A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga (28 page)

“Finally, a direction I can follow. I’ll be
there when you need me, Emily. You can count on that.”

Chapter Three

The helicopter settled down on a clearing
near a large mountain, raised high above the jungle and casting an
ominous shadow on the land below. As the blades of the helicopter
came to a slow halt, the passengers unstrapped themselves and
prepared to descend upon the lush jungle landscape.

Emily was the first to touch down. She was
drawn to the nearby temple and eager to visit the halls of her
people, gone from this world, but not forgotten. She was closely
followed by her brother and then Esther.

“I’m not going to need you for awhile,”
Xander said to the mercenary pilot, “Head back to the ship and wait
until I call you.”

“Yeah, I think I can do that.”

“Good,” Xander said, “I’ll be requiring only
one more pickup, but that shouldn’t be for another day or so. I’ll
pay you the same price as before.”

“Double.”

“Getting a little
too
bold now,
friend,” growled Xander as he unstrapped himself from the seat.

“Hey, man, you’re asking me to hold off any
other jobs until you decide you want a pick up. That’ll cost you
double what you paid me for this job.”

“Very well,” Xander accepted, knowing full
well he had no choice but to go along with the pilot’s demands,
“You’ll get your money…
after
you pick me up.”

“Well then, mister, you’ve got yourself a
deal.”

Xander gave the man a pat on the back and
promptly exited the helicopter. He could’ve charmed the pilot and
bent him to his will, but he was a good man, skilled in his trade
and completely dependable. He would have need of a man with the
pilot’s skills in the coming days.

“I can feel it,” said Emily, waiting until
Xander had arrived, “The temple is near, isn’t it?”

The group paused for a moment while the
helicopter fired up again and lifted off into the sky. Steven tried
to chase the pilot down, but it quickly took off and left them
stranded with no way to return to the ship— not unless Xander
willed it.

“Where is he going?” Steven asked.

“Our contract has been fulfilled,” Xander
said with a grunt, “We’ve no more need of his services. Not yet, at
least.”

“Why the hell would want that?” asked Steven,
throwing his hands up into the air, “What if we need to get out of
here?”

“If the vampire queen shows up, she will take
it from us,” Xander replied, “We can’t allow that to happen.”

“Forgive me, sire” Esther interjected, “But
how do you propose we get out of here if the horde
does
arrive.”

Xander smiled politely and started to
backpedal into the thick foliage that encompassed the clearing. “We
tend to one problem at a time, my child.”

The group followed Xander into the jungle,
and did so for almost an hour before he finally stopped and allowed
the others to catch up. They had headed further and further up the
mountain’s slow ascent, only to arrive at a place that resembled
nothing of importance.

“I don’t see anything,” Emily said.

“That’s because it’s not here,” Steven
replied.

“The boy’s quite correct,” Xander answered,
“We could travel this jungle forever and still never come close to
the Temple of Prometheus.”

“What’s your point here?” Steven asked.

“My point is that the temple isn’t anywhere
in the jungle,” Xander said as he approached a patch of thick
overgrowth, “It’s underneath.”

They huddled around the tunnel that descended
into the ground, where the absence of light made the path appear to
go on forever, steeped in darkness and unbridled pain. Something
awful had happened here, and the countless years between then and
now had done little to cleanse these lands.

“It’s one of many that lead to the temple’s
grounds,” Xander continued, “I’ve found many, but this was one of
the only ones that leads straight down.”

“And what of the other tunnels, are they
still intact?” Emily asked.

“The temple has survived for thousands of
years, maybe longer,” Xander said, “I’m surprised I found
any
that were undamaged.”

“Well, what’re you waiting for, sis?” asked
Steven as they stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the
inauspicious passageway.

Emily concentrated on the energy coursing
through her veins and used but a small fraction of that power to
turn her right hand into a glowing ball of white fire. The tunnel
lit up brightly for the summoner that beckoned it so, and they
started their descent into the confined passageway.

