can only imagine the same fate would have followed me.
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