So, I know this hasn't been updated in YEARS! However, I got a review for it out of no where, and that made me go looking for my old notes on this story. Guess what? I discovered three unpublished chapters. Yep! So we will see if this thing gets more traffic than it did back in the day. If it does, I may start writing on it again. If it doesn't... well... at least someone might get to read what I did write for this story. I'll update this every day until I run out of chapters.
Anyone observing the trio walking down the sunny street of Gambino Isle, they couldn't help but gape. The little girl, garbed in a violet corset and black silk dress, her white leather knee high boots with black laces, and her flaxen blond hair pulled up in black lace ribbons so that it flowed behind her in a wild torrent… she looked like a miniature empress, and the two individuals flanking her only furthered this image. On the child's right was a man, so handsome that he attracted the gaze of every female around him. It wasn't just his sapphire eyes that illuminated along with his fair skin, but his unruly hair, bronze in the sunlight, seemed styled in such imperfection that it gave him the look of a prince, perhaps a hero. The dashing clothes he wore, though simple, where highlighted by his looks rather than distracting from them. He wore a simple red silk shirt and black leather pants, and a pair of red, blood colored leather Doc Martins. As a consideration, he smiled and nodded to each of the infatuated females… much to the irritation of the woman to the far left. If anyone appeared regal, it was undoubtedly here, and if anyone though her out of place… one look at the child's eyes removed all doubt. Still… the tall woman was exquisite, if not regal in her own rights. She was dressed all in red, a form fitting leather top that showed an ample amount of cleavage, and over that she wore a burgundy trench coat. Her legs were covered with a long skirt, a slit up the right side offered fleeting glimpses of forbidden flesh… and the black stiletto heels were a staunch warning to any who dared look.
Sarai had been parading through Gambino Isle like this for the past four days, and each day they made sure that their presence was known to both human and non-human elements, day and night they were seen in the highest of heights and some times in the darkest of lows. Each night they made a pass through the large cemetery at the far northern shore, rounding around to come at the main throng entering and exiting the Gold Mountain Casino… Vampires feared them and humans lusted after them. Still, there was little excitement with all the posturing. However, last night there had been terrified whispers about murder and many of those whispers led Evangeline to think that Vampires, multiple of them, were involved. Which is why today, despite the outward posturing, they were hunting… not human prey, but under worldly prey. Sarai's dark exterior was half irritation and half concentration, she was searching for sleeping minds, three at least. Such a number together, in the middle of the day, was unheard of on Gambino… and could only denote a coven of their kindred. Or several lazy teenagers, but that is why Valdis was there.
The Seraph could vanish and appear anywhere he could see and with Sarai's help, she could show his mind anything within those walls. They would find they soon, and then they would be dealt with, made an example of to deter other vampires from committing the same stupidities. They made an effective team, the three of them… and they'd covered most of Gambino Isle's territory. If the suspects were not staying nearby, then they posed more of a threat to the surrounding territories than they would be to the city here, but seeing as how Durem was controlled by the VonHelson coven and Aekea was too far for them to travel in one night, it left only Barton Town as their next target, but Sarai believed them too hungry to have moved on. If one thing her telekinetic skills offered, it was the ability to glean certain truths from objects, living or not… and the images she'd gained from the crime scene had lead her to believe these certain vampires to be particularly lazy.
"Bingo…" she muttered, turning her gaze to a run down apartment building just on the outskirts of the bustling community. Valdis and Eva's gaze followed her one and in a blink of soft white light, Valdis vanished and reappeared as if he had been caught in a rather bright beam of sunlight. That brought a smile to Sarai's face. Valdis was a paradox. Vampires where creatures of darkness, even if they were day walkers, but Valdis had so many characteristics about himself that exuded that soft white glow… that she wondered if he truly was honest about only wanting "free will" when he took his bite. However, there was definitely a darkness behind the bright glow of his sapphire eyes. He hid it well, and she had no idea what it was… but it was something to be on the watch for.
"Four coffins," Val muttered into Eva's ear, but Sarai's hearing was acute enough to pick it up as if they were all having a chat over coffee. "I'd say we found our boys."
The dark child nodded, her thin lips twisting up in a smile, "Lets go and say hello shall we? It's not polite for hosts to be asleep when their guests arrive."
They were out of the sight of any prying eyes as Evangeline led the trio up the steps towards the boarded up doors, but they didn't remain that way for long. While small in stature, Evangeline was anything but weak. One kick, something that would have appeared normal if she was trying to nudge a toy or a ball out of her way, splintered the doors inwards, ripping the hinges out of their solid supports. Two by four boards, nails, doors and chunks of wood cratered inward and hit a wall ten feet across the abandoned atrium. "Knock, knock darlings…" Sarai suppressed a shudder. Eva was terrifying without effort.
There was a shuffling sound, so loud in Sarai's ears, but she knew that it was several floors up. "They're awake now…"
"Thank you for stating the obvious, Val," Evangeline ridiculed, walking into the old building ahead of the other two.
