The Dark Messenger (20 page)

More vampires on the top level began to swarm
down, even though they were warned not to follow. But how could
they resist? For years they had been forced to drink the blood of
diseased humans, and from their scent, these women didn’t have
diseases and were completely fresh.

Angus lost all control over his coven, and
the women became a free for all, first come first served. Everyone
leapt over the sides, paying no heed to Angus’ bellowing for order.
He could not believe how they were all ignoring him. He was left
wondering if what Mietioc had said about him being pathetic had
somehow affected their views towards him. Was this the beginning of
a revolution, meaning that his reign as their leader was over?

Deep inside the tunnel, Mietioc’s men were
ready.

‘Give ‘em hell, boys,’ their self-appointed
leader said as the Scots came tearing down towards them. The
warriors started firing, tearing their enemy to pieces with their
machine guns. It was almost too easy--just point in one direction
down the tunnel and fire. Angus had, in fact, designed the tunnel,
and it had been made so that he could easily walk inside it, as
Mietioc had suggested. It was unlikely that the coven leader had
even considered what would happen if his warriors might need to use
it. If the passageway had been a bit wider, his vampires may have
had a chance to dodge the bullets. As it was, its narrowness was
their doom.

Their deaths happened so quickly that they
didn’t have a chance to message their leader when they realized
that the humans were just a trap. By the time their minds had
registered the presence of the nine warriors behind their prey, it
was too late. The last thing they ever saw were the smiles on the
faces of the London vampires, grinning at how sweet revenge was for
them. They were giving the Scots back the same pain that their
fallen brothers had experienced just moments before.

One hundred and seventy eight of the Scottish
coven died in the tunnel before the ammunition finally ran out. The
nine then launched into the air and started to beat the approaching
vampires with their now-empty rifles. The remaining Scots
witnessing it began to message Angus.

As expected, Angus was furious. He had been
thinking that the gunfire was from his own vampires, celebrating
the deaths of the women as they drank from their bodies. He was
dismayed to learn that Mietioc still had warriors alive in the
tunnel, and that they had weapons. His scout had told him that all
of the weapons had been taken, but now he realized with dread that
no one had counted them to be sure.

Soon the armed vampires went down into hidden
parallel tunnels that ran alongside the main one. Aiming their
weapons through the secret openings, they killed the nine brave
warriors almost instantly.

As Angus received the report that the last of
Mietioc’s warriors were dead, he was furious because the plan he
had agreed to with his partner in crime in Rex’s coven had never
included his own vampires dying.

Furious, he stormed off, but not without
making yet another error that he would regret that evening.

He had phoned Rex’s coven and spoke with his
contact there. In the phone call with him he had told him that his
scout in Holyrood park had seen Mietioc with female prisoners and
male prisoners, only he himself had only ever seen female
prisoners. This had alerted him that the infected prisoners must
still be in his coven somewhere. With this terrible news in mind,
he had also told his contact that he had ordered his warriors to
remain on guard above the ambush room, whilst the rest of the coven
were to search Holyrood park itself and the tunnels too.

Still though by midnight, and as the moon had
cast it’s eerie luminescent glow across the land, the infected
prisoners had yet to been found.

That night the werewolves burst through into
the parallel tunnels and then they came up the back way, killing
even more of his vampires.

The next day Angus had screamed down the
phone to his old business partner, the traitor in London, and then
ended the phone call harshly, by telling him that he could fuck off
and to never call him again.

Becky stood at the kitchen sink whilst she
was washing up the dishes, and humming under her breath. She had
been feeling so much stronger over the last couple of days. She was
so happy; finally, after all the headaches, being sick, mood
swings, smashing things, and being restrained by Kaine, she finally
felt like she was beginning to settle down inside. The
transformation into a vampire, in her own words, had been
absolutely terrible. For all the super strength she could now feel
surging in her veins, throughout the change she had felt so weak
and dizzy. It had got to where she wondered if it would ever
stop.

Kaine and Regina had said
they thought her body seemed to be fighting it, so acting on good
advice, they had given her some tablets from a friend. Becky didn’t
ask what they were made from, and Regina never told. However, they
seemed to do the trick. Blue pills, ‘
something special in the vampire world’
was all she had said. They had worked too, because as soon as
she had taken her first dose, and almost immediately afterwards,
the violent feelings inside went away.

Jenny said she had started to feel so much
more relaxed too as time went on. Funny, because she normally
freaked at anything when the two of them were growing up. To see
her now living with three vampires, just didn’t make any sense.

Two weeks ago Becky had been a human, a
middle-aged woman renting a flat in Portslade with a steady job and
a great social life. Now she was a vampire, and her old life was
gone. She was told that she could go back to it though, if they
found Longinus. If she killed him herself within a month of her
being attacked, then after doing a special ritual with his head and
spells said, that she would be able to revert back to her mortal
self.

The thing was, two weeks had already passed
and now she wasn’t entirely sure that she even wanted to go back to
her old life. Apart from eternal life, her senses were keener than
they had ever been, and she possessed great strength, much more
than she had ever had.

They had also said that they had already
lived for hundreds of years themselves and had seen things
first-hand, like both the World Wars. They had lived in many
countries and had had many friends in the past. Who wouldn’t want
for a life like that? To her it sounded amazing!

Becky thought back to her second day there.
She remembered that she had cried a lot and had been so desperate
to find a way to be changed back. She hadn’t wanted to see Jenny or
the dogs--or anyone, for that matter. But now, looking back on it,
she blamed her outlook and behavior solely on her transformation
alone, suggesting it was her body talking and not her mind.

