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Blood And Fire Ii

Blood And Fire Ii

Draxyss

Last update: 2023-06-12

Chapter 1 Coven

  • Yolie: — Well then, if I'm going to be up to the neck in vampires at least tell me ... Exactly how many bloodsuckers are coming?
  • - i ask in a strangled whisper. Alex lets out a laugh, then sighs in relief. —I'm sitting here waiting for you to start hyperventilating and you go and tell a joke.
  • — Would you rather I cried? - I ask. —No. This reaction is much better. It is unexpected but it is undoubtedly the best.
  • —Tell me then, how many. - I insist. —Eleven. With me there will be twelve vampires. I raise my eyebrows.
  • —Does this meeting have any porpoise? —Yes. We are going to discuss the best way to get rid of the enemy that you and I share in common.
  • —Enemy? I have no enemies.
  • —Yes, you have one. The person who tried to murder you. 000 At two in the afternoon we head to what I suspect must be the. Mansion's ballroom. I left my bag in the room assigned to me. Apparently all the guests are already here because soft music is heard coming from inside. Before entering Alex gives me some final instructions.
  • —You must enter by my arm. Your blood is O negative, it is a highly coveted type of blood and the others might be tempted to try to drink from you. They are usually harmless, but what we are trying to achieve and the constant annoyance that our common enemy has made them very nervous. —Agreed. —Don't flirt with the men in there or trust the women too much, they will all try to seduce you if you lower your guard.
  • —Agreed. —Always stay close to me or stay in my range of vision. —Agreed. —How much do you know about history? - He asks.
  • —Quite a bit, I think. - I whisper.
  • —Then you'll be fine. He pushes open the huge doors of the room and we go inside. I'm holding on to his elbow. Sure enough, the coven members are all here already. A quick count confirms it. Upon entering, the music suddenly stops. It was produced by a string quartet. The guests and even the musicians, all, men and women alike, drop to one knee and bow their faces.
  • —Friends, please. It is not necessary so much ceremony. - Alex observes embarrassed. The music resumes, as do the conversations. He pulls me over and we move across the room. The first to come to greet us is a woman I recognize. She wears an outfit designed to be overtly provocative, in an iridescent fabric, the open front neckline almost reaching her navel. A gold snake-shaped bracelet gleams on one of her forearms. An Egyptian Asp? She wears some vertigo heels, made with the same material as her dress. She is a redhead and her hairstyle is incredibly high.
  • —Mégas - the woman whispers in a voice that sound like syrup. Alex accommodates me next to him and then they both put their hands on each other's shoulders.
  • —Cleo. - Alex responds. While the woman places a kiss on each of his cheeks.
  • — You finally brought her. - Sighs the seductive Egyptian. Releasing Alex and putting all her attention on me. I evaluate her for a moment, surprised to see that she really is not as beautiful as she appears. Her makeup is so well applied that it enhances her features. I also suspect that that deep and seductive voice is very well rehearsed. As I evaluate her, she watches me. She raises a perfectly slim eyebrow and pout.
  • —I'm disappointed. After everything you told me about her... - she looks back at Alex- I was expecting someone a little more... witchy? - She smiles. I open my mouth to put it her in place but someone gets ahead of me.
  • —Leave your games, Egyptian. - Scolds a man behind Cleo's back. She turns around and I am able to see him. The man is not very tall, but he is big and muscular. His face is thin, with pronounced cheekbones. His expression is severe and cold. Her long black hair is tied back. The most remarkable thing about him are his large, deep, penetrating, light green eyes surrounded by thick black eyebrows that give him a menacing look and impossibly long eyelashes.
  • His lower lip is prominent, giving him a certain air of stubbornness. He appears to be much older than Alex. Dress completely in black, shirt and pants. His shoes are black, shiny. He wears a huge ring on the ring finger of his right hand. A ring with the engraving of a dragon. Another woman would consider him beautiful. He has the aura of a tormented man. He smiles raising one corner of his mouth and looks at Alex.
  • —You know how to choose them, Mégas. Your ... friend is ... enigmatic. - His accent scratches my ears as if it were sandpaper.Is he Russian or something? He fixes his eyes on me and his pupils dilate enormously. —Come over here and kiss me, girl. - He orders me and I frown. Before they can stop me I walk over and slap him, hard .Cleo and the rest of the guests hold their breath. Looking at what just happened, their jaws dropped. The disrespectful man strokes his cheek a couple of times and laughs out loud. —You certainly know how to choose them, old friend. You have lost the game, Egyptian. - He smiles widely. - This girl is not a simple human. She is immune to our power of compulsion. Alex takes my hand and tugs at me. Pinning me to his side, placing his arm around my hips as a sign of possession. His acquaintance sighs.
