by Robert Ross
They both turned back to Ah’Anon who was silently taking in the exchange.
“Oh,” he continue. “I was born in the Old Kingdom, during the reign of Djoser which would be—“
“About 4700 years ago 2660 BC,” said Kellan slowly, voice filled with awe and then added, “You actually look pretty damn good for 4,700.”
Ah’Anon gave a short laugh and nodded to Kellan. “Very gracious of you to say.”
“Wait, seriously,” said Juliet her mind refusing the information she’d just heard. “You are that old? That’s amazing! Where you like a Pharaoh of something?”
Ah’Anon chuckled again, “Hardly. I am the bastard child of Djoser’s Vizier, Imhotep. However, they are all dust and I remain, so after nearly five millennia my birth status does not seem to matter as much as it once did.”
“Yeah, I imagine not,” she said absently.
“Um, so, Ah’Anon,” began Kellan.
“Yes, Sentinel of Order?”
“You travel all the way here, without notice and risk being obliterated by a somewhat inexperienced Sentinel, putting 4,700 years of existence at risk. Do I have that right?”
“You do,” Ah’Anon replied gravely.
“Yeah, well, I take two things from that. First, I don’t think you simply forgot to call ahead. I doubt someone gets to become a 4,700 year old anything by forgetting to take precautions around people or things that could destroy them.”
“True enough,” Ah’Anon allowed.
Kellan nodded and continued, “So, number two. I’m thinking that whatever brought you here must be really fucking important, and,“ Kellan raised a finger for emphasis, “Is likely going to ruin my whole day.”
“Sadly, Kellan Thorne, I fear you are correct on that point as well.”
“To the Council of Havilah,” said Kellan as he poured straight bourbon in the glass Juliet held toward him.
“The Council of Havilah,” she echoed and they clinked glasses then drained the contents in a single swallow. Juliet shuddered a bit and then added, “And you were complaining about beer in the afternoon.”
“That was before a five thousand year old bastard vampire wandered into my shop bearing proclamations of doom.”
“Our shop.”
“Huh? Oh, quite right, Miss Herrick. Before a five thousand year old bastard vampire wandered into our shop bearing proclamations of doom.”
They both looked at Ah’Anon who sat still as stone in one of the overstuffed chairs located in Beloved Books’ central reading nook Only his eyes moved, taking in first Kellan and then Juliet.
“Want one?” asked Kellan.
“I do not drink—alcohol,” answered Ah’Anon emphasizing the the pause with a smile.
“Ha! Nice one,” laughed Kellan. “You’ve read Stoker?”
“Of course.”
“Hey,” interjected Juliet, “Did you meet Dracula?”
“Twice, but he is far different than the accounts would have you believe. I always found him to be—“
Ah’Anon fell silent as the door to the shop rang out to indicate someone entering. No one moved but moments later a sharp voice called out with a thick Scottish accent. “Kellan! Juliet? Where are you? I’ve brought your damned sandwiches. Why is no one up front?” Her voice grew closer as she wandered deeper into the shop. “I’m not your house maid, Kellan Thorne, and Benjamin at Roswell Provisions says you owe him thirty five dollars for the three sand—“
Shannon broke off as she entered the nook, her eyes locking on Ah’Anon’s. “Well, hello there?” she said, her voice lowering and becoming throaty. “Who might you be?”
“Um, Shannon,” began Kellan.
“Here.” She said absently tossing the bag of sandwiches to Kellan and sliding into a chair next to the vampire. Kellan rummaged through the brown bag and pulled out two sandwiches, Mexican Cokes, and a couple bags of chips. “Turkey and Swiss with extra pickles?”
“Yay!” cried Juliet reaching for it. Kellan placed her Coke and chips on the side table between them along with his own and took a big bite of his chicken salad sandwich.
“Shannon,” Kellan tried again around his mouth full of sandwich.
The Scottish woman simply held up her right hand, palm facing him as she leaned against the side of her chair and toward Ah’Anon. Kellan looked at Juliet and they both shrugged, attention returning to their lunch.
