The Immortals of Sumer

Chapter Two

The blonde man grumbled as the dark haired man moved closer, looking over my shoulder as he said, “We need to find our Uncle Bogdan, and our siblings Ruxandra, Alexandru, and Mircea to begin with.”

“I’m sorry, what? I don’t know how to spell those names, here you type it in,” I said, turning towards him to hand him my phone. His hand closed around mine, enclosing the phone in my grip again, as he looked me straight in the eyes.

“You will do it, I will merely guide you in the search. Bogdan was always loud and flamboyant. I don’t think he’d go this long without making some kind of scene. Search for B-O-G-D-A-N, he might have only held onto his first name in todays world.” He said and I shrugged, typing it into the search bar. Sure enough a couple history lessons pop up and a Google Map section with Bogdan Nightcluh. Making a scene, huh?

“Based on these pictures, this Nightclub is more of a rave but it is flashy. Let me see if I can find a picture of the owner….” I trailed off. I felt him lean closer to me-over my shoulder by my neck…I stopped being so distracted by his mere intimidating presence and flicked through photos and reviews of the place people had left on Yelp. Hmmm, I was flicking through them seeing ravers in neon and fishnet and smoke until suddenly he stopped my hand from moving through the photos.

“That is him-Bogdan,” he said mostly to himself.

“You’re friend is the owner of a rave bar. Here’s the address and here’s a phone number to call ahead.” I said, clicking on Googles’ info on it. “Oh, damn, it’s a 45 minute drive to this place! Maybe just call and get him to drive out here…?” I suggested and looked over my shoulder to see the dark haired man and the blonde conferring, a silent conversation between them simply by sharing glances.

I had that kind of sense of thought between my best friend and I. I could practically just sense how long he had been friends with the blonde. They seemed to sense me staring at they both turned their attention to me. A little note in my mind said to run while they had been so distracted but something in my brain reasoned that they would just catch me again. I would have to escape these men when I wasn’t the only person for them to focus on. So, if he wanted all these people around him, then it would -in theory-be easier for me to sneak away.

“Bogdan would not come to us. He believes us to be dead so to… ‘just call’ upon him would not work as you imagine,” he said and I sighed. Go figure, the man really had been buried in my family’s basement so, of course, people think the man is dead…a normal person would have been. But I was wondering to myself: what if I was not insane?

I mean, the coffin in the basement, the disappearing and reappearing instantly somewhere else, the growling and killing those men-what would it all mean hypothetically?

He touched my chin out of nowhere, forcing my head up to look at him, but I gasped, flinching away from him. He growled, asking, “What were you thinking about so intently?” Do I just ask him?

“I was wondering if I have gone insane…because a normal person buried in a coffin in a basement would be dead. A normal person couldn’t just disappear and reappear out of thin air. I have got to be going crazy…”

The blonde chuckled before getting cut off by the dark haired man growling softly. “You are sane. You’re basing that possibility off of the societal expectations of a ‘normal person’. We are not normal…hell, we’re not even people. We can do impossible things, and we do so around you because we refuse to hide our immortal selves any longer. The world buried us like some dark secret and now the world will know what monsters it has created. Just know that you are safe from the likes of us because of your part in my resurrection.”

“I don’t care; I’m not helping you,” I said immediately. “I will not help you be a monster. I will not help you cause harm. I don’t care what you do to me!” I folded my arms across my chest and scowled up at him. He growled, much more harshly than before. I flinched but stood my ground. He stepped closer to me, seeming to bring a sense of authority and strength with him to surround us. I fought off a shudder and kept looking him straight in the eyes. He smirked, chuckling, but the aura around him seemed to get darker, as he nodded.

“You are a stubborn woman. How odd that your outspokenness hasn’t pissed me off yet…However, your tone will change, I’m sure, over the next few days. For now, you will take us to this place to retrieve Bogdan,” he said in a deadly serious tone.

“No! I will not take you if Bogdan is just going to add fuel to this crazy revenge on the world plan!” I shouted and he growled, moving so suddenly I couldn’t even register it in my head. Abruptly, before I could react, he had me pinned against a nearby tree by my throat. I was panicking, my heart pounding, as I wrapped my hands around his wrist, gasping. He didn’t budge at my grip but he didn’t tighten his grip on my throat either. We were just stuck there, facing each other down, him clearly having the upper hand.

