The Immortal Design (11 page)

   Okay, so that was an obvious piece of this puzzle. Pete on the other hand was the odd piece out of place here. The scene in his room with Willa was one of the scarier things I have ever witnessed in my life. Pete had been acting like he was possessed by Willa’s brother. His voice had even sounded like Mihial’s.

   Willa trying to communicate with her brother through Pete was making no sense to me at all. There was no way that was possible; but I had seen her doing it. I had heard the conversation myself. I refused to let myself think about that just yet.

   I couldn’t shake the writing in my ancestors’ book either. A name kept gnawing at me for some reason. The name Mina. I had heard it somewhere before and I couldn’t place it.

   I had run my five miles already and was in no way ready to stop. I checked my watch to see what the time was. It was only 10:15 a.m. I had nowhere to be on a Saturday morning so I kept running. It was definitely helping me clear my head. The name, it came to me in a rush. Mina is what Mihial had called Willa the day they had fought in the hospital. Mina was the name of the character in the book. She was the reincarnation of Dracula’s beloved wife who had thrown herself from the mountains when she was told of his death. Willahmina. Willa. I stopped running and stared into the sun. I have got to be one of the most stupid people I have ever known. How could I have not made that connection before now? How many times have I read that book, how many times had my own father made me read that book? That book was like the Bible in my household and for me to not have seen the big picture, well I should be burning in Hell right about now.

   As I stood on the corner catching my breath and adding things up in my head a black car pulled up beside me. The passenger side window came down and I caught a glimpse of the barrel of a gun before everything went black.

15.

      “He’ll be alright Mina. Just a tranquilizer dart to knock him out. Not to worry.”

   “Stop calling me that! I’m not her. I am not my mother and you are not our father! And get your skanky bitch away from him before I take her head off!”

   Mihial had started laughing uncontrollably. I could hear the conversation going on, but I couldn’t see anything. My head was throbbing once again. Someone had drugged me, and tied me to a chair. I opened my eyes slowly. The drugs had started to wear off but the world tilted to the side. Everything was a blur “What…what did you do to me?” I managed to say. Mihial walked over and grabbed me by the hair and pulled my face up so that he could look me in the eye. His eyes were much like Willa’s. The storm in those eyes seemed to rage. He snapped my head back and left me. I could see that Willa had been across from me, she too had been tied and bound to a chair. Kelly came into view. She stood in front of me smiling down at me. She traced her fingers across my lips, then bent down and kissed me. I tried to pull away from her but she had me pinned. When she pulled back I spit her nasty taste out of my mouth on to the floor. She began to laugh as Willa had started screaming in fury at her. I couldn’t make any of it out because she wasn’t speaking English this time.

   I couldn’t make out where we were. It looked like some sort of garage. There were no windows. The only light was coming from the large overhead fixtures.
   “Johnathan, are you alright?” Willa had asked me. The drugs were still making my head foggy.

   “Don’t you worry sugar, he’ll be just fine once you’re gone and my master has turned him for me. Then he and I will be together for all of eternity.” Kelly squealed with delight and danced wildly around the room. She came and knelt before me “Oh Johnathan, I can’t wait for you to be turned. You can’t imagine how wonderful it all is. The world looks so much brighter now. We’ll get to live forever, young and beautiful!”

   “You’re a lunatic Kelly. I will never be with you. I told you that. Is someone going to explain to me why I’m being held prisoner here or do I need to play the guessing game?” I had started to come out of my fog once Kelly had started getting in my personal space.

   Mihial walked across the room with a chair in hand and placed it before me. He sat down and looked me in the eyes as if he was studying me. He shook his head and sighed. “You really do not know who you really are do you? All this time living under your father’s rules and you still have no clue what you are or for that matter what I am, as well as Kelly is now and I suppose you could include my sister as well. Pity. I had hoped for a fight in this.”

