“What are you talking about?  Of course we have a reservation here!”  Tentin leaned forward over the counter.  “Check under Michael Tentin.  I reserved the two beds over a week ago. God damn.” Tentin paced back a bit and folded his arms.

“We’re just not finding it…oh wait a second.”  The clerk started typing away on her computer.  “Here it is.”

“Yeah, mmhmm, I bet it is.”  Tentin nodded.  He turned to Sam, “I miss America.”

Sam chuckled.  Tentin was a bit cranky after flying halfway around the world.  He couldn’t find a decent cheeseburger anywhere, and to top it off, they had just cancelled his favorite cop drama.  It was enough to send the man into a frenzy.

Sam turned and looked around the hotel lobby.  She took a detour trip to Italy while Lord Blud was taking care of his business.  It was nothing fancy. She wanted to keep her visits low key.  There were more vampires in Europe than in any other continent, and with Sam killing Horus, she didn’t make very many friends with that race.  She booked a hotel in a more mediocre part of town to try and avoid the public eye.

“Hey, Tentin.” Sam placed her hand on his shoulder, “I’m going to go take a look around.  Be back shortly.”

Tentin glanced back over his shoulder, “Alright, you know where to find me.  I’m just going to get some beer and pizza while I watch some T.V. in the room.”  Tentin took a deep breath, “Vacation.”  He let out a long relaxed sigh.

Sam chuckled and grabbed her duffle bag from a pile of luggage and slung it over her shoulder.  She

 

pushed her way out the front doors and stepped out onto the lethargic street.  Only two people were walking about on the cool night, save for the few cars that passed by in quick moments.

She took a deep breath of air.  She was finally able to follow her lead from Haiti.  The spirit in the cave, if that’s what it was, had told her to find the crypts.  It was fairly vague, but that was spirits for you.

Sam looked to her left and then to her right.  She pulled a coin from her pocket and flipped it into her palm.  Sam shrugged and started walking off to the right.  She crossed her arms and started to tense up.  The air was getting colder and she wished she had brought a jacket along.  Instead she wore a simple tank top and jeans.

Sam rubbed her arms and gazed at the buildings along the street.  There were several shops accompanied by apartment buildings, stretched up into the sky next to the narrow roadway.  The sun was starting to set down behind the horizon of the rooftops, blanketing the street with shadows.

What was she hoping to find here?  At this point she felt like she was chasing ghosts. She should move on with her life instead of working for something that may never come.  There was no guarantee that Mr. Bartlett would be standing at the end of the road with arms wide open, but what else could she do?  If she didn’t continue her pursuit, then what would she do with herself?  Just fall along the wayside and become another casualty of life?

Sam placed her hands in her pockets and pushed her arms close to her chest.  She looked up towards the setting sun.  No.  She would continue no matter what.  No matter how many people got in her way, she would finish what she started.  Sam would be feared by many and respected by others.  She would be one of the few who finished what they started.

After several twists through the city, Sam checked her phone for the time.  She had not known how long she was walking through the streets, but had just been walking, taking the time to think to herself and collect her thoughts so she could press onward without confusion.  She had hesitated too much at Lord Blud’s manor, made too many mistakes, and she almost lost her life.

An hour had passed since she left the hotel.  Sam had to complete her search tonight.  She was set to fly out to Germany tomorrow.  If she didn’t finish tonight, then she would have to wait till Lord Blud and she finished taking care of this Hans Kammler guy; some Nazi trying to bring back the crazed ideals of an age old dictator.  That chapter in the world had ended, even though there were still those clinging to the thought of a “pure” world.

Sam shook her head and turned to the task at hand.  There were no crypts to be found along the streets, so Sam would have to get creative with her search.  She tried to search the Internet for some sort of clues, but only found tourist attractions.  She doubted those would be the crypts she was searching for.

She was walking towards a group of teenagers on the sidewalk, sitting at a little café.  There were five of them sitting about a small table.  They didn’t look menacing.  They wore casual sweaters and miscellaneous hats.  They laughed at each other.  One of the girls smacked a nearby boy in the arm, making him spill his coffee on the sidewalk below.

Sam smiled at the adolescent innocence.  She wasn’t much older than the rest of them.  She was only twenty-five, but with all the events that had happened to her in the past five years had set her apart from the average young adult.  She was in a different league for her age.  She had a forced maturity about her.  Hopefully the group would be accommodating to her questions.

“Excuse me.”  Sam leaned on the metal bars that separated the small seating area from the rest of the sidewalk.  “I’m looking for some crypts.  It sounds strange, I know, but that was all the information I was given.”

