Chapter 15

“When I signed myself to the ‘Kain Team’, I didn’t have this in mind.” Ren commented as we sent the tray of cookies into the oven. The kitchen was sorely underused, and I was surprised to see that it even had any ingredients. Though vampires don’t eat, we damned well could follow recipes, and I’d gotten up early to make some treats to my bored-to-death mage companion.

He had ended up making the cookie for me, and as we stuffed him tasting cookie dough, we’d spent half the day away, amusing ourselves to see who could get more flour and dough on each other’s face. Kain had come into the mess of the kitchen at one point and smiled at exactly how childish we were acting, but left quickly to avoid getting pulled into the war. Mila and Gabriel refused to join.

“Well, now we know vampires can make cookies.” I stuck my finger into a batch of too-sweet cookie dough that we were planning to throw, and smudged it on Ren’s face. He drew back in shock at my sudden movement, but realized what I’d done a moment afterwards. Then he grinned and grabbed the still-open flour box, intent flashing in his eyes.

“I’ll make a cookie out of you!” He declared, raising the pack over his head. Unfortunately, the mage did not see that I’d left it upside down, and a cascade of white tumbled all over him on the spot, sending flour-mist all over the kitchen as I giggled in delight.

Covered head to toe in flour, he finally seems to realize that it’s no use trying to fight against a vampire in terms of speed of dodging flour and dough. Ren sat down on the counter stool, wiping the flour from his eyes, then began drawing symbols in the sand.

“Enough of this mess. I want to have my cookie while I’m clean, and not in cleaning-duty.” He announced in a fake-king voice, and I barely kept my laughter as he reached to his cane resting against the side of the counter. He tapped it against the ground, and the symbols faded away from the flour-covered table. Wind gusted from the flour pile where Ren originated from, and as the white mini tornado spun before us in the kitchen, I watched as the flour disappeared into nothingness quickly.

“You know, if I had that power, I’ll offer free cleaning services at extremely high prices.” I pointed out as the wind died down as quick as it came, and revealed a clean, before-cookie-mess-Ren.

“I did that once.” He admitted with a grin. “Apparently no one loves magical cleaning services. I ended up trying to clean myself off horse dung since they couldn’t stop throwing me in the path of horse carriages.”

I was caught in laughter, but his words sank in a quick while afterwards.

“Wait, horse carriages? You were around when horse carriages were the norm? Aren’t those things at least fifty or sixty years ago?”

“Yeah, sure! It can’t compare to vampires teleporting around, but it sure beats walking.” Ren agreed happily, watching the dough rise with hungry eyes in the oven.

“But you look… I don’t know, twenty. How old are you?”

He turned to face me, surprise on his face.

“You don’t know?” He asked, but caught himself. “Oh right, you lost your memory. Of course you don’t know.”

“Um… exactly. So how old are you? What am I supposed to know?”

He grinned, and straightened, clutching the top of his cane with both hands, one on top of the other, trying to appear old and knowledgeable.

“I am a thousand years old, baby girl. Mages usually stop ageing when they gain their full power from their source. I stopped ageing at the age of twenty-two approximately a thousand years ago.”

I waited a second too long for his hysterical laughter to tell me that it was all a joke. But he didn’t. He only grinned at me, as if delighted that I was receiving such a shocking news.

“So… you’re like… a thousand and twenty-two?”

Ren gives a slight tilt of his head, as if counting mentally.

“Yeah… give or take a few years in between.”

“Wow.” I say, looking at the man I’d considered my companion for the past few weeks in an entirely new light. “Wow. You’re old.”

He grins, then flexed his muscles –which I must say isn’t quite bad looking for a human.

“I sure feel young. The junk between my legs are working alright, if you’re asking. It didn’t grow old by itself.” Ren gave a secret wink, and I mimicked vomiting faces.

“So where were you when… World War One started?”

“Holidaying in the Alps. I caught news that there was a tribe of mages there, but it turned out to be only rumors. When I came down from those horrible mountains, everywhere was dead people.”

“You stayed in the Alps throughout the war?” How could he have missed a world war? Surely he could have gotten some sort of warning or signal?

“Well, I was trying to scale Everest without getting knocked off by mountain winds. The weather back then was really a killer.”

“World War Two?”

He tilted his head again, as if recalling that piece of history. This man was living history… except that he wasn’t at the important places at the important times in history.

