The Immortals of Sumer

Chapter Nine

The woman was not stupid and took in the Vampire King’s tense posture and stayed silent until spoken to. “This woman…you tell your boss to come here now!” She instantly got on her phone, dialing her boss who picked up almost instantly. She sighed a breath of relief as he answered and she was about to say what was happening when the phone was ripped from her ear. She gasped at how close the King was to her now. He was terrifying so up close…. Where was her confidence…?

“This photo of this woman, this is recent?” Her vampire hearing didn’t need to strain to hear her bosses voice give a high pitched strained answer, like someone was literally holding his balls in a vice tone. At least it wasn’t just her that lost their confidence at being addressed by him.

“Y-yes, Sire, the humans wore masks most of the time during the break in but she took her mask off after a while at the computer she hacked into. It’s the last frame before she shoots the camera out. They burned the facility down afterwards so it took the techs about a month to dig into the fried tech and it’s latest backups. She was looking up a location-an address-at a city called Valdare in Washington State located in North America.”

The King growled, making her flinch, as he said, “She has gone home.” And then he started laughing. The sound brought shivers to her spine and she pitied this little girl. He dropped her phone and went back to his desk, telling her to leave already as he dialed a number on speaker phone. She bent over to get her phone, seeing her boss had already hung up, as someone picked up on the other end of his current phone call.

“Hello, Sire,” his second in command said before asking what he could do for his King. She was opening the door still, honestly not expecting him to answer until she left but he had already seemed to forget about her. He said blatantly, “Michael’s nymph daughter is all grown up…She looked up her home town before burning down a research outpost. Go there now, Brother, and bring the little nymph back to me alive! I’ll email you the compiled data she took and you will go from there.”

She left the office feeling so strange. Her confidence had withered in there and she was left feeling silly, like a child being scolded, so she excused herself to the bathroom to regather herself before going back to her office. Every woman in the office wanted to know what happened. She lavished in the spotlight of the King’s gossip, never mentioning how deeply he terrified her, but she couldn’t shake the meeting of her King all day. So before the sun fell that day, many vampires were waking up to realize Dracula’s revenge was about to begin as the witches were being hunted down finally.

.(•).

We were arguing so badly already that this whole manor was gonna f*****g haunt me. No one could decide what rooms were the safest, should we just hole up in the library, what about the basement, why is every room locked, we can’t stay here forever- blah, blah, blah. . . I was sitting on the railing of the balcony, avoiding the fighting. The French doors behind me were closed but the yelling was still leaking through its seams. We made it 34 days in the wilderness, half starved sometimes, never knowing where a clean water source was gonna be next.

All that, just to get here and fall apart…the winds picked up, gently lifting my hair for once rather than it whipping everywhere like mad. The weather really was timid here. It’s November, the leaves have fallen mostly, but it is still about 70 degrees out right now. I was in a long sleeve black shirt, a white lacy tank top underneath, and very worn-in blue jeans with some sturdy black hiking boots. My black petticoat was beside me on the railing because of how nice it is. I could almost pretend I was barefoot, ankle deep in a lake, like nothing was wrong.

Oh but something was wrong. Suddenly, inside something shattered and I twisted half around to see if I could see the commotion. I decided not to bother as I heard a guys voice say, “Really smooth, man, good job.”

“Shut up! I didn’t mean to!” Another male voice, more arguing. Voices from the new group. I sighed, looking back at the woods again. There were two blue jays chirping at each other as they flitted from tree to tree but little else was moving around in the emptiness of the woods. Out of nowhere, the French doors burst open and I startled, almost falling off of the railing. Who the-

Hunter asked suddenly, “What are you doing out here alone?” Hmm, cute kid. I shrugged and told him I was just thinking. The wind picked up as he asked what I was thinking about.I thought hard about an honest answer and the wind seemed to almost buzz alongside my thoughts. “Just about things like what rooms to sleep in and when guard shifts should coordinate trade offs.” As soon as I stopped talking, before Hunter could say a word, I realized the buzzing was real. Drones!

I jumped off the balcony, tackling the kid as something in the tree line shot around. I dragged the startled kid inside, locking the doors behind me. I closed the bedroom door and ran with Hunter to the library where everyone was fighting. “Silence! Drones!” was all I could say before they went silent and heard it themselves. Everyone went into stealth mode, closing doors and curtains as we all silently tried to fortify the house. Drones so far out here…? What was the time? I marked it at 4:39 pm so it’s too random to be a scheduled routine drone, right?

