Sanctuary (Forsaken Realms Trilogy)

by Lillian Sage

  Intellectually he knew that there wasn't any more sunshine there than there was anywhere else, but the idea still bothered him a little.

  He didn't expect to find anything at all here in nowhere Kansas. The sewers weren't even all that extensive compared to the hundreds of miles worth of sewers found in most major cities.

  But still, he needed a place to hang out during the daytime anyway, so he might as well use the time he had here...just in case.

  Brenden had been unhappy for the better part of a century. Sitting around doing nothing was simply not in his nature, and neither was admitting defeat.

  During the culling he had been away from home, traveling, and had missed the fight. The thought burned him still to this day. If only he had been there!

  In reality, if Brenden had been there during the culling, he would almost certainly be dead today. That thought never crossed his mind though. No, he would have done something to save his friends and family, he told himself.

  Everyone considered Brenden a hothead, and he supposed that he was. But what was the point of having the powers of a vampire and not using them? Why slink in the shadows when you could rule openly?

  The thought had always bothered him.

  He turned a corner and began to walk down a passageway when suddenly a net collapsed around him, yanked him off his feet, and pulled him to the roof. He began to curse as he dangled upside down from the ceiling of the sewer.

  Brenden began to tear through the net with his long razor sharp teeth when suddenly he felt the sting of a dart enter into the side of his neck.

  The world began to swoon before his eyes and in moments Brenden was out cold.

  From an alcove in the side of the sewer stepped a tall Vampire in a six thousand dollar suit.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Natalia stretched as she lay in the massive luxurious bed in Alexander's private apartment, the silk sheets sliding off her body, falling silently to the floor.

  She had begun to meet Alexander here secretly several weeks ago, entering the building through a private elevator which opened into the sewers below the building that whisked her directly to this suite.

  Alexander sat at a desk across the room shuffling through some papers, totally absorbed in his work. Though they had been meeting regularly for several weeks, neither of them was completely comfortable with their arrangement yet.

  They both agreed that it was impossible to maintain any sort of relationship in public. It would have been foolishly dangerous for both of them.

  In the confines of Alexander's apartment suite though, life had taken on a happy balance with each finding something within the other that they both desperately needed.

  Natalia stood up from the bed and crossed the room, her pale naked skin shining under the dim lights of the room.

  "Are you going to stare at those papers all day or are you going to come back to bed?" asked Natalia.

  "Just a few more minutes, I'm beginning to receive distressing news from some of our technology holdings, rumors of some new disruptive gadget about to be released..." intoned Alexander, still completely absorbed in the reports before him "something will need to be done very soon or we may have a problem".

  "We as in we?" asked Natalia playfully.

  "What?" replied Alexander, finally looking up from his papers "No, no sorry my love I meant the Medai. But of course it's nothing to concern yourself with."

  "Yes, I'm much too dense to understand business, and a woman nonetheless" began Natalia, her eyes turning flinty in the low light of the room.

  "That's not what I meant and you know it" chuckled Alexander as he stood and walked towards Natalia, taking her in his arms "You've certainly ruled your own people well these last centuries, I have no doubt."

  Natalia pulled away from him "And what the hell does that mean? I've never mentioned ruling anyone, who are these people you speak of?"

  "No? My mistake then." said Alexander, a slight twinkle in his eye, "I assumed there were more of you hiding out in that sewer of yours. It just makes sense. After the culling there must have been refugees. Who else would they follow?"

  "I'm no leader" shot back Natalia, a little too quickly.

  "Don't worry my love" replied Alexander "I wanted to clear the air with you about this. I thought it was time..."

  He moved towards a fully stocked bar built into the wall and began to pour a glass of blood into a crystal goblet. "The Forsaken are no threat to me, they haven't been for centuries. Why should I need to destroy the scattered remnants?"

  "Why did you need to destroy them to begin with!?" replied Natalia, her voice becoming fierce.

  "That was my father" began Alexander, his back to Natalia as he finished pouring, "...it was his war. Maybe he had a good reason, maybe not. It's irrelevant now."

  He continued "After his death I needed to finish the job though. It was the only way to unify the Clans. Ending the war before it was finished would have been seen as weakness by the rest of the Council. They would have devoured me before I had a chance to consolidate my power. But now...?"

  "What are you saying?" replied Natalia, some of the defiance slipping from her voice.

  "I'm not saying anything..." answered Alexander, turning from the bar and walking towards her, a glass of blood in hand "if the Forsaken resurface I'll have to destroy them to save face, but I'm not actively hunting them. And a time may come when I totally control the Council, when that time comes and my power is absolute..."

  "I understand" said Natalia "it's the world we live in".

  "It's the world we live in" replied Alexander "But maybe someday we can change the world..."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  "Hello brother" echoed the voice in Tym's head once again "It's almost time..."

  It felt like decades had passed since he had last heard that voice, but he was sure that he'd heard it this time, that it wasn't just in his head. In the very dim distance he saw a speck of light.

