Black Bloodstains
Chapter 14: Over the Hills and Far Away
“I don’t get it if we’re going to such a fancy party, it requires everyone to dress very extravagantly. Why am I wearing a huge ass coat, a beanie, and a scarf?” I asked in a very general question expecting some answer. I had taken a shower to remove the bits and goo of the mollusk friend. My hair still has a deep shade of blue, and my skin is as smooth as I never thought it could be. Everyone was dressed so, elegantly. Shawn and Sam were sporting a tuxedo. Floyd was wearing a vivid red dress that didn’t look at least a bit embarrassing of the assets she was showing. Kalyn and Laurie, both wearing an elegant dress more prude than Floyd’s.
“Because you are going to the party, but… You’re technically not invited.” Alice, who was wearing somewhat similar clothing like mine, answered me. She was wearing a hoodie, and a bandana was covering her mouth. “You are like the most wanted person on the planet right now. You would get recognized right away.” She walked towards me and covered my mouth and nose with the scarf. She twisted her head a little, and I speculate there’s a smile behind that bandana. “Okay, so who’s kind enough to tell Sam and Elizabeth what are we going to do?”
Floyd, who was finishing some small touches with her make up, answered. “Sometimes we have to do a job which involves all of us. This is one of those, and we were tasked to steal this.” Floyd walked towards a pile of papers and opened up one which was folded to be the size of a sheet of paper. Some scepter was drawn in the article, with a view from every common angle you’d need to recognize it. It was a very simple scepter, stone-like texture, with few details in the whole body. The top, however, ended with some curves and an ax-like form.
“This scepter is located in the mansion of Henry Donovan. The former CEO of various fast food restaurant chains.” Alice spoke up bringing a whiteboard with drawings of two buildings, and a concept of a house. “Lucky for us, he’s having a party tonight. So here’s the plan.” She grabbed a stick and pointed at the tallest building of the two. “He’s having the party on his terrace, a modest terrace the size of an average block. I’ve managed to get information on the structure of his house, aside from the pool and several other fancy rooms, we’ve got a total of thirteen rooms. The scepter is inside one of them.”
“That’s when the five of you appear. I got your five names on the list, so you could care of scouting the scepter.” She grabbed some tickets, which were on her pockets, and gave them to Floyd, Laurie, Kalyn, Sam, and Shawn. “Aside from looking like high-society teenagers partying their hearts out, you’ll inform us the location of the scepter, Elizabeth and I will head towards the ceiling of the building with the closest range to the room the scepter is located. Elizabeth and I will use some grappling hooks to get to the window after we secure the scepter, you’re free to enjoy the night, and we’ll meet here tomorrow.”
Alice picked up several tools and tossed me a backpack filled with even more equipment. “I assume we’re all set,” Alice said gesturing at the girls filling their small purses with materials I still don’t know their functionality, and to the guys who were tying up their shoelaces. “Maddox is waiting for us at the garage we better get going.” I walked next to Alice putting the beanie on my head and closing the coat. At least this is going to keep me warm for the night.
We walked inside the garage; a limousine was parked between all of the horse stables. There was a man, a very beaten up looking guy reading an old Rolling Stone magazine. He had black hair in a bob-cut style, he had a huge nose, eyes of different colors, and was smoking a very beaten up cigar. Wearing a military jacket over a plain black shirt and a golden cross turned around hanging on his neck. His legs were almost half the size of my body, and this guy is probably over two meters tall.
“Oh, Miss Alice.” He said noticing all of us entering the room. “Pleasure to see you again.” He kissed Alice’s hand and tossed the magazine inside the limo. He had a very thick British accent. He had a combination of a tired tone, and his voice changed frequencies as he finished his sentences. “Ladies, ladies, ladies, you look wonderful tonight!” He opens the door for them to step inside the car. “And Gents! Looking like breaking some hearts tonight, ugh… that’s the way I used to be.” Sam and Shawn stepped inside leaving Alice and me standing next to me. “I’ll be dammed, isn’t the one and only Elizabeth Tenebris. What you did at the police station was blinding.”
“We would rather keep it at bay Niccants, we better get going, or we might arrive late to the party.” Alice was entering the limo before she stopped and popped out her head. “Elizabeth, would you mind sitting at the front? I need to finish equipping these guys with some locators and communicating devices.” I shook my head and began walking towards the co-pilot seat. “Great, we’ll be there in no time,” She said as she entered the limo and Maddox closed the door.
I opened the door and was greeted by a dirty seat, a bag of Fritos and some coke cans. “Sorry for the mess. I wasn’t expecting a company next to me. Just give me a sec.” He bends over and picked up all of the thrash, and using a tissue, and he cleans up the bits of Fritos left in the seat. “That’s a bit better, come on, let’s get going.” He sat on the driver seat and started up the engine. I sat and immediately put on the seatbelt. I noticed he didn’t put on his, and the alarm never appeared. “You don’t mind some tunes, right’a mate?” I shook my head and gave a light smile, which was covered by the scarf, so it didn’t matter. “ Great, let’s get going.”
We drove away from the school listening to some 80’s hard rock music. I didn’t mind the tunes; I was more interested in a magazine that had the title of “Elizabeth Tenebris” and a picture of myself when I was trapped at the police station. I grabbed it and gave a quick scan of the full-fletched six-page analysis of myself. “What do you know about me?” I ask Maddox while he banged the wheel in the rhythm of the song.
