The Coven
Chapter 12: As She Goes
Waking up to the end of a glorious sunset that they couldn't look at, they yawned and stretched from the positions they'd been sleeping in. They'd been traveling for about a month, seeking shelter in all manners of odd places, from barns and caves to empty houses and crypts. This time, they were all cramped in an ancient smugglers hold in a bar.
"What time is it? I need out before the smell of Sunshine over here knocks me out again," Miranda grumbled under her breath as the owner walked overhead.
"How many times do I have to tell you that that wasn't me? We did pass by a pile of dead road kill, remember?" Dante's whisper hissed behind her, earning a swift kick backwards into his gut.
"Both of you shut up!" Elizabeth hissed to them in the dark, aware that there were a few stragglers in the bar above them.
"Can't you two just put aside bickering for one day? You'll get us caught at this rate!" Victoria mumbled as she crouched next to the now-silent Dante.
"Shhhh," Elaine hushed them as she looked up between the floorboards. When most of the people left were asleep or so drunk they couldn't walk and when the bartender/owner stepped out for a break, she motioned them to move out.
As they scrambled quietly from the movable floorboards into the dimly lit bar, they retreated to a dark booth in the far side. When they'd all exited the cramped area and firmly closed the boards again, they sat quietly for a minute, waiting for the owner. When he entered, he was startled by the sudden and silent arrival of this group of apparently gothic kids.
"What'll it be? We'll get busy here in a little bit, so better order now," he said as he wiped his filthy hands on his rag of an apron.
"Nothing. We've only come to kill time for the moment," Michael said soothingly, and the bartender harrumphed and hobbled away, scratching his balding head as he went.
"Gothic? Us? How absurd," Elaine chuckled as the man glanced back, unaware that his mind had just been read, but creepily aware that these people were different.
"Don't do that. Poor man's just not used to six people all in black with pale skins who happen to be sitting silently in the darkest corner of a bar at night," Victoria giggled and pulled her coat closer around her.
"How long is it until we find Isabelle?" Miranda stared at Michael.
"Another day I should think. She tends to stay near her mansion," he answered.
"Good. I'm getting sick of prowling around like animals," she replied.
"Will you tell me why the Reaper wants to see her so badly?" he asked Elizabeth, who only shook her head as a group of young people entered shouting and already drunk into the bar.
"Hey, look at this assemblage," a taller boy shouted unnecessarily loudly and slightly slurring as he stumbled over to the group.
"Halloween's not for a while, freaks," a girl cackled from behind him as they gathered in front of them.
"I'll kindly ask you to leave us be. We're only sitting here minding our own business," Elizabeth scathed.
"When ugly freaks like you hang anywhere near us normal people, you make it our business," one of the drunker boys threatened, slamming the table.
"Yeah, you shits don't even belong in the same species," another voice laughed from the back, causing a drunken chuckle to ring throughout them.
"Leave us 'lone, ya half-wits. Ya don' know what yer dealin wit," Elaine's voice rang with rare anger. Not knowing it, she slipped into her old accent.
"What if I say not? What can a freak like you do to people who're bigger than you?" the taller boy, probably the leader of this pack of drunk thugs, spat in her face and her eyes grew dark.
"She said leave. Her. Alone," Miranda stood from her seat and jabbed the boy in the chest to emphasize her point.
"Don't touch me!" he roughly shoved her backwards, causing her to fall onto Elizabeth, who pushed her back up. Miranda chuckled as the boy glared.
"Don't push your luck, boy," as she hissed, her eyes turned scarlet and her fangs peered from her grinning mouth.
"What the hell are you?!" he went to shove her again and found himself on the floor three feet away from Dante's now standing form, his fist clenched and a frown on his face, eyes a strange turquoise color.
"Break it up or take it outside!" the bartender shouted from the filthy bar, setting down the glass he'd been cleaning to grab a bat from under the bar.
"Miranda, Dante. Calm yourselves, we're leaving," Elizabeth stood smoothly up and brushed by the group without even looking back. Michael quickly followed, but he gave the leader a shove as he passed by him. Victoria and Dante followed suite, with Miranda and Elaine behind them. As she passed the leader, Miranda hissed, showing her fangs, and he flinched away.
"I'm sorry Elizabeth. My temper got away with me again," Miranda sighed as she shook her head. Outside was bitterly cold, and the moon shone brightly over them, illuminating their pale skin.
"I don't want any more of those types of scenes from you. Either of you," Elizabeth said as she motioned to both Dante and Miranda, "we can't afford any extra attention."
"Yes, maestra," she answered.
