Vampires Vs. Humans (Part 2)

Eli parked on Elm Street, across from the city graveyard. It was way past visiting hours, but Canine had his own way in. Around the corner, there was a medium hole in the fence, hidden by a patch of bushes. The two slipped in, unnoticed. Canine led Eli towards the back of the graveyard where a large mausoleum stood. He pushed open the door and ushered Eli in. He shut the door behind himself.
It was dark in there, with only a small amount of light coming from the little circular window on the far wall. But this was enough light for Canine to see by. He leaned down over the ground where a particularly long crack ran. He dug his fingers under and lifted the slab up, pushing it until it leaned against the wall.
“Stay with me,” he said. Eli was in no hurry to leave his side.
Together, they entered the downward tunnel. Eli could see an orange glow at the bottom, and a sigh of relief escaped her. Maybe Canine could see in the dark, but she had only 20/20 vision!
When they reached the bottom, a group of girls spotted Canine and rushed over. Canine pushed Eli behind him, hoping the others wouldn’t notice her.
“Canine!” said a girl that Eli recognized as the one Viper had been talking to before he tried to suck her blood.
“Fira,” Canine said indifferently.
“What? No hug from my future brother-in-law?” And the two hugged. Which made Fira aware of Eli. “No way.”
When they broke from the hug, Fira skirted around Canine to get a closer look at Eli.
“This is the girl, isn’t it?” Like her hair, her eyes were a fiery red. Unlike most of the vampires, she wore bits of red mixed in with her black attire. It was not hard to figure out why she had been named Fira.
“Fira, I know we’re not aloud to bring humans down here, but it’s an emergency,” Canine started to explain, but Fira cut him off.
“Like I’m going to do anything to anger a prince. Besides, I like her. I think that rules are over protective anyway. Just, don’t let your brother find out. You know how he is about traditions.”
“Thanks, Fira.”
Fira and the other girls bowed before heading up the tunnel and out of sight.
“Prince?” Eli asked.
“That’s not important right now. We must go find my parents.”
And they continued down the intricate paths, weaving left then right then left again. Finally, they came to a large, wooden door carved with strange designs… words maybe? The doors looked much to heavy to open simply by hand, yet Canine was able to push them without using hardly any energy. The doors opened up to a beautiful room, fabrics hanging from the walls, gold and silver candleholders, a chandler. And at the very end were two thrones, both occupied by the man and woman from the night before.
“Mother? Father?” Canine called
“Come in, darling,” called the same velvet voice that Eli had heard once before.
Canine slowly moved in, allowing his parents to see the guest he had brought. Their eyes instantly hardened. Eli looked at the ground, twisting her hands.
“Canine! You know the laws. No humans,” his father’s deep voice echoed throughout the chasm.
“I know, father, but… we have a bit of an emergency. Mourglock… has taken Lunar, and a boy named Danny, her brother.” He nodded to Eli.
“What!” his father was standing, furious. “Not only did you let one of your kin be taken by that monster, but you involve humans!”
“I didn’t know Lunar had followed me to Eli’s house!”
“You should not have even gone there!”
“I had to thank her properly! That’s how mother and you raised me.”
The anger in the father and son argument slowly faded. Canine’s father sat back down, his wife stroking his hand.
“There will be time to discuss your disobedience. But now your mother and I must call a council with the elders. I will call for you when we have come to a decision.”
“Yes, father. Here. He left a note with his demands.” Canine took the letter up to his father.
Canine turned and grabbed Eli’s arm, leading her out of the throne room. Once the door was shut, Canine let go of Eli.
“Sorry about that,” he sighed, hanging his head.
“That’s all right. I’ve got parents too.” Eli smiled at Canine, lifting his spirits slightly.
“Well, we’ve got a while. Would you like to see my home?”
“Sure.”

They came upon another large door with the strange writing on it. Again Canine simply pushed and the doors opened.
“This is where the records of our world are stored.”
“The records of your world?”
“Yes.”