“Bollocks… You caught me off guard.” He said turning the volume down and scratching his head. “You liked swallowed the souls of the big ones. You can control all the elements, and that you chopped off the head of several guards.” He continued driving and drew a toothpick from his pocket; he placed it in his mouth and started playing with it. “Oh, you also like, obliterated the career of one of the best agents we have.”
So I ruined and possibly crushed Mr. Asshole’s pride. I giggled a bit loudly after thinking about that. “So, Miss Tenebris, you don’t mind calling you Elizabeth right?” I shook my head answering his question. “Great, It’ll be annoying calling you Miss Tenebris all night.” He scratched his ear and turned the volume up just a bit. “So Elizabeth, what did Alice do to convince you to join her cause? I mean, someone with such power as yours should practically do whatever the fuck you want.”
I laughed at his comment, and during the rest of the trip, I explained the relationship between Alice and me. I didn’t touch on any, personal or psychological topic. I’m not even ready to think about it without bursting my head, or losing control of myself. We entered the city by now. The buildings and the loud noises of the city greeted me once more. I’ve never been very fond of NYC, I know it’s important and all, but I see it as an ant farm filled with loud, obnoxious persons. “So who are you exactly?” I asked him after I told him almost everything about myself.
“Name’s Maddox Niccants.” He proudly answered me, placing touching his chest with his fingers. “Main ice, secondary nature. I’m the leader of the Animal squad of the revolution. You do know the revolution Alice is having right?” I nodded and ate some Fritos while I continued listening to him. “Jolly, I won’t need to explain it to you. I take care of all of the vehicle-related assignments. Boat, car, train, chopper, plane, I can take care of everything with a motor. The rest of the squad and I are brothers, street brothers. We grew up in the streets of our kingdom, ever since we were little we stick together like glue. You might meet the rest of the gang in the future, on occasions Alice calls us to help her in missions that require more… front line equipment.”
We cut some corners, and we approached the building of the party. Big lights were illuminating the sky, and the street was filled with traffic. “Oh come on! It’s only ten o’clock! It shouldn’t be this… Ugh… Agh…” He mumbled some words, which I couldn’t understand. Perhaps they were some British curse words. “Well, as I was saying. We worked on the streets and lived under a bridge. We used to rob and steal and do all sorts of things to get food. But Alice’s movement caught our ears, and we rolled in almost immediately. Now we rob and steal from rich people so that we can get funds for the whole movement. We’re helping families eat daily, and pay proper medical services, etcetera, and you know the drill.”
Someone knocked on the window that divides the front and the back area of the limo. Maddox pressed a button near the rearview mirror, and the tinted window rolled down. “Maddox, leave Elizabeth and me here. It’ll be weird if they see a passenger and a twelve-year-old as the rest leave the car.” Alice said covering her face with the bandana. “You take the rest to the party, and bring them home when they tell you to. Don’t drift off to a bar or a strip club, and I need you with your phone ready in case something goes wrong.”
“Got it, boss,” Maddox said pressing a button that opened the passengers’ door, and probably the door in the back. I covered my face with the scarf, grabbed the bag with the equipment that Alice gave me, said goodbye to Maddox, and I left the limo shutting the door behind me. Alice was waiting for me outside, and as soon as I stepped out, she ran towards the nearest alleyway. I followed her trail, and soon we were hidden between buildings.
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We were already in the elevator when the first transmission from Alice arrived. “Elizabeth and I are in position. She’s currently inspecting the surroundings from each quadrant. We think that there’s a possibility that the whole party is over three floors. We don’t know the structure of the house, so this might take you guys some time. I suggest separate and look in each floor individually. Report as soon as you can.” We all looked at each other, trying to guess how would we do this thing.
“We’ll do it this way,” Floyd spoke up. She was left in charge of the team since she’s the highest in command between all of us. “Laurie and I will take care of the first floor. Shawn and Kalyn of the second. And Sam, you’ll take care of the last floor. Report and reunite on the floor you find the scepter.” The elevator stopped on the first floor, and before Floyd stepped out, she faced me and grabbed my shoulder. “This is your first mission, act natural. This party is not human only, so try your best to be undercover. Good luck.” She smiled at me while the door closed.
Laurie and Shawn left, leaving me all by myself in the elevator. ‘You can do this champ!’ I thought as I looked at myself in the mirror. I combed my hair and re-adjusted my tie. I did some jumps, and pretend to practice my punches as if I were a boxer. “Okay… The first time in the big city? Or are you planning to fight someone?” Some weird feminine voice spoke behind me.
I turned around to face one of the prettiest girls I’ve met in my life. She must be from around here, first I doubt someone else from school actually managed to get to this party, and second, if she were from school, I’d noticed her. Gorgeous red hair in a bun over her hair, pale skin, big yellow eyes, figure encased in a black dress, showing enough cleavage to look attractive but not slutty, wait a minute. “Yellow eyes?”
Her eyes widen, her yellow eyes suddenly became, and she looked stunned. She adjusted her hair and looked a bit nervous. “Is kind of a weird condition, you might know about it since I can feel something windy about you.” She extended her hand and gave me a huge smile. “Name’s Erica, pawn from the Macmaster house, a pleasure to meet you.”
I gently accepted her hand; I tried to hide my trembling and shyness by acting cool. But… with a record of speaking to only to five girls that aren’t family, brings me to a tight spot here. “Sam Johnson, pawn from the Ruplant house. It’s a pleasure too.” I saw her react towards Alice’s clan; maybe she has previously encountered them. “What brings you here Erica? I’m sort of new to this whole house and energy power situation.”
