Hair, Greg - Werewolf 03 (4 page)

Chapter 7: Requiem

Jamie entered the ubliet, raising one eyebrow at Claudia, the Scottish teen girl lying on the cold, stone floor. Tsukiko sat in a chair, off to the side.

“Nicholas really worked her over, didn’t he?” he asked.

Tsukiko only nodded.

“Hey, Annelise.” He walked over to the vampire as she hung by her wrists over the pit, pushing her body with his finger and watching it swing slowly, back and forth.

Annelise moaned.

“Wake up, I wanna talk to you.”

“Just go away and let me die,” she whispered.

“Nicholas will be back soon. I don’t know exactly what his plans are for you, but I’m sure you’ll get your wish. Until then, I wanna ask how dear old dad is doing?”

She slowly opened her eyes.

“Landon was there for you, as best as he could be, as a father with no experience being such. We were all there for you. Landon didn’t do this, though you’ve laid plenty of guilt at his feet and he’s picked it up, slinging it over his shoulder. Now, he carries it like a heavy, wooden cross. Nicholas has led down a path toward hell, but, at the same time, you have willingly followed. You’ve had a hard life, but so have a lot of people, and they don’t resort to the things you have. Still, you have my pity.”

“The hell with you and your pity. The hell with all of you. You’re all going to get what you deserve.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But I doubt that we’ll go down alone. You should get right with your maker.”

Jamie turned to Tsukiko in a huff.

“Do you have instructions on what to do with the girl?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I suggest you do it.”

Jamie stormed out, leaving Tsukiko to her work.

Nicholas returned to the chamber that housed Annelise where, only an hour before, he had conducted a symphony of brutality. He saw Tsukiko sitting in the chair, watching their captive and having done as he instructed.

Hanging upside down, above Annelise, so that her blood dripped like a slow shower onto the vampire, was Claudia. He watched as the teenager’s body convulsed, hanging on the momentary thin line between life and death.

Then he observed Annelise. It appeared she had finally broken.

“Save the children. Save the children.” She repeated the phrase over and over.

“You can go now,” he said to Tsukiko. “Prepare Serinda for the ceremony. Don’t forget to wake up Jamie. And make sure each one picked out a wedding gift for the other.”

Without a word, she got up and left the room.

Nicholas sat in the chair, crossed his legs, and listened to the vampire say the same three words over and over to herself. He noticed the nearly full thermos still sitting next to his seat.

“Annelise? Are you there?”

She grew quiet.

“Ah, so you are there. There’s still a little bit left. I see you’ve run out of jokes.”

“Kill me.”

“I intend to, but not until it’s time. Tomorrow’s a big day for Jamie and Serinda. It’s their wedding day. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you’ve been invited.”

“Why won’t you finish me now?”

“Because, I’m waiting for your inevitable rescue party. I’m going to make them watch.”

“Save the children.” She began her loop again.

“Well, I can see we’re finished here.” He got up and began to walk out.

“Wait,” Annelise whispered.

“I’m sorry,” he said, turning around and approaching the blood-covered Dane. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I thought you had checked out.”

“I know why you hurt me,” she said in a low voice, her eyes closed. “We are enemies. But why do you hurt those closest to you? Those who are loyal to you?”

“They may be close to me, but I am close to no one. In the end, everyone will die and I will be the only one left standing. I care not for those who may, or may not, care for me.”

“What are you after? What is the point of all this? Why now? Why Jamie?”

Nicholas remained silent for a moment, weighing the pros and cons to telling her.

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Why not? Afraid me and your secret will get out of here?”

“Absolutely not. You will die here, so if I did tell you everything, whatever you hear will go with you to your grave.” He paused again. “Okay. I will tell you.

“You want to know why Jamie? Because he is Landon’s son. There is no reason beyond that. The boy is merely an instrument I am using to kill Landon Murphy. Jamie believes that once we kill his father, he will become as a king, an emperor. This is a ruse I have led him to believe to serve my purpose. I am not going to allow a boy to rule me.

“You see, Landon is the only one who is capable of defeating me, though even I am not sure how he can. I believe Landon has been chosen, no, sent, by God to kill me. But, he, and He, will fail. This is not the first time God has come after me. His first attempt at an assassination was the first vampire, and I’ve waited centuries for Him to try again. And He is—through Landon.

“But, He will fail, again. And this time, I’m going to make sure He is defeated—permanently. I’m going to do what Lucifer failed to do. I’m going to kill God.”

Annelise opened her eyes slightly, looked at Nicholas, and closed them again.

“You can’t kill God,” she said.

“That’s what everyone thinks, my dear, but I know otherwise. It took a great deal of time to understand how, but history has demonstrated that it is possible. People no longer worship Greek, Roman, or Aztec gods, because those deities have been replaced by another.

