New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (38 page)

“
Gets
them every time,” Sebastian said to Damian. The half blood
nodded in agreement.

“
I
have an I in Kaine, Sebastian here does not. It is an absolute
coincidence that the two of us have the same last name, it's just not
spelled the same,” Damian said, clarifying things for the young
woman.

“
Now
that we have solved that little issue, again I repeat, we must speak
with you immediately on this most urgent matter,” Damian said.

Interesting choice of words Charisma thought to herself,
“What do you mean a matter of life or death?”

Sebastian
looked towards Damian to respond. “We know you had a visitor
last night. Trust us, that's not someone you want to get involved
with.”

Cautiously,
Charisma moved aside and let her two visitors inside. “This had
better give me some insight,” she mumbled to herself. A few
seconds of silence followed before Damian finally spoke.

“
I
know these past few days have been incredibly stressful for you, but
we need to make our case. We know Max wants you to visit his boss. He
probably made some statements that sounded intriguing.”

“
But
it's really not,” Sebastian interrupted.

Damian
cast him an agitated look as he continued. “We've been after
Max's boss for decades now.”

Charisma
narrowed her eyes, “Decades? What... what are you guys?
Vampires or something?” She said not truly believing that to be
the case.

“
Well
correction, Damian has been after him for decades, well actually a
little over a century now, I’ve only been after them for the
past seven years!” Sebastian
explained
.

Charisma’s
eyes grew big, “Over a century, that would most certainly make
Damian a vampire.”

Damian
cast Sebastian a wicked look. His hazel eyes were normally
fascinating to stare at, but there were times his eyes seemed like
daggers piercing through a person’s soul.

“
What
happened to easing her into it?” he mumbled.

Sebastian
shrugged, “We don’t have time for that.”

Charisma
clapped her hands to get the visitors attention.

“
Hello
guys? I’m right here! what’s going on?”

Sebastian
invited himself to Charisma’s couch. Charisma looked to Damian
and the two followed suit.

“
Who
are you guys? she asked impatiently.

“
We
are the P.h.d, the paranormal unit of G.U.A.R.D.” Damian
answered.

Charisma
rolled her eyes. “The P.h.d of the G. U what? What in the world
are you talking about?”

Sebastian
and Damian looked at one another and smiled.

“
The
P.h.d stands for Paranormal Hunters Defense and G.U.A.R.D stands for
Government Units Against Radical Danger. It is our job to stop any
and all threats to mankind. You might've seen on the news recently
that group known as The League of Protectors. Working with them was
G.U.A.R.D, we are a branch from that department. While G.U.A.R.D
mostly deals with Post Human threats, we deal with the paranormal and
supernatural ones.” Sebastian explained.

Charisma
rolled her eyes, knowing full well that she was in the middle of a
power struggle. “Oh, that's lovely... this whole thing is just
peachy. And what if I refuse, then what?”

Damian
looked at her seriously, “Then we exterminate you before you
become a threat as well.”

Sebastian's
eyes grew big, “Brother, can we not threaten to exterminate the
most valuable person we've been in contact with in years?”

“
Yeah,
let's not exterminate the P.V.W!” Charisma added. Damian and
Sebastian looked at each other confused. They had never heard the
acronym P.V.W before.

“
What
is a P.V.W?” Damian asked with genuine intrigue.

“
Pretty
valuable woman!” Charisma replied.

Sebastian
chuckled loudly, Damian did not find her sense of humor nearly as
amusing. Charisma shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She
wondered how these members of the P.h.d. would react if she said yes
to them. Take her into protective custody?

“
You
are special, and you don’t even realize, just how special you
truly are. You have a gift, and because of that gift, you cannot be
turned by a vampire unless you give your consent.” Damian said.

Charisma
looked towards Sebastian who examined her expression and body
language. “Gift, what do you mean gift? What am I able to do?”

“
It
runs in your blood,” Damian said, walking
over to her. “Your mother had it as well, ever think that her
death may not have been an accident? She messed with the wrong crowd
Charisma. Said no to a vampire who didn't take kindly to being
refused.”

Sebastian
sighed heavily. This was one of those drawbacks to Damian's
personality. For all his positives, socializing with humans wasn't
one of them. He found it very difficult to interact acceptably with
humans if the human wasn't someone who knew about vampires and
demons.

Charisma
sank back against the sofa, the words striking home with her.
“Leave,” she said in a weak voice.

“
But…”
Damian began to say but Sebastian interrupted him from finishing his
thought.

“
It’s
cool D, I’ll take it from here.”

Damian
gave Charisma a pleading look as he headed towards the door. He began
to say something, but thought better of it. Damian exited the house
leaving Sebastian as the P.h.d’s best chance to convince
Charisma to help them.

“
I
know this is all overwhelming, believe me I understand. When I first
learned vampires existed I was absolutely terrified,” Sebastian
said.

Charisma
listened to him carefully as he spoke. “Seven years ago I was a
regular nobody. I was living that middle class American life. Paying
bills, dating, working, you know the routine. Didn’t realize
there was another world out there until the day a Possessor demon
attacked me.”

Charisma
raised her eyebrow “Possessor demon?”

Sebastian
smirked. “Yeah, it’s exactly how it sounds. A Possessor
demon is simply a demon that possesses the body and mind of a human.
Had it not been for the P.h.d, I wouldn’t be standing here
today.”

“
Was
the demon coming specifically for you?” Charisma asked.

Sebastian
nodded.

“
Why?”

There
was a pause, followed by a heavy sigh, “The demon wanted me
dead because of my last name. He mistakenly took me to be Damian
Kaine and wanted to get the drop on me.”

