Resurrected (22 page)

“Wake up!” Eme yelled, her
voice resonating throughout Mylana’s bedroom. Mylana’s eyes flew
open to meet with Eme’s. Between sobs Mylana tried to tell Eme what
she had just dreamt.

“My God,
he killed her.” Mylana began. She might not have seen Adam in her
nightmare but she
knew
this was his doing. “My Deirdra is gone!”

Eme sat on the bed. Looking
to the floor momentarily she then let her gaze meet with Mylana’s
red rimmed eyes. Eme took Mylana’s hands into her own.

“How do you know this?
Maybe this is some sort of trickery.” Eme said, her voice
monotone.

“No,
I
felt
it! I saw
her and I
know
I
have lost her.” Mylana’s words trailed off. Eme lowered her head in
sorrow for she knew what Mylana said was more than likely true. She
knew how strong Deirdra and Mylana’s connection had been. Even in
Deirdra’s fledgling years, one so young would never have a
telepathic link with their sire such as they did, even after
hundred years. Their connection was uncommon and
extraordinary.

“They didn’t come back at
dawn, did they?” Mylana asked letting her tired and weary eyes meet
with Eme’s. Solemnly Eme shook her head, no.

“I fear they may not be
with us anymore. For if Adam was able to do such a thing to
Deirdra, then what strength do we have against him?” Mylana added,
her spirit clearly broken.

“He is so much more
powerful than any of us.”

“There is always a way,
Mylana. Do not fool yourself into despair and lead yourself down a
dangerous road. If you don’t hold onto something strong within,
then yes–you too will be joining your child in true death. Mourn
her, but do not dwell on it. We have to keep our wits. For the
world Adam wants to create will be a dark and miserable one for us
all, mortal and immortal alike.

“I like the way things are
for us and I want to keep it that way. It is well-balanced and has
been for my four thousand years of preternatural life. Balance is
crucial. We should not abuse our strength and abilities. They are
gifts, no matter how we look at it. Dark or not, it is what it is
and we have been given this life for one reason or another. We do
not know why we are chosen for this life. Just as mortals do not
know why they exist. We cannot let Adam tip the scale.” Eme said,
her words firm, strong and commanding.

Mylana nodded in agreement.
She knew what Eme spoke of was true but feared her broken heart
would be a dangerous factor when confronting Adam. The two women
looked to each other for strength. Mylana let her sorrow build and
allowed it to morph into anger. She was now emphatic to use that
anger to drive her.

After quickly dressing in a
burgundy low cut v-neck shirt and black slacks, Mylana met Eme in
the foyer. Slipping on her fur-lined hunter green leather coat,
Mylana turned and looked at Eme. Her curly light brown hair fell
beautifully down her back and some astray over her shoulder. She
was dressed elegantly in a pin striped navy pantsuit with a black
pea jacket. Eme had been waiting patiently for Mylana.

“What do you think we are
going to find there?” Mylana asked.

“I cannot even guess,” Eme
said plainly. She turned, grabbed a canvas bag and hung it over her
shoulder. Opening the door, a gust of cold winter air greeted them.
Mylana followed close behind as Eme made her way to her silver
Lexus. The car sat outside the garage which was attached to the
rear west side of Chantonnay. The car was uncomfortably cold.
Having to wait for the heater to warm the vehicle, the frigid
temperature quickly became annoying to Mylana.

Sitting in the passenger
seat, Mylana watched the buildings speed past the window. She never
asked if Eme knew where Adam was. Mylana knew Eme would find them
by the connection she had with Elijah and he would inform her of
his whereabouts.

Mylana let her thoughts of
revenge fuel her rather than linger on mourning her child. She knew
that if she focused on anything else other than the task at hand
she would crack. Unfortunately, loss was not a new experience for
Mylana. This was the second child that death had taken from her.
Mylana also had to live through the mourning of the love of her
life and sire, Nikolas. The unlucky odds of having to experience
bereavement so many times in her life were too painful to
measure.

