Chapter 20

Nikola spend the next month sleeping in the apartment so he could go in his own head while doing so. Vasilisa woke them all up so they could shower and hunt but demanded that they must come back to him as soon as possible. All in all it was the most pleasant month Nikola had ever experienced.

It was all over when Flavius called him to come to him to receive his next mission. The Roman still lived in the same house as before so it wasn’t hard to find him. The Ventrue waited for him in the solar and Nikola found that there were paintings mixed in with the mosaics. Nikola recognized Dimitri’s style at once. The paintings were all of mangled corpses and they reduced in intensity the closer Nikola got to Flavius. Interesting way to have anger management classes but ok.

He sat across from his mentor and took the offered wine glass and took a sip of the blood within. It tasted minty.

“Grandson, I have your new mission. Your next target is again a Nictuku. His name is Yima. And Absimiliard himself hunts him down for his blood. You can’t allow for the Antediluvian to catch Yima. You will have to move fast as there are rumors of the Methuselah having woken up and wandering Alaska. If you see Absimiliard with him kill him too no matter the cost. Better yet use Yima as bait.”

Nikola stared at Yima’s picture and then flipped the pages to see Absimiliard for the first time. Yima was handsome, with brown hair and blue eyes, while Absimiliard looked bat like and had an ugly scar across his face. Was Yima like Vasilisa, capable of changing his appearance? He asked this question to Flavius and was soon answered.

“No, grandson. Yima had enough brains to sit out the killing of the second generation and so Caine took pity on him and didn’t curse him. He is not, and never has been, deformed. He is very much like you, actually. And it is said that whoever of the Nosferatu drinks from his blood will be cured from the deformity that is common to the clan. I have one last thing to tell you about Yima. He doesn’t hunt humans. He lives off of animal blood which is why he hides in the wild regions of this world. Don’t bother looking for him in towns.”

Nikola snapped his head towards Flavius. A good vampire? He had finally found one? And he now had to kill him in order to piss off Absimiliard? It was a bit much.

“Grandfather, if Yima isn’t harming anyone then why can’t I simply use him only as bait and then let him go? There is nothing in his file saying he deserves to die.”

Flavius gave him a smile before shaking his head at him.

“Did I say he doesn’t harm anyone? I just said he doesn’t hunt humans. But he likes to do diablerie and do blood feasts with vampires as the main dish. He will hunt you back, make no mistake.”

“So he is not a good vampire either?”

“No, grandson. But he is smart and sick in the brain from all the vampire blood he has ingested. Watch yourself in Alaska.”

Flavius told him goodbye after that and Nikola went home to prepare for the trip. Malkav and Dimitri hadn’t wanted to let him go, especially when they saw that Yima wasn’t hard on the eyes, but Vasilisa had assured them he would keep Nikola’s mind clear and his eyes from wandering.

Nikola saved up enough blood for a couple of months for Malkav and took a flight to Alaska. He went to the wild parts of the state and began hiking. It was fun. There were no kine anywhere and he could run as fast as wanted and hunt whatever he wanted. Vasilisa also enjoyed the scenery. And every night the blonde vampire would pull Nikola into his web and Malkav and Dimitri would wait for him there to ask him how his hunt was going.

One day Nikola found a clearing with broken trees in it. Not cut down, but broken. So Absimiliard had found Yima before him. He followed the destruction to a cave. It was still light out and there was a fresh bloodstain on the ground next to the entrance of the cave. He ran his finger into the sticky substance and brought it to his nose. It was vitae.

Whistling to himself Nikola entered the cave slowly and gave it’s insides a good look. There were signs of struggle. And drops of blood made a trail. He just hoped that he found Yima before Absimiliard killed him because if he was too late the Antediluvian would be cured from his curse and Nikola had no idea how he would look then.

The scent of mold and bat excrement was mixed in with herbs the further in he went. The drops had become whole puddles. Yima must be something else if he could still run and fight Absimiliard even with such wounds.

A light shone right in front of him. It was faint. A candle, maybe? He took out a hunting knife and twirled it in his fingers. Both Yima and Absimiliard must be tired. Nikola checked his wrist watch and found out it was 16:44. It was still light outside so there was nowhere for the sire and childe pair to run. He grinned to himself and kept going towards the light.

He kept walking until he found a big cavern in front of him. He entered it and saw much to his surprise Absimiliard laying on the ground with a stalactite piercing his chest. Nikola did a double take. Bat like, check. Ugly beyond words, check. He moved towards him carefully and gave him a shake. The vampire didn’t stir. He wasn’t just unconscious. He was in torpor.