  • —Don't hurry, Mégas. - He hisses. - You know very well what I've come for. —We'll talk about it in private. - Alex spats. The black-haired man bows. —Allow me to introduce myself, beautiful fortune teller. My name is Vladislaus Dragulia. You may have heard of me, I am much better known by the name of Count Dracula.What? Nah, it can't be! Sure it can be! In this crazy world everything can be. So this, this... is... is... He is Romanian, not Russian. I must concentrate on the simplest things if not I'm going to pass out in fear. I just slapped Dracula! —May I kiss your hand, miss? - He offers his palm and I look at Alex. Scared shitless. Alex shrugs his shoulders denoting that he doesn't care but his arm is still clinging to my hips like an iron belt. I extend my hand and the Romanian kisses it.
  • I Pale... Blood, there is blood everywhere. Rivers and rivers of blood and cold. A poisonous, deadly cold. And a name, a scream that breaks the night, a desperate prayer of regret, love and hate... Elennah. I remove my hand from contact with... Dracula. It seems that my palm has been burned from cold. His eyes become slits and I see them flash with understanding. Vlad knows what I've seen. His face takes on a stony expression. —Divine.- he whispers between his teeth looking at me.- If one of these days you get bored of playing with the Mégas, come find me Alex growls and Vlad looks at him dismissively.
  • —You have the woman I want in your power, Mégas. It seems only fair that I try to steal yours. —Oh, Ladi, Ladi ... you're always making a fuss. - says a little voice with a marked French accent. I spy on a girl, it's hard for me to guess her age. She looks about thirty long, but she smiles and blushes so easily that she appears to be much younger. She throws herself at Alex and hugs him tightly, hanging around his neck and kissing him briefly on the lips. —Alexandre, mon bon ami. Combien d'années sans voit te.- Shrieks happily.
  • —Marié, toujours est un plaisir.- Alex responds smiling. I raise my eyebrows, so this is Marié. She is really pretty and it shows that she has a lot of spirit and joy of living. She is blonde, her eyes are blue, small, her mouth a little red. She wears a pink satin dress, with an exaggerated amount of ruffles which covers her shoulders but leaves her neck exposed. Her hairstyle is high and boisterous, a jarring mix of braids and curls, she has rings on all her fingers and on many she wears more than one. She is wearing shiny pink converse shoes. I wrinkle my nose.GOD! I know nothing about fashion but I wouldn't be caught dead dressing like that. She looks at me and smiles happily, let’s go of Alex from her tentacles and takes my hand
  • —Tu es joli, très joli. - She says happily. —Yes, my name is Yolie. - I answer. Everyone laughs and I go pale
  • —The French woman said you're pretty. - Cleo translates with her marked air of superiority. I look at Marié and smile back at her. —Merci? - I say in my most feigned French. She hugs me and kisses my cheeks before shooting off after a boy of about ten who runs around leaving great chaos in his wake. — Lui.- I hear her scold the little one and I see that she catches up with him. Must be her son. — Mégas, that French woman didn't learn a thing. She is still the same, as giddy and frivolous as before going through the guillotine. - sputtered the Egyptian.Marié, French, guillotine? I get goose bumps, was that Marie Antoinette? The famous queen of France?! —You haven't learned much either, Cleopatra. - Growls Vlad.- You continue using the same tricks of millennia ago.Cleopatra! —Impertinent. - The Egyptian snorts, turns around and leaves. Her dress from behind is much worse than in front. It is made of a fine mesh that allows you to see absolutely everything. Alex chuckles. Vlad winks at him. —You're welcome.-he murmurs, walking away. —Dracula, Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette? - I screech as soon as we are alone. —Yes. They are not as bad as they appear to be. - He answers enigmatic. Another woman is approaching us, she seems to be in her forties, and she’s slim and tall. She wears a very tight black dress. She does not wear any makeup and is still beautiful. Her blonde hair is extremely long. She wears it in a huge braid hanging over her left shoulder. She comes in the arm of a man who seems familiar to me. Where have I seen him? He wears clothes that make me suspect he comes from India. —Sir. - The woman bows perfectly and looks Alex in the eyes, smiling. She speaks with a strong accent. She must be English. - It's an honor to see you again. —Georgiana. - Alex responds with a slight tilt of his head. —It's my pleasure, shreemaan. - The man greets, clasping both hands in front of his face. His English is not as clear and perfect as that of his companion. —Mahatma. - Alex responds imitating the Indian's greeting. My eyes widen.Oh my God! GANDHI! I'm excited. A hero, I am in the presence of one of the greatest heroes of India! 
  • —This is Yolie Bruxain, my guest tonight. - Alex introduces me. I don't know what to do so... So, I smile like a psychotic who has run out of her pills. —Nice to meet you miss. - Gandhi whispers. —The pleasure is all mine sir. - I answer with a broken voice. - Not every day am I able to meet a hero. - Tears fill my eyes and I have an elephant lump in my throat. The woman purses her lips. I turn to her and tilt my head in her direction. —It is also a pleasure, madam. Her expression relaxes a bit, but I notice a strange glow creep into her gaze. — In another time your guest would have been burned at the stake, Mégas.