Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (56 page)

“There will be those that see you as a threat to our ways and those that will follow you because of your strength and differences. We have foreseen in our visions that you could become very powerful if you chose.”

This stunned Alec.
 
He didn’t want power, or enemies or followers.
 
Up until a couple of months ago all he wanted was to go to college.

“You’ve had visions of me?
 
How is that possible?”

The Elder Nabu chuckled quietly.
 
Alec thought they had stupid names but realized the names were probably ancient and meant something in a different language.

“The older a vampire gets, the stronger they get.
 
Some manifest abilities such as seeing the future, manipulating things with their minds, that sort of thing,” Silas told Alec.
 
“Siring other vampires also adds to those gifts and strengthens others.”

“Doctor Schubert explained a little of that to me when he was testing me for abilities,” Alec said.

“Among other gifts, we have the ability to see glimpses of the future,” the Elder Ea told him.
 
Keeping them separated in his mind was getting a little easier even without seeing their faces.

“We have seen glimpses of yours.
 
For your allies, your strength shall be their strength; for your enemies, you bring only death and destruction.
 
You will be a force to be reckoned with.”
 
Alec wasn’t sure but he thought the Elder had looked at Laramie when he said that.
 

Alec didn’t know if that was good or bad.
 
He certainly was developing enemies at a fast rate.

“You will be challenged because others perceive you as different and therefore weak.
 
Others will challenge you thinking your defeat will be their glory.
 
Perhaps if they know you are Unfettered and aren’t subject to the same rules that they are, it will give them pause.”

“Yeah, if someone thinks about challenging you and they know you have the right to kill them if you want, maybe they will think twice,” Marcus said laughing.

“Or they will think you created me to be your own personal weapon,” Alec said wanting to get it all out in the open.
 
“I heard others talking when we were leaving.
 
They think you engineered me to be some sort of…daylight killer.”

“There will be those that believe strange things simply because they do not understand what is going on.”

“Did you?
 
Did you somehow have me created so that I could be used as a weapon?” Alec was afraid of pushing these creatures too far but he had to know.

Anu said coldly, “We had no hand in your creation.
 
You are a brave one, Alec Carson.”

“Silvanus has accepted this decision and has agreed to continue to help you if you wish.
 
You are free to come and go as you please and can even move back to your apartment if that is what you want.
 
But be aware, there is still someone making attempts on your life.
 
You may defend yourself as you see fit as long as you do not reveal us to the human world.”

“You are more than welcome to stay here Alec.
 
Either way I will help you with anything you need,” Silas said smiling warmly.
 
Alec nodded.

“The information you found in Chicago is disturbing,” Ea said getting everyone back on task.
 
“This Devil character is becoming quite the nuisance.”

Alec nodded his head.
 
The Devil had tried to kill him several times.
 
It was more than a nuisance in Alec’s humble opinion.
 

“I’ve had my people scouring old tomes, known cults and the internet and we’ve not turned up a single lead,” Silas said frustrated.

“I might be able to help with that,” Steven said.
 
“I set up a bot with a set of specific search criteria to crawl the net looking for information.
 
I’ve had several hits but haven’t had a chance to look at the information with everything going on.”

Silas stared at him blankly for a moment.
 
“I have no clue what you just said.”

Steven sighed.
 
“I’ve created a program with specific search phrases and words that will search all over the Internet and bring me back the results.
 
It’s a little longer than a regular search but it’s more specific.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Silas asked with a frown.

“I did.”

“As for Steven,” Anu said, his cowl facing the young man, “we have placed you under Alec’s guidance for now.”

Steven swallowed hard.
 
“What does that mean?
 
For now
?”

“Your computer skills may be of great use to us,” Nabu said.
 
As you know, we are not creatures of this era and the Internet is something of a mystery to some of us.”
 

Alec was learning to tell these three ancient figures apart.
 
They looked and sounded the same but each of their robes was a little different.
 
It wasn’t anything obvious but it was enough to tell them apart.

“Silas, I’ve been thinking,” Alec said quickly.
 
“Why not hire Steven to upgrade and maintain your computer system and networks?
 
Nothing personal but you could use it.
 
Steven helped streamline the pre-council meeting we had yesterday.”
 
Alec shrugged his shoulders.
 
“He could probably make all kinds of changes that would help speed up the network you already have in place.”

Silas looked thoughtful.
 
“Not a bad idea but I think we should ask Steven what
he
wants to do.
 
If possible, he might want to go home and back to his life.
 
I will think about it but we will have to discuss it later.”
 

Steven looked a little more relieved now that he might get to live
and
have a future.
 

“Vincent,” Anu said, looking at the slumped vampire.
 
“Dorn, bring a chair for Vincent and remove the cuffs.”

Dorn did as told, setting the chair in the middle of the assembled gathering, but he and his men stood ready just in case.

Vincent rubbed his wrists but sat up straighter in his chair.
 
Alec wasn’t sure but he thought that VonBell seemed to recover quickly after the silver was removed.

“We have questions for you, Vincent,” Nabu said, walking closer to the seated vampire.
 
The Elder walked within several feet of him and stopped.

“His mind is shielded from me,” Nabu told those gathered around, and then lowered his head till his chin was almost on his chest.
 
Alec thought he might have fallen asleep but knew better than to say anything.
 
A moment later Nabu shook his head.

“I can’t break through.”
 
The elder vampire sounded surprised, and maybe a little scared?

VonBell looked straight ahead and finally spoke.
 
“There is little that I can answer.”
 
He almost sounded like he was hypnotized.
 
Alec didn’t know if it was one of the Elders doing this or something else.

