Time to Go

  As night fell I wandered the upper levels of the bare fortress. The place was so roomy, and the craftsmanship that went into its building was amazing. The entire place was cut right into the side of the mountain, though the outside was built with cut stone and put in place the inside was something completely different then I had ever seen before.

  There were no cracks nor signs of water leaks anywhere. I had worked as a carpenter as a human, but this place was beyond me. Everything was so perfect, every doorway, every wall, every floor, every ceiling was flat and smooth and perfectly cut. There was a hallway in the upstairs that had an arch ceiling that blew my mind.

  Every room and every hallway had the high ceilings. There was a ball room in the upstairs that was so big that it looked like you could play arena football in it. though there were no chairs in that ballroom, there was a raised platform that could have been used as a stage. The ceiling in that particular room had several huge candle lit chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was the only room in the entire place that had some sort of lighting. I guess Cline would entertain human guest from time to time.

  Though there were several of these type of ballrooms this one was the grandest of them. To my surprise there were two large fire places in them. Gloria walked into the room and met me in the center or the ballroom. I wondered how mad Gloria would be mad at me if I told her I wouldn’t mind living in a place like this if she made it up like she had done in our house back in Washington.

  Gloria walked up to me and took my hand, ’Penny for your thoughts?’

  I smiled and said, ’I was just thinking of where we were going to live if we survived this mess.’

   ’If the Council was to leave us in peace I would say we should live here.’

   ’Really?’

   ’Yeah. It would need an incredible amount of work though to make it livable though.’

  I could already see her mind working it out, ’What would you do if we stayed here?’

   ’I would have a whole new section built onto the front of it, I don’t like the front, it looks like a prison. Then, I would have the dungeon filled in. Have someone go down there with a flame thrower and burn everything then filled in with cement.

   ’Then I think I would have electricity put throughout the entire place, then have it painted. And think about this Conner, we’re in France. Think of the furnishings we could get, everything would look so Victorian. We could decorate the whole place like that.’

   ’I don’t know what that means, but if it would make you happy I would be okay with it. But if you would, please let us get all the stuff that we’re keeping out of the vampire cells before you close it up.’

   ’They’re not going to let us stay here.’

  I just shrugged at the thought.

   ’How long will it take them to come kill us?’

   ’I don’t know. In truth I want to run like hell, but in my gut something’s telling me to stay put. But damn I want to run.’

   ’Why don’t we Conner? Everyone’s asking me why we haven’t left. Eventually the Council is going to come after us.’

   ’I know Gloria, I know. You don’t think I haven’t been over this in my head a hundred times in the last twelve hours? Something tells me to wait, so that’s what we’re doing. I really believe we need to know what the Council’s doing before we run. We can’t just run off blindly.’

   ’Why? If the Council is east we go west, that’s what I always did.’

   ’First of all I ain’t as fast as you are. Two, that’s what they’re probably expecting us to do.’

  ‘And when we don’t, they may hesitate. In the last several thousand years they haven’t had worried about one of them dying, they’re going to be very careful on this. Plus it won’t take long for the East to know about our little party, they’ll have their spies too you know.’ Sebastian said softly.

  Gloria and I turned as Sebastian joined the ballroom and our conversation.

   ’As much as I hate waiting on the Council Gloria, Conner’s right we have to know what they’re planning.’

   ’Well Sebastian, I shall leave you and Conner to your planning, since I think you’re both nuts for staying here like this.’

   ’Are you planning on leaving without me?’ I asked worried.

   ’No Conner, and it bothers me that you would even think that.’ with that, Gloria turned and left the large ballroom.    

   ‘This place Sebastian, when was it built?’

   ‘Oh let me think, two thousand years ago or so.’

   ‘Did vampires make it?’

   ‘No of course not, what would make you think that?’

   ‘This place is amazing, everything is so perfectly cut. There’s no cracks, no water leaks. I mean, it’s amazing.’

   ‘Conner the humans of your time believe because they’ve learned to fly, put a man on the moon, dive to the deepest depths think they’re so much smarter than the generations that came before them. I’ve been around for thousands of generations men, so if there’s one thing that I consider myself somewhat of an expert on it would be humans. I’ll tell you, over the years humans seem to get dumber with every generation. It’s your technology that makes you so stupid, if the power went out for several years tomorrow half the world’s population would die out I bet.’

  I’m so glad I wasn’t human anymore; Sebastian was probably right with his assessment of humanity.

   ‘So what do you think?’ Sebastian asked scratching his chin.

   ‘I’m thinking about sending John to find out what’s going on.’

   ‘You think he’ll go?’

   ‘For the opportunity to get out of here, I think he’ll go.’

   ‘Do you think he’ll come back if you send him and he discovers the worst?’

