The rain is my only companion on this chilly night and its sound is hypnotic and trance like.
I wish I had the time to let it float me into a fluid trance of relaxation. Unfortunately, I do not have that kind of time and as I check my watch I find there are only two more hours before dawn, and my target still hasn’t appeared. I was assured by my contact that my mark would be leaving this location at precisely one am. It is now four am and they have yet to appear. There is one more hour of time until my transporter closes the portal; If that happens I will be trapped here, unable to travel back to my own point in time. Also there is the problem of the approaching dawn; being a vampire, I fare much better at night than during the day.
I have been sent here to 399 B.C. in order to assassinate The Queen of the Damned, Isis. She is the mother of my kind, the drinkers of blood and hunters of the night; we are her children born to her in her time of great loneliness.
In my own time, 2021, there is a battle for power going on in the darkness a new force is trying to blow the old ways away. Vampires called the Ament, claiming to be direct descendants of the Goddess Isis and her husband Osiris: are wreaking havoc throughout the covens. They are like a plague of locusts devouring and destroying all they come in contact with. Several covens across the globe have been wiped out by the Ament already. As the leader of security operations for my coven I am in charge of making sure that my immortals stay safe.
The council who governs the Immortals; came together for a meeting of the elders, when the rumors of the extermination reached our shores. A ruling was made and it was agreed by the elders that I would be sent to find out if the stories were true, and if they were, I needed to find out why the Ament were so unwavering in their slaughter. It took me two years to track down and discover that this coven had risen out of the desert sands of Egypt like scorpions; and had made it their sole duty to destroy every coven in the world giving them the chance to overcome the world and bring their homeland back to its former glory. I took all of this information back to the council and left them to decide how best to handle this situation.
The oldest vampire on the council, Ramses, gave his verdict on the information presented to him. So, it is under his order that I, Eva, was transported through the time travel machine, known as “Invictus”. My commands state that I must eradicate Isis, as she is led to the Nile for her nightly bathing ceremony. Ramses made it clear that I must execute her before she reaches the Nile. If I do not then I will not be able to kill her at all. For it is in the Nile where Isis reaches her full strength; once she is renewed by the river that was her birthplace, she will know who I am; she will see why I am here. It is immersed in the sapphire waters of the Nile where Isis reads the minds and hearts of her kingdom. If she senses a darker presence she will flee or send one of her guardians to kill me.
The plan was for me to descend upon Isis as she left her dwelling. Once I had her within my grasp I was to rip her head from her body, drain her of her immortal blood and scatter her body across the ancient world. Without all of her body parts together Isis will not be able to be reincarnated. If this happens Isis will be nothing but a myth, a myth that will be lost in history by the time Alexander the great conquers Egypt. So, here I rest veiled in the shadows waiting for my mark to appear. I have been in Egypt six hours now and I have mere minutes to complete this task. I do not fully understand what the means to this end will be, but I have my orders and I never disobey orders.
The room is deeply perfumed with incense; sensual aromas of frankincense and honey cover me like a cloak. The iridescent glow of candles set into the walls: bathe her in golden radiance. She wears a sheer dress of dazzling white; the cloth clings to her curves as if it were wet. The curls of her hair drift gently in a breeze that wafts through the chamber. Her hair is so thick, that one can only see her crown if the light hits it at just the right angle. Her skin is cinnamon and in her essence, is the beauty of life. I feel drunk standing so near to her in this cavern buried beneath the city. The walls are irregular made by natures own hand the floors cool and malleable with sand, so that every move of her foot is like the whisper of a snake sliding through grass.
I was summoned here by a messenger who said that Isis needed me without delay. Upon my arrival she told me she had a task for me. Now I sit here awaiting her instructions. I am most eager to do her bidding, she has not called on me for an age and I have missed the silky enticing sound of her voice it has been to long since we last met. Finally, I believe she is ready to speak. She bows one last time to the altar and turns to me her smooth face grim and shadowed with worry.
