Risen (Book #6 of the Vampire Legends) (7 page)

She looked around to see if the
other guy was still in sight but he was gone. She knew she had to find him and
kill him. She couldn’t let him get away now. Not after what he’d seen.

Hunter had been searching for
endless days for the Waverly Mirror and he was beginning to feel that they were
running out of luck and time. He thought bringing Penelope and Matilda along
with him would help him find it, but it was turning out that none of them had
any clue as to where it was hidden. After searching through old castles, the
hottest of desserts, and deep in the ocean he was at a loss.

He wished he knew who to call or
who he knew that might be able to point them in the direction of the Waverly
Mirror. As night fell, he looked up at the moon and knew by its size that the
new moon was coming in only a matter of days. He could see the stars taking
form as they were about to align and give the Greslin Coven the opportunity to
perform the Varithian Ritual to gain control of the entire universe.
  
He knew it was only a matter of days until
they’d all be exterminated by Violet. He could feel his days coming to an end
and knew that if he didn’t come up with a way to find the Waverly Mirror it was
over for the entire Vladdicus Coven.

He felt immense pressure as visions
of Violet performing the Varithian Ritual flashed over and over in his head. He
could picture her holding the sapphire and diamond Varithian Bracelet up and
cackling in her nasty witch-like voice.
 
It
was a vision he never wanted to see and certainly a vision he didn’t want
executed in real life.

Then, Hunter felt the ground
begin to shake as if an earthquake was rumbling under his feet.

“Guys, what’s happening?” Hunter
asked, turning to Penelope and Matilda.

“I don’t know!” the girls
shrieked.

“Hurry, let’s get to safety,”
Hunter said, as he pulled the girls into a hut on the side of the ocean.

Then it began to pour as they
huddled down in the thatched roof hut, praying that they’d be safe. As the
crouched down holding onto each other’s hands they began to chant the old
ancient Vladdicus hymn.

“The world is one. It’s core is
ours. Rise up, oh ether, and envelope us all.”

“The world is one. It’s core is
ours. Rise up, oh ether, and envelope us all.”

“The world is one. It’s core is
ours. Rise up, oh ether, and envelope us all.”

Their voices grew increasingly
louder as they continued to chant. Hunter could feel his body completely
enraptured by this ancient hymn and his mind flooded with new ideas of how to
find the Waverly Mirror. It was as if the skies opened up and down came the
answers he’d always been looking for.

Suddenly, the ground stopped
shaking, and the three ended their chanting and looked at each other surprised.

“Wow! It worked!” Matilda said.

“I can’t believe it!” Penelope
added.

“We haven’t said that chant in
hundreds of years. It’s a wonder we remembered it at all,” Hunter added.

“These things don’t just escape
us,” Matilda said. “That’s what Uncle Bennington always told us.”

“Uncle Bennington! Wait? Why did
you all of a sudden think of him?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know. It just came to
me. Must have been the chanting?” she replied.

“It’s a strange coincidence,
because during the chanting, I couldn’t stop thinking of him either!” Hunter
remarked.

“Really?” Penelope said. “Does he
have long black hair and a curly mustache?”

“YES!” Matilda said. “Have you
met him?”

“NO! Never!” Penelope said. “But
while we were chanting a person who looked like that kept flashing across my
mind. It must have been your Uncle Bennington.”

“This is a sign. We have to
contact him,” Hunter said.

“Why would we do that?” Matilda
said.

“Are you joking? You don’t see
what’s happening here?” Hunter said.

“Not really,” Matilda said. “He’s
a boring middle aged man. Why would we want to call him?”

“He may be boring, but he is also
a wealth of knowledge. He might have the answers we need to find the mirror. We
can’t rule him out. Especially since he all came to us during the chant,”
Hunter continued. “And, we didn’t get hurt in the earthquake. In fact, nothing
happened at all. Do you think this was all a coincidence? I think NOT!”

“I wouldn’t even know where to
find Uncle Bennington?” Matilda said.

“I have his number in my cell
phone. I hope he still lives at the same house, otherwise we are out of luck,”
Hunter said, suddenly feeling nervous.

He reached into his old brown
leather back pack and pulled out his cell phone. He noticed it was flashing and
then saw the battery was just about dead. He knew he had to make this call
quickly and knew that even if he reached his uncle, he may get disconnected. He
looked around for an outlet, but knew he was out of luck. There were no outlets
anywhere near them and there were certainly no outlets in the thatched roof hut
they had just come out of. It was just the three of them on this desolate
island, with only the light from the moon to light their way.

He quickly dialed Uncle
Bennington and waited silently while the phone connected and began to ring.

