by J. Thorn
As he kissed the pendant and tucked it back beneath his shirt, Papa Midnight heard something. The floor creaked beneath his feet as he stood, and so he did not move. He concentrated, hearing footsteps upon the floor in another room.
The voodoo priest wasn’t alone.
Papa Midnight reached into his satchel. He rummaged around until he found what he was looking for and wrapped his hand around the object.
The sound of footsteps came closer, stopping just outside of the room.
He remembered what Dax had said. If the voodoo priest heard something, he was supposed to call after him. But Dax had yet to understand that Papa Midnight could handle himself.
The door swung open, slamming against the adjacent wall. The person stood in the doorway but did not speak; Papa Midnight could not hear breathing.
Then the creature snarled. It entered the room, stopping a foot from him.
In his other hand, Papa Midnight held his cane. Only one vampire—he could fight it off easily.
You don’t want to hurt me.
The voice had spoken inside of his head. Papa Midnight lifted his eyes to the ceiling as if searching for a voice inside of the room. Something about it seemed familiar.
“Who’s there?”
The vampire snarled, and then the voodoo priest heard the voice again.
You know who I am. It’s Emily.
Lowering his head, Papa Midnight imagined the face of the creature in front of him. Though he couldn’t see her, he could sense the presence of his former follower in front of him, now turned into a vampire.
“I don’t understand. How are you—”
In your hand.
Papa Midnight pulled his hand out of the bag, the voodoo doll still in his grip. While voodoo dolls were normally used to harm people, Papa Midnight had recited a different spell in his head when he’d taken hold of this doll. It had worked, as he’d now connected telepathically with the vampire.
I thought you were shot and killed outside of the Superdome, Papa Midnight said to Emily without speaking.
I was shot, but I did not die. Perhaps you would have known that if you hadn’t abandoned me.
I did not abandon you, Emily. Yvonne thought we had lost you. We hoped to catch up with you later.
Bullshit.
Emily, please. Papa Midnight stepped forward, forgetting for a moment that the thing standing in front of him was no longer Emily. It snarled at him, sending him a reminder.
It doesn’t matter, Emily said. I was found, and I now serve them. As do Yvonne and all the others who were foolish enough to follow you. You were right in saying how powerful the vampires were, but wrong in saying that they could be defeated.
You can be defeated. Serafino can be destroyed.
Emily laughed. Foolish again, voodoo priest. Suffering shall fall upon you again. And one must die before the next part of the prophecy can be fulfilled.
Papa Midnight didn’t say his name out loud, but he thought it.
Yes, he is the one, Emily said, reading the blind man’s mind. And I know he is near. I can sense him. And unfortunately for you, your one grave mistake will seal his fate.
What are you talking about, Emily?
Your voodoo magic has backfired on you, Papa. Do you not know that the Master sees through us all?
Papa Midnight felt a pit in his stomach as he realized his mistake. By using the voodoo doll and obtaining the connection with Emily, he had revealed their location. Emily was like a location pin on a GPS map.
Serafino has been sent for him, so thank you.
Papa Midnight gripped the voodoo doll tighter. He swore at himself. He should have destroyed the vampire instead of communicating with it.
He yelled out, letting go of the doll and thus breaking the connection between himself and his former follower.
The vampire snarled and swung at the voodoo priest. Papa Midnight raised his cane, blocking the blow. He then kicked Emily in the stomach, sending her back against the wall.
“Don’t do this, Emily. Do not make me destroy you.”
Ignoring him, the vampire screamed and lunged forward again. Papa Midnight ducked and swung his cane, connecting with a blow in the vampire’s back. Emily fell forward, crashing into the dresser.
The vampire stood up and then swung a pipe at the voodoo priest. Papa Midnight blocked every blow as if he could see Emily swinging the pipe. He was far too powerful for the young monster.
