Book Three Chapter Four: Revelations

Chapter Four Revelations: I have heard of judgment day before. Judgment day is the end of the world, except this time, it will happen a second time. "I can't allow that." I said. Without missing a beat, I lunged forward and punched him on the jaw, he barley flinched. "What? Do you think you can stop me?" He then reached back and punched me in the face so hard that I quite literally did not know what hit me. The blow landed me against the wall several feet away. I wasn't going to let the world fall to doom a second time.

            I got back up and went at him again. His fists shot out one by one, I blocked each one, and managed to get a few hits of my own in. After a few seconds of that, Vladimir changed tactics. Instead of punching at me, he brought his knee up and hit me in the chest with it, forcing me to back up. Once he had room, he kicked me in the chest several times. After I was backed against a wall, I felt something hit the wall beside me, it was my knife! I couldn't believe I still had it. After Vladimir started to advance, I pulled the silver knife and slashed him across his collarbone. Blood spattered, but the wound didn't seem to slow him down. Without stopping, I brought the knife around once again and stabbed the blade deeply into his skin, until the knife wouldn't go any farther in.

            He chuckled. "Didn't you read your history books? There is only one place in which I can be killed." He then shoved me back against the wall and pulled the knife out of himself. Both of the wounds I had given him had healed by now. By now, Kaleen had joined the fray, it was two on one, better odds than before, but still not that good for us. Kaleen threw a kick and head level, brought her foot back to the ground, used it as a pivot point and swung her other leg at his side in a perfect round-house kick. While he was dazed from the two rapid kicks, I ran in and tackled him against the wall and started punching at him, it seemed to be more effective than last time, and he started to flinch.

            Vladimir shoved me off of him and I landed against a wall. Vladimir picked up my knife that I must have dropped when I hit the wall. He pressed it up against my throat, and he was applying pressure. Kaleen yelled "No!" and ran at him. She grabbed him, pinned his arms to his sides, and sank her fangs into his neck. There was a little crunch as Kaleen broke his skin. Vladimir screamed. I thought Kaleen would finish him off, but instead she pulled away, clutching her throat, and she sank to the floor, moaning. Vladimir leaned against the wall, weakened by the bite. Blood seeped from the two adjacent fang marks on his neck. "Kaleen!" I shouted. Vladimir was in no shape to fight, but I knew that I couldn't kill him, who knows what trick he had up his sleeve? I decided to tend to Kaleen.

            "It burns." She whispered. "Like his blood is acid." she added, almost sobbing. She was clutching her stomach and her throat, writhing in pain. "What did you do to her!?" I yelled at Vladimir. He spoke through clenched teeth, fighting off the weakness inflicted by Kaleen's bite. "My blood is like poison to vampires, it was how I avoided being killed by my sister when she was turned, when she lacked self-control." Vladimir groaned. "Until we meet again, chosen one," He said with his trade mark chuckle. He waved his hand in the air, as if to say goodbye, then he vanished, probably in the subspace. "Are you going to be alright, Kaleen?" I asked. "I think so, but will you be alright?" She asked. I then noticed how much my body hurt.

            I was pretty beaten up, but I'll live. "Nick, you won't survive in the final battle with Vladimir, you know. He has his powers, you are only human, you cannot win a fight with him using force, and you need to be clever." I think she was right, knowing Saja, and how Vladimir inherited his arrogance from her, this was probably just a test, there was no way I could face Vladimir like this. I then had an idea, but I knew almost instantly that Kaleen would reject it. "You could turn me into a vampire." I said. Her eyes widened, putting an emphasis on the crimson color to them. "No, no, no, no, you do not understand." She said. "What don't I understand?" I asked.

            "Becoming a vampire is the most painful thing that can ever happen to someone, it won't be like the time in Hemlon, when you blacked out, if you are awake throughout the entire transformation, the pain will be excruciating, there is no telling how long it will last, it's different for everyone." I asked; "How does this transformation work, when Saja bit me when I was her prisoner, I didn't turn, why not?" She answered; "Because when a vampire bites someone, they have a choice, feed off of them, turn them, or instantly kill them, I don't think I could put someone through the pain of the transformation, especially not you."

            "Nick, I want you to think about this carefully, there will be no going back, once my fangs pierce your skin, that's it, there are no second thoughts, please give this at least a few days to think it over, please." Kaleen said. I decided to put her mind at ease. "Alright, I will think about it carefully, you are right, there will be no going back, I just want to end this war." Kaleen leaned in closer. "Thank you." She whispered, then she kisses me on the cheek. A buzz of electricity flew through me as her fangs brushed my cheek. "Now, you should rest, and think about becoming a vampire for the second time." She told me. With that, I went to bed, feeling exhilarated to get a kiss from Kaleen. I don't think I will ever forget the feeling of the electricity coursing through my nerves.