Canine noticed the puzzled look on her face.
“You know. It’s sort of like a… um… a library. Yeah. It’s like a human library.”
“Oh! With books and written records?”
“Well, not books per say.”
Canine was right. It was like a library. Except, instead of books, the words were written on the wall and each letter glowed slightly. The walls reached high above their heads, reaching into the darkness. In the center of a room sat a little old man, eyes closed, hands clasped together. When he opened his eyes at the sound of visitors, they glew like the writing, then faded, revealing two gray eyes.
“Canine,” he said, and bowed his head slightly. “And who is your little friend?”
“Mendeo, this is Eli. I’m telling her about our history.”
At her name, Mendeo eyebrows lifted. He stood and reached out blindly for her, touching her face. “Eli? What a unique name.”
“It’s short for Elizabeth.”
Mendeo smiled, patting her cheeks slightly. “Then it is even more unique. I hear Fang has called a meeting of the Elders,” Mendeo said. “What for?”
“Lunar has been kidnapped by Murglock, as well as Eli’s younger brother Danny.”
Mendeo frowned. “This is very serious indeed.” He turned to the enscriptions on the wall, tracing the lines, looking for something. “Eli? Canine has been telling you about his people, no?”
Eli shook her head yes, then realizing he could not see her gestured, added, “mostly telling me the truth about vampires, like not fearing the cross, but unable to go out into the sun.”
“So, he has not gone into much depth. What has he told you of Mourglock?”
“Not much.”
“Well, you can assume that he is more evil than us, even if he is human. Using children to get back at your enemies…” he shook his head in disgust. “That is one thing we do not do… harm children. It is against our laws to drink from a child or use them in any way. But Mourglock has no laws. He will do all that he can to destroy the vampiric race.
“Many people fear us because we are different. And many more see us as evil because of what we must do to survive. Mourglock, however, is one of the few ‘radicals,’ as your society would call them.”
“But how do we stop him?” Canine cut in.
“I am getting there.” He kept on searching the patterns and stopped suddenly, tapping his finger. “Ah.” He turned to Eli. “As you can tell, these are words, our history, written in ancient languages. The tales go all the way up. How tall this chasm is, even I do not know. But I can read every word written on these walls, from the beginning of time to three minutes ago. The closer the words are to the floor, the older they are.
“These words,” he pointed to the words again, “may be of some assistance to you.” He grabbed both Canine and Eli’s hands placing them on the words. Eli could feel the words under her palm coming to life, moving. Then, she could read them, could understand what they said.
One shall lead and all will follow.
Two must end the pain and sorrow.
Like the sun and moon together
Keeps the Earth alive forever.
Mendeo let them go and the words fell back into the unreadable squiggles. “Does it help?” He looked at the two dumbfounded teenagers.
“Not really,” Canine said.
Mendeo frowned. “Ah! What has the world done to the minds of youth? Come, sit, and Mendeo shall tell of when he was young.”
The three sat together in the center of the room. “Take each others hands,” Mendeo commanded. They did, then sat in silence. After a few moments, Canine broke the silence.
“Mendeo? Are you going to say something?”
“No.”
“Then why are we doing this? We’ve got to find some way to help my brother!”
“Hush! I am not going to say anything, but I am going to show you something. Close your eyes.”
Canine reluctantly closed his eyes, as did Eli. Moments after they had squeezed their eyelids shut a vision came to them.

Mendeo, Canine, and Eli stood in the room of records still, but it was not the same room that they had been sitting in moments before. There was less writing on the wall, but what writing there was shone more brightly than that of the present day writing. And in the middle of the room where they had been sitting, stood a man with a long black beard, a boy no older than Lunar or Danny, and a tall, beautiful woman.
“Dark days await the clan,” the man said.
“Because of me?” The woman asked in a quite voice.
The man hesitated before answering. “No. Because of us. You and I were not meant to create this.” He touched her stomach gently and she smiled. He smiled too, yet his smile was tainted with sadness. “Elizabeth, neither vampires nor humans will be happy to have a mixed blood child. Each side will do all that they can to kill her.”
