The fire bloomed easily enough, and the wood beneath soon began to char as the flames exhausted their fuel. The faint light illuminated the room, casting the dancing shadows across the endless bookshelves that acted as walls to this sanctuary. There was enough heat coming from the fire to warm the study, but the immortal in front of the fireplace sat as cold as ever. His leather chair, once a comfortable refuge from the world, was now a mere timeshare getaway, rarely visited by his self.
He set down the glass of crimson liquid and looked around his study. The thousands of books he had read over the years sat complacent on their wooden harbor, safe from the hands of vile collectors and lay-people. They were safe here, safe with someone who enjoyed the content within their vast sea of paper, contained between two walls.
A small knock at the door pulled him from his admiration. The hand-carved door creaked open and the small head of his butler poked through. “The guests have arrived, sir.” He declared the statement in a weak voice with a slight quiver that failed to be suppressed.
Ra snapped shut his book and set it down next to his goblet of blood. He missed the fearlessness of his subordinate Harold, but the man was off gaining retribution for his failures, and Ra would have to settle with his normal servants until his return.
Ra took his goblet in his hand and drained the blood from within with a single gulp. Even if Harold had failed, he proved to be a valuable asset. Maybe Ra would just maim him as a penalty.
Ra elegantly strode across his dark red carpet and out of his study. His guests had arrived exactly on
time. They were a step in the right direction, even if he couldn’t stand their company more than a few minutes at a time. The only other vampire he had been able to stand was his cousin Horus, but he was now gone to the void. These other Vampire Lords would have to suffice if he wanted to take control of the world. His cousin was right in that the vampires were a dying race, this is why he must take control and bring his breed to new light. With Horus gone, he would need to rely on more shaky alliances, like that of Breaburn and his Institute, and the new, self-proclaimed leader of the mutants, the Prophet. This did not please him at all.
Ra’s mouth curled up into a half snarl. He wanted to kill something now. He depended on too many people these days. He wished he could go back to the days when he roamed the night with his cousin, stalking prey and taking lives. The adrenaline in the blood of his prey was always a good revitalizer.
Ra shut the hand carved door to his study and stepped out to the two women in his life he cared for the most. Everything else was paltry compared to his two daughters.
“We have the palace on lockdown.” His daughter, Bastet, was a beauty with sharp features and pointed ears. Her large eyes scanned everything in sight. Her pupils were narrow slits running from the top of her eyelid to the bottom. “Our guests will be safe in our care tonight.” She stood rigid with her leather armor contoured to her sleek figure. She had numerus lethal blades hidden about her body, but the eyes focused in on the large sickle she kept attached to her hip at all times.
“Good work daughter. We wouldn’t want our guests to feel out of place now.” Ra took a step towards his second daughter. Her dress was crimson and loose upon her sleek, caramel body, her cleavage just barely visible from all sides. Ra took her from the hip and pulled her along the palace hall. “And what of you, Hathor?”
She smiled. Her cheeks would have blushed if blood had remained in her veins. “I am well, as always. I do get bored here. I wish I could accompany you on your ventures, father.” Her hand slid up Ra’s back gently stroking him through his suit.
Ra smiled in turn. His sharp teeth put that of a shark to shame. “Maybe you will next time. I could use some company.” He ran his free hand up his translucent scalp and up to the tip of his horn. He knew she was as deadly as her sister, but he needed someone he could trust to run his palace. The servants were quite dull.
The three vampires stepped out onto a landing at the top of a set of stairs, below them in the main hall stood the guests that Ra was waiting for. He had summoned the group here in an effort to collect their strengths and crush all those in his way. Breaburn was soon to betray him. He knew it in his gut. The Prophet would be in a powerful position of his own soon enough, and while he had a better relationship with the mutants than Breaburn, the Prophet could betray him at any time. Not to mention Mr. Bartlett was still on the loose. If Bartlett could lead his new pet to his door, she could destroy everything. He needed help, and he hated it.
“Welcome all!” His voice boomed over his guests, bouncing from wall to wall. “Sorry for the long trip out here, but I’m pleased to see you all.” Ra descended the stairs with his arms spread out in welcoming embrace. He stepped up to his first guest, one of such beauty and allure.
“I’d be lying if I said I was happy to see you.” She smiled and stepped forward, deep gashes stroked the carpet where the talons of her bird feet landed. Her body was bare, not a shred of clothes hung from her mostly-human body. The large, black wings on her back flexed as she leaned into Ra.
He kissed her on the cheek and then the other. “I would say the same, dear Lilith. It has been ages since we last met. It was on the battlefield, was it not?” Ra cocked his goat horned head to the side with his question.
“You would be correct, but now it seems we are meeting as allies? I am glad to hear what you have to say, but it is a waste of time, you will pay dearly.” Lilith chuckled sensually at Ra. She ran her hands up the side of her dark, olive toned body.
Hathor shot her a dreadful stare. She had no intent on letting that woman be with her father.
