Chapter 4: That Was The Plan
Marshall, as 'patient' and as 'old' as he was, rushed Nathan out of the house and into a large, blacked out SUV. Jack joined along with a few others in the vehicle. Another followed behind full of more people that Marshall deemed 'important to the mission'. Nathan just thought they were muscle to intimidate him into helping.
"Where are we going?" Jack asked as the vehicle started to drive away from Marshalls mansion.
"St. Lucia's." Marshall said simply. When Jack waited for further response, Marshall continued. "The crypt is there in the cemetery behind the church." Jack nodded. His knee bumped against Nathans' as the car hit a pothole. It did feel comforting to have Jack there, next to him.
Jack reached a hand over to try and grab Nathans' he pulled away at first, giving Jack a look.
Jack, you know better
. It said.
And you know I don't care.
His said back. Nathan let Jack hold his hand. It felt familiar. Every boundary Nathan tried to set was brittle and instantly broken by Jacks breath.
"I can't believe you turned for him?" Marshall said under his breath, noticing the two hold hands. Nathan pulled away.
"And what does that mean?" Jack flashed his fangs.
"Oh calm down newbie." Marshall flashed his back. "I just meant you're immortal now, a Vampire, you could be with anyone and you chose a mortal? Ha - and not just any mortal, a Witch. Our kind don't exactly mix well." He laughed. It was hilarious to him because he knew more than they did. He chuckled even more to himself at their unknown expense.
"I didn't turn for him." Jack mumbled back.
"That's not what you told me." Marshall smiled.
"What does that mean?" Nathan asked.
"Nothing." Jack told him.
"You told me you turned-"
"Nothing. Marshall is just trying to get a rise out of us." Jack shot Marshall a look; Marshall rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, you get bored after being alive so long. Just wanted a little fun." He turned to Nathan apologizing.
"Jack." Nathan turned to him in attempt to get him to tell him more.
"It's nothing." Nathan didn't believe him.
"We're here." The car stopped as the driver announced. Nathan wanted to push the subject but Marshall opened the door and hopped out.
"Show time." Marshall beamed with joy. They all pile out of the vehicle, the other group mirrors. "Carlos, Reggie, the box." He commands two of his henchmen and they produce a box from the back of one of the SUV's. "You, you ready for this." He points to Nathan.
"Yes."
"Let's go then." He claps his hands and smiles. He starts leading them into the cemetery, walking down a path past tombstones and headstones.
"Hey, do you feel that?" Jack asked Nathan as they walked. Jack felt a strange claustrophobic feeling in the back of his head, but it was more than that. It felt like he was being pulled somewhere.
"Just the Vampiric energy mixing with all the vibes of the dead." Nathan responds. A few lost souls walked around the graveyard, a far off look in their eyes. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a...a strange - never mind." He said. "Ahh!" Jack started crying in pain as he collapsed, hands covering his ears. It wasn't just Jack; it was Marshall and the other Vampires too. Only Nathan and the two Werewolf henchmen remained.
"Jack!" Nathan went to his side. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked.
"My head, it feels like it's on fire!" He groaned, all the Vampires did. The two Werewolves growled and started to shift.
"What is it?" Nathan looked up at them and then towards what they were looking at. It was, what Nathan assumed, a Witch. She stood; one hand raised with her fingers flayed out. She was doing this. One of the Werewolves started to rush her.
"Down boy." She commanded with a sweet voice. Her other hand flicked and both the Werewolves flew across the graveyard, slamming into headstones and crumbling to the ground in heaps. Returning to their human forms.
"Argh!" Jack wailed again.
"Stop it, you're hurting him!" Nathan told her.
"Then come with me. He wants to see you. He usually gets what he wants." She started to squeeze her hand slowly and the screams of the Vampires grew more intense. Nathan tried to counteract her magick, but it was too strong.
Way
too strong, she was channeling something to fuel her spell.
Nathan pushed against her, trying to overpower her but it was useless. He instead tried to shield the Vampires.
"Fuck!" Marshall roared, feeling a moment of relief from Nathan. "Enough of this! Argh!" He screamed, running behind her. She tried to do something, but Marshall was just a touch faster than her ability to compensate for holding ten Vampires down - even with the power source she was channeling. In an instant Marshall had her neck snapped, the spell lifted and she fell to ground dead. "Well, good thing we're already in a cemetery. Reggie." Marshall cocked his chin, rubbing his temples. "Everyone okay?" Marshall nodded a thank you to Nathan, he nodded back.
"Are you okay?" Nathan turned back and helped Jack up. Reggie picked the dead Witch up and took her away to bury her somewhere.
"Yeah." He said, spitting blood onto the dirt. "Bit my fucking tongue." He complained.
"Thank god you heal fast." Nathan patted his back.