Mylana knew all too well
that Deirdra should have never been the one to die. She was always
the stronger one in spite of Deirdra’s fleeting moment of believing
she wanted true death as a fledgling. She had come to acknowledge
her love of life. Mylana knew she did love it. She had seen her
gazing at the moon and stars. She had seen her bewitched by the
beauty of the aurora borealis. Deirdra was Mylana’s hidden strength
who gave her the ability to sustain her immortal life. She was
dumfounded. Mylana couldn’t wrap her brain around the slightest
conception under God of why Adam, who wanted her so desperately,
disposed of her just as fleetingly.

“Don’t do this to yourself
now, Mylana.” Eme said out of the blue, her voice soft and tender.
“You have to get yourself together. We are almost
there.”

She turned and looked at
this ancient that exuded a calm exterior. Mylana was unaware that
her thoughts had even invaded Eme’s mind until then. She gave her
an apologetic look and nodded.

“We are
all afflicted with the same desire. We need love, no matter the
cost. We all know the price of it and yet we still crave it, reach
for it and sometimes achieve it. And at the end of it all, we are
left only with the scars and pain and a fleeting memory of the joy
from the love we felt. With loves lost and enemies gained, that is
what shapes us really. It is just another element in our existence
that makes us the fiends we are as we
harbour
acts
unjustly done to us.” Eme said. Her voice was soft and conveyed a
knowledge Mylana could not even fathom. Mylana felt like a child in
Eme’s presence, her immortality seeming like only a fleeting moment
in comparison to hers.

As the car came to a stop,
Eme turned and reached for Mylana’s hand and placed it within her
cool grasp. “You will find a way to cope, we always do,” she said
lovingly but quickly released her caring touch. Almost coldly, she
turned and climbed out of the car. Only when Eme made her way up
the walkway did Mylana exit the car to join her.

Coming to a sudden halt,
Mylana was not expecting Eme to be standing at the back door. With
her head lowered, Eme telepathically talked with Elijah. They
conversed silently and Mylana waited patiently for her to enter the
house.

Eme raised her head and
turned to face Mylana, her face expressing sympathy. “Maybe you
should wait in the car until one of us comes for you.” Mylana
looked at her, her face twisted in anger.

“No! There is no way I am
just going to wait. No…” She couldn’t believe she had to stand up
for herself like this. And she didn’t understand what could
possibly devastate her any more than knowing that Deirdra was
already dead.

After a short interval, Eme
nodded in agreement, “Fine,” and opened the door. A warm wave of
air floated over them and Eme walked into the festering room that
was once a kitchen. Mylana followed behind Eme who made her way for
the nearby hall. She caught the scent of decay, as Eme must have
also. The scent of the former tenants tainted the air. The smell
made Mylana’s stomach churn despite the fact that the scent was
past the pungency of any mortal senses. Turning the corner,
following close behind Eme, Mylana now focused on blocking the
putrid smell and on what lay ahead.

Now standing before Adam’s
door, the scent of sandalwood wafted from the room and a warm light
seeped out from the crack of the open door. Reaching out, Eme
pushed on the door and Mylana braced herself, but nothing happened.
Eme walked over the threshold and into the bedroom. A small gasp
escaped her lips and her body became rigid. Mylana took one step,
and then stopped. Took another, then stopped again. Fear of the
unknown was her greatest enemy now.

Once in the room, Eme
stepped to the side allowing Mylana to stand beside her. Mylana
quickly spotted Malachi standing near Elijah. She then let her eyes
fall upon Adam. As she glared at him, her eyes spotted a dark heap
on the floor. Turning her attention to the mess, Mylana knew in an
instant what it was. She was looking at what Deirdra had warned her
about through the dream–Deirdra’s dead body. Blood tears welled up
in her eyes, but she would not allow them to fall. She would not
let Adam see her weep.

Finally
tearing her eyes away from Deirdra’s body, she glared at Elijah and
Malachi. “Why is
he
still alive?” Mylana seethed with anger and her words were low
and raspy.

“He should be dead!” Mylana
added, then addressed Adam himself. “Why couldn’t you have stayed
dead?”