“You too!” She reacted happily. “Thank the Gods! I wouldn’t know what to do either! I’ve been like this for less than a week! “ She created a small fireball with her right hand, which she quickly erased. “I’m still getting used to the powers and such. My team’s boss is a close partner with the guy who is organizing this whole party.” She moves her hands as she speaks; I find that adorable. “Now get closer.” I approached her, and she gently whispers into my ear. “There are rumors that there’s a clan planning to steal something from here, we’re meant to keep that object safe.”
The elevator door opened on a queue, she happily jumps towards the crowd filled with party people and such. She gestured me to follow her, and I slowly did. As the music and the crowd blended between us, I manage to sneak to a corner and pressed on the transmitter on my ear. Before I could even say anything, I sighed and mumbled some words. “Ehm… Guys… We should be even more careful… I found a girl who told me, and she’s in charge of preventing us from taking the scepter.”
“I can confirm that” Shawn answered. “We’ve spotted several Macmaster’s members roaming around the place. And we heard them talking about protecting something…” The music was getting way too loud. I walk to the male’s bathroom and lock the door behind me. I could finally hear Shawn. “That won’t affect the mission, and we just need to be more careful and prevent them from spotting us.”
“Stick to the plan, keep searching for the scepter and keep your guards up,” Alice answered over the transmitter. “Sam, I want you to stay close to the girl, maybe you can take a look at what she’s doing, and if something goes wrong warn us.” I left the bathroom since someone else was knocking on it loudly. A bulky man wearing a suit pushed me away as I stepped towards the party.
Boy, what a rooftop. There is a pool with a lot of room surrounding it. I can see chimneys, billiard tables, Ping-Pong; pretty much every luxury item that you can find is here at the rooftop. There are several people inside the pool, most of them looking as if they came right up from a Hollywood movie. I haven’t seen a large belly ever since I came here. Most of the men are jacked, and most of the gals look as if they were supermodels. After we get the job done, I’ll have quite the time looking at these fine specimens.
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“So Alice… How are mom and dad like?” We were sitting on the roof of one of the nearby buildings from where the party is. We had set up several types of machinery that would help us to reach the building from the surrounding ones. I was holding a huge grappling gun, pretty much the size of a normal sniper rifle. The wind was blowing rapidly, and we were snuggling together due to the low temperatures. “You should know how they are, I mean, I-I-I.” My words struggled to come out of my mouth. This was a very sensitive topic that I would rather keep it to myself. But something inside of me wanted to know much closer my two parents and brothers, and sister. “I want you to tell me how the family is like, and I feel it would help a lot to adjust to this new life.”
Alice was sipping on a cup of tea while we waited for the guys to tell us where the scepter is located. On the bag that I was carrying there was water, several tea bags, and two plastic cups. I had to help her by boiling the water with my energy. “You could say they are a nice family, nothing out of the norm, or unusual.” She said as she poured water into my cup. I don’t know where this girl gets this tea, but after trying it, I wanted to drink the whole thing. “Dad and mom, have been married for over a hundred years, they are the definition of ‘made for each other.’”
“Dad is a very proud man, always staying true to the traditions, and is always looking for doing things right and as they should be made. He, however, is a prankster and is full of himself. You can’t shut him up whenever we talk during dinner, always saying something from the news, or from a book that was written over a thousand years ago. He, however, is a compassionate person, sometimes while he talks or after he had a way to many cups of wine, he might touch a sensitive topic, that would make him tear up easily.”
“Mom is not as different as you might think. She is very open-minded, and even if she respects traditions, she always had a very relaxing way to deal with things that don’t check or that aren’t according to the plan. Raph one day refused to wear his uniform to school; any mother would scream and force the kid to wear the thing. But mom always tries to find a reason for everything, and she talked to Raph wondering what wrong. And it turns out he had accidentally blown it up while he was practicing a new spell.” She laughed loudly; it felt as if it was some common joke they would always tell at a dinner table. “But, she is a very caring mother, she is lovely and always wants to help anyone in trouble.”
“Oh, you haven’t properly met Zach and Ralph right?” I shook my head and drank more of the tea. “Those two idiots, they are completely polar opposite persons, but they somehow manage to get along nicely. Zach, like dad, is full of himself, and he never gives up on something until he gets it. Raph, like mom, is very generous, very calm is pretty much a big bear you can cuddle with. Zach is the best at sports, and anything involving exercise. Raph is more connected to energy, always wanting to make a new spell, or investigate the origins of known ones. I can’t explain them to you, I grew with them, so I pretty much find everything natural whenever I’m with them.”
We were a bit quiet after that. She didn’t have anything to say, and neither do I. After an awkward silence she decided to break it. “Look, Elizabeth, I know we started on the wrong foot. I-I’m sorry for that.” I felt some stammering while she spoke, I turned and faced her and saw her trembling as she spoke. “I’m sorry for what I did before, I wasn’t thinking, I was just, pretending to be someone else.” Tears were coming out of her eyes, which she rapidly removed them with her sleeve. “I want to get along with you, and I know it isn’t accepting the things I did to you, but I want to…”
I interrupted her as I answered with a hug. I had this feeling inside of me that I really should do that; I was crying myself as she spoke. Not because her words were compassionate and would make anyone cry. But because of the feeling, they were expressed with. I didn’t feel mean ol’ Alice saying them. I heard a person, a compassionate one who was genuinely touching sorry with her actions. I also started to cry since it was the first time someone spoke to me that way. And for fuck sakes, she is my sister! This is what female siblings do! I think… But this heartbeat inside me told me to do just that, and I just followed.
