by Milo Spires
‘Liostiuemun, vioermienium, crenatium, mortisious, fladious, damninious!’
As he said the words, he grew deeply concerned at the lack of energy. He realized that he couldn’t feel the dark spirits surging all around him, gathering in numbers, their evil coming to him. He tried another as Installis shape-shifted back into the form of the priest, laughing at Rex’s efforts.
The seemingly-powerless vampire tried another, then another, but no evil spirits answered his calling.
Desperate not to be trapped for an eternity on the raft, he dropped his hands and opened his wings in an attempt to fly. But as previously warned, the mist burst into flames all above him. Dropping to his knees instead, he thrust his hands over the sides of the raft into the water, fully aware of the pain that he was about to receive for doing so.
Two seconds passed before the seething pain was too much for him. He ripped his hands back up out of the water, screaming in agony as he looked down in horror at the sight. The flesh had been stripped off almost everywhere, and he could see the bones, stark and white.
His vampires waiting on the shoreline had witnessed a different picture from what their leader had experienced. They had watched as their leader’s raft had come to a stop. Rex looked like he thought he was actually speaking to someone, but they saw nothing; as far as they could tell, he was alone. Installis had used his black magic to create the illusion.
They all saw the mist burst into flames above their leader and had seen him thrusting his hands down over the sides. They saw him pull them back out again and stare down at them, his face a mask of horror. Then they all stared, unbelievingly, as Rex fell backwards over the edge, disappearing down into the holy waters beneath—another vison induced by Installis.
In a desperate attempt to save their master, many of his Elite guards had flown high up into the sky before they then flew down hard into the mist. Their wings burst into flames as soon as they touched it, leaving them plummeting, wingless, to their deaths in the deadly waters below.
A different plan was then formed. They smashed down trees and strapped them together to make rafts. This plan failed, as the straps moved as if alive and untied themselves. The rafts separated into pieces before anyone could even step foot on them.
Time was running out for the remainder of Rex’s retinue. They knew the sun would be up soon and what that would mean too. Death would be agonizing as the sun’s murderous and deeply oppressive rays, then boiled and melted their skin.
The weather in 2099 was highly unpredictable at the best of times, and that morning a heavy storm had brewed up on their way home. The huge winds were the main reason that one hundred and twenty six of them had died as they tried to reach the safety of their coven. Realizing they were in trouble, they had desperately looked for emergency shelter but then time ran out and it was too late. The sun bore down on them like daggers from the sky, slashing their bodies to pieces with its rays.
The following night, thousands upon thousands of vampires returned to look for their leader. Other covens also joined in the search.
Rex was gone!
Chapter 13 - Realizing his Mistake
When Longinus was given the order by Rex that he was being sent back in time, he was told that if he needed help, he should ask for it and more vampires would be sent back to help him. So he went to the tree and chiseled a help message into the bark so that the vampires in the future from his own coven could read it in their time. He had to think long and hard beforehand though; it was a great weight looming in his mind as he considered what the consequences might be. He felt that there was a strong possibility that Rex might view this as failure of the mission. If he failed, he knew what that could mean: Rex might order his death. Then if by some stroke of genius he managed to escape, he knew that he would be on the run from them forever. Hardly what he needed, he thought as his blade hovered over the bark of the tree.
He was sure he had failed Rex--he had turned the wrong woman, which was confirmed with what he saw through the window with the one clear pane in it. He had clearly heard the human woman say her name was Jenny, meaning obviously that the other woman who he had attacked in Brighton’s high street was clearly the wrong one. As he started to dig the blade deeper into the bark, he hoped that when Rex got the message saying he needed help, he would remember that he had told him to ask for it if he needed it, and not to view his mission as a failure. Perhaps then his life would be spared, but he doubted it.
He considered a new possibility. The mission had never had a time limit to it. Maybe he should simply create a lie, and never say anything about turning the wrong woman. He could just say that there were vampires already there at the address that Rex had given him, and that he fought them, but there were too many and that he nearly died. Rex surely couldn’t be mad with him then, could he?
He thought back to his arrival in this year, and how it had all gone wrong from the start. He’d watched his quarry as she had parted with a girlfriend. He’d then followed her down a dark alley behind the address, with the idea that he’d turn the woman and check her purse afterwards for identification. But the attack had been sloppy; he had been surprised by four men who’d heard her gurgling, and then jumped him as he was drinking her blood. The woman had screamed as her senses came back to her and then she ran away.
Longinus grimaced; if she had left her purse behind, at least he could have checked her identification, but the bitch had taken it with her.
