Krowe

Krowe

Chapter warning(s): Slight humor, Language

 

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Chapter 20: Soluth

 

 

“When the Sun falls,

The Moon rises

And when the Moon falls,

The Sun rises.

Even though they are always apart

And never together,

They are always in sync,

Sun and Moon.”

 

[Excerpt from The Book of Sun And Moon]

 

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 “You two stay here with the…pet and the kid,” Krowe said quickly after an abrupt halt. He quickly turned to Annej and shoved the sleeping girl into the other man’s arms without further explanation and started striding off through the brush.

Varka snatched Krowe by the arm and spun him around like an angry husband would his stubborn wife. He stared down at the Reborn with a look that could cook the doctor alive and spoke in a clipped tone, “Where are you going?”

The dark-haired man could barely jerk his arm out of Varka’s strong hold and for a moment realized that the Original bore more power that he rarely showed. He was almost tempted to push some buttons in Varka just to see how strong he could be.  Plus, on a more perverted note, if he pushed the right buttons then he could probably score some really rough, but hot sex from the taller man. Unfortunately, that was something that he had to put on the back burner for now. He had more important things to do with his time, so he replied casually, “I’m going into the city and I need you all to stay here where it’s safe for now…honey bunch.”

Annej watched them with increasing curiosity, but opted to stay out of it for now. He was the kind of person that didn’t find it hard to voice his feelings, but at the same time, he knew when to listen and when to speak.

The silver-haired vampire gritted his teeth for a moment, reeled in his frustration and then calmly inquired, “What city? And why do we need to stay behind?”

“Soluth. You’re staying behind because we can’t just waltz into that city with Annej, Lila, and a Makabre. If anything nasty comes your way, I know you can and will protect them,” Krowe explained as if it was something that Varka should know already.

The Original’s lush, deep red eyes widened and he instantly objected, “Soluth? Are you insane? We can’t bring them into Soluth. That would not only be stupid, but it would be madness.”

“That’s exactly why I need to go in first. I need to make sure it’s safe and then when I come back, we’ll smuggle them back in.”

Varka crossed his arms and raised one of his eyebrows in disbelief as he asked, “You expect us to wait out here until the One God only knows when you decide to saunter back?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I expect. I will be back in a few hours time,” the silver-eyed man said with a little wink.

Snorting at that, the Original warned, “What makes you think we’ll be here when you get back? I could just take Annej and leave. Then you’ll come back to nothing.”

“That’s true. You could do that, but you could have run off with Annej back in Mosa. Like I’ve said before, there have been plenty of opportunities. You didn’t take any of them and I don’t think you will in the future,” Krowe said with a little laid-back shrug of his own.

The taller man stared coolly at the shorter man for a long time without blinking. He stood straight and rigid at his full height in a way someone might do if challenged or provoked. A subtle clench of his jaw suggested he was tempted to say many things; they were most likely rude and offensive things that he had swarming around in his mind. It was clear enough that he had some issues with the shorter man, but was hesitant to voice them in almost the same way that he was hesitant to tell Annej everything he knew about him.

Krowe smirked and opened his mouth to say something, but Varka beat him to the punch by drawling, “Just because I haven’t taken any opportunity as of late does not mean that I won’t take one in the future. I have no obligations or loyalties to you, Krowe. You would do well to remember that.”

“Duly noted, O’ brazen one,” Krowe replied with a bow of his own and then as an afterthought, he said, “Sometimes you surprise me, Varka.”

The Original arched one of his slender eyebrows and asked, “Why is that?”

“I’ve never met anyone as submissive and as dominant as you. You’re your own paradox, Varka,” solemnly answered the dark-haired man before he glanced at everyone and bid, “Ciao for now. I’ll be back in a few hours time.”

Before anyone could utter a noise or even blink an eye, the Reborn was gone.

 

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Annej laid Lila down on a patch of moss that was growing near and on a tree.