We stayed there, just hugging and cuddling. It felt… Good, somehow. There wasn’t any sexual energy, just a feeling of snuggling with a sibling, something that was utterly new to me. “Alice we located the scepter.” Floyd’s voice came through the speaker. We immediately stood up, and I began to save all of our junk in the bag. “It is on the fifty-four floor, located on the west side of the building. We’re currently regrouping and making everyone else leave the room, and we wait for further instructions.” I had the scarf and the beanie bag back on, and I began preparing the grappling gun.
“We’re lucky to be on the west side currently,” Alice spoke over the transmitter. “Elizabeth and I are…” She looked at me before she answered and continued speaking, I gave a quick thumbs up, gesturing the gun and I were ready. “… On location and ready to continue the operation. Open the window and flicker the lights so we can locate the exact room.” We stared at the building for a while, looking for the room that the scepter is located. After a while, we spotted the room on the corner with its lights flickering. “Spotted, prepare for receiving us.”
We began heading towards the corner of our current building. I set up the grappling gun on the edge, and make it stick to the ceiling. I tried pushing it away, but it was so secure it wouldn’t even move an inch. “Remember what I told you. Take a deep breath, aim for the center, and guide it with your energy.” I lay on the ground and began aiming for the center of the room. In the sighs, I could see Floyd and Shawn at the window. I took a deep breath and began sending energy to the gun. “Firing in three, two, one…” I pulled the trigger, and I sensed how the hook flew in the air, I forced it to stay in a straight line,
“Got it,” Shawn spoke through the speaker; I opened my eyes and saw Shawn with the hook on his right hand. I exhaled loudly, and I bet they heard it through the transmitter and began grabbing the rest of the equipment. “Hook secured.” I threw Alice a bar with a spinning wheel in the middle. That bar will take us to the other side of the line since the wheel surface has a line that sticks to the wire. Alice placed hers on the wire, and afterward, she rolled towards the window. “Elizabeth is your turn.”
I grabbed another bar and took some steps back. I counted to three and began running towards the edge of the building. I jumped, and in mid-air, I placed the wheel in the wire. The sensations were terrific; the wind blew on my face and the rest of my body. Thankfully my I trained my body to sustain my own body, so holding on the bar wasn’t a difficult task. Shawn was on the other side waiting for me, and I practically rammed him over with my own body. Thankfully Kalyn was behind him, and she quickly picked both of us before we rolled on the floor and made a bunch of noise. I just smiled, and we both ended up laughing from the silly thing I just did.
She left us on the ground, and I covered my mouth from the laughs that I was producing. A smile like this felt good, and it indeed brought my mood up. The room was very, very fancy. It was a gorgeous library, shelves filled each wall of the room, except for a small section being used by a chimney, and another one was a statue of an Egyptian deity stood. “Anubis?” I spoke loudly, covering my mouth with the scarf that had fallen to the floor.
“It seems like it,” Laurie answered me. “Although, it is an original Egyptian statue, the arms have been altered for the statue to grab the scepter.” And indeed it was. The statue portrayed Anubis as a strong man, his arms packing muscles and a six-pack on his shirtless front. His head was the one from a dog, and it had several Egyptian ornaments on its head. It was holding the scepter with both of his hand, in a diagonal position over its chest. “The color was also altered so it could match with the color of the scepter.”
“How did you know all of this?” Alice asked stepping closer to the statue. “And how’s the process of acquiring the scepter?”
“Floyd manage to ‘convince’…” Kalyn said that the last word was adding quotations with her fingers. “And by convince, I refer to hypnotize, a butler to tell us the location of the scepter. He also gave us the notes of the scepter, and how it was acquired, and information about the statue. And to make the statue give us the scepter I have to pull… this… book…. that…” She was looking through the books searching for o one in particular as she spoke. “Talks about Egyptians!” She pulled out a book and immediately the arms of the statue moved, and they position themselves as if the figure was giving us the scepter.
“Perfect!” Alice squealed in happiness. She clapped her hands and began jumping where she stood. “I’ll prepare the exit, Elizabeth takes care of the scepter.” I walked towards the statue; standing next to it made me aware of the number of details the figure had. I was about to pick the scepter when someone talked me away from it.
“Elizabeth can’t pick up the scepter!” Laurie shouted on top of me. She pinned me down and grabbed my shoulders with her hands. “The accepter isn’t an antique piece of rock, and it is an effective living weapon! It’s not a normal club, the way it works is…” The door suddenly busting open interrupted Laurie, and a group of people quickly entered the room. I saw Sam running towards the scepter and picking it up. He was about to be tackled by a much larger figure, but he managed to evade him and to land heavily on the ground next to me.
“Alice! What a surprise to meet you here!” A somewhat familiar voice came from the door. After Laurie stood up and I was able to stand, I saw the same blonde girl we had met the day when I destroyed the building. Fifteen other persons surrounded her, and some were normal boys and girls, others were practically supermodels or the guy from Thor in a suit and tie. “It seems you beat me from getting the scepter.” She said as she stepped up towards Alice.
“Erica?!” Sam shouted to a pretty redhead girl that was standing at the front of the line. She blushed and looked towards the floor, evading Sam’s gaze.
“I didn’t think children were allowed in this party, Alexanders,” Alice said as she helped Sam. I could see the blond girl fusing with anger at the comment Alice just said. “What brings you here? And what is the purpose for you to burst open doors like that? What kind of guest are you that you start crashing the owner’s house?”
