“We’re under attack,” Nathan yelled as he ran into the tent. “Legrant we have to do something.”
“Damn it! Snap out of it.” Johana shook Legrant. “Nathan, do you remember the evacuation plan?” Nathan nodded. “Inform those in charge to take their groups into the mountains. The children are a priority. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Frank you get the guards together and ask if anyone of them knows how to fight. We have to stall them for enough time to let the children get away. They are the priority,” Johana said.
Nathan ran out of the tent to fulfill his orders while yelling was heard from outside the tent. Fearing that their enemy had found them Johana pushed Legrant to the side and grabbed an old shotgun. Everything happened quickly. Someone pushed open the fabric of the tent of the entrance. Johana pointed the gun and Meryl screamed with all her strength. Caleb entered the tent along with Pein, and Alexander while all the people inside and outside the tent looked on with shocked eyes.
“Caleb!” Meryl yelled.
“Are you alright?” he asked while placing his hands on Meryl’s shoulders. She nodded in response to his question. “I thought something like this might happen.”
“What are you doing here?” Johana asked.
“I sent Meryl here.” Caleb raised a hand asking for their silence when he saw everyone’s eyes on Meryl. “Don’t think bad of her. I knew that if I had received information about the rebels. Then I wasn’t the only one. We need to know what you were really doing in order to help you.”
“Why should we trust you?” They heard from a man. “I don’t mean to offend you. I come from Alpha Zone, but you are a vampire leader.”
“I understand, but if you have lived in my territory, then you know that I do what I can to stop the torture and killing of humans and also stop making children work.”
The man gave Caleb a hard look but after a few seconds, he nodded. He had seen how the special police who had been trained by Caleb had worked to help the humans. It had been twenty years ago when in an old factory owned by a vampire they enslaved children in all manner of ways in which to enslave them. The raid caught them “red-handed” and Caleb got Amadeus to sign a document that blamed them of all charges, and it came with the punishment of the death penalty. It was in those days when the leader of the Alpha Zone began to change the laws in their favor. Thereby improving the mood of the people who worked more effectively and winning over other powerful vampires, who seeing the result favorably accepted the changes.
“Johana, please don’t think that I deceived you. We wanted to help you, but if I had told you this I thought that you would kill me,” Meryl explained.
“Maybe they wouldn’t have done that,” Alexander said with a smile, “but now is not the time to talk. If we don’t do something soon many will die.”
“And what the hell are we going to do?” Johana asked and began to panic. “You are only three vampires. We won’t even last a few seconds.”
“Truthfully we were five, but are now four,” Caleb added. “Even so. You shouldn’t underestimate me,” he said fixing the leather gloves that he always wore. “Meryl stay with her.”
Although. Fear was visible on the face of everyone there. It seemed Caleb was having a positive effect on all the people. They began to think that they were going to get off scot-free, but things weren’t going well.
“What did he mean by five?” someone asked.
Johana tensed and didn’t know what to say.
“You said five, but we only see three. Have you come here with someone else?”
“There are four of us here, but I sent one of my men into the city. Anyway, I was referring to another person.” Several people frowned at that. They didn’t understand anything. “Him.”
Caleb raised a hand pointing towards a chair. The person seated there and looked at everyone with a contorted face. Legrant didn’t say anything to defend himself.
“Is this a joke?” Was heard in the room. “Did he lie to us?”
“Has he told you anything to the contrary?” Johana said trying to diffuse the situation. “It doesn’t matter. He isn’t our traitor, but it is evident that among us there are many.”
Johana looked at Meryl at the same time that she frowned. Meryl let everyone see the worry on her face. If her suspicions were correct the real trouble hadn’t arrived yet.
Caleb walked near Meryl. He knew her gestures. There were no secrets for him.
“Who do you suspect?”
“There are two guys. They are very strange. I thought…”
“They are always watching Meryl,” Johana said harshly. “I’ve watched them for days. More precisely since they arrived a few months ago, and when I looked at Meryl they were always nearby, like they were stalking her. They made my hair stand on end.”
“What are their names?” Pein asked.
“Ed and Mathew.”
As if he were a chameleon Caleb’s color changed and the expression on his face caused indescribable fear in all present. They could see the anger, hatred, and desire to kill in the gleam of his slanted eyes. Alexander did not hesitate to pose a reassuring hand on his shoulder, though his face did not seem relaxed but tense.
“He isn’t named Ed. He is Edel the leader of the Omega Zone. He is the right hand of Epsilon,” Caleb almost whispered, causing everyone’s faces to pale. “And Mathew, in turn, is the right hand of Edel.”
“Let’s just say he does my job,” Alexander added with a sigh. “That means that we have several problems. Either we start to move. Or they will kill us all.”
“Caleb, it’s better if we all flee.”
“If we don’t stall them then no one will escape Meryl.”
Meryl didn’t want any of the three to stay there even if they did have many reasons for doing so. She felt like she wouldn’t see them again, and the mere fact of thinking that they could die made her feel like she was drowning, but the screams were rising and the people were running toward that central tent hoping to save themselves.