   “I’m warning you Mihial, leave him be or I will show you a fight.” Willa was threatening a fight with her brother. I had only heard that tone once before. The night she had fought the wolf. Mihial smiled a wicked smile. He stood up and before I knew what was happening he turned into a giant black wolf. The wolf put his front paws up on my shoulders so that its muzzle was dangerously close to my face and growled showing his razor sharp teeth.

   I heard a loud snap and the wolf retreated from me. Willa had snapped her chains, freeing herself. Mihial immediately changed back into his human form. “Shit! You’re a, a … a werewolf!” I was starting to really freak out now. Everyone stopped and looked at me as if I was the insane one.

   “No Johnathan, he is not a werewolf. He’s a vampire. So is Kelly now that she has taken human blood.” There was a new voice in the conversation now. Everyone turned at once to see who the new comer was. My father walked into the room followed by a group of men all of them carrying some sort of silver weapons.  My father had the crossbow trained on Mihial. Mihial backed away hands raised. “You, untie my son quickly!” He snapped at Willa. Willa ran to my side and tore through the ropes that held me in place. I stood staring at her, trying to see the girl who I thought I had feelings for. She was right here in front of me, but yet she wasn’t completely all there either.

   “Johnathan, move away from her, she’s dangerous. Come to me son, it’s time you knew the truth about our family.” I could hear my father commanding me to move, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move away from Willa. There were things I needed to know about her, and I wanted to hear them from her not from my father and not from her brother either.

   “Who are you, really?” I asked. She looked down at her feet not wanting to look me in the eye. I lifted her chin so I could look into those ocean blue eyes, to see the storm pass as she looked back into my own eyes. I wanted her to know I was not afraid of her.

   Kelly had other plans however. She raced towards Willa with all her fury hell bent on destroying her. Chaos ensued quickly. Willa met her challenger before she could get any further. She took Kelly by the throat and threw her across the concrete floor. Kelly slid roughly into the far wall and the wall shattered from the force. She was up and running back at her attacker. Mihial had escaped through a back door while the two girls fought it out. My father commanded two of his men to follow him. My father stood by and watched as the girls threatened to tear each other apart. Kelly was no match for Willa. Blow after blow Kelly was knocked to the ground, she was hissing and screaming wildly. Willa finally managed a blow that took her down where Willa knelt on top of her pinning her to the floor. She looked up at my father and waited for him to come forward and bind her.

   “What are you waiting for? I have her for you. She can’t be saved and you know it. She is dangerous and must be destroyed.” Willa was in command now. My father seemed apprehensive about approaching the two girls. I could understand why. “John, get the chains, the silver ones that they had me tied with, bring them to me.” I did as she had asked. Willa hog tied Kelly and Kelly went limp. The silver took all the fight out of her.

   “We need to find my brother. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants.” Willa spoke to my father instead of me. He held the crossbow in hand and pointed it at her heart. True fear tore threw me. I ran across the small distance that had separated Willa and me, putting myself in front of her. My father screamed in furry “Get out of my way John! This is our purpose! She is one of them she needs to be finished off before she takes you too.”

   “No. Not until I hear it from her. You didn’t hear the whole conversation before you came in. Mihial hinted that she is something different, and I want to know what that is. But I’m going to leave it up to her to tell me, not you and not her brother, and I definitely do not want to read it out of a book that my Great-Great-Great Grandfather wrote, which by the way you have some explaining to do as well when we’re done here.” I stood my ground in front of Willa.

   My father studied me for a few moments then slowly lowered the crossbow. He gestured to the few remaining men to do the same. One of the men came to the front. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Kelly’s father. How could he just stand by and watch his only daughter be tied up and treated this way? It didn’t matter what she had become, she was still his daughter.

   He looked down at her not with any empathy for her, but with pure hatred and disgust. She whimpered as she looked up at him. He was about to raise his gun when she began to cry “Please daddy no. I’m sorry daddy, it’s me, it’s your little princess, please don’t hurt me daddy.” She begged for her life.

