Melabeth Forgive Me, For I Am Sin! (16 page)

I hurried and finished getting dressed. Throwing on a simple blue dress, I slipped on some shorts for modesty. I looked over at Carrie; she was full of worry. She had been right about one thing; she was in the middle. What a mess; if I break up with David, what about Carrie? She has to be attached to one of us. If she chooses me, then her power would be limited. She would not be able to take new forms, so she would be forever stuck in the same clothes. The distance she could travel would be half of what it is with David, and she wouldn’t even have the power to be seen by anyone but me.

I couldn’t help but think on how she drove me nuts in three days. On the other hand if she chooses David, would he let me see her? If not, I would miss her. This whole magical world becomes really complicated really fast. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of magic kingdoms… what a letdown.

My choices sucked; if I choose love, what of my revenge and my friend Carrie? If I stayed with David, I could have my revenge. I couldn’t think about this anymore, and, besides, Alice is waiting, and I will do nothing until after Christmas.

I hugged Carrie and whispered in her ear, “I have to run this book up to Alice. Follow me if you like, but we will talk, I promise. I will let you know what I am doing before I do it. And Carrie, no matter what, you are my friend.”

As she pulled away from my embrace, she smiled. She tried to sound cheerful, “Ok, ain’t like worrying about it will
change it. Alice can scare a flea off a dog. Do you mind if I stay real quiet like and just listen?”

I nodded, “I’m not hiding anything from you, come on.”

I looked around the room and saw the book. I grabbed it off the night stand and headed out the door. Carrie followed me; on the way up to Alice’s room we talked. She was scared, and I was confused, but we were friends. As much as she annoyed me, I was glad she was with me.

多すぎる月

Dan was annoyed that I had taken so long to get the book.

Alice didn’t seem to care and disregarded his anger. Dan snatched the book from me; I yelled at him, “HEY!”

He ignored me as he laid the book down on the bar that stood between the living room and kitchen. Then he started to chant some words while waving his hands above the book. Alice looked bored as the man worked. I should have known this man was a wizard.

The book suddenly changed. It went from an ancient looking book with a big hinge lock, to a Gideon’s Bible. The mage slammed his hand on the counter. He turned and looked at both of us.

Dan bellowed out, “This is not the book. This is a fake… a cheap spell. You screwed up; you didn’t get the right book.”

Alice shrugged, and said nonchalantly, “Well, it looked right. You know we aren’t wizards. If that’s not the right one, how were we to know?”

He was beside himself with anger. His face was turning red as his voice fell right below a scream; “It was your JOB, to get
the book
.”

Alice put up one hand like she was signaling for a car to stop, and, with a child’s voice, she asked, “Could you please calm down!”

Dan’s face was fully red now as he barked out, “Why should I calm down?”

His anger was really putting me on edge. My voice was full of venom, “Because you want to walk out… not be dragged.”

His eyes tried to bore holes in me, but, when he saw I had no fear of him, his eyes wandered the room in irritation.

Alice giggled, then said, “Well put Melabeth.” Then she spoke to Dan, “I think it’s time you left. Report what you will to the Council, and, if you need our help in the future, just call.”

The mage huffed something, but I couldn’t make it out. He looked all around then stared at his feet taking long breaths. After about a minute, he regained some control of himself. He spoke with anger but with less fury and much quieter. “Sorry if I angered you. You have no idea how important that book is. It can't fall into the wrong hands. I was worried about it coming to Vegas in the first place, now only to find out I have no idea where it is. The wizard who stole it… I will be in touch.”

The mage began chanting, and then disappeared. Alice looked over at me and said, “Oh dear we have a lot of messes now, and I’m not talking about your love life.”

“Then what are we talking about?”

Alice spoke fluently, “Where to start. Your boyfriend is starting a war, and you’re helping him... not that people realize that. The Council of Twelve is looking to get involved, and now they are freaked over the disappearance of this book which could not be a good thing. This book must be bad, really bad for Dan to act like that. I have known him for many decades now, and, to top it all off, you have Peter Lionheart stalking you. You have no idea how bad that is… you my dear… how do I put this?”

I moaned, “A disaster?”