  Slowly the speck began to grow. After several hours it was the size of a golf ball. Tym settled in to wait. Anything was better than the constant falling that had become his world.

  He wondered how his family were doing back in the sewers. He wondered how long he'd been asleep. Hours? Days? It felt like years at the least though he knew time had little meaning here. And oddly enough, he hadn't become hungry at all since his journey began.

  Still, the light ahead suggested that events were drawing to a close. He couldn't wait to see what would happen next...

  For what seemed like the last few days, Tym had been trying to remember back to the time before he was a Vampire; and to the time when he had been turned.

  Try as he might, he simply couldn't remember and the more he tried, the more the corner of his head began to throb.

  The throbbing bothered him more than the not remembering. As long as he could remember there had been a small portion of Tym's mind that felt like it was locked away, but it wasn't until he had begun this journey that that small locked away section had begun to take on a physical space in his head. And now that space throbbed whenever he tried to think too far back.

  It was disconcerting.

  To most vampires, their turning was the single most defining aspect of their lives. It determined the sort of vampire they would become, what clan they would be born into, and even what powers they would come to manifest.

  Tym wondered if there were others who couldn't remember. He deemed it unlikely. But still, if he ever got out of this strange place, maybe he should start to look for them if they were out there.

  The problem was, the very old vampires were usually the most powerful ones...often rising to preeminence within their clans. It wasn't like Tym could just stroll up to these powerful beings and ask them if they were crazy.

  He would likely be killed before he even had the chance to speak to them. He was a Forsaken, after all, and Forsaken were generally killed on sight.

  Maybe Natalia could figure out a way to do it. She wa
s very clever after all.

  With that Tym put the thought out of his mind and settled in to wait for the now baseball sized shape to grow closer.

  * * *

  Vostrof sat in a plush high backed chair set within the recess of a balcony overlooking the gritty arena below, dark velvet curtains flowed along the walls and a well dressed waiter stood near the wall.

  Below him two humans fought to the death inside a dank soil stained wrestling ring. The crowd in the arena, made up entirely of vampires, cheered loudly as the two humans desperately fought each other. The winner would live to fight another night while the loser would watch his life dribble out in the ring.

  Vostrof turned his head and motioned for Nikolai to move forward.

  "Tell me Nikolai, have we made any progress with our infiltrations yet?"

  "Not yet sire," answered Nikolai "but I've hand picked the specific agents we'll use and created viable background stories for each of them. With your permission I'd like to begin actual infiltration tonight."

  "Excellent; proceed Nikolai." intoned Vostrof, "Tell me, how will you begin?"

  "I thought it best to move slowly sire," Nikolai answered "our sources suggest that the enclaves do not have contact with one another, but even so - I don't think it wise to attempt to infiltrate all enclaves at once. We will attempt the largest enclave first and move from there as quickly and as prudently as possible, gathering intel as we proceed".

  "Very good Nikolai" commanded Vostrof, "very good indeed."

  The crowd surged to its feet as one of the human fighters dealt a crippling blow to his opponent. It was only a matter of moments before the fighter would be dead.

  Yes, thought Vostrof, soon his agents would infiltrate the enclaves of the remaining Forsaken and he would soon come to control them all.

  But that was only the beginning...

  Pulling is mind back to the present Vostrof continued "tell me about this human, the new one...Grey? He's causing us considerable difficulty with this new technology of his."

  "Yes sire, Jason Grey, twenty four years old, comes from nothing, parents long gone. We're having considerable difficulty discovering his current location."

  "And why is that Nikolai?" asked Vostrof.

  "It appears that the young human timed his move very well, he's been underground since shortly before the launch of his new technology. No one has seen him since. He's merely had his people release previously recorded press releases of himself that were carefully created before the launch" answered Nikolai.

  "I want him found Nikolai," commanded Vostrof "move heaven and earth if you must but I want him brought to me alive."

  "Yes sire" answered Nikolai.

  "If Graves gets his hands on this cub before us, it could have lasting repercussions" mused Vostrof "I want control of that technology".

  "Right away sire" answered Nikolai as the wheels began to churn in his head.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Brenden slowly regained consciousness. He found himself bound hand and foot and laying on the slick wet stone floor of the sewer where he had been captured.

  Several feet from him stood a very well dressed vampire casually leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a slightly bored look on his face.

  "I see you're finally awake!" said the vampire "You took your sweet time about it."

  "Who...what?" replied Brenden groggily.

  "Well said" answered the vampire "very elegant" and with that he walked over to Brenden and savagely kicked him in the head.

  "Maybe that will help clear your head a bit. You Forsaken scum have always been a thick lot".

  Brenden raised his head, and with murder in his eyes spat at the vampire.

  "Lovely" laughed the vampire "quite lovely. But you've got spirit, I'll give you that much. So many of you Forsaken are such meek little ducklings. I'm almost sorry to have to kill you!"

  "What are you waiting for" growled Brenden "if you're going to kill me, get on with it".

