章節 11: Roman Sport
Octavia could feel the tension in the air. Easily, she could snap her brother like a twig if she so desired, but the man at his side, a creature fallen from heaven itself, was nothing to be trifled with.
"You made it..." A voice suddenly interrupted their thoughts. A disembodied and strange thing that echoed not only in the open but inside their heads. The trio of vampires brought their hands to their ears in confusion and shock. Tirdael lifted himself up straighter and looked around the alley for the disturbance. He lifted a hand and a disc of light surrounded by runes formed in his palm. A defensive gesture ready to strike at whatever was hiding.
"What is it?" Arrelius asked.
"Be silent!" Tirdael commanded. Arrelius couldn't stand being ordered about by his subordinates but just as he was about to say as much, he took a closer look at Tirdael's face. His companion was filled with a visible fear that he has never seen on his face before. What could perturb an angel such as this?
"I'm so glad you all came. And, to my utter delight, you brought me an angel to play with." Tirdael suddenly grabbed his chest and with a choke fell to one knee. He started to tremble violently in pain. "Angel, angel, angel, angel, angel...such a fun word. Fun language, fun way to communicate. A name for those who are built in the light."
Tirdael was raised in the air by an invisible force and flung violently down the length of the alley and into a pile of wood. His legs jerked as he tried, in vain, to wrestle free of whatever had a hold of him. Surea was also then lifted and thrown like a doll haphazardly on top of him and pinned down in like fashion. She let out a desperate and angry yell and thrashed along with Tirdael in vain.
"Vampire, vampire, vampire...new word, old creature. You're not nearly as fun." The voice chuckled. A mixture of several different voices, some whispering, some talking, some yelling, some old, some young, male and female. But one distinct and disturbing voice that reigned over them all.
"Is it a demon?" Arrelius yelled over the noise. He glanced over at Octavia who stood motionless, staring seemingly at nothing. Arrelius scoffed at his sister, "Typical woman..."
But, just as he intended to finish his words, he understood what she was staring at. A line, very faint and broken at first began to glow in the air. It became larger and the sound more pronounced. The sound as if someone were pounding on the earth and then a piece of it fell. A piece like glass shattering at their feet.
Octavia instinctively took Arrelius by the collar and dragged him away from the hole, a strange eye, almost bloodshot with a single light in the middle peering down at them.
"You wonder, you're afraid, you're strategizing. I like you already." It cackled. Octavia turned her head without taking her eyes off of the eye staring at her, studying her.
"What...are you?" Octavia managed to say. Her voice shallow and broken.
"What am I?" It repeated and chuckled to itself. "You do not quite have a name for me yet, but I know one will emerge and when it does, well...I think that's when the real fun begins."
Octavia and Arrelius stared at the thing still staring back at them. It shot a glance over to the angel and the other vampire it had pinned down and it chuckled.
"Oh, so disappointed, angel. You were supposed to be powerful."
"What do you want?" Arrelius demanded, still holding onto his sister.
"Ah, yes. Down to business." It mused. "I have studied this realm for what you would say centuries and I have finally found the thing that will help me become whole. Become a thing... and you? Octavia and Arrelius. The Roman siblings whose feud reaches back to the days before they were vampires. Your names are whispered far and wide and said to be the most cunning and the most deadly of your counterparts. Save, of course, for a few...though they are largely useless for my purpose."
"Purpose?"
"Yes." It hissed through the hole. "I have a purpose, YOU have a purpose! I wish to enlist your aid. A thing that I believe will interest you both."
"I doubt it." Octavia scoffed.
"Are you sure? Not even the promise of power untold? Not even in finally ridding this little rock of all your obstacles and foes?" Octavia and Arrelius both stopped breathing.
"Not even in the book?"
"The book?" Arellius managed to whisper, his face lit up with delight.
"You know where it is." Octavia glared at it.
"I do. And, if you help me to retrieve it, I will unlock its secrets to you." The creature snarled. "There will be no knowledge that you cannot possess, no thing too impossible to achieve; all laws, all boundaries, all things will be made known to you..."