  I thought about it for a second, ‘Yeah…Tabitha’s here. I don’t think he’ll leave her. I think she’s what’s kept him here so long to begin with.’

   ‘I think you’re right. If anyone can sniff out what’s going on, John will.’

   ‘Sebastian, let me ask you something.’

   ‘Shoot.’

   ‘We attacked here two and a half day ago right?’

   ‘Nah, it’s only been a day and a half. We got here early yesterday morning. It was yesterday afternoon that you took Ava to the ocean.’

   ‘And I got back this afternoon.’ I said finishing the timeline.

   ‘So?’ Sebastian asked, ‘Was that the question?’

   ‘Let’s assume that the fresh scent the Southerners discovered was a spy.’

   ‘Okay.’

   ‘That means the one vampire that got away went to one of the Ancients.’

   ‘Right.’

   ‘That Ancient, who you said was probably Hephaistion because he’s the closest one to us.’

   ‘Yeah.’

   ‘How far away is Hephaistion?’

   ‘Five hours maybe.’

   ‘So the trip there and back would be around ten hours.’

   ‘Yeah, that sounds about right.’

   ‘Enough time has passed for Cline’s guy to get away and raise the alarm. There, back to here, then back to Hephaistion. So fifteen hours plus a few hours in between to get the story straight.’

   ’Conner I’m not following were your going with this.’

   ’From the time since that one got away, it’s been over thirty six hours.’

   ’Ah, I understand where you going. Whatever plan the Council is going to put into action has already started in one fashion or another.’

   ’Yeah.’ I said sighing.

   ’John!’ both Sebastian and I said at the same time.

  A second later John entered the hall, ’You called?’

   ’Yes we have a job for you.’ I said.

   ’What kind of job?’ John asked suspiciously.

   ’One that only you could do.’ Sebastian replied.

  John crinkled up his eyebrows.

   ’John we need you to go find the Council.’ I said quietly.

   ’Have you lost your mind? You want me to go find the Council.’

   ’Something like that.’ I said with a smile.

   ’Conner that’s not funny. You killed an Ancient yesterday and condemned us all, and now you want me to go wandering around Europe and look for the very people that want us dead?’

   ’Yeah that’s about the size of it.’ laughed Sebastian.

   ’That’s not funny Sebastian.’ snapped John.

   ’Look calm down John…’

   ’Don’t tell me to calm down; this isn’t my idea of a good time like you two lunatics!’

    ’Will you shut up and listen for a second please. Whatever the Council is going to do, they’ve already put those wheels into motion. We need to know what they’re doing so we know what we need to do, we’re trying to plan an escape here and we need to know what they’re planning.’

   ’So you’re asking me to spy.’

   ’Don’t act all offended John. That’s why I’ve been sent to kill you on more than one occasion.’ Sebastian said getting irritated.

   ’That was a separate issue Sebastian, so don’t even bring that up.’

   ’Look whatever, are you going to go?’ I asked.

   ’Yeah, do I have a choice?’

   ’No not really.’ I said sympathetically.

   ’Why am I not surprised. When do you want me to leave?’

   ’Now if you would.’ Sebastian said.

  John nodded, turned and left.

  Sebastian looked at me and smiled.

   ’What are you smiling at?’ I snapped.

   ’You.’ he said with a chuckle.

   ’What’s so funny?’

   ’Conner were you happy back in that house back in Washington?’

   ’Yeah, I guess.’

   ’Yeah bullshit. You hated living there.

   ’What are you talking about? I love living with Gloria. It’s a whole lot better than living with all of you!’

   ’I don’t doubt that, but you’re a natural at war Conner. There’s no way you could have enjoyed the stillness of that life. I do not doubt you love Gloria, and living a life with her. But I saw you fighting Augustus, that my friend was the happiest I’ve have ever seen you.’

   ’That’s because I didn’t think he was going to kill me. I knew I was going to win.’

   ’Yeah that’s crap. You knew he could kill you, but you were in a fight. It’s what we live for. So cheer up my friend we’re about to have a hell of a fight here shortly.’ Sebastian laughed and turned to walk out of the empty ballroom.

   ’You are the devil you know that?’ I yelled after him.

 

   ’Tabs you rock. This is the second time you’ve gotten me pants.’ I said smiling.

   ’I know that, where’s John?’

   ’John is securing our retreat.’ Sebastian said with all seriousness.

   ’How’s he doing that?’

  I looked at Gloria; she just kind of shrugged with her eyes.

   ’Gloria how’s John doing that?’

   ’John went looking for the Council, to see if they’re moving against us yet.’

   ’Oh my.’ Tabitha said and sitting on the ground.

   ’Don’t worry Tabs; John knows what he’s doing when it comes to this sort of thing.’ Sebastian said smiling.

   ’How do you know that? Something could happen to him, he could get caught.’

