The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 46 ~ A Broken Command

Mallen was having a good time. His arm was around , his hand holding a cinnamon latte in a red café-style coffee cup. After finishing his latte, Mallen got up and danced in smooth moves, singing along to an upbeat party song.

Even though vampires normally didn't eat and drink human foods, Mallen decided to try a tempting cup of steaming hot latte and learned too late it was too hot. He waited for it to cool before trying it again and absolutely loved it. "If I was ever to be a human, I would so be drinking these. And the peppermint mocha is amazing!"

liked the hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. She tried a gingerbread cookie and didn't like how it was too hard. She liked the soft blackberry scones. Mallen liked the yuletide chocolate roll cake and blackberry tea to drink with it.

Other vampires gave them a weird look, but Mallen shrugged. "I like cake," he said, shamelessly eating another slice.

Then somebody brought out the tiramisu, a favorite outstanding dessert in the galaxy. Mallen claimed all of it, even the tea. "Gotta have tea with cake," was all he said.

Human foods disintegrated in a vampire's body, so vampires were able to eat human food if they had to pretend to be humans to blend in with society, or in Mallen's case, just trying it out for fun's sake.

The Magarrans allowed the vampires to check out their settlements. They walked around exploring the star-shaped cities with cute homes, beautiful gardens, water fountains, farmland, and urban setting. There was a mix of rural farmland, suburbs, and city life connected with one another. Cities had waterways and bridges connecting to the farmland. Suburbs sprawled out, going in between the city and rural land.

Planet Magarra was much more technologically advanced than planet Verdamnt. Mijoria was pretty advanced; it was set like planet Earth's early 2000s vibe while Voldvell echoed some old time practices and culture.

Cyberpunk culture caught the vampires off guard, but most of them found they liked it. They were interested in music and fashion, how different everything sounded, and how strange it was to see women wearing pants rather than dresses and to see men with unusual hairstyles and accessories. Everything was so different from life on their home planet; it wasn't surprising a few found it overwhelming.

"I will never get over the sight of seeing a woman's thighs and bare legs for the first time," said Vajir. "They're nimble!"

A French vampire named Cyrlin Cilver rolled his eyes. "Please. You act like you've never seen a naked woman before."

"Not in public!" Vajir said in response. "Back on our planet, women only wore long dresses. You couldn't even see their ankles. Here you see more than just their ankles – you see their entire physique!"

"And that's a bad thing? I quite enjoy it," said Cyrlin, leaning his head back against the armrest of the couch. He had a slim lean figure and stunning looks, with short curly black hair and piercing blue eyes. He had no shortage of women fawning over him.

Vajir, on the other hand, was having trouble due to him being so overbearing at times. He thought he was a smooth talker. Cyrlin didn't even have to speak to get a woman to spend the night with him. "All in the body language, bro," he would always tell Vajir, who didn't quite understand it.

Mallen noticed was absent and wondered where he was. He hadn't seen him at the party, neither on the ship nor anywhere in the city. Setting down his cup of tea, Mallen took Írásom's hand and went to look for Iérti.

Mallen suddenly froze, appalled by the sight before him. In the wide open field lay nearly two hundred dead human bodies. They were laid out side by side, filling the beautiful land with their dreadful appearance. The worst part was that most of them were fresh kills. Only a few of them started to decay.

Írásom gasped, covering her mouth with her hand when she recognized the man she fed on as one of the dead bodies laying on the grass. Mallen saw the look of recognition in her eyes and turned to Írásom in surprise, a note of alarm in his tone. "Do you know about this? Can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know," Írásom stammered nervously. "I've never seen this before."

"But you have seen that man before," Mallen said, indicating the dead man. He looked into Írásom's eyes, as if trying to see what was in them, but Írásom kept her eyes lowered, looking away from him. That's when he knew she was hiding something from him.

Gripping her shoulders, Mallen said beseechingly, "Írásom, dove, look at me, please. I know vampires killed those people; they're all drained dry and have no injuries. Tell me you didn't feed on one of them."

Írásom started crying. Mallen sighed and said sternly, "Look at me."

Compelled to look at him, Írásom slowly looked at Mallen, her shoulders shaking as tears started streaming down her face.

Mallen wanted to dry her tears and comfort her. He hated compelling his own wife, but he had to know the truth. "Tell me the truth, Írásom."

"I fed on that man. Vajir and I both did," Írásom said, her voice barely a whisper. She crumpled into Mallen's arms, sobbing as he stood stunned. Mallen felt reality slipping from him, as though this was some kind of horrible nightmare. He felt a cold feeling creep through him like a gust of winter air through window cracks, freezing to the core as he sought warmth but found none.

Mallen stepped away from Írásom, no longer wanting to comfort her. "I told everyone on the ship not to feed on humans. I forbade it because I don't want us to be the monsters people think we are. I didn't want us to harm or kill anyone on this planet.

"Our own planet has seen far too much bloodshed, and I didn't want that for another planet. I wanted to wait until we were able to get nourishment again, perhaps by the humans' own understanding and consent, or by way of traveling to another planet to do so. I didn't expect anyone to do the opposite of what I've commanded, least of all you."

"Mallen – "

"Don't Mallen me." Mallen's eyes glared angrily into Írásom's eyes, his face heated. He turned on his stylishly booted heel, feeling hurt and betrayed.

Írásom remained standing, crying as she regretted what she had done.

Mallen stormed back to the ship, roughly slinging his cape off and placing it on a coatrack hook. He asked around for Iérti, but nobody knew where he was. Sighing in frustration, Mallen was about to retreat to his room when he saw the Ileín standing at the ship's entrance.

His Conrad form glowed yellow. He was wearing his usual official-looking signature cream and orange outfit, his blond hair neatly cut short and presentable. He met Mallen's eyes, a look of deep sorrow reflected in his golden brown eyes as they looked into Mallen's olive green eyes, eyes that were slowly turning red from prolonged thirst.

He knows, Mallen realized. He knows about the dead bodies in the field. Either the Ileín or his people placed them all in one place so our kind can see the damage we've done.

All the vampires stopped what they were doing when they saw . Mallen saw Iérti walk out of his bedroom with a human woman. He started to give him a curious look, but knowing Iérti, he figured he was just talking with her.

All of you, follow me, the Ileín said to the vampires, speaking telepathically to them. His mental voice reached every one of them, no matter if they were on the ship or far away in one of the cities. It was very much like Mallen's power, though Mallen knew the Ileín's power was much greater than his own.

Mallen knew exactly where the Ileín intended to lead them. He sidled up to Iérti, saying telepathically, Do you know where we're going?

No, said , his voice reflecting his confusion.

You're about to find out, Mallen said in response, saying nothing further.