            I turned my mind to more pressing matters, the matter of becoming a vampire for the second time. I would never be able to take on Vladimir as a human, but I would need to feed off of other humans. I would be immortal, but could only come out at night. (Which isn't a problem at the moment, but in the future it could be.)       

            As I weighed the pros and cons back and forth, I started to get tired. I eventually fell asleep. I think I had a dream, but I forgot it by the time I woke up. I tried to remember it, but it wouldn't come back to me. I went to the living room to find all my friends sitting around. Hale held up his hand, I starred at it for a minute, wondering what it meant. "High five?" Hale asked. Oh! I had almost forgotten what it was, the end of the world will do that. I slapped his hand. "What for?" I asked. "Well," He began. "Little birdie told me that Kaleen gave you some action." He said. I laughed. "You saw that huh?" I asked. He nodded. Chibata said "I got the safe open, but the girl, Anara, was down there, tied up, I let her go, and she said that Vladimir was here, but by the time we went up to the room to peek in, he was gone, it was just you and Kaleen, so we decided to give you some privacy." He said. Chibata opened the safe up, and in it there was an array of rifles, shotguns, automatics, pistols, knives, you name it. No silver swords, though.

            "Take your pick." He said. I took a look. "What is the most powerful weapon here?" I asked. He took a shotgun from a rack and gave it to me, it was very heavy. "That is a ten gauge shotgun." He said. "Jordan has only slugs here, I'm afraid, they'll put a nice sized hole through a blood sucker, but it's got one hell of a kick." I put it to my shoulder and looked down the sights. "You gotta line up the point on the end, with the V shaped sight here." He pointed to the V shaped metal near my eye. He showed me the safety, how to load and unload it, "I'll take the ten gauge." I said. He gave me a bucket of ammunition. Each shell was red, with one brass end one each one, with Ten Gauge Slug written in fading black lettering. I fed the gun the shells until it was full, it took six shells. I stuffed my pockets until I almost depleted the bucket. Chibata went up to gather the others, and to teach them how to use their weapons. I glanced over when Chibata was showing her how to shoot the pistol that she chose.

            "I don't understand why I need a human gun, these are the only weapons I need," She touched her fingertips to her slender fangs. "Just take it, anyway, this is the model 1911, it holds seven .45 ACP bullets, it has a flip up safety here, and is very easy to use." He showed her the fundamentals of shooting, then moved onto the others. Hale had picked a hand held automatic, it was small, a little bigger than a pistol. "Hale, that is a MAC-10. It is a close quarter’s fully automatic submachine gun. It is a small caliber, but it has a high rate of fire, it will easily stun a Kerulen with the barrage of bullets, each magazine is extended, it hold sixty bullets rather than thirty, you can take the magazines as well as some spare bullets in case you run out of bullets in you magazine, you can load the bullets into the magazine." Chibata showed Hale the safety, how to switch fire modes between automatic, burst, and semi-automatic, and how to aim. He showed Anara how to use the little pistol she chose. "This is the MK .22, it is indeed a fairly small caliber, but I have loaded it with incendiary rounds." Said Chibata. After he showed everyone how to use their weapons, he said "Alright everyone, these guns have no silver bullets, but I think that they will at least slow down those bloodsuckers. Also, when you are walking around with your guns, NEVER point the end of it at someone, unless you want to shoot them. Always pay attention to where you point your gun." After that he was finished. We all went upstairs, a few of us practices loading and unloading our weapons, I glanced over to Chibata, who brandished a compact automatic, with a few spare magazines in his pocket. I noticed that everyone had spare magazines and bullets for their weapons, that was good.

            Kaleen came over and sat down next to me on the couch. "What do you think of my new toy?" She asked, eyeing her pistol. "It could come in handy against Vladimir, when you can't drink his blood." I said. She sagged her head. "You have no idea how that felt." She said solemnly. "So, have you given thought to the... Er... transformation?" She said the last word quietly. "I'm going to need to think it over a little more, okay?" I said. She smiled. "I'm glad you are taking your time with this, this isn't something that should be rushed, it's not an easy decision to make, but whatever you think is best, I'm sure will be." She sighed. "I can't help but envy the past, before things got screwed up." She said. "Like when I attended class, like when I worried about being able to make it to the movies with my friends, I just miss those days so much." She continued on. I said "Yeah, me too, I liked it before things got all mysterious and weird." Kaleen's eyes brightened. "Hey, speaking of mysterious, what did you think Vladimir meant when he said 'there is only one place in which I can be killed?'" I thought about it, but before I had time to answer, Kaleen said "That's it! Drottingheim! That's where we need to kill him, where Tigiti first dueled Saja! The prophecy states that the chosen one must bury an ancient evil atop the peeks of Drottingheim." Hale mentioned such a place before, but where was it?