Emily swung as hard as she could at his head. The voodoo priest sensed the attack, and ducked, immediately standing up and wrapping his arms around her neck from behind. The vampire tried to escape the grip, but Papa Midnight held the chokehold on her.
“Don’t do this,” Papa Midnight said. “Please.”
The vampire fought to break loose from Papa Midnight’s grip, but it was useless.
Suddenly, the familiar voice in his mind returned even though he had not been holding onto the voodoo doll.
You, Dax, the world—everything is already dead.
Papa Midnight’s eyes filled with tears. He moved one hand to Emily’s chin and his other to the back of her head.
“I’m sorry.”
With all of his strength, the voodoo priest twisted the vampire’s head until he felt and heard it snap. The body in his arms went limp and fell to the floor.
Papa Midnight dropped to his knees beside her, already regretting what he’d done.
His hands found Emily’s face, and he wept.
Chapter 34
Outside, the day transitioned to night. It seemed to happen suddenly, the clouds first blocking the sun and then choking the light from the day. The rain started again, and within a few hours, Dax knew the water level would rise higher.
Dax flicked on the flashlight and continued to rummage through the house he’d entered not long before. He’d already snapped the fancy wooden posts off of two of the beds, and he’d found a wooden baseball bat. The bedposts would make for good stakes once he could cut them up. He’d keep the baseball bat to use as a bludgeoning weapon.
As he searched the place, he couldn’t help but think about Papa Midnight’s story. Where was this tree he’d talked about? And even if they managed to find it, how would it bring down a “rain of ash” to destroy the vampires? It seemed silly to Dax, and yet, he had to believe that he was the human prophesized in the voodoo priest’s stories. What other explanation could there be for all of the bizarre things that had happened to him? Serafino wanted Dax. He’d already taken Isaac, Chloe, and Kevin from him. And Darius and Monica had been kidnapped and almost certainly taken to his lair. And for what reason? Why hadn’t Serafino killed Dax? He’d had the chance multiple times by now. Strangely, every turn of events had helped confirm all that Papa Midnight had said about him being the chosen one.
Serafino needed Dax.
Though he wasn’t exactly sure what it was, Dax knew there had to be a reason the vampire had kept him alive. Instead, he’d hurt the ones close to Dax to make him suffer—and maybe to weaken his resolve.
A scream drew Dax’s attention to the open door at the front of the house.
Papa Midnight.
He ran to the door and out onto the patio. The rain came down so hard in the night that he could barely see five feet in front of his face, but the cry had sounded close by—not like it had come from within the apartment he’d left Papa Midnight in. But he saw no one around.
“Jackson!”
Dax glanced up at the roof of the building next door. He dropped the bedposts tucked under his arm and gripped the handle of the bat tighter with his opposite hand.
Serafino stood on top of the roof, behind Papa Midnight. The vampire held Papa Midnight with one arm around his chest and the other arm wrapped around the blind man’s throat.
“Hello again, Dax,” Serafino said.
“Let him go. It’s me you want. Stop hurting those who are close to me.”
“Oh, but it is so much more fun that way. And do you not think it’s
fair, considering how many of my soldiers you have killed?”
“Maybe you should face me yourself instead of sending your bitch-ass thugs after me.”
Serafino looked down at Papa Midnight, then laughed. “This old man might have taught you a few tricks, but do you think you are prepared to face me?” He looked to the sky and laughed.
“You know who I am. That’s why you won’t kill me.”
The vampire furrowed his brow. “Yes? And who are you?”
“I am the one who will bring an end to your kind.”
“You don’t know anything. The other factions want you dead, Dax. We can protect you.”
“Cut the shit. Give me back the kids, and let him go.”
“As you wish,” Serafino said.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the wide smile on the vampire’s face. He placed both hands on the old man’s head. Thunder roared as Serafino snapped Papa Midnight’s neck, turning his head all the way around. The voodoo priest went limp in his hands, and the vampire let go. Papa Midnight’s body crumpled and then rolled down the roof. It flew off the edge, falling several feet down into the floodwater. He landed on his stomach and floated, his head still turned completely around, eyes wide and looking to the sky.