   ‘I doubt that.’

   ‘Oh yeah Sebastian, what makes you so confident that he’ll be fine. Some of us aren’t as cold and mean as you are.’

  Tabitha’s comment seemed to bother Sebastian a bit.

   ‘I assure you he’ll be fine. I know you won’t like to hear this, but I’ve been sent more than once to kill John for doing what he’s doing right now. John has a sixth sense for staying alive. When everyone else is getting killed, you can always trust John to find a way of dodging death. He’ll be fine, but it’s going to take him a day or so to find out what we need and get back here. Trust me he’ll be fine.’

  Pablo walked up to me and nodded away from our little group; I nodded back and followed him just inside the front door of the compound.

   ‘Are you planning on doing something with that?’ Pablo said bumping Cline’s head with his toe.

   ‘Oh yeah.’ I reached down and grabbed Cline’s head and walked back out into the courtyard, ‘Tabitha put this in your backpack.’ I tossed Cline’s head towards her.

   ‘You know that’s just disgusting Conner!’ Tabitha yelled back at me.

  Walking back inside I heard Sebastian asked if she had a bag to put it in because he would grab it for her, Sebastian was all heart.

   ‘Is that what you were wondering about?’ I asked walking back to Pablo.

   ‘No, I was wondering if you wanted my people to start running patrols around the mountain just in case John doesn’t come back.’

   ‘John’s not going to get caught Pablo.’

   ‘Oh I don’t doubt that, I’m just referring to the fact that he might run off on us and leave us out here blind and deaf and soon to be burned.’

   ’John wouldn’t do that.’

  Pablo started to argue but I raised my hand to stop him before he got started, ’John will be back, but I think it would be wise if someone would sweep the boarders of the mountain to make sure he doesn’t miss something. If you want your people to do it then I’ll go with that.’

   ’I’m afraid I must insist that my people do it. Besides you Conner, they’re the only ones I trust.’

   ’Thank you Pablo, I mean that.’

  Pablo bowed slightly and turned and went outside to get the Southerners going. He spoke quickly in Spanish to them and they took off over the wall and ran as if their life depended on it.

  Butch and Allen maintained their guard through the night, and the Southerners ran their patrols the rest came inside the confines of the fortress. Tabitha about drove me nuts with her constant pacing and her worrying about John. Nothing that anyone said made any difference in her anxiety in John being gone.

  In the army we sometimes had to order people to do things that would get them hurt or killed. We understood that concept, we might not have liked it but we understood it was necessary to do the job that we needed to do. This was no different.

  We needed to know what the Council was up to. We needed to know if they had gathered their strength, something, anything, we needed to know. It would suck big time if we took off and walked right into the entire might of the Council. Or if they were split and were going to take us from several directions at once.

  We couldn’t go east; the Council was that direction more or less. Couldn’t go west back to America, what would be the point they would just chase us there. Chase us here, chase us there; eventually we would have to turn and fight. We could go south, but eventually we would have to turn east or west. I didn’t like the idea of going south then east, that would mean the Eastern Empire. We didn’t need that head ache, west would mean South America.

  I think the Council might chase us there; in large numbers there was nothing to fear there. The Council themselves wouldn’t even need to go, but they would need to send a big enough party that they could deal with us. A party that was big enough to take down a group that killed an Ancient. That would leave them without enough man power to defend against the East. But if the entire Council with all of their soldiers came, Europe would be left undefended. But the East doesn’t care about land, they have plenty. It’s the Council that the East wishes to destroy.

  So if the Council came to South America, the East would have to follow them there. Then the war would be wide open in some jungle were no one would be the wiser. If the East was motivated enough to chase the Council all the way to South America, then I think the Council would forget their pissyness towards me. At least for the time being until the threat of the East was neutralized.

 

  I went over these types of possibilities till the sun came up. John had been gone for just over twelve hours, and two full days had passed since we attacked Cline. Somewhere out there was the Council, and somewhere past that was both of our enemy, the East.

   ’Take a walk with me Sebastian.’

   ’Conner what is it?’ Gloria asked with sudden concern.

   ’What is it? What’s wrong?’ Tabitha asked on the verge of panic.

   ’Nothing, settle down. I have something on my mind that I want to talk to Sebastian about if that’s okay.’

  Gloria did not respond with her mouth, but I could see in her eye she was not happy with my sarcasm, well Gloria should try leading this mad house and see if she doesn’t get a little irritated. Tabitha went back to pacing a pathway into the stone floor.

   Sebastian followed me out the front door into the courtyard, not saying a word knowing that I would talk when I was ready. I took two quick steps and jumped over the wall, Sebastian was right on my heels as I landed.

   ’I shouldn’t have left my sword.’ I mumbled to myself.

   ’What was that?’ asked Sebastian.