“Well, brother,” said Emily as she led the
way down, “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

* * * * *

Far behind the summoner’s group, Samuel and
Fiona were sprinting through another part of the jungle. The ghouls
and vampires were close behind, led by the most unlikely pairing of
vampire and hunter.

“You want to slow down a little?” Samuel
asked as he struggled to keep pace.

“Can’t keep up, can you?” answered Fiona, “I
forgot just how
human
you are.”

“You’re running your men too hard,” Samuel
said, “Keep running them like this and it won’t matter how fast we
get to the temple. They’ll be near death and in no condition to
fight.”

Fiona slowed to a halt and let the vampire
hunter catch up with her before she resumed towards the GPS
destination at a slower pace.

“You’re in a hurry, I get that,” Samuel said,
“What I don’t get, is why you’d be so eager to throw your life
away. Are you so ready to die, vampire?”

“Don’t presume to know anything about me,
hunter.”

“Oh, I don’t,” Samuel said in agreement, “But
I know your kind, and the hunger that drives them to such
unfathomable depths. You’re a predator, and you’ll always return to
your roots… if the hunger grows strong enough.”

“You better watch your tongue… I might just
get the urge to cut it out.”

“There we go. Threaten me, just like your
kind always does,” Samuel chided, “Kill what stands in your way and
burn what you fail to understand.”

Fiona turned sharply and almost struck the
vampire hunter down where he stood. She was hungry, furious and
ready to give in to her vampiric urges. It wasn’t the summoner that
stopped her from engaging in these attacks, however, it was that
she refused to prove the hunter right.

“You’re antagonizing me, why?”

“That wasn’t my intention,” Samuel said, “I
merely wished to know if your
desires
would prevent you from
completing our mission.”

He was lying. His intention was, in fact, to
get her agitated and off her game. Her guard was up, but if he
could coerce Fiona into a full-on frontal assault, her guard would
be dropped and ready for the picking.

“The summoner didn’t tell you, did she?”
Fiona asked with a smirk and lick of her serpent tongue, “Death was
never the way of the summoners, and what is a doomsday device to
some is salvation to others.”

“You’re not going to die,” Samuel said in
astonishment, “I can’t believe it… you’re not going to bloody
die.”

“How’s that for a kick in the pants?” Fiona
asked, “Your eternal enemy… forever out of your reach. I guess you
could keep slaughtering us, but then you’d be no better than the
vampires you sought, killing humans and living off their
suffering.”

“Why does everything have to be so black and
white with you?” Samuel wondered, “If you’re not longer a vamp,
you’re not longer my enemy.”

“Well now, how very
big
of you.”

“I can’t believe it’s really true,” Samuel
said with a shake of his head. “It’s just too crazy. What about
trolls… and well,
trolls
. Don’t tell me they were once
human.”

“We were
all
human once. It’s both the
blessing and the curse that runs through the entire paranormal
realm. I would’ve thought a vampire hunter of your ilk knew all
there was about the creatures he hunted.”

“Never hunted troll,” Samuel admitted as they
stopped briefly in front of a waterfall, “And I don’t care to start
anytime soon.”

“Wise choice.”

“We should stop for a moment and let the men
catch their breath,” Samuel noted.

“I would think a man that fights those
stronger than him for a living would be more open to a
challenge.”

“I’d love nothing more than to be wrong about
you,” Samuel said, “But, like I said, you’re a predator; and once
you’ve tasted the thrills of the hunt, it’s hard to live a life
when you’re the one being hunted.”

“Ah… so you
do
plan on hunting us
after our rebirth.”

“I never said it would be me,” Samuel
replied, “There are plenty of terrible things in this world, and
without your powers, you’ll be at a level playing field for the
first time since your embrace. Think what you want, lady, but
you’re not going to like that… not one bit.”

“We shall see about that,” Fiona said, “Or
perhaps… we won’t. Enough small talk, vampire hunter; it’s time to
get the troops and move out.”

