Chapter 50
The Truth about Bats and Dogs
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"Are we there yet?" Abigail sighed in boredom as the black Mercedes she was sitting in made its way to the airport.
"No Abigail. No we're not." Casper answered her in a frustrated tone, from the drivers seat, "Just like we weren't there a minute ago, or two minutes ago or all the other times you've asked me."
"How about now?" She asked him dryly.
Casper cast a glance to one of his mercenaries who was sitting in the passenger seat next to him, and shook his head in annoyance "Do you want me to pull over?"
"No we don't." Chastity answered him from the back seat, as she tapped the hilt of her sword with her index finger "We need to get to the airport."
"I was joking Chastity" Casper answered her "I am well aware what our schedule is, I just don't understand why Malachi wants us to bring the Lycan along."
"Excuse me, the Lycan has a name." Abigail spoke up sarcastically
"Of course you do sweet heart" Casper replied in a patronizing tone "But this is grown up stuff."
"Casper stop it!" Chastity snapped at him
"You don't tell me what to do Chastity." He laughed at her "When Malachi's not here, I'm in charge."
"Of him maybe." Chastity answered him, pointing to the mercenary in the front seat "but not her, and certainly not me."
"I'm a team leader Chastity" he answered her "I was head of security for Nina and Malachi for fifteen years… I've been a vampire for more than five hundred years… and I'm driving, which means I'm in charge." Chastity went to answer him however she could not find a witty enough response "Can't think of anything to say huh?" He goaded her "I thought so."
"Sir." The Mercenary spoke up pointing to something up ahead "Look… a police road block."
"Oh great" Casper sighed as he brought the car to a gentle stop about fifty yards from the road block. He took a moment to observe the police block up ahead, there were four officers, three male one female. He raised an eyebrow, something wasn't quite right with this… the whole road was blocked off with two squad cars, there was no sirens, and no flashing lights, the only illumination coming from the narrow, near deserted road, was coming from the flashlights the officers were holding. He was distracted for a moment, by the female officer, she had long blonde hair, and she was not wearing a big overcoat like her male counterpart "This isn't right." Casper told his mercenary.
"You want me to take care of it?" The vampire replied
One of the officers stepped forward; he was wearing a sergeant's uniform "Step out of the car!" He yelled at them.
Casper gave his man the nod as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a bulky looking handgun. The mercenary exited the car and fixed his tie "Is there a problem officer?" He called out as he made his way towards the police blockade.
"Stay where you are boy." The sergeant called back
"There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding officer, if you run our plates and check our I.D's you'll see that we have diplomatic immunity and that we are immune fro…" The mercenary stopped in his tracks as he took a slight sniff of the air "Shit!' He spat as he turned back to the car "Lycans!"
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Amelia's Estate Three Hours Earlier
Daniel stood tall in the ornate green grounds of Amelia's Estate. He had been patrolling all day. He looked up the dying sun in the evening sky, and smiled at the blood red glow it emitted. As he leaned against a marble pillar he closed his onyx black eyes in quiet contemplation. He hated himself for what he had become, the Daylight Guardian of the Vampires, it was as if his brothers rebellion had never taken place. He could feel the haunting presence of Lucian at all times, it made him weep to think how disappointed his brother would be. He opened his eyes again as he heard footsteps coming towards him.
"Daniel" A voice called out. The Lycan turned to see a man dressed in black combat fatigues coming towards him, his friendly welcoming face contrasted by the small arsenal he carried about his person, an assault rifle, pistols and knives. Daniel had got to know this man, Captain Bagwell, leader of the Ziodex Special Forces Team that had been assigned to the mansion, a human caught up in the immortal war. His team assisted Daniel in his daylight duties, they were good men…
"Good Evening Captain." Daniel spoke humbly
"Don't you just love this time of day?" The Captain asked him "Magic hour… yep the suns dying which means we get to clock off soon, let the Death Dealers take over."