“What
can
you tell us?” Silas said into the silence.
 

“I can tell you nothing.
 
I am merely a servant.”

Everyone in the room looked around at one another.

Silas thought for a moment.
 
“Who is the Devil?”

VonBell sat still, staring at the wall as if he hadn’t heard the question.
 
“The council is weak and divided and blind to what’s going on.
 
You will all fall in time.”

Silas looked at the Elders but they said nothing, they only looked at VonBell through the dark gauzy curtains that obscured their faces.

Several more questions were asked but it was like VonBell was dazed.
 
He just sat there staring.

“Well this is no good,” Silas said sighing and sitting back in his chair.
 
The three Elders had their coweled heads pointed towards one another but weren’t speaking.
 
Alec had the feeling that they were telepathically communicating with one another.
 
He closed his eyes a moment and just listened.
 
At the edge of his awareness he could hear…something.
 
It was like a buzzing in the back of his head but there were three distinct sounds.
 
It was going back and forth quicker than anyone could talk.
 
Alec jumped suddenly as he felt a hand shake his shoulder.

“You okay?” Marcus asked looking concerned.

Alec nodded.
 
“Yeah, just thinking.”
 
Alec looked at Anu and could have sworn that the Elder vampire had shaken his head ever so slightly.
 
Maybe it was just his imagination.
 
There was so much stuff going on Alec couldn’t digest it all.

Most of the council and their seconds were quietly discussing what VonBell’s silence could mean.
 
Nothing that the Elders or any of the other vampires did, could elicit a response from the vampire.
 
Reginald’s second was thinking quietly to himself, as was Steven.
 
Alec turned to look at VonBell and jumped slightly.
 
The man was staring straight at him with a manic look in his eyes.
 

“Uh, guys,” Alec said breaking into all the conversations.
 
When they looked at him he pointed to VonBell.

“My Master came to me in my cell last night and he gave me one final message,” VonBell said into the now quiet room.
 
It was eerie the way the vampire was staring at Alec.
 
It sent a shiver down his spine.

“My time here is done.
 
His power is unfathomable and you will all fall before Him.”
 
VonBell smiled an evil smile and then, to Alec’s horror and amazement, the man’s face began to sink in on itself.
 

Alec watched as VonBell’s face collapsed and fell inward like it was being sucked inside his skull.
 
The same thing was happening to his body.
 
The worst part of it was the smile remained on VonBell’s lips and his eyes stared at Alec until there was no longer a face to support them.
 
Alec felt like he wanted to throw up.
 
Soon there was nothing of VonBell left except a pile of goo dripping off the chair and into the floor.
 
Even his clothes had disintegrated.
 

Dorn and his guards stood watching helplessly with their guns drawn, unsure what to do.
 
Everyone else either stood or sat looking on in horror, except for the three Elders.
 
Alec wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with them since he couldn’t see their faces.
 
Alec had never seen anything like it.

“What the hell just happened?” Steven asked frantically into the ensuing silence.

“That is what happens to us when we die,” Silas said quietly.
 
“We disintegrate so that there is no dead body to raise suspicions or questions and nothing left for someone to identify.”
 

“So he just
died
?” Steven asked incredulously.
 
“How?
 
Do you guys just spontaneously liquefy when you’re done being interrogated?”

Silas shook his head.
 
“No we don’t.
 
Someone very powerful is out there and doing all this.”
 
He looked upset, all the vampires in the room looked upset.
 
“This shouldn’t be possible.”

Alec looked at the chair VonBell had just been sitting in.
 
The goo had dried up and had become flakey, like mud that had been baked in the sun on a sidewalk.
 
With a good vacuuming you’d never know that a vampire had died in that chair.
 
It was a macabre idea but Alec was almost certain someone, somewhere had used a vacuum to clean up vampire residue.
 

The vampires in the room were silent and looked disturbed.
 
Steven was sweating and running his hands through his hair.
 
Once Dorn had established that there was no immediate threat, he started giving orders, the first of which was to review the video data of VonBell’s cell and see who had gone to talk with him the previous evening and given him his orders.

The double doors to Silas’s sitting room opened and Doctor Schubert walked in.
 
He held several papers in his hands.
 
He stopped when he saw the looks on everyone’s faces.
 
They quickly filled him in on what had happened and he looked stunned at the implications.
 

“I assume you came to bring us news on the wine that Xavier brought you?” Silas asked trying to focus on something he
could
understand and possibly do something about.

“Ah yes,” Schubert said coming back to the reason he had come to see Silas.
 
“The blood was tainted with silver.
 
Lots of silver,” Schubert said significantly.
 

“How?” Silas asked incredulously.
 
“Most of us didn’t smell a thing.
 
Alec was the one that caught it and warned us.”
 
Silas realized just how much stronger Alec’s senses were and snapped his mouth shut before he gave too much away.

“Then you all owe Alec your lives,” Schubert said looking around the room.
 
He nodded politely to the three Elders.
 
“There was enough silver in each glass to have killed the whole council and their seconds before they even suspected something was amiss.”
 
He gave that a moment to sink in.
 
“The silver is some sort of concentrate I’ve never seen before.
 
It was encased in microcapsules of military grade plastic that was made to explode its contents out forcefully once it started to dissolve.
 
The plastic had no smell or taste and should have completely blocked the smell of the silver from permeating it.
 
But once ingested, it would have mixed with the blood already in your bodies and the plastic capsules would have burst and spread quickly through your whole system.
 
Even if I had been right there when you drank it, the process is so quick that I couldn’t have stopped it.”
 
Well, that ruled out what had just happened to VonBell.