Ra smiled and stepped towards his other guest. The tallest of the four arrivals at his palace, the guest nodded to Ra in silence. His black, great cloak was wrapped around his body tightly, securing his frail body within. His skin was the palest of the group, but not translucent like Ra. His white face was contrasted by a head of thick black hair, slicked backwards on his scalp. He stood deathly still as Ra passed him, not even a ripple in his cloak shuttered out.
Ra nodded in return, “Pleased to have you here, Grigori.”
In a thick Russian accent he replied, “The pleasure is all mine.” He gave a half-hearted smile, his fangs escaping out onto his pale red lips.
Ra approached his third guest. The woman’s raspy hair curled out in every direction. Her dark eyes complemented her dark skin. Bones and tribal trinkets dotted her ragged clothes. She scratched at her waist, only stopping to look up at Ra. She bowed her head slightly and held her hand in the air, “Long time, Ra. You never stop by our island. You never come to see us, so I come here.” She stood back up and smiled at him. Her mouth was filled with the putrid smell of rotten teeth. Her black chompers were only held in her head by the power that filled her body.
Ra gave a slight bow back. He hated the Mannanang of the Philippines. The witches lacked the personal hygiene adopted by all other vampires across the planet, but their powers were the most destructive, and envied, of all the vampires. “Lady Aswang, I’d like to apologize for my absence from your island.” He stood tall and glanced back at his daughters, “Things have been busy around my territory. Something I need help with, which is why I called you all here.”
A large puff of smoke enveloped Ra’s lower body. Ra turned to the source of the stench, but he already knew who was responsible for it. A man who stood noticeably shorter than the rest, by several feet, who lacked all subtleties given by advanced societies.
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“Just get to the point, Ra.” The short man took another puff of his cigar, “I didn’t travel halfway across the world to be waited on.” He blew the smoke out again, his large red lips opened in a small oval before stretching across his face again. He chuckled out loud, causing his oversized head to bob up and down. He brushed some ash from his ancient suit. His massive hands were missing the fingertips, only large suckers could be found at the ends of his fingers. “The weather here sucks more than a dingo on his mother’s tit.”
“Yara, as bloated as ever. You blow your smoke on me again, and I’ll rip your tongue from your mouth and burn your eyes out.” Ra brushed his pant suit clean.
“I’d like to see you try.” The short man dropped his cigar to the carpet below and stamped it out. His skin as crimson as the blood he craved. He never gave any sign of cowardice.
Bastet stepped forward, placing her hand on her sword, “You will show respect to my father.” She forced her words out as heavily as she could, but Yara was no pushover.
“Please bitch, I eat girls like you for breakfast.” He smiled at her and licked his lips seductively.
“No woman would touch your fat body.” Lady Aswang shook her hand at Yara, her bone bracelets clanking together.
“Come on skank. I’ll knock those dirty teeth from your head.” Yara held up his hands and leaned forward, “Yara-mah-yha-who ain’t afraid of some two-bit vampire bitch.” He started shifting in placed, readying for a fight.
Lady Aswang hissed at him and began to reach into her pouches attached to her belt, “You would look nice with a smaller head, piggy.”
“Enough!” Ra shouted at the two rebels. They stood in place, staring at the Vampire Lord in silence. Ra’s black eyes darted between the two, “If anyone starts a fight here, I will personally skin you alive and pour acid over your barren body.” The energy escaping from Ra caused Lady Aswang to back up and retreat from the fight. She knew better than to pick a fight with Ra. Yara stood defiant a while longer. He puffed the corner of his lip out and grunted at Ra.
Ra’s black eyes lingered on Yara a while longer. The small bell from the doorway across the room pulled his attention from the little red man. Ra’s butler was standing in the doorway again, his eyes averting from the gathering of the truly monstrous. He turned back to his guests, “Dinner is ready.”
The doors burst open and the butler fell to the floor, scraping his face along the carpet. A naked man sprinted from the room, crashing into a large vase sitting on the side of the grand hall. The vase smashed down and shattered instantly. The man looked up to the group of vampires standing before him. Fear overtook his face, and his body instantly took up flight. He ran to the nearest set of doors, not knowing in which direction he was going.
Yara slicked back his wiry, silver hair. His scalp tattooed in aboriginal symbols. “I got this.” His thick grumbling voice shook from his mouth.
Lady Aswang pushed him aside and shrieked a sirens wail. Her waist instantly split in two, the top of her body ripped apart from the bottom. Skin ripped and teared apart, blood gushed from the wound, and Lady Aswang shot black wings from her back and raced towards the running man. Her entrails were dangling behind her as she sprung upon him, sinking her teeth into his neck with vicious accuracy. Her slurps and the gargle of the man could be heard throughout the hall.
Ra turned to the rest of his guests, “We are ready for the rest of you to dine.” He held his hand out towards the doorway where his butler was brushing off his face and uniform.
Lilith’s wings stretched out and her talons balled. She rubbed her ribs and slowly pulled her hands down her midriff. She licked her lips as she watched Lady Aswang devour the naked man. “I’m quite hungry myself. Watching her is a treat I have not seen in my lifetime.”
