The Twisted Links

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

The freezing room was well lit. Undead corpses, all female, about fifteen of them, stood against the wall staring blankly. The vampires that brought them there spoke not a word. Their eyes were just vacant as the ghosts surrounding them.

Shula shuddered in fear, Trish sniffed disdainfully. "I see your company hasn't improved."

"Ah Trish." the Necromancer said looking up from the phone he held. "If it isn't the traitor."

"Fuck you asshole. You could have warned me that my ancestor was the man I loved Beloved."

Absalom chuckled, "I told you that he didn't give a plague-ridden rat's ass about you. Did you listen?"

"Fuck you."

Absalom chuckled in amusement before his wandering eye slid to the coppery haired woman who haunted his dreams. "But at least you brought me back my pet."

Asya kept her head down. She didn't move a muscle as the man's cold hands brushed against her cheek. "I've missed my pet."

"She's NOT an animal, you monster!"

Absalom turned and immediately saw the resemblance to his long dead mother. "You must be my daughter."

"I'm not your daughter. Nor is that woman, who pushed me into this world, my mother. You both abandoned me."

"Why the hell would we have wanted a useless brat?" he mocked.

"You're one to talk." Trish snarked earning a harsh slap.

With the distraction, Asya chose that moment to strike. Burying the knife, she had hidden into the Necromancer's chest, she was shocked at his reflexes. Just avoiding being struck in the heart, Absolom commanded that his minions grab the prisoners. Trish jumped in front of Asya and electrocuted the creatures that were getting ready to kill the fox. Shula leaped forward and grabbed the bare skin on the back of Absalom's neck, immediately absorbing his power.

The creatures and vampires froze. Absalom used his weakened strength to jerk away from his daughter. The connection was broken and even with most of his power gone, he was still able to command an attack. The reanimated corpses grabbed the three roughly. A small metal object flew through the room and struck the Necromancer. The Grasp took away his remaining power. Trish levitated the blade back to Asya's hand. The fox broke away from her captors and this time she buried it to the hilt in her former tormentor's heart. Absalom died instantly.

Shula collapsed and one of the undead women picked up her body, holding her close. Laying the Dark Fairy on the bed, the other creatures surrounded her unconscious form.

The vampires' collars no longer glowed indicating that they were no longer under another's control. They ripped them off and threw them on the ground.

"Fascinating." Trish murmured bending down to pick one up to examine. Her movements were blocked by a sharp edge to her throat. Eesha held the short sword, "Touch them and you die, witch."

Trish held up her hands in surrender. "No need to be sensitive." she said.

"Eesha!" Asya cried.

The fox shifter stared worriedly at her friend. The undead hissed a deadly warning anytime Asya tried to get close to Shula.

"They're protecting her." Eesha said.

"What do we do?"

Eesha saw that the Dark Fairy's chest was still rising and falling, the pattern indicating that she was asleep. "We wait."

"Eesha?"

Turning they saw the vampires huddled together. The man who spoke was just shy of six feet tall with long hair that was dyed a blueish green.

"Claude!" She gave him a tight hug.

"Oof" he grunted. "Damn you still hug like a dude."

"And you are still making the worst fashion choices."

"Now, now." a short woman stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the man's waist. "Don't be picking on my husband."

"Thank you baby." he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Eesha shook her head. "I will never understand how you two ended up as Eternal Ones."

Despite being held captive and forced to serve the now dead Necromancer, the woman looked sharp in a black business suit. Tess Dubois could walk into a boardroom with confidence and own it. Claude however, looked like a homeless person from the 1990s.

"He dyed his hair to my favorite color for my birthday. Isn't he just the sweetest?" she asked rhetorically while pinching his cheek. "Baby go find my purse so we can get out of this awful place."

Claude left the room. Following the other rogue vampires who were either leaving or looking for something useful to pawn.

"How long have you been here? Eesha asked.

"Two weeks." Tess said. "There was a larger group of us but some were killed because they refused to follow orders. Most of the others went with that blonde bitch witch and the "prince." Though he's not any vampire Royal I recognized."

"Prince Grim?" Aysa asked.

"Must be." Eesha said.

Claude reentered the room with a large handbag on his shoulder.

"Before they left, the Death Dealer was ordered to gather more rogues. He ignored that and brought back those stupid hoes," Tess pointed to the females guarding Shula, "that ended up dead every time."

Claude shuddered and pulled Tess to him. Eesha was concerned when she saw the haunted look on her friend's face.

"What is wrong?"

"I'll be outside, babe. Come out when you're ready." Claude was gone in a flash.

Tess shook her head. "That asshole needs to die a thousand times over. He used the collars to force the men to have orgies with the undeads for entertainment." she said with disgust. "Those damn collars! We were aware of everything that happened but had no control of what we did."

Eesha turned away. Her mind tormented with images of her brothers' hearts in her hands. "Where did the collars come from?" she asked, incensed that the contraptions would still exist after all she had done to destroy the knowledge of them.

"A turned vampire had a scroll in his possession that he gave to that blonde witch. He was very young, a child really, when he was turned by some queen."

Eesha sighed. The possibility that one of Queen Athailah's "wards" had stolen the scroll was entirely possible. No one found the original copy and it was assumed that it had been destroyed when the palace was set ablaze by vengeful subjects.

"There are coven vampires that are capturing rogues. We don't know where they're being taken. We heard that rogue werewolves are offering shelter to our kind. As uncomfortable as the idea of being around the dogs 24/7 is, it's much better than what we've suffered." Tess said with a hard practicality.

"Do you know which covens?"

"They were careful to never mention the names but there was a name mentioned. Galen Abara. I've never heard of him. But I did overhear the witch bitch tell the Death Dealer to find him and bring him to their camp."

"Thank you my friend. Go in peace and may the Creator protect you both. I will be seeing you soon."

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Well I've been gone for a while. Had some personal issues to sort through but now I'm back. I've been trying to make some decisions on how to end the series. Let me know if you have some suggestions.