Dax heard more screams. Lightning flashed again, and he glanced around to see Screamers appearing on the surrounding rooftops.
Rain fell harder, dripping down his face. He gripped the bat and raised it to his shoulder. With night upon them, Dax needed the lightning flashes to see the Screamers. He would have to use the skills he’d learned from the late voodoo priest.
Focus on my surroundings. See with my mind and my heart, not with my eyes.
A Screamer landed behind Dax, and he quickly turned while already swinging the baseball bat. A crack rang out as the bat connected with the vampire’s skull. Such a blow would have killed a human, but it only stunned the Screamer. Dax kicked the creature in the chest, sending it over the railing and down into the water below.
Two more creatures landed on the balcony, one of them next to Dax and the other in front of him. He kicked the vampire next to him, sending it backward and crashing through the glass and into the house. The Screamer in front of him hissed as it swung, cutting Dax across the left cheek with a glancing blow. Dax grimaced and stepped back. The vampire took advantage of the movement, lunging at Dax again. Lifting the bat, Dax managed to block the blow. But the creature’s momentum sent them both falling to the floor.
Dax’s head bounced off the wooden patio’s floor, the Screamer on top of him. The impact sent flares of pain through his head. He used the baseball bat to keep the vampire off of his face, but the Screamer used its leverage to push the bat down on his chest.
Dax cried out.
He could feel his chest caving in, his lungs struggling to breathe. With all of the strength he could muster, Dax fought to push the Screamer off.
Two more Screamers landed on the patio. They stood on each side of Dax as he continued to push against the vampire on top of him.
He wasn’t sure how much longer he could fight, and it didn’t matter. He had been surrounded. Everything Papa Midnight had preached to Dax about being the only one who could save mankind had been bullshit. It was about to be proven so—when these things killed him.
Hands grabbed Dax under the arms and lifted him up. The bat was snatched away from his grip. He opened his eyes as he landed on his feet.
The two vampires held him, securing his arms. The Screamer he’d been fighting with stood off to the side. It tossed the bat over the railing and into the floodwaters below.
Floating down from the roof, Serafino landed in front of Dax. He smiled as he stood before the man.
“Kill me,” Dax said. “Get it over with.”
The vampire clicked his tongue. “We have other plans for you.”
Serafino’s eyes grew brighter. Dax tried to look away, knowing the vampire was trying to insert another nightmarish conjuring into his head. But the two Screamers holding Dax held his head straight.
Reaching out, Serafino placed the heel of his palm onto Dax’s forehead.
Dax expected a haunting vision from his past, but instead, all he saw was black.
Chapter 35
The sound of clacking keyboards spread throughout the control room at the CVC. Engineers—human slaves, although they were not aware of it—manned their computers, working to hack into other databases around the world.
Jing had already won. He had dropped the grid in the United States.
Pacing back and forth at the far wall, Jing watched the monitors, each showing him glimpses into the major American cities. He had already dispatched some of his lieutenants to the U.S. to monitor what was happening there, and now he paused in front of the monitor displaying the feed from the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
There was something about the place, offering him a deep-seated instinctual twinge that told him the city was important. He had honored that feeling by sending his top lieutenant, Seyana, to the city. But she hadn’t communicated with him in many hours, while other lieutenants had spoken to him two or three times in the same timeframe. But he wasn’t that worried. Seyana was one of the most powerful vampires in all of Asia—in the entire eastern hemisphere. She would be fine.
Jing went to the center of the room where Ren, the vampire he had running the control center, stood supervising the humans. Ren bowed as Jing approached.
“I will be returning to my living quarters now,” Jing said. “Please do not disturb me unless it is an emergency.”
