penelope, arthur and the brotherhood

Penelope, Arthur and the Brotherhood

I place the phone in my back under my armor without taking my eyes off the unknown vampire. I could hear Anne coming over the fence behind me. I didn’t turn; I just hoped Anne would be a little more cautious.

"You speak Latin."

"Yes."

"Do you prefer it to English

?"

"I don’t really care one way or the other.

Anne came up beside me; she was still as ready to fight as I was even though she got sent flying.

"Interesting, there’s more here than friendship. There’s love. We were not aware of that." he said.

Anne growled at the unknown man, I cut my eyes at her to be quiet.

"Sleep." the vampire said and Anne fell down.

I snarled loudly at him, but he was unimpressed.

"Peace, she is only sleeping. It’s truly better for her for the moment until she can gain control of herself. It would be a shame if I had to hurt her because she is young and knows no better."

"What do you want?" I asked.

The vampire looked around for a moment and sniffed the air.

"I shall be right back. Please do not go anywhere. Do you understand?"

I nodded. The vampire walked over to me and removed his shirt and handed it to me.

"I shall be back." his wings spilled out and he took to the air.

"Anne honey, wake up." I kneeled down to Anne and shook her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then opened them.

"What happened?" she asked.

I pulled her helmet off and helped her sit up Anne looked around and I helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, who was that?"

"I don’t know."

"Where’d he go?"

"I don’t know that either. He told us to wait here; he took off into the air." I said showing Anne his shirt.

"Screw him, let’s get out of here."

"Anne, he didn’t find us by accident. He was looking for us; Alec called me when you were out there." I said pointing in the direction he had sent her, "He said we had a huge problem."

"Remind me to thank him for the heads up." Anne said flatly, "So we’re just going to wait for him to come back?"

"I don’t think we have much of a choice. He didn’t kill us right off, and believe me he could have. If we split, he’ll just find us again. And next time he might not be so nice."

"Great. Same old same old, just wait around while someone tries to kill us."

About a half an hour later we heard someone coming from behind the garage. To my surprise it was the mysterious vampire, and Arthur.

"What in the world?" I said to Anne.

The new comer had a hold of Arthur’s jacket and was half leading, half pulling him back to us. Anne instantly started growling.

"Steady Anne, I have no doubt he’ll put you back to sleep."

The vampire walked Arthur passed Anne let him go on the other side of me. Arthur and I glared at one another for a moment to make sure we wouldn’t attack each other.

"Well now, let me take a look at you. My name is Gordon, are any of you familiar with me?"

"No." I said.

"Should we?" Arthur asked sarcastically.

"I wouldn’t, but in your case please, feel free Arthur."

"You don’t know me Arthur and because of that I’ll forgive you for it, for the moment." Arthur smiled a smile of complete innocence at Gordon.

"You three have made quite a name for yourselves."

"Us three? Me and Pip haven’t done anything. It’s all him." Anne said pointing

at Arthur.

"Is that so?"

"Anne." I said hoping she would stay quiet.

"I suppose neither of you had anything to do with what happen in Seattle?" Gordon said looking at me and Anne.

"And you," Gordon said looking back at Arthur, "I suppose you had nothing to do with Paris."

"Or with burning our house down." Anne said.

"Anne be quiet." I said.

"Humans killing humans, I don’t see how it concerns you." Arthur said.

Gordon lifted his hand and Arthur went flying like Anne had done. Arthur landed hard in a heap in the yard, Gordon raised his hand and Arthur came sliding across the grass back towards us. Gordon reached down and picked Arthur up and set him on his feet.

"If you were nothing but a human you half breed it wouldn’t matter. But in fact going around killing like you have, then hanging bodies on display tends to get noticed by the human authorities."

"And you daughter of Nelix, you should know better."

"What?" I asked. I didn’t remember my father very well, but I remembered enough to know his name wasn’t Nelix.

"Your creator."

"Oh." I said not sure why that mattered.

"You three have taken complete leave of your senses out here and it must stop. If you three wish to kill each other, so be it. But you will do it more discretely. I do not wish to hear of any more massacres, is that clear?"

"Yes." Anne and I said at once.

Arthur nodded, but somehow I wasn’t convinced he was going to take orders from anyone.

