When Jacob and Dedari walked into the biggest tent in the camping ground of the musical troupe, what they noticed first was the hostile looks on Prest and Rich and the look of disappointment on Zende's and Amia's faces.Dedari furrowed his eyebrows as he ran his eyes across the members of his family. Had anything gone wrong before he and Jacob had come? Had any of the vampires visited them? But before he could open his mouth and start off a query, the realization dawned on him that those not so good gazes were centered on the man behind him, Jacob.Did Rich find mud on him?? Dedari wondered.(mud in this concept refers to dirt i.e. when someone is guilty of bad things or wrong information)Jacob was screaming in his insides for help, even though he sti maintained his signature cool and calm outlook on the outside. Somehow, he was sure that they had found out that he had been a hunter, and not a good hunter. A hunter that seeks out and kills any kind of supernatural being.His heart th
The hostility on the faces of Prest and Rich faded away at Jacob’s reply. After all, the man was just a young lad who somehow had taken up the features of a grown man."Why did you change your name from Casper to Jacob then? Was it part of your mission to infiltrate our troupe?" Dedari asked Jacob, always logical since he couldn’t feel emotions anyway."That wasn’t necessary. The old woman had told me that Jacob was my real name, and not Casper. And somehow that had stuck and felt right. That’s why I began answering it." Jacob answered in his usual tone."What old woman?" Prest and Zande asked together, before Dedari could make a query about that."I don’t know who she is or where she had come from. But the old woman had visited me for the first time some time last month. She had also appeared to me that night when Zande had been attacked by the hunters." Jacob responded."You mean your society members…" Rich pointed out."Yeah, but I hadn’t been there to kill Zande." Jacob said, whil
Dedari was befuddled when he heard Jacob’s statement. What could the lad be talking about now? He thought, unable to take his eyes off Jacob who still kept his aloof countenance like he hadn’t just spurted out the history of the century."Jacob…what did you just say? Who is the dark one? Who is Kendalf?" Prest asked, having noticed the apparent surprise that clouded Dedari’s face. He knew the latter was still debating whether he should discount the possibility of another family or accept the consequences of what Jacob’s statement entailed."According to the archives of the vampire which I possess, Dedari bears a striking resemblance to the feared one of your kind, the greatest healer of all time, known as Kendalf. He is widely known among the supernaturals as the Dark One. As of the time of the memory, he is still mateless and is one of the oldest of your kind, with a strong allegiance to the Prince who I believe should be related to Zande. Don’t you all have any memories of your youn
"Is the Prince still alive? Where do they stay?" Zande asked after some minutes of silence had settled in the tent, feeling excitement brimming in her veins. Of course she had always known that Dedari and she were just relatives, not siblings by blood.And For some reasons she herself couldn’t understand, she was feeling elated at finding another next of kin, not that she wasn’t satisfied with Dedari-no, far from it. It was just that they would be safer in the company of their kind. Perhaps, she could start by asking them why they were answering the same name with the undead. Don’t they have another name, other than ’vampire’?"As of the time of the vampire’s memory, yes. As for their location, that would be northern mountains in the ***" Jacob replied, glad for the second time during this week that his body had somehow retained the archives of information and memories of the vampire."That’s great! Dedari, do you think we can make the journey? You know, there is no harm in trying to
After Dedari left, Prest and Rich returned their gaze to Jacob who shrugged his shoulders, before sitting down on one of the stools in the tent, his eyes fixed and concentrated on Zande. Under his strong gaze, Zande wiggled on her feet, shifting close to Amia who snickered before turning around and walking out of the tent, probably to feed too. But before she could wheeze out of the tent, Prest called out to her."Where are you going without me?" He asked, stalking toward her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Did you forget our deal?, you go nowhere without me. No matter what. If you are hungry, feed from me, I will hunt out later." He said, baring his neck for her. Amia scrunched her face, not entirely pleased with the plans, but having no choice, sunk her fangs into his neck, uncaring about what the others thought about her. She was used material after all. She thought, her eyes widening unbelievably when she heard Prest’s voice in her head. "You are not used stuff. You are the most carin
Dedari inhaled deeply as he fed from the second person in a row: a male in his late twenties. Now, that was it. He thought, placing the man gently near his female colleague. They were hikers and their blood had been so rich and full with goodness which meant that they were good people with pure spirits.Probably a couple on a honeymoon. He thought, watching them gently as they succumbed to his sleeping spell. They will be fine in the next two hours.Making sure that the duo were out of sight of the predators like tigers, he stood up elegantly and began to stroll back to the camp, when suddenly he sensed that something of his was missing. He looked down at himself, touching his clothes carefully, his face scrunching up in confusion when he couldn’t find the little book which had fallen from the grip of the vampires after Jacob and he had killed them off. Quickly, he retreated his steps back to the couple, sighing in relief he saw the book just close to the male. It must have fallen of
"Dedari…what do you mean?" Zande asked, worry coating her voice as she watched Dedari shut his eyes and grunt deeply. He must be remembering some memories. She thought, removing herself from Jacob’s embrace and waking over to her brother. On getting to him on the other side of the table, she held his shoulder gently, and began tapping it softly whilst humming a soft melody to calm him down. She could sense that whatever he was remembering was agitating him strongly."Dedari…"She tried again to reach him, but Dedari shook her hand off his shoulder gently, before turning around and storming out of the tent. Immediately he left, Zande looked at Jacob worriedly. "I thought he had stopped feeling emotions… why is he reacting that way?" She asked, hands down by her sides, face, a sheen of worry. "Yes, he doesn’t feel emotions, but sometimes, times very rare, some memories can awaken a minute emotion which unbalances the male of your kind. Whosoever Zen is must be someone close to him." J
Zande looked upon the tortured look on Jacob’s face and felt frustrated, wishing she could somehow find out who Olivera was immediately, and clear him off this torment that was besetting him. She also got curious about who Olivera was. A past lover? The thought of that had her heart shrinking before she could know it, falling deep into the welcoming trap of jealousy. But Jacob had said they were forever. She thought remembering the ritual he had recited when he had taken her blood for the first time. So, she shouldn’t have anything to fret about, right? She hoped, knowing that she will be more than devastated if Jacob should ever choose some girl over her. For a minute, she thought of dissuading him from searching out the girl, but on a second thought, decided against it. The girl was the link to his past, and they all, including herself, needed to know who Jacob was before the vampire had captured him, and what category of supernaturals he fell under. For there was no way in heaven
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as