The Dark Messenger (46 page)

Dropping the sword he spun around and ran
across to Jenny. What he saw had an instantly harrowing effect upon
him, causing his blood to run even colder than it normally
does.

She had her knees tucked up underneath her
and the top half of her body was rocking backwards and forwards.
Her face was completely white and she was mumbling something. Then
apart from her eyes that were black and staring lifelessly
forwards, her mouth was overflowing with some kind of strange,
white foamy liquid. As it dripped down, it was forming long lines
of drool that were collecting on her now soaking wet blouse.

Seeing her in this way was a profound
experience for him and he blamed himself for leaving her.

Had I just left without
going to get that fucking iPad, then none of this would have
happened.
He told himself.

He knew that the reason he
had left her was an extremely valid one though, because without his
iPad and the connection to the drone, the vampires outside would
have had a better chance to kill them. At least now with it in hand
he might get a chance to check with his
eyes-in-the-sky
to see where they
were all hiding. He knew that, even with Laouse Gerhad’s battle
gear on, he wouldn’t be safe; they had at least one machine gun,
and being caught in the open by them wouldn’t be good.

Crouching down by her side, he spoke softly
to her in the same voice he had used when he had met her in the
hospital, which seemed a lifetime ago.

‘It’s me Jenny. We are safe. We can leave
now.’

She didn’t respond at all. Instead she stared
forwards listlessly with her gaze transfixed on the opposite
wall.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Kaine’s mind had been in a transient state
for a second and the sound of the vampires crashing against the
door had almost drifted away. Then suddenly his mind kicked back
into the real world and sensing he had but seconds left to escape,
he leapt up.

Lifting Jenny in his arms, he flew over the
other traps and whilst crashing his wings into the ceiling, he made
his way to the exit.

As he reached it he heard the bolt on the
door behind suddenly snap, and it was thrust open. Then in an
instant he heard the bear traps greedily snapping down on their
prey, and a moment later, the room was filled with the wildly
macabre screams of vampires in agonizing pain.

He grinned for a moment. Then he thrust the
exit door open and his heart sank as he was taken back by just how
harsh the weather was outside. Freezing cold torrential rain and
huge winds tore into him from the sea. Opening his wings with
visibility from the downpour being almost zero, he leapt up into
the hideously dark sky above.

In the seconds he was airborne, he began to
fear that everything that had happened to him over the past couple
of days, was nothing more than a portent of darker things to
come.

In the cells, Mietioc’s memory had come back
to him, and with it he had clearly remembered the last moments
before he had been killed, when the Scot leader Angus had thrown
down a voice recorder to him.

He also remembered exactly what he had heard
on the device too.

When he had pressed play, he heard Hoidrious’
unmistakably evil voice. The second in command had sounded like he
was in deep pain. He and Angus were discussing a plan to overthrow
Rex. With the plan he had also heard Hoidrious say that the Elite
warriors would have to die but he was willing for that to happen so
long as he finally got to see Rex ousted from power.

Then as the memories came back, Mietioc was
furious, and launched himself into deep attack mode.

Hoidrious who had been thinking for a
fleeting moment that his words had somehow placated Mietioc’s rage,
suddenly realized by the warriors’ actions that they hadn’t calmed
him down at all.

In that moment of panic for the slimy
treacherous second in command, his subconscious mind had reminded
him of the plans he’d formulated in the past to have Rex thrown out
from the coven.

These were those
plans!

Predicting that Rex would be furious when he
heard the age-old-rule had been broken, he also knew that he would
demand outright to know who had the gall, the valorousness, or
perhaps just the temerity to have done such a thing. Hoidrious also
knew from spending two thousand years in his evil shadow, that he
would also react by readying himself for war.

Then when he had heard that it had happened
up in Edinburgh, his anger would be replaced with sheer joy and
utter happiness, as he thought about Angus’ gold and riches that he
had missed out on before.

Hoidrious had also known that Rex would
realize that now he could place undeniable blame on Angus’
vampires, and make the accusation they had been responsible for the
callous act. Hoidrious also knew the coven members would agree with
him this time, and back him if he planned to wage war against the
Scots.

Rex would also know that with this attack to
use as the perfect excuse, his coven members wouldn’t be able to
say that he was only there for Angus’ riches, as they had been
suspicious of in the war before.

Hoidrious had predicted Rex would use his
usual devious and cunning words as he addressed them on the
subject. He would probably say something like, ‘It is our duty to
seek retribution, because Angus and his coven must be punished for
their crime.’ Hoidrious knew he would layer the lies and then
undeniably bring in Satan for good measure, saying something like,
‘if you don’t attack then all the covens in the world will risk
extinction when Satan’s wrath is felt for this.’

He would also add even more lies and then
tell them stuff like, ‘My dark spirits have warned me we must
attack now or risk the real threat of demons sucking us all into
Hell.’

Whatever bullshit he used to manipulate their
brains, Hoidrious knew it wouldn’t be completely irreversible,
especially when they got a load of his own well-thought-out
plan.

Hoidrious knew there was a drawback though.
Just once he would have to openly piss Rex off again like when he
had been whipped before, and hope to hell he didn’t get another
session of the lashes for doing so. He would have to choose a point
in time to rudely cut in on Rex’s tirade against the Scots. Then as
Rex was beginning to look mighty furious and the crowds were
turning paler than they already were, he would say he didn’t agree
with the old fucker at all.