“Please stand Kenji; you have no need to bow before me anymore.” I stand up when she says this so that we can talk face to face. “I have need of you Kenji now more than ever.” Isis wrings her hands together as she says this last thing. “Just tell me what you need Isis.” I say softly to her. She finally sighs and lifts her large eyes to mine “Kenji, someone is here to murder me, I have had word from Hamnet, my spy from the western quarters of the city. He is sure that she is not only an assassin but also a vampire.” “This is nothing new Isis they have sent assassins to kill you before and none has ever succeeded, so why are you so worried about this one?” Isis reached into the folds of her gown and produced two gold coins; “This is why I am worried.” She said as she handed me the coins. As I inspected them she began pacing around the small chamber and speaking her fears aloud. “These are no regular coins Kenji; these coins belong to one old and powerful. It is this person who seeks to destroy me now.” I held the one coin up into the light of one lantern and the read the name written on its shining surface.”Ramses.” I spoke aloud. “What does Ramses have to do with you? I thought he had been banished to the forbidden lands and then killed by your brother Osiris?” I said as I handed the coins back to her. “This is what I thought as well, but only Ramses would be in possession of these coins after all these years. He is not dead Kenji, and he has sent someone to exact his revenge at last.” She said this last with a sadness that I’d never heard from her before. “I thought his fight was with Osiris, not you Isis, what does he have against you? What did you have to do with his demise?”
Isis came near me and pulled me to sit with her on the ground. “Ramses and I were lovers when he was a mortal; but our love affair was discovered by servants loyal to Osiris.
When my brother found out about our affair he ordered that Ramses be killed immediately. When I told Ramses of his impending death I also offered him a solution; I told him I could turn him into an immortal like me, so that if anyone tried to kill him he would never die.” Here she lowered her voice to a whisper. “I kept my promise to make him immortal, but I changed the spell and turned him into a vampire instead. When the spell was complete and he woke, he knew at once what I had done.” “ I knew that if I made him a vampire instead of a true immortal he would be furious with me. But I also knew that if I made him completely immortal like the gods, then he would never leave my brother alone, I knew he would hunt Osiris to the ends of the earth, for trying to have him killed.” “ But why did you not tell him this and give him the option of being a vampire, why lie to him?” I asked. “I lied because, to be an immortal, to be blessed with the gift of long life and all the powers of the gods, would have turned Ramses into a monster, Kenji, and I could not bear to bring such wrath upon my brother or the world.” “You still made him a type of immortal though so what is it that brought him to such anger?” I asked her. “It was the loss of his soul that brought him to such rage; He saw this as a weakness not a gift.” Isis reached to her ankle and withdrew a long silver blade hidden there and twirled the blade in the light. “There was also something Ramses hadn’t told me before I went through the ceremony of changing him;
Ramses was not a mortal, but a Nephilim.” I gasped when she said this “A Nephilim! You mean he was actually half human and half angel! I thought they had been wiped from the earth completely, he must have been lying to you Isis it cannot be.”
“Oh, I am telling you the truth Kenji by the gods I would not make such a thing up. When he went through the change he was outraged and I spent hours pleading with him out in the desert; chasing after him trying to get him to understand why I had to do what I did. Then the strangest thing happened; daybreak came and I pleaded with Ramses to flee to the caves lest he burn from the sun. He would not heed me and stood his ground; and when the sun finally broke through and fell upon us, to my surprise Ramses did not burn.” “What happened to him then if he did not burn?” I asked her. “Well, Ramses turned his face up to the sun and seemed to drink in its warmth, and then his skin began to smolder as if he was on fire from within. Then he let out a great roar and enormous wings burst forth from behind him; and that is when I knew he was a child of the Nephilim. Turning him into a vampire had unleashed the angel hidden within him, In the light of the sun as I watched him transform, I knew I’d made a grave mistake.”
“Then you may well be right, he will definitely be seeking his revenge. We must act now.” I say to her as I help her rise from the floor. “I have felt a dark presence in the air all evening when I reach out into the night I can see its darkness waiting to engulf me. It is why I have not left for the Nile yet.” I unsheathe my own silver blade and kiss it letting the silver burn my lips for a moment as I swear an oath to protect Isis and find the one who has come to kill her. “I will find them and destroy them my lady, I will not have you live in fear, I will report to you once I have dealt with the situation.” I bow to her and prepare to leave. As I am turning to go she grabs my arm “Kenji wait, take this with you, it will protect you and keep you safe.” I look down into my palm where she has placed a gold ring with a blood red ruby in the center, a strange charm, but one I will keep none the less. Isis then whispers something in my ear I nod and take my leave, It is time for me to kill the one who lurks in shadow.