  "In a hurry to die?" snickered the vampire. "What's the rush? Why don't you tell me your name first. And where you come from. Are there any more of you lurking around down here? I'm just passing through town on a bit of business myself and thought I'd pop down into the sewers for a bit of sport. I was starting to think there were no vampires here in the midwest at all until you showed up."

  Brenden just stared back at him, blood dripping down his cheek.

  "Come now, you're going to die...but we might as well be civil about it. I always like to know who I'm killing before I actually do the deed. Won't you at least tell me your name?" and with that the vampire kicked Brenden again, this time in the stomach.

  "Fuck you" said Brenden flatly.

  The vampire sighed and leaned towards Brenden "Last chance, I've got a plane to catch, tell me your name..."

  Brenden spat again.

  Quicker than a human could see, the vampire plunged his hand into Brenden's chest, pulled out his shriveled heart, licked it, and then dropped it into the pooling waters of the sewer.

  He stood up, pulled out a smart phone and punched a couple of numbers "Hello Claudia, can you confirm my plane reservation for tonight?"

  Wiping the spit from his cheek he continued to listen to the voice on the other end of the line "It's been pushed back two hours? Oh bother...No no, it's fine, I just could have played with my new toy a bit longer is all, but it's too late now, I've already thrown it away. No big deal, I'll see you tomorrow."

  * * *

  Markus walked silently through the sewers of London. He'd been here nearly a week without finding a hint or trace of any Forsaken, though he had only really made a very small dent into the sewer system that sprawled below massive city.

  Earlier that night he had decided to delve deeper into the sewers and had spent the last few hours moving as far down as he could.

  There were layers upon layers of sewers in this ancient city and the deeper you went, the deeper they seemed to go.

  "This is going to take far longer than I thought" murmured Markus.

  "Who's there" answered a voice ahead in the gloom.

  "Hello?" answered Markus.

  Instantly he extended his senses into the darkness ahead. He could detect no human scent, and only barely could he smell something that might be vampire...but it tasted different...somehow off.

  "Who are you? What do you want" said the voice, slightly shaken with what might be fear.

  "My name is Markus...I'm, I'm just looking for some friends." he replied.

  "Friends?" answered the voice, surprise evident "And who might these friends be?"

  "I...don't really know..." answered Markus "I'm from America, some of us live down in the sewers there and we thought there might be others out there...I decided to come look. Are you alone?"

  "Do you expect me to believe that, mate?" answered the voice in the distance "What do you think I am, daft?"

  "I...it's true. Why else would I be down here?" answered Markus.

  "Sport mate" replied the voice "you council members love to come hunting us down here".

  Markus chuckled "Do I look like a council member?"

  The slightly built vampire cautiously walked towards Markus, looking him over deliberately "Now that I think on it, you don't seem to have the look of the council on you...you're one of the Forsaken, like us?"

  "Us?" answered Markus "So there are more of you down here?"

  "Aye mate, there are more of us. My name's Lynn...I think you'd better come with me." and with that the small vampire turned and began to descend deeper into the darkness.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Natalia walked through the sewers. For some time she had been scouting out new locations to move her family to in case they had to make a break for it, should Brenden or Markus get caught and reveal their location.

  The more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that it was probably best not to wait until it was too late. They should move immediately.

  Natalia
would leave a couple of people behind in case Markus or Brenden ever returned...otherwise they might never see each other again.

  The sewers were extensive enough that she could move her family to another section without the need to move to another city or country.

  At least that's what she told herself. In reality, she just didn't want to move away from Alexander.

  In the few months that they'd been together, Natalia had come to love him deeply and had even grown to trust him. At least, she thought that she could trust him.

  That was enough for now.

  She had no illusion. Although they might truly belong together, Natalia knew that eventually their relationship must end in misery. The world would never let them be happy.

  But she could dream, and she did. She dreamt of a time when the Forsaken could walk free in the world of Vampires without fear of being hunted.

  She dreamt of a time when Alexander could be free of the responsibilities of ruling the Elder Council.

  She dreamt of peace.

  But she knew it was just a dream.

  As she rounded a corner, Natalia realized that she had inadvertently wandered into the sewers below Alexander's building and was now standing in front of the elevator she used to enter his apartment.

  It was getting early anyway so she decided to head up and wait for Alexander in his suite. Natalia spent most nights with Alexander now, their routine was becoming something of a permanent fixture in both their lives.

  Punching the now familiar security code into the keypad next to the elevators, she settled in to wait.

  Soon the doors opened and she stepped inside. There was no need to punch in a floor number, her security code was programmed to bring her directly to Alexander's apartment.

  The doors closed and the elevator began to move swiftly upwards, but suddenly stopped much sooner than usual.

  Silently, the doors opened. The elevator screen readout showed her to be on the negative seventh floor, a sub-basement she guessed.

  She stood in the elevator for several minutes, randomly punching floor buttons in an attempt to make the elevator move again, but after a while it became clear that she wasn't going anywhere.