            Kaleen got up and left. I sat there, giving becoming a vampire some more thought. Was it really the right choice? Yes, the main reason for doing it is so I have a chance against Vladimir, but even after that, what happens then? When the world returns to normal, what happens then? I would be a monster. But being a vampire does have its perks, all your senses are heightened, which is never a bad thing, and sure, you drink blood, and it seems disgusting, but in my time as a vampire, I was surprised to find out how good blood tastes, sweet, and with the slightest sour aftertaste. My conflicting thoughts battled inside my own head, part of me wanted to stay mortal, another part wanted to run like the wind, and have the strength of a vampire, and another part of me just wanted to save the world, regardless of how it was done.

            A few hours later, ­_­everyone started to head for their bedrooms, I did the same. As I lay there, I knew what had to be done. I stood no chance against Vladimir as a human. I just wanted to end this war, even if it meant becoming a vampire. My mind was made up, I would go see Kaleen tomorrow and ask her to change me. Soon, morning came, and I went to Kaleen. "Kaleen, I've made up my mind." I told her. "And?" She asked. "I want to become a vampire, it's the only way to stop Vladimir." I said. A solemn look appeared on her face. "Are you sure?" She asked me. "Yes, it is the only way to stop Vladimir." I said. "I will respect your decision, but we should probably tell the group." She said. I silently agreed and we walked into the living room and gathered everyone up.

            "Alright, everyone, I have an announcement to make." Said Kaleen, with that, Hale jumped up and said "Thadda boy!" I think he thought Kaleen and I were engaged or something. "Not now, Hale." He saw the serious look on my face and backed off. "Nick is making a huge sacrifice to stop Vladimir," She continued. "He's... He's giving up his mortality, he is going to become a vampire in order to stop Vladimir." Everyone was visibly shocked. "But why?" Asked Chibata. "Becoming a vampire is the only way I can stop Vladimir, I stand no chance against him while I'm human." I answered. "There needs to be another way." Said Hale. I almost laughed. "No, there isn't. I've given this a lot of thought, and I think this is the best option." Anara looked worried. "I think Nick's right." She said. "No human stands even a miniscule chance against Vladimir, it would be smart to become a vampire."

            Chibata stood up. "Whatever you think is best, kid, I believe will lead the world back to normal." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Yeah." Said Anara. "Same goes for me." Said Hale. "So it's settled, I will turn nick into a vampire." Kaleen said with sadness in her voice. To reassure her, I said "It's alright, whatever you do to me, I'm sure I can take it." We went to the kitchen, and she laid me onto the table. "Try not to move." She said. She lowered her head so that I could feel her breath on my neck. "I'm sorry." She whispered. I could hear her lips parting, a second later, she sank her fangs into my neck. I could feel her taking my blood, and I could feel her fangs in me. It didn't start to hurt until about two seconds later. Burning pain spread from where I could feel her fangs. The burning pain spread slowly across my body. It literally felt like a raging inferno was trapped underneath my skin. I screamed and writhed, but it did not good to ease the pain.

            Kaleen was right, this was definitely the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I could most certainly not take this. I arched my back and fell off the table, still screaming. "Make it stop!" I yelled to no one. "Make it stop please!" through my eyes I could see Kaleen with the saddest expression that I have ever seen on her face. I have never seen such sorrow touch someone's face. I writhed uncontrollably, the pain had spread to every part of my body by now. I couldn't stand up, the only movement I did was writhe in the most extreme pain I have ever felt. The burning pain almost felt like when you skin your knee, times about a billion. Not to mention that the pain was all under my skin.

            Despite the burning pain, I felt extremely cold. Did that mean I would become a vampire soon? I hoped to god that I would become a vampire already, and end the pain. Even though I had no more oxygen in my lungs, I still managed to let out a scream that didn't even sound human. I wanted to cut open my chest and tear out my own heart, just to get it to stop pumping whatever Kaleen put into me throughout my body. If I had a knife, believe me, I would have. I sucked in air, although the pain seemed to take it out of my lungs. "I'm so sorry Nick." I heard Kaleen say, she had her hands over her mouth.

