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They had been in the air for about twenty minutes since making their escape from the small town that Alyssa had once called home. The buildings were all on fire, and the undead was pouring into through the holes in the walls that the tanks had punched in with their artillery. Hundreds of people were dying or already dead, and there was nothing that Gabriel or Cornelius could do but flee the town. The attack was already in full force when they made their exit, but not before Alyssa got caught in one of the blasts and knocked unconscious. Gabriel had recovered her and flew out of there as quickly as he could, with his brother not far behind him. Yet something was wrong, and it forced Gabriel to make a landing on the roof of a deserted building without warning. He was still inspecting Alyssa’s lifeless body when Cornelius landed no more than ten feet away from him. He noticed the concerned look on Gabriel’s face and as he walked over.
“What’s going on?” Cornelius called out to his brother, “Why did you stop?”
“She’s not breathing!” Gabriel screamed back at him. “I was monitoring her in the air, and she just stopped. We need to revive here before it’s too late!”
“Well, you’re the doctor,” Cornelius reminded him, “Take care of it!”
“You know she’s beyond regular medical care,” Gabriel said, “If I don’t do something drastic, she’s not going to make it!”
Cornelius knew exactly what his brother was suggesting and immediately stepped in and pulled his brother away from the patient.
“Are you sure about this?” Cornelius asked, “I understand these are extreme circumstances, but we cannot do this without her consent.”
“I’m sure about it,” Gabriel replied, his voice unshaken, “In order for her to survive I need to turn her.”
“No, you don’t.” Cornelius said, pushing his brother back.
“We have no choice!” Gabriel called out, “She’s probably hemorrhaging internally and is going to die and turn into the undead if we don’t step in!”
“That’s not the part I’m disputing,” his brother countered, “The part I disagree with is who is going to do the actual act.”
“Wait, what?” Gabriel said, “I’m doing this!”
“No, you’re not.” Cornelius corrected him, “And as the older brother, and the Dark Prince, this is my call to make not yours.”
“Are you serious?” Gabriel said, stunned to hear his brother pulling rank. “You can’t do this!”
“I can, and I am.” Cornelius said, “This isn’t me, Gabriel. I’m following orders.”
“What?” Gabriel said again, even more confused. “Whose orders?”
“This is Father’s command,” Cornelius said, looking dead serious.
“What the hell does father have to do with this?” Gabriel asked.
“He foretold this day would come before he went to sleep,” Cornelius explained, “He predicted this would happen, right down to the smallest detail, and then ordered me to step in when it did. He made me promise that when the day came that Alyssa would need our help, then I would be the one to do it… not you.”
“Father actually said that?” Gabriel asked. “How did he know all this?”
“I’m not sure,” Cornelius said, “But he asked me to do it for a reason, he just didn’t tell me what that reason was. I trust his judgement, and so should you. If anyone is going to turn her tonight, it will be me.”
Gabriel paused for a moment to quickly think it through and concluded that his brother wasn’t lying and would never make something like this up. If their father woke up and learned that he lied about something like that, Cornelius would spent at least a century hanging on a stake for his actions. There was no way he’d risk facing father’s anger and so he believed what his brother said to be true.
“Alright,” Gabriel said, stepping back. “Just do it now before it’s too late.”
Cornelius turned to face Alyssa and quickly went to work, as he made preparations for the ritual with the materials he already had on hand. It was another hint that his brother was aware of what was coming. Gabriel stood back and watched as the Dark Prince went over the incantation as he slowly started to cast the spell that would make the turn that was mentioned before. Alyssa’s body began to twitch and spasm, even shaking sometimes as he went deeper into the ritual. When it was all done, Alyssa let out a loud scream which was the first sound she had made in almost twenty minutes. Gabriel ran over to check on her.
“Did it work?” Gabriel asked.
“It did,” Cornelius said, feeling rather proud of himself. “She’s alive, and that was our primary goal, was it not?”
“It was,” Gabriel said, starting to feel unsure of himself. “I’m hoping she will not hate us for what were just forced to do.”
