Chapter Fourteen - A Prince of the Vampires
With all eyes on Prince Drake, Leora quietly made her way to the podium. Whatever will happen next, she had to get the scroll. If she failed, they failed. Zea would fail. Despite all what Elijah and Josephine—even Elizabeth—have said, she didn’t believe them.
Leora remembered Zea’s sad eyes when the white-haired vampire said she was unworthy.
“All die? Is this how you shithead vampires were planning? To swoop in after the auction?” shouted Stan, who somehow became for the voice of every werewolf, hunter and witch there.
“Yes, and they have momentarily blocked out the sun. I don’t have time! I have slowed them down as much as I can. Destroy the scroll now!” commanded Prince Drake. His eyes darted over to the podium along with everyone else.
Leora smiled cheekily with the scroll encased in a clear heavy duty glass box in her hands at the podium. Her fangs were showing and her eyes were now red. She gulped.
“Uh, Elijah? Josephine? I need help now!” she called out desperately. She started backing away until her back hit the wall. Her eyes darted all around, looking for an escape that was becoming more and more impossible as people came rushing into the bidding room.
“Holy fuck! You’re a vampire all this time?” shouted Stan. He then turned and spat at the direction of Jociam. “This is some fucked up cheating. Working with vampires?” he said vehemently.
Jociam eyes narrowed. “No,” he bellowed. “I believe we were tricked too. Somehow there is a vampire that can walk in the daylight. Change of plans, my fellow hunters. Kill Leora and get the scroll!”
Stan snarled. “Brethren kill whoever but get that scroll!” He sliced the head off of a witch that was next to him.
Any cohesion among the people was now gone. The fighting began. Witches of various powers turned on the werewolves and in between them were the Order shooting, blasting or slicing anyone in their way.
A trio of werewolves were chasing Leora.
Prince Drake flung an arm outward from the incomplete banister. A great psychic force ripped from him, plowing through the trio of werewolves, swatting them away from Leora.
“Don’t go there!” shouted Prince Drake to Leora.
“What? Why?” said Leora. She was confused. She was near an exit, an open archway.
Prince Drake dodged a shot of a pillar thrown at him from a witch. “It’s where they will come out!” he answered. He moved off the banister to enclose his fangs around the neck of the witch who had just attacked him.
Leora was about to move away when the ground before the archway opened up a square shaped hole. A few bodies flew out. One nearly landed on top of her as she stepped away. She noticed the body had a mask that was exactly like the ones worn by the vampires that attacked the charity!
Then she saw an arm with a bandaged hand merged from the hole.
“Zea?” said Leora happily. She moved to the hole and extended a hand.
A hand clasped hers, and Zea pulled herself out of the hole.
“Why are you here?” said Zea, astonished. “You should be back--”
Leora hugged Zea. “I got the scroll,” she said in a muffled voice. Then she felt a sting and pulled back immediately. Wrapped around Zea’s shoulders were chains. “Why do you have blessed chains?”
Zea looked around but responded. “It’s for a prince. Where are the other two?”
“I don’t know. I tried to text them but they wouldn’t answer,” said Leora.
Then the wall behind the podium exploded. Zea grabbed Leora into a protective embrace as pelts of drywall landed on them. Smoldering bodies of vampires rolled across where the wall was to a stop. Standing in the clearing smoke with his athame held in front of him, was Elijah huffing. “Leora, get away from her!” he shouted.
“It’s okay!” said Leora.
Vampires began pouring out of nowhere. However, they were fighting with each other. Black masked vampires fighting against non-masked ones.
Zea froze, feeling the muzzle of a gun she had encountered before at the side of the temple.
“I am very surprised you haven’t zipped away already before I got this close to you,” said Josephine. She cocked her gun. “But then again you were distracted. Let her go.”
“No, don’t shoot her!” cried out Leora.
“Tell me why the fuck do you have your gun on my head?” said Zea as she let Leora move away.
“You’re lucky I haven’t blown your head off right away, traitor,” snarled Josephine.
“Traitor? I don’t know what you are talking about. Put the gun down,” commanded Zea. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Leora put a hand on Josephine’s gun arm. She tried pushing the arm down, but Josephine was really strong. She couldn’t even budge the taller woman’s arm by a centimeter. “You can’t kill her! You said you're only gonna knock her out,” she pleaded.
Elijah rushed to them, dodging a couple of battles. “Just kill her and be done with it,” he said, stopping by Leora. He noticed Leora had the scroll in her hands.“Good, you have it. Now we can fucking leave this hot mess.”
“I would like to know how I became a traitor?” said Zea. “I didn’t think putting Leora out for a bit would make me a traitor.”