The entire group looked towards the one teenager furthest away from Sam.  He looked about his peers and smiled, “Ci vedo com’é, mi preoccupo io de turisti, eh?”  The group chuckled.  A young boy whispered something into the ear of the girl next to him, who punched him in the arm again.  The boy laughed.  Sam could only guess it was something sexually demeaning.

“Ah, crypts, I don’t know of any around here.”  The boy said to Sam in decent English.  “There is small tourist shop in the alley about two blocks up from here.”  The boy pointed behind him.  “Check there.”

Sam nodded.  “Thanks.”  She was going to ask his name when something caught her eye.  She felt a dark presence watching her from the next alley ahead, but when she focused on the alley, the dark silhouette disappeared.  A black bird soon flew onto the cloth overhang in front of the café.  It turned its head to look at Sam.

Sam thought she could see a green spark in the bird’s eye.  She squinted to get a better look when the boy pulled her out of her thoughts.

The boy whose arm was punched twice threw a piece of baguette at the bird, causing it to fly away.  “Eh! Vattene!”

“You okay?”  The lead boy sipped his coffee. 

Sam looked down at the boy.  She noticed something in the corner of his mouth as he knocked back his coffee and downed it in one gulp.  The boy had two fangs slightly protruding from his mouth. 

They were vampires.  Sam knew she should get out of here as quickly as possible, even if they weren’t part of a clan, they could have a chance of making her out.  From there, word would spread like wildfire.  Sam had made a big impact on the vampire community.  She was like a celebrity, at least to some, and a monster to the rest, almost like a Charles Manson of vampires.

“I’m fine, thanks again.”  Sam quickly wrapped up the conversation.  She gave a final wink to the vulgar boy, whose cheeks flushed.  He got punched another time as Sam walked down the sidewalk.

Sam passed the alley that she thought she saw something was watching her.  The alley was dark, but empty.  The sun had started its final moments of decline, and soon the city would be covered in night.

A movement from one of the teenagers caught Sam’s eye.  The teen leaned over the table with her phone and pointed towards Sam.  The teenager was adamant about what she was saying, raising her voice several times.  The group hushed when they saw Sam glancing back at them.  They sat in their chairs and turned away from Sam.

Sam just turned and began walking to where the boy said the tourists shop was.  She moved her bag closer to her side.  If she needed to, she could get her axe out within seconds.

The lead boy pulled out his phone and dialed someone.  Sam could have sworn she heard her name several times in the conversation.  She started double timing it down the sidewalk.  She didn’t want to get caught out at night time, especially by herself.

The group of teenagers stood from their table and started to follow Sam.  The lead boy pulled the slugging-girl aside and whispered into her ear.  The girl nodded and hastily ran off across the street, disappearing around the corner.

Sam came to the alley where the teens had directed her.  She looked down the abyssal alley, void of any real light.  Just one bulb was lit, hanging above the side door to some building.  A dumpster was placed about halfway down.  If she tried to fight them there, she could funnel them into fighting two wide.  The odds would be in her favor.  Best case scenario, these little punks couldn’t have had much experience in fighting.  Worst case, she would be fighting some agile monsters, ferocious and ready to prove themselves to whoever they answered to, and she would have no escape from the back of the alley, but tall chain link fence blocked her off from the rest of the world.

Her choice was soon made for her.  The slugger came out of an alley across the street with four more teens at her back.  The group stared Sam down.  As Sam took two more steps down the sidewalk, several more teens cut her off.  They began to shift about.  Some of them held pipes, others knives, and some had whatever weapon they could find on their way to the ambush.

Sam had no choice but to enter the alley.  She could try to call Tentin, but he would have no clue where to find her, and even if he did, it would take him too long to get to her.  She was up against fifteen young vamps.  Trying to fight them in the open would be a death sentence.  She would have to fight them in the alley, it was her only chance.

The female warrior backed into the alley, staring at the adolescent gang with the gaze honorable fighters held cowards in.  They had no honor, they only had each other.  It was the history of the coward’s reprise.  Sam unzipped her duffle bag and retrieved her axe.  The talisman swayed in unison with the movements of the sleek, muscular body wielding it.  Sam tossed her bag and swung the axe about.

The first group of teens, the boppers at the table, closed off her escape, filling the entrance to the alley with their immortal beings, forming a shield wall of flesh as the others filed in behind them.

The vamps hissed their unatural growls, bearing their fangs with a false show of strength.  Sam pushed the hair from her face.  She had backed up to the large refuse bin.  It was now or never.  She raised her axe and charged the group.  The metal on her talisman glinted as the simple light glowing upon it.