   ’Nothing, forgot my sword.’

   ’Do you want to go back and get it?’

   ’Nah, it’ll be all right.’

  I led Sebastian down the road till I couldn’t hear Tabitha’s pacing back inside the fortress.

   ’I’ve been thinking.’ I suddenly said to Sebastian.

   ’I could see that, you always look like you’re in a great deal of pain when you’re thinking hard.’

   ’Ha, ha, ha, Mr. Funnyman.’

  Sebastian smiled slightly at me.

   ’I’ve been thinking that when John gets back, we should head to South America.’

  Sebastian seemed a bit caught off guard by my suggestion on our next course of action, ’South America? That’s an unexpected suggestion. Do you mind telling me why South America?’

   ’For that very reason, all enemies are here more or less. The Council, the East. The Council I’m thinking will think we’re running back to the States.’

   ‘Yeah, I’m sure they’ll think that.’

   ‘But going back to the States will only delay our problems; I’m taking the East out of the equation for a second. If we run home, they’ll just follow us. Eventually we’ll have to turn and fight them. We don’t have the man power to fight them here or back home. We don’t have the weapons, nor do we have the time to make vampires that will be loyal to us.’

   ‘I agree, but putting the East back into the equation the Council will need us.’

   ‘Yeah and how long will it take for the East to come Sebastian? They first will have to find out about are little civil war out here, then it will take time to mobilize then move this way. And if whoever is running the show out there has half a brain I doubt they’ll come right away.’

   ’What makes you so sure?’

   ’Because they have got to know that that would only unite us again.’

   ’They’ll let us fight some first before they attack. So going to South America is nothing more than an out of the blue faint then?’

   ’The Ancients I don’t think want a war with us Sebastian. They can’t ignore Cline’s death, but…they have got to know that a war against us will be costly.’

   ’Which means they’ll have to act quickly before we can get ourselves organized.’

   Sebastian and I just looked at each other, I suddenly felt extremely vulnerable without my sword.

   Sebastian suddenly drew his falcata, ’Someone’s coming.’ Sebastian said nodding off down the road.

   ’RUN!’ John shouted at Sebastian and I, ’Don’t stand there looking at me, run!’

   Sebastian and I turned and ran back towards the fortress, John quickly ran past us.

   ’What’s going on?’ I yelled at John as I ran for my life back to the fortress.

  John jumped the wall yelling for everyone to run for their lives.

   Sebastian and I came over the wall at the same time. Pablo threw me my sword and sleeve as I came over the wall; I caught it a second before I hit the courtyard.

   ’John what the hell’s going on?’ I asked grabbing his arm.

   ’The Council is right behind me.’

   ’How many?’ Sebastian asked.

   ’All of them. The whole army, everyone! We’ve got to go, they’re right behind me!’

   Sebastian and I looked right at each other, ’Go!’ I shouted.

  Everyone jumped the wall at almost the same time.

   ’North, north!’ I said pointing in that direction.

  Everyone turned and bolted north. John led the group, I could tell he was about to go nuts running so slow, poor John I could only go so fast. Sebastian swung in next to me.

   ’North? I thought we were going to South America.’

   ’North seemed like the most backward direction we could go, I’m hoping that it will make them move more cautiously. John what the hell, I asked you to find the Council not bring them back with you.’ I kind of chuckled at my little joke.

   ’Devils all of you!’ Jason shouted.

   ’Thank you Jason, we know we are,’ I said to him, ’So what happened John?’

  Before John could continue we were all startled by the four Southerners who were out patrolling. They spoke quickly in Spanish to Pablo, he responded quickly back to them.

   ’They hear us moving and came to see what was going on. I told them the Council was here.’

   ’Thank you Pablo, go ahead John with your story.’ I said.

   ’When I left yesterday I figured the best place for me to go first was to go see Hephaistion. But I didn’t even get that far, he was moving south with all his soldiers about two hours east of us.’

   ’Meeting up with Roberto I bet.’ Sebastian concluded.

   ’You’re probably right Sebastian, ’John said, ’So I went back around and went south, I wanted to see if we could still make it back to the ocean, so I traveled down to Spain’s border and ran right into the trail of a large march. I followed it and ran right into the entire army of the Council. I shot back north and ran back into Hephaistion. I had to run for my life back west to get away from him and ran back into the Council, I was nearly caught.’

   ’See Tabitha, I told you John would be fine.’

   ’Sebastian he is far from fine.’ Tabitha snapped.

   ’So what’s the plan fearless leader?’ John asked.

   ’We run, run like hell.’ I said.  

 

  We ran like hell, there’s no other way to say it. John estimated that there were several hundred vampires chasing us. Several hundred did seem like that many to me, but Sebastian told had told me that vampires did not keep large armies, there wasn’t the resources to maintain them. Besides a hundred armed vampires that trained together as one unit was more the enough to destroy any modern human army.