“Fucking liar! You backstabbed Elizabeth and sent your goons to kill us,” seethed Elijah at Zea. He nudged his chin at Josephine. “Pull the trigger to blow her head off before she ninjas her way out. Then we’re in trouble.”
“No, you gave your word,” pleaded Leora again at Josephine.
“I would never do that,” said Zea quietly. “Take Leora and the scroll and just get away from here.”
“Shoot her!” said Elijah as she clasped around Leora and tried pulling her away.
Josephine furrowed her eyebrows. Then she moved her gun and shot down a witch who was casting an ice sword aimed at them. “Fuck, I am confused,” she said.
“What are you doing--,” said Elijah. He found himself and Leora on the ground with Zea on top of them. He felt a droplet of blood hit his face, but trailing Leora’s gaze he saw the blood had come from Zea’s right shoulder. A bullet had grazed the vampire’s shoulder.
“Give me the scroll and I will let your friends have a quick death,” said Jociam. He had a silver gun with a rolling barrel like the ones you see in the western movies pointing at Leora’s head.
“Nah,” said Josephine and shot Jociam, who shot back at the exact moment.
Two bullets smashed against each other, dropped onto the ground midway between the hunters with a quiet clink on the stone floor.
With guns pointing at each other and smoke waffling up from the muzzles, Josephine and Jociam stared down one another.
“You didn’t aim,” said Jociam.
“You weren’t kidding about your intuition,” said Josephine. Without taking her gaze from Jociam, she spoke to three on the ground. “Go while I have Jociam’s attention.”
Zea, pulling the other two up through gritted teeth, nodded and ran with the other two following her.
***
Between Zea and Elijah, they shielded Leora as they made their way out of the estate.
Zea barely ducked a sword swing at her before Elijah blasted away a hunter with his magic. She went onto one knee and held herself with one arm. She looked like she was about the hurl.
“Maybe if you dropped those chains, we can get out of here way faster,” said Elijah as he motioned Leora to grab Zea’s other arm while he took the one near him. “Lean her over there. I’ll make a barrier.”
As they propped Zea onto a piece of wall of the estate that was still intact, the vampire spoke. “I need it.” It was the only way she could stand a chance to kill Drake. She noticed the sword from that hunter had landed near her.
Elijah, noticing the same, grabbed the sword and then started putting up a stone barrier.
“You don’t look so good,” said Leora concerningly. She put down the scroll in its glass case before ripping a piece of her dress shirt. She then wrapped around the wound on Zea’s shoulder with that piece.
“It’s fine,” said Zea, but she closed her eyes. It was annoying having that poison in her bloodstream and carrying around blessed chains. “I just need to rest for a moment.”
Elijah finished casting and a half stone dome was over them. His athame glowed, giving enough light for him to see. “So did you send those assholes to kill us when we were scoping out this place yesterday?” he asked quietly.
“No. I was planning on getting the scroll before this. Leora was only supposed to be sleeping until the auction was over. I just wanted you all to go home. None of you got the emails?” said Zea. She was starting to feel a coldness in her core. “Fuck, of course none of you would read your secured inboxes!” She felt very stupid as it was something she should’ve seen coming a mile away.
“It might be because Elizabeth called me and said you were the mole and what not,” said Elijah. “You tell me why she would say that?”
Zea opened her eyes. “What?” she hissed. “That is impossible. She must have been tricked. Fuck it all! I should’ve ignored her and just killed Drake.” It had to be him, after all. She looked over at Leora. “Hand the scroll to Elijah. Burn it to the ground.”
“Can’t. I see it has very strong protection,” said Elijah, eyeing the scroll. He left out the part where he saw the intricate weaving of astral lines in and around the scroll the likes he has never seen. He suspected that if he tried that it might cause an explosion big enough to take out the entire city of London if not more. Perhaps Zea was right, and Hammer was wrong. His jaws tightened. He felt ashamed and angry that his former mentor had successfully manipulated him. That all this may have been Hammer’s plan, but to what end? Why this and why that? So many why’s.
“Then we just take it away from here. Are you hurt?” asked Zea to Leora.
“No, I’m fine,” answered Leora.
Zea looked over at Elijah who held his athame tightly in one hand and held the sword in the other hand. “And what about you? Are you hurt?” she asked Elijah.
“No,” said Elijah.
“Good. You and Leora take the scroll and get away as far as possible. I will cover for you two once this barrier is breached,” said Zea.
“It will hold,” said Elijah, offended.
A series of pounding shook the barrier.
“Not forever and not against all of them,” said Zea. “I know it is best I just take you two away or at least take Leora away....”
Or you could’ve snatched the scroll but you didn’t, thought Elijah. He looked away momentarily, pretending he was distracted by whatever was hitting his barrier to hide the guilt he knew was on his face.
“...but they will follow. I will stay and distract. I assume you all were going along with the original plan and have a getaway?” said Zea.