As we sat there for a moment, we heard a scream. All of our heads whipped around. From behind the house, a very small vampire came running. He headed in the direction of the fence that Anne had flown over.

"Bats! Leave me alone!" he screamed waving his hands at nothing over his head.

The four of us stood there watching The Edge jump the fence and disappear into the field. For a moment no one moved or spoke.

"That was The Edge Anne." Anne smile slightly.

Looking back to Gordon is said, "Sir, I understand the need for secrecy. But what do you expect me to do when he comes around trying to kill me? Arthur doesn’t care for our need for secrecy. Anne and I were living quietly by ourselves when all of this started.

"He attacked us two days ago. When we fled, he left his dead in our house and burned it to the ground. Now the cops are looking for me."

"We are well aware of Arthur. If he wishes to pursue his foolish behavior, you have our leave to kill him. But I don’t want to hear of anymore incidences like Seattle."

"Yes Sir." Anne and I both said.

"As for you," Gordon said to Arthur, "I better stop hearing about you. I suggest you leave now."

Arthur back quickly away, turned and ran in the direction he came from. I could feel the tension rolling off of Anne watching him freely leave.

"I’m sure you’ll get your chance young one." Gordon said to Anne.

We looked at Gordon with wonder. Never in my whole life had I met someone like him.

"Who are you?"

I asked in Latin.

"I’m the personal secretary to the Emperor himself. I can see from the look on your face you are unaware of his existence."

"Emperor of what?"

I asked.

"Of our world."

"Can we speak a language that we all understand please?" Anne asked getting annoyed.

"She is young, you created her?"

"Yes."

"She has no manners. She must be very young."

"Anne is twenty-two. She’s been of our kind for less than a month."

"Then I will forgive her, but she must be controlled do you understand?"

"Yes."

"What do you know of Nelix?"

"He created me to be his slave, nothing more."

Gordon smiled,

"I knew Nelix well. He was not a favorite of the Emperor. You would be wise to disappear for a time. I will explain your situation to the Emperor, and then he will decide your fate."

"Pip?" Anne said getting frustrated at being left out of the conversation.

"Fair well young ones. Until the next time we meet. I will get in touch with the local authorities and have you cleared of any wrong doings."

"Thank you." I said.

"Young one," Gordon said looking at Anne, "Stay out of trouble, you two are very unique. It would be a shame to have to destroy you."

Anne didn’t answer him; she just glared wishing she could kill. The vampire urge to kill other vampire ran strong in her. Gordon smiled; he could clearly sense her rage towards him.

"Arthur is not going to leave peacefully."

I said to Gordon.

"No, he’s not. I will be reporting this to the Emperor; we rarely interfere with humans and vampire affairs. But with him, we may have to make an exemption."

"Well finally some good news." I said.

"Good-bye." Gordon said and took his shirt for me and took to the air.

Anne and I stood there a moment not moving, I reached under my armor and pulled out my cell phone and called Alec.

"Alec please."

"One moment."

"I really need to learn Latin; I’m tired of being left out of everything." I smiled listening to Anne complain.

"This is Alec."

"Alec, this is Penelope."

"Penelope, what’s going on?"

"Gordon came and said hello."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. Do you mind telling me why you’ve never mentioned anything like, oh I don’t know. An emperor?"

"We’re not allowed to talk about him."

"Was that why you were calling me, to let me know he was sending someone to say hello?"

I asked.

"Yes, what did he say?"

"He gave Anne and me a warning to take it easy with Arthur. He said we’re making too much noise with all the fighting."

"I’ll say. Is he going to find Arthur and tell him to quiet down?"

"He didn’t have to. Arthur was here. Gordon just let him go."

"He was there, did you see him?"

"Yes."

"What’s Gordon going to do?"

"He’s going to talk to the Emperor about him."

"Will they intervene?"

"I don’t know yet."

"Oh another thing, the Brotherhood is back in Seattle. They would like to meet you there. You remember where it is right?"

"Yes."

"When will they be there?"

I asked.

"

To my knowledge they’re there already."

"Alec, what do you know about the vampire Nelix?"

"Very little. He was not a favorite of the Emperor’s. Why?"

"Did you know he created me?"

"No."

"What do you know about him?"

