Temporary Story Title/Thing

Erik woke up 50 years into the future as a vampire, and struggles to figure out his life from there on in.

I was once asked to just believe for a moment, to accept their words as fact. I was sorely skeptical, my mind instantly going to doubt, having no reason to trust this stranger, even though I was the one driven to sit down next to them, to spark a conversation. I had put it off to just being the type of person who felt no one should be alone, but maybe, just maybe it is so much more. So I listened, and followed them afterwards. Now here I am, slightly…dead? Undead? Whatever, I’m a vampire now, and not even in my own time! It’s like, 50 years into the future where no one I know is still around, or if they are they’ve already forgotten the 22 year old me from before. Hell maybe they thought I even just skipped out of town. Whatever the case, I have the munchies. 
            Looking up from my computer I turn the monitor off and yawn looking out my window. Already that time again huh, I can never get used to this…Getting up and pushing my chair in I take a look around my sparse apartment. At least she left me enough money to live on until “she returns from the council to inform of my awakening” whatever…inhaling slightly I enjoy for a split moment the scent of the room. From the dust flittering from the ceiling to the smell of shampoo from the towel I used earlier to the laundry detergent behind the closed bathroom door. Shaking my head I snap myself back to reality “I’m a vampire now, although I don't have a craving for blood, I still need food…time to overcome my self-consciousness and go out and get food!” 
            Standing outside my door I take a deep breath, before opening it and rushing forward, slamming it behind me, afraid that someone will see my hideous face. I keep running until the scent of pizza halts me right in my tracks. Pizza…now that's something I haven't had in ages. I’ll just pop in and order one I think…Slowly trying to look casual I walk into the place, avoiding everyone's gaze and waiting in line to order. 
            “What can I get ya?” A soft voice squeaks over the counter at me. 
            Lifting my gaze up I quickly scan the menu, not hearing her gasp or noticing her gaze as she gorges eyes on my face. “I’ll have a large pizza with…lots of pepperoni, like bury it in pepperoni.” Drooling slightly I snap my mouth shut. 
            Managing only a nod she puts my order in. “That’ll be $15.95, and your name sir?” Handing her a 20 I tell her to keep the change, “and my name is…Erik.” I go sit down, hiding my face once again with my hood. I hope I didn't scare her with how ugly I am…sighing I wait patiently, lifting someone's earbuds and doPi from their pocket as they pass by me. Might as well listen to something. Putting the earbuds in I shuffle through their playlist. Shocked people still listen to  Nickelback in this day and age. Eventually settling on some music that can only be described as lots of drums and remixing I don’t hear my name being called out until I feel my sleeve being tugged on. 
            Looking up our eyes meet briefly, and I feel something stirring in my chest, a slight buzzing feel like a current of electricity passing through a wire. “E-Erik right? H-here’s your pizza.” Her lips quivering with every word she thrusts my pizza at me and hurries off. Damn, I did scare her…Taking my pizza I walk out and back to my apartment, unaware of anything else going on around me.
            “So you’re the new vampire on our block huh.” Jolting to a stop I look around for the voice I had just heard. “Can’t see me yet huh? Must be a fledgling.” Slowly coming into my field of vision is a female of a shorter stature, about 5’2 but that wasn’t the most notable thing about her, what drew my eyes was her hair. All the way down to the ground it swung, but neatly was it managed, and it’s color seemed to shift often, from a deep purple to a light green, from blues to reds, it was constantly changing and shifting colors. “Names Syr, I’m the residing Dryad.” Leaning forwards a slight woody smell wafts off her, the smell of a forest after a rain rolling over me. Staggering backwards I finally recover. “Is that pizza? Man I haven't had any in a while. Mind if I come in?” Realizing I’m on the steps to my apartment, I open the door and nod, words unable to come to me for the time being. “Nice place, I assume it was probably Jamie that set you up, she's the only vampire here that has any form of spare cash seeing as she's the oldest in our town.” On and on Syr rambles, eating slice of pizza after slice of pizza until there's only a few left for me. “I’m sorry I seem to have eaten most of your pizza…and you don't talk much huh.” I shrug before opening my mouth. 
            “I was never really good at talking to girls…and I'm so ugly now I’m shocked you haven’t been turned to stone or something…” Mumbling and looking down Syr snorts and bursts into laughter. 
            “Hunny you’re the hottest thing here for miles; you must have been a 10 before the start of your transformation, since you’re solid 15 now. Due to your vampire transformation that is. But I bet you can’t even look in a mirror yet since you couldn’t see me. You still don’t believe in the supernatural enough.”
            Staring at her dumbfounded she sighs. “You can only see the supernatural if you believe in it.  Honestly, you must have been pretty desperate for something new to happen in your life if you saw Jamie and still don't believe in the supernatural. Just try believing for once and look in a mirror, trust me.” Sliding her hand mirror over to me I look down at the table. Just believe huh…well, it’s gotten me into this mess, at least let it teach me more about everything going on. 
            Closing my eyes, I think about all the things supernatural I had learned about during my life. From werewolves to vampires, magic to rune stones, Greek to Norse to Egyptian and just accept that it is all real, which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Opening my eyes I look into the hand mirror and freeze, seeing for the first time my face since I woke up from my change. My hair brushed slightly past my eyes, a deep grayish brown with small streaks of silver showing occasionally as I toss my hair, my chin a soft chisel, retaining a young but mature look, my eyes having a soft blue hue to their dark green giving them a depth of the ages past. 
            I turn to look at Syr and see an abnormal beautiful aura surrounding her, her hair staying now the solid color of the foliage you would see in the parks spotted around the town. “You’re beautiful” I let out without thinking of the impact of the words I was saying. I see her face flush, her cheeks a soft rosy pink. “Oh uh…Sorry just a lot to take in I guess.” She shakes her head at me.
            “No no, it was flattering, but do you see now why people stop and stare at you?” I nod and she goes on. “You have to be careful with your beauty, learn to hide yourself amongst the common man and such forth.” Walking up to me she puts a necklace around me. “Here, use this until Jamie gets back. I don’t know how your vampire powers work or I’d try to help.”
Looking back at the mirror I see my features fade slowly to that of which could be called regular for a guy. “Well, I hate to say it but I'm a tad disappointed that I'm now just an average Joe.” Laughing with me she bids her farewell, saying she’d check in on me tomorrow to see if anything new or strange had happened.
            “Take care Erik” And with that, she vanished into the air in front of me.   