Alice giggled, then said, “Well, yes that, but I believe the word I was looking for was… busy. Yes you’re very busy. I will give you this; you do liven things up around here. Me a
nd Dolly haven't been bored since you arrived.”

I laughed darkly as I dropped down on the couch. I dreaded asking, “I think I need more information on my spilled milk…I mean milks. I will start on the scary one first; who is Peter Lionheart?”

A wicked smile spread across Alice’s face. Then like someone telling a bedtime story, she began, “Once upon time, somewhere in the Twelfth century to be exact, there lived three brothers: Peter, Luke, and Matthew. They were also known as The Apostles. They were sons of a lord in England; all three brothers heeded the call from the church. They all joined a crusade to Jerusalem to help save the Holy Land. They were devoted followers of the church and great warriors. It didn’t take long before they all joined the Templar knights and fought directly for the church. They did wonders for the church in the Holy Land, but it was on their return home that things became interesting.

As the story goes, on their return to England they met four women on the road. It was late and they had just made camp. The women came asking if they may join them by their fire. Being men of the cross they said, "Yes."

The men were of course separated and were intended to be a meal, but Peter was strong willed and did not fall for the vampires’ tricks. When the brothers became aware of their predicament, they fought the women. Two brothers were badly injured but not before beheading and killing one of the vampires. It was Peter who showed his worth, for he alone killed two.

The last vampire was the strongest and stopped Peter, but she also saw greatness in him. That night not only did she start the process of turning Peter
, but his brothers as well. After they had been turned into vampires, it didn’t take them long to free themselves from their new master. They overpowered the unknown vampire and killed her, thus freeing themselves. From thenceforth they continued to do the lord’s work. They killed the unholy and unchristian, and, in their own right, became a scourge themselves, killing vampires and the un-baptized alike."

I said, "He was crazy, but he didn’t seem that religious to me, and he talked about marrying me or some such thing. He also mentioned how powerful his clan was; do you think it was just his brothers he was referring to?"

Alice answered me, "Yes, he was talking about his brothers, but that’s not all. The Apostles spent most of their existence killing all the unchristian, humans and vampires alike. They changed after the Great War. All of us did really."

Without thinking I asked, "You mean World War I?"

Alice frowned, "Is there another Great War?"

I shook my head in embarrassment. I had read that World War I was called the Great War. It wasn’t called World War I, until after World War II. Still, I had no idea from the history books as to how this war affected vampires. I asked, "What happened in the war?"

Alice got up and went over to a shelf. There were several books on it; she retrieved one and then tossed it to me like a Frisbee. I caught it easily. Then she said, "Read that book over; you will need to understand some of what's happened to clearly understand what is about to happen."

I moaned, "Great…homework."

Alice laughed, "It will help explain some of the messes we are in. It will also tell you about the Council of Twelve. Your boyfriend is inviting disaster, but I think he knows this."

I defended David, "I don’t believe that."

Alice simply said, "I know."

I left the room with my head spinning. I really needed to put my feelings on hold over Michael no matter how much it hurt. As I headed back toward my room, Carrie reappeared. I had hardly shut my door before her mouth went into overdrive.

The rest of the night I spent talking with Carrie. We did a lot of complaining, but, in the end, we worked out some things. She came to understand how I was feeling about Michael; I believe she understood. I also came to find out that she had not been doing so well herself. David had kept her wandering around the Necromancer temple while he was busy working. He spent all his time with his face in books and practicing his magic. The other ghost that lived at the temple was less than friendly, and she hadn't had anyone to talk to.

Morning came before I knew it, and I said my goodbyes to Carrie. After she disappeared, I headed to bed myself. After some rest I would be better at making decisions. I was too tired to think straight and had too many things to think about.

*                  *                   *

I awoke with a start.

All that excitement on the Island had kept the dreams at bay, but not tonight. Too upset over my dream to go back to bed, I grabbed the book Alice gave me. It was three in the afternoon; it was way too early to be up.

The book was written by a wizard named J.E. Dale. It was an overview of the last hundred years of magic community politics. It started off talking about the separation of magic creatures and humans. Everyone was fighting each other on different levels and different degrees. The humans were never considered anything to most magic folks until the late eighteen hundreds. With their numbers and their science they were a
threat to all. A lot of magic creatures fled to the New World to get away from the humans who would destroy them on sight.