            I lay there, burning on the ground for quite some time, I lost track of time since Kaleen's fangs pierced my skin. The pain did not let up, it stayed consistent. I did not get used to the pain, and I still screamed through almost every second of my transformation. Just as I thought I was going to die, the pain started to recede, very slowly, but it was definitely clearing up. I could feel my heart beating, put as the pain receded from my limbs, it moved towards my torso, and then it was all in my heart. My heart beated twice more, then stopped. I stopped screaming, sat up on the ground, and felt my heart. There was no heartbeat. I was once again a vampire.

            The first thing I noticed was my thirst, yes, and the distantly familiar dry burn in my throat. After my friends stopped hearing my screams, then came in, Chibata had his gun and said "Get up, nice and easy, Kaleen is going to take you hunting, if you try killing one of us, I'm going to need to put you down." Said Chibata. Kaleen grabbed my arm and led me out of the door. "I'm so sorry, that must have been horrible for you." She said, almost crying. "I'm fine, although you are right, it was horrible, you did do the right thing, I want you to know that." She nodded. "Alright, now let's get to the fun part." She said, smiling.

            I wanted to protest against killing humans, but the burn in my throat told me otherwise. She took off down the street, ran up the wall of a house hundreds of feet away, and waited for me at the top. I sped up to vampire speed and joined her easily. She raised her finger to her lips, looked over the back of the house, and jumped off the roof and onto the balcony. I followed her, landing silently. "Who are you?" yelled a man's voice. A gunshot followed, the man screamed for two seconds, then his screams were cut off by a gargling sound. Kaleen looked up at me, flashing a bloody smile. The man's wife screamed and attempted to run away, I caught up to her in a split second, pinned her against the wall, and bit into her neck, I sucked in, like I would with a straw, and her blood rose to the surface, and into my mouth, the warm, sweet blood cooled the raging fire in my throat, it tasted like the richest, most expensive chocolate that money could buy. I looked at my hands, they were covered in the young woman's blood, and I was shaking.

            When I was done, I felt satisfied, but guilty. I had done this before, and it didn't feel good. Suddenly, the burning returned. I needed more blood. "Well?" Asked Kaleen, wiping the remaining blood from her mouth. "I need some more." I said. She nodded, understanding, I wonder if she was like this when she first turned. I then smelled the familiar sweet smell of human blood, but it wasn't in this house, it was in another. I lept out, off of the balcony that we came in by, I saw the silhouette of a man standing on the other side of a thin pane of glass, and I crashed through the thin glass, pinned him to the floor, and plunged my fangs into his neck as deep as they would go. I drew his blood to the surface, and felt better after he was drained. He didn't know what had hit him. I wiped the excess blood off of my face with my sleeve. "Better?" Asked Kaleen from behind me. She seemed amused at the gruesome scene that I had created.

            "Alright, we should get going back now." Said Kaleen. "No," I interjected. "Can we stay out a little longer? I want to see the city." I continued. "Alright, I guess." Said Kaleen. I ran and jumped through the broken window, and out into the night. It had just occurred to me that this was a pretty high building, as was the one we were in before that, it was a small office, so it was a few stories up. I landed at my feet at the bottom, the road cracked where I landed, but other than that, I barely felt a thing. Kaleen landed next to me, laughing. What I saw next was something out of my nightmares. I saw a few Kerulen walking down the street, I was about to look away, when I saw more and more joining them around the corner.

            I told Kaleen to follow me, then we went around the corner and saw thousands upon thousands of Kerulen, all gathered before a few people, a group of men and women, all wearing that robe with the same evil symbol on it, and they were standing on top of a huge rock in the middle of the city. All of the Kerulen then bowed to them. "Oh my god, it's happening, I saw this in my nightmare." I said. "What happened next?" Asked Kaleen. I answered "I don't know, but Vladimir said that it was the demise of our world." Kaleen shot away from me, running at top speed back towards the house. "We need to warn the others, we need to get them out of that house!" Shouted Kaleen. In seconds we were at the house. "Everyone! Grab as much ammunition for your guns as you can carry, grab your guns and get into the jeep!" Yelled Kaleen. No one argued, I didn't think they wanted to argue with Kaleen.