"Why do you do this Captain?" Daniel asked him "The Vampires aren't your people."
"Honestly?" The Captain sighed "Money… I can make more working for Ziodex than I can for my own country, It's less dangerous… I figure in a year or two, I can retire, have enough money to spend the rest of my life with my family."
"You are a family man?" Daniel asked him
"Yes Sir" The Captain smiled as he showed Daniel his wallet "This is my wife, and my two daughters."
"A handsome family captain." Daniel nodded
"Yeah" He smiled proudly "You know Daniel, I've enjoyed working with you. I mean don't get me wrong, my guys are good… but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of Lycan muscle around. Speaking of which, my guys haven't checked in for a while." The Captain brought a hand to his walkie talkie only to have Daniel reach out and grab his wrist.
"Casper called them into the mansion, some extra training."
The captain brought his hand down to his rifle and looked at Daniel suspiciously "Casper didn't come back to the mansion last night Daniel, he escorted Abigail to the city, they're waiting to be picked up now."
Daniel let out a deep sigh "I am sorry Captain."
"What for?" The Captain did not receive an answer, Daniel simply brought a lightning quick hand to the Captains throat and crushed his windpipe before the human could even get to the trigger.
Daniel discreetly moved the body across the grounds of the Estate, too a small out building, opening the door carefully placed the body alongside the five other corpses that made up Ziodex Special Forces. "I truly am sorry." He told them all "But my war is not over yet." He bowed for a moment, a sign of respect for those he had slain; he rolled up the sleeve of his Death Dealer jacket to check his digital watch "Forty minutes until sundown." He whispered
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Daniel hurried through the corridors of Amelia's mansion, nodding and exchanging pleasantries with the Death Dealers he hated. He did not have much time; he quickly arrived at his destination, Amelia's library. He opened the creaky oak doors, fortunately the room was empty. He strode with a purpose past the endless cases of books. Thousands of years of history, enclosed in a single room, however he only needed one book… he made his way to a small usually locked room, where the forbidden texts were hidden. However today it was unlocked, he entered the room with caution not knowing who to expect.
"Jesus" Came a startled voice as Daniel entered the room. "Daniel what are you doing here?" Nina asked as she inspected an ancient leather bound book.
"What are you reading?" Daniel asked her
"The Birth of the covenant" She replied "It's pretty interesting"
Daniel nodded "And lowe the darkest of the nights warriors did seek out two like him in his struggle against the beast. And his quest bought him the companionship of two equally dark souls, who when blessed with his legacy did rise up and sweep the moons cursed from their lands. The three warriors of the night did offer three faces of fear for the beasts to contend with; Power, Wraith and beauty. And so the war descended into the underworld; from that moment on the beasts came face to face with the kindred; And lowe they looked upon the face of Power and were scattered, they looked upon the face of Wraith and they trembled, and then the beast looked upon the face of beauty… only then was he humbled."
"You've read it before?" Nina asked with a raised eyebrow
"Oh yes" He nodded "Give it to me."
"Absolutely not!" Nina snapped at him "It is one of our most sacred documents."
"Nina I will not ask you again." He said firmly
"Nina?" She quizzed at him "Until I tell you otherwise you will address me as Princess!"
Daniel shrugged his shoulders slightly, before lashing out with a clenched fist, taking a moment to look over the dazed Nina, he picked up the book that had been on the desk, and placed it inside his jacket "Forgive me… Princess."
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"Damn it!" Casper yelled, as he exited the car with his weapon drawn, he took shelter behind the open door and began to bark orders "Chastity get down!"
The mercenary who had approached the blockade quickly drew his pistol and loosed off a couple of shots, before he could fire a third the attractive blonde appeared in front of him, a delivered a sharp blow to his face. The mercenary staggered backwards, losing his line of fire, and as quickly as she appeared the Lycan female again withdrew to behind her companions so as to avoid Casper's return fire. As the Mercenary regained his balance one of the male Lycans stepped forward and raised his pistol, three shots rang through the air, the mercenary stopped, his pistol fell from his hand as he fell to his knees.
