Once I had the lamp lit, the medallion picked up its glow which ricochet the rays all over the walls. I could see my surroundings. I was in a small cave like place. The walls were of dirt and clusters of rock; unfinished and uneven. I stood up, and stepped closer to the wall where I had fallen in. The panel I had fallen through must be a secret passage to somewhere, or in my case an escape from someone or something. I pushed against the area of the wall where I had fallen through, and it wouldn’t budge. I pressed my ear against the cold, dirt wall. I could hear the continuous tip tap of footsteps across the parlor’s marble floor. The footsteps were coming closer and closer. I stepped back from the wall and stopped breathing. The footsteps stopped once they were directly in front of the spot where I stood. I continued to hold my breath.
I wished I could see what was on the other side of the rock wall. Then as if looking into one of Nikolas’ mirages, I looked into the parlor. I observed a shadow of a man that reminded me of the one I had seen approaching me in the thunder storm. It was tall, and wore a dark, long over coat. I was unable to see the face because he wore the collars of his coat turned upward. The figure turned its head upward, and I could see the strong contrast of the paleness of the skin and it was paler than the moon.
The caped figure walked around slowly, and stopped every few steps as if it was aware of me. Then it suddenly turned around as two other shadows appeared from nowhere. The second one was a shadow of another man, taller, wearing a Stetson, and the third shadow was a figure of a woman. Their faces were as pasty as chalk. I finally saw glimpses of their faces, and they were unfamiliar and uncharacteristically flawless – perfect cheek bones and thin lips. Their eyes were liquid pools of onyx, void of any white.
“Someone is here Matthias. I can smell the blood. It smells like a scrumptious nectar, perfectly ripe.” The woman’s voice was a low and raspy drawl. Definitely a Nickel City native.
“Yes my love, I can smell it as well. If someone is here, we will find him or her.” The first man answered.
Apolluon vampires.
Ugh! They could actually smell my blood.
“I am so famished. I must feed. You know what I need, lover. The smell is intoxicating.” The woman’s voice was filled with rapture.
“Patience, Driella.”
“Split up and search the house. There was a light in the window on the second floor that was quickly extinguished. Someone is here. Find them now!” The three Apolluon vampires practically spun as they began to hunt for me.
After a brief moment that felt like a couple of seconds, the footsteps resumed their crisp tip tap across the floor. My heart was beating so hard and fast that I was sure that the Apolluon vampires could hear it pounding.
At certain moments they appeared to lock eyes with me, but it was obvious that they couldn’t see me. It was like I was watching them from behind a two way mirrors. Finally they floated away with their footsteps gradually fading away. It wasn’t until I heard the faint sound of the front door slam shut that I believed that they were gone
I was astonished by the turn of events. I had escaped death tonight. I had a dull feeling in my gut that this was just the beginning of my treacherous fate.
I held the lamp up high and looked up at where a ceiling should have been. It was as if there was no ceiling. The cave seemed to go on forever. I decided to try the wall again. I put some light pressure against it, and the wall melted away as if it was made of air. I blew out the oil lamp, and stepped back into the parlor. I spun around to look at the panel that I had just walked though. There wasn’t one. The wall was one individual panel.
Unconsciously, I ran my hand over the wall papered wall, pushing against it firmly, trying to prompt the wall to open up again, but it was futile. The wall was just that; a wall.
I tiptoed over to one of the tall windows that faced out onto the street. I pulled back one of the drapery panels just wide enough to allow my eyes to survey the front of the house. I wanted to be certain that the Apolluon vampires were gone. I didn’t see anyone or anything, but I was fearful of leaving the house – the same house I had been deathly afraid to enter. There was one thing that I knew for sure, I wasn’t spending the night in this house. Think, think, I told myself. Maybe I should leave out the back through the rear of the house, and through the abandoned garden. But what if those gates were locked? I had to go out the same way I had come in.
I crept through the foyer, as if at any moment I expected the Apolluon vampires to pop out, and eat me alive. I couldn’t catch my breath, and shivered uncontrollably as I faced the front door. My right hand shook violently as I tried to grip the doorknob. I gulped a few times to slow down my breathing, and erratic heartbeat before turning the knob. The door knob released, and I slid it open slowly. I surveyed the porch, the front walk, and barren garden and saw nothing. No movements. With a deep breath, I slipped out the aperture, and closed the door behind me.
They had waited.
The three ravenous looking shadows with stark pale faces stared me down, hungry and delighted. They glided toward me at an alarmingly fast rate as if they were riding magic carpets. They were thirsty. Their gleaming white fangs were exposed and partially stained with the blood of their last victim.
