arthur and whidbey island

Arthur and Whidbey Island

I hated Paris. I hated sewers. I hated these clowns that were following me.

"I’m so bored." I said quietly to myself.

"What’s that?"

"I wasn’t talking to you so hush." I snapped.

We were walking in the old sewers under Paris, some of the men had fancy night vision, some had flash lights. I just use the old fashion way of see in the dark, my eyeballs. We walked along in the dark for a time before the annoying man spoke again.

"This is going to be great."

"What is?" I asked not really caring.

"Killing this vampire."

"How many have you killed?" I asked, I knew this guy was green. He talked too much.

"This is my first hunt."

"Then I doubt you’ll do any killing."

"Why do you say that?" he asked amused.

"Because this vampire isn’t even worth hunting and because you’ll probably just be in the way."

"What are you talking about? All vampires are a threat to humanity. And as long as they live, we have an obligation to kill them. No matter how insignificant you think they are."

I chuckled at his enthusiasm, "You, who have yet to do battle with one, have the nerve to lecture me?"

"I mean no disrespect Brother. I can understand your frustration with what’s going on in Greece to be stuck here, but we need to trust the Board’s decision. I’m sure they wouldn’t have sent this many soldier down here for one simple vampire."

"Really? You really think the Board wouldn’t send thirty brothers on a wild goose chase?"

"No."

"I’ll tell you what we’re doing. We’re all down here simply for something to do."

"I doubt that." he said.

"Believe what you want." I said and headed on.

What an a*s. New brothers were the worst; they walked around with stars in their eyes because they were let in on the big secret. They see me and think that one day they will be better than the great Arthur the One Eye. Who cares, let them have it.

Glory, they can have it. They want to walk into halls and have them whisper about how great they are, the kills they’ve made. Pompous jack-asses, I wonder what they would do if they came across of vampire of old blood? Probably crap their pants if one took to the skies and swooped down on them with a sword or spear.

It had happened to me once, he was a real b*****d. He caught my scent in the early afternoon. I was walking on the beach, I wasn’t even hunting. Just minding my own business…

"Is the vampire close?"

The annoying new Brother brought me out of my memory with a fresh irritation.

"What?" I asked.

"Are we getting close to him?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"The vampire, are we getting close to him? I thought you were able to track him?"

"Are you a tracker?" I asked.

"No."

"Then what in the hell do you know about tracking them?" in truth I knew we were, but what did it matter to him?

"I’m just wondering, I’m ready to kill him. That’s all."

"I thought I told you, you weren’t going to kill anything?"

"What makes you so sure? I’m perfectly capable of killing vampires."

"Is that so? Okay fearless leader, track him down and kill him." I said motioning him forward.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the vampire could see us now. I knew he was close, I

could feel him. Maybe the young brother would walk right into him and spare us his presence and get himself killed.

"Our new Brother wishes to make a name for himself," I said to the group, "If he finds the creature, no one’s to interfere. The young brother believes he can win, let him try."

I could hear the chuckles of some of the more experienced fighters. I knew we had a few other trackers with us, I knew they could feel the creature’s closeness.

"I don’t know how to track."

"What?" I asked.

"I’m not a tracker; I don’t know how to find them."

"Maybe you should use your eyes." I said taking the young man’s spear.

There about fifty yards down the sewer line, I could see the vampire lurking about. He was watching us, trying to decide what he should do. Why didn’t he just flee?

I took three hard steps and threw the spear at the vampire. After a half a second, it struck him in the throat. It didn’t take long to hear the gurgling and thrashing as the vampire choked on his blood and him trying to remove the spear. The men rushed passed me to the vampire.

I sighed and walked over to the group. The vampire had managed to pull the spear almost out, but he couldn’t get the spear head through his throat. When he saw me, he laid still on his back holding the spear shaft.

I reach out and grabbed the spear and moved it around in his neck. The vampire choked in pain at the movement. I smiled, twisted the spear a few times more and yanked it free.

"Kill him; leave his body for the rats." I tossed the spear back to the young brother, "Well worth the Brotherhood resources."

I walked passed him and headed back towards the surface, "Oh I’m so bored."

After I got out of the sewer, I headed home to clean up. I had a message on my voice mail that the Board of the Brotherhood was meeting and I was needed. Great, what other worthless deed are they going to send me on I wondered.

I showered and headed to the main Brotherhood hall in downtown Paris. If I didn’t get to fight a real vampire soon I thought I might go crazy. I paid my cab

fair and headed upstairs.