            In a minute or two we were all in the jeep, rushing down the street, Kaleen directed Chibata, who was driving, away from the horde of Kerulen. We then heard a low rumbling sound that resembled a thousand stampedes. "They're coming." Said Kaleen. I made sure my ten gauge was loaded properly, and took my post at the top compartment of the jeep. I saw all of those Kerulen behind us, and standing on top of the highest building in sight, were the group wearing the robes. The Kerulen caught up to us in no time, these weren't like the slower ones we had faced when we had the pickup truck, and these were faster. Instead of coming one at a time, they arrived in force. I aimed the shotgun, pulled the trigger, and the thunderous bang of the gun sounded, ricocheting off of every substance within seven hundred feet. The Kerulen I was aiming at tripped and fell, but didn't die. I shot off the nearest Kerulen, and they fell down, but they got back up. I could buy us some time, but they would eventually overtake us.

            Kaleen stood up with me and aimed her handgun. Every time she shot one, it would stop for maybe a second, but keep going. Then the time came where I had to reload my shotgun. I thrusted the pump upwards, which opened the chamber. I inserted six shells from my pocket, pumped it, aimed and fired at a Kerulen who was trying to grab onto the jeep. I looked over to Kaleen and saw that she was reloading. Then, out of nowhere, a Kerulen jumped out of the horde and grabbed onto me, I dropped my shotgun into the jeep. I heard Kaleen fire her gun at its head seven times, each time its head moved to the side a little, but it didn't seem to affect it too much. I struggled with the Kerulen for a few seconds, I thrashed around a lot, so the others couldn't shoot it before it hit me.

            The Kerulen hauled me out of the top compartment, but I grabbed onto the support column for the roof before it was too late, but the Kerulen didn't let go. "Nick!" Shouted Kaleen. I looked up in time to see her throwing her pistol at me. With my free hand, I caught it by the barrel, put my finger into the trigger guard, spun it so that I could grab the handle, aimed at the Kerulen, and shot as many times as I could; Seven. It took all seven shots for the Kerulen to let go.

            Kaleen pulled me back into the jeep and I gave the gun back to her and she loaded it. Every now and then, the jeep swerved a little, signaling a turn. We needed to lose the Kerulen, but how? I thought back to how we did it last time, with the Molotovs in Chibata's house, and with the flaming wreck of our pickup truck, then it hit me! Anara's gun was loaded with incendiaries! "Anara, hand me your gun." I said. She gave it to me. I peeked out the top again, but couldn't get a clear shot because Chibata had turned the jeep. I re aimed and fired in front of the horde. A fire roared to life in front of them, burning the ones nearest to the fire. I fired in a line, creating a barrier of flames. I didn't know why they didn't just go around the fire, but thankfully, they didn't. Before we completely lost sight of them, I caught a glimpse of all of the robed figures standing of the road in front of the fire, watching us.

            I handed Anara's gun back to her, and she loaded it." Chibata turned onto a side raod and said "We are going to put some real distance between us and whatever those robed figures are, they give me a bad feeling..." Anara said "We need to stay away from towns and cities, we should stop soon and set up camp." Hale pitched in. "Yeah, it would be better if we stayed in the bush, we would have more room to fight if those creeps with the robes came after us." Chibata sighed. "Alright, we'll set up camp in a while, it can't be much harder than it was in nineteen forty." We drove for a few more minutes, then sputtered to a stop. We got out of the jeep with our guns and gathered materials for a fire.

            In a short while, we had the materials for the fire, but nothing to light it with. How did they do it in the movies? Flint and steel? I then remembered that I had the knife I took from the car a long while ago. I really should do inventory more often. I grabbed a nearby rock and struck it on the knife. It took a few minutes, but we soon had a spark, then, flames, then, a fire. I didn't want to use my silver knife because I didn't want to damage it. "Alright, we should be ready to fight, if those robed people are vampires, they'll be here soon." Kaleen sighed, as if preparing to speak to a stupid child. "They are not vampires." She said. "Then what are they?" Asked Hale. Kaleen answered: "No one really knows what they are, they have not been to earth in a few centuries. If my memory serves, I remember reading about that symbol on their cloaks, if I'm right, they are the council of the Black Reqrium, they used to be human, no one knows what made them immortal, but they are no longer human."

            "Each of them possesses an ability," Kaleen went on. Not like the ones Saja had, what you will see from the council of the Black Reqrium will make what Saja can do seem like a magic trick, these entities are extremely dangerous, While you were in Artemis, I spent some of my time with the vampire council, they monitored you, and they told me what was happening, and while I was there, I had a look at their library. It contained information on the council of the Black Reqrium. Even their names and abilities."

