Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

Chapter 218: Open to Interpretation

Skell in a rage is a terrible thing to see. One part of me knows the reason why. One part of me has the same rage bubbling inside but the devastation that comes with Skell’s anger is monumental. When he retreated to the darkness...well I guess it was really the dark plain or ‘a’ dark plain, he vented that anger in a safe environment. We all bore the scars of being in the less than humanly care of Orel Wessel but Skell had taken the burnt of it. He had stood on his own for five years. He had to. We were barred from him. We couldn’t contact him. We couldn’t comfort him. We couldn’t do anything but watch as the OW scientists did unspeakable things to him. I understood what helpless truly meant. There is no single word that comes close to encapsulating it. Maybe horror, but even that isn’t horrible enough. I felt that feeling again every time he retreated alone to the dark -- our little brother.

Once, when he was topside enjoying his time with Lanseng, Sex and Azrael and I took a trip to the dark. Sex and I lit the place up with Hand of Light arrows and the wonderful word explode. Where once it was flat and unending, it now looked like a detonated minefield. It made me want to cry.

Sex walked into a crater that almost swallowed him whole. He touched the surface then quickly snatched his hand back. “Endellion.” Skell was bonding with that black sword.

The brotherhood was still out on the influence of that weapon of mass destruction. The fact that Skell would turn to it instead of us was cutting. He wasn’t a man of many words but...it was my fault. I thought it was best to give him space when he was finally able to join us. Sex had wanted to bring him close and hold him closer to imprint our presence on him and make him realize that he wasn’t alone in all this. I vetoed that. I thought I knew better. Sex could be overwhelming at times, well hell, most of the time but I thought it would have been too much of a good thing. It seems there is a reason why Sex is the original. He had been right and the one paying for it was Skell. My arrogance knew no boundaries.

I searched for my brothers when I swapped out with Sex. Azrael was still out of it. He was so quiet I actually had to go and check to see if he was still breathing. Claudia and passed on the information from Ping that yes, Azrael should be flat out on his back for a couple of days. It was natural. The age of change is hard for puppies, more so for Lord Emperors. I didn’t get my usual smart aleky self and demand instances of Lord Emperors get changed to Lycan Alphas. I just took the advice. Claudia just kissed my cheek and ruffled my hair. “Tell Azrael that he did good. Those are Arashi’s words. He did damned good.”

Just another sign of how I fucked things up with Skell. I was there playing mediator between Sex and Azrael when we all ended up together in the dark. I just left him to his own devices. It was no wonder he turned to the black sword. It had been the only thing there for him. Not anymore.

I willed myself to Skell’s dark plain. Wind blasted me off my feet. I hit the ground and ended up rolling scrabbling at the uneven terrain with my hands to keep from getting battering around. The whole of the dark was lit as a cry of unfettered rage ripped through air. The flare was bright white blue as a hand of light spear exploded high in the air. I had a moment of sight before I was blinded. Skell hung in the air his metal wings sparking with power. His long white hair was supercharged with static and he looked like an dandelion puff ball ready to spread it’s seeds. It was his face that would burn into my mind. Again I had misjudged him. I thought he wasn’t an emotional creature. Sex was off the chart. I was a weepy Nellie at the best of times. Azrael played it close to the vest but...oh mg god. Skell. Rage and Despair.

Another spear left his hand. This time it hit the ground and I was rattled around with the aftershock. I ended up bouncing off the flat surface into a crater lip then slid right down to the base. This was worse than I thought it would be. It was like watching Zeus throwing thunderbolts. One after another. He pulled out the Hand of Light as if it were nothing.

“Skell!” I called on my red feathers and flapped/crawl/scrambled back up the crater. I really need to get a standing lift off cause I was really hating the albatross takeoff I currently had to use if there wasn’t anything tall to climb or swing off of. I got airbourne as another spear shook the ground.

“SKELL!”

He had another spear already fashioned and flung it in the direction he heard a voice. I barely had time to fashion a shield made of Hand of Light when the spear hit me. My shield shattered. My arms went numb and I began to spiral backwards back toward the ground. He hit me with the full force of the Hand of Light. I was going to have to apologize to Hades. This fucking hurt. If I survived. I was disoriented as electrical shocks ran through my body. I couldn’t get my wings to respond. Oooofff. Skell hit me hard as he grabbed me in his arms. First I was electrocuted now run over by a train. My wings glittered out of existence.