After he had ‘subdued’ his attackers, Longinus had returned to the address that Rex had given him, hoping that she would return with her friend so that he could turn the other woman just to be sure that he got the right one. He had waited the whole of Sunday, but she never returned. Unwillingly, then he had to stay longer, and had ended up being there the whole night too. Whilst he had waited up in a tree, he’d started to wonder if maybe the two women were together somewhere else, and that they wouldn’t be returning there for weeks, if ever. He had felt sure, though, that the one he had bitten could be needing hospital treatment soon.
That’s when it had hit him. They had to be in a hospital together somewhere, he felt sure of it.
In the early hours of the following morning he had located the nearest hospital, and had managed to find a great place to watch the main entrance from, just behind the rubbish bins outside the A and E department. Apart from the really vile stench emanating from the rubbish, it had been a good vantage point because it was completely out of sight of the hordes of people that came and went.
Ambulances had come in and out for hours, but none of the patients had been the two women that he had wanted. Just after 9am though, another ambulance arrived, and as its doors were flung open he had recognized the woman being taken out of the back of it. He could feel her energy, his vampire energy from her, booming back at him. Then the other woman jumped out of the ambulance and followed the rescue party inside.
After a few hours his new slave had been moved from A and E, and he had sensed her going up inside the building. He’d repositioned himself onto the roof, preparing to attack. Then looking down through a clear pane of glass in a dirty old window, he could see that his new slave was laying in a bed below him, but unfortunately she wasn’t alone.
He had been surprised to see four armed men were by her side. He hadn’t any doubts that they were armed, because one of them pointed his weapon at his slave and was demanding to know where her mate was. She had denied being at the hospital with anyone, but the man with the gun had shouted out, ‘Don’t lie!’ Then he had said that they knew there was another woman because the nurse downstairs had told them.
All this waiting for the woman, Jenny, had started to annoy Longinus, and after several hours he’d became slightly concerned about the sun, as he was running low on skin wraps. He hadn’t wanted to leave though, for fear of losing the women again. Luckily for him, though, the sun had begun to go down and he hadn’t had to find refuge.
As it did though, he’d noticed that the m
en had received a phone call. Then immediately afterwards they had told his slave they now know where the other woman was, and that they were going downstairs to hurt her. The man who had the gun in his hand then grinned at her nastily before all of them hurried out of the ward.
Longinus had known that if they returned with the other woman, he wouldn’t be able to make a move with the men there. He would have to pick his moment well, when they were distracted or absent, before he leapt down, because he wouldn’t fight anyone armed with weapons of a questionable nature.
No sense risking my life—who knows but they may have silver bullets in those guns, he had advised himself.
Minutes had passed. Then, to his surprise, the other woman walked into the room—alone. As he had prepared to leap through the glass window, the men had reappeared in the room. Furious at his attempts constantly either being blocked or just seemingly always going wrong, he had to again just settle down and watch. Just as he had started to settle back into waiting mode, he had been horrified to see that the men were actually trying to kill Jenny; one of them was trying to strangle her with a piece of wire!
At that moment he had realized that he had no choice--he had to fight them, armed or not. He had to save her from death. If he didn’t, Rex would kill him for allowing her to die, he felt sure of it.
Longinus had been poised directly outside the window, anxiously waiting for the moment when none of them were looking in his slave’s direction, when suddenly she had snapped her handcuffs as if they were threads. Within a second she had killed the man with the wire, long before the other men could help him. Furious, they had then set about her, punching and kicking her before one of them had received a vicious boot to the gut by her and was winded. He had then reached behind himself, pulling out his gun. Feeling sure that his slave was about to die and knowing afterwards that the men were likely to just shoot the other woman, Longinus had prepared himself for the fight.
Suddenly the doors to the ward had exploded inwards, and standing there grinning at the men through the dust was a huge, beastly vampire. Yes, no other way could describe him. He was massive, standing much taller than Longinus, and at least twice his girth.
Longinus should have been furious that he had been thwarted once again, but this time he had actually been relieved. It meant that Jenny would be saved, giving him more time to prepare for another attempt later without risking himself being shot.
That is, if this huge vampire didn’t get killed himself, he’d thought.
He had watched intently as one of the men below fired at the vampire from close range, letting his gun empty all nine of its rounds directly at him.
He couldn’t believe his own eyes! Nothing had happened to the man’s intended target!
‘Damn!’ Longinus had whispered, awestruck.
Then he’d wondered what was he going to do if this vampire attacked Jenny and tried to turn her. He couldn’t allow it. Rex would not be pleased.
But then what if he does? What could I do, fight him? No way! he had told himself, laughing at the thought of it.
