Vampire Vendetta (2 page)

I walk to the bars of my cell and call over to him softly “Hey, what is your name? What coven are you from?”  I wait for a few moments, but he doesn’t reply. I sit back down on my cot; he is obviously not in the talking mood. Then I hear a deep voice start to speak in a very calmly; “I am not from the Makino coven; I am a Sennin an immortal from Japan.”  I jump up off of my cot and back to the bars, I don’t speak in case he has more to say.” I am called Kenji and I am the appointed protector of Isis Queen of the damned.”  I am in shock, and I can’t think of a thing to say. “I am a vampire as well as an immortal; my mother was immortal my father vampire. So you see I am the same as you, yet very different.”  “ Tell me if you please, what time am I in?”  He asks me this as he approaches the bars of his cell. “You are the year 2021.” I say quietly. “Ah I had thought as much. This 2021, I do not like it the smells are to strong and there is no peace to be found here. Tell me who sent you to kill The Queen and why?”  He asks this last thing with such fierce hatred that I am quite a moment before I answer him. “There is a coven now, in this time called the Ament, they have been wiping out covens across the world in cold blood. Their goal is to conquer the humans and to bring Egypt back to its former glory.” I was sent back in time to kill Isis to prevent this from happening. I discovered that it is Isis herself who put this plan of world conquer into play.” He is shaking his head in denial as I speak. “No, this can’t be. Do you realize that by going back in time to kill Isis you would have killed us all.” Now it is my turn to shake my head.” That is not true, she is the queen of the damned, yes, but she is not the first vampire she is not our creator. She is just the one who took the throne once our creator was destroyed.” Now he is grasping the bars in fury. “Who told you these lies? Don’t you know that Isis is the mother of us all vampire and immortal alike. It is, because of her that we vampires were even born.” Kenji says.

“That’s not true. Ambrosia is our creator; she created us over the deep fires of earth; with her own blood and the blood of the unknowns.” I say. “Who has been feeding you these lies? Listen to me and listen well. Ambrosia was a vampire, the first vampire ever to be born; but Ambrosia is only the daughter of Isis nothing more.” I look at him while he says this last thing. How can I believe him? If what he says is true then that means, that the book of Semele is not true. I have a question for him that I know he cannot answer. “The book of Semele is where our teachings come from; it was written by Ambrosia herself.  This book governs all of us and how we live as vampires. If Ambrosia is not the mother of us all, why would it say she was in the book of Semele? “Now he looks sadly at me, with pity instead of hate. “ The book of Semele was written by Ambrosia you are correct. I was there when it was being written.”

Now I am triumphant and I let it show on my face.” But, the book was dictated to Ambrosia by her mother Isis. I was there as she spoke the words to her daughter and bade her to write it all down, so that other vampires and immortals would be able to survive and rule their own kind.” I look at him in shock he has to be lying. “I know you think I am lying, but I tell you only the truth. Tell me who is it that brought the book of Semele to your kind?” I think hard trying to remember “It was Ramses; he is the one who brought the book to us in the age of darkness.”  At the mention of Ramses name, his face again goes dark. “I can show you the truth, but we must escape this place, Eva. I have been listening to the thoughts of the ones who have questioned me and they do not intend to let us live.”  I am surprised to hear him use my name, but I remember that throughout our conversation he has been one step ahead of me. He must have the power of reading the minds of others; he is a Sennin after all. “I can see why they would want to kill you, Kenji, but I don’t see why they would want to kill me.”  He laughs at me and sits down on his cot. “They want to kill you, because they think that you have learned something that you shouldn’t.”  Now I am livid with anger. “I have told them everything I know! The mission failed the target did not appear at the appointed time. Then you appeared, we fought and then we were brought back here through the Invictus portal. There was nothing else to tell I left nothing out!” I exclaim. “Yes, but you failed and came back with me, and for that reason they will kill you. The one who questioned me was Ramses; and as he spoke I read his thoughts. Would you like to know what he was thinking?”  A feeling of fear and uncertainty is mounting in my chest. Do I really want to know what Ramses was thinking? Can I even trust Kenji to tell me the truth? He could just be trying to manipulate me into taking sides and setting him free.  I take a deep breath, regardless of what he says I must know what was in Ramses’ mind’s eye. “Yes I want to know.” I say to him, my face is at the bars and I clench my fingers tight around the cool steel to center myself.  Kenji looks at me with a sort of sadness in his eyes as if he can sense my internal turmoil. “Isis is not the leader of this new coven Ament, as you and the rest of the covens have been made to believe. The leader of Ament is Ramses himself. He has a vendetta against Isis that has smoldered within him since before you were born into the darkness.”  I ponder what he says for a moment, and as I go over the events leading up to my assignment I realize that Ramses had his hand in everything. It was Ramses who first came to our coven with the news of the first attacks. It was Ramses who gave us all of the information that led up to me going through Invictus. Matter of fact Ramses is the only one who knew where the Ament was located. It begins to dawn at me as I sift through my memory, that Ramses, is the only name that creeps up in every aspect of Ament appearance.  I need to get to the bottom of this mystery and I can see that I will need Kenji’s help to succeed. “Kenji if I help you escape; will you assist me in getting to the bottom of this or are you just going to run away?”  Kenji laughs “Where will I run to Eva? This is not my time where will I go?” I see the logic in this and begin to formulate a plan.