Grigori seemed to float forward, nothing on his body moved as he hovered closer to Ra. “I have some concerns about the plan of yours.” His icy voice cut down to the very bones of the others in the hall. “You need our help because you have lost control of your empire. Your cousin has been killed and even now, you still meddle with the mortals that have caused you so much damage.” He edged even closer to Ra. “I have too, made this mistake a hundred years ago, and now I am in hiding.” His unblinking eyes cutting through Ra’s own, “I am to assume that you need Lilith and her strigoi, and her moroi, am I right?” Grigori’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side, “Lady Aswang’s magic will be of great use against the mortals, as well as Yara’s hunting skills. And for me, you would have me use my great army of ghouls to overwhelm your enemies, but what I can’t see is what is in it for us.” Grigori paused and looked around the group. “You want us to come out of our safe havens, our seclusion, and step into the mortal’s world, where you have had no luck in coming out on top. Even I am safe in my hidden castle. Vampire hunters come and go, killing some of my ghouls here and there, but I am always left alive.” Grigori slithered past Ra and started heading towards the dining room before he turned around, “But you’re in luck, Ra, because I am bored and tired of sitting in my castle. What is the point of living if you don’t live your life? You don’t need to convince me to join your plan. I am with you, old friend. Why don’t we eat?” Grigori entered the dining room.
Lilith smiled, “I am with you too, Ra. It’s been far too long since I had the sensation of the hunt flowing through me.” She tilted her head back and let out a bird like squawk, rapidly moving her tongue back and forth.
Ra turned his head to Yara-mah-yha-who.
The red man pulled another cigar out of his coat, “As long as I get to bash me some skulls, I’m with you.” He lit the cigar and headed over to the dining room.
Lady Aswang looked up from her meal, blood soaking her face. She nodded to Ra, “I’m with you!” She then bit back down on her feast.
Ra turned to his daughters, taking Hathor by the hip again, “Let us feast on this glorious night.” He smiled again, his dagger-like teeth escaping their prison. “It is our time to rule the world again.”
He led his daughters into the dining room, following his guests. A large U-shaped table was the main focus of the room. The dark wood meshed perfectly with the crimson carpets and heavy, black curtains that blotted out all light that tried to penetrate them. The table was set with the finest silverware from the hundreds of years Ra had spent collecting them. In the center of each set was a large ivory bowl. Above the bowl, in the open center of the table, were several humans, bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Some thrashed about, while others sat still, whimpering from time to time. One place was empty, its occupant on the floor of the main hall.
Ra took his seat at the head of the table, his daughter Hathor sat next to him while Bastet stood behind him, her hand still held fast to her sword. Lilith and Grigori sat to his left, while Yara took a seat to his right, while one seat remained empty.
“The task I need help with involves a girl who has complicated my plans immensely.” Ra pulled a black napkin from the table and flapped it outwards before tucking it into his shirt collar.
“And who would this human girl be, hmm.” Lilith wiped the corner of her mouth with the napkin. Her eyes kept darting from the bound human in front of her to Ra, and back again.
“The same girl that killed my cousin. She took an axe straight down on his head, splitting him like a cheap log.”
Yara scoffed and took a drag from his cigar, “Horus was offed by a human, and a girl nonetheless. What a pussy.” He blew the rest of the smoke in his lungs at the human tied up in front of him.
Grigori spoke up before Ra could retort to Yara’s insult, “I would have to say I thought Horus would go down with more flair than an axe to the head. He was always the most ambitious of us all.” Grigori followed suit with Ra, placing his napkin in his shirt collar.
Ra’s eyes lingered with hatred on the small red vampire, but Yara would come in handy if he needed some fodder to take the bullet for him. Ra turned to Grigori, “She has come to my attention as of late. I thought she was just a friend of a traitor in my midst, but it turns out she is much more than that. If she is allowed to roam free any longer, it could threaten to end us all.”
Lilith bent forward and licked the side of her human’s face, her eyes were wide with excitement, and her breaths were short. “If she was able to kill Horus with an axe, she must be something special. A psychic, or perhaps a mutant? Those lowlifes are known for all types of powers.”
Ra shook his head, “No, just a human that must be dealt with.”
Grigori offered his hand in the ring, “And how do you suppose we go about taking care of her? She is dangerous indeed.”
Ra snapped his fingers and Bastet walked over to the corner of the room, grabbing another tied up human. The human had a black bag over its head, obscuring its vision from anything in the room. Ra noticed the saliva dripping from Lilith’s mouth, and he clapped in the air.
A series of butlers came into the dining room with long, silver knives. They positioned themselves behind the bound humans in the middle of the table.
“The best way to catch an animal is with a trap.” Ra glanced at Bastet and she pulled the hood from her prisoner. “And the best trap is laid with the best bait. The girl’s sister will be irresistible to her.” Ra laughed and the butlers then slit the throats of the humans in front of them. Thick blood coursed into the ivory bowls. Yara held his hand up to the butler. Instead he stretched his mouth out and started to swallow the human whole, devouring the whole meal in seconds.
Jaime looked with horror on the scene that enfolded in front of her. Fear bit deep in her mind. She quivered with pain but was unable to move. She wasn’t sure how her sister was involved with these beasts, but she wished Sam was here now. Sam was the only one who could save her now.