“Get her!” shouted the vampiress.
One of the Apolluon vampire’s eyes glowed like coals in a barbecue grill, edged in flames.
“I can almost taste her…” He seethed in a growling tone.
They moved as fast as I had seen Evan, Bethany, and Nikolas move; as fast as a flash of light. I was frozen. My heart was in my throat. The vampires blocked the gates. I thought to sprint back into the house, but when I turned around to run they were in front of me again, facing me off. The angry hissing sound they made left me paralyzed. I wasn’t sure if it was because they wanted to express their annoyance that I tried to escape, or interest in feasting on me. Either way they scared the crap out of me.
All three Apolluon vampires were within a few inches of me and edging closer. I finally swallowed the knot in my throat, and thought that I would pass out. They began circling me like vultures ready to snatch their prey.
“I want her Matthias.” The vampiress drawled and panted. “She is different.. Her blood…hmmm… smells delicious.” She reached out, and touched my hair. The vampireress coiled a tendril of my hair around her finger without actually touching it as though she controlled every single strand.
Her eyes were black, and were widening as the edges engulfed in flames. “I must have her.” She said salivating. “She is mine, you boys can feed elsewhere.”
Before I knew it, the vampiress pounced on me, leaving the other two vampires snarling in her wake. The sharp points of her fangs punctured through the skin of my neck. I had expected searing pain, and screamed out, but something else happened instead. I felt the heat surging from within me, and the lightening nearly blinded me when it shot out of my eyes, ears, fingertips, chest, and through the puncture marks that the vampiress inflicted on me.
Driella threw her head back, retracted her teeth and screamed out, “I’m burning! I’m burning up… inside me. I’M BURNING!” The sparks took over Driella’s body and she sizzled and popped and shriveled up in electric currents, and then in flames.
“What is she!” Her voice faded while she spun around like a blazing tornado. The vampiress turned into ashes that had electric current snapping through them as the ashes dissipated in the breeze. The lightning burned out as quickly as it had ignited. The two other vampires looked at me for a moment. They cocked their heads to the side, yet seemed to know the answer to the vampiress' question.
The one the Apolluon vampiress called Matthias, actually voiced it.
“She is the lost Empress of the Gods, The new Queen of Ischera!” I watched the second vampire make the full realization. They both spun around, and then disappeared.
And just like that… I was a believer.
But damn it, how do I control this lightning bolt thing?
I stood motionless, still in shock, in the barren garden, and wanted nothing more than to feel safe in the Capius’ house. All of a sudden, with that thought, I was across the street in a split second, and at the Capius estate’s gates even faster than that. I didn’t even remember arriving at the Capius’
front door but somehow I was now standing in the foyer.
The house was dim, due to a glimmer of light coming from down the long hall. I didn’t care to know from where exactly, or who was still awake.
It wasn’t until I closed the double doors to my bedroom that I realized what had just happened. The reality hit me, and I was forced to take a seat on my chaise in order to collect myself. I didn’t know how I did it, but I just killed an Apolluon vampire.
Fourteen
Dear Diary
Could killing an Apolluon vampire really be considered an evil act? I mean, they were already dead, so it wasn’t really killing; just ending their immortality. They had smelled my blood. They were thirsty for it and that was beyond what I considered to be scary. There is something to be said about being the object of one’s desire, that you have all the control, but being craved by a blood thirsty vampire is the doom of any soul.
The vampire’s words were etched into my brain forever. I still couldn’t grasp how I had escaped them, death altogether, really. Bethany’s words ricochet in my head like a bullet hitting several points before its target. I think I finally got it now. Kill or be dragged into the Underworld.
Emotionally, I was a mess. I feared the consequences of the abysmal act of killing an Apolluon vampiress, yet I felt invigorated because I had the ability to. Somehow my instincts set off powers to protect myself. Mentally, I was still trying to make some sense of what I escaped tonight, and what I did unknowingly. Physically, I felt incredible, pumped up like a prize fighter. I felt like I could take on the strongest and most evil opponent even if I wasn’t able to control the power. What happened tonight was as extraordinary as it was appalling. I needed to talk to someone about it.
I wanted to seek advice from Evan, Bethany, and Nikolas, but couldn’t. That would mean revealing the fact that I had left the house tonight.
Thaddeus would have a fit if he ever found out that I had defied him. He would, without a doubt, dub me as selfish to have risked the empire.
