A Moonlit Night Saga: Episodes 1 - 4 (12 page)

The alpha tilted his head inquisitively,
unable to see the attack coming for him. He howled out in pain as a
sharp dagger tore through his skin and into his belly. Writhing on
the ground, he rolled off Xander, desperate to remove the blade
lodged into his gut.

“Wow,” grinned Samuel, standing over Xander
triumphantly. “In over 35 years, I never thought I would see a
werewolf beat down a vampire.”

Xander was bloodied and barely able to move,
but he laughed. The first time he had laughed in a long time, he
thought to himself. They may have been enemies by blood, but he
couldn’t bring himself to hate the vampire hunter; and if it wasn’t
for the man’s occupation, he could even see the two of them
becoming friends.

Samuel eventually extended a hand, helping
Xander to his feet. He looked over to the country home, noticing
that Emily had exited the home with her friend Tyler. Together they
were carrying the now semi-conscious Steven over towards the battle
scene.

“Who sent you, werewolf?” asked Xander, his
skin slowly healing as he stood over the werewolf, bleeding out on
the grass. “Who sent you?”

Xander kicked the alpha werewolf viciously in
the ribs; the sound of bone snapping rang out through the night as
the werewolf cried out in misery. He could have taken the high
road, and let the devilish hound die in peace, but he had questions
that needed answering; and the one thing that a werewolf
understands is pain.

“I—it matters not if you know the truth… the
end will soon be upon you,” choked the alpha, blood spewing out his
mouth as he spoke. “Amata Gemeti sent me.”

“Who the hell is Amata Gemeti?” Samuel
asked.

The alpha let loose a low rumble, his throaty
laughter carrying across the property. They all looked nervously at
one another, awaiting the alpha’s answer.

“He asked you a question, beast,” said Emily,
barging past Samuel as she joined Xander overtop the dying
monster.

“Why don’t you ask your vampire bedfellow?”
asked the werewolf, his eyes turning towards Xander. “She has
bigger plans than you could possibly imagine. They may begin with
your precious little summoner, but they do not end there.”

“What is he talking about, Xander?” Emily
asked. “I don’t understand.”

Xander ignored Emily’s question, his mind
wrapped firmly around the alpha’s dire words of warning. His
friends may have had no idea who Amata Gemeti was, but that was a
luxury Xander did not have. For the first time in his second life,
he was afraid.

“Xander, are you listening to me?” inquired
Emily, pulling on his tattered shirt. “Who is Amata Gemeti—?”

“You’re working with a vampire?” asked
Xander, interrupting Emily with questions of his own. He didn’t
mean to be discourteous to the woman he cared so deeply for, but
the grave situation weighed heavily on his mind. “The paranormal
races haven’t united since the last culling. You realize what
you’re saying?”

“Oh… I realize exactly what this means,”
replied the alpha, gasping for air as he spoke his last words.
“Dark times are coming for the people of this world. We should have
taken our rightful place as rulers of this world, millennia ago.
Amata will give us that opportunity.”

The werewolf continued to laugh, his hoarse
voice sending a unsettling reminder of the gravity of the
situation.

Xander grabbed one of the swords lying on the
ground, his cold hands wrapping firmly around the hilt of the
blade. The cutting edge of the sword dragged along the grass,
closing in on the alpha panting and wheezing on the ground.

“Do you have any last words, werewolf?” asked
Xander, hoisting the sword high in the air. The steel gleamed in
the moonlight, shining down on the wounded wolf.

“Enjoy this moment, vampire,” the alpha
snickered. “For what’s in store for you shall be a fate far worse
than mine.”

The sword came crashing down, severing the
werewolf’s head from his body. Even as his head rolled, his face
continued to laugh, the contortions of his face slapping together
in the absence of vocal chords.

Turning towards Emily, Xander wasted no time
moving to the next matter at hand, Emily’s safety. With a sadness
that encased his eyes, he looked at Emily, and said, “There is
little time. If Amata Gemeti has united the paranormal races, than
we have little time.”

