The Darkest Night (The Second Dark Ages Book 2) Read online

  Michael turned. “No need, Captain O’Banion. This gentleman is an old friend of mine, who has come here on orders he received.”

  Jacqueline interjected, “Orders?”

  “Yes,” Michael responded. “He was ordered to find me.”

  “How does anyone know you are here?” Mark asked, curious.

  Akio turned to the young man. “My Queen was very explicit that I was to wait until the Patriarch chose to show up.”

  “Like, how long?” Jacqueline asked.

  Akio looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

  Jacqueline tried to figure out why he was quiet. “Sir?”

  “It has been over one hundred and fifty years,” he answered, his lips quirking in a small grin.

  “Fuuuuuck!” Jacqueline turned to Michael. “What did you do to her that she sent someone to find you a hundred and fifty years later?”

  This time, Michael could sense the amusement Akio was sending his way, even if his face showed no emotions. Michael considered a new challenge in his life. He was going to get the stiff man to open up. He couldn’t stay walking around as if he had a sword stuck up his ass for the next hundred years. Especially if he was going to be around him all the time. “I believe,” Michael answered Jacqueline, “that she loves me.”

  “You?” Jacqueline queried in surprise. Both Mark and the Captain put their hands over their mouths.

  “And you find this hard to believe why?” he asked as he adjusted his left pants leg so it wouldn’t get caught in the skin as the last of his muscles regenerated.

  His clothes were going to have to be cleaned for sure.

  “Well, um.” She looked back to Mark, who was still checking out the ship, before she looked back to Michael. “I suppose she is a badass too. Takes one to know one?”

  “You could say she is a real bitch,” Michael admitted, “but you had better say it with deference.”

  “If I may interrupt?” The Captain’s voice came from behind them and the four looked back. “It seems we have plenty of power to make it to Europe now.” He gazed at the sky. “You also seemed to have taken care of the weather.”

  “I was still a bit upset,” Michael agreed, admitting nothing more.

  “Right.” Miles admitted. “Where would you like to go next?”

  Michael turned back to Akio. “Let’s talk.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Where the hell—” the Captain had started asking as he looked around in surprise when Mark moved to put his hand against Miles’ mouth.

  “Don’t say anything,” Mark cautioned. “Just because he disappeared with Akio, it does not mean he might not be right next to us.”

  “Or a hundred yards off the ship,” Jacqueline added, as Mark turned to look at her. “Damn he can be annoying.”

  “You wanted to sneak a listen to his plans?” Mark’s eyebrows raised in mock astonishment.

  “Yup.” Jacqueline was unrepentant.

  “What plans?” the Captain asked.

  “Whether he is leaving in that plane,” she answered, pointing to the sleek black vessel.

  Mark got down on his knees and looked under the Pod. “It isn’t even touching the deck.”

  The Captain bent at the waist to confirm Mark’s comment. “Have you ever heard of such technology?”

  “Yes,” Jacqueline admitted. “My father told me about it when I was a little girl.” She walked over to the black Pod and ran a hand along its sides. “This is some of the original technology of Bethany Anne’s group. The Queen Bitch’s stuff.”

  “Your father?” Miles asked, coming up behind her but not willing to touch the craft himself.

  “Yes, he was alive before the world died, Captain.” she whispered. “Bethany Anne is Michael’s Queen, as well as his love. She asked him to protect a military base in the middle of the old United States as she fought someone in Eastern Europe, I think. My ancient history for Michael is a bit dodgy.”

  Jacqueline looked inside the canopy, but didn’t go into the ship. She thought she knew how much she could get away with when pushing Michael, but this new vampire was different. He seemed too controlled for her liking, and she wasn’t going to test him.

  Yet.

  “Why didn’t she take him with her to wherever she is, then?”

  Jacqueline turned around. “Because he died.”

  “What?” he answered, looking around for Michael on the deck of the ship. “How many times can he die, and how did he come back?”

  “Apparently,” she answered, “he had promised on his honor that he would come back to her, and she believed him. He was killed by a small nuclear explosion. My father was very insistent that he tell me the stories of vampires and how to keep my mouth shut around them.”

  Mark snorted. “He didn’t do a very good job.”

  Jacqueline’s melancholy caught Mark by surprise. “He tried, but I wasn’t a willing learner.”

  Jacqueline turned to lean her back against Akio’s craft. “Did you see what he did out here, Captain?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you see his face when you came out, and was it whole?”

  “I saw his face,” the Captain explained, turning to his left to nod up at the bridge’s windows. “From up there. There wasn’t half of it left, I thought.”

  Mark added, “Well, he healed some then by the time I saw it.”

  “Yes, but the ability to regenerate that he demonstrated right now isn’t like a vampire,” Jacqueline told him.

  “Well—” Mark interrupted.

  “Ok,” Jacqueline agreed, “not a normal vampire. Even Mark can accomplish some of what Michael is doing, which is healing through the Etheric, and that ability is unique to vampires.” She was quiet a moment before adding, “I wondered how come it never seemed like he needed to eat.”