Adam stayed silent only
giving Mylana a smug expression and a cocky grin. Mylana screamed
as she ran at him. Her rage and angst had intensified to an
unbearable level and needed to be released. Faintly Mylana
registered Elijah yelling out, “No!” but she still leapt into the
air to strike Adam down. Turning her body in the air, she kicked
her right foot straight out aiming it directly for his sickeningly
perfect face. Without warning the jolt of what felt like being
shocked by high voltage sent Mylana flying backwards, only to land
hard on the floor. Lying there whimpering in pain, she felt a
trickle of blood fall from her nose. Her body ached and vibrated.
She was stunned, not really knowing what had happened. All she knew
was her kick did not even connect with Adam. A new fear of him
filled her as she looked up at him from the floor. Elijah looked
between Mylana and Adam. With caution he walked over to her, his
gaze not leaving Adam’s until he was at her side.

Having already experienced
Adam’s magical abilities, Elijah couldn’t help but still be shocked
and amazed by his strength with it. He had heard of magick and had
seen some small stuff executed–enough to know that it was real and
legitimate–but nothing like what Adam was capable of. He had even
been in the company of an actual witch once. But nothing compared
to what Adam was pulling off and had pulled off by transferring his
soul into this new body of his. Elijah had a new fear, a healthy
fear of the seemingly true nature of Adam’s immortality. Elijah
knew that the other vampires and himself were all immortal, but
only to a certain degree. They could still experience true death.
However Adam had survived two attempted murders and still, there he
stood, cocky as ever, loving his power over them.

“Why do you have to do
this? Are those wandering vampires out there worth all this
aggravation, all this fuss?” Elijah asked, looking up at him. Still
by Mylana’s side, who had now sat up, was cradled in Elijah’s arms.
His sorrow for her was just as unbearable as the pain he
felt.

“It is not only that. You,
my child, and your siblings took me down when I was at the height
of my reign in Egypt and now I want my rightful position back. It
is time to give these useless mortals a god that they can see and
truly fear and praise.

“Really, I should be rid of
you and Eme but I have a plan for you two. As for Deirdra, she is
to be your greatest lesson! What I say will happen and I will get
what I want no matter what the consequence.” Adam said, his
arrogance over-flowing.

“You are no god!” Eme
bellowed. “You never have been and never will be. You are a simple,
self-proclaimed, god. A devil really, in the guise of a beautiful
man, that is what you are. You asked a demonic deity for your
immortality and what you are is a fool–his fool! And all of us are
trapped within your absurdity and will always be until the end of
our days.” Eme said stepping towards Adam but still kept a distance
of five feet. Having seen Mylana fly backwards after having
connecting hard with an invisible force, Eme went through her
encyclopedic memory of those days within the jungle. Eme came to
the conclusion that it had to have been a protection spell that he
had cast.

“We are not afraid that if
you die, we all die with you.” Eme continued. “The world would be
better off without us. Our existence is unnatural. We never should
have been at all.” Eme spoke her own thoughts, not really speaking
for the others. Although she felt that at this time of grieving,
they all would have felt the same about their existence, even if it
were only fleeting. As she spoke, her mind raced to find something
to break the spell.

“We want our vengeance.”
Eme spoke again, and as she said this, she knew what spell to use.
As the words left her lips, she looked down at the floor. Her
presence turned dark and the air in the room became heavy. In a low
voice she began to chant.

“Alalia, High Priestess of
the North I summon you. Bring into me the power to shatter Khalid’s
protective shield. Oxolavion, High Priest of the South, bring unto
me the power to shatter Khalid’s protective shield.” Eme began,
using Adam’s given name, speaking in a low growl of a voice.
Reaching deep within the canvas bag that hung on her shoulder, she
pulled out a clear glass bottle filled with the ashes of a cremated
corpse. Holding onto the bottle, using the same hand, she used her
thumb to push the cork out. Without delay she scattered the
contents towards Adam. This revealed the once invisible circular
shield that surrounded him and protected him from any harm. The
other vampires turned and watched Eme as she recited then dusted
Adam’s protective shield with the ashes in awed silence. Adam’s
expression changed little but a slight twitch of fear caught Eme’s
eye and she continued with her spell taking another step closer to
him.