Xander grabbed hold of Emily’s arm, but she
pushed him away sharply. It had been a gruesome ordeal and Emily
was finally started to grow into the woman she was meant to be. A
woman that her mother would be proud of; and she remembered her
mother’s warning, burning a fire deep in her heart.

“No,” Emily said. “I’m not going anywhere
with you.”

“You will if you want to live,” Xander
replied, his stern words a forewarning of the danger that Amata
would be unleashing upon her and everyone she cared for.

“Then you better start by answering some
questions,” Emily said. “I am the summoner, and my powers are
growing. And unless you want those powers directed at you, you will
answer my questions. My mother warned me about you… prove her
wrong.”

“Anything, if it gets you far away from
here,” replied Xander, gritting his teeth. He didn’t like the idea
of sharing the horrors the past, but if it meant saving the
summoner’s life, than he had little choice in the matter.

“Good,” Emily said. “Then let’s start at the
beginning.”

Chapter Seven

It is said that the summoners were the first
paranormal race, created in a time when humans still lived in
painted caves. They lived amongst the people of the land in perfect
harmony with their environment. Ageless and born with limitless
power, they were seen as gods by the fledgling human race. Your
mother was one of those people.

The bright sun washed over Amanda, her
fingers running through her dripping wet hair as she lifted herself
out of the mountain oasis and looked down on the valley below.
Flourishing green foliage swathed the area, their beauty matched
only by the sparkling ocean in the distance.

“Every day you come here,” said a man,
placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Have you not seen all that
you wish to see?”

Amanda smiled, turning her head to gaze upon
the man she loved. They had been together for thousands of years
now, their love burning through the ages. She grabbed hold of his
hand, and said, “I hope that day never comes, Lars.”

The summoners were unsatisfied with merely
living among the humans that inhabited the land. The desired more
for themselves and more for the world they so genuinely loved. And
so, they began construction of a temple, where they could channel
all their power.

“Come on, you just have to see it,” Lars
grinned. “We’re almost there!”

Rushing through the dense plant life with
their hands entwined, they approached an entrance of a cavern. Lars
tugged on Amanda’s hand, asking her to go forward with him.

“It’s… so dark,” Amanda mumbled. “You know
how much I detest the dark. Are you sure you want to go down
there?”

“What are you so afraid of?” Lars asked. “The
temple needs to be kept hidden, far away from curious eyes.”

Emily trusted Lars, and knew she would always
be safe with him. They made their way down the narrow path, going
lower and lower into the ancient mountain.

“What temple?” Emily asked. “And why does it
need to be kept hidden?”

“The Temple of Prometheus,” replied Lars, as
they came to the end of the constricted tunnel. “And this holy
place is a shrine to our people, built from powers that must never
be claimed by those impure of heart.”

Amanda’s looked on in awe, for the Temple of
Prometheus was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on.
With sweeping roofs and pillars on every corner, not a single stone
had been transported, instead being created from illimitable
imagination; the entire structure intricately craved out of large
limestone deposit. The temple’s majesty was unparalleled, their
boundless power radiating from its design. It could have been
considered the first wonder of the world, if any human eyes had
ever laid eyes on it.

In the Temple of Prometheus, the summoners
breathed life into not just one species, but many different forms
of life, all unique in their own glorious way. Of course, the
summoners couldn’t have guessed the horror they would have
unleashed upon the world. The summoners thought they were creating
something beautiful, but instead, horrifying monsters emerged,
creatures of the night. The fiend’s sprang forth, a plague upon the
world. The summoners mourned for their children, but refused to end
their existence. From whatever evil dimension they may have came
from, the summoners could not bring themselves to destroy their
creations.

Amanda looked upon the valley, from the place
that had once given her so much joy. A tear streamed down her eye
as she watched the helpless people below cry out in agony, their
voices screaming out to her for help. She wanted to assist them, to
hold back the darkness that was ravaging their land; but, her
people would not allow that, maintaining hope that righteousness
would prevail.

“I can see them. I can see the people dying,”
said Amanda, pointing to a large brushfire down in the vale. She
could see several tribesmen being slaughtered by a marauding troll.
“This is our fault, Lars… the people need our help!”

