by Mikel Wilson
Lillith stomped on the brakes and told JH, "Get out of the car, and go straight in. Tell Mackinzie and Christian to get out here now!"
Alisha took a deep breath before speaking. “Sweetheart, this change in you is more than bloodthirst. I understand that, but you were never so ruthless and angry. You must control your emotions. The war has come to your front doorstep, and it is time to pick a side. We cannot allow vampires to take over the city. Prince Christian will die, and if you try to stop it, you will as well. I cannot allow you or anyone else to put this world in peril.”
“You would try to kill your own daughter? Mother, a lot has changed since the last time I saw you. Most importantly, you cannot hurt me,” Lillith informed her.
Alisha drew her sword and pointed it in Lillith’s direction. “I never wanted to hurt you, but I guess we'll just have to see if you’re as good as you think you are.”
“I promise you, Mother, I am not the scared little girl you once knew. I’ve learned my new powers, and they are limitless. Before you take that step, just know one thing, I will not hold back.”
Christian, Mackinzie, and Dawn all ran out of the mansion, but Lillith yelled for them to stand back. “This is between my mother and I.”
As they slowly began circling each other, Lillith took off her black jacket. Oddly enough, the jacket had belonged to the nurse they fed on the night she and Mackinzie were turned. Alisha also removed her coat before she began cracking her knuckles and then her neck as she stretched. The two women circled each other, neither of them seeming inclined to make a move toward the other.
Finally, Lillith made the first move as she flipped her hair backwards she then darted toward Alisha only to stop mid-dash and front flipped over Alisha's head, spinning in mid air and kicking her in the back which threw her completely off balance she stumbled a few steps forward flashing a grin. Alisha was able to recover quickly, and turned her body completely in a spin, throwing a kick that landed in Lillith's chest, causing her to land on her knee. Lillith then floated to her feet before coming face to face once again, both of their faces showing grim determination of not losing to the otber as they moved in for hand-to-hand combat.
Punches and kicks landed for each without either giving way. Lillith grabbed Alisha’s hair, wrapping it around her hand before scoring several blows to her mother’s face followed by a knee. Alisha stumbled backward before sweeping at Lillith’s feet. Lillith lost her balance but kept her feet under her, and Alisha jumped high in the air, landing both knees in Lillith’s midsection, knocking the wind out of her and taking her to the ground. She straddled her daughter, punching her several times in the face!
Lillith placed her hands flat on the ground and pushed hard into the air, flipping them so that their positions were reversed. She grabbed Alisha’s throat and turned her head to the side, lowering her mouth to her mother’s neck as she did so. Then, instead of biting her, Lillith smiled and whispered in her mother’s ear, “I win.”
Lillith stood and offered a hand to her mother, tugging her into an upright position. Alisha locked eyes with her daughter for a moment before stepping toward her, arms outstretched. Lillith laid her head on her mother’s chest, proud yet sad as her emotions began to pour out while feeling the warmth of her mother’s embrace.
Just then, the sky became dark as arrows filled the sky from what seemed like every direction. It was Trey and Cortez; they had discovered the vampire’s home!
Lillith pushed her mother away. “This was your plan all along! It was all a setup to kill us!” Lillith began running, while attempting to protect her people. Several of the vampires had gathered when Lillith and Alisha were fighting, and the hunters were proving to be very good at what they did as they started placing precise shots, picking their shots without being seen.
One by one, Christian's brood were being killed when finally, JH spotted Trey on top of an adjacent building. The vampire jumped into action, quickly climbing to join the hunter and attacking full speed even as Trey punished him with some speed and precision of his own.
"You may have the strength, monster, but what good is strength if you can't hit me?" Trey taunted as he jumped back out of the way over and over again, dodging each blow thrown his way.
When Lillith saw the fight between JH and Trey, she threw one of the previously shot arrows, hitting Trey in the leg. The hunter screamed out in pain, and JH seized the opportunity, grabbing Trey by each arm and ripping them both off! As blood sprayed all over and Trey screamed in agony, JH wrenched his head to the side and sank his teeth into the hunter’s neck!