What to do now? Yima was still in the cave with him and he seemed to be stronger than his sire. Nikola gave Absimiliard a kick and then sat down next to him to think. Remembering what Flavius had told him he made his choice.

With a slight effort he got the stalactite out of the bat’s chests and punched his fist through it to get to the shriveled heart beneath. He grimaced when the stench of it hit his nose but he bit down and drank it dry and then he spat out the ashes. He then got up and dusted himself from Absimiliard’s remains and took a couple of steps towards the entrance of the cavern to double back to the fork in the route he saw about an hour ago when something shining caught his eye.

In the corner, surrounded by candles, was a big black wing just laying there. Nikola went to inspect it and found that the wing was attached to a black haired man that could have passed for Malkav’s twin brother. He reached out and laid a hand above the thing’s chest. There was a beating heart there.

He sat down to inspect the being and found some differences. The unknown man had a similar face to Malkav but the nose wasn’t the same. And the hair had a reddish tint to it. He scanned the man’s mind and much to his surprise instead of finding simple emotions like he had with Ivan when the Russian was in a coma he heard muttering broken by crying and the occasional terrified scream. He felt pity because of this, and he was almost sure that he was right about what it was, angel. Just the thought that Malkav might have been like this before becoming a vampire made Nikola stop his hunt for Yima and talk to the angel.

“Hi there, angel. My name is Nikola and I am a vampire, sort of. My heart still beats and I breathe but I don’t eat human food. I know you can hear me. Won’t you talk to me?”

Nikola entered the mind of the angel and found that the muttering has stopped. The angel must have felt he was there because he was suddenly speaking to him.

“It’s dark. It’s cold. I am falling, forever and ever and will continue to do so until the end of all generations. Have you come to feed from my flesh like the one named Yima has done before you, undead one?”

Nikola reached out and grabbed the angel’s hand gently. So this is how Yima had bested his sire. He was full to the brim on angel blood. He had to be careful hunting him and he hoped to Satan that Absimiliard had at least done some damage to his childe.

But he couldn’t leave the angel like that. It was too cruel, and it was weird for him to think it since he was a follower of the Devil, but he just couldn’t bring himself to walk away. The angel looked so much like his Malkav that it broke his heart to see the man like that. He gave the hand a gentle squeeze and continued to talk.

“No. I stumbled on you by accident. Say, is there a way for me to wake you up? You look so much like one of my beloved that I can’t stand looking at you like that.”

“A beloved? I used to have a beloved too once. I rebelled for her and she gave me two strong sons and they battled the Leviathan in the name of my father in Heaven. But they grew prideful and the lands were swept away with water and they drowned. And I was cursed to fall until the end of time for the sin of fathering them. Tell me, who is this beloved I look like?”

Nikola smiled softly and began playing with the angel’s fingers. He forgot himself for a time looking at the Malkav like face and brought the hand to his lips. Vasilisa began berating him in his mind. He ignored him and continued to talk.

“His name is Malkav. He is a vampire like me but before that he was an angel like you. He fell long ago, before the flood you speak of. Do you perhaps know him? I will send you a picture of him to check if you do.”

Nikola gently opened up the angel’s eye and stared at it thinking of Malkav. It seemed to have done the trick because the angel hummed in agreement.

“This is my brother Penemue. He gave the mortals the secrets of writing so that they could be wise as our father. It is good to know that he has found love finally. He searched and searched for it when we rebelled but could only muster it for his children and not his wives and lovers. Now I want to see you next, love of my brother.”

Nikola send him a picture of himself next and then for a good measure he send one of Dimitri and Vasilisa and explained to the now named Samyaza about their relationship. Samyaza had grumbled that Malkav should have kept to only one love but there was plenty of happiness mixed in with his annoyance.

Nikola didn’t know for how long he spoke with the angel but he found that he enjoyed his company. Samyaza told him of Malkav’s early days. Of how the then Penemue would joke around with God’s prophets and fly down to watch over mortals and supernatural beings alike for centuries at a time. Nikola tried to picture serious Malkav yelling “donkey butt” in the ear of a prophet while invisible but couldn’t. Vampirism had really changed Malkav from a happy go lucky angel into a merciless killer. He wondered if he put in some effort would Malkav revert to how he had been.

