Vampyre Blue (16 page)

'How have you been Mistress?' Replied Daen.

'Good, good,' she ushered him in, 'We have a guest?'

'Yes, it’s Star.' He replied.

The Oracle huffed, she dropped things about her and noticeably became more cranky.

'You are insufferable Daen, Insufferable!' She cursed him frowning and waving her fists.

'Oh come now, she’s leverage.'

'For who Daen? She’s a thorn in my side,' she scowled, 'She will bring nothing but trouble! Mark my words!'

'She’s tied up in a basket, she’s a mere human and she’s spoiled. She couldn’t fight her way out of a brown paper bag.'

'Let’s hope you are right.' She said.

The Oracle walked towards her personal chamber, turned to Daen and said,

'Come now Daen I have so much to show you, leave her and her basket.'

She led him into her ritual room.

*

Star woke up with a start, she could feel a great bruise growing on her head. The pain was throbbing.

'Oh crap where am I now?'
She thought to herself. She noticed she was wrapped in furs and that the air around her was freezing cold. She was also cramped up and in total darkness.

'I’m in a coffin, I’m in a fucking coffin!'

She started freaking out, she wasn’t by any long way used to being treat like this. Star was claustrophobic and struggling to keep herself together. She had never been mistreat in her entire life, the whole twenty eight years had been delivered on a veritable silver spoon, the best of everything, she never had to worry about anything, her life was served to her on a silver plater with pretty garnish on the side.

She wriggled about, her hands and feet bound tightly, she couldn’t move at all. Star started to scream, she was scared, tired, she couldn’t move and she was about to completely give up.

'Help me,' she whimpered, 'Oh Blue, Cleo, Eliza help me… Jayne help me… Help me.' And with her last breath she fell unconscious once more.

*

'So what is so intriguing to rush me here my dearest Oracle?'

'Well Daen, it is interesting. Come look.' She beckoned him over.

A huge book lay before them opened on a page with an immense diagram of a complicated ritual, long lost in time. It was what Daen had been searching for, even before this ritual had been performed on him millennia before.

It was the ritual to turn a mortal into a day walking Vampyre, it had every detail imaginable, the specific items required for such a task and the alignments of the cosmos that make the ritual possible.

'Good God, where on earth did you find this?' Daen gasped as he rushed toward the book.

The Oracle looked up and smiled at Daen, he was blinded to her hidden secrets. She had been able to hide many things from Daen over the years and this was one of them.

'I recently acquired this great volume,' she lied, 'One of my many contacts found it in an Estate clearance, some duke or other. There were a lot of Egyptian artefacts recovered, this amongst them. I got it before anyone else got to see.' This story wasn’t too far off the truth, but she made it sound as if this had happened recently, when it was well over a hundred years before.

'Have we got everything necessary to perform the ritual?' Daen asked.

'Well, no my liege. And why would you require such artefacts? Would you wish to make me a day walker?' The Oracle was curious as to why he was so desperate to recreate the ritual.

'No my love, I just wanted to know only I could posses the power to perform this ceremony. And know that no one else could have such power!'

His greedy eyes consumed the rite before him, drinking in the knowledge. It was written in Ancient Greek, Latin and Egyptian not unlike the Rosetta Stone, fortunately for Daen he can read, write and speak all three of those languages. What the people in the museums would do for the knowledge he possessed.

'So can we acquire all the necessary items for such a ritual?' He asked her.

'I’m sure I can glean the information and tools necessary, I can’t get them here, I will need to search for so much, but there are some key items here already.' She smiled, 'Shall I leave right away?'

'Yes my precious Oracle, you should.'

*

They had told Jayne that Teresa had gone back to work for a while and she would be back to see her. Jayne carried on as normal as if nothing was the matter. Cleo, Blue, Pierre and Colin were trying to find out where the hell Star had gone with the Prince. Amelia had told Blue that Eliza and her college sweetheart Brett had been captured by Isis in Egypt, but were doing better off there finding out about prophecies and what not.

'So when we find out where Star is what are we going to do?' Questioned Blue.

'I’ll go and get her.' Said Cleo flatly.

'That simply?' Said Blue with a half sarcastic smile on her face.

'And you’ll come with me.' Cleo directed toward Blue.

'We’ll all go together.' Pierre suggested and went on to stipulate,

'Colin can stay here and look after Jayne.'

'We’re all talking like something has happened to Star.' Said Blue.

'But something must have happened to Star!' Exclaimed Cleo, 'Have you ever known her not to contact us for over three days!?!'

The room went quiet, they were all looking at each other, they all knew the truth, they all knew something bad must have happened to Star. Either they would have heard from Star or the Newspapers would have broke with an exclusive surprise wedding from the East.

'So who is the Prince and where the hell did he come from?' Cleo asked.

'He was at the Halloween Party.' Blue frowned, 'He smelt funny, he smelt like… like… Daen…' She paused, her face went white, her mouth opened, she turned on her heels, then stormed off up the stairs towards Star’s room screaming.

'AMELIA!!!' As she went.

Cleo looked across at Pierre and Colin,

'Does someone know something I don’t?' She asked.

'Don’t you know Blue talks to the dead?' Pierre smiled, 'Just like Eliza.'

'I thought that was all made up, seriously, they talk to Amelia. Eliza’s dead sister?' Cleo had a hard time believing all this, her steely exterior wouldn't be dented to such fantasy.

'You're an Assassin, I'm a night-walking vampire, Blue is a day walker, you have friends who are world renown anthropologists and a worldwide celebrity and you have difficulty believing in ghosts?'