"Only that he was a part of the Imperial Court. That reminds me, does Gordon know that you’re Nelix’s offspring?"

"Yes."

"Penelope, this could be bad."

"Why."

"If any offspring of Nelix turn up, they’re to be turned over the Emperor."

"For what?"

"The offspring of Nelix are to be put to death without question."

"Then why didn’t Gordon kill me?"

"I don’t know Penelope. But this I promise you, the Emperor will now know you exist, you’re in grave danger."

"What else is new?"

"If the Emperor thinks I hid the knowledge of your existence from him, I will be in grave danger. I will find out what I can and get in touch with you. For now, go to Seattle and meet with the Brotherhood."

"Can I trust them?"

"You have no choice. You can’t fight everyone at once."

"After I saw what Gordon was capable of, there’s not much I could do against the Emperor. But Seattle I think I can handle."

"Be careful Penelope. I’ll be in touch."

I hung up my phone and stuck it back under my armor. Anne was standing there looking irritated at me. I was going to have to teach her Latin and soon, otherwise I think she would explode.

"I’m going to teach you Latin, don’t worry." I said looking at Anne’s anger.

"It’s not that, I just don’t like standing here not knowing what’s going on. Why can’t you all just speak English for crying out loud?"

I smiled at Anne’s little outburst, "Are you done?"

"Yes. What did Alec have to say?"

"He told me that Gordon was coming."

"That was nice of him to give us the heads up." Anne said sarcastically, "What else did he say?"

At first, I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about what he had said about Nelix. I figured less is more when it came to that.

"He told me that the Brotherhood is waiting for us in Seattle."

"Are they going to help us with Arthur still?"

"Yes. I believe so."

"Pip, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What were you two talking about right before he left?"

"Who, Gordon?"

"Yeah."

"I asked who he was."

"Did he answer?"

I wasn’t sure really where to begin, but she had a right to know the world we lived in. I understood the Emperor liked his secrecy, but he kind of blew that when he sent someone to talk to us.

"He works for the vampire Emperor."

"The what?"

"The Emperor."

"There’s an Emperor?" Anne asked raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently."

"Is that good or bad for us?"

"I would have to say it could be a little of both. The Emperor isn’t a fan of Arthur, nor was he a fan of my creator."

"What will that mean?"

"About my creator?"

"Yeah."

"I don’t know. He knew I was created by Nelix, so maybe nothing. But Gordon is going to speak to the Emperor about Arthur, so…" I shrugged my shoulders.

"What are we going to do right now?"

"Go to Seattle I guess."

"What about The Edge?" Anne said trying not to smile, "By the way, I see what you mean."

I chuckled, "You don’t know the half of it with him. I’m thinking we should leave before he gets away from the bats."

Anne and I headed not to Seattle, but back to the marina. It was slower to take the boat, but I wanted a place to sleep with a little security. And because all of our stuff had burned to the ground with our house, it wasn’t like we could check ourselves into a hotel wearing what we were.

Gratefully there was no one near the marina when we arrived. I landed

gracefully next to the boat and Anne came down in a heap. I shook my head because she almost went off the dock into the water.

"One of these days I’m going to get the hang of these landings." Anne said grumpily as she jumped into the boat.

I untied the bow and stern lines and climbed aboard. I didn’t know how long it would take Gordon to clear our names, but I wasn’t going to hang around to find out. I fired the boat up and shot off heedless of the no wake signs.

I wasn’t planning on showing my face in Seattle until after dark, so I took my time getting south I anchored the boat in the same small bay I had when I changed Anne.

"What are you thinking about?" Anne asked when I killed the motors.

"Grateful I hid the keys of this thing on the boat."

"We waiting for dark to go?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think will happen when we get there?"

"I don’t know." I said.

It was nice to be out of my armor. After a while, the whole get up started to hurt my back. Anne and I still had a few things on the boat from our trip to which I was grateful. I had stripped out of everything but my body suit. But even that I had taken off part of it. I had pulled the top part of it off and had it dangling down at the waist like a surfer would with his wetsuit.

I had grabbed one of Anne’s shirts that she had left onboard and squeezed into it. Anne smiled when I came back on deck when she saw how tight it was on me.

"Just hush." I said when she was looking at my breast.

"I didn’t say anything."