A hideous laughed filled the air, followed by slow clapping.  Sam and the large group of vamps turned to the source of the noise.  None of them noticed the figure sitting atop the dumpster.

A man sat shrouded in the darkness, his leg crossed over the other and his hands clapping like he was forced into giving an encore at an overrated opera by a simplistic audience.  A black bird fluttered down from the rooftops and landed on the man’s shoulder, a piece of baguette in its mouth.

“Bravo, bravo.  Or is it brava?  Forgive me I just can’t quite seem to recall.”  The figure uncrossed his legs.  His voice was thick and eloquent.  It carried like a slight breeze, pleasing to the ears as it is to the skin.  “This theatre of courage is believable.  Trust me, I’ve been a considerate audience member since act one, but now I must contest this audacious performance.”

Sam moved away from the dumpster, placing her back partially against the wall.  She didn’t know who this man was.  He could be another vampire for all she knew.  He could be just some bystander who thought to intervene on Sam’s demise.  There was something about him though, some sort a familiar feeling when she looked upon him, like she knew him from somewhere but couldn’t quite place it.

“Yeah? And who are you?  More meat to feast upon it looks like.”  The lead boy from the table looked about his cronies.  They chuckled together, gathering strength as a hive mind even though each and every one could feel terror creeping up their legs and crawling through their spines, latching on to their minds with one purpose.  They were facing no normal man.

“Why, me?”  He placed his hand on his chest, “That is a long story.  To some, I am a monster, to others, I am a fucking nightmare.”  As the man finished his sentence, another black bird flew down from the rooftops.  It landed on the light fixture, tilting the single bulb, pummeling the man’s hidden face with light.  His grotesque attempt at the human form was displayed for all to see.

The man’s nose left more to be wanting, literally.  Half of his nose had fallen off, and the rest had scabbed over with dry blood and snot.  His eyes hazed over with a milky film while grime was crusted in the corners of his eyelids.  “What?  Scared?”  The man smiled, his lips purple and black with blue veins spider webbed throughout his pale, colorless chin, draping down to his neck and disappearing into his shirt.  Black teeth could be seen through the gash in his cheek, his breath slightly overcoming the odor emanating from his body.  A top hat was perched on his head like the bird on his shoulder.  Black greasy hair had been slicked back underneath the fashion statement.  His ancient coat had once been fashionable, the draping coattails flapped in the sudden breeze.

The group of vampires’ feet was stuck in place like cruel statues awaiting their destruction for a new display.  Fear held them tight in place, no matter how badly they tried to turn and run, they were held in place by an unknown force.  The only thought that passed through their minds was of how they were going to die tonight, and that was how this mysterious figure liked it.

Sam shifted in place.  Her mind swelled with madness, but it was pushed back and kept at bay.  The madness was clawing at the fringes of her sanity, but it was unable to take her.  Her talisman started to hum and vibrate as the fearful thoughts emptied her mind.

She turned her axe towards the man, “What are you doing to them?”  Sam had not attacked the man yet because of her wonder.  She had not seen anything like this in all her travels.  Was he a zombie?  He didn’t eat their brains with a mindless lust.  Her hands held her axe tightly.  Even so, she would kill this creature if she had to, zombie or not, it would die.

“They are my playthings, for now.”  The man’s hand twirled slightly, “Oh, excuse my rudeness, madam.”  The man bowed, his hat falling from his head.  He caught it with one hand and as he rose from his bow.  He rolled the hat, plopping it atop his head.  “There are those who call me the Raven, mademoiselle. Pleased to make the acquaintance of a woman who has been cast from the heavens, for her beauty was too great for the gods to gaze upon without giving to the mortal temptations of lust.”  He held out his hand for her to take.  His pointer finger was missing the flesh around it.  The bone was held on my nothing more than tendons that sprouted from his palm.

Sam cringed a little at the man who was hideous in more ways than one.  Was he trying to sweet talk her?  He didn’t seem dangerous, at least not to her.  Sam relaxed a bit and lowered her guard.  She looked down at the man’s hand and shook her head, “No thanks.”  What was this man playing at?  There was more going on here, just like everything that found its way into Sam’s life.  It seemed to be her curse forevermore, to leave her nevermore.

“I don’t blame you there.”  The Raven pulled his hand back and turned on his heels to the pack of teenagers frozen in place.  All eyes were on the Raven, and he liked it.  More black birds started flying into the alley and began perching in various places.

