It took me a long time to fall asleep that night,
but when I did, I dreamed about my friends in 1888.
Tyen plodded
into Sai’s personal kitchen. With a grumpy noise, she plopped down in a chair
across the little table from Sai. The man smiled and checked his pocket watch.
“Well, you are awake early. It’s only eight o’ clock.”
She shot him a
scowl across the table as she poured herself some tea. “Very funny. Did M.C.
return to his time stream alright?”
The man
shrugged. “I would assume so. The magic seemed to have worked correctly.”
Tyren nodded as
she sipped the tea. Sai chuckled cheerfully to himself, and she arched her
eyebrow at him. “That was a conspiratorial chuckle.”
Sai shrugged
again. “I do not believe that we have seen the last of him.”
The vampire
frowned. “Why? I thought you sent him home.”
“I did, but I
also think I sent him here. It was not a simple experiment. The magic woven
into that watch was extremely complex.”
“I thought you
said it just had time magic in it.”
Sai frowned
slightly. “Well, yes, but I did not know how wise it was to divulge everything
I had discovered in front of M.C. and Tatiana. They could have taken it the
wrong way.”
Tyren arched an
eyebrow, her eyes cautious. “What do you mean?”
Sai set his cup
down and looked the vampire in the eye. “Tyren, the watch was locked on you.”
“What?!”
“It was locked
on your auratic signature. My future self seems to think that you need him.”
Tyren snorted.
“Let us
postulate for a moment that he is the mage’s heir. If he is, we would have—“
“Three of the
four heirs, yes, I know. If Melinda discovers that we have access to the mage’s
heir, she could move more forcibly against us. She could even find our base in
the effort of getting him. They also have eight of the nine stones, Sai. If
they get their claws on the mage’s heir, they would only need—“
“The other
three heirs and the ninth stone. Besides, they also need to discover identity
of the vampire’s heir.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do any of those come for the
price of one?”
Ignoring the
question, Tyren stood. “He’s incompetent. Even if he did return, he would be no
help to us.”
“He only
requires training, just as you did.” He raised his eyebrows at her. “Or are you
telling me you were born knowing how to use that sword?”
Once again,
Tyren seemed to ignore him, but I saw a change of expression. I got the feeling
that Tyren really respected Sai and listened thoughtfully to everything he
said, even if she didn’t appear to. “So, you think he will come back?”
“I do.”
She turned, on
finger extended in a commanding manner. “If he does, I want you to train him so
hard his hands fall off.”
Sai grinned.
“Never fear, my young friend, I will.”
n
The next afternoon, I perched on my bed, staring
stupidly at my physics homework. It made no sense what so ever. I didn’t even
know where to start. It might as well have been plans for a particle convertor,
or a time machine. Sighing, I stared out my window. Suddenly, I wished I was
with Sai. My Oriental Dr. Frankenstein would probably know what this was
talking about.
I had decided that it had to be real. The dreams I
had about Sai and Tyren had not contained me. All the other times I had been
there, interacting.
I looked at my wrist thoughtfully, wishing my watch
would take me back through time to see them.
The room turned blue. I knew the watch was taking
me back to 1888, and I was excited. I arrived in rainy London
She shrieked and shoved me off of her. I was about
to protest when she stabbed someone behind me. When she stepped back, I saw
that her blade was covered with a black, oozing liquid. Her cloak was torn, and
she had a gash in her cheek.
Grabbing my hand, she yanked me to my feet and spun
me around so that we were back to back. We were surrounded by six creatures. It
would appear that we had been surrounded by ten, but four lay dead on the
ground, the black stuff oozing out of them. On closer examination, I saw that
they were human—or, were once human.
By the sound of Tyren’s panting, I guessed that she
was worn out already. Now, she had me to take care of, too, and I knew she
would with her last breath. I was not letting that happen. I may not like her,
but I wasn’t going to let her die for me.
But then, what was I going to do? I didn’t know how
to fight. Oh my, I could die. I could die, right here, right now. I became
terrified. A creature leapt at me, and I shut my eyes, thrusting my hands out
to stop it. I just wanted it to go away and leave me alone.
There was a flash of bright light. I waited to feel
the thing ripping me to shreds, but I never did. Tentatively, I opened one eye.
The one that had leapt at me lay dead at my feet, its warped human features
frozen in shock. “What happened?” I finally got out, suddenly feeling tired and
week.
Tyren stared at me. “You killed them,” she replied.
“You simply stopped their hearts.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that.”
I sat down. “I didn’t mean to,” I whispered. “I
don’t even know how.”
To my surprise, she sat next to me. “M.C., if you
had not, you and I would both be dead right now, or worse.” She put her hand on
my shoulder. “You saved my life, and for that I am grateful.”
The vampire stood and pulled me to my feet. “We
should get underground before any more of them show up and decide to try their
luck.”
She snapped her fingers and the creatures
disappeared in rush of flame. Turning, she strode off. She led me to the
nearest sewer grate, and I followed her down it without question. “Does the
base run under all of London
Tyren snapped, and a blue flame leapt to life over
her finger. She shook her head in its light. “No. The catacombs do, but the
base itself does not.”
Instead of trailing behind her, I joined her at her
elbow. It was my new goal to make her like me. Lofty ambition, I know, but I
was determined. “So, what were those things, exactly? They weren’t demons.”
“Correct. We call them, well, in English it would
be ‘accursed ones.’”
“Wow. Are they human?”
“They were, once. You are aware that vampires can
turn a human into a vampire by introducing some of their blood into the human’s
blood stream?”
I nodded. If I wasn’t before, I was now.
“Werewolves and demons can also do this. However, an
accursed one is slave to the demon who turned him. He is driven mad by a lust
for a demon’s power. They never obtain it, however, because a human can never
change fully into a demon. His blood will turn black, and he gains a powerful
evil magic.”
“That’s why you asked if I had ingested any of that
demon’s blood.”
“Correct. If you had, I would have had to pull it
out of you.”
“How would you have done that?”
Tyren glanced at me sidelong. “I drink blood for a
living, M.C.”
I closed my eyes. “Duh, right, I knew that.”
To my surprise, she chuckled. It was the first
happy noise I had ever heard her make. I decided I liked her much better when
she wasn’t glowering at the world.
Naturally, I had to ruin the moment. “See, you can
be happy. Why are you so grouchy all the time? It’s like you think you carry
the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
The pleasant expression disappeared. She placed her
hand on the wall, and it slid back. It was not the door to the generator room,
however. It was a brightly lit hallway. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe
I do?” She asked quietly.
I stared at her, shocked at her pride. Then, I
checked myself. According to Sai, she was the leader of the only force that
stood between the world and the destruction the demons would cause. Maybe she
really did carry the weight of the world.
She strode through the door, and I followed her.
“Maybe you don’t have to. Let other people help.”
Tyren shook her head. “I wouldn’t condemn anyone
else to this. Let’s find Sai.”
-----
It's raining men! Halleluiah, it raining men! Amen!
I'm done now.
So.
Chapter.
Five days late.
I'm really sorry, guys. I honestly thought I had posted on Monday. Eeep, I didn't!
And Tyren. So, is she just really full of herself? She's very prideful. Eh, I'll let you guys figure it out. And M.C. is dreaming about the past? Interesting. What does it all mean?
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