Just as Rex was about to open his mouth and
say something like, ‘Guards seize him! Strap the insubordinate
bastard to the whipping posts!’ he would pull his robes down like a
stripper, and reveal his brutally disfigured body from the waist
up.

The crowds would be absolutely shocked by him
doing this, but no way more shocked than the gruesome sight of his
savagely whipped back.

Hoidrious would then turn around on the spot
and say, ‘I know I risk another brutal lashing for this, but I feel
as your number two in command you should all know what I have to
tell you before you agree to attack Angus.’

He predicted Rex would be caught off-guard by
seeing Hoidrious’ ruined birthday suit, and as they all nodded
their consent for him to speak, the fucker would be forced by their
sheer numbers to hold his tongue and listen.

Bare-chested in order to
keep their attention, Hoidrious would look up into their caves and
tell them they shouldn’t attack until there is undeniable proof
that the Scots were guilty.
Then just as
the cantankerous old bastard would be about to open his mouth and
order his death, he would quickly add, ‘Satan will be furious with
you if Angus isn’t guilty.’

Then to save himself from
the
ignominious tortures that he felt sure Rex would have just
been planning in his evil brain, he would end his dramatic speech
by suggesting, ‘However, Rex knows best, and he has done an
exceptional job running the coven for the past two thousand
years.’

He would
ask the audience to give a standing ovation for their leader,
saying that he was of particularly high acclaim. Of course at that
moment he would be looking at Rex as he pulled his robes back up
and thinking, ‘I hope you die soon, you fucking cantankerous old
bastard.’

Their
noise would be thunderous. The applause factor, Hoidrious
predicted, would instantly placate Rex, and eradicate his heinous
ideas of gruesome tortures towards himself. He also doubted that
the old bastard at that point would dare to show that he was a true
fucker, by still ordering the whipping on him. No way—not when they
were all clapping loudly, beating their chests, and screaming out
his name.

He had also predicted that Rex would be
suspicious of both the intrusion into his speech and its content,
but as it had clearly resulted in nothing, the idiot would probably
just start rambling on again. At no time would he become suspicious
that Hoidrious’ half-nude performance was part of a cunning plan to
turn their allegiance against him.

Without much more jabbering as he wouldn’t
want to confuse his ignorant audience or himself with words the way
he often did, Rex would then say something along the lines of,
‘Okay then, we will attack Angus soon.’

The crowds would cheer him vehemently and
then beat their chests as the meeting finally drew to a close.

----------

Then on the day when the Elite warriors were
due to arrive in Scotland, the last part of Hoidrious’ plan would
begin to unfurl itself, and Rex would hopefully either die or be
sent to rot in jail for a coon’s age.

One of Angus’ messengers
who wasn’t known by anyone in the White Coven, would turn up at
Rex’s coven pretending that he had just left the fictitious
Irish
Cluckunic coven and was fearing for his life.
He would have to arrive minutes before the full
moon, just when Rex was rejoicing in the belief that his infected
prisoners in Scotland, as werewolves, were about to unleash hell on
Angus and his coven. The messenger would say that his coven leader
Aodhagan, had ordered the age-old rule to be broken in retaliation
for the death of Brius in Paris.

He would then add that his leader was not
prepared to risk a large amount of his own warrior’s deaths by
mounting a full-on attack against Rex, but preferred to watch as
another coven waged war against him instead. He also knew that Rex
and Angus had deeply bitter feelings of hatred towards one another,
and with ancient rumors suggesting that the previous war between
them was brought on merely because Rex wanted to steal Angus’
riches, there was none better to use than the Scot himself.

The messenger would be instructed to tell
Rex, that Aodhagan had sent a group of vampires into Edinburgh
dressed in kilts. Then when they had arrived there orders were to
brazenly kill humans in the city center. In doing so they would be
sure to be caught by the plethora of CCTV cameras, and Hoidrious’
evil seed would then be planted.

Rex would hear of the attack and with his
being guided by greed for Angus’ riches, he would simply rule out
the need to look for evidence first. He would hold Angus undeniably
responsible for it.

Then to make it sound even more convincing
the messenger would start mumbling on that his leader would kill
him for coming to them with this information. Rex would probably
slap him around a bit to stop the mumbling before demanding the
messenger tell him more.

The messenger would agree and then say that
his leader had planned to wait until Rex had lost a large amount of
his warriors, before he would swoop in like a knight in shining
armor and offer his battle services to Angus for a handsome fee.
Angus would naturally by that stage be requiring help and would
agree to the sum. Aodhagan’s warriors would then travel down to
London and burst into the coven, killing everyone whilst Rex’s
armies were in Scotland.

Hoidrious expected that by now it would be
firmly registering in Rex’s brain that, by attacking Angus he had
made a grave mistake. Then the old boy’s reactions would prove his
inner concerns for undoubtedly he would start laughing in a
half-suppressed, mocking, scornful way towards the messenger.

After this, according to Hoidrious’
expectations, Rex would suggest that the messenger was in fact
lying. It would be his reaction to the thoughts going through his
mind of how furious the coven would be if any of this proved to be
true. Rex would know they would vote him out from the leadership,
and then he would be punished accordingly. Also he would be
thinking they would assume for the second time in a thousand years,
that he had only ordered the attack to acquire Angus’ treasures for
himself.

Rex would also remember that Hoidrious had
publicly tried to warn him against attacking without evidence. He
would know that his coven wouldn’t have forgotten it either,
because when his number two in command had addressed them,
Hoidrious had been parading around in his birthday suit. This was
not a sight easily forgotten, no matter the effort.