Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (61 page)

***

Dant
e
and Angelione had arrived in Conalian with some of the members of the Black Knights. They were masked, ninja-like, and mysterious.  They strolled in wearing black strappy tight fitting suits, armed with swords, knives, and ninja star-spikes. When Angelione and his team got there, they hid themselves in the shadows. The country was in utter chaos, the army had fallen apart; with no ruler to lead and with the fear of Aleister killing all of them some left the army. Angelione could see some of the people were celebrating, overwhelming the fear of Aleister. The queen was ruthless, her laws were unfair and unjust, and so they were happy that she was dead.

              “Look at this place, their ruler is dead and chaos has taken over. Chaos is a poison that spreads through a kingdom very quickly Dante,” said Angelione.

Dante and Angelione were witnessing a Kingdom without a monarch. Wanted criminals had made it their new homes, and the people lived in fear.

“Master Angelione, is that why you chose to take me with you instead of Axil? You fear it would be hard for him to watch his country go through this,” said Dante. The country was now being run by renegades and bandits, no laws. Without the queen’s strict rules, the people were free to do as they pleased.
Maybe this is better,
thought Dante. The queen was not one to like.
No, as much as the queen was unfair, this chaos is worse.

“Pay close attention Dante, this is what happens when a
kingdom has no ruler. Its people crumble and commit crimes against one another.” Angelione put a hand on Dante’s shoulder. “Don’t ever forget that we fight to protect our King and our people.” Angelione had worried about the same thing happening in Atnius. The day Aleister and the others will come for their thrones. Would his king face the same fate the queen faced? Would his people turn out the way hers did?

What Angelione said brought back memories to Dante. His brother had told him to protect the King. That was their family’s duty.

Angelione looked back at the Black Knights and Dante. “We can’t sit back and do nothing, there are innocents here.” Angelione had a list of wanted criminals. He took one and passed it around. With his permission he told them not to hold back. The wanted men are very dangerous; they were to kill them if he had to. It was going to be a long night.

Victor’s
decision

Albed
o
had been placed under strict security; no one was allowed to see him. He was bound in a medical room with guards outside of his door.  The king was worried his power might take control once again.

Sonia walked inside the castle. She hasn’t seen Albedo in a few days. This morning she had heard a rumor from Magi that Victor was training a warrior and his ability went out of control. Albedo. He was the only explanation. She had fear of this, that his power could not be contained. She walked in the hallway to find guards guarding Albedo’s room.
She tried to see him but the guards would not allow her in; they were under strict orders not to let anyone get through. This of course made her furious.

“I’m a captain in command, a member of the Black Reapers! You don’t have the authority to tell me who I can’t see!” yelled Sonia.

In theory she was right; The Black Reapers had authority over the royal guards, even the Black Knights. The guards still refused to let her through. In frustration she went to see King Victor, to demand an explanation.

“My lord, why won’t the men let me see him?”

He sat in thought for a moment; he had no way of explaining it to Sonia. “It’s complicated Sonia, let it go for now,” said the King.

“But my lord,” said Sonia.

“But nothing!”  The king rarely shouts, but when he does you know not to argue. “I said let it go! I am your King and what I say must be obeyed!” shouted the king.

Never in Sonia’s life had she heard him shout, she had seen him angry, but never this furious, she could feel a terrible event had taken place and he was not going to tell her,
so she left. As she was leaving the castle, she saw Alan by the bridge. He looked apprehensive.

She rushed over to him, “Alan, please tell me what happened during the training. I know something did.”

He wanted to tell someone what he had witnessed, but was hesitant.  “It’s Albedo; his power became unstable during our training.” His voice was shaking.

Sonia quickly put it all together; she figured Jarvis must have used his seal to lock away Albedo’s power.  “I’m sorry about your brother.”

“His power cannot be controlled Sonia. Our King is a fool if he thinks he can use him against Aleister. It’s only a matter of time before his killer-lust takes over and he kills all of us,” said Alvin.

As he explains to her what had come about, Sonia was approached by a guard; he told her the king had changed his mind. She left quickly to see Albedo. She sent out word to Axil, to come as soon as possible.
Albedo
I’m
coming.
The guards removed the locks and opened the door. She walked in.  Sonia felt he was being treated like a prisoner. His window was bound with metal bars to prevent any attempts at escaping. His feet and arms were cuffed with metal chains. She walked closer to him.

“Oh Albedo, what have they done to you?” with a hand on her mouth, the tears wanted to
rush down her face.

Albedo slowly opened his eyes. She called his name and Albedo looked back with a looked of desolation and bliss. She looked closely in his eyes, and saw that his expression changed, the look of Aleister was on his face now. It was a look of scheme and dread. She could see the changes; slowly he was being eaten up by a darker version of himself.

“I’m glad to see you’re ok, I was worried about you.” He looked fine physically, she thought. But something was missing from him.

He said quietly, “What is ok? Is ok the meaning of being alive? If so, then the meaning of not ok is dead; a corpse that cannot talk and no longer has a conscience. Only living to feed and prey on the innocents... Michael was a corpse, and I will become one too.”

It was weird seeing him talk the way he was, speaking of death, instead of life, speaking of hate, instead of love. This was expected from Aleister but not from her beloved Albedo.

“What are you saying?” The smile on his face was completely gone. She left the room, with her hand on her face. There was nothing she could do to help.