"No!" Casper screamed at the top of his voice "Alex!" However it was too late, the mercenary fell, and his body began to writhe in pain as his pale white skin began to crack, giving way to an eerie blue light. Casper and Chastity, sat there helpless, unable to help there fallen comrade, due to the suppression fire of the other Lycans. Then Casper heard it, the sound of two pistols falling empty. He leapt from his shelter and charged at them. Connecting with a heavy right hand, he took down the Lycan that had killed Alex. He began delivering a series of sickening shots to his face, the blonde tried to restrain him, however he easily cast her aside. Then he heard something that caused him to stop in his tracks.
"Mercenary!" A voice yelled to him. Casper stopped what he was doing and turned. He saw the lycan wearing a sergeant's uniform holding Chastity by the hair and pointing a gun at her. "Step away from my team mercenary!"
"You're a dead man!" Casper yelled to him
"Not before you blood." Casper felt a sharp blow to his head, and then nothing, darkness. He fell to the ground as the larger of the two males stood over him with a sledgehammer in his right hand.
"Who the hell are you people?" Chastity demanded as she struggled against the Lycan that was holding her.
The man just looked down at her "The only reason that Mercenary is still alive is because I know someone who wants to kill him personally, along with your boss. You take him, and you go back to your mansion and you give Malachi a message."
"What message?" Chastity breathed
"You tell him… New Orleans changed nothing. Do you understand?"
"Yes." She nodded
"Go" The Lycan told her as he threw her to the ground roughly.
"I'm not leaving her." Chastity told the Lycan as she nodded towards Abigail.
"She's with her own people now."
"What are you talking about?" Abigail asked nervously
"Lady Abigail…" The Lycan in the Sergeants uniform began with a slight bow "I'm Mack, team leader; this is Drew, Hanoi and Alice. We've been sent to retrieve you from the Vampires custody."
"Sent by whom?" Abigail asked, swallowing hard as she did.
"Daniel"
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La Guardia International Airport- New York
"Hurry up Chastity" Malachi began "This has been a fucked up evening!"
"Boss" She whined "We've been hit."
"Are you okay?" He snapped "What happened"
"Lycan's… Daniel and Abigail betrayed us… they killed Alex."
"Casper?" Malachi asked
"He's alive boss."
"Forget Mandrake…" Malachi spoke calmly "Get back to the mansion, I'll see you when you get there."
"We're closer than you boss." She reminded him.
Malachi, still sat on his spot on top of the aircraft hanger looked beyond the runway to a small heliport "That won't be a problem."
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The Sewers of New York City
The Lycan retrieval team guided Abigail to an underground lair, they had done little to answer the questions she put to them, finally a small den came into sight, and Daniel was there waiting for her "What's going on?" She demanded as she approached Daniel
He gently cupped her cheek and kissed her full lips "You do not deserve to live the life of a prisoner, we are going to unite our people, show the vampires that we are not the dogs they make us out to be. We will avenge my brother; you're father… all of our kind."
"What are you talking about" She almost yelled at him "Do you know what you've done to us? You've just signed our Death warrants."
"No My Love" he assured her "We are slaves no more."
Abigail pulled away from Daniel and rested her head in her hands "I had a deal with Malachi Daniel… he was gonna let us live our lives… and now you've ruined it."
"No, we'll survive" He assured her "We will thrive!"
Abigail turned to the retrieval team who had brought her to the lair "Where is the fifth member of your team Mack?" She asked the leader
"She'll be here soon Ma'am" He replied
Abigail let out a slight laugh "The six of you are going to bring down the Vampires? What the Hell is wrong with you!?"
"I thought you would be pleased." Daniel told her, as he lead her away from the other Lycans."