Getting out of our cells is the easy part, getting out of the underground compound is a different story altogether.  You see in the year 1887 the humans became outraged when they found out that many of their missing persons cases were the work of vampires. They began to hunt us during the day when we were at our weakest; and our numbers began to dwindle rapidly. Vampire hunters started to rise in numbers and soon there was an all out war against humans and the vampires. Soon we were no longer able to hunt and feeding became impossible for our kind as governments began to enforce curfews before sundown. By the year 1910 most of us had perished and would continued to do so if we had not been saved by one who had lived on this earth as a vampire almost since the fall of man. This savior was Ramses; he found us dirty and hungry living in the sewers, and eating rats to survive. He went around the world for years finding vampires and teaching us from the book of Semele; how to live and how to survive. He then began creating covens and building underground sanctuary for those of us who had to live in darkness. He formed a counsel of the oldest and wisest of our kind; and soon we had a thriving society again, albeit a society that thrived in darkness. By the year 2000 the people of the underworld had begun to live a mostly normal life, through science we were able to find ways to go out in the daylight without burning or turning to stone. Soon some of the world’s leading doctors, politicians and scientists were vampires. We learned that by mixing animals blood with gold we could satisfy our lust for human blood, a similar mixture was also taken internally to allow us to be out in daylight for hours at a time. We were by no means perfect, but the brutal massacre of humans had ceased and this kept us safe for a time. Ramses had been vital in helping all of us to survive and for hundreds of years it was he who was our teacher, father, and our guide.  He was an immortal that one could follow and know that he would keep you safe no matter what; we followed in the wisdom he imparted upon us without question. If Isis is the Queen of the damned; Ramses had surely become our king. As time has moved on we have become more sophisticated in our approach, with the invention of Invictus, we have been able to travel through time and rescue some of our sisters and brothers from the slaughters of our darkest days. Invictus has its downfalls as well; one of them being that you cannot remain in a time period for more than two days. If you do not reopen the portal before the timer counts down on the second day you will be trapped there, until someone else activates Invictus, and comes to rescue you. If no one comes to retrieve you or they cannot locate you, you will be lost in time. The compound where Kenji and I are now being held prisoner is deep underground in the sprawling metropolis that is New York. We are being kept in Quadrant Seventeen and in order to make it above ground we need to make it to Quadrant Two. This is no easy task with the high security measures that are in place. I believe I may have a plan to get us out of here, but I must think long and hard. I feel the press of time on me as the burden of decision lays itself before my feet.

I watch her as she sits on the floor of her cell, half mumbling to herself. I can see the different images flashing through her mind quick as a leopard as she tries to think of ways to escape. I am still perplexed as to how I am even where I am. I do know that I must get back to Isis and tell her of what I have learned during my time here; that she has more to fear from Ramses than she could possibly imagine. I owe my life to Isis for it was she that saved me when she found me dying after a fierce battle between the covens that had taken place on the sandy dunes near Karnack. When Isis found me I was near death covered in sand and choking on my last breath. She picked me up from the ground and carried me how far I know not. When I wearily opened my eyes I saw we were in a great temple. The powerful scent of incense drifted over me and filled me with a thirst for life I had never known in all my days as a vampire. Isis then laid me down gently upon an altar of pure shimmering gold. She then drifted from my sight in a cloud of white. I could hear her talking to me gently like a mother trying to calm her child. After that there was a great heat; Isis had lit the pyre and I was soon consumed by fire. I writhed and screamed as the heat covered me, and I could hear her speaking loudly over my cries. As my senses began to fade I heard her say these words; her voice high and melodic the umber brown of her skin glistening in the light of the fire as she knelt before the altar. Her words were not lost to me; indeed they were the link that tied me fiercely to life. If I listen now I can still hear her every word.
She said…