“The first thing I have to do is dispense with all other werewolves and vampires. The upcoming battle will take care of most of them for me. The majority will kill each other. After that, I’ll do the rest myself. Then I’m going to restore myself to the position I once had—a god. I will give humans a choice: they can be converted to a werewolf, and take me as their leader; they can remain human and be my slave; or they can die. Those who choose to live will be enslaved.”

“People will not allow themselves to become your slaves. History has shown that those who are enslaved will rise up.”

“My dear, millions of people are already slaves, they just don’t know it. The easiest way to enslave people is not through actual slavery, but through religion. You see, through their worship of me, as their only god, I will be their master.”

“All those vampires and werewolves that you think will come to you, will not. You will be alone when Landon arrives.”

“Not so,” Nicholas said. “By forming a union between werewolf and vampire, between Jamie and Serinda, those who hate the Senate, the Consuls, and all their petty rules, will follow me. They know that Landon is a part of that world, but by marrying the son of Landon, to a vampire, then trying to kill the father…they will come.”

“And what will happen to Jamie and the others, the ones who are here that have followed you from the beginning?”

“They must die. They will all die. Both species have become weak over the centuries. I must start anew, create a new race of werewolves, from scratch. This time, without vampires.”

“Even Jamie, Serinda, and Tsukiko?”

“Especially them. If they discover the truth, they will turn against me. I cannot allow that. Besides, like I said, they are weak. And stupid. I have been instructing Jamie in the ways of The Prince, telling him not to trust anyone, to use people, anyone necessary, to achieve his goals. Little does he realize, that I have been talking about what I am doing to him. Jamie is the way to get to the one that can kill me.

“He will choose me as his successor so that, when he kills Landon and receives his father’s powers as the natural succession to Consulship, when I then kill Jamie, I will receive the powers of Consul. Those powers added to my current strengths, will only make me more powerful. Unstoppable. Thankfully, Jamie has no children who will automatically inherit his gifts.”

“You will fail,” she said, in a weakened voice. “Landon will find a way to kill you.”

Nicholas then heard the earlier chant begin to work its way back to her vocal chords.

“Save the children.”

“I think we are finally done here,” he said. “I have a wedding to officiate. And as I said moments ago, you are not invited…but the entirety of the local village is. So I have many guests to attend to.”

He waited, wondering if the conversation were finally finished. Seeing that it was, he got up and casually walked out.

Chapter 8: Requiem

Guests from the local village of Dalmally began trickling in, down into the valley, early that morning. The Scottish wind blowing across the loch continuously peeked up the kilts and dresses of the men and women, respectively, in attendance.

Nicholas stood alone in the open area in front of Kilchurn Castle, listening to the conversations of the attendees.

“It’s nice to have some new, friendly faces around here,” said a local, middle-aged woman to her husband. “And now, we have a beautiful wedding today.”

“Yes, but they’re a strange lot that’s moved into the castle. Where are they from? What do they do? None of them work in the village or, looking around here, do any work on this land.”

“Oh, you don’t trust anybody. They are good people. How can bad people invite all of us to a wedding?”

“I don’t know, but people are talking. Remember the incident in the pub, several days ago, with the werewolf? A werewolf!”

“You weren’t even there. That’s just what you heard. It was probably a bad batch of Scotch that everyone had.”

“And they all saw the same thing? Look, woman, I’m telling that there are strange things going on around here.”

“Everything’s fine. You’ll see.”

The couple’s voices trailed off as they took their seats, and Nicholas focused on two elderly gentlemen coming down the path toward the ceremony.

“Yes, from Cladich. About two days ago.”

“What’s the girl’s name?”

“Colleen, or Claudia, or Carol, something like that. I don’t remember.”

“I’m sure they’ll find her. You know kids these days, just taking off, worrying their parents. Nothing like our generation.”

“Nothing like our generation? Remember that time you talked me into going off and joining the war with you, not telling anyone until we were shipping out?”

“Which war?”

“The first war, you eegit! World War One!”

“Oh, yeah. Those were the days.”

Nicholas’ auditory focus was suddenly broken by the fast approach of a short, pudgy, older man.

“God has blessed you with a beautiful, warm day for a wedding,” the mayor of Dalmally said, shaking Nicholas’ hand.

“Yes, well God is certainly the catalyst for what will transpire here today.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear you say that,” said the mayor in his thick Scottish accent. “Good to see that the younger people of today still believe and have not abandoned their faith in the Almighty.”

Nicholas began to bristle.

“Right,” said the werewolf. “If you’ll excuse me, there are important matrimonial matters to which I must attend.”

“Of course, of course.” Dalmally’s mayor again grasped Nicholas’ hand, without permission, and shook it vigorously.

Finally releasing himself, Nicholas walked to the front of the approximately one-hundred chairs that had been set up for attendees. Kilchurn Castle stood like a majestic usher at the back.

“Are our bride and groom ready?” Nicholas asked Tsukiko, handing her a video camera. “And did you show them the kiss?”

“Yes to both questions. You want me to record this?”

“Everything that happens. Of course, you’ll need to set it up so that it will still record while you are attending to our guests immediately after the ceremony.”

