Chapter Six

          Some history:

Hades created what was figured to be the first vampires in hopes they would be monstrous and cause havoc on all his brother, Zeus, held dear, but some did not follow this intended path. Hades had met Martin Sinclair, one of six siblings of a noble family in 1310 while trying to enlist creatures to dismantle the people all the Gods seemed to love so much. As the guardian of the underworld, he had access to some of the worst creatures there were. Some of the most treacherous witches and warlocks known to history. In return for the promise of freedom, he requested six of them to create what would raping and murdering women whenever he so chose. He had even killed his own father and raped his mother before killing her. He was one of six, most of which were nearly as hazardous as he, but Peter and his baby sister Marylyn were the opposite. The two of them were the pictures of goodness, innocence, and true nobility, and Martin hated them for that.

           “Martin Sinclair. I want to propose something to you.” Hades appeared from the darkness of Martin’s bedroom, “I am Hades, God of the underworld, and I have come to barter with you.”

           “Barter what?” Martin was on full alert.

           “I know you are quite honestly a terrible person. In every way possible and I need that evil nature to do my bidding. You see, Zeus condemned me to hell and protects all of you people, and I can no longer watch him succeed. I come to offer you a chance at becoming something immortal, powerful beyond belief, and killing you would be nearly unachievable.” Martin relaxed and was curious his attentive manner told Hades he could continue. “I will have this put upon you, but you need to only continue to do as you already do. Obliterate all that Zeus loves. You will be a monstrous creature with an overwhelming and intense lust to drink human blood. The hunger will overpower almost any other part of you if you do not keep it satiated. You will be impossible to kill, to stop. You will have such speed you will be but a blur in the wind and strength enough to break down castle walls with a single swipe of your hand.”

           Martin’s mouth rolled into a malevolent smile, “where do I sign?” Hades’ smile was just as wicked. “I request my siblings be turned as well.” Hades looked at him with contemplation, and silence overtook them both. “Especially my sister Marylyn and my brother Peter. The two of them would never hurt a single creature for any reason, and this I cannot stand. If they have a need to kill people an appetite that would rule them, then I can take away that innocence they fight so hard to hold onto.”

           “You want me to give them your gift? And make it their curse?” Hades confirmed. Martin nodded with a nasty grin. “You want all of your brothers and sisters?”

           “Yes. All of them.”

           “Why all of them?”

           “Because the others are just as wildly vicious as I am.” Martin’s claim drew a crooked smile across the corner of Hades’ mouth.

           “They shall all serve me, as well.” Hades declared, “I want all of them, by any means necessary, to be brought to me before the next full moon. The pond of Horrors.” Neither man said another word as they went their separate ways.

           It was three days before the next full moon, and Martin knew how to capture the attention of his siblings with the deal he’d made. He knew for most of them it would be trouble-free, but to gain Peter and Marylyn’s submission to the darkness he’d promised Hades to invoke upon them would be a difficult task.

           “Ranaye, Boris, and Nicholai…I have something to offer you directly from the God Hades himself.” Martin began gaining all of their attention, “he has offered us immortality. We will have a ravenous hunger and desire to kill and drink the blood of humans. We will be impenetrable, and we will never grow old or tiresome.”

           “How has he offered it to us?” Boris’ gruff voice questioned.

           “He offered it to me. Rewarding it to me for my brutal nature. All he asks is that we carry out his request to wreak havoc upon the earth, something that will come naturally to us upon transformation. I requested that he allow me to invite all of you to join me.”

           “So, he is extending his offer to us as well?” Ranaye’s tone was guarded, feeling as if this offer was too good to be real.

           “Yes. I do not wish to rule this world for eternity without all of you.” Martin clarified, “it has been offered to Peter and to Marylyn as well, but for different reasons.”

           “What would those reasons be?” Boris spoke once again, and Martin turned his attention to his older brother firmly.

           “I view this as a gift for all of us, but a curse for them. They have morals, they are beloved by the people of the surrounding villages and have no ill bone in their bodies, and for this, they must be punished. They make all of us seem more barbaric than we actually are, so we will yank them back to our level.” The other three siblings all exchanged glances with one another a few times before simultaneously returning their attention to Martin, who stood ever so patiently awaiting replies from them.

           “I will do it.” Ranaye smiled confidently, “I will do this world the pleasure of seeing my beauty for all of time.”

           “What else is there to this so-called gift?” The ordinarily quiet Nicholai wondered aloud.

           “We will have extraordinary speed, strength, and as said immortality.” Martin was becoming frustrated with his brothers and their questions.

           “I will join you, my brother.” Boris declared with an agreeing nod from Nicholai. Martin’s mouth curled into a victorious grin.  “How will we deal with Peter and Marylyn?”

           “I know if we offer this to them, they will deny it and spit on us as if we were vermin, and thus, I have decided we must force them to come with us.” Martin began to explain, “we will get them separately and threaten them that we will kill the other if they do not follow us.”

           “So, we will tell Marylyn if she does not come with us, then we will kill our brother Peter?” Ranaye disliked Peter, but she despised her younger and more beautiful sister to a greater degree. The thought of ruining her innocence brought her more pleasure than the idea of living forever. Martin nodded in answer, and Ranaye seemed satisfied with it all. Marylyn and Peter were very close, so the simple plan would be successful; the four of them were confident in this.

           The four siblings were uncharacteristically kind and selfless, leading Marylyn and Peter to grow closer and suspicious of them. This was the plan working perfectly. The evening of the full moon had quickly reached them, so when the four approached Marylyn and Peter, he knew then he’d find the reason for their excellent behavior.