"Why am I in trouble? I didn't start the fight," Dante objected.
"You didn't help it any. We don't attack humans, boy, and I don't intend to let you start while you're in my coven."
"Fine."
"We'd better get started," Elizabeth sighed and walked over to a parked van nearby. After a moment, she unlocked the door and hotwired it. Turning, she said, "no reason why we can't travel in some semblance of comfort."
As the coven arranged themselves in the vehicle, Miranda sat with Elaine in the middle, with Victoria and Dante in the back. Michael took the wheel as Elizabeth settled into the passenger seat. As they began driving, Miranda turned to Dante and glared.
"What is it now?" he sighed.
"I know what you were trying to do back there, and I'm telling you now, don't bother trying anything like it again. I still won't trust you," she spat.
"I wasn't trying to do anything. I didn't like those brutes any more than you did," he answered.
"Excuses don't work with me, Sunshine. Quit trying to be nice to me. You've been trying to get me to like you since you got here and I'm sick of it."
"I wouldn't dream of it. Why would I try and befriend someone who's like a child in almost every way?" he smirked.
"You're an asshole," she snapped and she turned around to stare in front of her.
"Oh, and by the way, you're welcome," he added, leaning back even more.
"Welcome? For what?!" she whipped around.
"I stopped you from being slapped around by those fools. They'd have beaten you up as soon as you'd said a single syllable more to them," he said.
"I don't need help from a half-breed like you, Dante," she growled.
"You always need help. That's obvious," he smiled even wider, goading her.
"You-," she leapt from her seat to punch him, but was yanked back by Elizabeth, who had a firm grip on her leg.
"Enough out of you two."
With a huff, Miranda crossed her arms and sat back in her seat, fuming quietly. Victoria sighed exasperatedly while Elaine giggled softly. Putting her hand on Miranda's arm, she spoke quietly so only she could hear her.
"You fight like you used to with Victoria, and you know what that means," she teased.
"It is not the same thing," Miranda grumbled, "and no, I don't know what that means."
"Well when she first joined us, you fought with her like this. Now you love her like family. Now you and Dante go at it almost constantly. That means?"
"Don't even go there," she growled as she turned away from Elaine, who only shook her head, a smile planted on her face.
"What are you two babbling about up there?" Victoria asked suspiciously, eyeing Dante and Miranda.
"Nothing," Elaine replied.
"Nothing is never what it seems with you, Elaine. I'll let it drop for now I guess, seeing as Miranda's already as red as her eyes right now," she sniffed, turning to ruffle Dante's hair playfully.
Gently untangling her hands from him, he set them slowly in her own lap and sat back, arms crossed and looking out the window at the rapidly passing landscape. With a slight noise of indignation, Victoria began examining her nails. With a smug smile, Elaine turned towards her still-sulking friend.
"Why so offended, oh spiky one?" she teased and prodded her shoulder.
"New subject, please," she countered, sitting up and turning towards her.
"Maybe Michael can tell us a little more about this Isabelle. Fortune favors the prepared, you know," Victoria interrupted, directing her attention towards the couple up front of the van.
"I only know a little interesting rumor about her human origins. Does Isabella and Ferdinand ring a bell?" Elizabeth answered.
"The uniters of Spain?!" Victoria gasped.
"Only a rumor. And a poorly constructed one at that," Elaine scoffed.
"How would you know?" Victoria sniffed.
"I'm surprised you don't. If Isabelle was the same Isabella that united Spain in the 13th century, she wouldn't be near as old as the other ancients. She wouldn't even be older than Michael," she answered with a sniff of her own.
"Oh yeah, because you claim to come from the roman times, don't you?" Victoria again asked Michael.
"I don't claim, I am from back then. You make it seem as if I tell people that just to impress them," he chuckled.
"Well you do talk a big game most of the time," Elizabeth teased.
"So where are we headed exactly?" Miranda finally spoke. Her face was carefully unreadable.
"Vlad the Impaler's place. After it was left for haunted, she made herself home there. The town near there allows her to feed comfortably without suspicion," he said with a grimace.
"You act disgusted at her eating preferences, but as I recall, you and I once shared the exact same taste in human flesh," Elizabeth said, her eyes clouding as she said it.
"A long time ago. Long enough to see why you quit in the first place. Humans are too precious to be treated as such. Just look at what they can accomplish with art, medicine, weapons, and other things," he answered.
"That's similar to the argument I made to you over and over again. Now you're using it with me," she laughed in response.
"How much longer," Victoria groaned from the back. While Dante was in his unresponsive mood at the moment, she was bored once again. His weird refusal to let her play with him surprised her, but it seemed of little importance.