Cleo smiled. It was true, they all led such incredibly far fetched lives, her life by no means the most regular. Why was she surprised, she had seen so much in her life, she had been off world on missions that were so secret the girls could never know. Why couldn't there be ghosts, there were vampires. Cleo stood there wondering what else could be out there, she worried about her boys, she bit her bottom lip, her only tell.

'Yeah, I guess.' She sighed, 'So, let's see why Blue ran off and what she's found out from the dead.'

*

'AMELIA! You little shit! Get your arse here NOW!'

I can't believe I didn't see it before, I won't believe it!

'AMELIA!'

Amelia shimmered into Blue's eyesight, she wanted to strangle the life out of her tiny little ghost like figure.

'What?' Amelia whispered innocently.

'What? What! What the hell do you know?!' Blue screamed at her.

'What do I know about what?' Amelia replies almost looking like she's going to cry.

'About Star missing! About Daen and the Prince being friends! About where Star is! What do you know?'

'Wow, that was a rant. Star, I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure where she is, I don't keep tabs on everyone you know. And Daen and the Prince, I'll have to look into that too. Give me a minute. Okay?' Amelia wasn't really a little girl, she was the same age as her sister, she just died when she was eight, so she was stuck looking like that forever. She was actually jealous of Eliza's ageing, she longed to age and look like a woman, that's why she'd become such a little bitch every so often.

'Okay.' Blue agreed.

Whilst Amelia was spirited away searching for answers, Blue decided to look for some of her own and started to go through some of Stars more secret of items and fondest of possessions. She kept a diary, so Blue had a quick scan, she found out that Star quite fancied Daen and that she was quite jealous of Blue that he hadn't gone for Star. Blue smiled. Then there were pages and pages about this Prince guy, on and on it went. It got pretty boring. So she closed it and sat on her bed in thought.

'Where the hell are you Star?'

Amelia shimmered back into view. Blue looked up.

'Well, that was a few questions answered in one go.' Amelia breathed out a fake sigh.

'What did you find out?' Blue was desperate for the answers and found it almost torturous getting information from Amelia.

'I know what you're thinking you know.' Said Amelia, 'And it isn't torturous!'

'Okay smart arse, spill the beans.'

'Star is in the Himalayas. With Daen, who isn't friends with the Prince... He is the Prince.'

'Oh my fucking Jesus Christ' Blue went white and her eyes rolled up into her head.

At that point Blue fainted. The shock of finding out that she had been nailing the same guy as her best friend for the best part of a month had made her feel a little sick inside. Hence the collapse.

*

Jayne was stooped over Blue, wafting her with a fan to wake up.

'Hey Blue, are you alright?'

Jayne gently shook Blue so she came too.

Everyone else got to Star's room at the same time, moments after her collapse.

'What the hell happened to Blue?' Cleo asked.

'Ouch, I guess I fell over. Fainted. I've never done that before.' Blue stroked her hair out of her face and got herself up with the help from her friends.

'Yeah.' Blue blinked twice, 'Ouch, that hurt.' She dusted her self off once she had stood back up again.

'Amelia came to me, after I screamed for her.'

'We heard that,' Cleo smiled, 'You were wailing like a banshee.'

'What else did she say?' Pierre asked, 'Amelia?'

'She said that Star is in the Himalayas, with Daen, who isn't friends with the Prince. Daen is the Prince.'

Blue turned pale again. So Jayne started wafting her with the fan, Blue let her, she felt like she might throw up anyway.

'Thus the faint spell. Weird, it still makes me want to puke.'

'Fuck. That is a lot of information to process all at once, isn't it?' Cleo said, 'No wonder you fainted.' She walked over to the window and looked out into the dark sky.

'She can't be there of her own accord, she hates the cold. I don't know what we'll be up against. Blue it's got to be you, me and Pierre for this rescue mission.'

'That's fine with me.' Said Blue.

'What on earth is happening?' Jayne inquired.

Colin walked to Jayne, put his arm round her and ushered her to the kitchen,

'Come on you, I'll make you a nice cup of tea and tell you all about it.'

They walked away out of the room.

'Consider me in.' Pierre looked at both Cleo and Blue, 'But you do realise we'll need a light proof transport.'

Cleo grinned,

'You got it. Let's go.'

*

'Eliza my dearest.' Isis spoke up in the grand temple, 'What have you found?'

She glided towards Eliza with grace and elegance.

'Did you acquire my book yet? The grand ritual?'

'I'm afraid not my Goddess, but I have deciphered some more of the prophecy.'

Her emerald green eyes lit up.

'Oh Eliza do tell me what you have.' The excitement in her voice made Eliza feel elated.

Brett watched on, he was still in awe that they were in the presence of a being older than modern history. The stories she could tell would be incredible. Brett wished he could persuade Isis to talk to him all day. He was more taken with Isis than he had ever been about anyone or anything in his entire life.

Isis looked over at Brett, his heart glided, his pulse quickened.

'You do know that you're feeling this because I am Vampyre, Brett, I was the first and most powerful creature ever created by the high priests all those moons ago. The pull you feel is just physics, chemistry and biology. It isn't real to yourself, just the meat on your bones. Your spirit is the real part of yourself. You are more than the pieces that make you.'

Brett pulled himself together and apologised for his humanity. Isis laughed a hearty laugh.

'Oh Eliza, you really do have a man of men here.' A sad hint glimmered in her eyes,

'You're lucky.' She moved across the expanse between them, 'He won't leave you in your time of need.' Isis looked away, and walked off to her private quarters, 'I need to be alone for a while.'