            Kaleen didn't stop there. "The one with the cerulean eyes and light orange hair is named Silver, she has the power to control your mind, and turn you against your allies. The one with the leather patch covering half his face, he has one eye as light as the tropical sea, black hair and the power to control lightning. His name is Kenneth. The one with white hair and purple eyes, her name is Eumano, and she has the power to create an explosion on contact with something, but the explosion does not harm herself. The one with Brown hair and reddish brown eyes is named Agatu, and he can control your body, if he wishes, he could stop your heart, he can kill the nerves in your wrist so you can't move your hand, for example. The fifth member is named Sarita, she has light brown hair, brown eyes, and she can use pyrokinesis, which means she can manipulate fire without the use of magic. And the sixth member, is Vladimir, he is the head councilman."

            We all looked at her like she just spoke Japanese. "How do we stand a chance against those talents?" Asked Anara. "That's the point, no one has done it before, they traveled through every world and gathered the people with the most rare and dangerous talents, and when they returned to the realm of the Black Reqrium, they sat and waited for the perfect time to through the worlds into chaos. When that time comes for a world, it is known as judgment day." Hale yawned. "Alright, we should get some sleep, Nick, will you take first watch with me, you know, because you don't need to sleep?" I answered "Sure, but Kaleen should probably take watch instead of you, you need your rest." Hale nodded, and Kaleen stood up and walked over to me. I through some wood onto the fire. Everyone decided to sleep in the jeep, it was probably warm in there because it was near the fire.

            I had my gun and my knife ready at all times. If what Kaleen said about the council of the Black Reqrium was true, I was going to need my weapons. Just then, my mind started to have a string of completely irrational thoughts. Kill the others. Kill the others. Said a voice in my head, it was a girl's voice, she sounded maybe fifteen or sixteen. "No," I muttered under my breath. Then, the fire went from being two feet high, to eight feet high in an instant. The fire branched out of the fire pit and made a large circle around us.

            "Wake up!" Shouted Kaleen. I thought she was talking to the others, but she was talking to me, well, and the others. I was still standing, but it felt like I had blacked out for a few seconds. I shook my head to clear it. Just then, five figures walked through the flames, completely untouched. One of them, the one with the patch over his eye, Kenneth, his hands were pulsating with electricity. I noticed the leather patch on his face, concealing roughly half of it. I shouldered my shotgun and aimed it at through group. The one with the light orange hair, Silver, her cerulean eyes met mine. She looked thirteen or fourteen. Kill her. Said her voice in my head. Shoot her with your gun. The odd part was, my gun twitched towards her. "No," I said under my breath. My hands and arms moved of their own accord, I could do nothing to stop them. I opened my mouth to warn her to move, but the muscles in my throat and jaw contracted, causing a very uncomfortable feeling. All that came out of my mouth was a choking sound. Kaleen turned towards me, and with great reflexes, jumped into the air the second Silver forced me to pull the trigger.

            The gunshot woke everyone up, I'm surprised Kaleen's warning didn't. Just then, Eumano ran forward and created an explosion at her feet that launched her into the air. She had a slender build and pale skin tone, but her skin tone was not vampiric. The explosion made my ears ring. I looked wearily from side to side. I saw the other members of the council running at us, in seemingly slow motion. I looked up in time to see Eumano screaming through the air at high speeds. I didn't have time to grab my gun or my knife, so I moved out of the way. Eumano landed on her feet without any sign of pain. She just ran at me. I grabbed my knife and slashed at her. She brought her leg up in a kick, and pinned my hand against a tree. I dropped the knife on impact. She grabbed me by the neck and through me into the wall of fire. For a second I thought I would burn to death, but I was a vampire. As it turns out, I am fire proof. I landed in the flames, felt the extreme heat, and jumped back into the ring quickly.

            By now everyone had joined the fight. "What do you want?" Yelled Chibata. We only want the chosen one." Said Silver. I saw my shotgun on the ground a few meters away. I must have dropped it. I decided to go for it. I ran at it and thought that I made it, but it was then that a bolt of lightning struck the ground right next to the gun. Smoke poured out of the whole the sudden burst of electricity made. I looked up to see Kenneth, holding his first two fingers out in front of him, they too, were smoking. I ducked out of the way just as he fired another bolt of electricity where I was going to be in a second.

            I felt another mind enter mine. Silver. Kill the others. Said her voice. Behind my eyelids, I could see her cerulean eyes. You could do it. You are stronger than they are. The opposing force of Silver's mind slowly overtook my own. I then heard a gunshot, and Silver's mind withdrew from mine. I looked over to see that Kaleen had gotten her pistol and shot Silver in the shoulder. Without Silver's mind control, we gained a little advantage. I grabbed my shotgun while avoiding lightning blasts from Kenneth. Kaleen seemed to have read my mind, because we both went after Kenneth, seeing how he was the biggest threat. I looked over to see that Silver was on the ground, bleeding, but we didn't dare break our focus on the others to kill her. Kaleen and I dodged the lightning strikes from Kenneth, and we started to make our way closer, dodging and weaving. Serita's fire blasts did not affect Kaleen and I, so she focused her fire on the others.