“What are we going to do?”
“You must leave.” The pain in his voice was crushing. He held her hands tightly in his own. “You must hide, tell no one of your child’s father, and tell no one of vampires.”
“What about you?”
There was sadness in his eyes. “I too must go. I have broken a very important law to my people. They will not except me living.”
The woman burst into tears. “Then come, come with me. We shall hide away from the world and live happily with our child.” She fell into his arms.
“They have ways of finding me, you know that. I would just be putting you into more danger.”
The two looked at each other for one long moment and then kissed. The words shown even brighter as they embraced each other. And more words began to appear on the rock walls, the same words that Canine and Eli had read moments before.
A bright light engulfed the whole area and once it faded, the woman stood hugging air and the boy lay on the ground breathing heavily. The woman fell to the ground with the boy, sobbing, clutching her stomach.
Finally, the boy regained his strength enough to stand and walk over to the woman. He touched her quavering shoulder, halting her sobs. He kneeled down, looked into her eyes, and said in a childish voice, “Do not cry, Elizabeth. Be strong. Think of the child. She will be the one who keeps the Earth alive forever…”
And then the vision faded, slowly at first, then quicker, until they were back in the present, sitting in the dimly lit hall.
“Who were they?” Eli was the first to break the silence.
“The man was my teacher, Mendel. The boy’s name was Abdeo, but you know him as Mendeo.” The two gawked. Mendeo put up a hand. “I shall explain. When Mendel ‘departed’ this world, part of him stayed with me, his apprentice.”
“But why?” Canine asked.
“Well, partly because I was too young to take over records keeping all by myself. But mostly, to have someone on Earth remember where that little prophecy was written on the wall, so that when the day came, he could show it to the people who needed to see it.”
“And… we needed to see it?” Eli asked.
Mendeo smiled. “Yes. You see, Eli, I believe that the woman, whom you saw in the vision, was your great-great-great grandmother.
Eli was dumbstruck. “W-what?”
“Your mother’s name is Liz, right? Named after her grandmother Lizzy, who in turn was named after her grandmother Elizabeth.”
“H-how can you know that?”
“Eli, I have been around hundreds of years. I tend to know many generations of families, especially if they happen to be the family that will help save the world.”
Eli searched for words, but found none. Canine found some for her.
“But you can’t know for sure. I mean, there are hundreds of people who have names that represent Elizabeth. And even more who are named after their grandparents. What makes Eli any different?”
“The mere fact that she would risk much to help a vampire.”
“But she didn’t even know I was a vampire until after she had saved me!”
Mendeo shook his head, smiling a bit. “Have you forgotten your mother’s ability to see lies?” He placed his fingers on the floor of the cave. A bright light shot from under his fingertips, dashing from the floor to the wall and all the way up into the darkness. Then, by some ancient magic, words began forming on the floor of the cavern. Mendeo read them aloud.
“ ‘Did you save my son’ says leader of the vampires, Fang, to a human girl named Eli. The human shakes her head yes. ‘Would you have saved him, knowing what he was? A creature of the night?’ says leader of the vampires, Fang, to a human girl named Eli. The human girl shakes her head yes. ‘There is honesty in her eyes’ says the wife of the leader of the vampires, Feline.”
Mendeo stops reading and looks up.
“Ok, so Eli, you’re pretty much apart of this prophecy until it’s end, since we’re pretty sure you’re the descendant of a half vampiric half human child.” Eli flinched as the truth of the words hit her. “But what about me? Why was I the vampire chosen to save the world?”
“That question is quit easily answered,” Mendeo said. “You love her. There was no real reason for you to go back to Eli’s house to thank her properly, sparing her life would be thanks enough. Yet you were drawn to her with such a force that you were willing to break ancient rules to be close to her.”
This time it was Canine’s turn to flinch at the truth of the words.