"No you didn’t. But you thought it so loud I heard it."

*

"Who the hell was that? Are you okay?" Ryan asked when he saw me

running back to where we were hiding.

We had hid ourselves in a patch of trees and bushes on the golf course that was by the house the creatures were staying. The unknown vampire of tremendous power came out of nowhere. I had felt his incredible strength only seconds before he landed amongst us.

Never in all my years had I encountered something like him. All of my men had been nothing more than an inconvenience to him. He landed and I watched all of my men go flying away from us. No one even tried to help me when he grabbed me. With an unbelievable strength; he pulled me from the trees and walked me right up to the house where the two creatures were hiding.

"I have no idea." I said still I shock.

"Where did he take you?" Ryan asked.

"Up to the house where those two were hiding. Never in my whole life have I ever faced something like that." I said shaking my head.

"What did he say?" Christopher asked, "Is he allied with those women?"

"No. but he’s not their enemy either." I replied.

"What happened?" Ryan asked.

"He drugged me up there and they were standing outside waiting. In a nut shell, he told us to quiet down."

"What are we going to do?" Ryan asked.

"I think we should go somewhere else and regroup." Christopher said.

"I think that would be a wise idea for the moment. I need to think, and perhaps get in touch with an old friend." I said.

"Someone in the Brotherhood?" Christopher asked.

"Yes. For all of their faults, this guy was beyond any of us. And I don’t believe he was anything more than someone’s errand boy."

"So now you’ve met your match, you’ll go running off to the Brotherhood?" Christopher asked with disgust.

"My friend, I’ve fought many battles against many vampires, many of them were capable of flight. All of them fell to my blade. Please feel free to go look for that one on your own and prove you’re the better man. By the way, I don’t remember you doing anything when he showed up."

Little punk, I thought heading out of the bushes towards the road. Christopher didn’t say anything, to which I wasn’t surprised. He didn’t want anything to do with this new vampire than I did, hopefully Samson was still alive. When we got back to the motel, I took a shower to try to clear my head.

As much as I disliked the Brotherhood, they had to be informed about this Gordon character. I remember once Sebastian had told me that the vampire Penelope could be the strongest vampire alive. Boy, he was sure wrong on that one.

*

As Anne and I few through the Seattle’s night sky, I was amazed at how quiet the city seemed. It was like it was holding its breath for the meeting that was going to take place. Would we come to an understanding, or would there be violence. Alec seemed to believe that the Brotherhood wanted to come to an agreement, but I wasn’t so sure.

Anne flew on my right hand; a smile crossed my face as I looked back at her. She wore her helmet; under it I could see she wore her true face. I wondered if the Brotherhood would have a problem with that.

We landed in a grass field near Green Lake. Anne landed hard, but to my surprise managed to stay on her feet.

"Well, if I knew you could stay on your feet, I would have landed closer."

"Shut up." Anne said grumpily.

I smiled, "Come on." I said and led the way to the Brotherhood’s hall.

When we were few blocks away; I pulled out my cell phone out from under my armor and checked the time. It was a little before ten. Anne had that silly crossbow strapped to her back and carried her spear in one of her hands.

As we turned onto the street with the hall, I could see several Brotherhood soldiers standing out front. They turn and looked at us as we walked towards them.

"Looks like they’re waiting for us." Anne said.

"I don’t know, maybe." I said.

I could feel there were a large number of Brotherhood soldiers present. These weren’t like the ones I faced a few months ago here; these were the cream of the crop Brotherhood.

"Anne, I know when we get inside your instincts are going to make you half nuts with rage. But please try to stay under control as much as possible."

"Okay."

"How you feeling?"

"Irritable."

"It’s the Brotherhood soldiers that are making you feel that way. It will be worse inside."

"Do you feel that way?"

"Yes, but I have a few hundred years learning how to control it."

"You know, when you say stuff like that it really pisses me off."

I smiled at Anne’s crankiness. After we got back to the boat, she would feel awful at being so touchy. As we approached the men waiting outside, they all drew swords. Anne growled a deep menacing growl from her chest.

"Easy." I said, "You have a spear, they know that you could kill all of them before they would have a chance to defend themselves."

"I feel like it." she grumbled.