I have waited as long as I can, the timer on my transporter is counting down and I have no more than twenty minutes before I must open the portal and return back to 2021. I have orders to wait for her to leave her dwelling; I can’t go inside and retrieve her because I don’t know how many guardians she has with her and I was told that when she goes to the Nile she always goes alone. I turn my head to stretch a kink in my neck, and it is this that saves me from having no neck at all.
I bring my blade across me and it stops the blade that was heading for me , the impact is harder than I was expecting and when my attacker shifts into the light I can see why. He is a vampire. He pushes away from me and lunges at me again; ducking low I run towards him and swing out trying to throw him off balance. He anticipates my move and reaches down and pulls me up by my hair. He brings me up and slams me hard to the ground. I bring my leg up and kick him from behind he rolls off me and lands in a crouch. I scramble up and point my blade down in his direction. He stands from his crouch and does the same we run towards each other each a fast blur, naked to the human eye. We fight for the next few minutes, each determined to live, not knowing whom it is we are fighting and not caring. I hear my transporter beep preparing for the final countdown. I raise one hand and press the screen activating the portal. The vampire I am fighting sees the portal open and the shock of it astounds him so, that he releases his grip on me enough for me to heave away. I run from him into the flickering blue light of the portal, and press the engage button rapidly, trying to close the portal as quickly as I can. He races after me and grabs my arm just as the portal closes around us transmitting us back to 2021.
I have been back in 2021 for two days and I have had no word from the counsel or Coven leader Grey. I am in a small cell being held for questioning. Across the hall from me in another cell sits the vampire that was brought back with me through the portal. They have been running tests on him and questioning him extensively since we arrived. I cannot understand why I am being held prisoner, I know that I failed in my mission, but this has happened to other operatives before, and they were only questioned and sent back to their daily posts. Yet here I sit in this damned cell with no explanation of why I am here. I have never failed the coven before and never turned down an assignment that was given to me. My track record has been impeccable to say the least; I also hold the only title of a vampire who has successfully killed a Sanguinist. I am devout in my loyalty to my coven and to the ones who lead us, and keep us safe from the prying and murderous ways of the humans. If they think they can keep me here than they are sadly mistaken, I am the one who created these cells they are holding me in, and though the locks are electronic, I created a backdoor, just in case a situation like this should ever arise. Before I decide if I need to escape, I need to know what is going on. Maybe this vampire who came through the portal with me will have the answers I seek. The question is how do I get him to talk to me? I can see him although he is sitting in the murky darkness; he is not invisible to me. He is staring at me his golden eyes deep pools of hate as they gaze intently at me. He is tall and very intimidating; my guess is he is from the Makino coven in Japan he definitely has their look about him. He keeps his black hair long and pulled back from his face; it is braided here and there very intricately. He is attractive and well built in body, but that doesn’t change the fact that he tried to kill me.
I walk to the bars of my cell and call over to him softly “Hey, what is your name? What coven are you from?” I wait for a few moments, but he doesn’t reply. I sit back down on my cot; he is obviously not in the talking mood. Then I hear a deep voice start to speak in a very calmly; “I am not from the Makino coven; I am a Sennin an immortal from Japan.” I jump up off of my cot and back to the bars, I don’t speak in case he has more to say.” I am called Kenji and I am the appointed protector of Isis Queen of the damned.” I am in shock, and I can’t think of a thing to say. “I am a vampire as well as an immortal; my mother was immortal my father vampire. So you see I am the same as you, yet very different.” “ Tell me if you please, what time am I in?” He asks me this as he approaches the bars of his cell. “You are the year 2021.” I say quietly. “Ah I had thought as much. This 2021, I do not like it the smells are to strong and there is no peace to be found here. Tell me who sent you to kill The Queen and why?” He asks this last thing with such fierce hatred that I am quite a moment before I answer him. “There is a coven now, in this time called the Ament, they have been wiping out covens across the world in cold blood. Their goal is to conquer the humans and to bring Egypt back to its former glory.” I was sent back in time to kill Isis to prevent this from happening. I discovered that it is Isis herself who put this plan of world conquer into play.” He is shaking his head in denial as I speak. “No, this can’t be. Do you realize that by going back in time to kill Isis you would have killed us all.” Now it is my turn to shake my head.” That is not true, she is the queen of the damned, yes, but she is not the first vampire she is not our creator. She is just the one who took the throne once our creator was destroyed.” Now he is grasping the bars in fury. “Who told you these lies? Don’t you know that Isis is the mother of us all vampire and immortal alike. It is, because of her that we vampires were even born.” Kenji says.