  Sebastian said that the Council’s army could take on the full strength of the U.S. military as long as they didn’t use nuclear weapons, though I found that hard to believe.

  Over the past four days John ran us hard. We took no breaks, though we did not need to sleep, eat or breathe. But running without slowing or stopping was mentally draining. I did not know how far we had run or swam; three days ago we swam in the North Sea whatever or where ever that was. I’m the slowest out of the group, so we could go no fast then I could pick them up and put them down. John’s constant worrying about our pace was going to give him an aneurism I thought.  

     I didn’t worry too much about it, as fast as we took off out of Cline’s place they would have caught us already if they were moving faster than us. John had said that they were right on his heels, but once he got passed them, I’m sure they slowed their pursuit. Now it seemed they would be content to drive us to exhaustion, then when we were too tired from not eating they would make us turn and fight and we would die.

   I still wanted to do South America, but now we were going to take the long way there. The plan now was to run across Russia to the Bering Strait, across to Alaska and down the west coast of the U.S. through Central America and back to South America. The thought completely blew my mind that I would circle the globe on foot. Every time I thought about it, it would bring a smile to my face.

  I had no plan once we hit South America though. I didn’t think the Council would stop chasing us as long as we were all together, but breaking up would just cause the Council to break and follow us in small groups. I was glad that Sebastian got me that bucket of blood to drink, I knew I was now running on the fuel that it had giving me.

  We knew the Council was still behind us. From time to time John would drop back behind us to check to see if they were still following us. They always were, at a steady ten miles or so. The thing that worried everyone was that was that every time John would drop back, it would be a different group leading the pursuit.

  I tried to put peoples mind at ease about that, what that told me was that the Council was having trouble keeping up the pace John was setting. I sure hope so, because a rested group would have to double time it to catch the lead group then take up the pursuit. But then again, that was my hope.

  From time to time we would startle a herd of something or other and we would pick one off and eat on the run. It would slow us down when we would, but it was one advantage to being chased. Animals wouldn’t hear us running, but other animals would hear those that we caught and would run for their lives. It was the one advantage that a fleeing army would have over another.

  It was a tactic as old as war. The army being chased would destroy everything in its path leaving nothing for the pursuers to use. You could break an army without ever fighting it if you could keep moving long enough. I guess that’s why I decided on running the long way to South America.

   The Council, eventual would have to break off the pursuit and let us go, which they couldn’t. Or they would have to ask for terms, something they wouldn’t do. So here we are, running like idiots around the world.  

 Running across northern Russia I think had cured Jason of his dislike of running on snow. It was either that or he was too scared of the Council to complain. Every hour we ran the snow became deeper and the weather colder. I was grateful that the cold no longer bothered me. When I was human I hated the cold, the army seemed to love though. They would see it was going to snow or rain and would want to sleep outside in it for a week. Stupid Army.

  The morale of our group was dropping badly as the sun rose on the fifth day of pursuit. I knew if we were hurting as bad as we were, it had to be worse for the Council’s people. Their running wasn’t life or death the way it was for us. They were being driven to follow us to the ends of the earth; there was no way they could keep this pace up with no food.

  John had been quite careful to make sure we came into no contact with humans. How many miles we had run I couldn’t even begin to imagine. I knew doing the mental math that we had been running as fast as I could go for over a hundred straight hours. I wished every time my foot hit the ground that we would see the Bering Strait. But hour after hour all I saw was snow as far as the eye could see.

  Throughout the day John dropped back two times and there about ten miles back was the lead group. John had said the lead group had changed from the first time back to the second time. And as the sun set on the fifth day I finally broke down and asked John how much farther was the Strait. I was so hesitant to ask, I was afraid that by asking it would make the morale fall even more. But John saved me by saying that we were a day and a half, two tops.

    I didn’t like the idea of swimming again, but keeping a large army together across a strait as treacherous as the Bering would work to our advantage. The Council wouldn’t pursue us without a sizable force. There were twenty of us now that Frank and Eric had joined us. I figured the Council would need at least three times that number to take us out. If I thought I would need sixty to do a job like killing us I would send eighty to be sure.

  The afternoon of the sixth day we ran up on a large herd of reindeer. There were enough that every one of us was able to feed. We stopped for a few minutes when we caught the herd; some of us quartered the reindeer to eat the meat as we ran. I took half of one with me, it didn’t slow me down much and I could eat while I ran so I figured why waist a meal.

  Finding the reindeer and the knowledge that we could be seeing the Strait soon lifted morale wonderfully. It was all I could think about, hitting the water. I was so bored with running; my mind was having trouble focusing on the land. It was almost like sleeping. But as the sun set in the west something completely unexpected happened. A single runner from the Council over took us.