When the Great War broke out, many magic creatures took sides, and, as the war deepened, many more were forced to take sides. Many wizards and other magical creatures came from America where they had fled, to help their kind. Millions died…millions…it was hard to even imagine. How many of the millions were magical folks? Countries had made individual pacts with different groups of magic users and creatures alike, and, after the war ended, there were very few left.

The Council of Twelve was formed after the Great War. It was called that because a group of eleven wizards of the highest order and the last full blooded elf formed it. Even though it now has hundreds of members and dozens who sit on the council, it still remains the Council of Twelve to honor the founders. The book was written in 1984 so it was a little out of date.

The head of the council was the last remaining full blooded elf, Luna Longaeva. World War II broke out. The council was on the side of th
e allies. Still the Germans had wizards, shifters, werewolves and vampires at their disposal. After the war, vampires, who fought for the Germans, fled to the Americas or pledged their allegiance to stronger clans. There were many clan names listed in the book.  The Lionheart was listed among them. After the war, the Lionhearts started taking members into their clan.

Magic diseases were listed in the back of the book; there were many according to the council. The council has never recognized werewolves or vampires as magical creatures. They are listed as diseases of humans. Shifters who could turn into animals were not a disease and known to work for the council in a police like status.

All this book did for me, is fill my head full of questions, like, how come a member of the council hired Alice? A vampire, to recover the book, and what, if anything, does the council and The Order have in common?

The author’s writing was dull, and he droned on and on about council members and events that the council took part in. I flipped through the book, and, toward the end, I found the answer to one of my questions: the history of The Order and its dealings with the council.

After reading through it, I started to understand the concerns Alice was having. Basically The Council still looks upon America as the New World or the West. All the governments are represented in the council, including America. In the states, we came up with The Order, kind of America’s version of its own council for regulating magic users and magical creatures. The Order is made up of volunteers, unlike the elected council. In short,  me and David are attacking and killing volunteers. The writer of this book openly complains that there is not enough oversight in The Order allowing bad people to do evil in the name of good, kind of like Alex and Devon; I had never stopped and thought about it like this.

Now that we are putting the fear of God into anyone who dares to say they’re in The Order, this will allow the council or government to step in. Magic users left Europe to get away from the oversight and to be free of The Council. I had never looked at it from the point of view of The Order members themselves. Me and David killed dozens of Order members in the graveyard, but how many of them were bad. How would they have known that Devon was lying to them? All they would have seen was a vampire and a Necromancer with some other magic users meeting in a graveyard. If they took Devon’s word for it… well there it is in a nutshell…why The Order needs oversight. It needs judges and trials.

Then there is Alex, he stole a book from the council; they hired vampires to get it. I couldn't even fathom why they would hire us? In turn, I now have a very old vampire stalking me, and let it not be forgotten that I am still hunting members of The Order. Which means that the same council that hired Alice to get the book, may be my enemy? Or do they want The Order destroyed?

I tossed the book on the floor; Alice was right. Way too many messes!

And still the constant nagging about what I really was. I got dressed, grabbed the book and went to the wall safe. There I pulled it out, the tin, simply marked Melanie. I looked at the time; it was close to eight and Alice would be up.

I arrived at Alice’s door and knocked loudly. She answered with hair still unkempt and in her nightgown. In a grumpy tone she said, “You need to stop doing that. It’s called a phone; try it.”

Without waiting for her invite, I barged my way in. “Ok, I think I understand what you have been trying to tell me.”

Alice slammed the door. She grumbled, “Oh goody.”

I went on, “To sum it up, you don’t care that I am killing my murderers. You just don’t think I should be helping David on this crusade of madness, because it will never end. It will just start a war that I don’t want anything to do with.”

Alice screamed out so loud it startled me, “ALL I HAD TO DO WAS GIVE YOU A BOOK. I have approached you all wrong my dear… wait, I should say no more. Let me write it down, so you may hear me.”

I chuckled at her goings on, “All right, all right, I get it; I don’t listen. I am new…"