RING, RING, RING, RING….

This was a bad sign. The phone
kept ringing and ringing and the beeping reminder of the low batter kept
chiming in his ears.

BEEP BEEP BEEP…

The phone continued to ring and
beep intermittently but Hunter knew this was a bad sign. Then, as if by a small
miracle a voice came on the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

“Uncle Bennington? Is that you?”
Hunter asked, quickly.

“Yes! Who do I have the pleasure
of speaking with?” he asked.

“It’s me, Hunter.”

“Hunter! How are you? How is the
family?”

“I don’t have time for small talk
now, Uncle. I need your help. We’re desperate and I’m low on battery on my
phone. I’m off the coast of Africa looking for the Waverly Mirror. We are
running out of time,” Hunter tried to explain quickly.

“Ah! Yes! The Waverly Mirror. Why
didn’t you say so in the first place. I know exactly where it is. Or at least
where it was the last time it was used.”

“WHERE?” Hunter yelled
enthusiastically.

“LA PALMA!” Uncle Bennington
yelled back.

“Quick, my phone is dying!”

“Off the coast, it’s in the
submarine volcano. If you travel by boat, it’s coordinates are…”

The phone died and Hunter pulled
it from his ear in shock, looking at its dark black screen.

“DAMN IT!” Hunter said, throwing
his phone on the ground, shattering it into pieces.

“What did he say? Matilda asked.

“I know where it is, but not exactly.
He was just about to tell me its coordinates by boat, but my phone died. I can’t
believe this.”

“Don’t worry, Hunter,” Penelope
said, rubbing his back lovingly. “We will find it. I have faith in you.”

“Thanks, Darling,” Hunter said. “I
know, it just may take us longer now and time is the one thing we don’t have on
our side.”

“Enough of this sappy lovey dovey
stuff,” Matilda said. “We have to find this volcano!”

The three of them began walking
towards the shore of the island, looking for a boat or any sign of life on the
island. They knew they had to find a boat before venturing out to find this
volcano under water. It was their only hope of finding the mirror and saving
the world.

Benji swooped down onto the
Syracuse University campus looking for Sarah. He knew she was Rachel’s
confidant and best friend, and knew that she would know where to find her sister.
As he approached her dormitory, he noticed that there was a card reader to the
left of the door and he couldn’t get in without it. It was late at night, and
the campus was dark. He didn’t see anyone for miles, and the last thing he
needed now was to have to wait all night to get into her dorm. He stood there,
banging on the door, but nobody answered.

He started walking around to the
side of the dorm and looked to see if there were any lights on in any of the
rooms. All he needed was one person to let him in the building. As he looked up
he saw the light on the top corner of the building was on. He couldn’t tell if
it was a hall light or a bathroom light, but he walked towards the back of the
dorm to see what it was. As he turned the corner, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
There were four dead bodied lined up like dominos next to each other. Benji
walked over to them to see what had happened and then he noticed it.

The mark of the Greslin’s.

He could tell the specific fang
mark left on the necks of each of their bodies. It was a distinct mark that the
Vladdicus Coven knew to look out for. He knew if this Greslin was still around they
would smell him roaming around.

He had no idea that the Greslin’s
would be on this campus, but knew they were quickly spreading and soon, they’d
be everywhere.

He looked up at the one single
light that he had seen just minutes before and it was now black. The entire
building was black and there was nobody in sight.

He started walking back towards
the front of the building and heard a faint cry coming from a nearby wooded
area.

“What have I done? What have I
done?” he heard the voice saying over and over.

He slowly walked through the
crunching leaves and heard the voice in the woods gasp and stand up.

“Whose there?” a girls voice
said.

“Are you OK?” Benji asked, seeing
a silhouette of a girl in the distance.

The girl started sobbing as she
fell to her knees begging for forgiveness.

“God, please forgive me my sins.”

“Excuse me?” Benji said again,
walking closer to the girl.

“GO AWAY!” the girl yelled. “PLEASE!”

As he neared the girl, he couldn’t
believe his eyes. It was Sarah, crouching to the ground, praying to God for
help.

“SARAH?” Benji asked.

“Who are you?” Sarah asked.

“What do you mean?” Benji said. “Don’t
you remember me?”

“I’m not in the mood for this
right now. Just tell me who you are,” Sarah replied sharply.

“Benji.”

“Benji?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, remember me? Rachel’s
boyfriend.”

“Yes,” Sarah said, sobbing into
her hands.

“What happened?” Benji asked.

Then all of a sudden, before she
could even open her mouth to reply he saw her face and body was covered in
blood and he knew exactly what had happened.

“I can’t tell you,” Sarah said.

