Part II: See The Sun
Chapter 8: Iridescence
1
It was most likely three in the morning when Eddie Poe busted into the room with some unknown woman. The two of them zipped around the room and then pulled the bed up to reveal the tied up bodies of Henry and Snow.
"They're alive." Eddie speaks softly and the woman he's with nods.
"Henry's been bit. More than once by the looks of it. And Snow's had quite the stabbing. With a stake by the looks of it, but no wounds by the heart. So she should be fine, right?"
Eddie nods to his progeny and then smiles. "You're getting smarter."
His progeny stands up and kisses him. "Thanks to you."
Eddie scoffs and then pushes his progeny's hair out of her face. "Modesty looks good on you, October."
2
Russell and Joss are watching Vladimir with shocked looks on their faces.
The boy has smoke coming off of him. Purple smoke. And his eyes are no longer just purple. They're glowing white with rage. And the purple seems to be spraying from his pupils.
"What the hell is he doing?" Joss utters.
"Oh my word." Russell whispers.
The silver chains melt off of Vladimir's arms and legs, and the nails in his hands and feet get absorbed into his body as if they're nothing.
Vladimir drops off of the cross and Russell looks over at Joss. "Sorry slayer. I may be three-thousand years old, but that's only taught me one thing. Don't fuck with things you don't understand."
Russell flies away and Joss turns and tries to run.
Vladimir appears in front of him and grabs him by the throat, and then swings his arm so he's holding Joss over the side of the thirty story hotel.
Joss struggles to get out of Vladimir's clutches, and then Vladimir jumps off the side taking Joss with him, Joss screams. Vladimir doesn't flinch.
3
Snow wakes up to the sound of Eddie's voice. "Where is Vlad? Snow? WHERE is Vlad?!"
Snow looks around the room and then, noticing what's going on, she bolts out of it. Eddie and October follow her while Henry remains unconscious on the floor.
4
The Pravus, glowing purple, is holding Joss in midair high above the hotel and surrounded by clouds.
Joss' face is turning purple as the Pravus' grip around his throat gets ever-tighter. Tears well up in his eyes as he realize these are his final moments on Earth.
This is his end.
5
Eddie, October, and Snow bust out onto the roof just as the clouds are forming in the sky. Dark looming clouds filled with bright lights and tons of noises are shattering the horizon.
The skies are glowing purple and Snow can feel her maker.
She can feel Vladimir's… heart.
"Something is really wrong here."
Eddie zips to the edge of the building and looks over it. The cars move on undisturbed by the sky; the world has seen so much crazy lately that this probably just seemed like a regular storm.
Just then, Russell Edgington appears behind them. "Edward."
Eddie turns and bares his fangs. "WHERE IS VLADIMIR?!"
Russell ignores the boy's foolish anger and points up towards the clouds.
In the sky, the clouds seem to circle around two dots in the sky. One is glowing purple, the other is going limp.
October grabs Eddie's hand. "He can't kill Joss, Eddie. Joss is bigger than he knows. We need him to complete the ritual. Remember what Enrico told you!"
Eddie pulls his hand from October, looks over at her, and stifles his usual sarcastic comment. He realizes the worry in her face and just nods. He looks to Russell.
"You, with me."
Eddie flies up in the sky and is immediately next to the Pravus, Russell is with him.
The Pravus does not break eye contact with Joss. The thunder booms louder as the clouds around them get darker, and circle closer.
"Vladimir. You have to let him go."
"I will do no such thing."
The Pravus' eyes glow brighter as his fangs are barred; Russell floats away a little and Eddie gets a little closer to the two.
"You have to understand Vladimir. This is all a part of your destiny. But killing Joss is not your duty. There are reasons he needs to be alive. The world needs him."
"Then I'm sure the world will save him Eddie."
Eddie flinches at the Pravus' dark words and then he gets a little closer.
"You have to let him go…"
The Pravus raises his free hand and a ball of light shines out of it and blasts Eddie square in the chest, he goes tunneling back towards the Earth.
Russell vanishes.
6
Snow is crying as she and October stand on the rooftop watching for their makers.
