Page 5 of Dark Reckoning
I sighed heavily. I could, but I really didn't want to. However, I thought it was important that we did so we knew what we were about to go up against. “Show us,” I said, speaking for both me and Sage. I turned to him. “Right, baby?”
Sage nodded. “Might as well know what we unleashed.”
Ugh, when he put it like that, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Of course, we had no way of knowing that by helping Salino break the link with his vampire emperor, Lord Barron, we would also be breaking the contract. Especially since we'd successfully reinstated the bond between vampires. This was a fucked-up situation. Now knowing what I knew about the past, I could understand some of their hostility toward Sage and me. Still, if they hadn't been so arrogant and frankly, mean when we first met, we would have been more open to them. I think it was safe to say that mistakes were made all around.
“Or...” Kakashi paused.
“Or?” I asked, waiting to see what he was going to offer.
“Or would you prefer to see what is happening now and then use your imagination of what the future holds if we are unsuccessful?” Kakashi asked, giving us a choice.
“Show us what's happening now,” I said, and then I remembered that Sage should have a choice too. I turned to him. “Is that okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, let's see what's happening now.”
Kakashi nodded once. “Very well.”
Sage and I rose to our feet and Kakashi and the other mages began to chant again. This time, Sage and I were prepared and the vision that materialized had us standing in a dark alley. There was some creature that looked to be feeding off the blood of a human woman. The creature's skin was pale and sweaty looking. Its hair was nearly gone and only a few strands still clung to a scabby skull. The creature held the female victim with hands that resembled claws, which reminded me of Nosferatu, really creepy. When it was done feeding, it turned toward us and I took a step back. God, it was hideous! Red eyes and a bloodied mouth full of razor-sharp fangs. It then climbed up the wall to the rooftop and disappeared. A few minutes later, the corpse of the woman twitched once, twice, then multiple times. Finally, it stopped convulsing and she climbed to her feet with a shaky balance. Her eyes were red. She reached up, touching her teeth that weren't as sharp as the creatures were, but they were no longer human-looking teeth either. She then climbed up the wall as well, following the same direction the other creature took.
Fuck, this... this was a major problem. I didn't need to see a vision of the future to know what was going to happen to humanity if we didn't stop the Dark God. “Sage, did you see that?” I asked.
“Yeah, I saw it,” he said, and his tone was deadly serious.
The vision of the dark alley began to shimmer until it dissipated. Again, we were back with the other mages. I took a deep breath and looked at Kakashi. “The Dark God El-Kazier is creating these things?” I asked.
Kakashi nodded. “When he feeds on the blood of a human, or even a supernal, that is what they turn into. Those made from supernals are much stronger than those made from humans, but yes. And when they feed, they make more, so you see why time is truly of the essence as their hunger seems insatiable.”
“Is this just happening here?” I asked.
Kakashi shook his head. “All over the world. The Dark God is not bound to one location and can teleport wherever he wants.”
“Jesus!” I gasped.
Sage pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Do we know how to stop him, preferably without killing ourselves in the process?” he asked, then lowered his hand and looked at Kakashi.
“The spell that dealt with the Dark God and Goddess is known to us. However, we would like to use it as a last resort. But as you've said, if we can find a way to take down El-Kazier and survive, that is what we would like to do. Your help is not only needed, but it is necessary. You are linked to El-Kazier through the magic you used and the blood flowing through your veins. That automatically gives us some advantage. And the very fact that between the two of you, there are spells that are unknown to us that may be known to you. And in our own grimoires, there will be spells that include the entire Council as it is now. And once our magic is linked, you will become even more powerful. The ritual is life-binding.”
Sage frowned. “Wait, hold the fuck up. Does that mean if one of you dies, we die too?”
That was actually going to be my question, but Sage beat me to it. I looked at Kakashi, waiting for him to answer.
“No, Sage. We are not bound that way. How it works is that we can tap into each other's magic. We can also combine our magic when we need to take on a huge task. For instance, twenty-seven years ago, a vampire killed a human on live TV. Fed on their blood and ripped their heart out.”
I scoffed because I'd never heard of anything like that happening. I decided to voice that thought. “I have never heard of anything like that going down. I mean, that would be on the internet today, even on some conspiracy theory blog if people thought it was a hoax back then.”
“Me either, and unlike my lover here, I was actually alive at that time,” Sage said.
Okay, so he got me there. But I did have the internet and surely, something like that would have been known.
Xirsi nodded. “Exactly, you know nothing about that incident because of us. We had to wipe the world's mind and destroy the vampire who committed the crime by breaking the rules. He tried to cause chaos by exposing the world of supernals to humans. Can you imagine what would have happened next?”
“I can imagine,” I said. And if we didn't stop the Dark God in time, I wouldn't have to imagine anymore.
“It is also why the incident that happened seventeen hundred years ago is also unknown to all except those who are chosen to become a member of the Echelon Imperial. That is why griezels don't even know their own history. It was necessary then to work a spell to erase what had happened by the new Council that had been formed. Even though the Dark Goddess had been sent back to her realm, the damage she caused was still prevalent all over the world. Same thing happened when the next Echelon Imperial formed after sending the Dark God back to his realm in the vision you saw. Humans would have known about supernals to this day had the Echelon Imperial Council of seventeen hundred years ago not acted,” Kakashi said.
“Just how many of these events have you erased from all of our minds?” Sage asked.
“Supernals have been quite reckless in the past and even now. We are kept busy,” Kakashi stated.