Now, Becky was sure that she wanted to remain
a vampire, and Regina and Kaine had said that she was more than
welcome to stay with them, to learn their ways, hunt their ways. He
would teach her how to fight, not just in hand-to-hand combat
either, but with swords, bows, and firepower too.

She had been given her own gun, and with just
the one training session so far, she was totally hooked. It was
plain to all of them that she thoroughly enjoyed blasting
targets.

She was also thankful to Kaine because he had
taught her to resist thinking that Longinus, the vampire who had
bitten her, was her master. Throughout the turning stage she was
told that many times she had cried out his name. She was relieved
to learn that this was normal. They warned her that if she ever saw
him again, she might run to his side, since the vampire who turned
a human naturally became its master. This was the only part of
being a vampire that she hated though. Kaine had said he could
change it if she was given Regina’s blood, just a little, the power
that Longinus had over her afterwards, would slowly begin to fade
away. She had drunk some and, although she found it weird knowing
who had supplied it, she was happy to think that soon she would be
completely free from the bastards hold over her.

They’d also told her that a friend of theirs
had come by the first night they had arrived, a man called
Raffious, but she and Jenny had both been fast asleep and
unfortunately hadn’t gotten to meet him. Raffious and Kaine had
looked at Jenny’s neck whilst she had slept, and the old man had
left healing cream for it, with special powers. This lotion was
supposed to be from another time zone in a parallel universe. When
Jenny had tried it, like a miracle, then within a day all the
bruising around her neck had gone and it was fine again, even the
unladylike hoarse voice had gone too. Three days had passed since
then, and Raffious was returning for dinner, so apart from being
able to thank him, they would also get a chance to meet him.

‘Hurry up, woman!’ Regina said to Becky,
interrupting her thoughts. She was standing in the kitchen doorway,
looking across at her doing the washing up. ‘Raffious will be here
in half an hour, and I know you want to dress up, so go get
changed. Those dishes can wait.’

Becky turned and reached for a towel to dry
her hands, before smiling back at her.

‘You guys have been so very nice to us ever
since we arrived. Thank you so much for your kindness.’ she
said.

‘Go, woman,’ Regina laughed. ‘You can thank
us later. You know where the towels are--in the cupboard on the
left. The water’s hot, so enjoy the shower. And believe me, we
enjoy having you around too.’

Becky walked past her towards the stairs and
then went down to the floor where the bathroom was, directly under
the kitchen.

------------------

Half an hour later and dinner was ready.
Becky had returned from her shower looking absolutely stunning in a
full-length red dress that she had borrowed from Regina. She looked
downright gorgeous, and she carried herself with a sartorial
elegance.

Everyone smiled when she entered the room.
Jenny ran across to her, saying, ‘Oh my god, you really look so
beautiful!’

Becky blushed and thanked her, saying she
still preferred her jeans though. Everyone laughed.

Regina looked up at the wall clock to check
the time and said, ‘Oh, its six o’clock already! We must hurry up
and sit down. Raffious will be here any minute, and he’s never
late.’

Both of them had only been there a few days
so far, but already they were well aware that there were only two
ways into the underground house--the main entrance upstairs, which
was heavily guarded by traps, and the second one being the
emergency exit downstairs, but both were locked. It seemed to Jenny
from their behavior that something was amiss. Somehow she got the
feeling that no one was planning on going to either exit to let the
old boy in.

Strange
, she thought,
how was he going to
have dinner with us if they didn’t let him in?

‘So shouldn’t someone go and let Raffious in
before we all sit down?’ Jenny had asked. Regina and Kaine had
smiled back at her before they started laughing.

Jenny was confused. ‘Er, did I say something
funny?’ she asked. Becky stopped reading a Vogue magazine that she
had just picked up and also looked across at their hosts, just as
confused.

‘Okay, so what’s the joke then? Come on!’
Jenny said slightly flustered.

At that very moment, a man appeared, standing
in the middle of the room on their white sheep-skin rug. He was
short, dressed in a white robe, and had a knee-length, full flowing
white beard. Jenny was startled and bolted to Regina’s side, whilst
Becky’s fangs thrust down in attack mode.

Regina then stepped forward and smiled as she
put her arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Bruce and Solomon
then launched themselves up and started making a commotion around
his legs, hoping he would say hi to them too.

‘Becky, its okay, this is Raffious,’ Kaine
said to her, as he put his hand on her shoulder to restrain
her.

Regina turned to look at Jenny and said with
a half-smile, ‘Raffious doesn’t use doors.’

She turned back to the old boy. ‘Raffious,
please let me introduce the women to you. This is Jenny, but you
know that because you inspected her throat the last time you were
here.’

Raffious took hold of Jenny’s hand and gave
her a smile.

‘How nice to meet you. I’m so sorry we
couldn’t chat last time, but you were asleep and I had urgent
business,’ he said as he crouched down slightly and then peered up
at her throat. ‘How is your neck now, by the way?’

‘My neck is fabulous now, thanks to you.
Really, that cream worked wonders,’ she replied, returning his
smile.

‘And you must be Becky,’ Raffious said,
turning to look at her.

‘I am,’ she said. ‘Sorry about the fangs
thing. You startled me when you suddenly appeared out of nowhere
like that.’

Regina chuckled. ‘That’s why we laughed
earlier when you asked how we would know when Raffious had
arrived.’

‘Yes. I don't use doors. Sorry.’ He said as
he gave a short laugh. ‘There would be too many keys needed for the
amount of places I visit.’