No because if it wasn’t routine then that meant it knew someone was here. The whole house was silent as a grave, Hayley holding her hand over Hunters mouth to muffle his inhales and exhales. Drones came in three options: heat seeking (often kept around the vampires, most expensive tech, worst case for us), bionic sound and sight (typically sent to find enemies of the King) or just plain detonation drones (most common-kill first, don’t bother with it again method). The fact that it isn’t shooting already means it’s not a Heatadrone. The fact that it has circled and hasn’t imploded means it’s not a Detadrone.

Which leaves the most logical deduction that someone sent it for someone. That Sekidrone has a face in its data core feeding it to find at any costs. It will enter the house to sight scan for the face, even if it’s a dead body-it wants that face. We needed to hide. Suddenly, I remembered my mother’s story. I remembered something about great grandma’s basement having a trapdoor and always scaring the hell out of her. I motioned Uri to get everyone’s attention and started motioning to the floor and then to follow me. I think the basement was down the hallway that was alongside the kitchen if I remembered the blueprints right.

Uri and I led the way down the hallway to a solid dark wood door. I was scared to go down there but even more so scared to stay here with that drone about to bust in. We had to be sure to get down there and find the trapdoor; if it wasn’t in plain sight the drone wouldn’t pick up on anything. I threw the basement door open and plunged into the darkness, trying to not trip down the steps while also fighting a nagging sense of urgency. I was in complete darkness as I realized there were no more steps and was able to just walk forward until I felt the wall.

Okay, I could sense Uri behind me as I followed along the wall until I felt a sudden end to the floor but before I could scream I stopped falling and Uri had my hand in a vice grip. He helped me back up to flat ground and finally clicked on a flashlight. We huddled around the light to keep it from illuminating the whole room. It was a dark wood plank trapdoor in the floor that was left wide open. Uri stepped up to cast the light down and I struggled to stay silent. I wanted to scoff because no way were we getting down there quietly. Suddenly, I heard a thud above us and Hayley gasped.

The drone is trying to find a soft way in. It’ll test a couple of spots but the robots usually end up coming through the glass windows most of the time if they’re not boarded up already. “Jump when it hits again,” I said. Uri and I stepped aside and a few people gathered to jump down. Bang! They hesitated but they moved in time. For all that drone knew it knocked over a knickknack or a picture. Again, we lined three more to jump in. BANG! This shook the house.

For a moment I worried it had entered because we only had six of eleven down. Another rattling BANG, another three down. Then suddenly a crashing shatter of glass and Uri shoved me forward. I gasped as I impacted gravel and-ahhh-bone shards. He landed right next to me. Dammit, I would’ve jumped. Little did I realize he had tied a rope to himself and the door so when he had jumped it had closed behind him automatically with a slam. Okay, nice job…

I was a little mad at myself for not thinking ahead about closing the trapdoor behind us but all my self-reflection was muted as I heard the drone’s propulsion system hissing as it came into the basement. We all seemed to still and hold our breath as it hovered and beeped about, scanning for signs of life. Please, just go away…After a moment of pressured silence, it’s inhuman sounds drifted away. The group did not breathe a sigh of relief, in fact, we barely moved for what felt like a whole hour.

Finally, I asked Uri very quietly, “Okay, we survived a scan but now how do we get out of here?” Uri turned the flashlight back on finally and I watched Hayley and Hunter physically relax just a bit more. Maybe we all had done the same but several of us started moving about immediately instead so it was hard to notice anyone else but them.

They stood so still. Hunter asked softly, “Are those bones?”

“Don’t focus on that, love,” Hayley said, making her son look up again and face her. She got down to his level and said, “Whatever darkness was once done here can be swept and cleaned away. It is up to the people that come afterwards to remember and do better.” Odd time for a lesson. Suddenly, I wondered why the floor was so slanted…the middle was raised while the closer you got to the metal walls the deeper the bones and gravel felt. Like everything thrown in here was meant to roll down and away, discarded. What the hell was this room?

There were no ladders bolted into the wall leading out or magick appearing doors. No, my gut twisted as I realized what was thrown down here was never meant to leave. But, before I could get too deep into my concerns and anxiety, suddenly, we all heard footsteps and voices and I was almost glad we hadn’t found a way out yet. Uri turned the light off immediately and everyone got low and silent. But damn if the next moments didn’t make my heart almost vomit into my throat…

“The King wants the Witch’s daughter alive. Be wise to remember that as you continue to search.” A deep voice said and Uri grabbed my hand. A bone clattered down the incline and we all held our breath. So much for Dracula never looking here. It seemed to be searched regularly, mom! Oh no, oh no! Painfully still moments passed and nothing else was heard besides the occasional clattering and I realized they would know we were here regardless just by our stuff being around, the sheets off furniture, and the dusty s**t disturbed in the library.