“You don’t have to tell me. I
already know,” Benji said, down at her and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“You have no clue,” Sarah said.

“You’re one of them,” Benji said.

Sarah stood up and looked Benji
in the eyes.

“Help me! Please!”

“I’ll try my best to help you but
you’re part of the evil coven. The Greslins and our people do not get along.”

“What do you mean Greslins?”

“You were turned. Don’t you know
that?” Benji asked in confusion.

“I don’t remember,” Sarah said,
still sobbing.

“It’s not your fault. They’re
turning everyone in their paths. You did nothing wrong,” Benji reassured her. “You
just have to learn the ways to escape Violet and her people.”

“Violet?” Who’s that?

“Oh gosh.
 
You really don’t know anything do you?” Benji
asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about. Have you gone mad?” Sarah said.

“Listen, I’m here to help you,”
Benji said, picking her up from the ground.

Then, out of nowhere came loud
sirens and the voice of the police over their car loud speaker.

“This is the Syracuse Police,
stay inside. Lock you doors, there is a predator on the loose. Keep your kids
inside. This is not a joke. I repeat this is not a joke.”

Then, the police car stopped, and
Benji heard the doors shut to the car.

“Quick, we have to get out of
here!” he said.

“But how? They’ll see us running!”
Sarah said.

“We can’t escape by foot. We must
fly!” Benji said. “Ready?”

“Um, I don’t remember how to…”

Benji grabbed Sarah by the hand
and whisked her up into the air on his back giving her the speed to launch her
own wings and fly by his side.

“Thank you,” Sarah said, as they
soared above.

“Be quiet. Fly smooth. You don’t
want to be spotted,” Benji said.

The two flew quietly and quickly
until then landed on a remote island off the coast of Montauk, New York. It was
a deserted island with nothing but burnt down trees from an old forest fire.
There was no signs of life on this island except for the two of them, and that
gave Benji a sense of calm after what they’d just been through.

“Benji, I don’t know how to thank
you,” Sarah said, taking a deep breath.

“You don’t have to thank me. I
will always be here for you,” Benji said. “But maybe you can help me with
something. I need to find Rachel and time is running out.”

“Running out?” Sarah asked.

“Yes!” Benji said, looking up at
the moon. “See that?”

“What?” Sarah asked.

“The moon,” Benji replied.

“What about it?” Sarah said with
concern.

“On the next new moon Violet is
going to destroy the Vladdicus people and take over the universe. She will hold
complete power and we will all be dead!”

“Dead?” Sarah said in horror.

“YES. DEAD!” Benji yelled.

Sarah let out a laugh.

“This is not a joke, Sarah,”
Benji snapped at her.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t know
what you’re so worried about. It’s not like we are going to war or anything.”

“This is worse than any war we
have ever been in. This is the first time in thousands of years where anyone
has been in control of the Varithian Bracelet and thus able to perform the
Varithian Ritual and gain control of the universe,” Benji stated again. “I know
this might now sound serious to you right now, but let me tell you, if it does
happen and don’t stop her, she will destroy everything with her evil ways. That
I promise you!”

“OK, OK. How can I help?” Sarah
said.

“I need to find Rachel. Do you
know where she is?” Benji said.

Then, as if by magic, he watched
Sarah morph out of her body and float overhead chanting the old ancient hymn of
the people:

“He who was lost must now be
found. He who is lost must now be found. Come out come out and reveal yourself.”

“He who was lost must now be
found. He who is lost must now be found. Come out come out and reveal yourself.”

Then, he watched her take form
back inside her body again as she opened her mouth to speak, “I know exactly
where she is. I just saw her!”

“WHERE?” Benji asked.

“She’s in New Orleans right now.
She’s walking up the steps to our grandmother’s house as we speak. She’s
probably down there for a visit but I can’t say for sure. We haven’t seen our
grandmother in years after her accident.”

“Thank you, Sarah. I must go now,”
Benji said, as he got up to leave.

“Wait! Please don’t leave me here
like this. I don’t know what to do next. They’re going to get me.”

“Don’t worry. You will be fine!”
Benji said. “You will be safe here, just don’t leave this island. Once I get
Rachel, we will come back for you. Stay put!”

“Can I come with you?” Sarah
asked.

“No! It’s very dangerous what I
am about to do. If you came we’d both surely get caught and killed. It’s way too
risky. You must stay here. Do you hear me?” Benji demanded.

“Yes! I will stay here, but
please hurry back.”

Benji reached out and patted
Sarah on the shoulder.

“We will meet again.”

And with that, he rose into the
air, his wings spread wide as he flew south to find his beloved Rachel.