“I seem to remember myself somewhere in Southeast Asia. I didn’t miss the war there, though I didn’t take part in it. I fled soldiers from both sides, hid in battlefields and learnt to use guns. Oh, that’s where I learnt to operate a cannon too!”

“Wow.” I repeated again, the word flowing from my lip naturally. “Wow. You are really… old and stupid.”

His face scrunched up indignantly. “Hey, I didn’t know anything back then, alright? I really wasn’t that interested in anything.”

“Then how did you meet Kain? When?”

“A hundred or so years ago. Kain was not yet a fighter in the kingdom. I had wandered a little too close to your kingdom, and Kain happened to be visiting the place you people call the Pit. We shared talk and a drink, and I found him quite a striking man. We somehow ended up chatting about the plight of mages while I was drunk, and he shared quite an insight on how he think our species should be treated. He had quite some determination, and I saw some determination in that man. I was the one who helped him find a master to get him into the Pit.”

“Then how did you join him afterwards?”

“After he left your kingdom with Mila and Gabriel, the three of them were wandering out in the open for the first time. I remember seeing him again, and thinking that he was in trouble with the royal kingdom of Lucifer. I tried to help him escape Mila and Gabriel, but he told me that they were his followers instead. The boy intrigued me, and I wanted to know where he would end up. So I joined him.”

It sure sounded like the Ren I knew; the happy-go-lucky, go-with-the-flow Ren. If Ren ever had a motive in anything at all, it was obvious that it was all lost in the flow of life. Ren no longer lived for any righteous cause. Ren lived for life, and he lived for himself. Oh, a life of nothing but freedom.

Ren seemed ready to say more, but they were lost in nothingness when he suddenly straightened, eyes widening. It was a look of caution, something I had never seen before. Unconsciously, I tried to search out for anyone close by, before I realized I was standing next to Ren, of course I couldn’t sense anyone. But it didn’t mean Ren couldn’t sense.

“What?” I whispered, getting over to him quickly.

“Vampires. Mils and Gabe disappeared from the island.”

The door down the hall slammed open, and I jumped a little, running to hide behind Ren. Ren was quick to spin around, pointing his cane at the doorway, but Kain popped in.

“Dragos. They took Mila and Gabriel.” He said in a dangerous tone of voice, already making towards us. I was almost glad when Kain reached us, for he was used to teleporting the three of us to where he wanted us to be.

But this time, it was too late as someone grabbed my forearm from behind.

I gave a shriek of shock, instincts having me dig my elbow into the face of my captor. I heard satisfying crunches, and stepped on a foot I saw behind me. Free again, I lurched forward, but found no Ren. There was no Kain, for that fact.

I was suddenly very aware of the amount of unfamiliar vampires around me. There were at least twenty of them running around the island. Ten of them were in the mansion with me.

And none of them was Kain.

Someone grabbed me again, and darkness filled my vision.

I blindly spun and punched the vampire holding on to me, stumbling away even though I knew I had been transported away from the sanctuary of the island, which wasn’t exactly a sanctuary anymore.

“Take your filthy hands off me!” Ren’s angry voice filled my ears, and I saw a flash of brilliant blue come from somewhere, sizzling past me to a vampire at my side. The vampire disintegrated to dust almost instantly, and I breathed a sigh of relief that it hadn’t been me.

“Ren! Watch out for Seraphina!” Kain’s voice was both angry and demanding, but it seemed like the mage didn’t care, for I saw him fighting off at least five vampires by himself. Kain was pulling the head off the body of another vampire. Mila and Gabriel were nowhere to be seen.

Someone made a grab at me –this time with an arm around my waist, but I kicked hard. I must have met bone, before I heard something crack, and a yell of pain before I was dropped. I tried my best to assess my situation, but I was back at Ren’s side, and I couldn’t sense the number of vampires around me.

I covered one hand over the symbol of my demon that had been carved into my wrist, and focused hard on the power within me.

“Val, come and protect your mistress!” I called, and a circle of brilliant light formed on the marble floor around me. We were in a posh hall of some sorts, but we were quickly making a mess of it, considering how Kain was throwing his attackers into pillars while Ren’s haywire spells was destroying most of the decorum.

My trusty demon climbed through the floor, and didn’t even bother giving me a look as he grabbed the leg of a fleeing vampire, raising him above his head, then dropping the vampire down his mouth. My demon familiar went on a rampage which most vampires could not escape from, and I almost breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that most of the vampires attacking us were either dead or eaten up by Val.

