Check Mate

The Prince the tried another drink he liked the sound of, Vodka and since it looked like water it should

taste better. Once Jake got bored with drinking he started to look around the pub.

There was a table in the corner of the room that had a couple of good looking girls at

it. Now it was time to see if he was liked for his charm or his crown.

Natasha was happy to get out of that house for a while and although a Chess

Championship wasn’t a wild night out it was better then nothing. It didn’t surprise her

to see they were going to travel in a rust bucket. These people were so normal it hurt.

The only threat they posed was to her reputation. Natasha lay back and closed her eyes.

She had been feeling more and more tired lately. The nap had just started to get

relaxing when they stopped. When Natasha got out there was a huge forest in front of

them. The only light was that coming from the cars headlights. Natasha's thoughts went

back to ‘These people are serial killers!’ as she took in the scenery.

It was a forest with trees so thickly together they could just as well been broccoli. So

tall that they seemed to end in the clouds, so wide that she was sure it would be easy

to fit a house inside any one of them. Natasha was lead into the forest and before she

could ask where she was, loud music and cheering exploded from a far off corner.

“Hurry Natasha it’s started already, lets go come on!” Seth said behind him as he started

to jog in the direction of the noise. She wasn’t in the mood to walk never mind run

around. Seth came back and held his hand out.

“Just hold on and try to keep up, ok.”

“Hello ladies how are you tonight? Jake announced over their chatter. The four ladies

looked at Jake and went on talking to each other. Jake was not used to being ignored

and didn’t have the luxury of ordering them to listen to him. Jake went to the bar he

had to find out how this worked. He had battled giants and won many hearts but these

creatures were completely different. Jake looked to the couples in the room and

decided to take a closer look at how he could win this. As the hours went by, Jake

doubted he would ever get anywhere. He walked over to an empty table, put his beer

down and just listened to the music.

The beat changed from slow to a strange mixture of Heavy Metal and Hip-Hop. Jake

smiled and lay back with his eyes closed. The music reminded him of The Games at

home only it wasn’t as good. Jakes eyes flew open. He had forgotten The Games and

it was tradition that he closes them every night. He would have to come here another

night otherwise his absence would cause panic. Jake watched the people on the dance

floor as they showed off. It seemed that if you wanted a girl to notice you, you had to

be able to dance. Jake looked at the exit and then to the floor. He had to go he could

test his theory another time. Jake downed his drink and made his way to the door. As

he passed the bar he heard a women’s voice.

“Let me go I have to get home. Kyle please let me go!” It sounded like it was coming

from across the room. The women sounded very upset.

“You go when I say you go! Did you think you could just spend my cash and then

leave?! YOU ARE MINE!” A male voice came from the same direction. If the club had been empty then the argument would have been heard. With the music at this

level it was impossible but he could hear every breath. Jake turned to leave this had

nothing to do with him and it would waste time. He stopped dead in his tracks when

he heard a loud slap. Jake made his way across the club without thinking. He heard a

scream and located the couple in the stock room. When Jake looked he saw the

beautiful young women on the floor, covering her face and the man standing over her

with his fists clenched. Something snapped inside him and the anger took over. He

grabbed the man and threw him against on the floor so hard it cracked along with the

man’s bones. He went over to the women and picked her up so gently that she felt like

she had floated back onto her feet.

“Did he hit you?” Jake asked as gently as he could.

“Yes.” The women replied. It was almost a whisper but it was enough. Jake went

over to the man and put him over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing at.

“Excuse me Ma’am I will be right back.” Was all Jake said as he walked out and

made his way out of the club to a place where there was nobody around. Jake was a

gentle soul even though he was a feared warrior. He had never been brutal or cruel to

anyone unless they had been so towards him first. Some situations were different and

this was one of them. Jake put the man down on the other side of a hill nearby and

waited for him to wake up. Jake started to wonder what he would do here. The man

would wake up pretty sore and might die if left here. As tempting as that was he just

couldn’t live with that. Jake didn’t have to wait long as he heard the man groan as he

tried to get up.

“Hey what’s going on here? Hey you who the hell are you, man?”

“You’re not a very nice person are you?’ Jake said in a calm tone, way too calm.

“Now it seems you think the world owes you and the people in it are to be bought

right?”

“What is this, bar Psychology?” The man said as he managed to sit up. “Get me to a

doctor my stupid legs are useless.” The man said as he lit a cigarette and waited for

Jake to do as he told him to do. The man didn’t know Jake very well but he was just

about to introduce himself. Jake knelt in front of the man and looked him dead in the

eyes. He looked a little deeper and got a glimpse of this man’s life. He saw a lot but

none of it good. He didn’t read souls unless he really had to. It drained a lot of energy

and was tough to recover from. But he had to be sure he had right to do was he was

about to do.

Natasha ran alongside Seth as they bolted through the forest. He had this amazing, bright

smile that made you believe a trip to the dentist was going to be a wild party. The fact

that they were running faster than the best sports cars, didn’t seem odd at seeing as

she was dead and could climb a wall like a spider. They stopped in front of a giant

stadium that roared into the night skies. The fireworks crackled and boomed in

competition as the excitement filled the very air around them. They found Jess and the

crew in the long queue leading inside. Around them people dressed in what looked just like team sports jerseys.