Right now, the house was quiet. I believe everyone had gone to bed. I had to take advantage of the time that I had alone. In all the weirdness, and absolute craziness of what just transpired, I had forgotten all about my discovery. I remembered when I felt the warm stack of journals nudge my thigh. I’d been desperate to read the journals since discovering them. Perhaps, they would conjure up a memory. Hopefully, the diaries would lend me some insight on this family, and all the things that they needed me to remember. I was prepared to devour the diaries for what was left of the night.
I adjusted my sheets and quilts which were frigid since they hadn’t been slept in since I supposedly disappeared two years ago. I pulled the covers up as far as my stomach, and felt the chill of the diamond medallion against my chest. It felt like an ice chip against my skin.
I opened one of the journals, feeling the warm contrast of the leather book jacket, which was a soft as butter. The first entry was written about three years ago.
16, March 1888
Dearest Diary,
Today, at the luncheon, Harriet Maxwell’s bonnet levitated above her head, and she was forced to chase it around the table. She looked like a buffoon.
Mother said I’m no longer allowed to attend the luncheons. I almost thanked her, but knew better. I’m trying to behave, although rather unsuccessfully.
It's isn’t as if I levitated Ms. Bergnum’s horse and buggy again. The wretched woman nearly had a stroke when she finally stepped out of the carriage. So deserving. The meddlesome old biddy watched me like a hawk every time I was in her home, as if she were leery of me stealing something.
“I’m a powerful prankster?” I muffled a giggle.
Daddy, on the other hand, would have found it all very amusing, but would have sided with mother in the end. I know what he really thinks of the luncheons; a gathering of the gossips, the ladies of Nickel City’s aristocracy. Mother says she finds the gossiping all quite irritating, but it’s all part of blending in. I’m so happy that Daddy has returned home from France. I missed him so. This time Daddy brought back the most magnificent French marble and ormolu lyre timepiece as a gift to me. It’s made of white marble and gilt ormolu French lyre. It is exceptional, and looks splendid on my mantle. Daddy beat me again, this morning. This time he beat me by only a tenth of a mile. Gypsy is gaining confidence in her master finally. She is such a graceful and glorious mare. A few more rides and Daddy will be left in all of the town’s dust. I must try to spend more time with Gypsy in the stables. I promise to. Riding her twice a week is not enough.
I stopped reading, and looked over at the mantle. I pushed back the covers, and got out of bed, journal in hand, and I padded over to the fireplace. The clock was beautiful, and just as described in the journal. I didn't bother getting back into bed. I made myself comfortable on the plush chaise and continued to read.
17, March 1888
Dearest Diary,
I slipped out again last night, long after Mother and Daddy retired for bed. They would be outraged that we had not followed their strict rule of never venturing out at night. They bored me constantly about all the evil forces that could be a threat. Well I’m not afraid of the Apolluon, and neither is Evan, my love. Besides, we are never alone during the day. This is the only way we can see each other, and be ourselves, not the future warriors of the world.
Evan waited for me at the entrance of the forest. He told me, for the first time, that he has fallen quite hard over me. I wanted to tell him what I had been feeling for him as well, how much I loved him, but I couldn't find the words. Even in the dark, Evan’s eyes had shown such honesty and depth as he spoke those unforgettable words to me. When we kiss, my heart feels like it could actually leap from my chest. The taste of Evan’s kiss was warm and sweet, and his touch made my skin tingle, waking up something that I was unaware of, which existed inside of me. The excitement left me riddled with goose flesh therefore, Evan lent me his jacket, thinking I was cold. Everything had been perfect. Then suddenly, everything drastically changed. We were being chased by werewolves. We barely got away, this time. I endured a few cuts on my arm, when I fell from the tree, but my injuries healed in a matter of seconds hence, nothing to hide from Mother and Daddy. There isn’t any indication that I’ve been gone for most of the night. We flew back to my house, and then Evan left me at my door, but not before he kissed me goodnight the way that I’ve wanted him to. I wanted him to kiss me like we were lovers. I’m so in love with Evan that I may burst! Perhaps, we should tell our parents of Victor’s recent boldness and his new ability to control weaker beings, but that would end our midnight rendezvous, our only time of normalcy. We decided not to worry them. Especially after what Evan did to Victor’s pack of relentless werewolves; drowning them just in time. The werewolves were clearly no match for Evan’s strength. In time, I will be able to do what Evan has so magnificently mastered and more. My powers are strengthening. One day, soon, I will bring Victor to his knees, and Evan and I will live blissfully from that day forward.