Epilogue: The Calm Before the Storm
Elijah’s Apartment
Elijah was going to get sodas for Leora’s welcoming party for her new apartment. He had put on his hoodie when he realized that his keys were not in his hoodie’s pocket. He checked his jeans. Nothing.
“Where did I leave them?” he said. He looked around and finally found it on a side table next to the small bookcase he had moved to the living room. He smiled. Leora didn’t even read them because she only reads books digitally.
He felt a little ding in his heart. He hated to admit it, but he missed having Leora around. He found on the bookcase a frame of a polaroid shot of him and Leora. He didn’t tell the others, but he had noticed things about her that were odd during the battle with that crazy angel. Well, she will tell him eventually. After all, they were friends, and friends don’t keep secrets from each other.
His eyes wandered to his window, which was opened. He groaned. “Leora,” he started.
That can’t be right, he thought.
He went to his window and closed it. No way could it be Leora since she was at her apartment setting up the party. He couldn’t remember if he had opened the window at all. A clearing of the throat had him whipped around.
Sitting on his couch was a forty-year-old woman who still had her apron on. She was a thin brunette woman with stripes of gray hair. On the apron had her name, “Carmen Loves,” stitched across and underneath it was a printed picture of Elijah’s baby face.
“Mom!” said Elijah as he held his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Mijo, you are too young to be having a heart attack,” said Carmen. “Come here and give your mama a hug. I haven’t seen you since you returned from your business trip.”
Elijah rolled his eyes as he went over, hugged his mom and then plopped down beside her. He hooked his thumb to the window. “Was that you?” he asked.
“Of course! Had to check on my mijo, especially since you lived with—what did you say she was—your novia?” said Carmen suspiciously.
“Mama, I said she was in the, uh, witness protection program. FBI,” said Elijah quickly.
“You think your mama is a pendeja? Mijo,” Carmen took his chin in her hands. “I knew she was a vampire.”
Elijah’s eyes widen.
Carmen moved her head to ruffle her son’s head. “The museum has security video cams. Those wassins weren’t after you and Marcus. They were after your friend.” Her voice then became very serious. “I know what happened on your trip too.”
Elijah blinked several times in confusion. “I can explain,” he said.
“Did you not hear me, Mijo? I know what happened. The Horned God showed me,” smiled Carmen. She took out a dagger that was carved from a horn. She offered the dagger for Elijah to take. “And he wants you to kill your vampire friend before all of her seals are broken.”
China Beach, San Francisco
Zea watched the waves in the ocean peaceful ebb and flow in the sand from the bar. People ran to the waters with their surfboard, hollering at each other about something. In the distance she could see the Golden Gate bridge. It had a different kind of shine under the sun than as it was under the moonlight.
Plus there was the warmth she had not felt for over two hundred years. It was nice.
Zea put down her glass of iced gin. The alcoholic after taste still lingered in her mouth. She stared at the bottom of her glass, swirling the remaining liquid. Leora’s revelation was still shaking her core. She didn’t want to believe.
A waiter came by. “Hey pretty lady, nice to see you during the day for once. Do you want a refill?” she winked at Zea.
Zea nodded. “Can I get a couple of shots of whiskey too?”
Leora’s Apartment
Josephine pulled Leora into the bedroom. “One more round before people show up,” she said while puckering up her lips.
“After,” said Leora, who untangled herself from Josephine’s arm. “Elijah hasn’t texted me back and if he doesn’t bring the drinks, I have to get some now. Which means I can’t finish my decorations in time!”
“Ugh,” sighed Josephine. “Do you want me to go get some while you finish decor~ing?” she asked.
Leora patted Josephine on the cheeks. “Thank you. Promise afterwards and, um, maybe something more than just making out,” she said mischievously.
Josephine smiled broadly and bolted out of the room.
“Like play Mortal Kombat,” chuckled Leora. She had just acquired a PlayStation. “What a sucker.”
***
Josephine had a cart full of sodas. She wanted to swing by the beer section in the store and get some, but she didn’t want to piss off Leora who had told her not to bring alcohol earlier because some of her coworkers were underage. “Lame party,” she said under her breath.
A ringtone of Kimlee’s latest single rang from her phone, which meant that Telera was calling her instead of texting her as usual. Josephine left the cart and went into the bathroom, pushing out a man who was about to enter.
“Hey, lady!” shouted the man.
“Emergency,” she said before she slammed the bathroom’s door behind her and locked the door. She answered her phone. “Did you find out where that fucker is?”
“Yes. And not just the location of the next target, but all of them. Every hunter is being called to the Vatican’s City,” said Telera. “Nobody knows why, but it’s big.”
“Holy shit,” said Josephine. Such a call like that has not happened for several hundred years and the last was time was because the world was about to end. Not that she cared for the reason for this call.
She smiled cruelly. “I can get all of them—the fucking Pope included.”
Vatican’s City, The Order’s Headquarters
Corrine briskly walked with the Prime Ecclesiarch, leader of the graces of the Order, in the headquarters garden. Her hood was slightly inclined so that she may have a private conversation with the Prime.
“I don’t like this. The Pope has pulled every ordain, grace and holy wolf back to the city. Something is urgent,” said Corrine. “Even after weeks of pouring over what was gathered in London, the Pope has yet to make any announcement. Now suddenly.”
“Indeed,” said the Prime Ecclesiarch. “It is suspicious. That is why I asked you to come with me to the meeting. You do not take that man’s words at face value.”