Frank, the rough man contrary to everything came with a group of men and boys, all of them brandishing old military weapons that were stored in a false floor underground. They were ready to fight, die or kill for their own survival.
“Surely many of you are going to die here,” Caleb suddenly said, “Don’t look like that. It’s my duty to tell you what might happen. Okay.” They continued taking small steps in a row while he observed them. “We’ll get in groups and fan out in an attempt to try and protect as many people as we can. Decide among you who will be the ringleaders. Once the decision is made. They come to me to give them instructions.”
Meryl tried to hear Caleb’s voice, but Johana’s screams would not let her. Legrant was still in shock and they had to get him out of that chaotic state as soon as possible. The impression of what had happened and the lives lost in that little passage of time shocked the mind of the leader.
“This shouldn’t have happened. Everything was going to be okay.” He rubbed his face with his hands and his eyes were fixed on the ground.
“Let me try, Johana.” Meryl bent down to look at Legrant. “It was not your fault. Epsilon’s spies were among us.”
For a second that seemed to have caught his attention. He lifted his chin slightly and stared at her with eyes full of pain.
“If you were worried about what you really are. It does not matter. One of the few things I learned when I woke up in this time of chaos. Was that there were also good-hearted vampires and you’re one of them Legrant,” Meryl said.
“I know. I know you’re right, but this is my fault.”
“It was impossible to know who was a spy. There are too many people here.”
“But I should have been able to sense other vampires.”
“From what Caleb said they are the closest to Epsilon,” Joh
ana added, “There has to be some reason for them to have that position. If you had discovered them. They surely would have killed you.”
Legrant sighed, his head felt like some things were clarified, but the burden of guilt for those innocent lives and the quashed rebellion were destroying him. A light was lit inside of him. He could not continue in that corner lamenting his actions. People trusted him. They needed him more than ever and he could not afford to stay without doing anything.
“You are right. I won’t be any help sitting here.” He quickly stood with a defiant face.
He left the tent. Nobody said anything but there were broad smiles on the faces of his men, and Caleb welcomed his recovery by giving him soft pats on the back. It was time to prepare. They would only have fifteen or twenty minutes.
Johana sat near Meryl listening to all kinds of conversations. They were trying to assign groups, and the people would not stop coming. They would send everyone to the mountains. Following the escape route that the other groups had already followed. It was chaos. A complete disaster. The tired faces of those present made them see that they could not wait much longer.
“It’s snowing?”
“Yes, Meryl, that’s snow.”
“The first snowfall of the year,” Caleb added dropping his coat on the shoulders of the girl. “The weather is different than from when you lived, bundle up.”
Johana could not help but look absorbed at the man’s back, of that vampire. Johana realized then that the spark of life she saw in the eyes of her friend was love. A love that could only bring painful suffering. She said nothing, it was not the time to talk about romance. Maybe they wouldn’t live to chat about that nonsense, but she smiled, because she knew how hard life would get for that innocent girl from the past.
For a minute there was laughter. It was bittersweet because several hundred meters away people were dying. The vampires were eating the children and they could not do anything about it.
“Don’t make that face and eat. If you are weak you will only cause problems,” Pein commented pushing the dish towards a sour Frank.
With a loud grunt, he grabbed the food reluctantly getting comments from among those present. A little fun was not amiss, but it had to arrive in silence, and it was Caleb who caused it. He rose suddenly dropping the metal cup of coffee on the pot absorbing the heat of the coals, causing a dry and loud noise that drew all eyes and silenced everyone.
Meryl came over and grabbed his forearm. He was stiff, listening beyond everything, and he suddenly pushed her causing her to fall to the ground more than a meter from his position, and then came chaos, because right where Meryl had been one second before a figure fell from somewhere over their heads.
Edel laughed out loud. He tried to hit Caleb but he dodged it smoothly. When he was about to hit back others attacked the group, spreading them apart and making them fight for their lives.
Johana ran and lifted Meryl up in a desperate attempt to help her run to the forest, but every time someone was knocked down and fell in front of them preventing them from fleeing.
“What the hell are you doing, Edel?” Caleb raised his voice above the screams.
“What do you think? Removing the rotten part of our society.”
“Killing children?”
Between blows, the conversation was anything but peaceful. Edel did not answer, just laughed at the question of the man he hated. Edel could not help but remember the day he met Caleb. Caleb got all the praise back then from those who at that time were three great and ancient vampires. Edel hated that Amadeus always looked at him with the eyes of a father. That everyone spoke well of him. He always kept his composure and people loved his character, always, always, it was Caleb.