Silently, he gathered his thoughts before he turned to Varka and asked calmly, “What kind of city is Soluth?”

The silver-haired Original seemed hesitant to answer that question, but after a withered stare from Annej, he caved in. “Soluth is a city of my kind, of Krowe’s, and of Generics. It’s one of the only cities that allows all three classes to intermingle freely. But it is also a city with a lot of crime. Many people go missing and die in that city. In spite of its appalling reputation, Soluth is one of the most important cities of Kruschia. There’s a lot of commerce here…even though this city is crawling with crime and disease. ”

“Kruschia?” Annej asked as if he had never heard that name before in his short life.

Varka raised an eyebrow at that and said, “You cannot be serious. Kruschia is the name of this country, Annej.”

“I have never heard that name before. Where I came from, we called this country Iuxta.”

As they talked, the Makabre hopped up in a sturdy, shady tree and curled up on the strongest branch. He closed his eyes as if to sleep, yet his lengthy tail swayed every so often to indicate that he was very relaxed.

“I suppose Original’s and humans have their own names for things,” Varka finally offered as his way of being neutral without being offensive.

Annej nodded slowly as he pondered all the new information. After a matter of minutes, he leaned against a different tree and asked, “So…I’m guessing that Soluth doesn’t take two kindly to humans, eh?”

The larger man nodded grimly as his expression conveyed just how bad humans were treated in Soluth.

Ten minutes or so passed in uneasy silence. Without the distraction of Krowe and the others, Annej had more than enough time to think long and hard about everything.

After awhile, the human’s stormy gaze drifted back to Varka, who was staring off in the direction Krowe had gone. He looked as if he had thoughts of his own that troubled him.

“Varka? Well…eh…I’m curious about something,” Annej spoke tentatively, but not from fear. He wasn’t even sure how to broach the subject. Even though he was functioning pretty well in spite of his years of captivity, Annej still was clueless about himself, people, and the world.

The Original did not turn his head to look at Annej, but he did look at the human from out of the corner of his eyes.

“You. Me. What are we to each other? At first I thought we were friends, but it feels like more than that. It always felt more and different. I like Krowe, I think he’s nice, but when it comes to you…it’s different. I can’t explain it,” Annej started, paused, and then added, “What do you think?”

Varka looked away and muttered, “I do not know…”

A young, female voice suddenly chirped, “Aw, the gay guys are talking about feelings! I think you two should get rid of that other guy and then run off together!”

Annej immediately looked at Lila like she was an escaped convict.

Varka remained turned away from them as if he wasn’t aware of their presence. He made no move to look at her or even utter a word even though he was still keenly listening.

Lila was sitting up and rubbing at her bleary eyes. She felt incredibly sore, but she couldn’t fathom why. She felt that she had slept too long, but she wasn’t aware that she’d been unconscious for about a week’s time.

“We’re not together and we’re not getting rid of Krowe, if that’s who you meant,” the human male clarified for her. He had gestured his hand to Varka and himself to indicate who the ‘we’ included.  

The brown-haired girl wrinkled her nose and stared at the silent vampire. She shrugged indifferently and then yawned, “Well, for someone who’s not with him, you sound like a couple by all that ‘we’ talk.”

“Forget it. It doesn’t even matter,” the white-haired man sighed and rubbed at his temples. He could feel a terrible headache forming and knew it was only going to get worse. Not to mention that he felt like he had too much blood flowing in his tense body. He was missing Krowe more and more by the passing minute.

The human girl stretched her limbs and yawned again as she took more notice of her surroundings. Her throat felt severely parched so she then demanded loudly, “I’m thirsty!”

Annej rolled his eyes and gestured to a nearby stream, “Drink from there.”

Lila yawned again and shakily stood up. She wobbled a bit as she walked, but she made it there regardless. She then knelt down on the ground and scooped some water into her hands. She brought the water to her mouth and drank it all. The girl drank several more handfuls of water to quench her thirst.