The girl was fusing with Alice’s comments. Alice looked as if this wasn’t the first time she has done this to the girl because she had a grin and was mentally laughing. “I’m older than you!” She shouted which made Alice burst into laughs. “And that’s not the point! We come here to acquire the scepter. One of your henchmen…” She said pointing at Sam, who took out his spear, while he held the scepter with his other hand. “… Practically guided us to the location of the scepter. And know we also have an escape, and we can blame you guys!” She laughed in a somewhat maniacally way, but she couldn’t keep up with it and ended up choking with her saliva.
“Are you done?” Alice said in a sarcastic tone. “I don’t know how you manage to get here, and I want to know why. Secondly, what makes you think you’re going to be able to take the scepter from us? We’ve beaten your team countless times before, while you have beaten us, around five or four, or was it three times?”
“Four!” The girl angrily shouted, clearly bothered by Alice’s comments. “And your victories don’t count; you always cheated on all of them!” She took a deep breath and readjusted his hair back into position. “We got news of the high value that the scepter possesses, and we couldn’t say no to that amount of energy. With that, we will finally have an advantage against your team. Not that we need it.” She said opening her eyes, realizing of what she just said. “We double your team size. And you can’t do anything to stop us. You’re eight in total, while we double you with sixteen!”
Everyone, including myself, made his or her weapons appear. The girl’s team also made their arms look, seven swords, three axes, two bows, one hammer, a set of nunchucks, a set of daggers, and some weapon I don’t exactly know the name. “Everyone, calm down!” Alice shouted stepping to the middle of the room. “Do you want to start a fight here? In the middle of a party? Do you want to get both of our squads permanently banned from skirmishes? I suggest…”
“Grab the scepter and run,” Shawn whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry about us, and we’ll take care of them easily. Alice will throw a decoy of the wand, while they realize what’s wrong, you take the lead and get out of here.” I nodded and returned the blades to my body. I slowly moved towards Sam, and stood behind him, with my back touching his.
“I need the skirmishes to gain energy…” Alice continued with her rambling, and I was just focused on grabbing the scepter. “You can take it.” I felt Sam passing me the wand, and as soon as I had a good grasp on it, I began running towards the exit. I felt a weird sensation as the scepter touched my skin, but I ignored it as I used it as a way to get through the cable.
“Get her!” I heard the girl shouting behind me. Two silhouettes immediately appeared from the window and jumped towards me. I look back and saw them cutting the cable that was suspending me. I no longer had any tension to hold on to, and I began to fall straight down. Thankfully the inertia of my movement made me slowly approach the side of the building. So not only I was going to fall fifty floors to the ground, but also I’ll become a fly splattered on the side of a wall.
I quickly approached the wall of the building. “This will hurt…” I say to myself as I was feet away from the wall. I crashed, and it hurt, a lot, I moved my head back so at least only my chest and not my head, gets beaten by the wall. Rather than bounce off, and fall directly to what I assume was my incoming death, I grabbed the scepter with the left hand, and use my right blade to embed it to the wall. It quickly did, and it began to slow my fall down. I left a trail on the side of the building, but thankfully I’ll live.
My blade got stuck around the twentieth floor of the building. Thankfully its structure allowed me to fall towards a ceiling. It had that staircase-shaped structure that the main structure becomes smaller as the building grows taller. I landed a big stout, the front of my clothes filled with dust from the building, but thankfully due to my ghost condition, I wasn’t heavily injured. I cracked my neck, and my back, and started heading towards the street level. I used a staircase to get to the ground floor, and I began running towards the alleyway.
I couldn’t even catch my breath when the two silhouettes appeared in front of me. A gigantic bulking dude, tanned skin, short hair a bit longer at the front, towering me over a foot, wearing a white shirt, which could barely cover his muscles. He was holding a gigantic hammer on his right hand, the thing was a massive block of steel with spikes at the side, and he was preparing a punch on his left hand. A girl was sitting on her shoulder; she had long brown hair, and a body many would kill for. She wasn’t packed at the front, but she made it out with the long legs she has. She was holding a set of daggers on both of her hands and was smiling smugly.
“Pretty thing you did back there.” She said as she jumped to the ground from the guy’s shoulder. She was around my size, but she looked just a bit older than me. “It’s a shame it was all for nothing.” She sighed, and her tone immediately changed to one more serious. “We have two ways to do this. You either hand us the wand, and we all go home as if nothing happens. Or you try to keep it, and we will take it by force.” I took my right blade out and grabbed tighter the scepter. “I guess it’s the second way out…”
In seconds a tremendous force suddenly hit me in my chest. Somehow the guy manages to hit me with his hammer with a speed I couldn’t even see. I was send flying towards the building behind me. I was embedded in the wall. I couldn’t move my body, and I found out I was stuck to it. I shake the dizziness off, I still had the scepter on my hand, and the guy was quickly heading towards me. With all my force I freed my right side, and use a quick and robust amount of energy to send him away.
I send him flying to the other end of the street. I used it as a distraction to get out of the wall. Before I could even lay a step on the ground, the girl quickly moved towards me and slashed me in the arm. Blood began to pour out, and I braced myself to attack her with my right blade. She was way faster than me, I couldn’t dodge most of her attacks, and I only hit her once or twice. Her daggers had some string attached to it, and while I was preparing an attacked, she punched me in the head and somehow tied me to the side of a stairway. “Gabe now!”