"Pleased?" She answered him in a hostile whisper "We were safe there Daniel, we had shelter, food… we had each other. What are we gonna do now Daniel? We're hunted… and food, where are we going to get our blood from? Have you thought about that. Because I am not feasting on Humans and neither are you. And you dare speak about avenging my father, if he were here, and he found out you had me living in a sewer he'd tear your heart out himself! And… you bought in Mack's team! They were a sleeper cell Daniel, my Father put them here should New Orleans ever fall, at least we'd have some back up. And now, they're just as screwed as us."
"So you want to go back?" He asked her "You want to leave me for them?"
"Of course not." She sighed as she rested her head on his chest "But…this isn't you Daniel, you're a peaceful man… a spiritual man. You hate war."
"It will all be over soon." He assured her, as he removed a book from his jacket "This book contains the truth about the blood lines. Soon the Vampires will not be a problem, and then it will just be you and me My Love."
Abigail was overcome with a sudden pained expression as Daniel wrapped his arms around her "And what about Nina?" She said in a hollow tone "She's my only friend Daniel… are you going to take her away from me as well?"
"You were nothing more than a pet to her."
"That's not true" She sulked
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Amelia's Estate
"Sshh, It's alright Child" Amelia spoke soothingly as she brushed a hand through Nina's hair. "What happened?"
"I don't know." She moaned "I was just sitting here… when Daniel came in through the door, he was acting weird, demanded I give him the book and when I said no… he just knocked me out and took it." She let out a sigh and buried her head in her hands "I'm sorry My Lady… I should have done more to stop him."
"Nonsense" Amelia whispered gently as she wrapped an arm around the frightened princess "I assure you my dear, I will personally see to it that this beast pays for what he has done here today." Amelia's attention was drawn to the sound of the library doors opening again, only to have Dimitri enter.
"Are you alright Princess?" He asked Nina. She gave a slight nod and allowed him to continue "My Lady may I have a word with you?" He asked Amelia. Amelia gave Nina a reassuring pat on the knee before joining the head of the council in the corner of the room. "My Lady we have several problems."
"That is something of an understatement." She dismissed him "The Lycans have the book, the birth of the covenant is in the hands of our blood enemies."
"We also have a more immediate problem." He cringed "One of Casper's men was killed."
"When?" Amelia demanded
"Minutes ago." He answered her "Gunned down by a Lycan retrieval team… they took Abigail."
"Abigail?" Amelia asked "What does that child have to do with anything?"
"It appears Malachi was having her transported to the Airport, so that she could assist him with his dealings with Mandrake."
"Foolish boy" She sighed "Who else was involved in this?"
"Casper and Chastity." He replied quickly "It… it appears that before he left the mansion, Daniel… Daniel took out the Ziodex Special forces team that guards the mansion."
Amelia grabbed Dimitri by the throat and pinned the struggling Council Member to a book shelf "You mean to tell me that we have no daylight Guardians… This must have happened hours ago… why was nothing done about this?"
"Forgive me My Lady!" Dimitri squirmed "We're still reinstalling the security systems… after the battle with Lord Viktor."
"Damn it" Amelia spat as she allowed Dimitri to fall to the dusty carpeted floor. She took a deep breath and composed herself before helping the Councilor back to his feet, and fixed his collar for him "You are to send every Death Dealer in this coven into New York City… I want Daniel and his coconspirators found, and dealt with. Is that in anyway unclear?"
"Perfectly clear My Lady" He bowed nervously, before taking his leave.
"Come Child" Amelia encouraged Nina softly, as she offered her hand "Let us retire."
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The doors to Amelia's Throne room came flying open as a furious Malachi entered the luxurious room. "Malachi!" Nina exclaimed, as she rushed from Amelia's side to greet him.
"Are you alright?" He asked her franticly as he inspected every inch of her face "What did that dog do to you?"
"Just a knock" She replied in a relieved tone
"I'm gonna kill him!" He sneered through clenched teeth
"No" Nina moaned "Just… just stay here… with me for a while."
