I'M NO ORDINARY MAN

Chapter 9

I was standing in front of him. I expected it to be like, what was the word, dramatic. He would kneel down and beg for his pitiful, short, sympathetic life. But no, he did something so stupid and foolish.

He relaxed as he adjusted himself on the bed. he winced slightly at the boils covering his body. I looked at .him. His thoughts were a complete mess. Imperfection is one thing I seriously loathed. His thoughts were completely unorganized.

Imperfection and him relaxing was making me seriously angry. But I could bottle my anger. Either way, I was supposed to keep my hunt neat and clean. I shook my head and muttered,

‘Foolish, very foolish...’

‘Why would you say that?’ the man asked. ‘You relaxed when you saw me, old man,’ I sneered.

A knife flew through the air and landed on my hand. I pulled it out. My hand had a small slit where the knife had struck. The slit somehow vanished seconds later and I could move my hands freely again.

I lifted my Force Field around me like a solid wall. The human man threw more knifes at me, but it bounced off harmlessly. Force Field is more to physical protection while Shield is more on a mental basis.

The man got up and aimed another knife at me. I hated when people learnt Survival 101. It’s a complete nuisance for vampires, if you get what I mean.

I had to get my teeth on his neck. The cream was no absolute cure, for pain still welled up all over his epidermis. I slammed a vase towards him. It struck him on the head and he fell to the floor with a thud.

I leapt towards him and looked at him in the eye. ‘Now, do you see me as a threat?’ I asked, pulling out a syringe full of morphine. I smiled at him before I injected it into his bloodstream.

The man was slowly draining into unconsciousness. I lifted his body up to his bed. I could smell the morphine spreading through his body. Hopefully, the morphine lasts long enough for me to finish off with him. I could feel his slow pulse. I was seconds away from my meal. My hand touched the blisters on his skin. ‘I guess you'll join your family now, George,’ I sighed. I pulled out a small silver pipe and inserted it into his veins, carefully. Now, all I had to do was to bleed him out.

I injected the other end of the pipe into my hand. I felt the thin strip for a small button and pressed it. The blood transaction began immediately. I didn't know if this way would quench the itchy thirst. The blood supply went on and on.

I felt the blood supply drying out bit by bit. And then, it was over. I closed my eyes as I hoped for the thirst to stop bothering me. I felt the blood flowing through my body.

My body tissues seemed to absorb them, as though it were some kind of mineral for the body. When I reopened my eyes, I was staring at the two of us. I was staring at my doppelganger.

We moved at a synchronized way. My doppelganger looked at me, motionless. Then, he burst out laughing. Anger turned itself on inside of me. I tried slamming away, but a silver chain erupted from nowhere and snaked around me.

I struggled but the chains overpowered me too quickly.

‘See what immortality has created out of you. Arrogance! Vain beyond measure. Mortality

suited you better...’

‘No! Never! mother doesn't deserve me...’ ‘You don't know about mother! What she has done for you...’

‘What more can you know? You are me!

You know just as much...’

‘Silence! There you go with your arrogance...’

‘I am immortal...’

‘I can reverse all this! Make you the boy genius, HUMAN boy genius. You were way better then than you are now!’

‘I am a VAMPIRE! The cleverest of all beings...’

‘Arrogant fool! You are no more than the others... Just because the Voice tells you that you have all the knowledge there is to know...’

‘Enough of this! I can get rid of you!’

‘Listen to me, Christopher Lois! You have all the knowledge that the diamond knows. You have none more than that. That's why you can't get the answer to Cleopatra's riddle. That's

Science, not Ancient History,’

I froze at the statement. I knew my twin had a point. So, I decided to listen to him. I told him to go on. He explained that this was also one of Cleopatra's Riddle. But he was at an end. I asked him how he came into existence. ‘I am the mortal part of you that will always exist. When Cleopatra's curse befell you, I came into existence. The End Gods have started to fear that you might be a threat to them. That you may turn against them. They blessed you with many Gifts, to assist Them. Now, they think their decision might have been too rash. I spoke on your side, and they allowed me to remind you who you really were. And mother had a very good reason to send you away...’

I was about to ask what, when suddenly everything vanished into a misty black. I could hear someone calling me from afar. But it was too faraway. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldn't reach it.

‘Chris, wake up!’ Jack shook me awake. I opened my eyes. My sight was a little blurry, like the first time I had transformed. When my sight sharpened to the maximum, I could see that I was lying in a circle. It had been drawn at a perfect radius of 1 meters.

‘How are you feeling?’ Rose asked.

‘You were nearly taken into the Light. It was lucky we managed to bring you back. Any second later, we would've lost you,’ Jack started.

Liar! I wanted to shout just that. They were the traitors here. This is because they were testing me if I knew more than just ancient history. I closed my eyes as the Shield enclosed me once again. I wanted to get away from here, leave them. But whatever this was, it was far from being over.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? The Second Riddle was supposed to curse me. It brought my nightmare to life. The nightmare of being human once again. Now I understood why I was so angry with the three vampires whom have followed me throughout this voyage...

