Within the Cards (26 page)

I focused again to see where he hid the box. I saw a wet area, dark with stale air. I looked around the vision. I hoped to find a sign of some kind to show me the way. Tombstones were everywhere. Most above the ground, it was an old cemetery. The archway appeared, and I could see the word ‘Valence’.

I heard a noise that came from the front of the shop. Ellie and I move quickly, but Ultress was faster. When we entered the front room, Ultress had a witchyres pinned against the wall.

“Why are you here?” He demanded. I saw the veins in Ultress’s temples bulge. These veins were filled with nothing more than hatred.

“I tell you nothing,” this monster with a French Canadian accent hissed back at him.

Ultress exposed his fangs. They were different from that of most hybrid vampires. He had a double set of fangs. In the vampire world, this meant he was a descendant from royalty. I was sure his maker was one of high value to the immortal world of vampires. Ultress’s differences weren’t ones that were easy for them to accept. The vampire world saw royal blood as pure and invincible.

My mind returned to Ultress and the witchyre he held against the wall. One set of his fangs were long and piercing. The other set was shorter and slight curved toward the back like those of a pit viper. This aided him to rip deep into the flesh of any being, human or immortal. Ultress’s anger pushed him to extinguish this witchyre. He started to end this being’s existence.

“Wait grandfather.” Ellie cried as she reached out for him. I moved to stop her from interfering. I turn my head to see why she was calling his attention away from ripping this beast apart. She held her hand up. She heard his thoughts, but I had missed them. Ultress stopped and turned his attention to Ellie’s and my direction while maintaining his grip on this being.

“He’s here to give us a message,” she said. Ultress turned to look at Ellie. He knew she was right. He turned back to the creature.

“What do you have to say?” Ultress demanded. I heard the hate in his voice. This was a stronger voice than I heard earlier. This voice matched his face. The one he used with his family was soft and caring a much change from this sound.

“I bring you a message from the Lords and their wife.” The monster spoke as Ultress held him against the wall. “Don’t blink your eyes for they are coming to retrieve the young one. She will pay for her sins of creating this thing. This one she calls Daught. This creation will live his existence watching her used as a whore for procreation of our kind.” He announced to all of us. He turned to look at Ellie with piercing conviction.

“Your grandmother will be sent back to hell where her mongrel husband remains. We will unleash a great evil upon you and those who dare to rebuke our ways will fall.” These words he directed to Ellie. She hissed in his direction.

Ultress began to laugh. The witchyre looked at him strangely. Although, he was a slave to the Lords he still considered himself a higher being than a vampire. He couldn’t believe this vampire would laugh in his face. However, he couldn’t believe a vampire with such power was restraining him.

“I’m going to let you go for you are nothing but a slave to my sons. Nevertheless, you can give them a message from me, their father. You tell them their father is back from hell, and he has brought it with him.” Ultress’s words were strong.

Ultress looked deep into the eyes of this pawn of his sons. His look told the slave a message that was unspoken. I read his thoughts as he told this witchyre slave that he was Ultress the true ruler of the witchyre race, and he was back to claim his throne. Before he released his hold, Ultress again exposed his double set of fangs. He moved in close to this messenger and pierced the flesh of his cheek ripping down to open a large wound in his face. This wouldn’t heal instantly as we normally heal because it was a mark left by his true maker. It was a mark that would scar his face to show all other witchyres the one that marked and warned him was his maker. Ultress dropped the creature to the floor. The witchyre vanished.

Ellie couldn’t believe the hatred the Lords had for her. Her thoughts were strong and easy to read. She knew she was the reason this war came down on us all. She was the reason I would never walk free again. I would live a tortured existence of watching witchyres having their way with her. Bound by invisible restraints unable to help her, unable to stop the vile acts they would do to her. These thoughts made her sick.

“Never will I allow this. No being will ever take my wife from me.” I directed my words strongly to her. I pulled her close.