"Of course." He told her gently kissing her lips "Whatever you want."
"A word" Amelia demanded from her throne "Now! Nina excuse us please." Malachi approached the huge golden throne and bowed to his mistress as Nina exited the throne room. "I do not know what kind of deal you and Abigail made recently… nor do I care, however I think it is fair to say that it has backfired."
"That's a fair analysis" He conceded
"When you bought that dog into my house I told you it was a mistake, but you ignored me because you thought you could use him. You went against everything we believe in by letting him stay, he was a General in Lucian's army, he is the last of Lucian's bloodline, he is the butcher of Trinity, he has killed Death Dealers; but none of these things seem to bother you. Well now he has harmed the woman you love so much… I would be upset about you putting me at risk by bringing him here, but I can put down a mangy dog without breaking a sweat… Nina can not… and because of that animal the Princess of this Coven has been attacked in her own home. An animal YOU allowed to stay… Daniel may have struck the blow Malachi, but she is a victim of your arrogance. Now Get Out!"
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Malachi allowed the doors of Amelia's Throne room to close behind him, her words resonated in his ears, she was right it was his fault. He cast a glance to one of Casper's mercenaries who was waiting for him outside "Steven… get the rest of your guys together, intercept Casper and Chastity. Tell Cas, I don't want him to come back to the mansion, I want all of you… the whole team to proceed to Seattle, take out Chairman Cain, and burn Mandrake to the ground. Lets see how well the Lycans do without their benefactors."
"Yes Sir."
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"Are you sure you're alright?" Malachi asked Nina as she lay on a couch, her head resting on his lap.
"Yes Malachi" She grinned "You can stop asking me now."
"I'm sorry" He sighed "I never should have let Daniel live, I should have let Viktor take care of him."
"It's as much my fault as yours." She reassured him "I wanted Abigail to have someone she loved here."
"Your going to miss your pet aren't you?"
"She's not a pet Malachi!" Nina snapped at him "She was my friend… I loved having her here. Truth be told I feel lost now."
"That's why Vampires and Lycans can't be friend's angel. The truth is we were born to fight each other, like cats and dogs you see."
"What was so important about that book Malachi?" She asked him seriously "Why did Daniel need it so much."
Malachi paused for a moment "It… It gives a truthful account of the rise of the Vampires, up to and including the defeat of William."
"I know that… I've read it myself, but what can he do with that?"
"As you know the book was written by Andres Tannis, who before an unpleasant exile was the coven's chief historian. And it was written in blood."
"Whose blood?" She asked in a horrified tone
"Believe me you do not want to know."
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Brooklyn New York
A lone man hurries through a series of back streets, he is pale and gaunt and from the look of him in serious agony. He wears the worn and tattered combat fatigues of a war veteran, one of the many that had been forgotten by those he had fought for. He stops, and allows himself to cough, as he feels an excruciating pain shoot through his body. He stumbles into an alley way, where he comes across an old bearded man, drunk on some cheep booze "Semper Fi" brother, the old man coughed "Welcome to a land fit for heroes."
"Get away from me." The man choked
"Come on brother… spare some change… I wan in the corps to you know."
"Does it look like I got any fucking change on me old man?" He yelled at him
"Take it easy there brother… I'm your friend out here."
"Oh fuck!" The man screamed as he sank to his knees, and clenched his side.
"You okay man?" The tramp asked him. The young man began to cough up blood as his body contorted in an unnatural way, his dog tags jingled around his neck, as his skin turned a leathery black, his mouth became filled with razor sharp fangs, and his fingers extended into razor sharp claws. "Oh sweet Jesus" The tramp cried, as the creature took hold of him, the veteran looked into onyx black pools that were the creatures eyes, until suddenly they changed to a shade of green, the creature neither man nor beast, feasted upon the unfortunate soul, tearing flesh from his neck, he then left the man where he lay, and disappeared into the darkness.