“You will take us to him, woman,” he said quietly and I shuddered. I shook my head and he pushed me back into the tree a bit more roughly, the bark scraping my back even through my tank top.

“Even if I took you there, we would never get in! You look like a crazy mass murderer! You’re covered in blood! A rave means fishnets, leather, and neon, not you!” I shouted finally, just giving excuses. He looked down at himself and chuckled.

“I have been asleep for centuries. I was thirsty…besides I needed to get you safely out of the house. They stood in my way,” he said so calmly that I shuddered again. “If it appeases you, my lady, I swear that we will not kill around you, that you will never see this type of bloodshed again, and I swear to return to this world with as little violence as possible. I would say no violence but there has already been some. Does this make you content?”

I mulled it over for a split second before I nodded. He released me and I put my hand up to my throat. It wasn’t gonna bruise or anything but no one had manhandled me like that before and I rubbed over where his hand had been to comfort myself. He brushed his hand over my hand on my throat and smirked again as I flinched away from his touch. “In return, you will retrieve Bogdan for me, so that it is done peacefully.” I see what he did there instantly. I narrowed my eyes at him before chuckling.

“Then you are out of luck there because I couldn’t get in the doors of that club, even if I actually wanted to. I’m a really simple girl-you won’t find neon or leather in my closet,” I said, shrugging sassily, like what can you do.

“Then locate some leather and neon,” the blonde said and I glared at him over the dark haired man’s shoulder. He glared back at me until the dark haired man drew my attention back to him.

“Is there no way for you to acquire some of those?” He asked and I sighed.

“You are really not getting it. I would never wear rave clothes. I would die of embarrassment. My hat is off to those that love their bodies enough to do that but I don’t have that kind of-let’s call it confidence. No confidence to do that. No way. No how.” He growled and I sighed. “I really can’t.” Then I realized something…then I doubted myself. Could I really risk bringing my best friend into this kind of danger? Or maybe getting her and going into a rave was the exact thing I needed to escape these men?! I wanted to get giddy but had to clamp down on my new idea.

“Okay, I have an idea…but you’re gonna b***h about it first.” I said with a smirk of my own. The blondes eyebrows shots up with an incredulous look but I could tell I had the dark haired man’s attention. “I have a friend that does do the whole rave and concert and music thing. She could bring me something kinda okay to wear and she could get me in the door as her plus one…then I could hunt down the owner-this Bogdan-or at least ask about his whereabouts while inside. But…”

“What?” He asked, clearly thinking my offer through.

“If this guys thinks you’re dead and some random girl walks up to him like oh by the way there’s a creepy dark haired guy and his blonde buddy asking for you, they’re back from the dead and all that…I mean, it’s just not believable. How do I even approach him if he is there?”

Now I had them really into the plan. “There is a joke between us. Tell him, ‘the Tarot de Marseille was wrong about our death dates again, Uncle.’ And he will know we sent you.” The Latin Tarot-the 14th century tarot? What does that have to do with anything? You know what, never mind. I don’t even care. I looked back at my phone and started texting my best friend to bring rave clothes for both of us when the phone was suddenly snatched from me.

I gasped and took a step back at how close the dark haired man was standing to me, holding my phone. “What are you doing?”

“I was telling my friend that I got invited to Bogdan Nightclub and needed to borrow some of her clothes. You know, what you guys expect of me…because I would never wear this s**t willingly. Now give me my phone back,” I demanded and the blonde growled.

“Do not disrespect the-” he began but the dark haired man stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“You have some guts. You know I’m covered in blood, you pointed out that I’m not normal, and still you test me, woman,” he pointed out.

I shrugged, “At this current moment, it seems you need me to reconnect you to your people. So I’m okay for now. I’ll have my phone back.” I said holding my hand out for it. The blonde growled this time and the dark haired man smirked, slowly pressing my phone into my hand. I finished my text to her and turned my screen dark again before looking at the manor. I looked at my shoulder bag and shrugged, texted her quickly to change plans. She rang me quickly after and I picked up, putting it to my ear.

“Why the hell have you not picked up before like the 7 times I tried to call you earlier? And why are we not staying at your place?” She asked immediately, not even a hello first, and I sighed, looking back at the manor.

“My Uncle left for work and, in the meantime, it’s being renovated by these contractor guys. I’m outside right now talking to you because it’s so f*****g noisy in there. Can I just get a ride back to your place that way we can get ready there where all your stuff already is? No transporting a thousand pounds of makeup and we can listen to music in peace or gab, whatever. I’ll even explain how I lost my phone after school in all the chaos and construction.”