"But I thought it was lost to us...Steiger said that an angel took it away," Octavia said.
"That's what he thinks happened." The creature looked over at Tirdael again, still writhing under whatever power held him down. "But he doesn't know. So many truths hidden from that one..."
Octavia stood up straighter and lowered her head, fury and rage in her eyes. Her breathing became rapid and angry, her shoulders shaking and the temperature of her blood boiling. Arrelius took several steps back from her.
"You catch on quickly. That's why I chose you." It said.
"Laini..." Octavia muttered through gritted teeth.
"That lying, scheming..." Arrelius laughed. "And you trusted them? How foolish, how stupid!"
Octavia turned her furious gaze on him and he stumbled back a few more paces. She squared her shoulders to him and, after a pause, spun on her foot to the alley and walked away.
"Release my Surea. We're leaving." She commanded and immediately, Surea clambered to her feet and growled angrily at the thing before running after Octavia.
"As for you?" The thing said. "You are a collector of the rare. One that goes after what's useful and interesting. I'm sure the book is easily worth your investment."
Arrelius watched his sister turn the corner and vanish out of sight and out of hearing. He smiled maniacally and raised his hands in excitement.
"I can awaken my greatest weapon." He said, laughing and bouncing on his toes. "Finally...this world will bow."
"Arrelius! Don't...!" Tirdael tried to protest.
"Do not presume to tell me what to do, angel or I'll banish you back to that rock you were drifting on." Arrelius snarled, Tirdael's legs going limp in frustrated silence. Arrelius placed an inquisitive hand on his chin and stared at the hole, the creature smirking through. He assumed it must be a very large thing and obviously powerful but what to call it. He eventually shook himself back to his situation and the news of the book.
"Why do you want such a relic?" Tirdael asked before Arrelius could. The creature's breathing began to sound raspy.
"That is no concern of yours. All you need to know is that I am capable of conjuring whatever that book shows. I can force it to answer you. A thing I think you will find useful. You had trouble using it before, did you not?"
"Yes?" Arrelius sneered with amusement. The thing only laughed.
"Here's a chance to not only try again but to succeed." It said before the hole fixed itself and the power of it vanished. Tirdael jumped to his feet and found himself stumbling against the wall, wiping away at his chest as if something still had a hold of him. When he settled down, he glanced over at Arrelius.
"I've never seen you so perturbed," Arrelius said. Tirdael glared hard at him, his mouth distorted in clear displeasure.
"This amuses you?" Tirdael spat as he wiped the dust and wood debris from his coat.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, it does."
"Arrelius..." Tirdael stood up straight, still angrily knocking the dust from his clothes and he spoke with authority. Every word said with purpose and clarity, "I am a very powerful angel. I do not say that because I am proud, I say it because it is true. I was among the ranks of those who could destroy a planet with but a gaze, so understand when I say this. Anything that is able to toss me around like a leaf meandering on the wind is not a force I would reckon with."
"The book, Tirdael."
"Fine. Go after the book, but do not hand it over to that thing."
"You really have no idea what it is?" Arrelius asked.
"I do not. And this alone should concern you." He paused, disgust crossing his face. "You have me tied down for your protection. I am merely attempting to do just that."
"Hmm?" Arrelius tilted his head and studied his companion for a moment in quiet contemplation. All Tirdael could do was stand and wait for his answer.
"I want that book." He finally said. "My sister is right, you know. For being so angry. That relic is powerful and capable and to keep such a thing for oneself is unfair and unthinkable. Laini and her Egyptian ways...she says so much yet conceals a great deal more underneath all of that beauty and prose."
"Yes...but..." Tirdael sighed. "Laini is more than capable of killing you in a single blow. If you are serious, this won't be an easy task."
"Oh, I'm terrified of Laini. I know better than to attack her outright, however..." Arrelius spun around and laughed, "I know someone who fears nothing and could put up quite a fight."
Tirdael shook his head in disapproval
"That's right." Arrelius spread his arms as if welcoming something wonderful and beautiful, "I think it's time to give him back to the world!"
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