With a sigh I make a mental note to write everything down later, and head out my door also, going to check the mail downstairs to see if there was anything, unlikely as it was it had become part of my daily routine. Hurrying along I don’t even notice the other person at the mailbox at first, flipping through the few pieces of mail that there was. Ah, so Jamie has decided now to tell me how to check my bank account she set me up with, believing I was bad with tech… Shaking my head I catch a glimpse of the person next to me, and reel backwards. “Aren’t you the girl from the pizza place?” Sniffing the air I smell the faint scent of dough and pizza sauce coming from her.

She turns and faces me, mouth slightly ajar and she seems to be in a sort of panic. “I…I” she softly squeaks out. “Yes that’s me!” Her breath coming in ragged I can’t help but laugh.

“You’re a shy one aren’t you?” She nods and I take a step back “My name is Erik, doubtful you’d remember but I just wanted to apologize for my rude behavior earlier today, I was in a panic and such.” She just nods before collapsing on the floor, I rush to her side avoiding touching her but standing close enough that the metallic smell of her blood was filling my senses.

 So this is what it is like to be so close to a human… Lost in thought I don’t realize her breathing had changed until she started coughing. S**t what’s going on!? In a panic I lean in closer, hearing the weak beat of her heart. I have to do something.

“Move aside vampire I got it, I know how your kind can’t get too close.” A deep voice bellows out. On instinct I move aside and a small dwarfish looking man takes my place. Muttering under his breath something that sounds vaguely like a foreign language and a soft blue light settles over her body, slowly regulating her breathing. “Now while I’d normally take credit for saving such a beautiful lass, I think this one should go to you for fighting your urges just to attempt saving her from her asthma attack.” With a hearty smile he walks out the door whistling an oddly familiar tune.

As if woken by the tune I hear her heart pick up pace, and rush to her side. “Hey, are you okay?” as if in a haze she looks up at me then clings to me, tears softly spilling from her eyes.

“Thank you…I don’t know what you did or how you did it, but I just have a feeling you helped me through something big…” I feel my skin start to tingle, gaining nerves that I thought I never would have in an undead body, feeling almost human again as I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. “I think you were having an asthma attack and I just reacted, I’m not sure what happened myself either.” Not a complete lie... “Where’s your apartment? I’ll walk you back.”

Helping her to her feet, I learned that her apartment was on the same floor as mine, just on the complete opposite end of the building. Getting her up the stairs was a slight pain; I ended up practically carrying her up the last flight. I wonder what that…dwarf I’d have to say…meant by my kind unable to get close to humans, I’m not having too difficult of a time…Stopping at her door, she weakly hands me her keys. Just a little farther I guess.