"Let's get this over with." Marshall pushed on. "This is the crypt." He led them to one of the older ones in the cemetery.
"Bancroft?" Jack remarked. "Isn't that one of the founding families?"
"Yes." Marshall opened the door. "I used to run with them back in the day. Nathans granny locked my valuable in here for the irony. I cheated on her sister with a Bancroft."
"Hmm, no account for taste." Nathan had never much cared for the Bancrofts. They were stuffy and conceited. Owned a lot of real estate, both residential and commercial. The Bancrofts were kind of dicks.
"Let's get started." He ignores the insult. Most of the goons stayed outside to keep watch, two followed Marshall, Jack and Nathan inside.
The coffin sat on a large marble slab, it is a pure sleek black. "Pretty." Nathan says, looking at the bronze and silver accents.
"Very." Jack agrees. The strange feeling in his head grows. He had thought it was maybe the Witch, but with her dead and the feeling growing he had a feeling that it was whatever was in this coffin.
Or who...
Jack had a sense.
Nathan reached out to touch the coffin, and when he did he confirmed Jacks suspicion. A vision filled Nathans mind; images flashed across his eyes. He saw blood raining from the sky, a chalice full of it sitting on an altar. He saw fangs sinking into a neck and a wooden stake. He felt an intense darkness, something old, sitting inside of the coffin.
"What the fuck!" Nathan turned on Marshall, sending out a wave of power. Everyone was thrown back and Marshall was pinned to a wall. "Liar! What's in the coffin!" He started squeezing Marshalls heart, he winced and clawed at his chest. His goons tried to move towards him. "Another step and I rip his heart out faster than you can get to me!" He warned, giving Marshalls heart a slight tug.
"Ah! Fuck - stand down, stand down!" He ordered, begged more like.
"Who is in the fucking coffin!" Nathan repeated.
"No one."
"Who!" He squeezed.
"Argh! My sire!" Marshall admitted. "She's my sire! She turned me!"
"And why is she in the coffin!"
"I don't know! All I know is that she's been in my head for the last year telling me to get her out!" He winced.
"In your head?" Nathan asked, he released Marshall and he collapsed to the ground.
"She - ah - she, all of them, they can get into the heads of any Vampire they turn." He explained.
"All of them?"
"The Firstborn, they're able to get into the heads of any Vampire they've turned. Jack can feel it too." Nathan had heard of Firstborns; they were the oldest and most powerful. If his great-grandmother had sealed one away, it was for a reason.
"Can you?" Nathan asked Jack.
"I - I think, yeah." He nodded.
"She's no threat I promise you. She just want's free." Marshall tried to convince Nathan to continue the spell, but not convincingly.
"Bullshit. I saw something when I touched the coffin." Nathan spat.
"Whatever it was, I assure you it has nothing to do with her."
"Oh, yeah? Why did my great grandmother put her in there then?"
"I told you; I don't know." He inched closer and Nathan raised a hand, ready to send him flying again.
"I can't let her free, when I - what I felt...I can't let her out." Nathan felt uneasy.
"Then you'll have to figure out whoever is after you on your own. Stop them too." Marshall promised.
"I-" Nathan took in a deep breath. "I don't know what to do." He turned to Jack, hoping his friend would have an answer.
"I - I don't either. I'm sorry, but...but I think you should let her out." He answered.
"What?"
"If you want to figure out who's after you, maybe the only way is to..." He looked at the coffin. Nathan was torn, he felt a terrible energy when he'd touched it. The vision had terrified him, sent a feeling of pure dread through his bloodstream. "Nathan..." Jack reached out and touched his arm. "We need to figure out who's after you. Marshall is the only one who knows anything."
"Should we begin?" Marshall urged. "She's getting louder in my head."
"I..." Nathan didn't know what to say. "You two, lift the coffin." He'd made his decision. It wasn't an easy one and he was sure he'd regret it, but he couldn't see another way forward right now.
Two Vampires lifted the coffin. "Jack, help me with this." Nathan knelt down and opened the box; he pulled out the rope inside and the athame. All that was left was a few blood bags and the book, he didn't need the book though. He'd memorized the spell. Nathan handed one end of the rope to Jack. "Run it under the coffin." Jack did and looped it over. Nathan grabbed it and tied the ends together.
"What next?" Jack asked.
"Now, I do the spell." He cut his palm and let some of his blood soak into the ropes fibers. "My blood sealed her in here, my blood - with the rope representing the spell - is the only thing to get her out." He placed the blade under the rope and spoke the spell:
I cut this rope, undo the bind
What's inside no longer confined.
Nathan slices up and the rope falls away, a shimmer falls over the coffin and he feels the spell break.
"Finally!" Marshall says, stepping forward and around Nathan. He tries to open the coffin. "Hey, it didn't work." He tries again.