- she says looking at Alex and opening a huge black fan with which she slowly blows air. Alex smiles but doesn't respond. I scowl at him. The woman turns her eyes on me, as if waiting for an answer. —You're right ma'am. Let us thank God then, in recent times humanity has become more civilized. She smiles and Alex looks at me proudly.Have I passed some kind of test or something? —I like your friend, Mégas. Hopefully in pursuing what you want we won't all end up dead. -She whispers, slamming her fan shut, offers Alex another bow and she and Gandhi leave. Chatting animatedly. — I do know who he is, she...I have no idea. —I'll tell you latter. - Alex promises. There is a guest who stays away from the rest. He drinks from his goblet and watches how things unfold in the l room, silent and taciturn. He wears a black ball tux, with a bow tie. Alex leads me to him. —Qin Shi Huang. - Alex greets. - How are things going in Asia. The man is short, from his features and his name I suspect he is Chinese. —Mégas. - He greets bowing his head. - Everything in order as always, sir. Alex smiles and the man walks away. —He's a bit ... antisocial. Isn't he? —That he is. He was also the emperor who had the Great Wall of China built.WoW!!! Three of the guests come to us. The first in a woman, in her forties, is red-haired, has a lively face dominated by lively and shrewd dark green eyes. She wears her hair short in a style widely used by older women to combat menopausal hot flashes. She dresses in a very austere, simple style, a white smock and a gray smock, she wears low, black shoes. Two men also approach accompanying her, one I recognized instantly, the other I have no idea who the hell he could be. The man I don't know wears white pants and a long-sleeved red shirt. He is wearing rustic shoes, which appear to have been cooked with jute bags. The one that if I know dresses in white. Except for the black beret on his head, in which a silver star gleams.
  • — Mégas . - The woman greets singing. With a smile from ear to ear. —Gráinne.- Alex responds. Granny? That woman cannot be his grandmother. —Mégas. - greets the man I do not know. —Markos. - Alex returns. —Señor. - greets the man who is so familiar to me in perfect Spanish. —Giuseppe.- Alex responds.Why does he call him that? They look at me with interest. Like I'm a freak. Silence is uncomfortable. — Alejandro has told us that you come from Cuba.- The so-called "Giuseppe" breaks the conversation by speaking to me in Spanish.
  • —Si. - I screech. —A beautiful country. With this, the three of them leave and I try to breathe so as not to faint from the shock.
  • —Since when is Che Guevara called Giuseppe? - I ask Alex. —His name was Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1846, when he died of typhoid fever at the site of the city of Salto in Uruguay, at the age of thirty-seven.
  • —And the other two? —Gráinne Ní Mháille, better known as Grace O'Malley she is Irish, was the pirate queen of the 16th century and Markos Botsaris was a general and hero of the Greek War of Independence.
  • —What an amazing collection you have. Queens, heroes, pirates and even Dracula himself. I'm impressed. — I'm glad you like them, mikrí mou magissa.- He kisses my forehead.
  • —What did you call me?
  • —I called you my little witch. I bite my lip. The guests have spread out and gathered in small groups. Alex paces among them, chatting animatedly. He does not take me away from his side for a moment. The night has been incredible and long. However, there is still a member of his coven that I have not met. He said there were eleven at the moment I have been introduced to Cleopatra, Vlad, Marié and I have seen her son, there was also that Georgina or Georgiana, Gandhi, Grace, Markos and "Giuseppe" (I was amazed). A man who seems to be about a hundred years old approaches us. He wears a gray suit, and the most impressive thing about his appearance is his extremely long white beard. —Sir, it is as always a privilege. - greets the old man with a bow of his head.
  • — Sir Henry. - Alex smiles.
  • —May I praise the beauty of your guest, sir? One rarely see oneself in the presence of such a beautiful and powerful lady. - He smiles in my direction. —You are very kind, sir. - I smile He bows to both of us and leaves. I lift my eyebrows at Alex. —Sir Henry Parkes better known as "the Australian" .- explains .- greatly influenced the formation and organization of that country. I shrug my shoulders.I'll look him up on Wikipedia. He takes me to a corner where a woman in her eighties is sleeping. She wears a scarf around her head also wears a white robe and a necklace made of snails and seeds, which hangs around her neck. She looks enormously like one of those women who dress up and pretend to be sunflower sellers from the colonial era, in the surroundings of Old Havana.
  • —Mechu, I've brought her. - Alex whispers and the apparently sleeping old woman opens one eye. She jumps to her feet and looks at me incredulously, taking my hands in her, looks me in the eye and smiles. —It's incredible, sir, but yes. It’s her.-the old woman answered in wonder, in a very rough English mixed with a French accent.-Much younger and prettier than when Mechu met her. I look at Alex raising my eyebrows. —Mechu was one of my maids, the time I lived in New Orleans, being its Governor in 1769. Of all the people I met, illustrious or common people; she was the only one who recognized what I really was. Mechu frees my hands. Alex approaches the old woman and kisses her hand reverently, she smiles nervously.
  • Wow! The rogue is capable of seducing even grannies! Alex comes back to my side and puts his arm back around my wais —The most curious thing is, that Mechu also met you, precious. - whispers Alex in my ear.
  • — She met Yoleandra, you mean?
  • —Yes. It turns out that apparently, the Sorceress and I both lived in the same city for a while.