“And, your social standing in the class will be a major help. You cannot be punished for your actions, save harsh words from your Elders. And the clan would be much more excepting of a royal mix blood than they would be to a common mix blood.”
“But why us?” Eli whispered. “Why now?”
Mendeo sighed. “That question, my friend, may never be answered. No human or vampire has the power to see the reasons that destiny chooses certain people or certain times. We can only take what we know from the past and make guess about how the future will end.”
There was another long silence that went uninterrupted until Canine stood abruptly.
“My father is calling. The meeting with the Elders is over.” He began towards the door, then stopped. He turned back to Mendeo. “What do we tell them?”
“The truth is always best.”
Canine nodded and headed out the large doors followed closely by Eli. As the doors shut behind the two Eli asked,
“So… what are we going to do?”
“First, we’ll have to listen to the plan of the Elders. Then, we can add in our plans.”

The throne room was filled with ancient vampires murmuring to one another. They all fell silent as Canine and Eli walked into the room. One wrinkled vampire near the door waddled up to Eli, taking in all of her features. Others started to crowd around her as well.
“Elders!” called Fang. “Now is neither the time nor the place.” They backed away from Eli, making a path to the two thrones.
“What decisions have the Elders come up with, father?”
“A tournament shall be held to determine the warrior who will go to battle. Any vampire who is willing to risk his or her life is allowed to enter. The winner, if victorious against Mourglock in the final battle, will be greatly rewarded.”
Canine looked at Eli, and then back to his father.
“Are we sure this is the wisest way?” Canine asked. Fang lifted an eyebrow. “Could there be a way that would not involve spilling blood?”
“Canine, we have discussed every option laid out before us and not a single one provided a plan that did not involve blood shed. This way is the surest way that we will retrieve the boys back.”
“But how can you be sure that Mourglock does not lie. He could simply kill the vampire sent after him and then kill the children.”
“The Elders, too, have thought of this issue. That is why your mother and I will be attending the warrior to the junkyard.”
“But the note…” Canine started
“We have taken into consideration the note, and we feel that if we remain bystanders, aiding the warrior in no way, then Mourglock will have no reason to argue. We are merely concerned parents wanting their child back.”
“It is not like Mourglock to go easy on vampires, even if they do only worry about their child’s safety.” The anger in Canine’s voice was obvious now. This plan that the Elders had come up with would do little to stop Mourglock. It was too loosely based on the kindness is his heart that was not there. “Too many people will die if you go on with this plan!”
“You are young still and do not see the reasoning.”
“Or maybe you are too old to see that people have changed and no longer cling to the respectful ways of a fight. He will use tricks to deceive any vampire that walks into that junkyard and he will not retrain himself from using the children against us!”
And with that, Canine stormed out of the room, Eli rushing to keep up with his quick strides. They did not stop outside of the wooden doors. They continued down another hall that Eli had not been down. Canine turned abruptly to a small wooden door, slamming it open, and stepped inside a room with a single bed, a desk with some papers on it, and a chair. He slumped angrily into the chair, folding his arms across his chest.
“They’re going to get Lunar killed,” he mumbled and tears began to well up into his eyes. Canine, a vampire, crying, a sight Eli never imagined seeing. She kneeled on the floor so as to be eye level and took his cold, trembling hands.
“We won’t let that happen,” she said softly. She slowly reached her mouth up to Canine’s lightly touching his lips with hers. She pulled out of the kiss quickly, but Canine brought his arms around her body, holding her tightly, and kissed her again.

The next morning came with the sounds of tournament trumpets blaring. Every vampire within a thousand mile radius came, either to watch or be a part of the tournament.
Many vampires had entered the tournament but few made it past the preliminaries. One by one they battled each other and one by one they fell. Finally the last two contestants stood in the arena, one was a vampire named Kaden who was known for his fighting reputation. The other was a man who refused to remove a silver mask from his face. Both had fought hundreds to earn their positions. And now they faced each other down for the championships.