“Better?” Questioned a very weary looking Annej who looked like he was tempted to curl up against something and pass out.

“Yep!” Lila exclaimed and seemed much more awake and optimistic. Her violet eyes darted to Varka, which prompted her to whisper loudly, “What’s his problem?”

Annej shrugged casually and whispered back, “Wish I knew.”

 

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Close to three hours later, the vampiric doctor returned with a woman following at a languid, yet rapacious pace behind him.

The woman was short, petite, and wore dark clothes that looked torn, stained, and baggy. Her total height came up to 4’11”. She had deathly pale skin along with a pair of unfriendly looking golden eyes. The woman’s hair was cropped short save for the long bangs that reached past her chin. Her bangs were green, obviously bleached to obtain such a vivid color whereas the rest of her hair was naturally black. She had a small noise and thin, scowling lips. In spite of her size, her looks and aura implied that she could mess someone up given the chance.

It was obvious that the woman was some sort of vampire, possibly a Reborn.

“Did you guys miss me? I know you did. You all look so bored and downtrodden,” said the impish doctor with a little smile that would undoubtedly become much larger.

While the silent Varka ignored Krowe and scrutinized her like she was rotting meat, Annej then thought to ask, “Who’s that?”

“The name’s Morbus. I’m standing right here, dumb ass,” the woman grumbled in irritation. She glanced at Varka and mirrored his repulsed expression.

Krowe’s smile only widened even more as he watched their edgy interaction.

“Morbus? Like that filthy city that’s worse than Soluth?” Varka finally spoke; his velvet voice smooth and silky like someone whose intentions were to mislead by enticing and then using the sudden kill tactic to throw an opponent off guard. Of course, that maneuver didn’t work well on anyone with a strong will and attitude.

“Yeah, I was named after that city. You got a problem with that, fancy pants?” Morbus retorted with a slight jerk of her chin and narrowed eyes. Her arms were crossed, but her small body was relaxed in spite of how annoyed she was by the gathering of men.

“No, I do not,” Varka brushed her off in favor of turning towards Krowe and speaking impatiently, “Are we going into Soluth today or not? The sooner we go, the better.  It’s best to go in before dark.”

“I’d have to agree with this prick here, Krowe. I’d say its best we get a move on. We’ve barely got time as it is to sit around here yapping all day,” the short woman agreed and jerked her chin in the direction they had come from.

Krowe nodded in agreement and then stood so that he faced everyone. “We’ve got to get going now. As these two suggested, it’s best to get in before dark. Morbus here has agreed to smuggle Annej and Lila…and the Makabre infant in provided we do as she says when she says. Now this is how it’s going to go down…”

 

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Morbus studied Annej for a long time without speaking. Her face expressed nothing save for the look of deep concentration as if he puzzled her.

The white-haired man could feel her stare burning a hole through his back. After a few minutes, he could bear it no longer which caused him to then snap rudely, “What the hell are you staring at?”

“You, duh. You’re strange for a human, you know that?”Answered Morbus in a calm tone and she didn’t seem the least bit bothered  by his attitude in the least.

“I didn’t have a normal life, so yeah,” the human spat back at her in annoyance. She was getting to him even though he tried to not let it bother him. His headache only worsened and his skin felt too tight for his body. He was getting angrier and angrier by the second.

It was fairly obvious that Morbus was testing Annej for something specific.

“Yeah, yeah, Krowe told me. You were taken and kept a prisoner in that slaughter house for what, twenty years?” The short woman said as she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Twelve years,” Annej bluntly corrected, but then he looked unsure as he mumbled, “At least I think it was twelve. All I know is it’s been over ten years and less than twenty.”

“Twelve years, twenty years, whatever. Anyway, that’s not what I meant by you being different. I’m talking about your aura. Your scent. Everything. You’re not normal. I can’t place why and it’s bothering me like an itch. But whatever,” explained the short-haired woman as if it didn’t really matter one way or another.