There was music blasting on the other side of the line for a second until I heard her say, “Hmm, fair enough. Okay, b***h, I’ll be there in ten!” I heard a thud and a curse as she moved around before she hung up and I chuckled. Talking to her for a second there made me forget about everything crazy happening. But the blonde’s voice brought me back to the present as he said:

“How you ladies swear, talk so shortly with each other, to be wearing pants, and these talking ‘phones’…times have certainly changed, my King.”

“For starters, there are no Kings here. In the United States, we have a democracy, meaning the people vote for their leader. You want puppet Kings and shadow governments, you can fly your asses over to Europe. I believe Britain still has a King but he just waves at the people. They all vote via Parliament, a group of old lords or some s**t. I’m just saying…if girls in pants freak you out, you’re in deep s**t,” I summarized and he scowled at me.

“Hmm, a democracy…” the dark haired man laughed, rolling his eyes. “What a crock of s**t,” he muttered before looking back at the blonde.“Clearly, times have changed; we don’t have to like it, Radu, we simply have to live with it. Bogdan will bring us up to date once we get him back here,” Suddenly, the man turned away from the blonde-Radu-to look at me. “Meanwhile, you have done well to keep the destruction in the house quiet. However, I detest the idea of you leaving these grounds, thinking for one moment that you are free of us.”

Wait, did that mean he was intending to come with me? How the hell would I even begin to explain them to Lanie? And, if so, this whole thing was cancelled because they do not get to see me in rave gear…especially if I’m being dressed by Lanie! “You aren’t coming with me. I can’t explain you both to Lanie. And you don’t get to seem to grasp that you wouldn’t get in to that club looking like you do!” I said and the men shared a dark look again.

“What I am warning you of is that, even when you can’t see us, we will be nearby and watching. No running away, no telling this Lanie about us, and no deviating from the plan laid out for you; am I understood?” The dark haired man asked me solemnly and I took a deep inhale. I finally sighed, nodding, but still planning in my head how we could possibly escape once inside the rave.

Suddenly, I heard tires spitting the pea gravel up in the driveway and couldn’t help the grin on my face from Lanie’s arrival. I gave them a two fingers wave before running out of the woods and towards Lanie’s car. She wasn’t even confused as to why I was coming out of the woods, even without the ‘construction’ destruction, I loved being outside rather than in the manor. She just unlocked her doors as I reached the passenger side door and, as soon as I was in the car, she was hitting me with questions.

“So a rave? Why the f**k are you going to a rave?” Normal people might be offended but, because of how odd that was for me, her question was deserved.

“I don’t have a choice.” Kinda the truth… “I have to send a message to someone for my Uncle. He refused to step foot in a rave bar but says this man has been avoiding him every which way he tries to contact him. It must be important for Uncle to involve me, you know. But the big part of this all is just getting in,” I said, knowing it was not the truth…ugh! These creepy bossy bastards!

Lanie pulled into her place a few minutes later, getting all “caught up” with my cover story. I lived in a manor full of nice things that kids aren’t allowed to touch. Lanie lived in true paradise, a winding driveway besides pastures, 6 to be exact. The one on the right of the driveway had cows, the one on the left had horses, and the other two pastures in the middle were empty currently, as they rotated the pastures as needed. The back left of the land had the pasture they used to keep mommas and their babies as she bred show horses.

They even had fainting goats! And she was given a ‘mini’ pig that was not so mini now but still adorable. The family was in full swing around the farm with the ATV, zipping around from trough to trough, then back to the shed and such. We got out of the car and I was looking at the back forty of the land, the hay fields. Lanie began talking about what we should wear but I was staring. Suddenly, I swear I saw someone standing at the edge of the cornfield.

Lanie turned around by the car to look at where I was looking but the figure flashed away before she could turn and I knew, as my gut got knotted with nerves, that that was his warning. He really was watching me. Lanie grabbed my hand and I startled but she just dragged me into the ranch style house and upstairs to her room. She put on some loud techno music or whatever they call it, dubstep, and then started digging through her closet.