My petticoat! They would have my scent if they realized it was mine. It was still upstairs on the balcony. All our s**t was spread about in the library too. Much further away, the voice sounded again, shouting. “They were here recently! Search the woods; they won’t have gotten far!” There was footfalls and doors slamming before silence fell on the whole place. We all seemed to be holding our breath.

After awhile, Uri turned to me, saying, “Use your magick to get us out. We won’t have long until they come back.” He was right…but I have never used my magick in front of others, let alone on so many others! Is this what performance anxiety is? I climbed to the middle of the bone pile and focused my purpose. Then I took a deep breath and when I exhaled, I imagined the door swinging open from a strong breeze. Suddenly, there was a slam and I opened my eyes with a startle.

Whoops. I did that maybe a touch too hard but it worked! We gathered in the middle and I held onto Uri’s hand as I then refocused my energy on raising us into the air. I took a deep inhale and exhaled with what felt like a weight on my chest. Instantly, I felt my feet lift from the ground, slowly rising like an elevator lift to the door. Tony lifted Jocelyn, Hayley and Hunter through first, then the rest before my brother noticed how much I was shaking, straining to keep us all levitated.

He took my hand and told me to let go and I knew what he meant. I dropped my magick and fell against gravity for a moment before I felt the tug of Uri’s hand, pulling me to the surface of the basement. I was taking deep breaths like I had just run as Devin stared at me like I had developed a three heads. Tony closed the trapdoor quietly and we all huddled around each other.

“Okay, gather what is left, no fires or lights, and be quick because they will come back when they realize our trails out there are old. We can regather in the library tonight as it gets dark to get out of here under the cover of night,” Tony said and we all nodded. I took my leave to find some space to be alone. I was tired. I just wanted to sit down. Uri helped me to my room, where I did just that. I laid back on the bed, happy to be off my feet, and before I knew it…I was falling asleep.

Good thing I had Uri, who came into my room an hour later to wake me and help me pack. I shooed him out of the room and grumbled as I began to shove my things into my bag. But I got this horrible gut feeling and looked out the window. Oh, yeah, where did my coat go? And, more importantly, what do I do next? Is this a safe space or do we have to leave this behind too? Why look for me or were they looking for our mother? Why look for me here? Was it because of the tech trail we left behind?

I had been so sure I was alone in the room, just pacing and thinking, that I did not even notice when the door creaked open. The drunken leader, Devin, of the secondary group walked in without knocking and I only noticed him when I turned to pace around again. I looked at him, puzzled, until I saw a vision as he stepped into the room and locked the door.

The vision began at the sound of the lock clicking into place but continued with him walking towards me with an almost predatory smirk. The vision seemed to fast forward and…he has me by the arms, shoving me backwards into my desk. I then try to shove him off, feeling a ghost of pain at the hip that has dug into the desk. I can smell a faint whisper of booze and yell for him to go sleep it off as he catches my shirt at the hem and clenches it in his meaty hand.

He uses the momentum to stumble back to me and I get overwhelmed by his weight, leaning back into the mirror to get my arms between us. His hands are roaming my waist and I try to bring my knee up in between his legs but he clenches his thighs around my leg, entangling us even more.

“Don’t do this,” I cry out as he tries to sloppily kiss my neck and trail his mouth further down my chest. I finally seem to get so scared, so frustrated, so angry, that I was about to summon air and blast him away.

However, he slams me against the mirror, the glass breaking and my head seeming to burn in the back by my neck. I see myself passing out slowly as he begins ripping my shirt from the bottom up. Suddenly, I came back to myself with a gasp, stumbling backwards into the desk I was shoved into in my vision. I looked into it and, sure enough, the mirror reflected my scared eyes and him coming closer behind me, obviously drunk. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare! Go sleep it off!” I said before his eyes gleamed something wicked.

“Don’t tell me what to do, you mutt b***h!” He muttered and I punched the mirror hard enough that it shattered, making him falter, and I grabbed one of the mirror shards. I instantly regretted it, a burning sensation slicing into two different points of my palm as my hand closed around it but I still held onto it with my everything. I brandished it at him and he jumped back. Finally, he seemed to take me seriously and looked me over, calculating his situation.

Suddenly, he reached for me and I instinctively slashed at his hand to keep it away as I stepped back into the desk again. He drew back, holding his hand, with a curse. I slashed once again, stepping forward to get more room, but he started side stepping me. I stopped mid lunge and slashed upwards, drawing blood across his jawline and cheek. He cursed at me something foul and I took this moment of his divided attention to burst through the balcony’s double doors and jumped right over the balcony railing. “Oh, s**t!”

