Life Blood's Vengeance

Samuel's Warning

Life Blood

Samuel’s Warning

Samuel leans back and tents his fingers tapping them lightly together. I can tell he is wondering about how much he can get by with not telling me. The answer he should come up with is not much, however being the suborn old blood sucker he is he might think he can get away with something.

I glare at him and then the clock, he knows I hate when people waste my valuable time. I might live forever, but punctuality and curtesy of someone else’s time was still very important. “Fine then you wanted the whole story, don’t tell me I did not warn you,” he growled in the warrior tone he had once used centuries ago on his troops. Like that would scare me the arrogant minor royalty that I am.

He mumbles as I smile brightly returning his dark scowl, “You have to realize what it was like in the French underground once France was invaded. While you were kept in your golden cage by Michell we had so many we had to feed, clothe, and arm. I had not met up with your father yet nor and had little supplies. We were wary of help and knew few who were loyal. One we did know that hated Germany was Russia and they had the supplies we needed.” I nodded sympathetically, I heard of this and knew that some of the underground was fractured and untrusting. They had to be in order to survive or they would swiftly be taken by the SS to the brutal camps or if they were lucky shot on sight with no questions asked.

What he said next surprised me, “I came in contact to negotiate and I almost failed. I had to trade all I had for bullets and grenades. My chosen trade after I escaped prison had been declining as a wine maker as my vines had been burned during the Great War. I had to sell my land to General Shrimiski in return for food, basic supplies and anything I needed.” I did not realize he had been through such hardship. Not only had the man lost his entire family, lost his estate and been imprisoned in the French Revolution but when he had started to finally rebuild everything into a new skill enough to become successful he had to sell it all to willingly save others.

“Sam, I am so sorry you lost so much. Why did he demand so much?,” I asked kindly.

“I had to survive and my men had given up everything too to protect our land. It was needed so therefore it was done. The General demanded much, but he did not realize how badly the land was damaged. Once he did he tried to find me, but thankfully he was too busy with the German’s to mind me too much.” He pauses and smiles as he regains a bit of mischief in his eyes, “Then I saw Catherine again during an underground meeting to trade information. I could not believe my eyes and nor she hers. She took me to see your father in their old stone bunker where they had once lived. It was leaking badly and the room was more rain soaked ruins then anything.” I had not realized what my parents had lived like while I was under Michell’s loving care. He might have kept me a prisoner against my will, but I was still safely sheltered, given healthy food out of the garden and knew that if I died it would my Michell’s hand which would have been a minimal risk due to his obsession with me.

I bow my head in respect, “Samuel I had no idea you had to deal with so much. How long did you stay in such conditions with my parents.”

He clicked his tongue in an annoyed fashion, “Don’t pity me. The accommodations might not have been befitting my station of birth but we had the basics we needed and most importantly all the money we needed to help others escape, feed our forces for as long as the war continued and medical supplies that saved countless lives. All because of your efforts to grow Life Blood and stock piling before the war.” He shook his head in amazement as he looked at me and then his hand were his family ring was always kept on his left hand. “You have provided for much and saved many even without knowing you did so. It is almost as if you knew what the future would hold with what you and your father shock piled. Who would have thought your designs for tank piercing rounds of ground launched missiles would be so vital to the underground effort.”

I had known that my ideas had come to assist them, but this tells me nothing of Shrimiski’s grandson beyond they were master negotiators who took advantage of Samuel’s need to protect others. “I understand how you feel, but what does the finding of my parents have to do with Shrimiski?” He tightened his fist until his knuckles were white and took a long calming breath. He looked at me as if he was not looking at me, but more into the past of a scene that utterly disgusted him.

“It has everything to do with it. Once your father and I were working side by side keeping the weapons safe one of Shrimski’s men finally tracked me down to give me Shrimski’s thoughts on the deal we had made. He felt he was cheated. I felt I was the one cheated.” He took another deep breath as if it was difficult for him to continue his tale. I felt like I couldn’t push him, but I needed to get to some other matters today and get Shrimski’s son or someone equally qualified to investigate my systems. Call me rude, but I was running on no sleep and even on the best days I am not known for my overly patient temperament. However, if the strong warrior Samuel had been had difficulty telling of this battle then it was a serious concern.

I try to nudge his story along by suggesting, “Was it about the weapons or the intelligence you had that Shrimski wanted?” Samuel leaned forward and put his head in his hands as he slightly became hunched over.

“You always hit the issue squarely don’t you? Yes, Shrimski found out through looking that the underground was protecting some weapons and that those weapons were a mix of Russian and French. The Russian weapons reported being used by the underground were performing better than the front lines weapons. Shrimski knew I had Russian weapons he sold me and wanted to kindly interrogate me as to the changes I might have made to make the perform better.” Samuel gave a dry laugh and shut his eyes. He continues to hold his head as if doing so will help him from losing the memories or better yet to forget them to keep his sanity.