I wondered if they finally dealt with that situation in Greece. There were some wild killings going on there. It was like the vampires there caught a case of stupid or something. They had to know that either we or other vampires would come and kill them.

There was no way the Romanian clan was going to let this go on. I guess the Brotherhood was waiting for them to deal with it. No one wanted to lose their soldiers with some half mad idiots in Greece. I wish I could have gone; at least it would have been something to do other then wasting my time with sewer wraths here in Paris.

One of the Board’s guards opened the door to the meeting room for me. I walked in and found an empty chair by the wall and sat down. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my head forwards and started to doze off.

"So where are we with this Greece thing?" someone asked.

"It was a nest, five vampires. We got them all." another voice answered.

I was hardly even listening, but hearing Greece caught my ear. I hated getting called to these meetings. But I didn’t have a choice; I made an oath that I would obey. I had hunted vampires alone for twenty years before I was recruited into the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood was a worldwide secret order that swore to combat evil, though very few in the order knew that what we really did was hunt vampires. The Brotherhood has hunted vampire since the middle ages, they had a vast amount of resources to draw from.

Normally someone was recruited like any other futurity. But once a member, they swore to protect the Brotherhood and take all commands from their superiors. It was great for the weekend warrior type. They would have to train to fight with sword and spear, and as they became better fighters they would raise through the ranks of the order.

Few ever reached the highest degree within the order to be offered the title of Brother. It was optional to take the title, but few turned it down. Because with the offer of Brother, you would be give all the secrets of the Order of the Brotherhood.

They were not told in advance what the duties of a brother were, but none in my last ten years with the Brotherhood have ever tried to reconsider. Nor would they, Bothers were paid lots of money to fight vampires. For me it had nothing to do with the money, I saw the potential in the resources the Brotherhood had at its finger tips.

Because I had already made a name for myself in the world of killing vampires, I was offered the position and title of Brother. In my twenty years before the Brotherhood I had single handedly killed forty two vampires, fought countless others. Since becoming a member of the Brotherhood, I’ve killed thirty one with slayer teams. I’ve kill more vampires probably then anyone that’s ever lived, and now I’m sitting listening to old men talk about other men’s glory like its theirs alone.

"If there’s nothing else I think that about wraps it up" the first man said.

"I may have a lead." the man sitting next to said speaking for the first time.

His name was Brother Samson, a number of years ago before I joined he had lost a leg fighting vampires. Now he was stuck doing administrative duties like the rest of the old men. How I wish I could go back to some real fighting.

"Yes?" asked the first man.

The first man was the head of our order; his name was Lord Tom Herrick. His family has been the head of our order since its creation. To my knowledge, he has never killed or seen a vampire.

"Two years ago, a third degree member who lives in America sold property to a twenty year old girl so she could build a house. She built a two point three million dollar home on an island near the American-Canadian border in Washington State.

"Let me see here," Samson said looking through his notes, "Here it is, the islands call Whidbey Island. There’s a navy base there, and not much else. The girl’s name is Penelope Grace Alexander, now twenty two years of age.

"Doesn’t work, has a large fortune due to inheritance that she received when she turned eighteen. She has a social security number which is blah, blah, blah. Pays her taxes. Oh, she’s a first year student at the local community college.

"She’s white, thin, around six feet tall, red hair and ice blue eyes. Her major is

listed as modern economics. She has no living relatives, her father is unknown, her mother died when she was six. She grew up in foster care, but there are no known records of her time in state care."

Lord Herrick looked at Samson, "Is that it?"

"Yes my Lord."

"No mysterious deaths in the surrounding areas?"

"No my Lord."

"No serial murderers at large or suspected?"

"No my Lord."

"Then why do you consider this a lead?" Lord Herrick asked rudely.

"My Lord, are not these the things we tell our people to look for and report?"

"Don’t patronize me you one legged rat. When I asked a question, I do not want it answered with a question. Do you understand?"

"Yes my Lord."

"Well?"

"I don’t know my Lord."

"I didn’t think so." he snapped.

I do hate bullies, it always amazed me how they rose to such powerful positions, "I know why it’s a lead."

"You have something to add Arthur?"

"Why yes I do," I said with a smile to his majesty, "I know why it’s a lead."

"We can do without the sarcasm Brother Arthur." said Sebastian, who was the senior brother on the board and second in command of the Brotherhood. He was also the true brains of our order.

I sighed, I knew whatever I said was an interest to Sebastian. And I knew insulting the king toad, as I called him was not the way to go about talking to Sebastian.