Strangely though, the vampire below hadn’t attacked. Instead he had been unlike any vampire Longinus had ever seen; in fact, he was gentle and compassionate. He had heard him say to the nearly-strangled woman, ‘You must be Jenny’, and she had replied ‘Yes.’
Hearing this, Longinus had sighed to himself, because it had confirmed to him that he had just made a stupid mistake. He had foolishly turned the wrong woman, and now they were both obviously protected by this beast of a vampire.
How could I have had so many problems just turning one woman? he’d raged at himself. Rex would kill him for this, he’d felt sure.
Maybe I should just summon Raffious now and go. Just forget this mission, just run. The very thought had scared him though. Run from Rex? Was he out of his mind?
No, he had decided firmly, follow her and then tell the vampires from the future where she is. It is the only way.
Suddenly there had been a thrumming noise above him, and he had looked up to see two helicopters arriving. The side doors on them had swung open, and black-clad men wearing ski masks had flung themselves out and begun sliding down ropes either side of it.
Looking back down through the window, Longinus had been startled to see that the vampire and the women had gone. He had swiveled his head in panic, searching for any sign of them.
Relief had filled him as he saw them escape. The vampire had leapt out of one of the hospital’s side windows and started flying off into the distance, the two women in his arms. He still had a chance to fulfill his mission, even though he knew that he couldn’t follow straight away. Those helicopters would have him in their sights if he had so much as twitched.
Glancing back above himself, he felt sure that the men on the ropes would see the vampire, then open fire and with those guns, probably kill him. Was it possible for a vampire with a double load of humans to outrun a helicopter? He had doubted it. Then he had the sickening feeling that if they did open fire he would have to get involved somehow, to save Jenny from being killed.
Suddenly he could have sworn he saw one of the pilots spot the beastly vampire in the air, and then thought the chopper would give chase. But then there was a gunshot from somewhere and the tail rotor flew off before the massive green bird crashed down and exploded real close to him. It nearly took him with it, as one side of the hospital roof burst into flames.
Then realizing that he was pinned down by a mysterious sniper who was hiding somewhere, and that he hadn’t actually got the foggiest idea where they were shooting from, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and slip into the shadows. It was terrible, because he couldn’t leave to catch up with his slave as he daren’t stick his head out incase the sniper blew it off. All he could hope for at that moment was for the second bird to take a tumble, and then if that happened he wouldn’t need a push to get him started, because he would have already done the off.
‘Come on sniper, damn you! Make the kill!’ he’d screamed.
And as if by magic there it was, the massively loud gunshot from that beastly weapon, followed shortly afterwards, by four more shots in quick succession. Longinus had smiled to himself. Such a sweet sound, he’d thought as he witnessed the carnage that followed. As the first pilot’s head had exploded, the spray of blood had ripped itself out the side door, and was then sucked up through the main rotors. The sight of the head exploding and the blood had even made him feel a little weak at the knees, before the sight that followed that is. The co-pilot was literally blown in half by the round as it hit him. Longinus could only guess at that point that the sniper had a .50 caliber weapon to hand.
‘Time to leave boyo’ he screamed, as he then leapt up and dashed here and there across the rooftop, before pausing momentarily under the cover of a shadow, as the gathering clouds above then obscured the moon light. When he reached the edge of the roof, he didn’t stop and just kept running and flapping his wings behind himself before a quick zig zag, just to be sure that a massive silver .50 caliber bullet any moment, wasn’t about to brutally dissect his brain.
Aware that he was safe from the sniper’s reach, his eyes had then begun to anxiously scan the horizon, as he looked for Jenny.
‘Come on, bitch, don’t vanish! Not after all of this! Please!’
Then from behind and just to shit him up, suddenly, something flammable went up, causing a massive explosion. So big in fact that he had even felt the shock wave as it had tore past him. Looking back, the whole top of the hospital roof was engulfed in vicious flames that were hurtling skyward hundreds of feet.
Then, as if someone was behind him tapping him on the shoulder, he had felt his own energy summoning him. It was as if it had been playing hide-and-seek, but now was extremely bored of waiting, knowing it had won. It was saying,
‘THIS WAY, FOOL! WE ARE THIS WAY!’
Chapter 14 - A place to relax
Regina had ridden her motorbike back as Kaine had instructed her
, although she was very tempted to just leave it and fly home. She had wanted to be there to meet him and the women when they first arrived. Still sulking, she slid her back wheel aggressively in the mud to reposition her 1100 cc beast before launching it forwards, straight into their garage. She then switched off the engine.