As I open the door and help her to her couch she pulls me down next to her. “My name is Jess…” with a meek smile she looks at me. “Stay with me for a bit longer…please” With such a shy voice and a cute face, I wanted to protest, that we had just met, but just sat in silence and smiled back at her.

“Alright Jess, for a little bit.”

Jess talks about just random things, from being in high school to working at the pizza place, which I found out was named Fabio’s Fabulous Freaky Pizzeria, and that she was turning 18 in a week, on August 25^th. Slowly she inches closer, leaning against me and her talking slowly peters off until she seems to be listening to my heart and forgetting everything else.

“Your heart has a very steady rhythm, quiet unlike any other I have heard.” Looking up at me, her face flushes realizing what she just said and she buries it in my chest trying to hide it.

“You’re not really helping your case here.” Laughing I pat her on her back.

“It’s not that I want to be so close, you just…and don’t judge me here…” her voice slowly gets softer and softer until even I have to strain to hear her. “You just smell so good I want to be close to you.”

And with those words, my skin seems to set itself ablaze, once again bringing to me a very familiar feeling, one that is close to what can be called what a human would feel in this situation, not an undead beings reaction to a teenage girl. “I don’t know what to say but, you smell amazing too.” Alright so maybe she smells delicious, but she also kind of smells…innocent, and attractive.

Looking at the clock on her wall I realize that it’s already past midnight. “Wow, I guess we’ve talked for a few hours now huh. I should head on out, and you should rest you are recovering.” A pouty look crosses her face for a brief second before she sighs in agreement. “I do have class tomorrow, which apartment are you in? In case…ya know, something happens again?”

“I’m in 110, all the way down the hall.” Not thinking about what she said I just respond as I head out the door. “I’ll check in on you tomorrow, take care!” As soon as I close the door I rush back to my room, eager to update my blog.

Far above the clouds, peering down with cold blue eyes, and a predatory grin, he looked down on everyone on the street and laughed. “The Jarl has returned, and this city is just my first conquest, and this time, I will make sure Jamie feels my wrath before she dies, permanently this time!” He thunders out, his laugh shattering the glass on the buildings surrounding the skyscraper. Unfolding his wings, anyone who looked at him would realize that he’s beyond supernatural. His wings a color of vibrant emerald, and deeper than the stars above, he could move with a Vampire’s swiftness, a Dwarfs thunderous approach, and an Elves elegant step all in the same movement. He was a being not meant for this world. But little was Erik aware of his part in the future to come; he barely was able to wake up each day without finding out something new yet.

“War is coming lad, war is coming.” Smoking on a pipe, the Dwarf looks up at The Jarl with a sigh. “What a time to be summoned back home” Shaking his head he ventures into the sewer grate. “What a time…”

 

END CHAPTER 1

 

You were the clarity in my storm, bringing calm to my heart, so why did you leave me? Where are you now? Erik? Waking up in a cold sweat, I stare at the ceiling confused. What was that? Why did she look so familiar? Shaking my head I check the time. 6:30, I think I can get what I want done in time. Even though I’m a vampire, I find that I still sleep the hours I did before, even though my body doesn’t require sleep, and sunlight doesn’t have any effect on me either it seems. Quickly looking up a video guide on the internet I set about preparing a breakfast for Jess. I had thought that I should do something for her, seeing as I had failed in doing anything last night. As I finished preparing what I hoped wasn’t an over salted eggs benedict, or that I had cooked it right in the first place, I hurry over to her place and knock on her door. “Hey Jess, it’s me Erik, you awake yet?”

“One second I’ll be right there.” A sleepy voice calls out and she opens her door standing in an overly large t shirt and knee socks, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “What is it?” Yawning she catches a whiff of the meal I had prepared and her stomach grumbles loud enough I thought it’d wake the whole apartment complex.

“I uh, made you some breakfast; I know high schoolers rarely have time to actually make a good meal…so I thought I’d this.” Shuffling my feet and averting my eyes, worried that a flush would appear on my face as it used to when talking to beautiful girls when I was alive. Beautiful huh… Shaking my head I realize exactly what I thought, and hurriedly hand her the tray. “It’s my first time making it so; I hope it suits your taste!”

With a flustered look she takes the tray. “Um…would you like to come in?”

Shaking my head I dash off yelling back over my shoulder. “I’ll come back for the tray later; I have some jobs to go apply for!”