"As we all know, the American vampire are really of no consequence. They’re the rejects of the modern vampire society, the weak and unwanted. There, in the new world they live as the boogie-man, which once lived in the myths of the native Indians. Or as wraths in the sewers that feed on the homeless.

"But this Penelope Alexander likes to live in luxury. With no living relatives, it

seems obvious that she came from Europe. She’s no young vampire because she has been able to gather a great deal of wealth.

"And no vampire can gather that kind of wealth without being able to stay in one place for any length of time. Which says she’s not only old, but also powerful."

"Who’s obviously content to live in peace with her surroundings." the king toad said.

I started to say something more, but Sebastian interrupted me, "I’ve think we heard enough, I move that we close this meeting."

"As Lord of our Order, I agree." with that, the king toad blessed us with his absence.

As the rest of the board file out I noticed that Sebastian stayed seated. I got up and moved to sit next to him; he smiled once without humor as the rest of the brothers left and closed the door behind them.

"I want you to go to Washington State as soon as you can. Don’t tell anyone you’re leaving, just go and check this out. If she is what we both know she is, then it will be handled below the radar.

"I will send a message to the Hall in Seattle to let them know you’re coming. Do not tell the brother in charge there why you’re coming. I will order him not to ask any question but only to assist you in any way you need."

"And if she is a vampire, am I to kill her by myself?" I asked.

"Only if you think it’s possible. I know your love of fighting alone; I cannot stress the importance of this. If you cannot kill her on your own do not, and I repeat, do not try. If she is one of the old ones from here, the last thing she needs, is to be alerted that we’re coming."

"Yes Brother."

"Then leave, I have a feeling about this one. I shall do some research, there’s something about this one that I cannot place."

"Yes Brother."

"I’ll be in touch."

"Yes, Brother."

With that, I headed back to my apartment. Finally, something to do. Penelope

Grace Alexander, who are you? Where did you come from? I guess I’ll see in a few days. I packed and head to the airport.

When I arrived in New York, I had a message waiting for me. It was Sebastian; he needed me to call him as soon as I could. He had an update that he needed to discuss with me.

"Brother Sebastian, this is Arthur."

"Arthur, it’s a good thing you called. I think I have something on this female vampire you’re checking up on."

"We know she’s a vampire?" I asked.

"If she is, I’m pretty sure I know

who she is."

"Who?"

"Have you ever heard of the legend of Nelix the vampire Lord?"

"No."

"The Brotherhood hunted him relentlessly for many years. He was the most powerful vampire we’ve ever tracked. He used to kill Brotherhood chapters for fun. He was one of the first vampires that had ever been recorded. The legend was that he was over three thousand years old.

"Whether all the stories of him are true or not, I’m not sure. But Arthur, it was rumored at the time of his death he possibly created a vampire. See, when he was attracted he was relatively weak, though he killed half the hunting party.

"There was quite a bit of discussion whether or not the vampire they killed was actually him. The Brotherhood questioned the survivors thoroughly, and something was left out of the report to the acting Board of the time. There was a novice brother who noticed a girl who had fled when they attacked."

"Let me guess, this Penelope Alexander matches the girl’s description?" I asked.

"Yes. Arthur, if the Penelope is indeed Nelix’s offspring, she’s quite possibly may be the most powerful vampire in existence."

"Really."

"To the Brotherhood’s knowledge, there are no others that would compare to her. Arthur, if she is that women, she‘s unlike anything you‘ve faced before."

"Lovely." I said unimpressed.

"Look, I’m sending you everything we have on Lord Nelix. Understand, I don’t

know how true these stories are, but you’ll get an understanding what you might be facing."

"You’ll E-mail it to me?"

"Yes, I’m doing that now."

"Good. It’ll give me something to do while I fly to Washington State."

"How long to you get there?"

"Ten hours."

"What time is it there?"

"Nine."

"So you’ll arrive tomorrow morning your time."

"Yes."

"Keep me informed."

"I will."

"I’ll talk to you soon Brother, be careful."

As I flew across the country to Washington State I looked over the History of Lord Nelix. It was hard to see the truth from the fiction. The Order’s embellishments of Nelix exploits were pretty grand. But it wasn’t hard to believe certain facts about him.

Nelix was obviously a powerful vampire, and was one of the first vampires that the Brotherhood had ever cataloged. He was capable of flight, and as strong as ten men. One of the stories about him said he was able to breathe fire. Which was ridiculous of course, but such were the stories of the time.

One of the common themes were Nelix was extremely violet; he had a sweet tooth for mayhem. He also had no fear of the Brotherhood, that much was apparent. He enjoyed walking into halls full of Brotherhood soldiers in broad daylight.