“I am Ah’Anon,” said the vampire.
“Well now, that sounds exotic and where are you from?”
“Egypt originally, but I spend most of my time in Havilah now, what you call Ethiopia.”
“Fascinating,” Shannon purred, “Please tell me more.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” exclaimed Kellan. “Anon, Shannon here is from thirteenth century Scotland and unless she’s developed a cartographic hobby about which I’m unaware, she’s just trying to seduce you with her wily Scottish-Ginger ways.” With that Kellan extended another fine tendril of power and as it wrapped around Shannon’s wrist, she almost managed to mask her emotions.”
Ah’Anon smiled broadly, “She’s quite disciplined isn’t she. Only micro-expressional changes.”
“Yep, she’s a pro, my Shannon,” said Kellan taking another bite of his sandwich.
“Well, she certainly did better than you and me,” defended Juliet.
“I know. I wasn’t being sarcastic. She is a pro.”
Shannon let out a long breath. “What exactly are you?” she asked.
Ah’Anon made to respond but Kellan jumped in, “5,000 year old bastard son to an Egyptian Pharaoh’s advisor.”
Juliet and Ah’Anon both stared at him. “What? We’ve already covered all this. I gave her the Cliff’s Notes version.
“And you look like that because—“
“I am a vampire, yes.” Answered Ah’Anon.
Shannon looked back to Kellan. “We’re friends with vampires now are we, sweetie?”
“This one,” Kellan said. “So far. And don’t sweetie me after you tried to seduce him right in front of me.”
“I did not!” yelled Shannon.
“You did,” responded all three in unison.
Shannon leaned back in her chair and folded her legs crosswise beneath her. “Well, I don’t remember doing so and he clearly had me in thrall.”
“Clearly,” said Juliet flatly.
“Well, thank you for the support, Juliet Herrick. Remind me to keep secret all your dalliances with a certain Korean boy.”
Juliet raised her chin. “Kellan already knows about Glenn. He’s fine with it and it wouldn’t matter anyway. I am a woman, not some tween with a crush.”
“A woman are you now,” laughed Shannon. “I guess there was more going on in that store room than even I knew about.”
“Stop stop stop,” said Kellan holding his hands up. “First, I don’t want any stray images in my head and second, I never said I was ‘fine,’ with anything. I just said I wouldn’t light him on fire and put him in hole filled with lye. That’s hardly a testimonial, Juliet.”
“Excuse me,” said Ah’Anon quietly, “I have a great deal more to impart and must gain your support then return to the Council before my protection spell wanes. I do not want to be caught in daylight without it.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” said Shannon. “What protection spell? I assume without it you would, what, burst into flames?”
“One of the Council anointed me with an oil that grants protection from the sun, but only for a short duration. Without it, my travel here would have been uncomfortable but, no, I would not burst into flames as you put it. I am far too old for that.”
“Magic suntan lotion.” said Kellan.
The vampire smiled. “Something like that, if suntan lotion were available in SPF 1,000. Now, please let me continue. The Council of Havilah is currently trying to retrieve the five artifacts of power that have been stolen, but, given our past failures, is seeking your assistance to prevent the remaining two
from being obtained by the Cabal.”
“SPF 1,000,” repeated Juliet with a whistle, “That is a surprisingly modern reference.”
Ah’Anon inclined his head, “Those of us who survive the passing of centuries, must embrace each new age.” He shrugged, “Those that do not, usually kill themselves or or killed by others.”
“Wait!” shouted Shannon. “Back up. I am completely lost here.”
“Shannon,” responded Kellan, “We’ve already—“
“No, Kellan, just because you asked me to be sandwich girl, doesn’t mean I’m going to try and piece all these parts together like some kind of Disney princess.” She looked at Juliet. “Disney princess?” The younger woman nodded in solidarity.
“Well, I’m not sitting through it again, and have to take a piss anyway. You and the vampire have fun.” Kellan got up and walked toward the back-office bathroom.