Smiling to herself she set the tray on her table. Taking a tentative bite her face scrunches up. “Way too much salt, but…” she continues eating it “He made it for me…” Smiling like a giddy fool to herself she polishes it off, with the help of a few big glasses of water. “I have to thank him later…” looking at the time she hurries and gets ready for school, wondering when it’d be polite to stop by his place.

Letting out a long drawn out breath, I stop running in front of the first of the places I thought I’d apply to, and after trying to apply at them all, I find myself getting slightly angrier and angrier. Well god damn, the job market is just as rough as it was 50 years ago. With a sigh I sit down on a park bench.

“You look down in the dumps lad, new to the town?” Looking over I see an elderly man smiling at me. “It can be tough for the first few years, especially with how violent it’s gotten. Hell, back in my day my best friend was suddenly gone, the police looked all over for him, dredged the river, everything.” With a sad look he turns and faces me. “But you’re here now, aren’t you Erik?”

Time seems to freeze around us, as recognition slowly dawns on me. “C-Carl!?” With a hearty laugh he nods. “I thought you looked familiar when I saw you apply at my company earlier, which is why I had them send you away. Erik was dead, or should I say was dead.” With a twinkle in his eye he reaches his hand out to me. “I also wanted to personally test to see if it was you, even though every answer was the same as fifty years ago.” Grasping his hand I feel his slow steady pulse.

“While we’re on this topic about me…how come you’re not shocked at my lack of…well, aging?” Shaking his head he shrugs.

“We live in a city that has for the past three hundred and fifty years been known as the supernatural hive of Amorico, ever since the earthquake that brought down the land bridge, we’ve had to travel by boats to the mainland, for planes when they tried to fly over the 800 some mile gap would end up either turned around, or in the worst of cases, crashing.” Pulling me close he hugs me. “Now, if anyone at work questions, you’re my nephew. I have many more questions but they are for another time. From now on out, you’re my heir to Fabio’s Fabulous Freaky Pizzeria, we span the entire island. And are worth quiet a pretty penny to bigger corporations who can’t set foot here due to our building laws.”

As he shuffles off leaving me with a few numbers to call, something clicks for me and in front of me no longer stands an elderly man, but something much more mysterious. Something that would normally spell a threat for a vampire like me, I realized that the man I called my best friend, had become a vampire hunter in the time I was, well, dead.

Without thinking, I call out to him. “You know Carl, I’m a vampire.” Without even turning to face me he chuckles. “oh I know Erik, I can spot a vampire a mile off. But the thing is” turning to face me, tears rolling down his face. “Vampires gave me my friend back, and they’re not all bad, so I have a deal with Jamie. And I help her keep the populace safe just…show up later tonight, I’ll have you start right away as a manager.”

Now as he hurries off, I am left speechless and with a million questions but a stupid smile on my face. A job, my best friend, and he accepts me in this world…maybe the future isn’t that bad, because if I think back to how he used to be… Shaking my head I hurry onwards back home, prepared to do my best for what’s to come.

I was impatient so I showed up to work a bit early for my first day, but Carl was already there out front waiting for me. “Glad to see you so soon, nephew.” With a wink he leads me into the back, where my office was. “As you can probably guess this is your office, now all you have to do is keep everyone calm, happy, and make sure things are done in an orderly, timely manner.” As he rambles off things to do, I mentally take notes, engraving every word into my mind. “Oh, and we have a few high schoolers working here so if they need a day off for some school event, give it to them, I don’t want them missing out on the best years of their life before they’re off to college.”

Laughing we embrace. “You’ve changed Carl, but I like the new you, before you wouldn’t of given anyone a day off even if they were dying”

Shrugging he smirks “Well back then I wasn’t worth 80 million in stocks.” We kept talking for a few minutes before he asked me a few more questions. “Did you call and order your uniform?” Nodding he relinquishes me from his grasp. “And one last thing, we might have a few…unhealthy visitors on occasion, so if it comes down to it, don’t be scared to fight, or run away, just make sure that the non-supernaturals get out alive. Now I think it’s about time for your shift to start, hop to it!”