“Our help is the reason this is happening,”
replied Lars, his steady hand giving her little comfort in these
dreary times. “We have to believe that balance will be restored. I
know you feel strongly, my love. My heart goes out to them as well,
but under what circumstances is genocide justified?”

Of course Lars was right, but it still didn’t
make the sight of watching helpless people murdered by beings far
superior to them, any easier to bear. Just like the tribesmen down
below, she was powerless to stop the evil from casting its shroud
across the valley, and then to the rest of the world.

In time, their creations rebelled; fearing
that the summoners would one day take away the power that was given
to them. All of the paranormal races joined together, in defiance
of their makers. The summoners were culled by their own creations,
as helpless as the humans that they once turned their back on.
Wherever the summoners turned, the monsters followed close behind;
they were an ageless race, killed by the very life that they had
created.

“Faster, they’re coming closer!” shouted
Lars, following Amanda close behind as the fled up a high mountain
pass. The monsters were fast approaching, tearing and clawing at
the heels of Lars. Werewolves and vampires joined the hunt, setting
aside centuries of hatred to complete a common goal.

“We’re not going to make it,” continued Lars,
pushing Amanda forward. “You have to go on without me. I can hold
them off!”

“No, I will not leave you!” yelled Amanda,
turning around with her arms extended, desperately trying to grasp
Lars. It was no use; Lars had already turned around to face his
aggressors.

“You have to leave!” Lars bellowed. “Please,
don’t let my sacrifice by in vain!”

A blinding white light beamed out from Lars,
engulfing the whole mountain pass. Amanda covered her eyes,
catching quick glimpses of the monsters burning with all of Lars’
fury.

For the second time in Amanda’s endless life,
she shed a tear for the one loved. Sobbing, she turned away and
continued up the mountain; each stride harder to handle than the
last.

The war started out of ignorance, and it was
finished with hate. The summoners could have ended the war before
it began, but then they would have been no better than the monsters
that had consumed them. They all died, except your mother. She
survived, hidden in the shadows of a slowly dying world. The
summoners were quickly forgotten, their divinity now nothing more
than a whisper, an echo in the fabric of time. Amata Gemeti will
stop at nothing to see this war re-ignited, until the final
summoner breathes her last breath. Her mother imbued you with all
of her power, in hopes that you would be the one to bring peace to
this world.

Chapter Eight

“Leave me, my children,” hissed Amata,
sitting atop the fallen Korolev’s throne. “Search the building for
any survivors… and destroy them.”

The youngling vampires stormed out of the
council chambers, in search of a greater feast.

Perched on the throne she so deeply coveted,
her boney fingers tapped loudly on the metal armrests, trying to
steady her rapidly beating heart. She needed them to fear her, to
trust that being on her side was the only side worth being on.

“William, bring in my family,” said Amata,
motioning to the door. The newborns were merely pawns, and now it
was time for the rest of her clan to assume the positions that so
rightfully deserved. Survive of the fittest, Amata kept repeating
in her head, attempting to relieve herself of the thoughts of
treason, festering around in her brain.

The mountainous man returned from the dark
corridor, with the rest of her family following close behind.
Unlike the filthy and disease infested newborns, they were stately
and bred from the finest stock; vampire royalty, in every sense of
the word.

“House Gemeti, please take the seats that
should have been yours since birth,” said Amata, her voice booming
across the room. “For far too long, we had to stand by and watch
the old, gluttonous vampires rule our council; vampires born of a
different time… a fallen time. It was not I, who murdered these
eldest of vampires. Their lack of forethought and narrow-minded
views delivered them to their fate… I only sped up the
process.”

“I want you to all know that I have a plan,”
Amata continued. “The summoner’s days are finally numbered, and
with her blood I will cement our position atop the other paranormal
races. My witches have insisted they have found a way to draw the
summoner’s blood, and with it we will change our very existence. We
will combine the paranormal races, unshackling ourselves from the
burdens of past hate and bigotry. What I am talking about, is the
next step in our evolution.”