They both fought gallantly, Kaden choosing a long blade as his weapon and the mystery man choosing his own hands. The ladies in the audience screamed for Kaden, saying that he had this tournament won. The men placed large bets in his favor (yes, vampires too bet!). All were sorely let down, for it was the man in the silver mask who was victorious. As Kaden brought down his sword in a swift movement, the mystery man blocked it with his own hands, then bent the metal so that it curved at a ninety-degree angle. Kaden was so at awe that he didn’t even notice the leg that quickly rose to catch him in the crotch. As he keeled over in pain, the man made his final blow to Kaden’s head, sending him crashing to the arena floor. The audience was silent at the twisting finish, but soon burst into loud cheers for this unlikely victor. Many of the men in the stands rushed down to lift him up onto their shoulders. Only when he was presented to Fang and Feline did he remove his mask.
If his victory had been a shock, then his identity was a lightening bolt striking a high antenna, for the winner of the tournament was no other than Viper, the oldest vampire prince. A shock escaped the group and anger flared in Fang’s eyes.
“Viper! What in the name of the night do you think you are doing?” Fang asked in a shaking voice.
“I think I’m trying to save my younger brother,” Viper coolly replied. “And, since I have won, I do believe I am the one who will be sent to the junkyard tomorrow night.”
“No! I will not let two of my sons become victims to that monster!”
“Father, I beat every vampire within a thousand miles of here. I beat the most revered of all vampiric fighters. How can you even imagine me becoming a victim of a mortal?” Viper grinned cockily.
And though the lord of the vampires detested the idea, his eldest son was right. He had won the contest and thus would go one to fight Mourglock. In a nights time, Fang would either be rid of very evil adversary, or he would lose two of his beloved children.

Canine and Eli had no knowledge of the tournament winner. While everyone else rushed to the stadium, they stayed in Canine’s room, having frivolous conversations. What was Canine’s favorite color? Black. And Eli’s? She was partial to baby blue. What was the best thing about being a day dweller? Falling asleep with the sun hitting your face. How about being a creature of the night? Dancing under the stars.
The conversation eventually turned to the future. Would their child feel the warmth of the sun or the coolness of the moon… or both? How would he grow up? What would they name him?
In fact, they didn’t spend much time thinking about the encounter. It was only when Fira came down to Canine’s room the next day that they found out about Viper.
“Viper won the tournament!” Fira exclaimed with joy.
“What?” Canine asked.
“He snuck into the tournament and won it. He even beat Kaden!”
“No,” Canine sighed. He dropped his head into his hands.
“What’s the matter, Canine? I thought you’d be happy.”
“You do realize that your fiancé is going to fight Mourglock one-on-one right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well it’s dangerous! And nobody seems to be getting that! He could die! He probably will!”
“Canine! How could you say something like that?”
“Because if he doesn’t die tonight, he will later,” Eli piped in. Fira looked at her, hurt. “A prophecy was made many years ago. ‘One shall lead and all will follow. Two must end the pain and sorrow. Like the sun and moon together, keeps the Earth alive forever.’”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m not exactly sure either, but I think if Viper goes to battle, he’ll be the one to lead and the rest of the vampire clan will follow.”
“Then, who are the two who end the pain and sorrow?”
Eli hesitated, so Canine answered. “Us.” Eli touched her stomach gently.
Fira stared at the two in disbelief. Finally, she managed to spit out her question.
“Have you told your mother and father?”
“No.”
“Are you going to?”
Canine hesitated a moment too long.
“Canine! Your girl friend just told me that my fiancé is going to die. Now, I don’t really understand this whole ‘keeping the Earth alive forever’ crap but I do understand that Viper’s in serious danger. You’ve got to say something!”
Canine stood quickly. “You’re right. Come on, Eli.” And together the three left the small room, heading down the eerily empty halls towards the throne room.

When Canine pushed open the familiar wooden doors, all were surprised to see that the throne room was completely empty.
“Maybe they’re all still in the Dinning Hall, celebrating,” Fira suggested.