I saw the other guy heading towards me, with his hammer in his hand, not doubting his approach. I didn’t have anything else to do. I grabbed the scepter tightly and swung it towards him. As I did it, I noticed it had changed. It wasn’t a typical rock anymore, it looked as if it was made with some strange metal, the tip now had a more sharp look to it, the whole thing had a black color, and it was covered by some black flame.
Suddenly everything moved in slow motion. The scepter was slowly heading towards Gabe, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. When it hit him, the black flame surrounded his body immediately. In less than a second, the fire began to consume him, burning him alive, destroying his entire body. After the swing of the scepter, Gabe was gone. He disappeared completely. I was covered with blood, the scepter, the nearby wall, and the girl were also too covered by blood. Gabe exploded with the touch of the scepter.
The girl was about to lash out at me, blades in her hand, a furious grin on her face, she looked as if she didn’t doubt on cutting my throat out. But as his friend exploded on her face, she stopped dead on her tracks. I was also impressed by the fact that I just obliterated a man with the touch of a golden scepter. Influenced of my actions, I dropped the scepter to the ground and stared at the circle of blood that stood where Gabe used to be. When it left my hand, the scepter changed back into his previous form, the simple one made out of stone.
I saw the girl’s intention as she casually walked towards the hammer. Since I’m still tied, I used my right hand and dark energy to stop her. I felt the connection as it left my side; I guided it towards the girl, trapping everything but her face in a dark mass of energy. I felt how she tried to get out of my chains, forcing herself out of the mass. I was one with it; I could do whatever I wanted with it. I bring the girl close to me so that we could be face to face. I looked at her, I sensed fear, she was no longer trying to get out, but she was instead trembling and being scared of her possible future.
I could feel her energy, dark too, but in a much less amount. I already know what happens when you kill one of us, you get the energy he or she used to have. I could feel her energy squealing, and She smelled delicious. “PLEASE NO!” Her screams finally made me snap out of my trance. I look at my left arm and saw it bleeding; I had forced my way out of the string. I had the scepter in my hand, it had returned to his previous form, and it was covered once more in the dark flames.
Realizing what I was about to do, I drop the girl to the ground. She fell on her back and crawled away from me. I grabbed the scepter with both of my hands, and I slowly approached the girl on the ground. “Go back from whence you came. And tell your leader. You no longer have any purpose here. See this as an act of misery. You won’t tell anyone what happened here, and you’ll head back home, empty-handed.” I said in a tone I didn’t know I could make. She nodded and crawled away. I saw her stumble and fall as she ran away in the distance.
I stood there, in the middle of the night. I turn to my right and saw my reflection on a window. I looked different; the dark flames now engulfed my body. My shoulders now were covered by some armor. I look at my left hand, the one where I hold the scepter; I now had some gauntlet that included most of my arm. Completely black, and shaped like a claw. It had some marks I couldn’t read. I saw the shoulder pads form into wolf heads, a black chest piece suddenly appeared. My legs began being covered by some boots. The beanie bag was gone, my eyes shined as if flames were inside of them. My hair was still black as the night, but some strains began turning red. Some ornament formed in my head, it was shaped as if I had horns at the top of my head.
I felt, good. I felt, strong. I no longer felt doubt on me. I no longer worry about who I am. I felt powerful. I smiled, the canines were more extended, my teeth look sharper. I opened my mouth, and it shined with red flames. I felt the energy around me. I can feel the energy of people walking by. Looking delicious, I could efficiently harvest them all.
Something inside of me made me snap out of my trance. I dropped the scepter to the ground, and I saw how I returned to my standard form. I collapsed on my knees, the world around me seems to move by itself. I clutched my head, as it began to hurt and made me feel worse. I vomited on the ground, emptying my stomach. I used both of my hands to stand up, but when I did, I crashed to the nearest wall. I felt someone approaching; I looked up and saw a man dressed in a suit. He had short blond hair combed to the side. He looked young and walked with security as if he can do anything to anyone.
“I see you have finally awoken.” The man said as he picked up the scepter from the ground. The scepter changed as he grabbed it. It changed to a metallic material, and the top looked like a small ax. I took my blades out, and I have to prevent the scepter from being stolen. “Relax, it has chosen you as its wielder.” The man answered to my stance. I fell to the ground and used the wall to support my back. “Besides, I was planning to give it to you anyway. I just wanted to see the scepter work with you.”
He sat on the ground in front of me. Not caring about getting the suit dirty or rugged. “Name’s Henry Donovan, the guy you just stole this thing.” He said gesturing at the scepter. “And also the one who paid you to do so.” He smiled, placing the scepter next to me. “This isn’t a normal weapon, and it was forged in the second era by…” He stopped and looked at me with a grin on his face. “Do I need to tell you who did it? Well, that’s no point. The scepter is one of the many relics of the past. The scepter functions as a vessel, as a way to place one’s energy into a physical object. The more energy the user has, the stronger the scepter becomes. That’s why you obliterated the guy with a single swing.”
“The fun part is, the stronger the user becomes, the stronger the scepter is. That’s why its form changes depending on who is wielding it.” He stood up and made a box appear on his hand. “I just wanted to look how the scepter works on you. Elizabeth Tenebris. I know who you are, and what you’re supposed to be. What happened just now was your other side pops up. It wasn’t goodie two shoes Elizabeth, but Elizabeth consumed in her power. You need to learn to control it. Or that side will consume you without you even noticing it.”