I introduce myself to the workers already there, and they just smile and laugh at my awkwardness. A few of them were supernatural, but the rest were all human. “So you’re Big Man Carl’s nephew huh? Man you’re lucky, getting manager right away. Our last one seemed to relish the job, but once he got word that he’d be transferring into a higher paying position, he snapped it up. Guess people can’t be too greedy right?” A worker says as he shows me the ropes. “Just remember this.” Leaning in close to me he whispers in my ear, “We’re outside Jamie’s sphere of influence here, which is why Carl set up shop here. You’re still a fledgling so until you learn how to fight, it’ll be okay if you just work on escorting people to safety.” With a flicker of a grin he heads off, leaving me to mull over my options. Why does it sound like they’re expecting a fight tonight? I think to myself, before shrugging and getting back to work.

Erik came by as the evening progressed to tell me that he had something important to go do and that I just needed to ask one of the workers if I had any questions. The rush hour passed with no issues, at least on the workers end. I was constantly messing up and failing at things but the workers just laughed and showed me the proper way to do things after I grudgingly went to them for help. “Ya know, I should probably have told you earlier when you first started but being Carl’s nephew I thought it’d be fine. But tonight is going to get really bloody, for it’s a Blood Moon.” The same worker from earlier says as he shows me how to properly mix the sauce for our pizza. “And we have one human worker tonight, the rest have went home but apparently she wanted the extra shift and insisted. So, if we do get overrun I want you to take her and go, alright?” looking at me, his face was dead serious.

Nodding I return his stare. “If it’s so bloody, why isn’t Carl going to be here?” I ask remembering Carl leaving earlier.

“Well, apparently someone called The Jarl is back and Carl went to deal with him right away.” Rubbing the back of his head he sighs “I kinda wish Carl was here but it just means I’ll have to try harder.” Flashing a grin we’re suddenly interrupted by one of the remaining 6 workers.

“Fabio, it’s worse than we thought get in touch with Carl, now! This isn’t a drill, this is a Hunter level alert.” Coughing suddenly, blood spewing all over the floor me and Fabio are frozen in place, lodged deep in her back was a talon the size of my forearm.

“F-Fabio…i-is she going to l-live?” I stutter out, the scent of blood driving my vampire senses into hyperdrive.

Nodding he pulls me out into the front, to see outside on the road a dark figure. “She’s a Lycan, she’ll live but…He will be an issue.” As we stop in front of a window a chill travels down my spine.

The window before us developing cracks, we hear a laughter echoing inside our heads. “Just give me the Girl of the Eastern Sands, and I shall let the rest of you live.” The words screamed through everyones heads as they gathered in front, some of us collapsing, while the more psychically deaf leaning against a wall or table.

“Erik” Looking at Fabio his face seems to molt and change in front of me, shifting from an overly attractive human to that of a skeleton, power radiating off of him that even I could feel. “Take Jess and run! Now!” Without asking questions or even thinking of what might happen, I grab the human employee who was working with us and bolt towards the back exit. “Make it into the city, The Hunter won’t stray onto Jess’s turf!” Fabio yells after me before turning towards the shadow figure, the rest of the employees collapsed now completely.

“Oh Lich? You dare fight me on this night?” With a chuckle the figure pulls his hood down, revealing a mane of silvery light. “I am Archangel, what chance do you hope to hold?”

With his permanent skeletal grin, Fabio laughed. “Ah Michael, it pains me to fight you once more, the last beating you gave me took years to heal but, I can’t let you go until the Girl of Eastern Sands and the Obe- Erik make it to safety” cutting himself off he launches bolts of pure energy at Michael.

Brushing them aside Michaels smile drops instantly, turning into a snarl that could curdle blood. “Do you mean to say…that mangy…halfblooded…fledgling angel is the Oberjarl?” His eyes full of pure hatred he shakes his head. “No, not angel anymore, Jess got her grubby paws on him.” Turning his menacing gaze at the sky he breaths deep, as if drawing power from the moon itself. “I am sorry Fabio but, you might not live. I have no time to spare on you, I have maybe 5 minutes before they’re beyond my reach.” As his gaze falls on Fabio, Fabio bursts into a silver flame, his screams dying before they even register as he is bathed in the moons holy light. “I shall see you in Heaven, old friend” With that Michael unfolds his wings of pure silver bright enough to dim the moon and takes off after us.

Gasping for breath Jess collapses against a tree unable to run any further, I pick her up, still not realizing who it was I was running with and bolt towards the city. Fabio sounded scared…I have to get to town, and as Carl said, protect this girl with my life. The scent of the Lycans blood from earlier slowly clears from my nostrils, and I pick up an even more heady scent. Human blood… Looking down, I see that while I was running I must have brushed her against something, for her legs and arms that were previously covered by her work outfit were cut and bleeding.