The darkness erupted into the red light of the setting sun. The tang of salt hit my nose. Skell gathered me close then angled his silver wings and landed on the beach. He lowered me gently to the sand. I wasn’t hurt, just really, really disorientated. Tears streamed down his face.

“You okay?” He looked down at me as his hand stroked my crimson red hair. I had gotten so used to looking at the white tresses in the mirror that the reversion to my original self tossed me for a loop.

“Yeah...” My voice was more a groan than a sign of assurance. Skell didn’t pull any punches with his Hand of Light.

He stood up and looked out across the water. His jaw tightened and he turned back to head off to the dark plain. “Skell!”

He paused but didn’t turn back around.

“This isn’t how the brotherhood does things. What ever is bothering you, let us help you.” I was weak but not seeing double now. “I know you’re hurting. All of us are.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

It still hurt a bit to see him in fatigues. They were blue now instead of Orel Wessel grey but even after thirteen years he still wore them. He said clothes were clothes but all of us knew that Wessel had shaped him. Out in the physical world, he wore whatever he was given but here on our slice of unending plain, he reverted back to his true self, as well all did. I wasn’t going to lose my little brother a second time even if it was because of something of my own making.

I curbed my tongue. “You won’t know unless you try, Skell. I told everyone to let you be. We...can be overwhelming. I wanted to give you time to get used to all of us. I didn’t mean to isolate you. To make you feel that you couldn’t come to us, to any of us.”

“And tell you what, Xavier? That this is all my fault.”

What?

“I knew. I knew and I did nothing about it. I left that poor boy in Wessel hands for years.”

“Skell?”

“I knew.”

“Those doctors all took samples from us.”

“No.” Skell raised his hands to his head then crouched down in the sand. His voice was low almost impossible to hear. “I knew there were more children.”

“Skell?”

“I asked Lanseng. I asked Lanseng how many children we would have. He told me five. Five. There are two children lost in Orel Wessel’s hands. I asked him five years ago when Claudia began to look at babies.”

“Claudia looked at babies?”

Skell turned and looked over at me. Tears streamed down his face. “I love and respect you, Xavier for all that you have done for the entire family but you’re not a quick pick up on subtly.”

He raised a hand to his forehead. His palm was shaking. “I thought they were future births. The three we have now and two more. I didn’t even consider...”

I climbed to my feet and lurched over to my younger brother. He was in crisis. I caught him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“I left our children in the hands of our enemies.”

“This isn’t your burden to bear alone.”

“But I knew...I knew and I didn’t share with you.”

“If you told me five years ago, I would have thought it was future babies too. We are not to blame and right now, we are jumping the gun. We don’t know if that boy is ours or not.”

“I knew the moment I broke into the nursery and looked at Lex that he was mine. I didn’t even know I was married or had children but I knew, right here.” Skell brought his fist up and hit himself square in the chest. “This doesn’t lie. That boy, Six, is ours. Orel Wessel raped us, Xavier. They raped all of us. Who ever they used to carry our seed was more than likely a poor lost Coven girl. You might not remember, but females had limited uses with Wessel. The mother of that boy is probably dead.”

“We’ll find him...them. Family belongs at home.”

“Yes they do. I kept a secret from you.”

“We don’t have to share everything. We might be a mix of bloods but the gift of foresight is not part of us...is it?”

“The only advance warning I get is that Lanseng wants to get smoochy is when he sways up the staircase.”

“We work with what we got, Skell. You okay right now?”

He took a deeper breath and let it exhale slowly. He was fighting the anger and getting back to that calmer place. “I’m getting there.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m not.” My arms were still weak from taking the brunt of Skell’s thunderbolt. My legs gave out and I just crumbled on my ass into the soft sand. Skell knelt before me and caught my elbows. Healing Light glowed from his hands and seeped into my arms.

“I’m sorry, Xavier.”

The weakness began to fade away but it was slow. Skell had so much power. I felt the drain when I had to Heal. It wasn’t much but I knew there was a cost of using it. The same went with the Hand of Light. I honestly don’t think I could produce a Hand of Light spear of the same strength and intensity. I could count myself lucky to have only been blasted out of the sky.

“Skell...I don’t know if it because these are second hand memories or if I need to see the actual person but...” The Healing Light faded.

“Tell me. I don’t go off on a rampage again.”