                                                         
                    ***

Ala
n
walked in the throne room with teary eyes. He had not slept for a couple days and hadn’t even been drinking blood to revitalize his energy. The King sat on his throne and he himself looked as if he had teary eyes.

“Alan, I’m so sorry for your loss. I know it must be hard on you,” said the king. He had summoned Alan to let him know his brother would not be forgotten. The King had known them both for a long time now; it pained him to see that Calvin died the way he did.

“My brother died by the hand of one of those monsters! I saw the glowing eyes, I know what he is. And you’re telling me you will not do anything to him as long as he’s alive!” He moved around the room. “He’s a threat to all of our safety, my lord I beg of you to reconsider!” Shouting at the King would surely get you imprisoned, or worse killed. But King Victor understood the anger he was going through, Alan wanted vengeance for his brother. After going inside of Albedo’s mind for too long, his mind was shattered. The King told him he needed time to think. “Fine, have it your way, just remember this boy will be the end of all of us.” He left with no chance of the King changing his mind. There was nothing more he could do.

***

Axi
l
got on his horse and left Inferno as soon as the messenger-bird delivered the letter to him. Natalia wondered what the emergency was from Sonia’s letter. He rode to the kingdom as fast as he could. When he finally made it to the castle, it was nighttime now. He went to see Sonia and she explained the situation to him, how Albedo had lost control of his transformation again during training. Axil has never seen her like this before. She looked sad and disheartened; puffy-eyed as if she hadn’t slept for a few days. After talking to her for a few, they left to go see how Albedo was now doing, if he was beginning to feel like himself. They walked into the medical center, and instantly Axil could feel something was wrong. Usually it’s noisier in this place, even at night times. He smelled the powerful aroma of blood.

“Axil wait, do you smell that?” said Sonia as she grabbed his arm. 

“Yes I do actually.”

As they got closer to Albedo’s room, the guards
guarding his room in the hallway were slaughtered. There was blood on the walls.

“Albedo!”
Sonia feared this was caused by him, unable to control his power again.

They walked into the room where he was staying; when they got there he was gone.

Axil put his hand around Sonia and said, “Do you think he might have done this?” It was hard for him to ask that question, especially to her.

Sonia
looked down at the floor for a moment, “No… there’s no way he could cause this.” She heisted because she knew what he was capable of. “I just know it’s not him.” She sat down on the chair; too shock to comprehend what just happened. The chains in his bed were broken in half. The window was broken; sheets in the bed were ripped.

Axil examined the
room; the blood trails were still fresh. There were even footsteps of blood on the floor.
One
of us should go tell the King so the royal guards can act quickly
.  Axil heard a loud noise now.
What in the world was that
? He looked outside of the window to see Albedo climbing to the top of the castle. “Let’s go, I see him!” with no hesitation both jumped out the window and made their way to the roof.

They got to the roof to find Albedo staring at the moon. They could see blood dripping from his clothes. Jarvis’ seal had stopped him from transforming, but he still had that killer-lust. 

“Careful Axil,” said Sonia, “His power might be gone, but he’s still a threat.”

Axil approached him, being as careful as he could be. He had seen Albedo like this only once, facing Michael. Unresponsive and only knew blood. “Albedo it’s me, don’t you recognize me? I’m your friend,” pleaded Axil.

“Friend…” quietly said Albedo. Albedo looked at him and attacks one of his closest friends.

Axil blocked and delivered a blow to his chest. With Jarvis’ seal,
Albedo was weaker.

“Careful Axil, please don’t hurt him!” said Sonia. “Albedo that’s enough, just stop!” she said unable to look him in his eyes.

Albedo continued on attacking Axil, all Axil could do was block him, not wanting to hurt his friend. “Sonia, I need you to be strong for him, so come on!” Catching a wild animal was going to be hard. Axil needed Sonia to snap out of it and help him.

Sonia got herself together at last and threw her chains around Albedo.  He was still strong. “We have to be careful how we make our move; we don’t want to hurt him,” said a concerned Sonia.

Yeah, if he doesn’t hurt us!
Thought Axil.

They continued to try and bring him to his knees.
After a few seconds of struggle Axil looked around to see that they had company. He saw men with masks on their face surrounding the roof.
No way, why are the Black Knights here? I would think a situation like this would be handled by the Royal Guards.

“That will be
enough, I’ll take it from here.”

Axil looked back the King was there.

“Albedo, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of my men,” said the King.

              Two of the Black Knights stood in front of Sonia and Axil, warning them not to move. They told Sonia to remove her chains as they threw their own chains around Albedo’s body. His body was wrapped, unable to move. Albedo struggled but was too weak to overpower them all.

“Placing him under arrest? It wasn’t him… I just know it’s not him.”

“Forgive me Sonia, but he’s no longer the Albedo you knew,” said the King.
Albedo had changed from a warrior to a King of Awakening
.

Axil walked closer to Sonia and held her, “What are you going to do to him?”

The King responded, “Right now I’m considering three options, with the seal in his body; I can send him to the Furness. Second I can lock him up here in the castle, down in the dungeon. Third… I can kill him myself and end it all before it start.”

Sonia and Axil could not believe their ears, would he really kill Albedo? They waited and finally the King said, “Lock him up in the dungeon! I want electric chains around him
at all time. Any attempts to escape will release an electric shock to his body!” 

“It’s not fair, he’s done nothing. It wasn’t him, I think someone else is responsible for this!” cried Sonia.
Its times like this she wishes she had Angelione, his ability would have been helpful.