Tsukiko grabbed a nearby empty chair and set it several yards away, facing the staging area.

“I think we’re ready,” he said, as Tsukiko returned to his side, the red light of the camera indicating its present state of recording, and the last of the local villagers took their seats. Jamie, somewhat dressed up in khaki pants and a sweater, took his position.

“Let us begin,” Nicholas said, addressing all attendees. “Many years ago, during the Spanish Inquisition,” he began, pausing to wait for the laughter of the unsuspecting crowd to die down, before he continued, “I was ordained by the Holy Church. I will, therefore, be officiating today. I now call forth the bride.”

With not a note of music, Serinda emerged from Kilchurn’s entrance. Her tight, form-fitting red dress, stopped just above her knees. Her cleavage, the kind that makes married men forget they’re married, glistened in the Scottish summer sun. The shoulders of the dress were covered by the dark hair that draped over them.

“Red…interesting,” said Nicholas, hearing varied voices among the crowd comment on the forgoing of a white dress, and watching the vampire work the grassy aisle between the two sets of guests like a runway.

“She was afraid of getting something on a white dress,” Tsukiko said. “So she got a color that would allow certain liquids that may be spilled on it, to blend in.”

“Smart girl,” he said, smiling.

Serinda, reaching the end of her journey as an unmarried woman, stopped in front of Nicholas, only inches away from Jamie.

“Friends who are near and far,” Nicholas began, tossing a look toward the small camera in Tsukiko’s hand, “we are gathered here today to witness the union of two individuals who represent more than just themselves. They represent the future. For here today will begin the rising of a new dawn, the light of which shall soon wrap around the entire world, drawing forth to our humble location in Scotland, those wisest of our brethren who have long sought a new star to follow. Here, today, shines brightly your new beacon on the hill.

“Jamie Murphy, son of Landon Murphy,” he said, stressing the name of his enemy to the camera, “do you take Serinda to be your wife?” Nicholas saw the bride shoot him a stern look. “And your queen?”

The crowd whispered.

“I do,” Jamie said.

“And do you, Serinda, take Jamie to be your husband, and king?”

“I do.”

The multiple hushed voices in the crowd now seemed to draw together in one voice. Even the whispering was accented with a brogue. Nicholas noted their en masse level of disapproval.

“Then by the authority that was vested in me so many centuries ago, I now pronounce you husband and wife…king and queen. You may now seal your union with the Eternal Kiss as demonstrated to you earlier by Tsukiko.”

Jamie leaned in toward his queen, tilting his head and placing his mouth on her neck, as she placed hers on his. The squirt of blood and subsequent streaming of liquid life out of the corner of each participant’s mouth, signaled that Tsukiko had done her job.

“What is all this?” asked the mayor, jumping from his chair. “How dare you defile the sanctity of—“

Nicholas raised his hand, silencing His Honor, and lowered it, commanding the elected official to reseat himself. Nicholas stopped the drinking after several minutes had passed.

He then turned to Tsukiko and motioned toward the empty chair that sat lonely, yards away. She took the camera and sat it upright to continue recording.

“And now,” Nicholas began, as the crowd began to rise, various expressions of disgust and confusion dotted among the guests beginning to leave, “the exchanging of gifts between the bride and groom, and the final blessing over those in attendance.”

Jamie grabbed the nearest male, as Serinda secured her favored female, each tossing their chosen gift in the other’s direction, whom then caught their intended and released them from the bonds of life. The screams of the wedding guests shot toward the heavens.

“I, Nicholas,” he began, arms raised to the sky, as the newly married couple, followed by Tsukiko, rushed the crowd, attacking those dressed in their fineries, “bless you, and keep you; I make the faces of my fellow ministers fall upon you, and engorge themselves on you; I, as well as those who accompany me, now reveal our true countenance to you and give you peace in death. Let those who witness, invoke my name, Nicholas, on the followers of Landon Murphy, and I shall bless them, and bathe them, in their own blood.”

Suddenly, Nicholas transformed, the hulking black werewolf towering over those who ran from him. Most only found themselves escaping into the waiting arms of one of the other two, now shifted, werewolves, or lone vampire.

Each menacing creature snapped up, fed on, then discarded, a fleeing Scot in seconds. The entire village, all of Dalmally being in attendance, was slaughtered beneath the beautiful, blue Scottish sky. The red blood of countless bodies covered and colored the purple heather around Kilchurn.

The great black beast, Nicholas, turned toward the chair, set up by Tsukiko, to see the red light of the video camera still glowing. Still recording. He, and the others, continued their destruction.

Down the dark, cold, stone corridor of Kilchurn, behind the heavy wooden door that kept hidden the castle’s ubliet, Annelise hung below the dried corpse of the teen girl. She slowly opened her eyes, only for a moment, as the screams of the Scots pierced her vampire ears.

Tears of blood, what little she had remaining, moved down her cold cheek, slowing and speeding up again, like a car encountering multiple speed bumps.