“Wow these people take Chess seriously.” Natasha said making sure they heard. It was

time to hear where they were, Chess indeed. They just smiled and handed her a sports

cap with black and gold on it with a matching jersey. “Oh what no foam finger?” Natasha

said through clenched teeth as she was becoming very tired of being treated like a

stupid child. She took a seat and folded her arms until she saw the very unusual field

or rather there was no field at all. There was a huge solid, stone square in the centre of

the oval arena and the crowds were divided into five sections wearing their teams’

colours. This was going to be a strange game indeed. There was a commentary box

and exclusive seats and one booth that lead right onto the floor of the arena. A man,

who looked like he was the king or even prince as he seemed young, walked out of

the booth as the crowd roared even more loudly.

“Ladies and Gentlemen…” The man started to say to the crowd “Sorry I couldn’t

help it. I’ve just always wanted to say that. The crowd started to laugh as their king

always had a sense of humour. It gives me great, great pleasure to open yet another

Chess Games and with the biggest turn out yet in two-hundred-years. I declare The

Chess Games Open!” Just then drums started to play, hundreds of them following one

beat perfectly. The beat started slowly and steadily and then built up till it seemed

there was just one continues beat that made Natasha's heart join in as it raced in her chest.

It became deafening and just as soon as it had began, it abruptly stopped. The teams

ran out from five separate entrances and stopped in the centre of the arena. Natasha

looked for the team with black and gold. She liked the look of them especially the

dark-haired, blue-eyed captain of the team. As the crowds cheered the teams huddled

to make sure they were ready.

It went dark as the lights went out and the crowd fell silent It went dark as the lights went out and the crowd fell silent as awaited the first game.

A giant torch lit up and threw red flames into the sky. The part of the stadium with

those in red colours roared in approval as their team made their way to the now

lighted half of the stone slab. They made two rows one behind the other each with

eight players in a row. The second giant torch lit up this time in golden flame. Natasha

felt as though her ears were going to explode as the black and gold section erupted.

They took their place on the opposite end of the slab. The two teams faced each other

and waited. The captain of the gold team yelled a command and the entire front row

dropped onto their right knees. As the captain from the other team did the same, the

slab turned into a large chess board that was lit from the bottom in bright gold and

red.

A woman dressed in white, walked onto the board and stood in the centre. She had a

beautiful sword in her hands that she held up. She looked to both captains and they

nodded. She then threw the sword high into the air a second before the buzzer went

off. The two captains leapt into the air to retrieve it. The two men flew towards the

sword and when they were face to face they were within reach of the sword. The

captain of the gold team clenched his teeth trying to grasp the handle. His fingertips

brushed the swords blade when he felt pain in his leg. He looked down to see a dagger

stuck deep inside his calf. Pulling the blade out he aimed for the other captain and hit

him in the shoulder. They were in battle in mid air but the buzzer would go off soon

so they needed to retrieve the sword and fast.

The captain of the red team was ahead. Garth who captained the gold team would

resort to the same tactics as his opponent. With a burst forward he stepped on the other captain’s head and grabbed the sword. The fight wasn’t over as the red team

wasn’t one to let go so easily. As they plummeted back down to the arena the red

captain threw yet another dagger at Garth.

Jake took a deep breath and prepared for attack. No one was fully good or bad it was

impossible. There had to be a way that this man’s anger could do some good. Jake

grabbed onto the man’s wrist to feel for his pulse. “What’s your name?” Jake asked

the man.

“Kyle.” The man replied.

“Well Kyle tonight is your lucky night. I’m about to hand you a new life but first you

must learn to use it.” Kyle had no time to reply as holding the man’s wrist and feeling

the pulse for the right moment, sunk his teeth into the man’s neck. It only lasted a few

seconds but gave Kyle chance to relive his whole life over again. They say your life

flashes in front of you but Kyle saw every detail as it had happened. The last thing

Kyle saw was the first time he had met his wife. It was way before they struggled to

survive, long before their fights had turned mean and eventually violent. He smiled as

he remembered how she had looked at him the first time as he fell into deep sleep.

Jake hadn’t been hungry but he was an emotional eater. The moment the anger took

over him he couldn’t turn back. Jake walked back to the building to the outside tap to

clean off. “Come on Kyle we have a game to get to.” Jake threw over his shoulder and

Kyle got up and stood next to Jake. He looked even healthier then he had looked

when he was alive.

“Are you a Vampire?” He asked Jake.

“Yes I am.” Jake replied as if they were making small talk.

“And you bit me and now I’m one?” Kyle asked.

“Exactly only now you have a clean slate.” Jake answered with a smile and turned to

walk away. Kyle didn’t know why but he followed him.

“So what happens now, does it hurt?” Kyle asked in a high voice. He was really

starting to get scared now.

“The hurting part you’ve already done. What happens now is we get something non-

alcoholic to drink your blood has made me dizzy.” And with that the two Vampires

had a drink before going to see the freakiest chess game ever.

Natasha looked up to the sky and waited for any sign of the two men when something

came crashing to the ground. The something turned out to be the two captains who

where fighting still for the sword. They were like two school children in a school yard

punching and kicking and never giving up. They both had a hand on the sword; Garth

pulled his arm back and hit the other captain with his palm on his shoulder.