   ’Conner!’ Sebastian yelled from the back of our group.

  I looked back towards Sebastian and saw the lone vampire running for all he was worth trying to catch us. He was several miles behind us, but after a few moments I could hear him calling my name.

   ‘What do you want to do?’ Sebastian asked.

   ‘John.’ I said nodding back to the lone vampire.

  John nodded and slowed his pace.

   ‘Please be careful.’ Tabitha said.

   ‘I will.’ was all John said as he turned and shot back towards the runner.

  It only took a few moments for the two to meet. We did not slow our pace as we ran, but the group kept one eye on John and the newcomer and the other on the way we were headed.

  John and the runner exchanged words for only a few moments and the runner turned and headed back the way he came, John turned and shot back towards us like a bullet. Seeing the John’s speed I slowed my pace, this was important.

   ‘Conner stop!’ John called out a mile or so out from us.

  I slowed and turned and came back towards John, the group was right on my heels.

   ’What’s up?’ I asked.

   ’The Council wants to send an emissary to talk to us.’

   ’What?’ Butch asked.

   ’Be quite Butch,’ I said raising my hand towards him, ’What about?’

   ’He didn’t say. But they need to talk to us; the messenger had said that the Council was slowing their pace, that they have no interest in pursuing us any longer. But to keep the distance as small as possible, they would stop once we came into sight if we stopped.’

   ’Screw that Conner let’s get the hell out of here!’ Butch said.

   ’They won’t pull anything if they want to send a emissary to us Butch.’ Sebastian explained.

   ’How do you know that?’ he asked.

   ’Because there’s a certain way things are done in the ancient world. If we didn’t like what was said, and if the Council wanted to chase again they would let us get the distance we’ve kept before they resumed the pursuit.’ Sebastian explained.

   ’That’s just stupid.’ Butch said scratching his head.

   ’That’s because you’re a barbarian Butch.’ Pablo said back to Butch.

   ’What do we need to do Sebastian to let them know we’ll see their emissary?’ I asked.

   ’Wait for them to catch up. Once they see us they’ll stop and he’ll come over to tell us whatever’s on their minds.’

   ’If we don’t like what he has to say can we kill him?’ Butch asked.

   ’No.’ Sebastian said.

   ’Well one could asked right?’

   ’Here they come.’ Ed said quietly. 

  The Council’s army stopped about three or four mile out from us. The army had been moving in a column, but once the lead company stopped the trailing companies fell in to the right and to the left of the first company. The drill and ceremony of the Council’s army was impressive. We could hear the orders being shouted by the commanders, their movements were perfectly executed. Each company had a twelve man front, and looked to be twelve men deep. There were five companies, seven hundred plus against our twenty.

  The five companies stood side by side with each other, once the companies dressed their ranks they did not move. All that could be heard was the wind blowing, I wished now seeing the full might of the Council that it would blow us away.

   ‘Well, I hope their emissary has good news for us.’ Sebastian said with a sigh.

  I chuckled at Sebastian’s light heartedness; nothing seemed to get him down.

   ‘How can you laugh about this?’ Jason asked.

   ‘Because I’m the devil remember?’ Sebastian said with a smile.

   ‘What do you think Sebastian, that show of force there was done to intimidate us into accepting their terms?’ I said pointing at the army in front of us with my thumb.

  Sebastian smile, ‘Well Conner, you better hope they don’t ask for your neck.’

  Sebastian and I laughed together. Sebastian had said to me back on the trip home from Spain the first time that in time I would grow to trust him, he was definitely right about that.

   ‘Someone’s moving forward.’ John said with dread.

   ‘We’re going to say no right?’

   ‘No about what?’ Sebastian asked looking back at the four vampires slowly moving away from the impressive formation.

   ’My neck.’

  Sebastian smiled, ’Of course.’

   ’Should we go out to meet them?’ I asked in general.

  Sebastian took a deep breath and held it for a moment before he spoke, ’No. though that would be proper, I would rather keep this distance for a head start. Plus they won’t be able to hear us this far away.’

   ’Well then, everyone rest easy we may need to leave in a hurry, and don’t say nothing. Remember who ever it is that’s coming here, they’re not coming to talk to you so be quiet. Do you understand?’

   ’What if we’re addressed?’ asked Pablo.

   ’Then keep it quick.’ I answered.

  The four vampires walked at a human pace over the long distance, smooth I thought to myself. Let us sweat it out and look at the large army as they took their time walking towards us.

  After about twenty minutes John spoke in shock, ’Would you look at that, it’s Roberto.’

  Looking hard I could see that one of the vampires was none other than Roberto, ’Look at that.’ I said quietly to myself. Sebastian and I quickly made eye contact.