“She was dying, brother.” Cornelius said, “And if she disapproves of what I’ve done here tonight, that is where the blame will lie. With the man who conducted the ritual. This shall be my burden to carry.”
“She might not understand,” Gabriel insisted.
“She will have to learn to adapt,” Cornelius said, as he started to walk away from Alyssa and allow Gabriel to resume his care for her. “Her only other option was to perish, which I don’t think she would like either. When she gets to hug her little sister again later on, she might learn why we did this and consider forgiveness.”
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“That might be a while,” Gabriel warned him, “Are you sure this is a burden that you’re ready to carry?”
“I wasn’t given a choice,” Cornelius reminded her, “I was ordered to do this, and you were ordered to comply.”
“Let’s get her out of here,” Gabriel said, picking her back up, “The last thing I want her to do is wake up in the middle of nowhere feeling like this. Let’s get her back to my place in Nashville.”
“Good call,” Cornelius agreed, “Let’s put more distance between us and that village that is no doubt nearly destroyed by now.”
Both vampires took back to the air and started flying towards Gabriel’s apartment in downtown Nashville. It took less than an hour for them to complete the flight as they were able to move faster knowing Alyssa’s condition had improved. Once back in the apartment, Gabriel took Alyssa right to the same bedroom he let her rest in that first day he saved her from the zombies. He put her to bed and tucked her in, aware that she might be asleep for a while. As he strolled back into the living room, he could see that Cornelius had raided the fridge and was drinking a bag of blood that was stored inside it.
“Sorry, but I was thirsty.” Cornelius said, taking a moment to pause. “How is she doing?”
“You know full well how she’s doing!” Gabriel said, still a little angered by what had happened on their way there.
“I already told you; I was following orders.” Cornelius repeated.
“That’s the least of my worries,” Gabriel said as he walked over to the large windows in the living room and looked out at the deserted city. “We now have to explain what we’ve done to the council.”
“I don’t have to explain a damn thing to those bastards,” Cornelius said, defiantly drinking more blood from the bag, “And neither do you.”
“What we just did was illegal!” Gabriel reminded him.
“I disagree, dear brother,” Cornelius said, “For the person who sanctioned this turning doesn’t have to answer to the council, unless they wanted to get skewered.”
“You’re sticking to your story?” Gabriel asked. “This turning was sanctioned by our father thousands of years ago?”
“That’s because it was,” Cornelius confirmed, “Every single thing that old bastard told me about her had come true. The closer we came to this moment, the more I believed what he said and what I had to do. He specifically wanted me to do this, and he had his reasons. We have to believe his motives were true, but I can’t guarantee it.”
“Just seems so odd,” Gabriel said, “Why would he ask you to step in?”
“If I had to guess,” Cornelius said, tossing the bag into the sink to be cleaned out and reused later. “I would say he was thinking about the rules of courtship. If you had done the ritual, your possible union would be outlawed.”
“There is no union,” Gabriel said.
“Not yet,” Cornelius said, “Father has been spot-on so far, so perhaps we should trust that he appears to knows something we don’t.
“Fair enough,” Gabriel said, as he just wasn’t in the mood to argue. “I’m still amazed he was able to tell you this so long ago. How is that possible?”
“You have to remember how old he is,” Cornelius said, “The older a vampire is, the closer to the original I mean, the more powerful that vampire is. I don’t even know how old father is, and that’s what scares me. He’s probably got powers that we can’t even imagine and has been keeping to himself.”
“What about you?” Gabriel asked, “Do you have powers that you keep to yourself?”
“Yes, I do,” Cornelius confirmed, “Quite a few actually.”
“Why would you hide that from everyone?” Gabriel asked, “Even your family!”
“It’s actually something father taught me,” Cornelius answered, “He said sometimes it’s best that our allies, and especially our enemies are not aware of what we’re fully capable of. He was convinced that by not revealing everything could one day save us all from extinction.”
“That’s rather deep, even for him.” Gabriel confessed, and then he noticed that Cornelius was leaving the room. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to New Lycan,” Cornelius answered, “I need to warn them about the attack that just occurred. They should at least be aware of how close these Californians are to their territory.”