Corrine nodded. The current Pope, Victicus XIII, had come to power in the most unusual circumstances. However, since the Echelon didn’t question it, nobody questioned it. “Indeed,” she said.
A priest approached them with a bowed head as respect.
“Prime Ecclesiarch, the meeting is about to begin,” said the priest.
The Prime Ecclesiarch nodded. He and Corrine followed the priest into a room. In the room was a large round table with many people already sitting or coming to take a seat. Most notable was that Prime Ordained, leader of the hunters, and the Prime Anointed, leader of the holy wolves, sat across from each other.
At the end of the table sat the Pope.
When Corrine and the Prime Ecclesiarch took the seats, the Pope raised his hand to silent the room.
“I do apologize for the time it took to investigate what the renegades had done in London. There was much evidence and survivors we had to sort through. The full report will soon be available after this meeting. The most pressing discovery is the return of a great evil,” spoke the Pope. “A great evil that cost our fellow hunter, Jociam Baines, his life."
Prime Ecclesiarch folded his hands into his lap
Corrine was one of the few to know that meant the Ecclesiarch detected a partial lie.
“I have called upon our soldiers so that we must contain this evil of the utmost importance,” continued the Pope. “It has come to my attention that what we thought was a fairytale is not.”
There was a murmur among the people.
Corrine looked at the Prime Ecclesiarch, who raised an eyebrow. That meant truth.
“Yes, the Vampire God is real, and she is here,” said the Pope gravely.
Obscuralis - The Hidden Kingdom of Vampires
Council member Raine had been summoned quietly to the inner chambers of the Three, a powerful faction of the vampire High Council that was compromised by three Firsts. A middle-aged lady with long black hair walked beside her.
“I am not used to seeing you in that body,” said Raine.
“It is your first time,” smiled Nova.
“Yes, of course,” said Raine, clearing her throat.
They walked silently down the dark hallway. Raine had been unconscious when Nova had taken over her body and barely escaped. It had been a surreal experience for her because she was immediately put in the medical ward of Obscuralis for weeks even though she had recovered from Elizabeth’s stab.
Raine kept her sight ahead. She didn’t want Nova to see her discomfort with her controlling her body even though it was to save her life.
As they got closer, they could hear faint voices.
“Yes, taking into account the ones that died with Prince Drake, we are still short of one thousand...yes, we counted the ones that were lost when Post 102 was destroyed...yes, I have spoken to House Dracul, Lord Harker, who claims she does not know the whereabouts of Dracula.”
When they reached the end, three huge stoned carved thrones faced them. On each throne was one of the Three. Their enormous body was beyond anything she had seen and the amount of dust that covered them must have been for centuries because they have not moved. They sat on their thrones as living statues.
Meeting them was Lord Ivan, a gray skinned vampire who served the Three as a liaison between them and the rest of the council. Raine recognized him as the voices she heard earlier. Lord Ivan greeted them both.
“I am sorry to pull you two here but there was something the Three wanted to confirm,” said Lord Ivan.
Raine nodded. “Of course,” she said. She bowed along with Nova.
The Middle of theThree spoke in a deep booming voice. “You said that the vampire who was immune to the sun was there.”
“Yes,” said Raine, who was a bit confused because she already said this to the Council. “And I apologize again for not retrieving her,” she said.
The Right of the Three then spoke in a flighty voice. “Were you aware that she was more than that?”
Raine blinked her eyes. “No, my lord. She’s just an idiot that works at a burger joint,” she answered.
The Left of the Three then spoke at Nova. “And that same one was the one that destroyed you?”
Raine's eyes bulged out as she turned to Nova. This was new news for her to hear. In fact, the Council only had her recount what had happened in London. She had wondered why Nova was never asked to testify. After all, she didn’t know what happened afterward except that the scroll had been destroyed and thus all of vampire kind was saved. Sadly, she was told that Elizabeth had died along with everyone else.
Nova was sweating. “Yes,” she said quietly. “She defied death and also said for the Council to leave her alone...or she will destroy us.”
The Middle nodded. “Ivan, tell them.”
Lord Ivan clasped his hands behind his back. “You two have been blessed. That vampire is our god.”
Nova mouth dropped open.
Raine blinked several times. “Wait, are you saying Leora?”
Ivan nodded. “Yes, and she has returned!” he said joyfully.
Tokyo, Japan
They were ushered into the dressing room. Vanessa and Jack of the Thunderstar Pack entered. They weren’t sure what to expect.
They waited for the woman in the seat labeled, “Kimlee Carter,” to finish her makeup before turning around to greet them.
“My goodness, it was only you two that checked underneath the seats?” chuckled Kimlee.
Vanessa nodded. “Technically me. My brother here was too drunk to be at the auction. I am a fan of your perfume.” She pulled out a black card and took a long sniff. “I got out of there before it all went to shit,” she said.
Kimlee nodded. “And followed the instructions to a T. For that, you and your pack were rewarded with survival.”
Mondo poked their head into the room. “Starting in five minutes!” they said before closing the door.
“Yes, hun, I will be there!” called out Kimlee. She turned her attention back to the pair. “Interested in a job? I promise, it would be beyond your dreams the reward. You can even say it’s heavenly.”
Vanessa looked at Jack, who then nodded. “And what would you want us to do?” she asked.
“I want you to find me something, for lack of a better name, called the Light of Lucifer. And the last person who knows where it is, is a vampire named Leora.”
THE END
(For now :D. Continuing in book 2, Light of Lucifer)