He knew! He will bring Samyaza out of this cave and bring him to Malkav and reunite the two brothers! Then they will talk and Malkav might even get his memory back. Happily he told Samyaza of his intentions and the angel had responded that he was grateful. But there was a little problem.

“The one called Yima won’t just let me go, Nikola. He is used to the power that my blood provides for him. I almost woke up when he first found me but he cursed me when he first drank from my blood. He even tried to drink me dry but my blood replenishes too fast for him to do so. If you kill him the curse might get broken and I will be free to feast my eyes on Penemue on my own. But for you to be able to accomplish this feat you must drink from me after all. Drink as much as you can take and be not afraid for my health, brother.”

Nikola was touched at being referred to as brother by Samyaza so fast. He put the hand he had been holding all this time to his lips and drank from it. When he couldn’t gulp another mouthful he stood up but then he remembered how Samyaza had told him he was cold. He took off his jacked and put it over the angel and continued the hunt.

He went back to the fork in the route and took a left turn. He stepped into something sticky and found it was blood. Figuring out it was Yima he followed it. The corridor lead towards the outside and he found Yima laying by the exit of the cave and holding his severed arm to the cut off space in the hopes it would mend back together. It didn’t.

Nikola gripped his knife harder and approached the barely alive vampire. Yima barked a sad laugh at him when he saw him.

“So you are the one who invaded my home so soon after Absimiliard. I can feel his power on you. You did diablerie on him, didn’t you? Antediluvian I am but a lowly Methuselah. Walk away and leave me my angel. I feel no anger for my sire and I will not hunt you for revenge. I will owe you a favor, even. And to sweeten the deal I will send you angel blood as long as you wish for it. Show mercy. I can hear your beating heart so I know you are capable of it.”

Nikola’s expression was unreadable as he approached. He took out another knife and held it with his other hand. Yima began backing away. He dropped his severed arm and Nikola saw that the bone was mangled underneath. There was no way for the Methuselah to hunt now anyway. He was doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery.

Yima didn’t beg as Nikola threw both of the knives at his throat. He didn’t scream as Nikola severed his head and took out his heart. Just like with Absimiliard he drank the organ dry and then cleaned his hands from the dust.

This had been easy. Too easy. Would it have been as easy with Vasilisa if the blonde hadn’t drugged him? He didn’t feel any regret now so maybe he wouldn’t have back then. Even if he had been technically killing a child.

Nikola made to move away but suddenly a kick came for his ribs out of nowhere. He dodged it and tried twisting the offending foot but a sound of a jump was heard and his attacker was out of the cave and into the moonlight. It was Sadik.

“Geezer, Flavius shouldn’t have send you to babysit me! I finished the job and it was easy as pie. Come, I want you to meet someone.”

Sadik looked like he wanted to say something to him. He looked positively torn and Nikola wondered why. Then the Turk took out a gun and aimed it at Nikola’s stomach and pressed the trigger. Nikola was jumping as high as he could in the air and doing a backflip as soon as he heard the soft clicking sound. What the fuck?

Sadik didn’t give him time to ponder as he emptied the gun at him and managed to graze one of his ears. Nikola pressed a hand towards the wound but that seemed to be a big mistake as the assassin was on him with a knife. The knife took off Nikola’s thumb and dug itself into his hand. It seemed that he wouldn’t be using that hand for his knives for quite some time.

Seeing as his old trainer was serious he became too. He tried to keep himself out of reach and threw knives at Sadik but they were all dodged with such speed that Nikola could barely see the man. Soon he ran out of knives and Sadik had him in a chokehold. A loud snap was heard and his neck was twisted painfully.

Sadik grabbed his hair and was just about to bash his head on some rocks when he stopped himself. He muttered something to himself in Turkish and took out a scimitar that was strapped on his tight and placed it on Nikola’s neck.

So this was it, Nikola realized with sudden clarity. The scimitar came down hard once then twice and Nikola knew no more. His head rolled on the ground bellow and stopped in Yima’s ashes. Vasilisa gave a last scream filled of horror and suddenly Nikola was standing on the side, looking at his decapitated body. He couldn’t hear Vasilisa anymore.

Nikola looked down at himself and noticed how see-through he was. So he was now upgraded from somewhat dead to fulltime dead. He remembered how Satan told him he would be send on the frontlines of the Heaven-Hell war and he gulped. He regretted cursing out God now.

Much to his surprise Sadik, still looking like someone from his family had died, approached his head and took out a water bottle and began washing it from blood and dirt. When he was done he brought it on eye level and gave a sigh.