"Two days at the most," Michael answered. Glancing in the rear view mirror, he noticed Dante staring out the window, a small frown forming. With a small 'hmm', he turned back to driving.
"What?" Elizabeth's eyes asked when she heard the noise from him. With a subtle nod, he motioned towards Dante. As she looked back, she saw what he'd seen and a small smile played on her lips. At Michael's questioning glance, she shook her head, mouthing, "it's nothing."
As the night progressed, with the three girls talking amongst themselves and the couple up front talking quietly, they finally decided to look for a place to sleep for the day.
"There's a town nearby, why can't we just rent a room like normal people and put blankets in the windows?" Victoria whined.
"Oh, that's not odd, six people renting one room for a night, and once it's light out, putting blankets in the windows for no apparent reason," Elaine said.
"Another night spent cramped in some dark cellar like rats isn't exactly appealing either," Miranda added.
"What about an abandoned house or barn?" Dante suddenly spoke up after a night's worth of silent brooding.
"Would it be dark enough?" Elizabeth asked Michael.
"Maybe," he thought for a moment, everyone else in the car waiting for his opinion. Somehow, it'd become valuable to get his approval before deciding an official plan for a night's stay.
"What's that noise?" Miranda was suddenly sitting straight up, straining to hear something from their left.
Before they could answer her, three figures streaked from the forest on their left, ramming the van simultaneously. With a collective shout, they were thrown around as the car tipped on its side and skidded. As it finally stopped with a screech, the van's occupants quickly tried to reorient themselves. Michael and Dante crashed through the windows still intact on the left side of the van above them and climbed out.
"What the hell was that?!" Miranda growled as she wiped the blood from her temple, where she'd hit it against the right window.
"Elaine, are they still here?" Elizabeth said, a sharpness entering her tone.
"Don't even bother, we're right here," a man appeared from the other side of the van, two people behind him. All of them looked about the same age as them. There was one red-headed girl and another boy behind the leader.
"Why did you attack us?" Michael demanded, his eyes glaring coldly at the young man in front.
"We don't take kindly to strangers on our turf," the girl behind him snapped back.
"He didn't ask you, missy, he asked your master," Miranda growled back.
"He's not my master, and don't talk to me, brat!" she hissed back. They both stepped forward threateningly, but Dante and the other boy pulled them back.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Miranda yanked herself away from Dante, who didn't say anything. The other girl also stepped back, glaring at her.
"Was the violent attack necessary?" Elaine spoke to the man still standing in front of the other two.
"Can never be too careful around vampires with histories like these two," the man motioned towards Michael and Elizabeth. With a flash of surprise, Elizabeth scoffed out loud. Michael only stood stone silent, while the rest of the coven voiced various noises of disagreement.
"She's hardly a danger to you!" Victoria announced.
"How dare you insult a third-generation?" Miranda growled.
"That can't possibly be your reasoning behind this attack?!" Dante argued.
"This is ridiculous!" Elaine ended the barrage of comments with a sharp order, and they all turned to stare at her.
"It's ridiculous to defend your own coven from infamous murderers?!" the leader cried, his calm cracked. With a long finger, he jerked his finger at the couple.
"She's never hurt anyone you wouldn't try to feed off of yourself!" she snapped back, with a murmur of agreement from the people behind her.
"Say's you. I doubt she'd tell anyone about her and her boyfriend's not-so-glamorous past," he spat, the two behind him getting more fidgety.
"Let us go. We're not staying here, so we're not a threat. We don't even know your names to track you down," Elizabeth assured, her voice calm despite the anger flashing in her eyes.
"And let you roam free to kill more of your own kind? I don't think so!" with a snarl, the two behind him jumped for her and Michael. With an animal-like roar, Miranda rammed into the girl, catching her mid-leap and sending them sprawling towards the wrecked car.
The boy went to bite Michael's throat, but was halted by a hand around his throat. Before Michael could squeeze hard, however, the boy was violently yanked backwards, Elaine's hands ripping his shirt in the effort. Victoria quickly joined in, helping Elaine to hold the boy motionless.
Dante managed to drag Miranda off of the girl, who was now already unconscious and bleeding from multiple wounds inflicted by hands, nails, teeth, and feet. Miranda was still snarling, her hands and face bloodied and twisting. Not yet aware of who was holding her, she kicked and squirmed, almost getting a hold of his head a few times.
"Jesus, woman, get a hold of yourself! It's just me!" he muttered as she continued to claw at him. She calmed down eventually, still in his firm grip as the leader of the attackers stared in shock at the ghastly scene she'd caused.