“I don’t much like cheaters.”  The Raven began to walk amongst the vampires.  “The last man who had cheated me met a fate most foul.”  The black bird on the Raven’s shoulder cawed.  The Raven chuckled as he looked at the raven sitting on his shoulder.  “He gets it.”

“But what is most heinous of this crime, is the fact that you teamed up on one woman.  Cowards deserve a coward’s death.”  The Raven set his hand on the shoulder of slugger girl.  “But first, I thirst.”  Green sparks sprung from the hand of the Raven and coursed over the she-vamp’s body.  A purple mist oozed from his boney finger as the girl started to shrivel up, her flesh drying up like fruit left to the sun’s mercy.  The girl burst into flames.

“For the rest of you.”  Sam watched as the Raven pulled a lighter from his coat.  His visage turned dark and unmerciful.  He seemed to care not what happened to them.  So why did he save Sam.  She could only think that he needed her for something.  What other reason could he have for intervening on her demise at the hands of the vampires?  Sam let her axe drop to her side.  She rested her weight on the axe and looked away as undead construct lit the clothes of a vampire with the flame.  The vampire screamed as he took up in flames.  The Raven opened his mouth and blew a nauseous green gas across the rest of the vampires.  The gas erupted in flame, burning the rest of the teens.

It was slow and agonizing, not just for the vampires, but for Sam as well.  She had ended all the vampires before her with quick deaths.  This was just cruel.  Sam kept her mouth shut.  Guilt built up inside her as the fire warmed her cold body.  The man, if that’s what she could call him, had saved her, and the vampires were going to kill her if given the chance.  In the end, it was their fault, no one else’s.

When the vampires had turned to ash, and the flames had extinguished, light had left from the eyes of the Raven, he turned his attention back to the girl he had helped.  The once-human straightened his back and took a step towards her.  The bird perched on the light fluttered away.  The Raven’s eyes flickered upwards, following the bird up to the rooftops.  As he looked back to the woman, everything had changed.  There was no longer a woman wielding an axe, but there stood a little girl in a white dress, one he had known well in his past life.  She held an antique doll in her arms.  She smiled at him.  Most memories of that time had fleeted from his mind, just a murky haze clouded with guilt and sorrow.  A word came to him, just one, “Samantha.”  He spoke aloud, not knowing that he did so.  He reached out with his hand, he needed to touch her.

“How do you know my name?”  The woman’s voice broke the spell over the Raven.

The image of the girl he once knew had disappeared into the past.  He gazed on the woman.  She looked similar to the girl in his dreams.  He smiled.

“So?”  Sam raised her axe a little.  “Who are you, and why are you here?

“I saw a lady in distress, so I came to her aid.  Does a man need a reason to help the fairer sex?”  The Raven leaned against the dumpster.

“So you’re a man?  What did you use on the vamps?  Magic?  There’s a reason no one has the power of magic anymore.”  Sam gripped her axe in both hands.

“Yes, I suppose it’s a magic of kinds, one that had been blotted out from the world long before all others.  The power over death strikes a certain fear into the hearts of the weak, and many inhabitants of this world are weak, believe me, dear.”  The Raven turned to the dumpster and pulled out a cane.  “But it seems like you are quite different from the rest.  You face fear head on.  You, madam, are a warrior, a Valkyrie transporting the souls of this realm to where they belong.  You have slain many, yet your quest never ends.”

“Huh.  A Necromancer.”  Sam raised one side of her mouth.  “You are a smooth talker, I’ll give you that.”  Sam stepped past the Raven, “Because you helped me, I will let you off this time.  I’m supposed to kill any magic user I come across.  The power to bend reality is too strong for our world.  Especially Necromancy.  The dead should stay dead.”  Sam turned at the mouth of the alley.  “Thanks, by the way.”

The Raven chuckled at Sam, “Well then, I guess you will be indebted to me again.”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed.  What was this guy getting at?  He had showed up at just the right time to save her, and now he had something else up his sleeve.  This wasn’t coincidence, this was planned.

The Raven smiled as he saw the wheels spinning in Sam’s head.  She was as smart as she was fierce.  Just like his daughter was.  The Raven perked up.  Another memory he was able to recall.  This woman must be connected to him somehow.

“I heard you asking around for the location of the Cypts.  Any luck?”  The Raven leaned up against the wall.  Light shined down directly from above, hitting the rim of his hat and casting his face with shadows.

Sam exhaled.  He knew something, “I’m to guess you know where these crypts are?”

“Why your assumptions are astute, Samantha, but these aren’t just any crypts.  What you are seeking is THE Crypts.  Very ancient, and obscure, but as luck has it, I know the way.”  A green spark shot from his milky eye and down into his open cheek wound, illuminating his face with an eerie green light for a quick second.