Now if there was anything that vampires had it common, there were at least two. The first being that they all drank blood. It sustained them and they hungered… no, lusted for it was the more appropriate way to put it. The second? Well they were fast. Vampires had reflexes and physical abilities far beyond anything a human could muster. Strength, reflexes, intellect… they were all greater than that of a human, but they had to be honed to be controlled. Speed on the other hand… well that was as natural to them as drinking blood. And these four were no exception.
No sooner had Eva stepped into the dark confines of the abandoned tenement then two of the vampires were upon her, nothing more than a blur. It looked as if they would tear the child-like Eva apart without effort, which is obviously what was going through their minds. A prime example of Vampires having to hone their intelligence… these obviously hadn't world on that. Before either Sarai or Valdis could move to stop their attack, not that they couldn't have, Evangeline's right hand rose and it appeared as if an invisible hand grabbed both the attackers, halting their advance and pulling them backwards until they slammed into opposing walls. Sheetrock and wood shattered with their impacts, raining down dust upon their bodies as they fell. Evangeline's hand then jerked out to extend its full length to the right, as if she were halting the movement of someone behind her, and the two idiots flew apart into pieces before exploding into ash seconds later.
Sarai and Valdis moved calmly to take point and flanks ahead of their leader, though seeing as how she'd reduced their numbers by half in less than fives seconds it was probably pointless. Still, by moving to her position Sarai was there to intercept the next Vampire… a black haired female. She was fast, but appeared horribly sluggish to the now bored telepath. Viewing anything with her vampiric sight made it simple enough, combining that with her telekinetic talents only made this child's play. Planting her feet comfortably apart to give both balance and maneuverability, Sarai brought her hand swinging around. Her nails were elongated, and much tougher than steel, and they cleaved through the woman's skull. Blood and brains spattered the floor before her feet, then the vampire's body charred and turned to ash, the grey powder washing over her.
Not one to be vain, but undeniably thrifty, Sarai summoned a sphere of telekinesis about them and the ash never touched their clothing, rather it enveloped them and settled to the floor, "Saves on dry cleaning…" that was her reply to the inquiring look from Valdis.
The man raised and eyebrow and then shrugged, "Works for me."
"But this doesn't work for me…" another man's voice said from across the atrium.
Automatically her gaze, along with Valdis and Eva's, turned to look at the place where the doors had crashed only moments before. A ragged vampire male, dressed in dirty pants and a black shirt worn through in several places stood before the debris. His face was gaunt, his hair matted with filth… killing him would be both a kindness and favor.
"Why is it that you are killing your own kind?" he asked, obviously shocked by the carnage he'd seen. He was a fledgling, a newborn forced to tag along with these other renegades to survive, and it was obvious that he was doing that just barely.
"There are rules," Eva said simply, "When you break the rules… you pay the price. Secrecy is our kind's only hope of survival, so that we may maintain our uninhibited way of life. Acting like you and your friends did last night? Well you may as just well broadcast our existence to the world. Bite marks, corpses drained of blood… very sloppy." Sarai felt partly sympathetic to the man's plight. He really hadn't been given a chance to learn the rules, not that it mattered. She'd learned them on her own simple enough… some people were just stupid.
"Don't act so high and mighty, Evangeline McDowell," The vampire sneered, "You only want to protect your lavish and unhindered life that you're accustomed to… being a daylight walker and all."
Scratch that part about sympathy… and about him being a fledging, scratch that as well. This man was the root of the problem, the leader of the small coven, and his tone totally made Sarai want to rip his throat out. The fact that Eva was wearing a delightful smile meant that she was thinking the same thing. A smile on those lips… bone chilling.
"You aren't the only one with unique abilities!"
"Your abilities are mere parlor tricks compared to the three of us, Zachary Doyle," Evangeline's voice seemed to slap the man with physical force, her soft words echoing with such power that it would be folly to disagree with her.
"You don't have the right to look down on us!"
"I have every right!" Before the offensive vampire could even lung at her, Evangeline's hand flashed out, glowing bright blue. Zachary was frozen solid in the blink of an eye, along with the foyer ten feet around him looking like a tundra. The floor was soon covered with a cool, wet mist rising off the icy vampire and his new crystallized sarcophagus. Eva smiled again, crossing her arms as she admired her handy work. "And that people…" she snapped her fingers, the ice shattered into a million glistening bits, "Is how we do that…"
Valdis escorted Sarai back to her apartment. It had only been a mere week, but already it seemed a foreign place to her. Last night she'd stayed with Evangeline in her estate that lay on one of the few islands around Gambino. Compared to the Estate, her penthouse was small… and it was also much further away from their "business" headquarters. The three of them had agreed that it would be best if she showed her face around Durem, just to keep the VonHelson coven on their guard. The entire vampire community in Gaia was now aware that the Dark Regulators were the law. There were now fewer reported vampire attacks, fewer humans going missing… they were behaving cautiously and making their work clean. It was all for the best, but Sarai knew it couldn't last… not with their few numbers. It would only be a matter of time before the other vampires decided to test the new form of law, it made Sarai both anxious and nervous at the same time.
"Well… here we are," Valdis announced, stopping just before her door.
