Book Two Chapter Nineteen: Reunion

After escaping the horde for the moment, Nick and his friends stumble across two old friends of Nick's. Shortly afterwards, Irene's fate is decided.

Chapter Nineteen Reunion:

"Who's there?" Asked a young girl's voice.

There was the clanking of metal nearby. How odd. From the shadows emerged a teenaged girl holding a knife. She had a metal leg. Recognition flashed through me. I knew this girl.

"You!" She said with pure hatred.

She swung the knife around in the air in anger.

"What did you do!?" The girl with the metal leg yelled.

I heard footsteps from deeper within the room.

"Who is it, Anara?" Asked a girl's voice.

Then I saw her. She came around the corner of the wall. She had deep crimson eyes. It was Kaleen.

Happiness filled me. I had found Kaleen!

"Nick?! What happened? There were Kerulen all over the place for a few days! And the vampire outbreak has gone on for a year! Where have you been?" Kaleen blurted.

I filled her in everything. Everything since the new Saja captured the old Saja and I. I even filled her in on my loss of the battle for humanity.

"Nick, it's all right, we all screw up at times." Kaleen said.

Wow, everyone was taking this lighter than I expected.

"Screw up doesn’t cover it." I said, feeling more down on myself than ever.

"You should be ashamed! You pathetic excuse of a-"

Kaleen cut Anara off.

"Anara..." Kaleen said warningly.

"Well who's this little bundle of joy?" Lisa asked me, gesturing to Anara.

"This is Anara, her leg is a long story." I said, pointing to her metal leg.

Anara's face grew dark.

"He did this!" Anara said in anger.

Eric nudged me.

"Well guys, I hate to break up this ever so cheerful reunion, but need I remind you that there are hundreds of Kerulen out there that are looking for blood?" He said.

"There are what!? Is that what that noise was?" Shrieked Kaleen.

"This is all his fault!" Anara said, pointing at me.

Anger filled me because Anara was so eager to blame me.

"We need to get out of here right now!" Said Tim urgently.

"Are you guys coming?" Asked Kaleen, who was already at the stairwell on the far side of the room.

The others looked at her, dumbfounded by her speed. I had filled them in on how Kaleen was a vampire, but they must not have believed me. She peeked back up at us, gave a cliché vampire hiss as she ejected her fangs, and bolted downstairs. Her laughter rang through the stairwell. I ran after her.

"Nick, why aren't you running at vampire speed?" Asked Kaleen when I reached her at the bottom of the stairs.

I took a deep breath.

"I'm human, Kaleen. Saja turned me back with the Essence of Life." I admitted.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kaleen said.

We could still hear the noisy Kerulen behind the apartment block. Hearing them brought up a thought.

"Guys, we all need weapons, I won't always be here to take the shot." They all looked at me.

"But, I've never used a gun before." Said Lisa.

We kept moving.

"Is there an arms cartel around here?" I asked.

"I don't think so." Kaleen said.

She looked at me, surprised.

"Who's the girl?" She asked, looking at the girl I still had slung over my shoulder.

It took me a second to realize who she was talking about.

"Well, this is the part you won't like... This is Irene. The Black Reqrium." I said sheepishly.

Kaleen reeled backwards. Anger was very present on her face.

"First Saja, now you help Irene!? I am starting to question who your allegiance lies with!" She challenged.

"You know how it was with Saja! It was different than this." I shot back.

"How so?" Kaleen asked.

I blurted out the truth:

"Because I shot Irene!" I said.

Kaleen's anger seeped into her voice through clenched teeth. Her fangs were barred and her crimson eye flashed with anger. If I didn’t know Kaleen better, I’d have sword that she was about to bite me.

"You should have left her to die!" Kaleen spat.

"She is still a person! I couldn't end her life, when I shot her, I thought only of my anger towards Saja, I didn't think of Irene as a person, only an obstacle blocking my journey forward. In the end, I didn't have the strength to kill her." I admitted to Kaleen.

Kaleen seemed moved by my words.

"I guess you're right, I think it is good that you aren't a vampire, humanity is something no one should loose. Besides, maybe she can tell us where Saja is?" Kaleen suggested.

She took Irene from my arms and we laid her on the sidewalk. She took off the sleeve I had used to stop her bleeding. Kaleen gaped at the hole in Irene's shoulder. I checked her pule. She had a faint heartbeat.

"She won't last long with that hole in her shoulder." Said Kaleen.

Nothing looked too damaged, there weren't veins spewing blood, there were no dramatic changes, just a hole. It wasn't even bleeding anymore.

Just then, Irene's eyes shot open! She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she didn't do anything. Irene's attention turned to the hole in her shoulder.

"Ow...Ow..." She said weakly, she touched a hand gingerly to her shoulder.

This made my guilt surge back. She found the hole, but didn't react.

"Where...?" She began.

Then she focused on me. She smiled.

"So, the Chosen One lives to fight another day." She said.

I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but I was almost positive that she was impressed. I expected her to say something like 'that's about to change.' or something like that, but she didn't.

"You lost the game." Irene sang, waving her head slowly from side to side.

“What? What are you talking about? Irene, say something that makes sense! Please!” I begged, feeling guiltier than ever.

"The Essence of Life and the Blade of Faith are destroyed. You lost the game." She sang again.

“What!?” Kaleen said in surprise and fear.

“This means that the world has no hope.” I said in dismay.

Eric, Lisa and Tim just looked at the three of us like we were spewing gibberish.

My heart sank upon hearing these words. What? She had destroyed the two relics that held the only hope of humanity's salvation! This was bad, this was very bad. There was no other way of restoring the world to its former state. I looked to Kaleen. She had genuine fear in her eyes. My friends just looked creeped out at Irene's creepy little song. Irene then sang another little verse:

Have you seen this vampire?

Roams this world she was created.

Though she was defeated she shall rise again.

Watching you from a distant shore,

She'll come back stronger than before.

When the darkness comes she will strike for sure.

In the fog is where she waits,

Even up to these present dates.

Chosen beware she will never die.

Chosen beware she will never die.

 

That was insanely creepy, she had sung the verse from the underwater cave, where the White Reqrium was killed. With that, her head slowly dipped back onto the ground, her heartbeat had stopped completely, and she was gone. We all sat there, letting her eerie verse hang in the air.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!