   ’Horatio is with him.’ Gloria said.

  Gloria did not care Horatio; every time she spoke his name you could hear her dislike and mistrust of him.

  I chuckled suddenly, ’Hey Heckle and Jeckle are with him also. What do you know Gloria, a big old Spanish reunion. I sure hate Spain.’

  Eventually Roberto got to us; he left his escort a couple hundred yards away from us. He stopped some twenty yards away, he did not speak. Roberto studied each of us carefully, gathering what he could about us. I figured it was time to put a halt to his little reconnaissance mission.

   ’You have something to say Roberto?’

  That was the first time I had ever addressed Roberto by name. I had always referred to him and the rest of the Council members as ‘your Grace.’ I did not withhold proper etiquette as an insult to Roberto, but to reassure him that I was not going to be dictated too.

   ’Once again I marvel at you Conner. Never in all my years would I believe that such a motley crew such as yours could bring down one such is Cline. May I be so bold to ask you about his fate?’

    ‘Tabitha.’ I said snapping my fingers. At once I felt bad for doing that to give an order to a friend.

   ’Tabitha, is this the Tabitha that you said knew that you were a vampire?’ Roberto asked politely.

  Tabitha froze as she was handing me her backpack, she was clearly caught off guard at the idea of an Ancient knowing her name.

   ’Yes.’ I said quickly, ’The bag Tabitha.’ I said to kick start her brain again.

  Tabitha quickly handed me the bag and started to go back behind John.

   ’Wait I’m going to give this back to you in a second.’ I said stopping her.

   ’Pablo it is a pleasure to see you again old friend. I hope you have been well and that your revenge was worth the peril that we are all now in.’

  Pablo being acknowledged by Roberto bowed respectfully to him, ’Your Grace, it was what it needed to be. I have but one more dept to repay and then I shall be satisfied.’

   ’I carry a great regret at what happened to you and to those you loved, I was against what Cline ordered Sebastian to do. But my friend I have known you for over a thousand years, my advice to you is to forget the past. I do not believe that your wish for revenge will overcome the strength and skill of Sebastian.’

   ’Your Grace, I believe you played no part in the aftermath of my exile but Sebastian wounded…’

  I did not let Pablo and Roberto finish their reunion, I dropped Cline’s severed head on the ground a few feet in front of me.

   ’I see.’ Roberto sighed deeply, ’We had feared the worse, now the worse has come to be.’

  Roberto looked hard at Cline’s face in the snow, ’Please put it away, for I cannot bare to look at what will now become our doom.’

   ’You wanted to talk to find out the fate of Cline?’ I asked picking up Cline’s head.

   ’No, the East has come. It was only luck that we are not all destroyed. As Europe emptied, the East attacked. Whether by luck or design I do not know but alas, we were not there. We gathered as quickly as we could to pursued you. The Queen Mother found Europe empty.’

   ’The Queen.’ I looked over at Sebastian and saw his skin graying, ’You mean the Queen Mother commands the East?’

   ’Yes. And now with the death of her favorite and the loss of his vampire company…’ Roberto thoughts trailed off.

  We stood there quietly, each with his or her own thoughts.

   ’How was it Conner that you were able to destroy him?’ Roberto asked sounding like he was on the verge tears.

   ’We ran right through the front door and killed everyone we saw.’

   ’You did this, the twenty of you?’

   ’No, naked Frank here and little Eric we found after the battle. Frank was locked in a hole in the ground and Eric was one of Cline’s slaves.’

   ’Cline had an army of over a hundred vampires.’ Roberto said.

   ’We didn’t kill that many, I would say we killed about half that number. The rest of them we didn’t see.’ I explained.

   ’And Augustus and Ava?’

   ’Augustus is dead and burned, I killed him. Ava is alive kind of, we cut her up and threw her into the ocean.’

   ’Conner the Council is asking you to join them in fighting the Queen Mother.’

   ’Where is the Queen Mother now?’ Sebastian asked.

   ’Two days behind us. She is at the head of a several thousand vampire army. We found out just this morning that she has been following us.’

   ’Is it true about the Nephilim, are they with her?’ Sebastian asked.

   ’That is unknown at the moment.’

   ’Roberto, you want me to join with you, but how could I do that? There’s no way I can trust the Council.’ I explained.

   ‘We are willing to look past what has happened.’

   ’But yesterday if you would have caught up to us you would have killed us.’ I said.

   ’Yes we would have.’

   ’If Cline would have left Europe and I caught him in the States and brought him back to you, what would have you done? Would you have killed me?’

   ’Yes.’

  My insides instantly ran cold with anger, ’What about the summons, you were going to kill me then weren’t you? That’s why you had your guard summoned, because you were going to kill me.’