"All talk, no skill," Miranda cackled as he bent down to examine the girl. She was still alive, but barely.
"Morgan!" the boy cried, twisting frantically in Elaine and Victoria's grasps. With a surprised noise, Victoria released him, letting him yank free and run to the girl also.
"Morgan?!" Victoria said in disbelief. Even Elizabeth was shocked, her eyes widening slightly. Michael, however, remained unchanged, he just continued to glare at the leader.
"Who the hell's Morgan?" Miranda scoffed as she pried Dante's arms off of her, a semblance of control regained. With a scolding 'hmph' from Dante, he moved away from her.
"Don't you pay attention when Elizabeth tells you anything?! They're Abrielle's turned! Dante, didn't you recognize them?!" Victoria practically shrieked.
"Like I'd recognized people I'd never seen before. Nathan never let me near them," he answered with a hint of impatience.
"Miranda, you idiot, you attacked a third-generation! And one of Abrielle's!" she was now beginning to hyperventilate slightly, her eyes wide with fear.
"How do you know of us?" the leader straightened and glared at the girl.
"The better question is, why are Abrielle's slaves wandering around, not collecting food for her?" Michael finally spoke.
"We are not slaves," the younger boy growled, his back facing away from everyone, still crouched by Morgan's seemingly dead form.
"Walks like a duck, talks like a duck," Miranda muttered, her eyes flashing dangerously towards Ian.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped, turning his head to glare at her.
"Maestra," Elaine warned, putting her hand on her upper arm.
"I suppose if that is truly Morgan, you two must be Kai and Ian," Elizabeth stepped towards the boys, her hands in front of her in a gesture of peace.
"Good guess," the leader, Kai, sneered.
"I imagined my grandfather as older somehow," Dante chuckled. The two boys, Kai and Ian, stared confused.
"Ian, this is Dante," Michael said slowly.
"Dante? Nathan's boy?" Ian said suspiciously, glancing towards Kai, who shrugged slightly.
"At least someone knows genealogy," Victoria scoffed, glancing pointedly towards Miranda, who sniffed and looked away.
"Yeah," Dante said, with a slight grimace, "that's my father's name."
"What lies. Nathan introduced another by such a name to us not a week ago," Kai grunted. When Dante stared incomprehensively, he cleared his throat and clarified, "he showed up with some other vampire and introduced him as Dante, his son."
"How's that possible?" Victoria stepped forward slightly.
"Means my son's rightfully ashamed of a half-breed brat for an son, and he's amending it," Ian stood up and whirled around to face them finally.
"What's wrong with being a half-breed?" Dante said dangerously, daring this man to demean him.
"You're neither human nor vampire, so what use are you? You can't spread our virus elsewhere, yet you live forever without any purpose, for you don't depend on blood for life, do you? You're an insignificant oddity in the world of immortals, and a freak to humans," Ian spat on the ground towards him.
"Watch your mouth, Ian. I don't tolerate my companions to be treated so," Elizabeth ordered. Then, as if he himself were no longer of any importance, she ignored his protests and directed her attention towards Kai.
"What happens now?" Elaine commented, her hand still on Miranda's arm. Victoria was at Dante's side, in a bid to comfort him, while Elizabeth and Michael stood in front of them, facing Kai and Ian.
"We take you to Abrielle, seeing as we obviously can't kill you," Kai said to Elizabeth, who frowned slightly.
"And why can't you kill us? Scared?" Miranda taunted, gaining a scathing glare from Ian in response.
"As much as I hate losing, we're outnumbered, with one of our own injured," he said to Elizabeth, ignoring the goad.
"What makes you think we're going with you to Abrielle just like that?" Michael growled, baring his fangs for once.
"Because I'm already here, brother," a female voice answered him as a woman who could pass for his twin stepped from the forest.
"Maestra," Kai and Ian were both surprised at the undetected appearance of her, and they both fell down into identical kneels.
"Michael, you've gained quite a coven. I'm impressed," the tall, golden-haired girl chuckled as Elizabeth frowned even more while the rest of the coven looked at each other in confusion.
"It's not mine to command, sister," he answered in a voice that could freeze fire.
"You're willingly taking orders from generations below you now? Oh my," she grinned evilly, her fangs protruding from her pale lips.
"My Lady, we caught them trespassing. We tried to kill them-" Kai began, but was cut off when Abrielle's yellow eyes turned towards him with contempt.
"You attacked my own flesh and blood? My brother?" she said, and before Kai could answer, she had his throat in her vice-like grip. As he choked, she added in a softer voice, "we'd best fix those manners of yours…,"
End Chapter