October is holding Snow's hand. October knows how to fly, but she figures this is her place, next to Snow. Snow was once a very close friend of hers, and now here they were on the roof in this moment of judgment. In this moment of fear.
"Why is it serious if Vladimir kills Joss, October? He's done terrible things to us."
"It just is Snow. Enrico told us it just is."
"That's not what I asked you October." Snow pulls her hand free, "What will happen? Why is Eddie so adamant on saving Joss? Just recently Eddie wouldn't have cared if he were alive or dead. I may have been entranced but I remember-"
"The Eddie you think you know isn't the real Eddie. He was trapped in trying to avenge his maker. When I made him understand that Vladimir wasn't the cause of Em's death, he turned all his power to finding who killed her. We found Enrico, who was one of the three Council of Elder members who wasn't either murdered or a traitor. He told us the prophecy. The whole prophecy. Including the things that the late Dorian Zimojic wasn't aware of."
Snow looks confused. "October. What will happen if Vladimir kills Joss?"
October looks back at Snow, bloody tears welling up in her eyes.
"If Vladimir kills Joss… he will have no chance of saving his mother. Melina Tod is alive."
7
Russell swoops down and grabs Eddie, then brings him down to the rooftop and sets him down.
"The Pravus hit him with some kind of… magic ball of light."
October zips over and cradles her maker in her arms. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"He hit him with a shining ball of light. I know my Norweigan accent is powerful but it isn't that damn hard to understand."
October begins rubbing Eddie's face and Russell looks back towards the sky.
"Women." He vanishes. Snow looks up at them, distressed. "I have to go up there October. I have to stop Vladimir from killing Joss."
October begins crying. "Do whatever you want Snow. Just be careful."
Snow closes her eyes and jumps, and she feels herself take off from the building with ease as she approaches the eye of the storm. The rain begins to fall around her and on October and Eddie below as she closes in on the glowing Pravus.
8
The Pravus' aura is glowing and shining further than before as the sky around the group gets darker. Joss has gone completely still and limp in the Pravus' grip, but all of the vampires can still hear his heart weakly beating in his chest.
Snow flies up close to the Pravus and shouts. "Vlad. You have to let go of Joss."
"Be gone Progeny. As your maker I command you to leave."
A strange pulling sensation arrives in Snow's stomach, telling her she has to leave the immediate vicinity and go back down to the roof. She fights it, but she can tell already that this isn't something she'll be able to beat.
"Vlad. Just wait. Listen to me. Joss is the only way you can ever see your mother again. You were lied to by Tomas, the woman who died in that fire wasn't your mother Vlad. She is alive. Melinda is-"
Snow is pulled away from the area by some strange force and is back on the roof the next time she opens her eyes. Russell watches as the Pravus turns his gaze to him.
"You still have her under mind control. You are trying to trick me."
Russell puts his arms up defensively. "That's not true young man. The slayer was the one who had your progeny under his control through a necromancy spell. I never had anything to do with that."
The Pravus does not get any less serious. "So are you implicating that he's a witch?"
Russell nods. "Of sorts. But, listen, Pravus; what if your progeny is telling the truth? What if your mother is alive and Joss is the only way you can ever find her?"
The Pravus looks away from Russell and back to Joss.
"If there is one thing I know for sure it's this. When I found Tomas, he was not the man I was looking for. He was not my father. The same may go for my mother. I will not forgive Joss just to find someone who has not been trying to find me."
Russell floats a little closer. "What if I tell you that you have a sister… and I know where she is."
Vladimir's eyes flash back to their regular color and the aura vanishes. "What?"
"You have a sister Vladimir Tod. She and Melinda are alive, and they are imprisoned by a dark force. If you allow Joss to live, we can leave here and go to them. I will help you."
Vladimir loosens his grip around Joss' throat as Russell continues.
"But you have to let Joss go."
Vladimir thinks for a minute. Multiple thoughts fly through his head at that instance, all of the lies he's ever heard in his life and all of the betrayal he's succumb to. He looks at the face of the boy who has caused him so much harm and his grip loosens further as his eyes begin to glow purple.
"No. There will be no mercy for Joss McMillen."
Vladimir snaps Joss' neck with a flick of the wrist, and then drops him down into the Vegas traffic, and into oblivion.
End Chapter.