  ---

  My Liege, Akio’s voice spoke into the Myst as Michael took them up a hundred feet above the ArchAngel.

  I just wanted to get away from them for a moment. They need to calm down from the experience together, and I believe the Captain is a better anchor for them right now.

  Hai.

  What were Bethany Anne’s commands to you, Akio?

  We were to wait, and be prepared to help you upon your return.

  Michael thought a moment. Are you in contact with her?

  No. We thought we would be able to communicate once they went through the Yollin Gate, but it was destroyed and we have had only very, very short communications between Eve and Adam. We are reduced to simple five-digit sends approximately every six months.

  Have you notified her of my arrival?

  No. Not until we were sure we had you safe.

  Safe is subjective, Akio.

  My King, Akio had started to speak when he felt Michael’s humor at Akio’s search for the right honorific. We have access to you, and I will work with you now to keep you safe.

  I have a meeting I must attend in Europe.

  May I ask with whom?

  A vampire calling himself the Duke. Michael could feel Akio’s annoyance. You know of him?

  Yes, I have recently found out about his activity. It is a significant mark against my honor that it has taken me this long to realize that such a powerful vampire is working in Europe and has acquired a large group of resources.

  How many is large?

  Eve and Yuko have yet to confirm, but certainly in the thousands of nanite-enhanced, Sir.

  Apparently, Michael thought, Calling him King didn’t make Akio’s cut, either.

  Akio, I am Michael, no more, no less. I expect your obedience, I will not knowingly countermand your orders from Bethany Anne, but I will not allow this Duke to continue accumulating power. I met his daughter in New York, and his son.

  The one named Valerie, yes?

  That is correct. You have met her?

  Hai. I spoke with her when seeking you, and Yuko and I helped in New York.

  Is there something that should be done for her?


  Not at this time. She must stand on her own, or she will expect the mother bird to help her fly every time.

  Michael didn’t answer for a moment, then agreed. Standing on her own worked for Bethany Anne. Provide me a quick summary of what has happened since I unexepectantly left, please.

  Akio explained the rise of TQB, space, the Yollins and the gate, the world going against Bethany Anne and how they took the fight through the gate.

  Akio waited a few moments before asking, I presume we will be taking down the Duke?

  Of course. I will not allow his dishonor to continue, Akio.

  It will be thousands against the two of us, sir.

  Michael smirked in the Myst.

  It is four of us, Akio. And finally I’ll be able to allow Jacqueline her fill of fighting and I’ll still have plenty of fools to play with, myself.

  Akio watched as they started back down to the ship.

  Michael supposed this ship might be considered ArchAngel 0, since the original, ArchAngel I, had gone to the stars and was far superior to this craft. He guessed he was being a little romantic in wanting a ship named after one his love had flown out into the beyond.

  Or he really was self-absorbed, to name a ship after himself. While the information was belated, he preferred to think he was romantic over the truth.

  Inside a secret location in France

  William Renaud had spent the better part of his slow atrophy toward death in a tomb, planning what he would do should he ever get the chance to live again.

  Two grave robbers had provided him that chance after the fall of mankind and the rise of the paranormal. He remembered the moment again, as his agitated mind cast about.

  The tomb Michael had chosen was in a mountainside, with granite walls and floor. William had tried to dig his way to freedom, and so had been obliged to regrow his fingers over and over again. He had finally despaired. Instead of seeking to understand his selfish ambitions, he had instead spent his time exploring the power which made him more than human.

  More than those who were rightly beneath him.

  He ignored the desire to continue to fight his sentence, and chose to believe that the future was where he should focus. So, he reviewed the tomb he was in and set traps in good locations. Traps to capture the mind of any who might find this place, to bring them to him in the rear. William suspected he would be weak when he awoke—if he awoke—and would need the distance they had to travel from the cave entrance to subjugate his food.

  In the end, it hadn’t been needed.

  The two grave robbers had been frozen in place, barely able to scream in fear when they woke William with their delicious scents of both food and freedom. He had been able to enjoy the first, Enzo, as pitiful screams filled his ears with their delightful sounds while his legs and arms thrashed around. His partner Elliot finally had found his ability to move and tried to run.

  Too little, too late.

  William had easily walked over to the youth as he crawled, crying, across the floor towards the entrance that opened into the one thing he needed most.

  Freedom.

  He could hear nothing outside as the sobbing boy tried to escape.

  William grabbed him by the foot when the entrance was just a body-length away and dragged him screaming back into the cave so he could rest forever next to his friend.

  Together in death as they had been together in life.

  It took two days for William’s body to heal using the fresh infusion of blood. While Enzo’s clothes might have fit him, they were too bloody to wear, unfortunately.

  “I do apologize,” William had told the body, face fused in a rictus of fear, “for my bad table manners. I was much more patient with your friend Elliot.” William had pointed to his partner. “His clothes are a bit small, but I believe I might have other options soon,” William had told the two unhearing bodies as he stripped Elliot of his clothes.

  “So very soon.”