“Sentinel, it would not hurt for you to hear me repeat—“
Kellan waved a hand without turning, “I remember, Anon. Havilah. Eden. A Cabal of evil that wants to destroy the world using artifacts and a Council of Immortals who want to stop them. When you get back to exactly how any of that works, give me a holler.”
As Kellan disappeared from view Shannon huffed, “I have to take a piss? Really?”
Juliet shrugged. “Honeymoon’s over. He’s a man.”
“I suppose he is at that,” said Shannon. “Well, vampire, start talking.”
Ah’Anon turned toward the scotswoman and she continued. “Let’s take each in turn shall we: Havilah, Eden, Cabal, Artifacts, and Council.”
“Very well,” he began, “But let me leave the artifacts until the end, we hadn’t discussed them in any detail and Kellan can return to hear that part.” Shannon nodded and he continued. “First, Havilah and Eden are, for the most part, the same thing. Havilah is the region in which Eden resides; it lies within what you now call Ethiopia. The garden itself is not far from the sea and comprises about twelve square miles.”
“Wait,” said Juliet. “I didn’t think about this when you talked about it before, but how come I’ve never read anything about this. I mean, you can’t very well hide a giant biblical garden from satellites.”
Ah’Anon chuckled softly. “Of course you can. So much in this world is hidden from mortal eyes. If you knew even a fraction of what has been obscured throughout the millennia, it could very well drive you mad.”
“Awesome,” replied the young woman, “But that really doesn’t explain why no one has seen this place, especially since biblical scholars have been crawling over the region since, well, since forever.”
“I don’t have a scientific explanation for you. I’m sorry. A number of us have explored it off and on over the centuries, but now everyone simply accepts the garden’s hidden nature as an act of the Creator.”
“Act of God? That’s the best you got?” Juliet asked. “Very unsatisfying.”
“I agree, but there you have it. I’m confident there is a scientific explanation. God rarely violates his own physical laws. However, as you might imagine, the Creator’s understanding and command of those laws far exceeds our own. That said, as best we’ve figured, there is both a visual cloak attached to the garden as well as a psychological repulser field involved. Oh, and the guards of course. So I suppose it’s possible mortals have found the garden before and simply been slain by the angel guarding it. I have heard of other places with psychological warding but never a place with so many protections around it. Clearly, someone, doesn’t want mortals going in the garden. If not the Creator, who?”
“You keep saying creator. You mean God, right? The one who Kellan kind of works for?”
The vampire smiled and shook his head slightly. “Please don’t take this as patronizing for it is not my intent, but I could spend decades discussing this with you.”
Juliet frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Ah’Anon raised a hand. “No. There isn’t time, but let me say these few things. Ask yourself what makes someone or something a god. I will tell you that there are many creatures that are believed to be, or believe themselves to be, gods. One thing they all agree on, albeit begrudgingly, is that there is only one Creator. As for Kellan working for him. No, the Sentinel of Order does not work for the Creator. The Sentinel of Order works on behalf of creation itself. There is a difference.”
“Uh, I think we need to unpack that a bit, don’t you Shannon?”
The older woman nodded, “A bit, yes. I’m less interested in gods. Let’s start with repulser field. What is that?”
“And the garden itself added Juliet. You aren’t telling me that this really is the place Adam and Eve hung out eating apples and playing with snakes.”
Ah’Anon sighed. “You are referring to the Biblical book of Genesis. Those books are, in many ways, metaphorical, but some components are accurate as well. Did the entire human race grow out from two people named Adam and Eve? Of course not. They couldn’t provide a genetic pool large enough to result in such a diaspora of humanity. That said, there is a garden. It is guarded by an angel and we are fairly certain that in the distant past a man and woman named Adam and Eve both lived there.”
“Fairly certain, how?” Asked Shannon, dubious.
“The angel told us.”
“The guardian angels?” Asked Juliet.
“He isn’t a guardian angel,” answered the vampire. “He is an angel that guards something. There really is a big difference. But, yes, that angel told us and we couldn’t get much more from him because his is, well, he is just not very talkative.”
“What is he guarding Eden from?”