            Kaleen and I did not stay still long enough to get in a shot on the council, if we did, we'd be dead. I counted our enemies, Silver was on the ground, Agatu was fighting the others, he had paralyzed Chibata and Hale, leaving Anara firing her .22 at them, she wouldn't last long, we needed a miracle. I recounted while I planned how to kill them. Four, wait, only four? There were five when they- I didn't get to finish that thought, because I knew exactly where the fifth one was, Eumano was behind Kaleen and I, and she had just detonated an explosion by touching both of us.

            The force of the blast knocked Kaleen and I forward, towards the council. I hurt all over, plus both Kaleen and I did face plants in the dirt. I looked up to see Kenneth pointing his two fingers at us, they sparked with electricity. I could not get up, and neither could Kaleen. I was prepared to take on the force of the lightning, and then a shot rang out, it was Anara! Her shot had hit him in the hand, forcing it to become enflamed, he howled in pain and let loose the bolt of lightning into the night sky.

            I was still sore from being blown up, but I managed to get up using vampire speed. We were halfway between our friends and the council. We advanced upon the council, and we probably could half taken them on, if not for what happened next; behind my eyelids, as if I were faintly seeing them in front of me, appeared the pair of cerulean eyes. Come here. Said the voice. I saw Silver clutching her gunshot wound. She looked my dead in the eyes, and the force of her will over mine was easily three times stronger as it had been before.

            Having Silver in my head was not very noticeable. She was influencing my thoughts, but I did the moving. I started to walk towards them. Yes. Obey. Came Silver's voice from the recesses of my mind. "Get out of my head!" I yelled at Silver. I saw Silver smile and tilt her head to the side. "We only want the Chosen One! We will let the rest of you live if you let us take him." Said Silver. My friends kept fighting. I glanced over to see that Chibata and Hale had gotten control of their bodies back, they took cover behind a group of trees, loading their guns. Eumano and Serita watched them, Kenneth, Silver and Agatu watched me to make sure I didn't try anything.

            Kaleen ran up to me, but Agatu raised his hand, and she was forced to kneel. I looked at her to see that her back was arched, and she was letting out choked sounds of pain. I could see her veins bulging. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Asked Silver. "You are not at all how Vladimir described." Said Silver. As Agatu's control on my body tightened, I was forced to turn away, but before that happened, I could have sworn I saw Silver blushing. Awkward. "Our orders were to leave you alive, but kill anyone who stood in our way. Vladimir wants to kill you himself, but when we reach him, you will beg for me to kill you." Said Kenneth. Tell your friends to stand down. Said Silver's voice from inside my head. "Stand down! I'll be alright." I yelled to them. I could see the puzzled looks on their faces.

            When we were away from my friends, the council of the Black Reqrium stood in closer to me, Agatu stood at the ready, as did Eumano. Silver stood behind me, forcing me to keep walking with her mind control. Serita stood beside me, in her hands was a fireball. And Kenneth walked on the other side of me, pointing his two fingers at me, they occasionally sparked with electricity. I knew it was pointless to try to escape, I would need to wait for the right time. I tried to stop walking, but Silver's grip held firm. Keep walking. Her voice sounded inside my head.

            I decided to start thinking of a way out. I surveyed my captors, they were all fairly slim, in terms of physical strength, I think they lacked in that category, but they had abilities, did I have any abilities? I remembered Saja saying something about some vampires having abilities. It was a naive hope, but worth a try I guess. I closed my eyes, and focused on Silver's presence in my mind. I tryed pushing it out of my head, but it was no use. It doesn't work like that. Came Silver's voice.

            We came upon the outskirts of town, houses were sparse, but became even denser as we walked farther in. I glanced around at the buildings, they were mostly apartments, if I could somehow break Silver's grip on my mind, I could run into an apartment and loose them. I looked at the nearest building, then at Silver behind me. I had an idea. I eyed her gunshot wound, and rammed my elbow as hard as I could into it. I felt her grip on my mind vanish as she screamed in pain, before the other council members could realize it, I was gone. I made a break for the apartments. I crashed through the front window, and kept running.