They turned around and headed toward the enormous hall. Like the throne room, it was completely empty.
“The arena?” asked Eli.
They ran down the twisting halls towards the last possible room big enough to hold thousands of vampires. It was completely deserted.
“Where the hell did they go?” Canine cried.
“You don’t think they left for the junkyard, do you?” Eli asked.
“I hope not. Come on. I know one last place to check.”
They ran down more halls, ending at a familiar door; the records room.
“Canine, the vampire clan has no reason to be in here,” Fira complained.
“I’m not looking for them here. I’m looking here to find them.”
“You sound like Mendeo.”
“Just follow me.” And he pushed open the door.
Mendeo was standing, his eyes glowing, as the three entered, searching through some unseen text. When the door shut behind them, his eyes returned to their normal gray.
“I figured I would be seeing you today.”
“Where has everyone gone?” Canine asked.
“Getting straight to the point today, are we?”
“Mendeo! This is no time! The whole clans missing and we’ve something very important to tell them!”
Mendeo just smiled and took Canine and Eli’s hands. “There is much time,” he said as he placed their hands together. “Viper and the rest of the clan have already departed for the confrontation. Nothing you could have said would have made them stay.”
The spirits in the rooms dropped and Canine asked, “What about Lunar and Danny? Mourglock said he would kill them if more than one vampire showed up. I thought mom and dad were pushing it by going to make sure they got their son back, but the whole clan?”
“I don’t know, Canine. Maybe it’s better that the whole clan went. They could storm the junkyard, kill Mourglock before he has a chance to do any harm to the little ones,” Fira said.
Mendeo shook his head. “The vampires were not the only ones to bring back up.”
“So, it’s a full-fledge battle,” said Canine.
“And there’s nothing we can do to stop it,” whispers Eli.
Mendeo looks over at Eli, tears on the brim of her eyelids. “There was never anything that you could do to prevent this night from happening, the start of the human/vampire war. But you… you hold the key to ending it.” Mendeo smiled as Eli reached for her stomach with her free hand.
“Come on, you two. We should go see what’s happening at the junkyard,” Fira said.
The group slowly leaves the room of records, Eli leaning her head against Canine’s shoulder. The head back through the maze of tunnels until they reached the mausoleum.
“You stay here, Eli,” Canine said.
“What? No! That’s my family out there too!”
“I know, but it’s too dangerous.” Canine looks deep into Eli’s eyes. He reaches out and brushes a lost lock of hair back out her face before kissing her lightly on the lips. “Wait for us here.”
Canine and Fira vanished into the night. Only minutes passed, but they seemed like days. Shortly after Canine and Fira left, a storm of vampires returned to the mausoleum, though, not quite as many as had been at the tournament. A few did not return home. Most who did were injured in some shape or form. And many did not return alive. Viper was one of them. A deep gash severed the head from the body of the white viper tattooed on his head. His eyes stared blankly up at Eli as he was lowered into dark depth of the caverns below.
Shortly after the arrival of Viper’s body, a man and a woman slowly drag themselves into the mausoleum, holding the limp body of a once very bouncy boy. The man cradles the boy’s limp head as the woman sobs.
Last to come was Canine. Like his mother and father, he was carrying a once bouncy boy. Eli ran out to meet them.
“Danny!”
She’s feared too see her brother’s mangled body, but her spirits lifted when she heard a familiar voice.
“Eli? I had the… greatest dream. You saved a… vampire and he had… a little brother that I got… to play with. We had so much… fun. We jumped really… high on the tramp…oline…?
Eli stroked his short brown hair. “That sounds like a lovely dream,” she sobbed.
“Eli?”
“Yes?”
“Would… you really… save… a vampire?”
“Of course.”
“Cool.”
And the light in those once curious eyes faded. Danny would be able to have many more pleasant dreams with Lunar now. Dreams that weren’t filled with the horrors of this night. Dreams that were about friendship and fun, rather than enemies and hate.
And Eli had thought of the perfect name for their child.
Dunay.