My mistake was turning my back towards the rest of the hall.

A cold hand closed over my throat from behind, and though I could not suffocate, my neck could break. And that would be a very unpleasant experience.

A chill spread through me, but I saw fire shooting out from a free hand coming from the same body that held me captive. Val stopped chewing another vampire, and turned towards us, ignoring the fire that licked at his thick hide. Kain leapt away from the fire, but Ren only met it head on with his cane, dispelling as much as of the fire as he could afford to.

There was no one left, except my obviously stronger captor.

Disbelief flashed through Ren’s angry features. Kain’s face was halfway angry, halfway emotionless.

Someone laughed. Correction: my captor laughed, and a chill started deep within me. I know this voice.

“You lose, Seraphina Lucifer. You and your friends have lost.” A voice announced, and the chill set not only in my body, but in my mind. I remember this voice…

And Lucifer falls with their king. This will be my new headquarters. Forget our old kingdom. My new throne will be upon the old throne of Lucifer. Let all Luciferians see me here, with the crown of Lucifer and quiver in fear.

Those had been the words this voice spoke. I remember this voice… this voice came just as I was dragged from the hallways of my kingdom by Lorcan and the surviving guards. This voice… this man stood over my father’s body. This man took my father’s crown.

“You have indeed put up a commendable fight. A fight which I expect no less from Lucifer’s crown princess. But you have lost it, and it is time for you to surrender.”

I don’t know who he is. I don’t know his name. But I know that he is Dragos’s leader. At this moment, that is all I care. He is the leader of my enemy.

More Dragos vampire come rushing in, but Val doesn’t even move a single inch to stop them. My demon familiar looks only at me.

“Call off your demon.” The hand around my throat tightened.

“Val is a level five. He can’t be sent away so easily.” I manage to say in a small voice, considering he is restricting my throat.

“You are a Lucifer. Don’t treat me for a fool. If you can summon him, you can send him back.”

“Not Val.” Val himself spoke, and my demon familiar stepped forwards, spreading his magnificent wings. “Let my mistress go, vampire.”

There was deep laughter from the vampire holding me. “If fire doesn’t hurt your demon, then does earth hold him?”

The other free hand that was in my peripheral vision made a rising motion, and the ground broke out with vines that latched around my demon, trapping Val and pulling him to the floor. Val struggled against it, but his bindings were simply too strong as he was pulled to the ground, even his wings.

My demon was not a level five for no reason.

Head pressed to the floor, his arms struggled free from the vines, and lobbed a ball of dark energy towards where I was, where our opponent was. The moment my unnamed captor drew his attention elsewhere –to dodge the dark energy –Val had the vines chewed up in black demon fire.

“Val does not ask wish to ask again. Let my mistress go. And I will extend kindness.”

The vampire laughed again, the cold voice making chills down my throat.

“I am the eldest son of Dagon Dragos. Do you truly think your little puny demon powers will end me?”

“I do not aim to end you. I aim to free my mistress.” Val replied honestly, and roared menacingly. If Val wasn’t my demon, I would have peed my pants. Val took into the air, but the hand in my peripheral vision made a twirling motion.

A tornado –very much like the one I’d seen Ren make, only a lot larger –manifested right beside Val and engulfed my poor demon within it. I heard my demon’s enraged roar, and a black energy ball shot out from the pillar of choppy wind aimlessly, hitting a pillar. There was the sound of fingers clicking, and I watched with horror as the tornado turned into a water spout. Fire came again from the hand in my peripheral vision again, and shot straight at the water spout, turning the spinning water to steam.

“Let’s see if demons like boiling.” The voice was still mocking as the roar of Val took me off-guard. This vampire… was powerful. Way powerful beyond my means.

“Val… Retreat. Return to Hell and rest your wounds until I will call you again.” I ordered in a whisper, and while Val was compelled to obey, it did not stop him from giving his last enraged roar before he disappeared back down the floor.

The chaos stopped.

“Good choice to make, Seraphina Lucifer.”

“Let my friends go. Let Kain, Ren, Mila and Gabriel go. I’ll do anything you ask.” I looked down at the floor, because I didn’t want to see Kain’s expression. He’d gone through so much to protect me. This was my chance to protect them instead.

“Don’t be stupid, baby girl! This is Dragos you’re submitting to! Even if you are to surrender, he will not care a moment about your negotiations.” Ren scolded from where he was kept captive by Dragos vampires.