“Your plans for other weapons were modified to the Russian weapons. They increased the deliverability and accuracy of the hit. They also allowed for less malfunctions during use. They were pivotal, but they had now drawn to the underground to all the wrong people. We killed Shirmiski’s men with their own manufactured weapons, but he only sent more men. It was decided we must move the stockpile and I must talk with Shirmiski.” Samuel sits upright once more and looks me as if he were a man on an execution line, a look I have seen to often in the eyes of those we had saved earlier in the war. Worse yet was the utter desperation of hope as we told them they were saved.

“I went to him with his men with the plans you had made. We thought foolishly that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Shirmiski was pleased, but thought to keep me as he thought incorrectly that I was the one who made the plans. I had made only slight modifications, however I was tortured when I told them differently.” His breath shook and he moves up and out of his chair swiftly. He gripped his hands as if reliving every moment of the shackles he must have worn and the flashbacks he must have received from his time in the French prison in Paris. He had been through much, I did not know how much.

“I pretended to be dead, and I was cut down from my chains hanging from the ceiling. Shirmiski came to my cell and tested my willful acting and in the process mortally injured me. I needed blood and I broke the act I begged then for our kinds healing blood for blood of any kind. I was further questioned, and I told them all to my shame.” He blamed himself and I had to hide my anger quickly. The anger was not because he broke under torture, but it was because of Shirmski senior’s actions. Samuel would not read it that way and he would blame himself more than he already had. No one would have expected him not to break, however who he broke to was a problem. If Shirmski had shared the information with anyone of his superiors then our kind might be hunted once more instead of the civil issues that now had been plaguing nations for decades.

Samuel turns back to me as I keep my head bent. How do I not show the pity I feel or the anger toward those who I care about. Yet I wish to support him and care for his mental state, I am without words and without actions now. Samuel seems to understand my silence although it was uncomfortable. “Look up dear.” I do as he asks and I can not act well around this man. I get off my chair and go to hug him tightly.

I speak into his ear as I hug him, “What did they do? How did you stay alive? How did you escape before the end of the war? Just How!” I squeeze him as if my life depended on him, indeed it has more than once.

He pats my back gently quietly asking to let him go, “I was given blood of others one after another. Prisoners one after the other I was forced to feed on their near corpses until I started to heal. They had one man who had once been of Russian minor royalty, he must have been some great cousin and I was forced to kill him through their bloodletting.” I gasp and hold his face in my hands as his eyes are turned inward in self-hatred. How can I stop him from reliving this and taking the sacrifice to explain why I need to protect myself from Shirmski’s family. I tap his cheek, but he still continues on almost robotically, “I still needed to fully heal and I could not break my chains and they would not let me die. They would only bring me more humans that they wished me to kill. I used my strength due to their sacrifice and escaped killing everyone in my path who might have stopped me. I do not know if I killed innocents under my own will then, but I know I was the killing method they used for a while in their most guarded prisons. I came back to finish the war with your father, but the information I had given about Nazi’s and their information program became the Russian Communists only with information about the entire super natural world in detail”

I shake him gently and he mildly starts as if I had not been there listening all this time. He looks wildly into my eyes, “You must not meet him, that family is not trustworthy they almost took everything from me! He a broke me! I only mentioned him and lied that I would make a meeting with him because I track them because of what they did. You must not, surely there must be someone else to help. Please don’t ask this of me!”

I pat his cheek and look into his eyes, “It’s okay Samuel, I will not ask this of you. There must be someone else we can use to help.” I lead him to the small armchair in the corner of my office and sit him down. I see Lucy looking at us through the glass doors in concern and I motion her in.

Lucy walks into the office quickly and goes to the glass water pitcher and column of plastic cups beside of me, “Lucy will take care of you. Rest and relax before she takes you home. I must plan to find all of my uncle’s demons and kill them so he can not blame himself. I must bury all those who would share our secretes. Literally.” I walk out of the office while Lucy does what she does best, fusing and taking care of others in a motherly while I plan how to get in touch with the current Shitmski son to find out how much he knows.

If Samuel is tracking them it is not through electronic means, it means that he has traveled to hunt them as a lion would. The most recent trip he did take based on mother’s gossip was to Washington DC and if he was intelligence there must be someway I could find him through official channels in the hospital and medical research industry. If he was smart he would take my invitation to see my medical research facility. All the better if I can get him to look at my cyber-attack issue.

Sorry Samuel, in this case the risk might very well be worth the knowledge gained. I will be having that meeting, but I will be searching for more than a solution to one network hack. I am looking to close in on a kill. No one hurts my coven or family and gets away with it even if it is the next generations punishment.

Authors Note: I made a mistake that I needed to correct. Shrimiski's grandson is the one alive, Jackson not Mark is the name of the name of the IT Director as he Jacked everything up and I thought it a more fitting name and please forgive typos and weird spacing I am writing this on my phone. Not a regular keyboard. Please post comments if you like what you have read thus far as well as any questions you have.