Ah’Anon sighed. “This really is beside the the point. I was just trying to give you context not a history lesson on Eden.”
Both women just stared at the vampire with flat expressions.
“Very well,” he said, “He is guarding it from mortals. None of your kind is allowed within the garden. I suspect, the angel was intended to guard it from anyone entering, however, his instructions may not have been precise and this angel is rather literal.”
“Got it, so no mortal humans can get in, just vampires.”
“Not just vampires, anything other than mortal humans may enter. vampires, werewolves, demons, djinn, kobolds.” He paused, gesturing with one hand. “Really, too many to mention them all. We have a very diverse community. It is largely self-policing and we do not have truly evil residents, perhaps Chaotic Neutral.
Juliet laughed and said, “You really do keep up on things, Ah’Anon.” Shannon looked perplexed so the young woman explained. “Chaotic Neutral is a descriptive alignment in Dungeons & Dragons. It basically is a person who does whatever the frack she wants but isn’t out to specifically hurt anyone.” Juliet turned to Ah’Anon. “And good on you, Mr. 4,000 year old vampire, for getting your geek on and knowing the D&D lingo.”
“That is a bit condescending, Juliet,” replied Ah’Anon. “I’ll have you know that we have a thriving D&D community. As for knowing the lingo it was a Council Demon who originally gave Gary Gygax the idea for Dungeons and Dragons, so consider that for a moment.”
Shannon sighed, looking confused and disgruntled, but said nothing.
“Oh sorry Shan,” said Juliet quickly, “D&D is a game where you pretend to be an adventurer, fighting and exploring. Gary Gygax created it a long time ago, maybe the 70s or something. And I cannot even begin to believe that someone in this Council of Ah’Anon’s was the father of the coolest game in the world.”
“Sooo,” Shannon began drawing out the word, “Dungeons and Dragons, the coolest game in the world, is where you basically pretend to be me?”
Juliet had gotten up, walking behind her chair and looking at one of the book shelves. She turned to Shannon, “Well, when you put it that way it either makes the game sound less cool or you amazingly cool.”
“I am amazingly cool,” said Shannon dryly
“May I continue?” Asked Ah’Anon but didn’t wait for a rep
ly. “The Council of Havilah established itself in the Garden of Eden because it is, quite frankly, the safest place in the world from human interference. Humans can’t see it. If a human gets too close to it, they start to feel anxious and tend to turn away. If some stalwart human persists and makes it to the gate, they are confronted by an angel guard who prevents their entry. Finally, if they try to get past that angel, well, let’s just say that angel doesn’t talk much, but he is quite insistent.”
“So you established this Council to defend against this Cabal which we haven’t gotten to yet?”
“Not at all,” answered Ah’Anon. “The Council predates the Cabal by centuries. I first heard of the Cabal shortly after the fall of Rome, which they facilitated.”
Juliet looked excited and twirled around her chair sitting abruptly and leaning in. I love Roman history. How—“
“No. No. No.” Cried Ah’Anon, that is completely unrelated to our task here.”
Juliet looked crestfallen and slumped back, pouting.
“Perhaps,” continued the vampire, “assuming the Cabal doesn’t succeed in ending the world, I can offer you a private discussion on Roman history. Fair?”
“I suppose,” said Juliet, “it just depends on how likely it is that the world’s gonna end.”
Shanon unfolded her legs and stretched them over the arm of the chair, “That’s our Juliet. She always has her priorities straight. Never mind the world ending. She likes Roman history so give her some.” Juliet stuck out her tongue.
“The Council,” said Ah’Anon raising his voice to take command of the room again, “was conceived simply as a loose confederation of beings who were widely regarded by humanity as evil. By our very natures we lived outside the natural order of things, but still thought there was a spark of good inside each of us.
“But you are a vampire, right?”
“I am, indeed.”
“And you feed on human blood?”
“Sometimes, but only if the host is willing and never enough to harm them. I more routinely drink the blood of animals we keep for such purposes.”
“That sounds cruel,” chided Juliet.