            When I was inside, I ran up the stairs, after a few flights I ducked into a janitor's closet, but I wasn't done yet. A closet would be too obvious. I shut the door and jumped up into the air vent, carefully removing and putting back on the cover. No sooner did I put it back on did I hear them come up the staircase. "Where did he go?" Yelled Kenneth. I could feel Silver's mind against mine. Come out, wherever you are. Her voice rang through my head. I was almost forced to obey, but a second away from my breaking point, she stopped. "He's not here, let's check the next floor." Said Silver. "Eumano, Serita, stay here in case he comes through this floor." Said Agatu. I heard footsteps running up a staircase.

            "I have an idea." Said Eumano, an explosion blew the door to splinters. Serita and Eumano looked inside, but they didn't see me in the vents. "I thought he'd be in here." Said Eumano. I then crawled backwards in the vent.            I reached a crossroads and turned right. I was careful to avoid ceiling vents, so I wouldn't fall through. I then came to a vent on the side of me, on the right wall. I heard voices. "He could be anywhere." I heard Silver say. "I felt him back there somewhere with my mind, but I didn't know where he was, so I thought he was up here.” Well, it was as good a guess as any, I don't think Serita and Eumano are having any more luck than we are." Kenneth said.

            "He's lucky that Vladimir wanted him for himself, we could have easily slaughtered him and his friends back in the woods." Said Kenneth. "Yes, although it was fun toying with them, we don't get to use our powers very often." Said Silver. So they were just playing with us? Vladimir only wanted me for himself? He was definitely related to Saja. I crawled past them and into another section of the vents. I looked through the vent on the far wall and saw a brick wall through it. Perfect.

            I kicked the vent out and dropped into an alleyway. I ran away as fast as I could. In a few minutes I was back at the campsite. I saw my friends waiting around, they perked up when they saw me. "You're alive!" Kaleen yelled. I nodded and went to grab my shotgun and my knife. "What's wrong?" Asked Kaleen. "They were playing with us, Vladimir wanted to kill me himself. We need to move." I told her. We all piled into the jeep and drove off. Not long after we were on our way, I saw the council appear at the edge of our campsite, glaring at us.

            "How do we kill people with abilities like they have?" Asked Hale. "We can't, and we certainly can't find a diplomatic solution to this, I don't know what we'll do." I said. "They don't appear to be vampires, because guns can hurt them." Said Anara. "Yeah, but with Silver's mind control, it would be almost impossible to get a shot in on any one of them, she would have us all in capitated before any one of us pulled the trigger." Said Hale.

            Just then, the image of the council standing there started to fade, my thoughts became a dreamlike haze. I saw Tigiti before me. In my head I heard a voice: The people you once thought cast away will shine a guiding light. Woah, that was random. My thoughts and my vision returned to normal. Did I just have a vision? "Are you alright?" Kaleen asked. I looked at her and said "I had a vision." This sparked Hale's attention. "Of what?" He asked. "It was Tigiti telling me that 'the people you once thought cast away will shine a guiding light." I said. He shook his head, smiling. "Tigiti always told me that, he believed that you could contact the spirit of anyone that you know, and they can give you advice. He always said such things, he was a very spiritual man." I nodded, not truly believing that it could happen, but what the heck? We needed all the help we could get.

            "Alright, so how do I contact these spirits?" I asked. "I don't know, reach out with your mind? Meditate? Tigiti did those a lot." Said Hale. I then had a thought. "You guys, you have helped me more than you know, I don't want to drag you down with me, things have gotten too dangerous, and they will just keep getting more dangerous, you guys don't need to help me anymore if you don't want to. I don't want anyone else to die." Everyone looked stunned. Chibata said "listen kid, if I can handle those god damned Germans in nineteen forty, I think I can handle a few kids with special powers. The world is already in deeper chaos than it ever has been in, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are the world's last hope." Hale spoke up. "I agree with the old man, we are the world's last hope, we are the only ones who understand what is actually happening, and we are the only ones who can save the world now."

Author's Note

Alright, that is all of the chapters that are finished right now, chapter five will be here shortly, so keep checking back!

Reviews

[Laura Lynn]

great story, it's better than the last chapter of yours I had read, which seemed to be more rough compared to this

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review!

[John Mcnab]

My god! I love how Nick turned into a vampire for the good of his world! He is a true hero indeed! I love how you described the process of becoming a vampire! This shows that becoming a vampire is not all fin and games, and is a serious thing in your books! Awesome character interaction/development! Great detail and flow! Keep up the great work!

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for reviewing! The decision of turning Nick into a vampire or not was a very hard one to make! I am glad you think it was the right one!