   ’The plan was to kill you Gloria and Sebastian once you arrived. We could not risk you growing in power Conner. Look what you have accomplished with seventeen others.’

  Roberto’s complement did not impress me much, ’But then I showed up early like I did and you ended up having to clean up that slaughter house mess.’

   ’Yes, I could not have order an attack on you without Sebastian and Gloria present. Sebastian would have smelled the ambush if had we attacked you first.’

   ’So why the charade of the Council?’ I asked now that Roberto was giving me the whole story.

   ’This was never suppose to go to counsel, after the clean up at the slaughter house my guard scattered back to their dwelling places. I had trouble recalling them after they saw you. Rumors spread, they believed you were a direct descendent of the Queen Mother.’

   ’I am a direct descendent of the Queen.’ I said.

   ’That is not what I mean Conner.’

   ’I know what you mean.’

   ’They would not come back, so as the time of the Council approached something had to be done. But nothing could be decided, going to counsel would mean the end of it. We all knew that, so I called for counsel. For two days we discussed what should be done.’

   ’I wish I could have seen that. Well tell me brother Cline, you wish to have a crown. And we all know that, but we won’t talk about it. So we’ll just kill Conner and call it a good century.’

   ’Sebastian please.’ I did not wish to stop Roberto from explaining what has happened behind closed doors.

   ’In truth Conner, that is not far from what happened. When you left, we thought you were leaving Prague. We could not let that happen so we let the witnesses enter and opened counsel. No one in a hundred years though it would have turned out that way it did.’

   ’I was surprised that you did not kill Conner when he threw the chair at Cline.’ Sebastian said.

  I don’t think Sebastian has ever gotten over the shock of that, nor do I think he’ll ever let me live it down.

   ’Yes that was a shock, but that was not what I was referring to Sebastian. I was referring to Mather, he was the Chair that ended the counsel when he got up and left.’

   ’Why would that be a shock to you?’

   ’Mather was Cline’s closes supporter. His betrayal was so unexpected and your outburst and sudden departure caught everyone off guard. You became quite insignificant at that point, we were afraid that civil war was going to break out at that very moment. In truth, you throwing the chair save us from that. Your anger focused our attention on you for the moment rather than each other.’

   ’So why did Cline blow up my house? He must have know that I wouldn’t have let that slide.’ I asked.

   ’The destruction of your home is still a mystery to us.’

   ’How is that a mystery. I would think it was clear that Cline wanted me dead.’

   ’Let me put your mind at ease Conner, Cline had an unnatural lust for Gloria this is known. But he lusted for something greater the Gloria.’

  I was almost afraid to ask what he could want more then that after meeting Eric, ’And that was?’

   ’You as an ally.’

   ’I find that hard to believe.’

   ’That was the greatest fear of the Council. If somehow Cline could make an allegiance with you, it would have tipped the balance of power in his favor. That is why we fear Cline in the new world.’

   ’Ok so why was Augustus in my home.’ I asked.

   ’For the reason that you know, Gloria. But when you maimed Augustus Cline would rather have you then Augustus. In a crowded city you maimed the most dangerous vampire I have ever known Conner without the human authorities getting involved. He knew you were powerful, the Council knew it, Sebastian knew it. Why do you think he broke away from us?’        

  I looked at Sebastian, he just shrugged his shoulders, ’Did you know about any of this Sebastian?’

   ’The master does not include me in his confidence.’ Sebastian said in his Horatio voice.

  A few of us chuckled at the Sebastian’s tasteless joke. I thought I heard Jason grumble something about Sebastian being a devil.

   ’I do not understand.’ Roberto said not understanding our inside joke.

   ’It’s Sebastian’s attempt at mimicking Horatio.’ I explained.

   ’Ah, I see.’ Roberto replied.

   ’So now that the conspiracy against me is uncovered, you expect me to trust you?’ I asked Roberto.

   ’No. I wouldn’t even advise you to trust Sebastian, But Sebastian hate us so that advice would do you know good. As it stands, the Queen Mother and her army are heading this way. I ask you Conner to bring your party into our camp and join us against a greater evil.’

   ’I do not doubt that you won’t try to kill us before the Queen gets here, but what will happen after the fight?’

   ’Conner I doubt any of us will survive that fight, but if we do I cannot answer that.’

   ’And if we choose to leave?’ I asked.

   ’Then you shall fight the Queen on another day without us, and you shall die for sure.’

   ’Go back to your army Roberto, I wish to talk with my friends about this first.’

   ’Very well Conner. Oh and Conner?’

   ’Yes?’

   ’We have had to drive our soldiers in your pursuit. They both fear you and love you.’

   ’Why’s that?

   ’A nobody from nowhere killed Cline.’

  With that Roberto turned and ran quickly back the way he came. Looking back he yelled over his shoulder, ’Remember, she is only two days behind us.’