  It took William a month of capturing and killing humans to realize that the world he had been reborn in was both more and less advanced than the one Michael had shut him away from.

  So he set about learning more, to enhance his abilities and gain the ability to create his own progeny. His daughter Valerie had been an unexpected surprise. His own father, who had been banned as Forsaken over a century before his demise, had explained how useless trying to turn a female would be. William had gotten it right the first time and never tried again. Why challenge his perfect record?

  His other early child was a man, and when the two children fought, he could sense the strength of Valerie against Donovan.

  She had the spirit to win, but Donovan had the necessary understanding that life wasn’t fair and the willingness to do what it took to conquer.

  William had spent decades training Valerie before he set her on her path. She would either make it in this new future or die.

  She broke, and then she died.

  He was sure Donovan had been involved in her death, but William had been too focused on his own efforts to create power among the humans, with their technology and society, to fully keep abreast of what was going on.

  Then it became time to send Donovan to New York City-State and that was what bothered him now. He had received no messages of Donovan’s success.

  The bed squeaked as William got up and padded to his shower to clean off. His mind was troubled, and from the centuries in the tomb, he knew what that meant.

  The future was agitated.

  He needed to leave this location and seek safety. Whatever had happened in New York had failed and he needed to go to ground elsewhere and find out what was bothering him.

  He needed to feel the safety of earth and stone around him once more.

  “Gerard!” he yelled. Moments later his trusted servant rapped on the door.

  “Sir?”

  William called out as he toweled dry, “Prepare the main car and the diversion. We are leaving as soon as it is dark.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Antigrav Ship ArchAngel, over the Atlantic

  Inside the meeting room, the ancient map was laid out on the table as Akio pointed out different locations.

  “Here and here in Germany, here in England and at least here and here,” Akio tapped two locations, “in France.”

  Michael nodded slowly. “So, a minimum of five locations where the Duke could be, and if he is who I think he might be, he will have more.”

  Michael looked towards Akio. “What assets in space do you have?”

  “Space?” Mark’s voice interrupted quickly, followed by the sound of Jacqueline’s slap.

  “Shhh!” she hissed. The two men ignored their hushed conversation.

  “We have four satellites available. The rest have decomposed or we have lost them over the decades. They will do searches to see if we can ascertain location, but it could take us a while to confirm a specific location since he has antigrav vehicles.”

  “How…annoying,” Michael replied.

  Akio simply shrugged his shoulders softly.

  The Captain sat in a corner listening to the two vampires speak about technologies, times, cities and history that he had never expected to hear about from two who had lived it. Now they were using his maps to locate the source of evil that had landed him on this ship in the first place. It had been a while since he had dared to hope that his future wasn’t going to just be duty, then death.

  Michael turned to the Captain and asked, “When will this ship be landing?

  “Three days, provided we don’t encounter any adverse wind conditions,” Miles answered quickly.

  Michael thought about the answer a moment before replying, “I want you to change the name of this ship and fly her to Germany.” Michael looked over at Akio,

  “Prepare your ship, we are leaving shortly,” he advised Akio, then turned to the younger paranormals. “Grab your stuff and take it to the ship; do not leave anything behind.”

  Both Mark and Jacqueline l
eft immediately. There were times to ask questions of Michael.

  Now wasn’t one of those times.

  Captain Miles O’Banion stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. “What should the new name of the ship be, sir?”

  Michael smiled. “I want you to change it to Michael the ArchAngel Returns,” he answered as he walked towards the door. “When you arrive at Germany, this ship is yours to keep, Captain.” Michael stopped at the door and looked the Captain in the eye.

  “What about the original owner?” Miles asked.

  “He won’t be around to ask about it anymore,” Michael answered. “I’ll answer the question you had when you first met me, Miles.” The Captain’s shock at being called by his first name was evident as Michael continued, “An honorable vampire is as rare as a unicorn. Even rarer actually,” he told the Captain before stepping into the hallway on his way to his own room to grab his last few items.

  ---

  “There is no way we are all going to fit inside this ship!” Jacqueline hissed as the two of them walked down the hallway towards the hatch leading to the deck.

  “I bet we all fit, and I bet we all make it in one trip.” Mark responded.

  “I don’t see it,” she replied as she pushed through hatch to the outside.

  “Bet you!” Mark closed the hatch behind him.

  Jacqueline turned around and pointed at him. Mark stopped suddenly when Jacqueline’s finger appeared right in front of his face. “But I’m not doing this for a chore or pushups or some shit. You have to do something real.”

  “Like?” Mark asked, his eyes crossed as he stared at her finger.

  Jacqueline dropped her hand, her eyes narrowing. “You have to paint my nails.”

  Mark’s brow furrowed. “Huh?”

  “You know,” she waved her fingertips in his face, “fingers, paint. It’s decoration.”

  “I am aware of the existence of fingernail painting, but I’ve never seen you do it.”

  “That,” she answered as she turned around and picked up her bag, “is because we have been living a Neanderthal existence. I’ve heard that in Europe, people still try to look good.”