“Oh, do keep quiet. You might be old and powerful, but you are nothing without your cane, mage.” The voice said impatiently, and I saw a dismissive wave of hand from the free hand of my captor.

“I am more than capable of burning your kingdom down to the ground even without my cane!” Ren declared, but the voice laughed again.

“Look around you! This is Lucifer’s walls. If you are to burn down anything, you will be burning precious Seraphina’s home! Oh, how will that hurt your darling princess?”

“It won’t hurt one bit!” I declared as I spun around suddenly, punching the arm holding the back of my neck. Nails scratched as fingers reluctantly let go of my neck, and I put a foot in his abdomen, taking him as a launching pad as I kicked away from him.

“Seraphina!” Kain, who had been silent all this while, screamed.

Arms wrapped around me from behind, keeping my arms restrained. It had been the same with Kain the day we met my siblings again, but this hold wasn’t gentle. This hold was a hold to keep me locked. This hold kept me pressed to a chest I wasn’t familiar with.

“Feisty, aren’t you? But that’s good. Because what is better than breaking someone with a soul? Seraphina, O Seraphina. You’re going to be my biggest prize. Not your kingdom, dear princess. You.” The voice blew a whisper in my ear, and I quaked at the sensuality, the sensitivity of that proximity between my enemy and me. He was doing everything Kain would do to me, but with menace laced in every word, every action.

“Never.” I struggled, but, like with Kain, I could not break free.

“We’ll see. But I hear someone has finally spoken, hasn’t he? And he speaks your name! What a surprise!” The voice was mocking, and I was turned to my companions, both who were kept in restraints. Kain stood glaring with eyes filled with daggers. That expression of pure hatred… I had never seen such scathing hatred before.

“Let her go.” Kain’s voice was dangerous.

“And if I say no? You should have long come to realize that you cannot tell me what to do, Dearest Kain.”

There was some gentleness in that tone of voice from my enemy. That tone was more than mocking. There was something else.

“Let her go, Linus. Even if you want me to beg, I will. Just… let her off. You have your kingdom. You have Lucifer and Dragos. You have everything you set out for.”

“NO!” The vampire I now knew as Linus Dragos shouted that one word with such explosive force that I winced. “No! I haven’t gained what I sought! I won’t let her go, Kain. I will take her in, and I will break her. I will take her to my bed, and I will make her carry my children. Our children will be the powerhouse, Kain. They will have the blood of Lucifer and Dragos. They will rule the world.”

Just thinking about it made me shiver internally. Talk about thinking far. He would never break me. I would rather die first than lie on a bed with him.

“Never.” Kain promised.

The arms around me tightened. I had the feeling my captor was grinning.

“Then you try stopping me, Kain.”

“Don’t force my hand, Linus. I don’t want things to turn bad.”

“It already has. It turned sour so many years ago. Have you not forgotten?”

I watched with fear as Kain closed his eyes. I had a sinking feeling that Kain had kept something important from me. Linus definitely knew Kain. Linus Dragos, the ruler of Dragos, the one who had conquered my kingdom, definitely knew Kain. Kain had just kept that conveniently from me.

“Let. Her. Go.” Each word spoken by Kain was punctuated with anger, and the most amazing thing happened.

Fire exploded from Kain’s body and charred the vampires holding him to ashes. Kain didn’t even seem afraid of that fire, as he stepped forwards, the fire dogging his heels. He opened his palms, and a fireball sat in it. He opened his other palm, and what-I-can-only-say-as-a-water-ball sat on his hand.

“Don’t want to regret my actions. Linus, let her go.” He stood right before us, and the look in his eyes; it was as if someone else had possessed him.

Left with one arm to restrain me, Linus stretched his free hand towards Kain. I saw a glove there.

“I don’t want to. She’s mine, you see. As everything else here is.”

“Everything. Except her and me.” Kain made a move to throw the fireball at my captor, but a click of fingers preceded him.

I watched with fear as something wooden appear from his abdomen.

The fireball sparked away, and the water in his hand splashed uselessly to the floor as Kain looked down, dumfounded. The blood was pouring from the stake wound. I looked up, and behind Kain was another vampire.

“I didn’t want to do things like this, Kain. But Father told me to take you to hand, and I will.”

Kain looked up at me again, and reached out to touch me.

I screamed his name, the tears running. No… His lips were so pale.

He fell to his knees, and collapsed sideways.

I collapsed into darkness too.