“Yes, Master,” Ren said. The vampire again bowed to Jing, who nodded.
Everyone, humans and vampires alike, stood as Jing exited the room. The Master was given the same respect as he passed others on the way back to his living quarters. Two guards stood in front of his door, and they dropped to a single knee as he approached. Jing ignored them and entered his living quarters, slamming and locking the door behind him.
Motion sensors controlled the lights, and had come on when he’d entered the room. The sudden blaze irritated him for a moment before his eyes adjusted. He could feel his vampire body adapting. Evolving.
Jing removed his coat. He unbuttoned his cuffs and took off his dress shirt. The master vampire caught his own reflection in the window and thought of her. Ehara, a Japanese vampire, had taken his human life and given him immortality—both the blessing and the curse of it all.
She’d turned him, and for the next several years, Jing had been her slave. But there was something different about Jing, and his master had known it—an ambition of a magnitude that was aspirational, even for a vampire. Unfortunately for Ehara, she had put too much trust in her protege. He had learned her ways and brokered for power within the Asian faction. On a cold night, deep in the Akaishi Mountains, Jing had broken his enslavement by destroying Ehara in her sleep. He’d decapitated his master in order to take control of her clan and, eventually, the entire faction. As a signal to others with similar ambition, Jing had impaled Ehara’s head and left it at the gate of her mountain resort—where it remained to this day.
Now, Jing went to his shaggy white carpet and sat Indian-style on the floor. If Seyana wasn’t going to signal him, then he would try reaching her. The Master rested his elbows on his knees. He relaxed his hands first, then worked to calm his whole body. When he was loose, he closed his eyes and freed his mind, allowing himself to focus on his most important and powerful lieutenant.
Jing searched for her. She was his closest companion—he could normally reach her within seconds. But he couldn’t find her. He had to try a different approach.
Jing had an ability that few of his kind possessed, known as temporal rewind. The power allowed him to access the past as if he was watching footage from a security camera. Even if he could not directly communicate with one of his vampires in real time, he could still view their actions in the projector that was his mind.
He found Seyana and her thoughts, but she was bl
ank. He went backward, searching for the last time the vampire had seen anything. And Jing found a scene, a view as if he had been looking through Seyana’s eyes.
Seyana had been inside of a dark place. She’d been screaming and smoke billowed as her flesh burned.
How had humans caught her?
He heard the snarls. Through her vision, Jing could even sense the other vampires in the room. He tightened his jaw and leaned his head on his shoulder to pop his neck.
Seyana looked up, and Jing watched as a vampire with long black hair approached her.
“Serafino.”
Serafino pulled out an ax, and it was the last thing Jing saw before everything went black.
Jing gasped as his eyes shot open. It took him a moment to recover from what he had seen. His top lieutenant and oldest companion had been destroyed. More than anything, though, Jing was curious as to why he hadn’t felt it when Seyana had died. Maybe she’d known she was going to die and had not wanted Jing to suffer that torment, so she’d severed all communication with him? She’d been powerful enough to do such a thing.
Standing up, Jing paced the room, punching the walls and cursing between screams. He could not recall the last time he’d been this angry. Seyana had gone to New Orleans knowing that the chosen one could be there, but Jing had never thought the one to destroy her would be one of their own kind.
But he now knew two things. The chosen one was indeed in America—in New Orleans. And before this war was over, Serafino and that entire faction would suffer a far worse fate than any vampire could ever have imagined.
Chapter 36
When he drifted back into consciousness, Dax wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead.
He could have been in Hell—Dax doubted he’d have a spot in Heaven. The dark room smelled musty. Candles lit the space, positioned in two rows and running the length of the room, offering an aisle leading to where he stood. His arms had been pinned above his head, high enough to stretch the limits of his shoulder joints. Steel shackles bound his wrists. The damp, cold shirt he’d been wearing had been removed. The humidity in the room felt stifling, making it difficult for Dax to breathe.