   He raised the gun, I knew what was coming, I heard the shot fire off, but I was the one who had fallen from the wound. In that last moment, I couldn’t just stand by and watch a man kill his own daughter. I leapt in front of her. The bullet struck me in the chest. I had hoped that this would be the end. I couldn’t watch anyone else I knew get hurt because of me.

   Several of the men jumped on Kelly’s father and wrestled the gun away from him. My father stood stock still in shock at seeing his only son lying before him in a pool of blood. Willa, had rushed to my side and held me tightly to her.

   “Someone call an ambulance…he’s dying. Please don’t let him die!” Willa was shouting at the men. My father came and sat next to her. He looked to her then down at me. Taking his hand in mine he did his best to comfort me as I felt my life slipping away.

   “Isn’t there something you could do for him? For my boy…Please, don’t let him die.” He was begging Willa for a miracle. She sobbed harder rocking back and forth with me still in her arms.

   “He already told you, I am something different. I am not like my brother, and I could not do what it is you ask of me. I’m sorry.” I could hear the sirens, they were closer now. My vision blurred and for the second time today I was oblivious to my surroundings.

16.

   I had laid in the hospital bed for what seemed an eternity. From what I had been told when I woke up it actually wad been close to that. Well okay maybe not an eternity but three months in a coma was long enough. I felt terrible. My entire body hurt. I was definitely out of shape that was for sure. I had lost much of my muscle tone and just the act of sitting up on the side of the bed took my breath away.

   Apparently the bullet had severed one of the main arteries and I had lost most of my blood. Shock had played its hand in my brain shutting down as well as the blood loss. I couldn’t remember too much about what had happened that day three months ago.

   My parents weren’t allowing too many visitors in to see me at the moment. They insisted on me getting my rest. Rest? Hadn’t I just slept for three months? I needed to get back out there and get back to my life. There were things that needed to be resolved.

   I had learned from my father that Mihial had escaped, and that his friends were still searching for him. From all accounts he was still in the area. Kelly’s father had been arrested for the shooting and it was all covered up by my father. His story was that Kelly’s father was pissed off that I had been seeing someone other than his daughter, so he came after me to put me in my place.

   Kelly, was a whole other ball of wax. Seeing as though she had gone full vampire and couldn’t be trusted, my father had her locked away in a secret location. He said she would be well cared for and her life was spared because her father had been his friend.

   They had allowed Willa to visit me daily, but only for a few moments at a time. She still made me uneasy. I wasn’t quite sure why. That part of my memory hadn’t fully come back yet. I think my father was hoping that it never came back and that I would always be afraid of her.

   A week after I had come back to the land of the living I was allowed to leave the hospital. I stopped by Pete’s room to check up on him. He was gone. A lot can happen when you’re asleep for three months.

   When we arrived back home, my father helped me up to my room. “Where’s Pete?” I asked him. He made himself busy making sure I was comfortable. It felt more like he was trying to avoid my question. “Dad. I remember some of what happened that day. I know there are things we need to discuss, I know that somehow Pete was involved, and I know it wasn’t his fault. So just tell me what you know.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his hands as he spoke. “When we got you back to the hospital, and the doctors had taken over, I went to check up on Pete and to talk to his mother. I wanted her to know that you were there and that we were doing everything we could for you at the time. I know she has been like a mother to you.” He smiled as he said this. “I found her on the floor in Pete’s room. She had been knocked out. Pete was missing. He still is. My informants believe that Willa’s brother had went to the hospital and taken him. You see he has a psychic connection to his victims. That’s how he controls them and when he knew Kelly was lost to him he needed to replace her. Pete was ready for the taking.” He sighed heavily and went on “John, Pete can still be saved, as long as he doesn’t kill a human and fully turn, and if we can kill Mihial then Pete will be safe. I promise you, we are working on it day and night. Now that you’re home we’ll be bringing you into the Order properly once you have your strength back.”