“That’s not true. Ambrosia is our creator; she created us over the deep fires of earth; with her own blood and the blood of the unknowns.” I say. “Who has been feeding you these lies? Listen to me and listen well. Ambrosia was a vampire, the first vampire ever to be born; but Ambrosia is only the daughter of Isis nothing more.” I look at him while he says this last thing. How can I believe him? If what he says is true then that means, that the book of Semele is not true. I have a question for him that I know he cannot answer. “The book of Semele is where our teachings come from; it was written by Ambrosia herself. This book governs all of us and how we live as vampires. If A
mbrosia is not the mother of us all, why would it say she was in the book of Semele? “Now he looks sadly at me, with pity instead of hate. “ The book of Semele was written by Ambrosia you are correct. I was there when it was being written.”
Now I am triumphant and I let it show on my face.” But, the book was dictated to Ambrosia by her mother Isis. I was there as she spoke the words to her daughter and bade her to write it all down, so that other vampires and immortals would be able to survive and rule their own kind.” I look at him in shock he has to be lying. “I know you think I am lying, but I tell you only the truth. Tell me who is it that brought the book of Semele to your kind?” I think hard trying to remember “It was Ramses; he is the one who brought the book to us in the age of darkness.” At the mention of Ramses name, his face again goes dark. “I can show you the truth, but we must escape this place, Eva. I have been listening to the thoughts of the ones who have questioned me and they do not intend to let us live.” I am surprised to hear him use my name, but I remember that throughout our conversation he has been one step ahead of me. He must have the power of reading the minds of others; he is a Sennin after all. “I can see why they would want to kill you, Kenji, but I don’t see why they would want to kill me.” He laughs at me and sits down on his cot. “They want to kill you, because they think that you have learned something that you shouldn’t.” Now I am livid with anger. “I have told them everything I know! The mission failed the target did not appear at the appointed time. Then you appeared, we fought and then we were brought back here through the Invictus portal. There was nothing else to tell I left nothing out!” I exclaim. “Yes, but you failed and came back with me, and for that reason they will kill you. The one who questioned me was Ramses; and as he spoke I read his thoughts. Would you like to know what he was thinking?” A feeling of fear and uncertainty is mounting in my chest. Do I really want to know what Ramses was thinking? Can I even trust Kenji to tell me the truth? He could just be trying to manipulate me into taking sides and setting him free. I take a deep breath, regardless of what he says I must know what was in Ramses’ mind’s eye. “Yes I want to know.” I say to him, my face is at the bars and I clench my fingers tight around the cool steel to center myself. Kenji looks at me with a sort of sadness in his eyes as if he can sense my internal turmoil. “Isis is not the leader of this new coven Ament, as you and the rest of the covens have been made to believe. The leader of Ament is Ramses himself. He has a vendetta against Isis that has smoldered within him since before you were born into the darkness.” I ponder what he says for a moment, and as I go over the events leading up to my assignment I realize that Ramses had his hand in everything. It was Ramses who first came to our coven with the news of the first attacks. It was Ramses who gave us all of the information that led up to me going through Invictus. Matter of fact Ramses is the only one who knew where the Ament was located. It begins to dawn at me as I sift through my memory, that Ramses, is the only name that creeps up in every aspect of Ament appearance. I need to get to the bottom of this mystery and I can see that I will need Kenji’s help to succeed. “Kenji if I help you escape; will you assist me in getting to the bottom of this or are you just going to run away?” Kenji laughs “Where will I run to Eva? This is not my time where will I go?” I see the logic in this and begin to formulate a plan.
Vampire Vendetta Page 1