I was beginning to think that bringing Anne was a mistake. The vampire instincts just ran too strong through her veins. When we approached the Brotherhood guards and they saw Anne’s face and went instantly on the defensive. I thought it was going to turn into a fight right then and there.

I reached out and touched Anne’s arm trying to calm her. The touch startled her; Anne flung the heavy end of her spear up and struck me in the chest. The shot made me stumble back a few steps. The sudden movement had the soldiers on guard ready to attack. Anne snarled wildly and was completely ready to throw herself into the coming violence.

"Anne." I said quietly, "Easy now." I said like I was trying to sooth a panicked horse.

A steady rumbling resonated from Anne’s chest. She seemed a little more controlled, but if the Brotherhood men did something rash it would end in bloodshed.

"Concentrate. We’re not here to fight, we’re here to talk. If we don’t like what they have to say, feel free to tear the place apart."

Looking at the Brotherhood soldier I continued, "I suggest you all back up."

"She’s not under control, there’s no way we’re letting her inside." the leader of the group said.

"We’re here to talk to you master, not to discuss who and who will not enter your hall. We’re going in, if you try to stop us, there will be bloodshed."

"You may enter, but your comrade may not."

"If you bar her way the bloodshed will be yours. We’re both vampires of flight, and we’re outside. Now step aside!" I growled placing my hand on my sword.

The men paused for a moment and moved away from the door for us to pass. I led the way in and Anne followed without missing a beat. As we entered the foyer Anne grabbed my arm.

"Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me."

"Don’t worry about it baby, you’re a vampire now. You can’t help it."

"You know what’s strange? I was ready to tear those guys apart, and they were completely ready to die. But they weren’t going to let me by. You on the other hand, told them to move and they did."

"To those guys, an in control vampire is more dangerous than an out of control one."

"Why?"

"Because one who’s in control is obviously older and more dangerous."

Anne made a face at me and stuck her tongue out. I smiled and headed into the main hall. As I pushed open the door, the room became quiet. There wasn’t the party like atmosphere like the last time I was here.

There were forty or so soldiers standing around in small groups talking privately. They all were dressed the same, they looked as if they were on some swat team. They all wore black, and were covered in anti-cut and stab armor that looked something like a prison guards would wear during a riot.

Sitting in a high leather backed chair sat an older man; he had one leg propped up. The older looking man had several soldiers surrounding him; they seemed to be in deep conversation when Anne and I entered into the room.

He leaned around one of them to get a better look at us. All eyes in the room seemed to look to him. He looked at us for a moment and motioned us towards him.

As we walked towards him, I could feel the eyes of the Brotherhood following Anne and myself. The man suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and looked annoyed. As he checked the caller ID, he looked puzzled and answered it.

*

After night had fallen I had gathered my thoughts enough to try to reach the Brotherhood. I could only hope my old friend Samson was still alive and could be reached. I figured the best place to start was to try to reach him by his phone. As his phone rang, I wondered, what I could say to my old friend.

"This is Samson." he answered on the forth ring.

"Samson."

There was a pause before the response came, "Arthur?"

"Are you free to talk? You have a terrible problem."

"Outside of all the trouble you’ve caused?" I could tell there was anger in his voice.

"Brother, I’m sorry if my escape caused you difficulties."

"I told you Arthur, there were members of the Board who still supported you. But you betrayed that trust after your escape."

"Samson, you had to know that I wouldn’t have drifted into obscurity."

"No I didn’t."

"Then why are you angered by what has happened?"

"No one believed you would have joined with rebels."

"I joined no one. I told you what I was about, the vampire Penelope had to be destroyed."

"That’s not what I’m talking about."

"Please excuse me but I’m not sure I’m understanding you."

"I’m talking about what happened in Paris."

"I am sorry about that, but information was needed."

"Needed."

"Yes Brother." I said trying to cool my old friend down.

"Don’t call me that. There were those who care and honored you in Paris, and you killed them like dogs."

"I care not for the option of those who are in league with vampires. The Brotherhood made a deal with those two dikes in Washington for my neck. And you have the audacity to lecture me?"

"I’m not going to argue with you the right or wrong of the decisions of the Board. That’s not the point…"

"So what

is the point then Brother?" I said cutting him off.

"There

is no point."