They knew of the Voice in my head that was supposed to tell me everything. They had planned to test it all along from before. And they knew now that they could outsmart me at anytime.

The Second Riddle was on a Magic basis, and when I had been cursed it proved that I wasn't much of a threat. And that I could be controlled easily. Therefore, I had to keep my guards from now on...

‘Chris! Come on here... There's something here that we need you to see here...’ Jack muttered.

Yeah, sure you need me. Now, that the subject of focus was Ancient History. My brain had been wired for these things.

‘Chris! Come on here. I think you really should see this,’ Rose sighed.

I glared at Rose as I stepped forward. I closed my eyes and raised my hand. A light appeared and then, a hiss filled the room. A cobra conjured itself from thin air and twirled around the doorknob.

It hissed out these words in the same ancient language :

I translated it then, in my head:

Only the One shall come to lumber The Destiny of Foredoom

The Dead Queen slumbers

Awaiting promised freedom

It remained hissing on the doorknob. I looked at them and told them that I was the One. I stroked the cobra on its back and it exploded into a million pieces. I turned the knob and entered. As soon as I was inside, the door vanished completely. That left only a wall behind me. No door, nothing.

Dust flew about as I entered. The dust that flew into my eyes were burned away immediately. I found myself inside a room full of Egyptian relics. There was this and also the fact that the room was bathed in bright sunlight. This was completely unexpected. The pyramid was underwater, or was it really there?

All of a sudden, I heard Rose's voice.

‘Oh, you were trapped in Chris' mind. Then, you searched for holes... Thank Gods he listened to me. He was so worried though about the… ‘

That’s when everything fell silent. At first, I suspected some nasty, new trick but I could hear only Jack now. He must be shielding their thoughts now. After a while, Rose’s mind came back.

‘Then,... You escaped by searching for holes in his mind. Yes, I get it... After that, you came to an undecided part of his mind. OK, and where was that? The future –

I quickly closed the interaction and the mind – reading thing in my head. Rose was marvelling Jacque outside and they had shielded their thoughts momentarily for a quick discussion.

They could hide all they want, but the secret would be spilled soon enough, I thought and laughed to myself. Suddenly, I spied a golden coffin. It stood in the middle of the room, shimmering brightly.

I touched it, and a warm sensation came into my touch. I was shocked. As far as I could recall, I couldn't feel anything. But here I was, touching the warm coffin that pulsated with heat. On the coffin were inscribed a set of words in the ancient language I had seen from the front part of the pyramid :

‘ Here lies the Dead Queen Cleopatra,’ I translated into English.

Try as I might, my brain could not identify the language, although I could translate it perfectly. I gripped the sides of the coffin, and lifted it up. Inside it was the body of a very beautiful woman. No sooner I had opened the coffin and exposed the body within to the surrounding air, it exploded. Only her tiara was left, and on the tiara was a pearl. The Pearl of Eternal Light... How I suddenly knew its name, don’t ask me.

Someone tapped me on my shoulder, and I turned around, quickly but graciously according to the movement of the still air. The tiara I had taken out slipped from my hand and clattered onto the floor. It burst into dust as soon as it reached the floor. Queen Cleopatra stood behind me, her face a million times beautiful than a thousand full moons.

She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Much more beautiful than Rose, who could be called a Diva Queen. But Cleopatra looked like she could be the Queen of all Diva Queens. She conjured a chair out of thin air and sat down.

She combed her long hair with a golden comb. She rose from the chair and brushed the dust from her dress. She stared at me, her iris shining scarlet. Then, the tiara appeared back on her head. I looked down for the dust, but it had vanished.

‘It has been indeed a really long time since I have tasted blood,’ she began, her voice just like an angel.

‘I....’

‘That's enough! Your friends outside have planned something terrible for my descendants–’ ‘I know, they are planning to wipe out all werewolves,’ I added.

‘Yes, the two of them, Jacque and Rose are sworn enemies of werewolves. Jack follows them to get credit from The Elders,’

‘Why?’

‘The story all begins with Rose being a mortal human. To make it short, she was attacked by werewolves. Jacque, who secretly loved her was forced to transform her and together, they became immortal. Ever since then, they have sworn to wipe out the entire clan of werewolves,’ the Queen explained.

‘Who are The Elders? Why does Jack deem to get credit from them? And if he does, what will he get from The Elders, if he manages to wipe out the werewolves?’

‘So many questions, Master Chris. Know one thing for sure, all secrets will reveal themselves when the time is right. Right now, what counts is, will you agree to save my children?’ Cleopatra muttered solemnly, and ripped the pearl from her tiara. She placed the pearl on the palm of my hands.

‘Now, I can be free! Don't disappoint me, Christopher Lois... Save my children and one day, one of them will save you. Mark my words well, for we will meet again…’ A bright light erupted around me as the Queen vanished. I stuffed the diamond and the pearl into my pocket and closed my eyes. I released a portal that could teleport me back to the Sacred Lands of Gods, Table Mountain...