Samuel didn’t like the tone in her voice, the
contempt and resentment she had been known for was now replaced
with a quiet confidence. It was a confidence that seemed to shatter
Samuel’s own and leave an empty feeling in its stead— like he had
included in only a part of the whole plan.

“May whatever god the summoners pray to keep
you from harm’s way, Emily,” Samuel muttered under his own breath,
“You’re on your own now.”

Chapter Four

“I’ve never seen
anything
like it
before,” Steven said with a dumbfounded look, “Your people really
built this, Emily?”

The mismatched group stood in awe at the
precipice of the gigantic cavern that housed the mythical Temple of
Prometheus. The entire limestone palace was still radiant, even
after all these years, and masked in a propitious aura that seemed
to exude through its seamless walls.

The temple was massive, and continued to get
larger the closer they came through the passageway, now turned into
a narrow bridge that spanned a bottomless pit underneath them.

“
Our
people built this, brother,”
replied Emily, “Never forget… she was your mother, too.”

“Emily’s light is strong,” Esther noted, “But
not this strong. I can see the entire temple and the wall of rock
encapsulating it. What’s lighting our path?”

“The temple, itself,” Xander said, “It may be
made with simple limestone, but it’s been infused with the residual
energy of the summoner’s that built it. Ten thousand years from now
and this place will still be burning just as bright.”

“It’s majestic,” Esther said, “I wish that I
knew more about their culture.”

“You and I, both,” added Emily with a hand
placed on Esther’s shoulder, “It’s a legacy that I’m afraid I’ll
never truly understand.”

They approached the limestone pillars that
lined the entrance to the temple and walked through the path
decorated with marble statues of majestic creatures, many long
since extinct from this world, others never before seen by mankind.
They all marveled at its beauty, and the tranquility it provided—
except Xander. He stood alone in silence, eager to pick up the pace
and head towards the temple’s inner sanctum.

Emily wasn’t sure if it was that his previous
trip to the temple had deluded his ability to marvel in its grace,
but he couldn’t have been less impressed with the situation they
found themselves in. He was impossible to decipher, one minute hot
and the next cold. He was one of the smartest men she had ever met,
yet he rarely said a thing, or at the most, said very little.
Perhaps the biggest question that circled the summoner’s mind,
however, was Xander the hero or villain of this story?

“How do you suppose we open the door?” Steven
asked as he ran a hand down the hinge-less door, built right into
the side of the wall. They wouldn’t even have known it was a
gateway, had it not been for the large circular engraving directly
in the middle of the temple’s front wall.

The design was of two dragons swirling around
one another, not unlike the two that had come to the summoner upon
her first awakening, and then once more almost a week ago. There
was a connection with these majestic creatures and her people, only
for her there was no known connection to be made.

“These doors would never open for me,” Xander
said, “Mitra’s scrolls spoke of a hand placed upon the circle, but
no hand of a vampire would unlock its secrets. It’s remained closed
for all these years… its secrets lost with the death of the
summoners. I doubt even your mother had come back here after the
culling.”

Without a second thought, Emily placed her
palm against the engraved circle. A large section of the limestone
wall lit up with the same bright azure light that coursed from her
body when fully charged. A section of the wall disappeared and
opened to a hallway that seemed to go on forever.

The connection was growing stronger between
Emily and the memory of her people, and with one step forward she
sent out to change her fate forever. She had thought of this moment
since first setting out for Xander’s castle, but nothing could’ve
prepared her for what she was about to witness.

“This was the last place the summoner’s made
their passive stand,” Xander said with solemn reflection, “The
summoner’s were cut down by the first breed of their paranormal
creations… they never even put up a fight. Even in their dying
hours, they couldn’t bring themselves to turn back the clock on
their children and use the temple’s secrets against them.”

There were hieroglyphs carved intricately
into the walls, containing entire volumes of their history and
lore. Yet, the luster was lost among the hundreds of fossilized
remains. Everywhere they looked, groups of remains had been strewn
about the lengthy hallway. It had been a warzone, where so many of
Emily’s kind had met a very different fate than that of their
children.