I exposed my fangs. I could feel the hatred build inside of me. The venom flowed through the taste buds in my mouth. It was bitter and strong. It remained in my mouth as I waited to persecute each one of these things that called themselves Lords. I would never allow another to touch Ellie. If any one of these beings tried to touch my wife, he or she would truly beg for extinguishment from the pain I would inflict on them. Ellie looked into my eyes. They told me how sorry she was. I pulled her closer to me and held her tightly against my body. My fangs began to retract. I knew Ellie needed my comfort. She didn’t need my anger right now.

Ultress turn to us knowing our pain, but he also knew we had to hurry. If the witchyres had been here, they could already be one-step ahead of us in finding the box.

“Ellie and Daught, we must go to the cemetery. Ellie put this vermin out of your mind. Daught, I am their maker, and their deaths will be one they beg to encounter. I promise this.” His voice was again gentle and soft. Ultress touched Ellie’s face as if he were wiping tears away that didn’t exist.

“Ellie, Daught and I will not let this happen to you. Rest your pretty head to that fact.” He smiled. Ellie knew he was telling her the truth. Ultress and I, both would protect her with our lives.

Ellie concentrated on the name of the cemetery. She pulled up the location of the cemetery with ‘Valence’ in its name, in her mind as if she had an internal GPS. She smiled. She put her hand out as Ultress and I touched it. She snapped her fingers and our forms vanished.

We arrived at the front arch just as I saw it in my vision. I had to recall the rest of my vision to find the location of the box. We had to find the lower part of the cemetery. A staircase descended down into a wet, dark tomb. Ellie held her hand in the air. She commanded the air to direct us in the direction of the lower side of the cemetery. The wind began to blow to the south. Ellie lead the way as Ultress and I followed watching for any signs of the witchyres. As we headed in the direction Ellie's powers sent us Ultress looked at Ellie. He was proud of the powers Elizabeth had given her. She was a part of his creation that began to change the witchyre race into a race that would be decent. He wanted the race he created to be better than the vampires that rejected him and extinguished him and Elizabeth.

We made it to the southernmost end of the cemetery. These were the oldest of the graves. They dated back to the 1800’s. This would have looked like the cemetery that I might be buried in had Ellie not found me that night and turned me into an immortal being. The essences of this burial ground overgrown with ivy and moss hopelessly forgotten from a time far in the past made me sick. Ellie heard my thoughts. She touched my arm to let me know she understood.

“Thank you Ellie for making me what I am today. These humans forget their ancestors and leave them to rot in unkempt, overgrown graves.” I told her softly. She touched my arm, and then smiled a devilish smile.

“I'll remind you to thank me again when we’re at war with my kind.” She joked to lighten my mood. I smiled at her. She knew when I needed her wittiness. Ellie knew my every need. She was my savior, and I would stand by her until the end if that was to be. We searched through the graves and looked for the descending staircase.

Ultress opened the door and revealed a staircase that descended deep into the ground. Ellie waited outside the open tomb while Ultress and I descended. She stayed to watch and alert us of any witchyres that may show up. The air was thick and stale like I remembered in my vision. Cobwebs were in every corner. Seven sealed vaults laid in a row in the center of the floor where the stairs ended. The large dirt floor room was dark and hidden from the rays of the sun. If I were a human, it would feel damp and cold with a smell of old soil, a forgotten place that no one would want to revisit.

I again recalled my vision. I viewed the room as I saw it when I knelt in front of the dead form of what was left of the human male that had been Anesidora’s friend. I began to scan the room where I stood. I needed no light. My vision adjusted to the dark like a cat that prowled in the night. In the corner of the room, I saw a burnt candle that was the same as the one in the back room of my meeting place with the old witch. It sat on top of a newly placed vault. This was her final resting place. I removed the candle and placed it to the side. Its flame extinguished a long time ago.