Charisma
could not believe all she was hearing. “How could this demon
mistake you two? Damian's all dark and handsome and what not and
you're...”

Sebastian's
eyes got big, “Well gee thanks!” He said semi serious.

Charisma
gave a cute little smile, “I didn't mean it like that. I just
meant he's black and you're white. Can't get much more opposite than
that.”

Sebastian
nodded in understanding. “The demon didn't know much about
Damian. All he knew was that Damian was a major hunter that killed
vampires and other demons alike. So when he came to my town and heard
that Kaine hunted here, he assumed I was Damian.”

Charisma
was finding all this to be overwhelming. Two days ago she was just
this average girl trying to make it in the big city, and now she was
learning about Vampires, Demons, secret societies, the information
was a lot to handle!

“
Apparently
I come from a long line of hunters. Some would say being a hunter is
in my blood. Unfortunately that doesn't give me any super powers or
anything, but yeah I found some journals my dad and his dad before
him had about hunting. I don't think my dad wanted this life for me,
that's why he never told me about it. Damian saved me from that
Possessor demon. When I told him my name he asked me if Henry Kane
was my father, I told him yes. That is when Damian handed me my
father's journal and explained everything to me.”

Charisma
smiled, she liked what she was hearing. Sebastian spoke to her in a
way in which she could relate. She felt comforted knowing that he was
human. “Why is it so important that I don't join this other
side?”

There
was a gulp in Sebastian’s voice as he spoke clearly and
carefully. “If you join Max's boss Michael, then u will shift
the balance between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Dark.”

“
The
forces of Light and Dark?” Charisma asked, now thoroughly
confused.

“
I
know, the whole idea is overwhelming, but hear me out... Someone with
your gift works as a balance between the two sides. Your will is
stronger than the pull of both of them.”

“
Why
is this vampire such a threat to you?” Charisma asked, leaning
forwards.

"He’s
extremely old and powerful.”

“
Isn’t
Damian old and powerful too? Don’t your agents deal
specifically with hunting demons of all kind?”

Sebastian
nodded. Charisma was correct with her assumptions on who the agents
hunted, but what she didn’t realize was just how powerful
immortal vampires were.

“
See,
here’s the thing, Michael is a full blooded vampire and the son
of the very first vampire. There is hardly any vampire, demon,
hunter, slayer, whatever that can defeat Michael.” Charisma
seemed even more confused now. If Michael was so tough, what could
she possibly do against him? “You're a smart girl,” he
continued. “You are incredibly important to him, like it or
not. And no, I don't mean romantically. You are the key to winning
this dispute with Damian once and for all. But here's the thing,”
he leaned forward, getting very excited.

“
You
can lure him in. Find his weaknesses. Play along, but whatever you
do, DON'T let him turn you.”

Charisma
felt a thick lump of fear in her stomach. Trick a vampire? That
seemed impossible. Still, she was now thrown into the middle of a
civil war between people that could crush the life out of her in a
heartbeat. What choice did she have?

“
What
do you need me to do?” she asked eyes strong.

Sebastian’s
eyes grew wide; another successful persuasion! “Go to Michael
and appear indecisive. This shouldn’t be too hard for you to
do. When he asked if you have made your decision, tell him you are
not quite ready to turn. He’ll be quite pissed, but he won’t
kill you. Tell him instead you would like to become a familiar.”

Charisma’s
eyebrow rose, “A familiar?”

Sebastian
nodded. “Yes, a familiar.”

Charisma
rolled her eyes as she wasn’t hoping to hear more of the
paranormal terminology or mythology. “Okay Sebastian, what is a
familiar?”

“
A
familiar is someone who serves a master vamp. You will gain strength,
agility, and other small advantages without becoming a vampire.”

Charisma
was quite intrigued; this seemed like a good idea for a bad
situation. “How does it work?”

“
It's
pretty much the step before becoming a vampire... You let him bite
you, but don't exchange the blood, its fairly simple. Charisma
frowned, unsettled.

“
Was
Max a familiar as well? "How do I keep from becoming his little
lackey then, huh?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

Sebastian
grinned. “Well, that part is up to you.”

“
I
can answer that!” Damian said busting through the door.
Charisma jumped, slightly startled. “Huh, you could hear us?”
Sebastian and Damian both let out a chuckle. “He’s a
vampire; he’s got that super hearing thing going for him!”
Sebastian responded in a teasing voice.

Charisma
felt like a idiot for being so clueless. “So tell me, how can I
keep myself from becoming his lackey?” Charisma waited
impatiently for Damian to respond.

“
Your
will,” Damian said simply. “Your gift. Remember who you
are, and that's who you'll be.”

Charisma
looked down, mulling this new bit of information over.

If
that was all... She glanced up, eyes darting between Damian and
Sebastian. "So when do you want this all to go down?" she
asked, fiddling with the hem of her dress. 'Please... Not too soon,'
she thought to herself.

“
It
needs to happen tonight when he asks you for your decision. Tell him
you did research and you know about familiars. Tell him that you want
to be a familiar first, and then become a vampire. He will have no
choice but to accept it, because you are too important to just let
walk away, and he can’t kill you.”

Sebastian
quickly jerked his head, he was surprised Damian revealed that bit of
information to her. He feared if Charisma knew too much, it could
cause more harm than good. Nonetheless, it was too late now, Damian
had revealed a huge bit of information, and Sebastian knew Charisma
would ask a thousands questions until she got an answer.

“
What
do you mean he can’t kill me? He told me he would!”