Meanwhile, on the driveway turned battlefield, Cortez and Alisha killed many more vampires, but they were seriously outnumbered as more of the brood kept emerging from the compound. Once the slayers were surrounded, Lillith, Christian, and Mackinzie stepped forward.
“Surrender, Mother,” Lillith pleaded. “There’s no sense in you being killed; you fought well, but there are too many of us.”
Cortez took a knee, signaling acceptance of defeat, but it was only a ruse. As the vampires stepped forward, he jumped up, throwing his spear at Christian’s face! Mackinzie caught the spear in midair, twirling it in the air using its own momentum and throwing it back at Cortez, impaling him through the carotid. Blood began spewing like a fountain, and the vampire brood was only too happy to take full advantage of the ready supply.
"Mother, I ask you again, stand down, you do not have to die here."
“Daughter, I am a slayer. I have always been a slayer, and I will not allow any of you to turn me into one of you. You are such a strong woman now, and it's apparent which side you have chosen, but it's time for me to tell you the origin of your birth.” Alisha pulled out a ring and threw it at Lillith’s feet.
Christian reached down to pick it up and saw the emblem on the front. The mark of the Elite. As he stood with the ring held firmly between two fingers, he looked in disbelief at Lillith and then at Alisha before asking, “Where did you get this?”
“Long ago, I fell in love with a vampire. He was the king and had come looking for a queen. It was my job to stop him. We fought many battles, each ending in a stalemate. I tried not to, but I soon fell under his spell. He was a gorgeous man, honorable, honest, strong. He felt the same pull as I did, and we fell in love. I wanted to be with him, but I would never be accepted. My skin color, plus the fact that I was a slayer, and he was a king meant that I’d never be accepted in his homeland. Him being a vampire meant the council would never accept it. So, he kissed me goodbye, and left for his home, Taldor.
“Three months later, I was gravely ill, dying. The doctors could not help me. Somehow, he received work and left his land to come to me. Once at the hospital, he knew exactly what was wrong... I was pregnant with his child, a vampire child.
“But there wasn’t just one baby, there were two,” she confessed, tears flowing as she looked at Christian. “He gave me blood, which quenched your thirst for a while, and when you two were born, the resemblances to us were uncanny. Lillith, you were darker and took after me while Christian, my son, you looked like your father and still do. He took you back with him, but before leaving, he gave me that ring. The ring was to be given to you, Lillith, once you were old enough. It’s your birthright as the princess of Taldor and heir to the throne as an Elite. Christian, I am your mother, and Lillith is your twin sister.”
Christian's voice trembled with anger. “Why? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you tell me? All these years my mother has been alive, and I could’ve known her!” He went to his knees, sobbing.
Lillith walked toward her mother, outrage written plainly on her face. “You have kept this from me all this time? Why? Why didn't you tell me?”
“I haven’t spoken of these things in many years, but you needed to know. Now, I wish I’d told you sooner.”
Christian stood and walked to Alisha, where he kneeled before her. “You are why my father never took a queen. He loved you. Mother, please come with me. You do not
have to be turned. I will take the throne, and things will be well. We can bridge the gap that my father was afraid of.”
Alisha embraced him, holding him to her bosom as he wept.
Dawn, who had been watching quietly, smiled as the future king finally found some form of closure.
Lillith, now crying as well, watched her mother and brother. Unable to hold back, she approached, and they welcomed her into their embrace. "My brother, my twin brother," she said with an awe-filled laugh. “We look nothing alike.”
Christian smiled at them both before turning to his brood and addressing them. “This slayer is my mother and lady of the court. I hereby decree that no harm shall ever come to her. And if you dare to try to cause her harm, you will die… Whether by my hand or hers,” he stated, authority clear in his voice.