“Minus you, yes,” said Elijah.
“What about Josephine?” asked Leora.
“I’ll go get her and tell her to meet up with you two,” said Zea.
“Thank you,” said Leora. As much as Josephine creeps her out and irritates her, she somewhat warmed up to the hunter of late and was relieved with Zea’s words. “You’re going to come too right afterward?”
Zea nodded. “Eventually,” she said.
Leora frowned. Zea’s eyes said otherwise.
“That sounds like a plan,” said Elijah. He handed the sword to Zea. “You’re gonna need this and sorry I thought you backstabbed us.”
Zea took the sword. “Don’t be. I would be too, given what I am learning. We will sort this all out after this is over,” she said. “On my word, take down the barrier and run.”
Elijah nodded.
Zea took a deep breath before standing up, followed by Elijah and Leora who held the scroll in its glass case more tightly against her chest. Leora’s forehead creased with worry. After all, to her, it would be best if Elijah stayed with Zea.
“Now,” Zea said.
The moment Elijah’s barrier receded, Zea threw her chains at a nearby vampire and then was gone. A headless vampire with chains wrapped around them, a werewolf with her tongue sticking out of her mouth and blood seeping out of her neck, and a witch’s body sliced in half were on the floor surrounding Leora and Elijah. Zea reappeared with her back against the two and a bloody sword.
Elijah pulled Leora into a run, with the vampire looking back to see Zea kneeling down by the headless vampire.
***
Zea’s head throbbed for a moment. The poison wrecked more havoc inside of her when she exerted herself after throwing her chains at the incoming vampire. “This is annoying,” she gruffed to herself as she pulled the chains off from the headless vampire.
She looked up and scanned the fights. She spotted Josephine shooting at both Jociam, whom she judged by the piles of dead bodies around him was likely an Ordained too, and others from behind a Grecian marbled pillar. The pillar was quickly being filled with holes and soon Josephine would need to find another cover or be full of holes. Then she saw Drake, not that far off from Josephine, surrounded by black masked vampires.
Her mind ticked as she began to analyze the battlefield before her. A staff with a crystal ball on top laid between Josephine and a dead witch. Convenient. She fought a smile that wanted to come out as another voice echoed from the ghosts of her past.
“Don’t drop that! If the head breaks we’re all gonna be ashes or showered in glitter.”
Next to the witch was a dead hunter still clutching her shotgun. She looked over at Drake who was floating in the air and had his back against the fight between Josephine and Jociam.
A simple plan had formed. However, she could not mess up the timing of the execution. If she estimated it right, this would all be over in fifteen heartbeats. She wrapped the chains around her shoulder that was wounded and slid her sword in between. She would not need them for this until the very end.
Taking a large breath, she sprinted to the staff.
Three heartbeats.
She slid under an incoming thrown body. Then rolled over the dead hunter, picking up the shotgun. She continued.
One heartbeat.
She leaped to the dead witch and kicked up the staff into her only freed arm. She was now running with a shotgun in one arm and the staff on her other arm.
Two heartbeats.
She ran toward the hunter Josephine was battling. When her eyes met Josephine’s grin, she threw the staff at Jociam. In one swift motion, she cocked and aimed her shotgun, but the hunter had moved his gun to her. Somehow he knew she was there and had turned his gun to her. His shot would hit her before she could pull the trigger.
Shit! She thought. She was fucked. But she had to try. She pulled the trigger.
One heartbeat.
Two bangs. Not simultaneous going off. With Zea’s trained hearing and many years of combat experiences, she knew it was one bang after another separated by a fraction of a second. Zea knew one bang was from her and it came in second, but where did the first bang come from?
The Jociam’s face was in agony and his gun had dropped onto the ground. Blood was seeping from a hole in his hand. She quickly glanced to see Josephine with her gun smoking. Josephine yelled, “Duck!”
One heartbeat.
Zea threw herself down. Her shotgun had hit the crystal ball of the staff. There was no glitter and no ashes raining down on her. Instead a flash of light that momentarily lit up the entire estate before sending out a horizontal force that flattened anything that it touched.
The hunter that had fought Josephine was blown back into a wall.
Two heartbeats.
Zea’s ears were ringing when she got up and turned to Josephine, who was also scrabbling to get up. “Go to Leora and Elijah!” she shouted and pointed toward the direction those two had gone.
Josephine nodded, miraculously able to hear the vampire. She jetted off and as she passed by Zea, she could see Josephine mouthed “Thanks, hottie” to her.
Zea turned to Drake. He and the black masked vampires were still at it, not noticing the explosion or her. She gritted her teeth.
Two heartbeats.