An unknown emotion flickered on Varka’s visage for only a fraction of a moment and then it was gone in the blink of an eye.

Krowe had witnessed that emotion in time, but he wasn’t entirely sure what it was or what it had even meant. What he was certain of was that the Original was clearly hiding something and wasn’t too eager to share what he knew with anyone.

“Hell if I know. I’ve been wondering the same thing my entire life. Get in line, lady,” grumbled Annej with a sour look on his tan face.

No one spoke again for about fifteen minutes or so. They walked faster once the sun had begun to sink down in its timeless display of reoccurring dusk.

Soon enough they came to the city, which was surrounded by a hundred foot high solid stone wall. It was so smooth and even that it didn’t look like it would be easy to climb, tools or not. From the scale of the wall, it looked like the city’s population was at least 500,000 to maybe even a million.

Annej looked up at the impressive wall and marveled at its magnificence. He couldn’t help inquiring skeptically, “How are we getting in?”

“Let me worry about that. Just keep quiet and follow me,” Morbus whispered as she gestured quickly for them to follow her. She kept close to the wall and walked swiftly, yet quietly. She kept one hand on the wall as if searching for something. Once she found what she was looking for, the short vampire abruptly stopped and kept her hand flat against the wall. She waited until something that looked like a keypad appeared as if it had been invisible. Once it was fully visible, she quickly punched in a seven digit code and pressed enter.

A dark gap in the wall slid open to reveal a seven foot tall, five feet wide doorway.

“Get in, quick!” Morbus grunted and waved for them to use the doorway. She glanced around suspiciously as if she were paranoid that they would get caught.

“I’m going in first,” declared the Reborn man before he walked through the doorway into the oncoming darkness.

The white-haired human quickly followed and wasn’t the last bit deterred by the uncertainty of what lay ahead. For all he knew they were walking into a trap, but he trusted Krowe and trusted that the weird, yet seemingly good man knew what he was doing.

Quiet, weary, and hungry, Lila quickly grabbed onto Annej’s hand and followed in after him. The human girl liked Annej and felt safe with him. To her, Lila felt like Annej was the big brother she never had. She was a smart girl and could tell that they were all vampires. She had heard stories about them and had seen what they could do from her bedroom window. She had seen Generics before in action and it still gave her chilling nightmares from time to time.

The silver-haired vampire silently strode in after Annej and the girl. The Makabre baby gave him some space, but followed close to him as if Varka were the only one he truly trusted.

Sighing in part relief, part exhaustion, the short woman quickly punched in another code and slipped inside right before the door slid shut. The door became one with the stone again and the keypad disappeared from view.

A few minutes later, a couple of patrolling guards came around the corner and walked past the exact place Krowe and company had been standing a mere two or three minutes ago.

 

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Krowe led them down a tunnel that only seemed to get more narrow and narrow with each passing minute. There was no source of lights as they were all bathed in concentrated darkness that seemed to grow thicker and thicker like contagious despair.

The brown-haired girl gripped Annej’s hand with both of her small hands and wouldn’t let go. She was scared, but she wouldn’t admit it. So much change had happened to her already and she didn’t know what to think. Everything was happening all too quickly for her to the point that she shook from the fear and stress of it.

Surprised and touched by the girl’s situation, Annej squeezed her hands in an effort to calm the nervous girl.

Not the least bit bothered by the darkness, Varka strode with his usual smooth Original confidence. He didn’t seem the least bit irritated by the large, calm infant that followed behind him. It would seem that the Makabre wasn’t the least bit perturbed by the blanketed dark, either.

“We’re almost there. Just keep quiet a little longer until I tell you that we’re in the clear,” Morbus whispered from behind them all. She didn’t reassure them because she cared. She did it because she could feel that some of them were edgy and she didn’t need them all getting caught.