“Tomorrow, we shall set sail for home. I do not go into this without the knowledge that it will be hard, but with you all at my side, I'm sure we shall be victorious.” The vampires cheered, and just as things started to quiet back down, Dawn collapsed. She’d been hit with one of the arrows.
“Poison,” Alisha said, staring down at the barely breathing Dawn. “She doesn’t have long.”
“What do you mean?” Christian asked. “It may take a while, but her body will heal itself.”
“Not from this poison, it won’t,” Alisha explained. “It is a special mixture, known as the black death. It’s mixed specifically to kill your kind. A painful death awaits her, and I'm afraid there is no antidote. Make her as comfortable as you can. Soon, her body will pass to the next realm.”
Dawn gasped in pain as she grabbed for Christian’s hand. She started coughing and choked her way through speaking. “My prince, my friend, my soon to be king...”
Christian knelt beside her, taking her hand and attempting to at least comfort her. He knew all that she had given up to warn him, and he was so grateful to her as well as honored by her sacrifice.
“If only you could have truly seen me. I have been in love with you for years, my prince. I never had the courage to tell you, so I just kept hoping, praying that one day you would set your sights on me. But it wasn't meant to be. Now, dying, I can finally tell you how I feel,” she confessed with a sad chuckle as a trickle of blood ran down the side of her mouth. Her breathing became more labored, and Christian had to lean closer to hear her. “I am not just here out of duty, I’m here out of love. I couldn't let the man I love be murdered. I had to see you again, and now, with my story ending, I pray you have found the love you sought, the love that I was unworthy to give you.”
“Please stop, save your strength!” Christian cried as he wiped the blood from her lips. “Had I known, things may have been different.”
“You don't have to lie to me. I’m just thankful that I got a chance to tell you.” Dawn gave one final gasp, smiled a small smile, and her eyes dimmed for good. Christian could only watch as her body turned to ash.
“A tear fell down his cheek, and he wiped it quickly before standing. “We must go back to our true home, where I shall take what is rightfully mine.”
“Ours,” Lillith said as she slid the ring of the Elite onto her finger. “Both of us have rights to the throne. It would seem we should rule together.”
“Yes, of course,” Christian agreed, giving a small bow of his head. “Let us go.”
Christian sent Kale to prepare the ship while everyone else moved back into the mansion and packed for their journey to the distant land of the vampires, Penumbra.
“We must be seriously careful crossing into the Junction,” Christian warned them. “You should know that once a mortal enters, they can never leave again.”
“And I’m just now hearing this?” Alisha asked. “Well, I guess I will have to get used to being around you bloodsuckers,” she teased before turning more serious, “because I’m not letting either of you go again.”
"Thank you, Mom,” Lillith said and hugged her mother, laying her head on her shoulder.
Alisha returned the hug, and as she rubbed Lillith’s hair, she noticed the coldness of her skin… Skin that no longer gave off any warmth.
Seeing the embrace, Mackinzie thought of her own mother and father. "I wonder where my parents are. They should be here, preparing to go with us."
Almost as if her words had summoned them, two figures entered and knelt before the prince.
“Not you!” Christian exclaimed as he recognized the knights from his homeland.
“Yes, we were sent because the humans know of us. The two that had escaped have been dealt with.”
One of the knights laid out two pairs of hands as proof of death, one obviously male and the other female.
Mackinzie shook her head in disbelief as she recognized her mother’s wedding rings. “Why?” she asked.
The knight explained that the couple had escaped and were helping the council, telling them everything they knew about the vampires in exchange for their own lives, and once she heard everything, Mackinzie’s darker side came forward, not allowing for much in the way of remorse.
“Prince Christian, you must return immediately,” the second knight started, but was cut off as a small army walked in at Christian’s back.
“It would seem you have been busy,” the first knight commented as he looked over the number of vampires lining up behind Christian.
“Yes, I have. This is Mackinzie, my soon to be bride,” Christian explained, grabbing her hand and pulling her up beside him.