“I pay h
omage to thee, Osiris, Lord of eternity, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy, thou being of hidden form in the temples. I beg thee to makest the soul of this man to be raised up. I beg thee Osiris god of the Celestial Ocean draweth from thee his waters. Sendest forth the north wind at eventide, and breathe from thy nostrils to the satisfaction of thy heart. With thine heart reneweth his youth. I beg thee; make this man as eternal as the stars in the celestial heights. Grant him life like the imperishable stars that are under thy supervision. Let him be like the stars which never set. These words I speak as your sister Isis. I hath given this man my protection. I have uttered this spell with the magical powers of my mouth. My tongue is perfect and has never halted at a word, so grant me this that I have asked of you Osiris son of Horus.”

When Isis finished her prayer, the fire was cool upon my skin; my breath came smoothly to my lips. I stood up and stepped down off of the altar; feeling a new strength coursing through my veins. It was a power unlike anything I had ever felt when I had only been a vampire. I turned to gaze upon she who had saved me not able to find the words to express how I felt. I gazed upon her for a long moment it seemed, drinking in her essence with my eyes. She was tall and stately, her limbs lithe and toned. Her silhouette was so perfect it did not seem real. When my eyes reached her face I saw kind almond shaped eyes staring back at me full of love. Her nose was small and cat like and led down to full perfect lips. Wind had begun to blow softly through the temple and the sheath that was her dress drifted in the wind. Isis had hair that fell in soft curls of all shapes and sizes. To say she was beautiful would be an understatement; she was majestic and ethereal. She seemed to have one foot in this world and one foot in the next. Finally my mind returned to me and I had the sense to speak

“Why have you done this thing for me? “  I asked her. She stood away from me and said “I saw you in battle, you fought brave and true. I could see a light about you that I did not think should be extinguished from this world. I mourned you when you fell in battle. When I saw that you yet had life in you, I knew I must do all in my power to bring you back. You are still a vampire mind you, but now you are also a true immortal. Silver will not harm you and you no longer need blood to survive. You also have other gifts which will show themselves to you in due time.”  She then took my hand and led me out into the night, “Come you have a long journey ahead of you.”  “A long journey? “ I asked “to where? “   “I am sending you to the Sennin coven in Japan; they are a coven of immortals of all kinds; their leader Aiko will welcome you with open arms.”  I kneel before and take her hand “I wish to serve you Isis, do not send me away from you after all that you have done for me. I pledge my loyalty and life to you.” Isis raises me up from the ground still holding my hand.

“I accept your allegiance, and I will call upon when I have need of you. For now it is my wish that you join the Sennin. Be blessed in your journey.”  Since the time of my rebirth I have served Isis many times; as a friend, assassin, and spy. Over the ages my love for her has grown, but I will never act upon the feelings of love I have for her, because there are too many that need her in the silent secret world that we live in. There is now the mystery of Eva; she reminds me of Isis in many ways, they look very similar except that Eva has the sharp eyes of a hawk and the stern mouth of one unused to joy. Eva is bright though and after our fight on the rooftops in Egypt, I can say that she is a skilled fighter. From what I can tell she is only a vampire, definitely not a hybrid of any kind. I wonder how long I should wait before I tell her that I do not need her help to escape this cell our captors have so carelessly tossed us into. For vampires with so many advantages you would think they had a way to tell if a vampire had the powers to break through their high security prison. Eva needs to hurry we do not have much time before they come for us, and the punishment they have in mind for us are not for the faint of heart. I put my fingers to my hair and find the lock of hair where I have hidden the ring that Isis gave to me before we last parted. I still cannot figure out what it could possibly be for, but I will keep it safe until I know its use.