“Something about that boy, that boy named Six, doesn’t seem right. No...he didn’t feel. I don’t know how to really explain it. It’s like...it’s like he didn’t feel whole. Like something vital was missing.”

“Something vital?”

“I can’t pinpoint it. I’ve looked at Renfury’s memories of the boy and something strikes me as wrong. It could be because Renfury was under a magician’s spell. I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling.”

“That’s why you’re here then, to check your gut.”

“Well I wanted to check on you and Ripley slapped some sense into me. Serephina knew the shock value of using the boy. If Ripley hadn’t been there, I might have lost the Imperials or I might have killed us all this morning. We need to be careful, Skell. All of us. Magic was never a talent that we had. There is no telling what Orel Wessel has created in that child or how the sorceress is using him or them.”

“You think he’s ours.”

I lifted my hand and pressed it over my heart. “I know it here but I also know he’s bait. We can’t endanger the rest of the family just to get to him. I’m not a planner. Actually, none of us are the greatest strategist.”

“We need to get Hades involved.”

“Yeah, and Liam is a package deal. Which should be okay because they quit fighting this time.”

“He’s dying, you know that.”

“William is...I’ve looked at them and their soul, or essence is intertwined. I might be able to pull or push souls around but I think they are welded together. I can just watch as William’s ribbon dims.”

“I do not envy you that bit of talent Xavier.”

“You should have it as well, Skell.”

“It is better to develop a different skill set that you and the others don’t have. For what I do best, tracking and interrogation, its better that I don’t see souls so I can do what I have to do.”

“Skell.”

“You are the head, Xavier. Sex is the heart. Azrael is the body. I am the will. I know I am not alone. It’s just not my nature to reach out to you, but I know that when I need to, the brotherhood will be there for me. Allow me to mourn, Xavier until it is time to move.”

“Haley...”

“I have shed my tears for that little Lycan. I have said my good-byes. Lanseng said that there were five children. We have three. That boy is named Six. There must be another. Is he named Seven? What happened to the other four or five?”

The horror of that statement hit me hard.
“War is won in the will. Destroy the will and the battle is over. I was born out of war, Xavier. A War that they started. Orel Wessel and Serephina have made me bleed but they have not destroyed me...they will not destroy us.” He climbed back to his feet. “Von Drachenfeld is an old and ancient line. You don’t get a family lineage that old without it being powerful and resolute. Lean on me when you need to. I make a promise not to turn from the brotherhood when I am weak. Together, we will make them pay for all their sins and transgressions. Not just those against our House, nor our Blue Blood but against the Blood of the Vampire Nation and that Blood of our Empire. They call us Blood Emperor for a reason, big brother.”

He held out a hand to me and then pulled me back to my feet. Then he began to quote:

“In the end of days,
He will come upon fiery wings,
A creature no Blood can call its own.
Through a storm of fire and silver he will walk
Rendering asunder all we have known
Or can remember.
Remaking the world in his own image.
Harbinger of destruction.
Destroyer of darkness.
He will walk in blood and light,
Hasmallim , the Illuminated
Let all the Blood tremble before him.
Revere him, love him, fear him
Hasmallim the Assassin;
Lord of the new Blood Nation.”

The sun set off in the distance. “One Vampire cannot be all that, brother. It would be impossible. But then, we are not one Vampire, are we?”

“The end of days...”

“It leaves much to interpretation, but it doesn’t say OUR end of days.” The tears that had been streaming down his face were still there but the source had dried up.

“No, it doesn’t.”

I pulled out my wings - red and soft and very malleable. The sound they made was of rain gently falling from the sky. I wrapped them around my younger brother. His wings were metal, razor sharp and he sounded like a tank battalion moving into formation. He let loose a sigh and leaned back against me accepting the silent comfort I offered. The slight breeze of the beach rustled my wings and kept the sound of rain in the air. I closed my eyes and savoured this feeling of calm before the storm.

And there was going to be a storm. The likes of which Orel Wessel and my dear little Sarah Monahan never would expect. They struck at our will and our heart. They were going to find out just how steely our resolve was and that our heart could be as big as all get out but it also was a storehouse of relentlessness. They hoped to knock us off balance, to make us rush headlong into danger. I owed Ripley big time. Whatever was Serephina’s intent, she had awoken the Harbinger of Destruction.

Booyah.


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