He crouched and looked at me directly in the eye. “You see Elizabeth. When you kill someone, you gain energy. Someone like you has no problem doing that. Your energy will increase in numbers. However, if someone like me manages to kill you, it’ll look more like a suicide, than a murder. Your energy is far too strong to be contained, and would destroy anyone not strong enough to hold it.” He stood up and walked away. “I suggest you to learn to control your energy. Your other side might become too strong for you to handle.”
As he left my sight, I noticed how he had gone the box next to me. There was a note on the top, and it read: ‘Payment to the Ruplant house for a job well done. P.S. I give the scepter to Elizabeth, as a gift.’ I opened the box and saw several containers shinning with some bright white energy. The light was so bright it almost blinded me. I covered the box and looked at the street. A car was approaching heading towards me. “Elizabeth! Elizabeth where are you?!” I heard Maddox’s voice calling for me. I slowly drift away into sleep, as the limo approached my location.
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“That was amazing!” I shouted from the top of my lungs at the back of the limo. We were heading back home after a serious night of partying. Alice managed to trick them away, and they were not able to follow Elizabeth as she escaped the scene. The girl, whose name is Jacqueline, sends two of her guys towards Elizabeth. Alice calmed her down and stated that she wouldn’t direct any of us if Jacqueline doesn’t bring more of hers. They both agree that they’ll leave things at bay. Alice didn't go to the party since she doesn’t look old enough to be at the party, leaving the rest to have one of the best nights of our lives.
We shouted, we screamed, we danced, we sang, we merely did all of the common things a teenager would do at a party. We drank alcohol, a lot of it. But due to our anatomy, the liquid leaves our system pretty quickly, and we were back to normal in no time. I managed to get Erica’s number. She’s a pretty sweet girl if you put apart the whole enemies thing between our clans. She was very sorry to use me to get information from us, but she was forced to do so, and that she wouldn’t do that to a guy like me. I can quite remember what we did, I repeat, we were very very very drunk, but from the few things I remember doing with her was kissing at the ceiling looking at the night sky. You heard me right, my first kiss! With a beautiful girl! This whole being dead thing has quite literally changed my life.
Maddox was driving us back home. We were currently on the street of my house, slowing down at my front yard. “We should hang out more often guys!” I told them as I left the car. “See you guys tomorrow at the base.” I heard their goodbyes as I closed the door. Alice relaxed me telling me that she had hypnotized my parents and that I could quickly enter the door with no problem at all. I used my keys to get in, and I slowly went up to my room. I could hear my parent snoring, and I spotted my sister’s night-light being on. Elizabeth’s office had the door shut. Alice told me she would get home before me, and that I should take a peek if she is all right.
I decided to do it later. I entered my room and turned my computer on. “A game of lol at five in the morning won’t harm anybody,” I told myself as I clicked on the L icon on my computer. While it loaded, y removed my clothes and put on a simple set of pants and shirt. I sat on the chair and pressed on the big ‘START’ icon. I cracked my neck and moved my shoulders. I entered my password, not before I lowered the volume of the computer. Ignoring the login theme, I went straight to play a match.
The silence between the main screen and the login screen made me aware of another sound. Someone, some weird yelping sound came from my house. I lowered the brightness and decided to investigate. Aside from my father’s snores, there was an occasional yelp. A dim and small scream could be heard. I tracked were it came from, and it was from Elizabeth’s room. ‘His father warned me about this’ I thought as I ran to get the amulet, and put it on my neck as soon as I found it. I opened Elizabeth’s room. It was surprisingly very tidy. Everything was in its place, and she didn’t even bother to make up space by having all of her clothes in her suitcase.
There were some books at the nightstand, but aside from that everything seemed to be in order. Except for the large scepter at the corner of the room. ‘How odd, I thought we already got paid for delivering the thing.’ I ignored it and walked towards Elizabeth. She was hugging her legs and the blankets tightly. She had a look of struggle on her face, and from time to time, she completely flipped her position. She also made quiet and dared I say cute yelping noises. I feel bad for thinking like that, but she does make cute squeals from time to time.
I sat on the bed next to her. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to me, but I could at least not fall to the ground. When my fingers touched her forehead, I immediately passed out.
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I’m running once more. Or instead, Elizabeth is running once more. After some time the dizziness and the blurriness finally go away. I find her running in a street, which actually is remarkably deteriorated, or was built very poorly. It’s only a path of dirt marked for people to see it’s a street. The sun was setting; the sky had this deep orange color. Elizabeth was running in what appeared to be a dessert. There wasn’t a lot of green around, only a few bushes or ancient trees. As we ran, I felt the sand running up Elizabeth’s legs. To my left, there was a wall, a grey one. It was tall enough for me not to be able to see what’s on the other side.
But that was soon cleared up, there was an opening, and I was able to see a beautiful blue sea. The sun was setting in the distance; you could smell the ocean breeze, as well feel it as it passed over your face. Elizabeth stopped dead on tracks, almost falling to the ground as she did. “The light doesn’t hurt anymore.” She said in a very young voice. Elizabeth started moving toward the sea. Elizabeth was walking on her barefoot, and anyone would squeal as the hot sand touched their feet. But Elizabeth kept on walking as if it was a minor disturbance.
Elizabeth walked straight towards the sea. She stopped as the water reached her toes. She wanted to move forward, but a sudden voice kept her from doing so. “Hey, girl! What do you think you’re doing!?” Elizabeth turns around to see a middle age man and his family standing under an umbrella. They look rather Hispanic or Latino. Brownish features and physical traits you’d see only in a man from South America. “Girl, it is not a proper time to enter the sea. It’s still on a low tide. You can get stung by a ray!”