Mackinzie’s smile was ruthless as she nodded to the two vampire knights.
Yes, it is time for us to go.”
Chapter Five
It took some time for Kale to prepare the ancient vessel that had been used by the royal family for generations. It was a vessel of magic and mysticism, lingering in the shadows and only appearing when needed, thanks to a spell. The ship was as big as a cruise liner, capable of carrying entire vampire broods. There were refrigerated rooms fully stocked with blood and plenty of room for all of them to be comfortable.
When they arrived, Christian sent the brood to go ahead and board, knowing that the very competent Kale would show them all to their quarters. The two knights were still with Christian and his inner circle, and they had all waited together to board as a group once the rest of the brood were safe in their rooms.
As they boarded the ship, Christian took Mackinzie’s hand in his and pulled her as close as he dared, considering everything that had happened in the past few hours.
"My lady," he said as he slowly moved in and kissed her cheek.
She surprised him when she turned her face, causing their lips to meet. It was the first time she had shown affection toward him, and he gripped her hand tighter before bending to place a kiss on her knuckles.
“My queen,” he said so softly it was for her ears alone, then he straightened and turned toward the group. “We must be very careful to remember that humans aren't supposed to know anything about the world we’re about to enter. Once we locate the Junction, we will be in Penumbra, but our home is called Taldor.”
As the ship rocked along the waves of mysticism, the girls prepared to see the new world they were about to enter. Alisha, however, kneeled and meditated, preparing to be surrounded by the very thing she had been trained to hunt her entire life.
Lillith and Mackinzie began discussing their thoughts, falling into the easy camaraderie they’d had for most of their lives, able to bounce the serious to the not so serious without much thought.
"I'm afraid of what we may be getting ourselves into, Mackinzie. I mean, this isn't even our world. I think this is the first time I’ve thought about it like that. It’s not like we’re going to another town, or even another country. I wonder what all is different over there," Lillith pondered, beginning to ramble.
"Well, girl, you always said you needed a vacay," Mackinzie offered, teasing in an effort to lighten her friend’s mood.
"Yes! A vacation sunbathing on the beach in my little bikini, watch
ing all the hotties play volleyball..."
"...slowly bursting into flames. Did you forget we are vampires now?" Mackinzie interrupted with a laugh.
Lillith crossed her arms before smiling and showing off her ring. "I haven’t had much time to discuss with Christian everything this ring does, but he did mention that it prevents me from bursting into flames in the sun. Now you, on the other hand, may need extra sunscreen."
“I swear, sometimes I hate you! We don’t even know if this place will have beaches, and with all the My soon to be queen stuff, I'm not sure Christian would like to see me ogling men in little shorts. I guess I could tell him I'm looking for the best cattle; do ya think that would work?"
"Nope, not at all, and that’s a scary good imitation of Christian, by the way," Lillith said.
Sometime later, after most everyone had retired to their rooms, the mystical fog that covered the vessel began thinning as Kale stood on the deck and recited the words to take them through the portal. “Into the shadows, out of the light; hide no more from human sight." As the fog cleared, the sky turned dark, and Kale smiled and uttered the word "home." The murky waters and dark clouds covering the sun's rays meant they had entered Odious. The vampires ruled over this dark side of Penumbra, and their powers were very well respected among all the mystical creatures of the land.
Kale went to the sleeping quarters to get the others, knocking on Christian’s door first. "Prince Christian, we have arrived home!" he called.
Christian’s face was lit up when he opened the door. He told Kale to go and wake the rest of the brood while he woke those closest to him. Still smiling, he knocked on Mackinzie's and Lillith’s door as he called, “We are home, ladies.” He gave them a little bow when they answered then moved onto Alisha’s door.
He knocked and waited for her to answer. When she opened the door, he smiled and explained, “We have arrived, Mother. Prepare yourself and remember, this is no longer your world, but I will protect you. You don't have to worry.”