Shoving the thoughts out of my mind I keep running until I feel a weight drop on my shoulders. Looking back, I see what looks like an angel chasing me down. Fear instils itself in my heart as natural instinct takes over and I feel a flood of energy pump into my body, unaware of what was happening. “E-Erik it’s me…Jess” As I cross the boundary to the city I slow and look down, seeing that I was indeed caring the girl I spent the night before comforting. Setting her down, believing us to be safe.

“J-Jess? Well…I guess this is an odd time but I’m your new manager?” I say without thinking and her face breaks into a weak smile as she collapses. Rushing towards her, and holding her steady I stay as far back as I can while making sure she doesn’t fully collapse. “What a first day of work huh?”  I say halfheartedly, still uneasy.

“Oberjarl…while I cannot touch you, She is not beyond my grasp!” With a cry of anger and hate echoing around us, I turn just in time to see the Angel chasing us throw something and a guttered cry from Jess following right after. “If I cannot have the Girl of the Eastern Sands, NO ONE CAN!” With a nasty smirk crossing his face I turn towards Jess and see impaled in her a talon, the same size as the one impaled in our co-worker. It slowly dissolves, the wound sealing shut as the angel fades away. “With the Eagles Black Talons Poison in her veins, tonight she dies.” Was his last words to echo out.

“N-no…It’s…this is my fault, I shouldn’t have stopped running…Jess…JESS!” I cry out leaning in close, feeling the heat fade from her skin, the sound of her heart growing weaker and weaker. Looking up at the sky I cry out when I feel hands cup my face.

“E-erik” her voice growing weaker with each syllable she pulls me close. “I-I barely knew you b-but…I f-felt a connection…a-and” as I lean in she kisses me deeply, before coughing and hacking up blood as the poison reached her lungs. “I think…I f-fell in l-lov-“ and as her voice fades away, and her body grew stiller in my arms something snapped inside of me.

With the metallic taste of her blood in my mouth, a new found energy, one different from before, one of a hunter finally getting a satisfying meal coursed through me, acting on newfound instinct alone I toss my head back and yell out to the sky, unaware of where I learned the chant. “Cursed with this pain, I chant this murder melody, and I summon to me the King of Death, Lucifer!” Biting into Jess’s neck, her body beyond pain, I drank deep, fueling the magic that was pouring out of me.

Clouds gathered above where we were, and lightning struck down around us as the summoning gained enough magic to take effect, the smell of exotic perfume and incense entered the air.

“Oh, well isn’t this a surprise. A little fledgling was able to summon me?” A soft but deep voice vibrates the air around me. “Well I’ll be damned, Hey Jamie, look who is the one who interrupted the council.” As two figures fade into existence around us I recognize Jamie and almost burst into tears.

“H-help me” I mutter, the words barely audible

“What was that?” Jamie asks no sound of sympathy in her voice and her expression a cold glare. “You summoned Lucifer over a mortal?” Shaking her head she sets off on a tangent about how the council was who would decide my future in the community she helped build.

“Jamie, just tell the boy how to bring her back.” Lucifer picks his nose and flicks it away, “we can get back fast-“Stopping and stepping closer he inhales deeply. “The Girl of the Eastern Sands huh…” slitting his wrist with a slice of his finger, he lets some blood drop into a cup he conjured from the air. “Vampire, mix your blood. Now.” With a voice that didn’t allow any disobedience I followed his suit, and topped the cup off with my blood.

Taking Jess from me, he sets her on his knee, slowly forcing our blood down her throat. “We could have done this with just yours but, I suspect that the poison might still overpower and destroy yours. And you did a number on her blood already, even though it was already diminishing at a rapid rate, plus a punctured lung…” muttering to himself he goes on and on until Jess starts to cough. Jamie having already gone back through the portal without a word just shakes her head. “Hurry up Lucifer; I don’t know why you have a kindness for the weak.”

Handing Jess back to me he winks. “Don’t let what the priests preach persuade you boy, us devils and demons, we’re actually the kind ones.” Fading back through he adds as almost an afterthought “Oh and, I hope you’re ready Oberjarl, you have collected the East point on the compass, you now have 7 more to collect. 3 Cardinal directions and 4 Ordinal directions.”

Leaving me with more questions, and a waking vampire/devil girl, the portal closes. Looking up, I see the moon starting to pass behind the horizon. As the sun rises, burning away the lingering clouds, I pretend that it is just rain that is rolling down my cheeks, not the fear and shock that had filled my body.

END CHAPTER 2