"Regardless of the past, I have no regrets other then earning your displeasure. But we have a larger problem then you me and the Brotherhood."

"That you’ve left the Brotherhood leaderless?"

"Leaderless, what are you talking about? I didn’t kill the King Toad. Do not tell me you’ve bought into the belief that I was somehow responsible for that."

"No you block head, I’m talking about Sebastian."

"You’ve lost me."

"Lie to me, I don’t care. If you’re planning on killing him also, it would be courteous for us to know. Since his disappearance it seems the leadership of the Brotherhood has fallen on my shoulders."

"In all sincerity, I know nothing of his disappearance. But please, let me get to the reason to why I’ve called."

"Fine."

"There’s a new power Samson. He’s nothing like I’ve ever dealt with. He’s a telepath, and his power and strength is beyond even the Brotherhood. I know

nothing of whom, or where he came from. All I know is his name is Gordon, and whoever he’s associated with is more powerful than he. I would recommend you call the vermin at the Vatican if he is familiar with him."

"Brother, in all honesty, I had nothing to do with Sebastian’s disappearance. Since Paris, I’ve been back in the States."

"Washington?"

"Yes, I hope you believe me in this matter with Sebastian."

"Yes, I think I do believe you. Perhaps we should meet face to face to discuss this matter with this

new vampire."

"You’re coming here in the near future?"

"Brotherhood business has already brought me to America."

"Yes, perhaps we should meet face to face."

"Yes. Is this number good to reach you at?"

"For the time, how about you wait for me to contact you."

"Yes. Until then Brother."

"Yes, until then." I said and hung up.

I sensed a double cross. Never in my years had I ever heard of Samson coming here. The fact that he was now could only mean he was here looking for me. Was he in league with the vampire Penelope and her lover? I would have to guess yes he was.

I smiled at the thought. Maybe there was an opportunity here. I could eliminate the last remaining leadership of the Brotherhood, and never have to worry about them again. And then destroy the two female vampires that were here.

But which of the two were more important? I would have to say eliminating the Brotherhood. Penelope could wait; she had no place to live for the moment. And with her house burning down, she would have to get square with the local cops before she could do anything of importance.

I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes. I could feel sleep climbing up me like a shadow. I needed to get up and talk to Ryan before I drifted off. But the longer I laid there, the less likely that seemed to be possible. I was tired beyond belief; as much as I hated to admit it, age was taking its toll on me.

*

My footsteps echoed as I walked the hallway to His Majesty’s chamber. It seemed fitting for some reason; the sun had just set and His Majesty’s palace seemed deserted. I was curious how the Master would react to what I had learned.

I wondered if we would come to the same conclusion I had about Penelope daughter of Nelix. I believed she was nothing like her creator, in that she would be happy living in obscurity. And what of her lover, not something I had seen before. Though I did not have the Master’s ability to read the thoughts of others, I could feel the emotional bond between them. And what of the Brotherhood and their apostate? Arthur, I believed was a lose canon, something I doubted the Master would disagree with me on.

But how would he deal with the famed vampire hunter? I smiled to myself at the idea of making a half breed into one of us. Would it make a difference in who changed him? Who would know, the Master maybe. It would be easier to kill him than worrying about how to control him.

As I approached the guards they nodded and opened the door for me. I suspected that the Master was eager to hear my report. As I approached the Emperor, I knelt and bowed my head to the floor in reverence.

"Rise."

I lifted my head from the floor and waited for His Majesty to ask his questions.

"Very interesting."

"Yes my Master."

"This Penelope would have fought you?"

"Without a doubt my Master; the bond between them is powerful."

"Yes, I can see thus through thine eyes. This presence us with a unique opportunity."

"Yes my Master."

"Doest thou truly believe the lover can be controlled?"

"Out of fear for her love, yes.

"And Nelix?"

"She knew nothing of him. Nor do I believe Nelix’s corruption flowing in her veins."

"But her lover?" the Emperor said with a smile recalling my memories.

"I believe she is worth the risk."

"Gordon, thou must see the potential?"

"Yes my Master."

"Yes, thou saw it on first sight."

"And Arthur?"

"Arthur must be stopped. But thou shall intervene not, the match between him and the women shall be a good test. We shall see of their worth. They shall kill or be killed, but in their secrecy shall truly lay the test."