Right into my brothers arms below! I smirked at him, grateful he was always looking out for me, but his face was a menacing one. He snarled up at Devin, who was looking over the balcony. “She attacked me, man!” He shouted, showing his bloody hand. Wow, the gall of this motherfu….I was looking up at him and watched his face go from angry to confused to terrified.

He wasn’t looking at us anymore but behind us. Uri spun around with me still in his arms and he snarled at the vampire standing a few feet from us. Oh…shit! My heart beat went fast but it felt like my heart went into my throat too, the beating sounding in my ears suddenly. This was real. A vampire was here. But my mind did the calculations too: one vampire against a group of eleven humans. We would lose some, definitely get hurt, but there’s a chance we could win.

However, when the blonde vampire spoke, all hope was dashed. “We had been sent to retrieve the witch’s daughter, a look alike to Elena Velden…and yet…you look like your father, boy. The King would have ordered us to capture you too, if he had known of Michaels’ son, and I have to say he is going to despise you to be honest.”

“Uri, run,” I whispered but the vampire man had heard me regardless. Uri did set me down on my own two feet but didn’t move away.

“Do run, boy, it will be fun to hunt Michaels bastard down,” was all he said and I scowled at him. The vampire looked at me with a wink and my gut clenched. I took my brother’s hand and backed up towards the manor. My brother barely budged but let me lead him to safety without turning his back on the vampire.

“You said that ‘we had been sent’…as in there are more of you creatures?” My brother asked. I stopped where I stood as the vampire laughed at the flood of creatures coming out of the shadows of the tree line. There had to be hundreds…at closer look I noticed they were soldiers in Kevlar armor and had guns. Wait, why was a vampire army surrounding the manor? Why so many?

Either way, we would never make these odds. I had to give us time! I got in front of my brother, staring at the vampire in charge, as I raised my bloody hand out in front of me and said, “Ignis exsurgat, pugna, defendat! Si quis intraverit, flammas intensione sentiet!” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, with all the intention of protecting this house, and I exhaled only to hear a whoosh! Uri’s hands were on my shoulders suddenly, yanking me back, as fire spread.

I panicked that it was gonna spread everywhere but I regained control of my intentions and watched it spread out in a circle around the entire manor. Uri chuckled and I grinned up at him, proud as hell that I managed that. The vampire regained our attention when he growled from the edge of the fir. “Listen well, Witch Daughter, your magick will drain you until the fire is extinguished or you are. You can only protect your brother for so long after that. However, I can offer you something.”

“Consider this offer as it will be my only offer: drop the barrier now and I will personally promise you that your brother will be taken to the King unharmed, you as well, and we will not kill the rest of the humans inside. Fail to and make me wait… and everyone inside will die a horrible fate and I’ll torture your brother the entire way back. Don’t test me, witch,” he said and I shuddered. Uri shouted for him to f**k off and took my hand to pull me inside.

Instead, I started to have a vision as our paths went different ways. Uri was intent on ignoring the man’s offer. I however watched myself look back at him and ask what his name was. The vampires sneered at me as he introduced himself as Dracula’s right hand, Radu. From then on, the vision deepened and I watched as my body got cramps from the power drain.

Radu would smirk and walk over to the nearest soldier. He says something and points to Devin on the balcony first then motions to wait. What was he doing…? He turns more towards me and says, “I heard everything in there. How long were you all hiding in the basement? Ballsy move around a drone. And then to turn around and lay hands on the King’s witch…” he tsk-tsked at Devin. He looks me dead in the eyes, my gut clenching, before he nods to the soldier.

The soldier moves so fast I miss it but I hear it. He has moved his gun to his shoulder, his gun sight going to his eyebrow, and a gunshot rings out but the soldier is already returning to that straight standing stance. I gasp, my brother trying to shield me, but the bullet was not for us. I turn to see blood on the balcony, the bloody French doors open, and I could see Devins’ feet on the floor of the balcony peeking between railing rods. He was just laying there, still. Oh my goddess, that really just happened…

Radu didn’t skip a beat to tell me, “That was for your protection. A warning to anyone else who might be thinking of touching you or calling you a mutt. Now, hear me when I warn you that I’ll let my men go into the manor first, gather the rest of your humans, and after my men play with them, whoever is left alive can be sold as slaves to other Lords and Ladies. Your brother looks so much like Michael that I wouldn’t dare damage his pretty face until Dracula sees him so he would just have some bodily damage.”

“Or…you can end this peacefully. What do you choose?” He asks me and I notice he mentioned nothing about me.

“And what of me?” I asked.