“That’s a good point,” Gabriel said, as he wasn’t that concerned with politics and other cities at the moment.
“Take care of Alyssa,” Cornelius ordered, “I should return before she wakes up. If she does wakes before I get back, feel free to explain what happened and make sure she’s fully aware that it was me who did it.”
“If you insist,” Gabriel said, as he watched his brother leave the apartment.
After his brother had flown off towards New Lycan, Gabriel decided to pass the time by cleaning up the apartment while he waited for Alyssa to awaken. He was tempted to try to sleep himself but decided against it as he wanted to be there to support Alyssa when she woke up. Several hours later, his patience would pay off as there was a noise that caught his attention. He could hear sounds coming from Alyssa’s room and he raced over there to check on her. Once he arrived there, Alyssa was sitting up in bed, and trying to actually stand up. When she attempted to stand, her knees buckled, and she sat back down on the bed. She looked up and noticed that Gabriel as at the door looking at her.
“Gabriel,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Where are we?”
“Nashville,” Gabriel said, aware that she might still be disorientated so it was best to fill in all the blanks. “I brought you here after the attack.”
“The attack,” Alyssa said, suddenly sounding concerned. “What attack?”
“After what happened,” Gabriel said as he stepped closer, “Slight memory loss is not uncommon. It will return in time, I promise.”
Alyssa held her head as it was suddenly aching. “What the hell happened? Where is my sister?”
“Diane is fine,” Gabriel said, “She was evacuated by the witches and her guardians. Trust me when I say she’s the safest person on this planet. No one is going to lay a finger on her with that many cats around her.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Alyssa said, “Where is she?”
“I’m not sure,” Gabriel honestly replied, “But if I was a betting man, I would put everything I have on New Salem.”
“What!” Alyssa called out, not impressed with that answer. “We need to find her and bring her home!”
“That’s not possible,” Gabriel said, “You no longer have a home. Your home was destroyed by the troops from California. It’s all gone.”
“I can’t believe it,” Alyssa said, stunned by the revelation.
“We can find her later when you’re feeling better,” Gabriel said as he walked closer to help her lay back down. “Right now, you need to rest. Get your strength back and then we’ll make a plan to get her back. Fair?”
“Alright,” Alyssa finally conceded, “I’ll relent for now.”
“I care about Diane too,” Gabriel reminded her, “We’ll make sure she’s safe, but I can assure you the witches will do her no harm. Remember Diane’s got a heavenly aura. There’s no way New Salem doesn’t roll out the red carpet and treat her like a queen as well all the guardians in the city. Every gargoyle will follow here because she’s the most powerful, and that means even the guards on the wall will obey her first. Let me say it again: if she’s in New Salem, she’s the safest person on the planet right now.”
“Alright, alright,” Alyssa said, conceding the point. “What time is it?”
“I’d say around noon, you were asleep for a while.” Gabriel said.
Alyssa looked around the room, “They why is it so dark in here?”
“It’s for our protection,” Gabriel answered.
“What did you say?” Alyssa asked, as she this time got off the bed and stood up. She tried to walk over to one of the large, draped windows, but Gabriel met her halfway and stopped her.
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” he said to her.
“Why not?” she asked him.
“Because while it won’t kill us, it the sunlight will still hurt.” Gabriel explained, “Just imagine the worst migraine you ever had and then triple it. We’re both quite sensitive to light.”
“Well, I’m not.” Alyssa defiantly fired back.
“I’m afraid you are,” Gabriel corrected her.
“Excuse me?” Alyssa said, confused.
“You’re one of us now,” Gabriel said, taking a deep breath. “So pretty please, with sugar on top, don’t touch the drapes unless you want to give us both the mother of all headaches.”
“What do you mean?” Alyssa asked, almost in total denial. “I’m not one of you!”
“I’m afraid as of last night you are,” Gabriel said, holding onto her arm to prevent her from falling from the news. “You’re a vampire.”