“Maraba, pet. Sorry I didn’t talk back to you back when you greeted me but I had a job to do. Have I ever told you I am a part time Alastor? Ya, you drank your way to an early grave. What didn’t you drink from in Russia? Faes, lupines, vampires. I’m surprised you drew the line on demons. But that was probably because you couldn’t find any. Ha.”

Sadik went and placed Nikola’s head back on his shoulders and took out thread and a needle. He began sewing the head back together and Nikola hoped that the neck would regenerate but no such thing happened. He was well and truly dead. Sadik kept speaking to his corpse as he worked.

“Don’t think I wanted to do this, pet. I tried to warn you when you landed on the Red List but you were in the middle of nowhere. Then I begged to not be the one to be send but I am the best apart from our Antediluvian. Know your fighting skills best as I thought them to you and you we were all sure you have developed trust in me and wouldn’t see it coming. So, pet, even though you were the image of my wanks ever since I first met you I got forced to clean your shit. But I still begged for you to be given one last chance. To prove you are more than Flavius’ mindless weapon. He is dead, by the way. But you two are probably trading notes on how I kill now together in Hell so you must know this already.”

Sadik barked a couple of laughs, shook his head and resumed sewing while speaking.

“You see we offed Flavius as soon as he send you off after Yima. And Haqim, our Antediluvian and my sire, agreed that if you would stop yourself from killing Yima after seeing that he minds his own business and finding out about Flavius your anathema status will be revoked. But then fucking Absimiliard had to chase his own childe into a hole so he could look pretty again and you got to just go in and bag them both as if you were swatting flies. You were too fast for me to find in time to warn. I’m sorry, pet. You weren’t a half bad student, you know? Or a half bad friend. And I will forever regret not having a go at your ass, nicely shaped as it is. Too late for that now too.”

Sadik finished sewing Nikola’s head together and gave his hair a few pets before going off to chop down a tree with his scimitar. He chopped the tree and placed the wood on the ground. He chopped down another tree and repeated the action. Nikola realized what Sadik was doing. There would be no body for him to come back to even if by some miracle his vitae became active again. He bowed his head down and admitted defeat.

Once Sadik was done he carried Nikola bridal style to the pyre, ever mindful of the barely attached head, and placed him on it. He looked to the skies, took out a rosary and gave a prayer. Nikola felt oddly touched at the gesture.

“Pet, I…I am sorry but this is all your fault. Oh sure, you can say you didn’t know any better since neither your sire nor Dimitri tried to restrain you in any way but I tried to give you some common sense. Remember our talks after your runs? Ya, I know you only heard me flirting with you during them but you should have paid attention to the life lessons in them too. But then again I have always been chopped liver in your eyes, so why should you listen to me?”

Sadik pocketed the rosary and ran a hand through his hair. He punched the wood of the pyre and it splintered. The whole construction was about to collapse but Sadik righted it at the last minute. He became angry because of it.

“I may make mistakes, pet, but you took the cake when it comes to them! You took the raw strength of a fucking Antediluvian thanks to Yima and you still didn’t let him go! You don’t like thinking for yourself and think just because you have a beating heart you are better than the rest of us lowly leeches! WELL YOU ARE NOT! Fuck, pet, why did you have to let Flavius keep pulling your strings even when you became strong enough to stand your ground? He gave you an easy way out before he send you off to Russia. I know because I twisted his arm for it to happen. And you still kept following his lead because that is the only thing you do! Now you are forcing me to light a pyre and I wouldn’t even be able to sit here and give you a proper send off because it is nearing sunrise and I have to go. I hope you are burning in Hell, pet. I hope you are listening to me and seeing how me killing you is tearing out my soul in two. And I hope you can forgive me for what I did because I sure can’t forgive myself. Goodbye, Nikola.”

Sadik lit the pyre and was just turning to leave when he changed his mind, took out the rosary and placed it over Nikola’s neck. The flames began licking Nikola’s corpse as Sadik was walking away. The Turk’s shoulders were shaking lightly and he was stumbling every so often and supporting himself on the trees. Nikola had never seen his trainer so weak. He made to follow after him. To try to tell him he understood and he wasn’t blaming him for what happened. But an invisible force stopped him and he found himself drawn back to the pyre.

It burned down and was reduced to ashes and when the wind began scattering them Nikola was finally capable of moving away from his funeral pyre. But by then Sadik was long gone.