He was always such the gentleman, much to nice for natural tendencies… but he was sweet. She inserted her key into the lock and turned back to look at him. Every time she looked at him, she risked losing herself in those sapphire depths. It wasn't just the handsome features of his face, but rather… that there was something incredibly profound hidden behind those eyes. It made her want to discover what it was… to get closer to remarkable creature. "You know I really didn't need an escort home…"
Valdis chuckled, "Well, I wanted to see where this terrifying and beautiful creature lived." His hand brushed a strand of crimson hair out of her face and their eyes locked, sapphire and violet, and the skin touched by his hand erupted with an electrifying heat, so intense that she was certain he would be able to feel it. If he did, he showed no signs of it, removing his hand and smiling the disarming smile of his.
She wanted to frown but rather she twisted the key in the lock and opened her door, "Then I'll just have to use that to keep you around then won't I?"
He arched an eyebrow, "I'm intrigued…"
"You'll have to wait until tomorrow… when you take me out to dinner," she gave him a wink before going inside, "Have a good night, Val."
She shut the door, but even through the dark, hardwood she could hear his amused laugh followed by, "Goodnight my temptress…" Sarai sighed lightly as she thought just how wonderful it would be for something to happen with him. It was an odd thought to have… normally her thoughts were more proactive, focused on her plan for Gaia and how she would enact them. The thought stopped her in her tracks. There was the plainest evidence in existence: she wasn't alone. That pathetic little girl she crushed in the forest glade was still there in her mind. It wasn't that she was there, or that she wasn't, it was almost as if they were both co-existing in this brain together…
"Problem?" Sarai's head jerked up to see Karin Sele sitting on her couch. The Nova Corp lawyer had her hands crossed in her lap, and a bored expression on her face. She was dressed in a different suit this time. She wore a white with black pinstripe vest over a silvery silk shirt, her pants were also white pinstriped… and she had a fantastic pair of pumps made of silver leather… or perhaps actual silver, knowing Nova Corp's technological advances.
It took only a fraction of a second to get her head right. It didn't matter, Sarai knew who she was and that was enough for her. "No… no problem, other than you people keep invading my house." She glared at the lawyer, before going to sit in a chair opposite her. The vampire and glared while the impassive woman stared, neither speaking for several minutes. "Can I help you with anything?" Sarai finally snapped.
"Have you taken the nanites yet?" Karin asked bluntly.
Sarai's mind shot back to the small silver cylinder she'd stored in her safe, hidden in the study's bookcase. She hadn't had time to take then, what with all the things going on with Virtra, Evangeline… and Valdis. Valdis's smiling face distracted her for an irritating moment, "No… not yet. Is there a problem?"
Karin shook her head, "Not a problem… just an upgrade… call it a gift from your loving aunt Sele." The woman reached into her white clutch and pulled out another cylinder, a vial of silvery liquid, and tossed it to Sarai. "Those will react with the other nanites and give your "Vampire Angelic" nature a more vivid tone. I'll let you choose whether or not to use them. I promise they only code to your genetic nature… and if you don't believe me… I'll let you come back into Nova Corp and check the files. You'll be completely safe." For some reason, the smile that Karin gave… was not reassuring at all.
"Why would you do this?"
The lawyer smiled a fox-like smile, "Politics and legalities are only my day job… I'm a scientist as well. You're my latest experiment. I never know when these little projects can prove useful, besides, Proctoris is interested in you as well."
That was a name synonymous with caution. Proctoris was Nova Corp's head scientist, and anything he put his hands on either turned into a mad experiment or an amazing weapon. If you wanted something beneficial, then you turned to Nolaria. That woman was a philanthropist if one ever existed. She and Proctoris ran anything for R&D, but if Proctoris had anything to do with this nanites update… Sarai smiled viciously, "I take it this isn't for peaceful negotiations?"
Karin shook her head, "No, but it is more of a defense mechanism… though I'm sure that your mind will find a way to make it into something delightfully wicked."
"Oh you can rest assured on that," Sarai smiled, "Now can you do me a favor?"
"More than I already have?"
"Get out!" Sarai snapped. Karin didn't say a word, but thankfully she obliged. The lawyer exited the apartment with silent grace, leaving Sarai with her choices. She walked into her study, the heels of her shoes sinking into the plush, crimson threads of the carpet. The vampire plopped into the chair behind her desk, propping her feet upon the polished wood with delicate ease. The new vial of nanites glistened before her, the mercurial lure looming ominously before her. Absentmindedly she reached into the bookcase behind her and removed the other vial of nanites, holding it precariously in her hands. This was the decision… the nanites would make her vastly more powerful, but she'd be at risk for Nova Corp taking control of her. But if what Karin had said was true, if she could use these without the side affects of losing her free will, then it was worth having to flesh out these abilities.
The benefits outweighed the dangers. With a deft movement Sarai popped off the top, revealing a syringe tip. Without any hesitation she injected both strains of nanites into her slow, non-circulating blood. Immediately the changes could be felt… her muscles near the injection point already felt stronger. It would take time to feel the full effects, and even more time to discover their full potential. With a pleased smile, Sarai spun the chair around to face the window, watching as a lazy moon hung soft in an obscurity of stars.