           “Aww, my dearest brother and sister…” Martin began calmly, “I have made a deal with Hades to give all of us immortality, and you two must join us in this.”

           “Hades?” Peter was surprised, “he is an evil God.”

           “I disagree. He is selflessly offering us something amazing, and I want you to join us.”

           “You hate us.” Marylyn snapped, “all of you hate us!”

           “I do, yes,” Ranaye admitted dryly as the two sisters caught each other’s malicious glare only for it to be broken by a sword drawn to the throat of Peter.

           “If you do not come with us, we will kill Peter. And Peter, if you refuse to come with us, we will kill her.” Martin declared. Peter’s eyes moved toward the trembling Marylyn, and when his eyes moved back to Martin, it was clear that he would follow them without resistance. The sword was sheathed back to Boris’ waist.

           “What will he make us?” Marylyn asked, mousey in volume as they approached the pond of horrors.

           The pond of horrors held the bodies of many tortured and destroyed souls, and many who visited it would never return. It put thoughts in a person’s head, filling them with their worst fears and driving them into madness.

           It was dark and foggy; the moon illuminated the fog making the area glow eerily. The air was heavy with a deafening silence. No bugs and no frogs chimed. Peter held Marylyn’s hand tightly as they came upon the shore to be met with Hades.

           He had black eyes and white pupils, his skin was bluish in color, and he dawned a black suit of armor. His hair was thick, long, and black slicked back. His appearance and the realism of their situation sent Marylyn into an immediate, intense sobbing, creating a desire to protect her, Peter wrapped his arms around her tightly. He then started forcing her face into his shoulder and chest, not allowing her to look around. He wanted so badly to hide her from whatever it was they were about to endure.

           “Hello… Sinclair family.” His smile was malicious and was returned with nasty smiles from the four of the six siblings. Marylyn didn’t look up to acknowledge Hades’ introduction, but Peter clenched his jaw and sneered with an uncomfortable uncertainty of what he was to do about the whole thing. “You did as you promised Martin Sinclair, and for this, you all shall be rewarded.” He stopped talking and set his eyes to focus on Marylyn and Peter. “You two can see this as a gift, a reward for joining us on this historic night.”

           “I have a distinct feeling this will not be a gift…” Peter stated, forcing himself to not sound as terrified as he was.

           “It, my boy… will be your curse if you do not accept this… Keep this in mind.” Peter’s expression did not change, and Hades then knew that Peter would never accept this as anything more than a curse. “So be it then.”

           Hades sighed as he strolled gracefully to a round, stone podium and closed his eyes. They all looked to him for a few moments before being drawn to the sounds of splashing water coming from the pond. The Sinclair family looked in a mix of awe, and in horror, as six beings came from it, soaking wet, water pouring off them. The beings were ghoulish in appearance with bluish-green skin, some with pieces falling off, chunks of hair missing, and white eyes. They limped past the siblings toward Hades at the podium.

           “These are all witches and warlocks who have done terrible things to people. They have been promised their freedom from the underworld in return for their service of turning all of you.” Hades briefly explained as he pulled a glowing, black dagger from his clothing, passing it along to the first of the magical beings.

           It looked as if the being was becoming a man, and as he cut deeply into his own wrist, allowing a goopy, black liquid to spew out and pour into a stone bowl on the podium, his disgusting appearance became more human. Within moments he looked normal as if he’d never been dead. The only evidence of this truth was the soaking, torn clothes he donned. Each of the other five followed suit re-emerging as beautiful, healthy people. Despite their now very alive, healthy bodily appearances, the evil and ugliness that dwelled beneath their skin was more noticeable in the form they were in. The man who’d been the first to cut himself and mixed the liquid that had been expelled from them with some herbs and a fresh heart. A heart that looked human. The six of them began an indistinctive chanting barely audible from where the Sinclair siblings stood. The man raised his head and dipped a chalice into the liquid.

           The liquid dripped off the edges slowly due to its thickness as he walked in silence to Martin, offering it to him. “Drink.” His voice was very deep and commanding, although monotone. Martin took the chalice hesitantly and looked up at Hades, disgusted.

           “This is the spell they produced Martin. Please do not make me regret my decision to choose you to carry out my will.” Hades’ warning was all too clear, and for this, Martin drank, and he drank a lot to ensure he consumed enough the first time around. When he’d finished, he gagged numerous times but was able to avoid vomiting. The man took the chalice back and offered it to Nicholai, who took heed to Hades’ threat and did as Martin did emptying the chalice.

           The man walked back to the podium and handed the chalice off to the second woman, and she repeated the ritual with Boris and with Ranaye. The third one took the chalice to Peter, who spat on him. The third wiped clean his face and looked to the others for help. Hades’ servants took to using a powerful spell on Marylyn and Peter, binding them down, forcing them to their knees, leaving them in extreme pain. Peter screamed for them to stop as they forced Marylyn’s mouth wide open, pouring the liquid into her mouth slowly, so she didn’t gurgle or cough too much up. They repeated this with Peter until all six siblings were filled with the disgusting potion.

           All six of Hades’ servants formed a circle around the Sinclair family, held hands tightly, and began to chant in a language no one else understood; this included Hades. Unexpectedly all the siblings started to scream in pure anguish momentarily echoed by the six witches who were somehow able to continue their chant simultaneously. Silence took over as time seemed to freeze as each sibling followed the solid, blacklight move across each one of their throats. Death.

*Author's note:This book contains violence, sexual scenes and talks about rape. Reader discretion is warned. I appreciate all of the support my reader's provide for me and my kids.  Please don't forget to give gems and votes and reviews please.  Every little bit helps!