Several minutes later, Krowe halted and snickered when Annej had nearly walked right into him. He grabbed Annej and Lila, and then pulled them out of the way of the door. There was enough space in this small, dark room for about six or seven people to stand side by side.

Catching on rather quickly, Varka also stepped out of the way and made sure that the Makabre was not blocking the doorway as well.

Morbus strode past them as she muttered, “Hold onto your skirts. We’re here.”

When the short-haired woman had reached the door, a keypad emerged from the wall. She quickly pressed in several different codes until she got clearance. The door finally slid open. “You all have thirty seconds to get in as of now. Move!”

Not needing to be told twice, Krowe and the others ran into the room as quickly as they could and were shortly followed by the petite female.

Morbus flicked a light switch to reveal that they all stood in what looked like a gigantic garage full of different projects. There were many shelves lined with tools and metal parts of different shapes and sizes. There were also several crates made of wood or metal.

“Oooh! What is that!” Lila exclaimed in awe as she pointed at one of the projects.

Krowe put his hands on his hips and stared at what Lila pointed at. He shook his head and commented, “Man, I haven’t seen one of those things in ages. Literally.”

Annej blinked and stared at it. He walked over and ran his hands across the sleek metal service of the thing. It looked so strange, yet something was incredibly familiar about it. “What is it?”

“It’s called an automobile. A car,” the golden-eyed woman enlightened as she watched them all gawk at it.

Lila climbed onto the hood and patted the green-painted metal in rapt fascination. She looked at the short woman and asked, “What’s a car? This thing is weird.”

Tempted to roll her eyes at their ignorance, Morbus settled for a quiet sigh. “It’s a machine that was used for transportation and other things. Your kind used it many years ago…until that technology was taken from the humans. It was a long time ago.”

The brown-haired girl didn’t look as if she believed the short woman. She crossed her arms and said, “Oh yeah? How do you know anyway?”         

                                                                                                                                        

“Because that car belonged to me when I was human,” Morbus muttered as she stared at it. Mixed emotions passed her features as she stared at it. Sometimes she didn’t like looking at the car because it reminded her of the old days before shit happened. And sometimes she liked looking at it because it reminded her of better days before everything sucked.

Lila blinked in surprise and stared at the vampire woman in wonder. “You were? How long ago was that?”

“Far longer than I care to remember,” grumbled Morbus before she tore her eyes away from the shiny green beauty. It looked as if it were in mint condition since she took good care of it, but it probably couldn’t actually drive.

“A few thousand years, give or take,” Krowe answered as if that weren’t so long ago.

Lila’s eyes widened. “Wow, you’re OLD…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Krowe’s even older than I am,” Morbus muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Varka then cut in to ask, “How old are you exactly, Krowe?”

“Enough about me already! Let’s just say I’m older than all of you and leave it at that,” Krowe spoke as if they had all walked in on him masturbating. Shaking his head and waving his heads, the doctor then said, “I think it’s time everyone got some rest. Don’t you think, Morbus? They all look tired and hungry to me.”

Morbus nodded, “Right. Now follow me, all of you. I’ve got more than enough rooms, but they’re not fancy or anything like that. Still, it’s better than nothing. I don’t got any food here, but there is more than enough clean water to drink and bathe. I can get some food in the morning, so just get some rest for now,” then she glanced at Krowe and said, “Krowe, you know this place pretty well so I trust you’ll show them to their rooms?”

“Yeah, thanks, Morbus. Come with me, children,” Krowe nodded to her then walked to a door that was across the room from the door they had first entered from.

Annej, Varka, Lila, and the Makabre followed with one last glance to the room before they exited the garage. They were all very weary and even Varka was looking forward to sleeping in a bed again even if it was filthy or uncomfortable. He wasn’t going to enjoy it, but he would tolerate it.

They were all too tired to care or even let the fact sink in that they were in the city of Soluth.

A city of thieves, junkies, smugglers, whores, and killers.

 

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