"Yes my Master. And if they should fail?"

"Then Arthur shall die by thy hand."

"Yes my Master."

"Alas, return thee to America and witness the outcome."

"Yes my Master." I said bowing, getting up and taking my leave.

"Gordon." the Emperor said.

"Yes my Master."

"If they survive, I think I may meet them."

"If it pleases thee, it shall be done."

"Gordon, deal with that wretched soul in the dungeon. I shall trust thy judgment in this matter."

"Yes my Master." I said with a bow.

I took my leave of the Emperor and headed down to the dungeons. While I was in the new world, the Emperor had sent a few guards to pay the Brotherhood a visit.

"Where is he?" I asked the loan sentry.

"We have him in the last cell on the right my Lord." he replied.

"Has he spoken?"

"No my Lord. Mostly he cries quietly."

"Good. It appears that we got his attention."

I could hear the lone man mumbling incoherently as I approached his cell.

There were a few torches burning in the stone corridor, but the light gave little comfort to those who were detained here.

I unlocked the iron door and pushed it open. I looked into the simple stone cell; there huddled naked in the back was the new leader of the Brotherhood.

I grabbed a folding chair that was sitting outside the cell and a torch that was burning and walked into the cell. I place the torch in a slot in the door and came over and place the chair a few feet away from the man. I sat and crossed my legs and examined the pathetic, trembling human. He reeked of fear and sweat; as I looked around I could see why. There, in one of the far corners was a large pile of dog crap.

"Well, well, well; now what are we supposed to do with you?" I asked the man, "You made quite a mess of things over the last few months."

The man didn’t answer me, nor did he even acknowledge I even spoke. It was apparent that he was beyond reason with fear. The hounds were quite interesting animals; they did their jobs well with this human.

"Look at me." I said, slowly the human looked up, "I want you to answer me on a few things, do you understand?" the man nodded but did not speak.

"You need to answer yes or no my Lord, do you understand? Or do I need to bring the hounds back?" I asked.

"I understand my Lord." he said weakly.

"Have you ever seen our hounds before?"

"No my Lord."

The hounds were large dog like creatures that stood like a man; they were well over seven foot. They were enormously built creatures with large teeth and claws.

"They were men once, the hounds. Once upon a time they roamed the earth freely, but we wiped them out. Outside of the ones we keep, there hasn’t been one lose in the world in well over five hundred years.

"They’re not immortals like we are; they only live a few hundred years. Their bite creates them. When a man or a woman is bit, they can only change when they feel strong enough negative emotion. But after a few decades, they learn enough control to change back and forth at will.

"But if you take one newly changed, and torture it relentlessly for a few years

they become quite mad. Our hounds are so violently insane they are unable to change back to their human forms. They are a wrenched thing and I can see someone had chained one up in here with you. Do you know why?"

"No my Lord."

"To make sure we would have you’re complete undivided attention. Did you know that we created the Brotherhood? We did for the purpose of dealing with our undesirables. Lord Herrick’s family was tasked with that responsibility. His family and his family alone have known of the Brotherhood’s true responsibilities.

"Now after your little rebellion, the lower class has taken complete leave of their senses. The Romanian Clan, who are nothing but upstarts, think they have a new opportunity. But we are not going to get involved with them.

"So now that leads me to you. Since you believed that you knew better than we on how to run the immortal world, you shall get your wish. You shall return to your place with the Brotherhood as their leader.

"You shall answer to us and us alone. You shall tell no one of our existence, and you shall completely wipe out the Romanian Clan no matter the expense. If you fail, you shall be fed to the hounds. Do you understand?"

"Yes my Lord."

"One last thing. You shall do whatever is within your power to help the vampire Penelope deal with Arthur the One Eye."

"Yes my Lord."

"There is a Brotherhood war party currently in Washington State to deal with him. I shall return you to them to make sure everything is dealt with accordingly. Than hopefully, things can go quietly back to normal. Pray you do not fail."

"Yes my Lord."

I looked at the human with disdain, such miserable little creatures humans were. I stood and left the cell closing the door behind me. As I left the dungeon, I left instructions with the sentry to have him ready to travel as soon as possible. I would inform the Emperor and we would be on our way.