Superstitions still ravaged the world when he lived; day walking vampires just didn’t exist. Not they weren’t capable of it, they just didn’t. Nelix had changed all of that, the stronger ones decided if Nelix could walk without fear than why couldn’t they?

But Nelix, he didn’t care who he killed. He was just as likely to kill vampires as he was humans. He believed daytime was his province, and he wouldn’t share it

with other vampires.

There was a great deal of speculation as to why he didn’t create others, it was the opinion of the Brotherhood he couldn’t get along with others of his kind. But whatever the reason, mankind was better for it.

The thing that was most surprising about Nelix was that he was beloved by the monarchies of Europe. Which was baffling to me, he would lay waist to entire villages by day, and then spend the evenings in the company of kings. What was worse, they protected them.

Royalty would pay him vast amounts of gold to crush peasant uprising. I shook my head at the thought; some humans didn’t deserve to live. I was grateful I didn’t live in those times, I would have killed those royals the same as I would have killed the vampires.

I was grateful when I finally landed in Seattle, it had been a long trip and I didn’t get much sleep. As I was walking though the airport, trying to find a rental service someone from the Brotherhood found me.

He walked up to me like he recognized me, I guess looking for a man with a torn up face isn’t hard to recognize.

"Brother Arthur, I’m Al. I was sent to meet you do you have any luggage sir?"

"Yes. I had a bag that I need to get." I said flatly.

"Sir, I’m here to assist you in any way you need."

"What I need is a rental car and for the Seattle Chapter to stay out of my way."

"Yes sir."

"Are you a Brother?" I asked.

"No sir, I’m only of the Second Degree."

"And they sent you? Where are all of your brothers at?"

"I don’t know sir. They told me to come here and be as much help as I could."

"Take me to find my luggage, and help me get a rental car. After that, I’ll give you instructions for you to take back to your superiors."

"Yes sir."

Al led me through the airport to the luggage claim, after we retrieved my bag he took me to a rental counter.

"Hi, how can I help you?" the lady asked.

"I need a car." I said.

"Do you have a preference?"

"One that has gas in it."

She smiled and handed me some forms to fill out. I gave her a credit card and my international driver’s license. After about ten minutes of going though all the paperwork, Al led me to find the rental.

"Listen, this is of the most importance. Tell the Seattle Chapter not to do anything they wouldn’t normally do over the next few days."

"Yes sir."

"And above all things, tell them to stay the hell off Whidbey Island. Is that clear?" I said.

"Yes sir."

"If I find anyone up there, it will be met with dire consequences. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir. Is there anything else you’ll need?"

"Other then you guys staying off the island no."

"Well I hope you enjoy your stay here sir." Al said placing my bag in the trunk of the car.

"Thank you. Remember, no one is to go near Whidbey Island."

"I’ll tell them sir."

"Thank you."

I opened my rental and thankfully there was a navigational unit in it. I typed in Oak Harbor and grumble that I now had a two and a half hour drive ahead of me.

Well, at least it would give me time to think. I pulled out of the airport and made my way to the freeway. It felt strange to be back in America, it had been years since I had been here.

I smiled at the thought that this was the first time I had hunted vampires here. I was surprised that the powerful of Europe didn’t move here. Anyone of decent strength would have no competition of territory. But that made life for us easier, the Brotherhood had never really develop here.

As I arrived in Oak Harbor, there didn’t seem to be very many hotels. I wasn’t looking for something fancy, just something close to things I needed. I had my

navigator look for something; it found a decent hotel with a grocery store across the highway and a pharmacy to the south across the street. I figured that that would work perfect for me.

I checked in and went to my room. It took a long shower to help get the flight off of me and set up my laptop. The motel had wireless, so I brought my E-mail up and shot one to Sebastian. I informed him I had arrived and in the morning I would start hunting the creature.

After I was finished, I hung my do not disturb sign on the door and went to try to get some sleep. As I laid there in the silence of the room I let my thoughts run over what I had read about Nelix.

The thing that I was most worried about was his strength. If this girl

was his offspring she would be powerful indeed. She would definitely be flight capable. And the only way I would be able to kill her would be by surprise.

I really hoped that she wasn’t Nelix’s offspring, there was no way the Brotherhood here in Washington would be ready to kill her. I would have to send to Europe for help. Something I didn’t relish the thought of doing. How Sebastian would be able to send that much reinforcements without king toady’s knowledge was beyond me, but Sebastian would know a way.