“Alright then, why are we still here?  Take me there and I guess I will have to owe you one.”  Sam retrieved her duffle bag and placed her axe inside.  She had slight doubts about the Raven, but if he wanted to hurt her, he could have let the vampires do their own dirty work.  Sam was okay with him for now.  “And the name’s Sam.”

“Yes, Sam.”  The Raven tossed his cane up and caught it in midair.  He began to strut out of the alley with the cane locked under his armpit.  “Follow me.  Worry not, it is close by.”  He turned to face Sam, “After all, I used to live here several hundred years ago.  Don’t tarry, we must reach it before sunrise.”

The Raven took off around the corner with surprising speed for a dead man.  Sam turned her head to the side, or undead man.  She jogged down to the end of the alley.  This better not be a wild goose chase.  She was tired of being jerked around by others, but this Raven guy seemed to have solid answers for her, so she would risk her life.  It’s now or never.

 

Sam smashed the cellar lock with her axe several times.  As she hacked at the wood, splinters of from the door blasted around her.  The Raven stood guard behind her.  The black bird on his shoulder watched her like prey.  She wiped sweat from her face.  The wood should have caved in already, but it was thick and sturdy, even though it looked old and flimsy.  She examined at the metal and realized why the wood faired so well against her enchanted axe.  Symbols had been carved into the metal hinges, as well as the lock.  She wished Eddie had been here.  He could have figured out the language and countered the wards holding the wood into place, or he could have just blown through with explosives.  The only good thing was that the wards gave way to the fact they were hiding something behind their spells.  She must be getting closer to her answers.

She wondered how her friend was doing.  She couldn’t help him now, not since she was halfway around the world.  He hadn’t messaged her since she left for England.  He was able to take care of his self, but Sam was always worried that something would happen.  The world was an unpredictable place after all.  Sam made a mental note to call him when this was over.

The snapping of wood broke Sam out of her train of thought.  Her enchanted axe had finally beaten the wards.  The talisman’s magic had been stronger after all.

The cellar door swung open with a gust of wind.  Sam stepped back as dry, hot air pummeled her face.  She felt like she had just opened an oven after cooking a meal.

The Raven took a deep breath, “Ah, we have arrived.”  He slightly pushed Sam out of the way with his cane, “Yes. This is it.”  He looked at Sam.  “Down you go then.”  His bird flapped its wings and flew off into the night.

Sam wiped the sweat from her face as she watched it fly away.  Her hand smeared as sweat mixed with the grime of chopping the old, dirty door open.  She looked around to make sure no one had heard her break open the door.  “Are you not coming with?”  She hefted her axe over her shoulder.

The Raven took his free hand and placed it on his chest, “Me? No.  I have no power down in the Crypts.  I would be a hindrance to your progress down in that abyssal pit.”  He pointed his finger, bone and all, down into the cellar. “That is where you will find your answers to your quest.”

Sam nodded and took her first step down the stone stairs.  She brandished her axe with both hands.  This was finally it.  She was ready.

“But.”  The Raven took a step backwards, moving towards the shadows.  “Be careful of what you seek.  The price may be steep.”  The Raven bowed, his hat falling from his head.  He caught it and stood upright, waving the top hat in the air.  “Au revoir, Samantha, we shall meet again soon.  Remember, you owe me.”  The Raven smiled once more.  His black teeth visible above his corpse like lips.

Sam didn’t want to waste any more time on pleasantries.  She nodded at the Raven.  She then turned and descended into the darkness.  Her thoughts swirled with what she would find down here.  Was the Raven leading her into a trap?  She would soon find out.  If he was really telling the truth, she would be treading the Crypts the spirit in the caves of Haiti had told her about.  Her gut feeling told her that she was on the right track.

One foot after another, she mustered her courage, and moved further into the darkness.  All thoughts of her friends, of her family, they all disappeared with each step.  She had one goal on her mind, to find Mr. Bartlett.

The Raven watched as Sam disappeared from sight.  She had many similarities to his daughter.  If Mr. Bartlett was right about her, she very well could be his daughter, a reincarnation, his daughter given a second chance.  There was no way to know for sure.  He just had to help her in any way he could.  He had followed Mr. Bartlett’s directions to the letter.  Now he had just hoped that Sam could survived the very depths of Hell he had sent her through.  If she didn’t make it out, Mr. Bartlett would have hell to pay.

He took another breath through his half nose and sighed.  It was good to be alive, at least half alive.  He soon disappeared into the shadows and was lost to the night.