Oh boy…she flung a black leather bralette at me with a bunch of straps-oh it was a chest harness. Then a bright neon pink skirt came flying out at me, followed by something fishnet. “Oh and I’ll need…” was all I heard before bright pink fishnets came flinging up and out of her closet but I was walking away already, towards the bathroom, and just sighed at the flying clothes. Typical Lanie. I put on the fishnets then the bright pink tennis skirt before squeezing into the leather bralette.

But there was no hope of me for figuring out the weird chest harness strap thingy so I held it up in defeat as I walked back out of the bathroom. She was already dressed in neon pink fishnets, a black leather skirt that covered barely anything, and sparkly pink and purple leotard that was more cutout than actual cloth. Okay, I thought my outfit left little to the imagination but, no, I stand corrected. She instantly reached for a simple black dress to cover herself with to be allowed to leave the house before dragging me into the bathroom with her.

She straightened my hair then hers, while I did my own makeup, gothic black lips and all, as she added glitter to her everything. I thought we were finally ready as she put some glow sticks into her purse but, as I turned back to her, I heard a puff and closed my eyes at whatever just came at me. Damn her! I cracked an eye open to see her with left over glitter in her palm and kissy lips from blowing the rest all over me. “Oooh, you look perfect!” She said as she handed me a black dress to cover up with.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked and she smirked.

“Sorry, not sorry,” she said her infamous favorite words as she pushed me out of her bedroom. Realizing I was about to actually go out in public with this much skin exposed, my gut clenched and I doubted myself.

I turned back to her and said, “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, I can’t do this!” She turned me back around and pushed me towards the stairs.

“Too late, b***h, I already made you beautiful for the night! We’re going out!” She shouted the last part to her mom as we got to the door and she unlocked her car. No need even for the dresses considering we didn’t run into anyone as we got to the car. “Get in, Elena.”

“I can’t do this,” I said, my cheeks burning.

“Your Uncle needs you to…no, you know what? f**k that, I need you to do this with me, please! One night of dancing! I’ll never ask again! Okay….I’ll never ask again until college!” She started begging and I sighed, playing with my cropped leather jacket accessory. I looked back to the edge of the field and sighed. My uncle was dead. If I didn’t do this, I just might be dead tomorrow too…

Lanie had gotten in the car and reached over to open my door, pushing it open into my leg. It startled me out of my nerves enough to get in and buckle up. She drove the 45 minutes to the club as I fiddled with my hair and listened to the music. Every once in a while, she would comment that I would be fine and that this will be fun. Half an hour of dancing and we will look for whoever and such…but in my mind, 30 minutes of dancing is enough for them to find me-catch back up to me-or whatever.

There was no parking by the club. We parked in a parking garage a block away and walked. Before we started walking, Lanie had to come over to my side of the car, yanked me out, and started fiddling with my dress until she got it off me. I zipped up the jacket but it did little to cover my waist. “I will never understand you, girl, you have such a great figure and just go on covering it up…” Lanie complained as we walked up to the club.

It turned out that BOGDAN in flashy blue letters up and down by the club entrance was the only sign there to let us know we had arrived. Oh and the line of people waiting to get in…and we joined them to wait our turn…

.(•).

“Bogdan is cunning, known for his guardsmen, and we think a little s**t like her is going to get in contact with him?” Radu said to his brother and his brother sighed, smirking. “What? You truly think she could make it to him?”

“She is cunning herself. I am very curious to see how she does,” the King said out loud and Radu turned to him.

“You truly intend to protect the little nymph? Did you give her your word or…?” Radu asked and the King shook his head.

“No one is allowed to touch her!” The King said with enough fierceness to make Radu step back, shocked. ”I did not give her my word; however, if she asked for it, I would give her my word in an instant. She saved us, brother. These past years-centuries-have been hell! I swore no violence around her and that I intend to keep as well, in return for saving us. If it were not for her, who knows when or if we would ever be found again!”

“Look at these metal contraptions and solid black roads that are in one piece and imagine if our graves had been covered in this s**t! With all these advances, it seems like she was sent to us to awaken us because the timing is perfect for a coup d'état. And all because of her…if she can do this, then she has earned peace while we fix this cesspool of a country.” The King said and Radu looked down from the roof of the club at the pavement. He had a point that civilization had surpassed what the Church and newfound scientists had predicted…

Radu turned back and said, “Very well, my King, she shall be spared and protected. I’ll see to it myself.” They both watched the girls get admitted into the overbearingly loud place, the music vibrating through their feet on the rooftop. The moon had begun to light the night and it rose more as the King waited patiently.

.(•).