Now he had the chance to kill him with his own hands, usurping his position. Edel knew that Amadeus had left everything prepared so that if something happened. Caleb was to become one of the Gods he admired, and that he could not allow. He had spent a century planning everything under the strict tutelage of Epsilon. Yes, Epsilon was worthy to occupy that post, his master. He had earned his trust with blood and cruel acts. After all, what was a vampire? A vampire was not a good-hearted person. They were evil by nature and he was repelled by those like Caleb. Who put his mind first before his instincts, but Edel knew something that Caleb did not know. Something he discovered by chance. A great secret guarded so jealously because knowing it could cost him his life. A being, a wonderful individual who was carefully concealed and was above all others, including the four great lords. Everything was a cover, both Epsilon, and Amadeus and the rest were simple generals at his side, and although they were his Gods. Edel tried to imagine how the man who raised his shadow over all of them was.
Wonderful coincidence, Edel thought, hitting Caleb with full force.
Yes, ten years ago he had discovered a clue after a strange note was sent to Epsilon. He only had to torture the messenger and cover his tracks. It was hard for him to believe it at first, and he even felt betrayed by everyone, but after thinking about it again, it all faded from his mind. He had to know the man who had been the first vampire. The man that was born in an ancient epoch.
Edel laughed as he pounded without stopping on his hated enemy. Who put his arms in front of his body as a shield.
Caleb knew he was not at one hundred percent. His eyes were diverted every minute to look at Meryl. All the chaos around her could hurt her, and that was his weak point. No one tried to attack her. There was something that did not fit and he couldn’t put it together. In one of the most confusing moments, one of Edel’s men dodged her before falling on her, and Mathew served as a shield during the second time. That alerted him to the situation. He struck a deadly blow on Edel throwing him several meters above everyone’s heads and used that time to help Legrant to get rid of another vampire who attacked him.
“Get Meryl out of here.”
“What happened?” Legrant was surprised at Caleb’s face, burning with anger.
“Something is happening. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it. They are protecting her.”
Legrant noticed both girls taking shelter next to the tent, and again another of his enemies made flawless footwork to avoid hitting them. He frowned, he had not noticed, but Caleb was right. They were trying to prevent her suffering even the slightest scratch. Why? Those men were not known for thinking about a woman’s safety.
Nathan shouted, drawing everyone’s eyes. Meryl noticed how pale the young boy had become. He stood with a trembling finger pointing at a direction between the fight. Several pairs of curious eyes followed the reason for the cause of the boy’s discomfort to crash literally into the cruelest person ever. Epsilon was there, smiling placidly as he watched the battle royal, sitting on an old trunk and with a private escort. His head rested on both hands and he looked almost dreamily at the scene before him, but Meryl’s appearance beat the look on Nathan’s pale face. Meryl had both hands covering her mouth. She had watery eyes and her mind was in shock.
“My God, you’re shaking.” Johana was surprised when she made a new attempt to help her up. “Come on, we must get out of here!”
Epsilon turned his head as his smile disappeared. Caleb saw that he was staring at Meryl as still as an old Greek statue.
Everything happened at breakneck speed before Caleb could leap to shield her. Epsilon was already behind her on his knees and grabbed a lock of her hair. At that time, the battle stopped completely. There was a deathly silence and Johana, fully terrified, unsuccessfully tried to move.
“So… so long ago ...”
“It can’t be,” said Meryl turning her head to see him clearly. “Good God, George.”
Alexander and Caleb looked at them with eyes wide open. They knew that George was the name of her beloved brother, who she had sought, and which she had seen horrible things about in a strange vision. Now he was there to surprise all of t
hem. As a different person. Was there anything left of little George within that demon?
“My dear sister,” Epsilon whispered whetting his mouth in a grim smile. “You look better than I expected. However, it’s a shame that you remain human.”
“Why?”
“Why?” he repeated dramatically. “You mean the new me?”
She swallowed hard because she could not believe that the most hated and feared person in the world was her little brother. Through her head passed fleeting memories filled with an indescribable happiness, the picnics, the pride she felt when he brought impeccable notes from school and now, things were black, so dark that they had no end.
He said nothing else. He just snapped his fingers vigorously and in a second, they were completely surrounded.
Pein cursed and shouted all the curse words that he could think of. There were too many vampires for them to fight.
“What are you planning?” Caleb suddenly asked.
“To take what is mine,” Epsilon murmured while frowning and getting up from the floor. “My sister belongs to me. Do not make that face. I let her stay with you hoping that you would transform her, and this is the result. I am disappointed Caleb, and really sorry I can’t kill you. They don’t let me.”
“No, George ...”
“I am not George, Meryl. He died long ago. However, I admit that I can’t hurt you. You matter to me. It’s time you’re where you belong. Say goodbye and thanks.”
“Caleb ...” She couldn’t help looking at him. His face of pain and confusion increased her anger, but reason won. She knew she could not do anything, at least for now.
“Her too,” Epsilon commanded.
Johana unsuccessfully tried to scream when she was surrounded by two long arms that held her with the strength of a grizzly bear. Epsilon had suddenly decided to take her. He knew Johana was close to his sister and hoped that would assuage the situation. Then he smiled at Caleb knowing that he was tied hand and foot. Epsilon had realized the circumstances and the effect his acts would have. If Caleb attacked him openly Epsilon, and his men would go for the humans, and Meryl would never forgive him.
Melodies of Blood I Page 17