It was now or never. Zea dashed toward the floating Drake who had just physically blasted away the last black masked vampires that had surrounded him. As she got closer, she unwrapped the chains in such a way that she flung off her sword and caught it with the opposite hand. She twirled the chains like she was about to rope a cattle.
She had to get this right.
She threw the chains at Drake. The moment the chains left her hands, her vampiric powers returned instantly. Then she was out of sight.
Last three heartbeats.
Drake shouted in surprise as the chains wrapped around him and he fell onto the floor. He rolled over and struggled to get the chains off, but it was futile. He did a kick-up to stand on his feet.
He looked wildly. “Who dares?” he snarled.
Zea appeared before Drake. Her sword raised, ready to take off Drake’s head. Finally, he will die after all the trickery and treacherous shit he had done to her house and made her allies think she was a traitor!
Drake's eyes lit up. “What are you doing here—fuck,” he said.
It was over for the Prince of Vampires.
Fifteen heartbeats had gone.
But Zea stopped.
She had seen a large clawed hand closing in on her from behind, from a reflection of a broken mirror that was behind Drake. She shifted her weight and spun around to slice off a werewolf’s head as Drake charged forward. The werewolf body fell to the ground and quickly returned into a naked body. The separated head showed that the werewolf was a golden haired man with golden bushy eyebrows.
Then Zea heard Drake gasped. She turned to see him kneeling beside her.
“Fuck,” grunted Drake.
The werewolf had distracted her, and she did not detect that someone had targeted her. There was a shaft of a spear sticking out of Drake’s side. Zea saw, by the angle of the spear, that the spear would have hit her if not for Drake. He took the hit for her.
She stood there for a moment shocked before looking in the only possible direction where the spear could have been thrown from. Standing on a pile of rubble of what had been parts of the second unfinished banister was someone she was very sure was supposed to be dead.
“Vincent, that little bastard,” sputtered Drake.
“That’s impossible,” said Zea quietly, staring at the black suited man grinning at them. “Peter?” Somehow Peter was alive. She blinked several times. She watched him die from the vampire poison.
Peter-Vincent waved at her before Kenra appeared beside him. They exchanged some quick words. Then Kenra placed a hand on Peter-Vincent’s shoulder and they were gone.
“Peter? Is that bastard’s real name? I knew the Council shouldn’t have admitted that unknown,” he said. He coughed violently.
She hesitated to answer, unsure what was going on. “Maybe? I am not sure,” she said finally. She turned her attention to Drake, who coughed again. Even if the Prince of Vampires was planning on enslaving her and whatnot, he and his ilk would never injure themselves for the sake of a fodder. Drake saved her and, if she were to believe, saved her many times before.
“Why have you been saving me?” she said quickly kneeling down and caught Drake before he fell over to the side from another coughing fit. She grabbed a hold of the shaft of the spear. “Let me take this out and the chains. You’ll heal and….” She eyed his hands. They had a tight coiling pattern. “Shit.” Vampire poison.
Drake started to convulse and shook.
Zea held him tight. Her mind raced through on what she knew of the vampire poison. Anything she thought of she dismissed due to lack of equipment and/or required expertise. Out of desperation, she took off her jacket and pressed her sword across her forearm.
“Maybe if I give you my blood and,” her words faltered. She knew he wouldn’t survive. However, somehow Peter survived? She was confused.
Drake grasped her hands shakingly.
“Stop. I’m not going to make it. You have to get the scroll. You have to save everyone,” hissed Drake.
Zea nodded.
Foamy blood came out of Drake’s mouth. “Y-you tell,” he gasped, trying his hardest to stay alive. “Saved you.” He took a deep and last breath. “I. Kept. My. Promise.” Then he leaned back onto her lap, his eyes staring at the pitch black sky above before going still.
“Thank you,” she whispered sadly.
Zea closed his eyelids over. Then she lowered him off her lap and onto the ground. She didn’t need to know whom to tell Drake’s message to. There was a sense of pride and relief that quietly unbundled in a lock part of her heart. After all these years. “Still watching over me, sire,” she said softly under her breath.
She crossed Drake’s arms over his chest. She normally does not say this to a departed vampire, but given who he was and raised under the Weeping Mother religion, she kindly said the words. “Peace be with you, Prince Drake. May the Weeping Mother carry your soul to wherever she takes it to. All Mother.”
Zea looked around. Bodies everywhere, a few people staggering around looking for something or someone. Most of the fighting had moved outside of the estate as her ears picked up sounds of fighting not too far away.
Then she realized that Peter-Vincent was with Kenra. A human who was like her when it came to speed. He would have no problem catching up to Leora, who has the scroll and can easily dispatch Elijah if Josephine hadn’t caught up with them in time. “Shit,” she said under her breath.
She stood up, sword in hand, and just like that she was gone.
Chapter 15 - Choices