The vault read Anesidora Valeness. The name I saw shocked me. I never knew her last name. It was Ellie’s last name. The one she used during her time of walking alone, and the name she continued to use. Ellie wouldn’t use her real last name that was St. Germain. She didn't want anyone to know her as a family member of the witchyre leaders. The old witch I knew as Anesidora was a distant relative of Elizabeth. Ellie used her grandmother’s sir name.

I pushed the vault back and exposed its content, which was a form wrapped gracefully in white linen. There was a copper box resting at the form’s head. Ultress came over and looked into the vault. He recognized the box. He gentle removed it from its resting place and vowed to Anesidora that he would return it to her once the Lords were no longer in control. I replaced the lid and gently returned the candle to its place. I placed my hand on top of the vault and said a silent “thank you”.

Once we were outside of the tomb, Ultress replaced the door and made its surroundings look undisrupted. Ellie looked at me, and I confirmed we had found the object of our quest.

“May you rest in peace my friend.” I whispered to the witch’s eternal grave. Ellie read my thoughts of the old witch having the same last name as hers.

“Thank you my family.” Ellie replied. She looked at me and smiled. She knew this was her grandmother’s family, and she was proud they bared the same name.

We returned to the front side of the cemetery when Ultress held his hand up. I recognized the scent at the same time he did. Ellie hadn’t recognized it. She only detected the scent of another race. Ultress and I, being vampires, knew the scent of a witchyre. Ultress hid the box behind a gravestone to keep it safe. Ellie looked at me funny then waved her hand over the box and made it invisible.

Ultress took the right flank as I took the left flank. Ellie remained in the middle. I wasn’t worried about her being able to defend herself, but I didn’t want them to be able to hold her long enough to disappear with her and carry her back to the castle of the Lords. I read their thoughts as they were attempting to do with mine. They were here to retrieve the box as well as Ellie if possible.

“I don’t think so.” Ellie replied with a matter of fact tone. She read their intentions through my thoughts. The smirk on her face let me know she was ready for any attempt by these vermin to attack.

There were six of them. This was a small match for us. They circled us and advanced from every angle. It was a small street brawl compared to the impending war that was ahead of us. As Ellie and I were able to take down the witchyres, Ultress was able to extinguish them. Being their original maker, he could destroy them easily. Six came for us, and we destroyed six. Ultress was quick with the annihilation.

Once it was safe Ellie retrieved the box, and we continued on our journey back to the jungle in South America. Ellie held the box as Ultress and I touched her arms. She snapped her fingers, and we were transported back to the place we took refuge. We arrived at the water’s edge after being gone for twelve hours. Elizabeth was waiting on us. She was standing at the shoreline when we arrived.

“You found it,” she smiled at Ultress as she ran and jumped into his arms.

“Yes my love, we’ve retrieved the box and it’s now safe from the witchyres.” He replied to her. He held her tight and whirled her around.

Dee was standing close to the line where the jungle began. Her thoughts were clear. Ellie turned and looked in her direction.

“If you betray us, we’ll not be able to save you.” She told her. I saw the glare between the two of them. I knew the tension from Dee’s attempts to make a treaty with Suzi hadn’t rested in Ellie’s thoughts.

“Ellie, we can stop them. They will take the box as a trade. They will let us live in peace.” She begged. Ellie’s thoughts were to grab Dee and break her neck for wanted to give the box to Suzi. I put my arms around Ellie to keep her from acting.

“Never will I allow them to have control over us.” Ellie hissed at her. “I know their plans, and you’re not part of them. You’ll be removed.”

“What about our sister Suzi?” She questioned. Dee still cared about Suzi. She grew up with her. It was harder on Dee to let go of the past. Ellie never like Suzi. For her, letting Suzi die didn’t bother her.

“She’s one of them. She’s already dead to me.” She lashed at Dee. I tightened my grip on Ellie. I felt the tension rise in her.

I knew the old Ellie was back but with this reaction, I saw a resemblance of the Ellie that wanted to kill the innocent girl named Trish back at Delmont. I knew Ellie’s memory was restored, but her life of the last one hundred years was still a part of her.