I sensed fear inside of Elizabeth when the man started to walk towards her. I had a feeling she was about to put out her blades, but she decided to run. ‘Remember, when the sun is going to sleep, always head towards the right.’ I heard her think as she ran up north. She was on the border of wet sand and dry sand, giving her ground to run on. I only noticed her clothing when she randomly decided to look down. She was wearing another big shirt, which covered her entire body this time. Elizabeth randomly checked on her right, to see rows of beach houses. Then she would stare at the sunset, and look at it for a while.
When the sun was finally gone, Elizabeth heard a loud noise coming from one of the houses. “Happy new year!” And a bunch of Latin America music coming from the homes. She saw people setting up poppets on the sand, and burned them to the ground. They were surprisingly well dressed, and most of them looked the same. I felt Elizabeth feeling scared, neither she nor I, know what these people are doing. The difference is, I know they are burning puppets, but I think that she thinks that they are burning actual people.
Time started to move faster. Not sure if this is some Elizabeth’s doing, or a kind of dream effect, but the light went out more quickly, and Elizabeth’s movement accelerated. It all came suddenly to a halt when a loud noise made Elizabeth loose balance and fall to the ground. She rolled to the front, making a lot of sand stick to her clothes and hair. I felt fear inside of her once more. She crawled away to see what was going on. It was a simple firework, but on her eyes, it was something completely different. She was scared, frightened by it. I felt her heartbeats increase, her breath becoming heavy as the red firework finished being in the sky.
The sound of another one being sent to the sky made her scream. When the white lights appeared on the air, she stood up and started running once more to the north. Her heartbeats are increasing, and I can feel complete terror on her skin. Since it was New Years more and more started to appear. Some right next to her, others in front of her. I heard the sounds of a loud party in the distance, music people shouting, and a bunch of noises that only made Elizabeth feel even more threatened. “How are you on this night, Colan!?” I could hear from the distance in a big platform. There were lights all illuminating the night sky. Colan? I wonder where is that place. Somewhere on the Pacific coast, and below the Equator I guess.
Elizabeth pissed her pants. I felt water going down her tights. She started to cry, but she stopped when she couldn’t breathe properly anymore. She saw that a house was raised above sea level by some wooden planks. Elizabeth ran immediately towards it. And hugged her legs under her home. She wasn’t trying to calm down, she wished for the light monsters, and the terrible roars they make to go away.
Things didn’t improve when the shadow of four men appeared in front of Elizabeth. “What do we have here?” “Baby, come here, we’re not going to harm you.” And much more weird phrases the men said. Elizabeth opened her eyes, and the guys were truly horrendous. Barely wearing any clothing, and having several bruises and marks on their bodies. They slowly walked towards Elizabeth, preventing any escape surrounding Elizabeth in a wall.
‘Please go away, or she’ll come out. Please go away, or she’ll come out. Please go away, or she’ll come out.’ Elizabeth repeated on her head over and over again. The men were very near, almost a foot away from Elizabeth. “Five!” The countdown from the party shouted. “Four!” The men took out several knives and short daggers. “Three.” They took a step, one of them unzipping his pants. “Two.” The one at the front jumped at Elizabeth. “One!” The guy had a knife on his hand and had a look of desperation and accomplishment.
“Happy new year!” Fireworks, trumpets, shouts, screams, all went out at once. Elizabeth’s vision immediately turned red. I could feel her taking out her blades, and in milliseconds, she was standing behind the four guys that assaulted her. Everything went so fast that I couldn’t even notice what happened. Elizabeth turned around, and I saw how the bodies’ head and torso, slowly fell to the ground. Elizabeth continued her walk towards the shore. I could see a bright light coming from the ocean.
It wasn’t coming from the ocean, and it was Elizabeth’s reflection walking towards the sea. She looked different; she seemed more, demonic. She had horns, some fire was surrounding her, her hair changed color, and it was all together, an insane version of Elizabeth. Elizabeth quickly snapped out of it. The reflection was gone, and I could see a glimpse of a very young Elizabeth. She puked her stomach out afterward. Lasting around a minute, she looked back at where she had killed the men. A sense of fear and anguish came over her.
“I need to get out of here.” The last thing she said before running north, and just before the dream ended.
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I wake up shouting. My whole body was drenched in sweat. I was hyperventilating; my entire vision was blurry. After some seconds to get a clear view of what was happening; I felt someone sitting next to me in bed. I turned around, rubbed my eyes and shouted. “Sam!” When I finally realized who was sitting next to me. “What are you doing in my room, why are you looking at me like that?!” For some reason, I felt very uncomfortable, the dream that I can’t quite remember made my whole body enter some defensive mode. I felt as if Sam was doing some, ‘things’ to me while I was sleeping.
He had a dumbfounded look on his face as if he didn’t even know what was he doing in my room. I noticed where his hand was aiming, at my desk clock, and I was running late. “You were waking me up! I must have slept over!” I shouted standing up from the bed. I realized he wasn’t looking at me dumbfounded; he stared at me with a ‘duh…’ Look! And I was thinking unholy things! How can I be such a fool! The dream must have genuinely messed me up.
I headed towards the shelves and began piecing my uniform together. After I had that little incident last night, I woke up on the limo, with the scepter next to me, standing on Sam’s door. I remember heading straight to bed, and nothing else. I looked around, and when I saw the scepter, my whole body shivered. I decided to ignore it and headed towards the door. “I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll meet you downstairs,” I told Sam as I ran towards the bathroom.
To be continued…
