An Undead Rebellion (Sequel)

in the days that turned to dust //

DRAKE

Dimas drove us to a neighboring town that was about an hour out from the Capital. It was late, so the streets of Carlough were quiet as Dimas pulled into the lot of an upscale apartment complex. There was a guard manning the door, but they seemed to recognize Dimas as we approached up the steps, and the guard buzzed us inside. Tiled floors shined beneath warm lighting as we entered the building, and Dimas led us to an elevator with iron gating. I had never spent a significant amount of time in Carlough before, but I knew it was a nice city. I also knew from Kasper that there had been two vampire attacks here in the span of a few days. He'd advised the local police chief to issue a sundown curfew, because the attacks had happened at night. They hadn't told the public it was vampire attacks, only that two people had been killed when out walking at night.

This entire thing was becoming very hard to keep under wraps. It was only a matter of time before the public caught wind of what was going on. Reaver and Arabelle's wedding had to be postponed, and the excuse we'd given was that Arabelle had fallen ill with a bad flu. Of course no one really believed that.

The elevator doors opened at the top floor, and I followed Dimas to the end of a hall where he unlocked a door numbered 23. He gestured me inside, and I stepped over the threshold of a carpeted apartment.

It was nice, with an open kitchen and living room area laid out when you first walked in. To my left, I caught the glimpse of a dim bedroom.

"I hope Kasper has something to drink," I commented, veering into the kitchen.

Dimas said nothing, manner stoic has he walked over to the doors of a balcony in the living room and made sure they were locked before pulling all the drapes.

I found a bottle of mead and a glass, and poured myself a healthy amount. It felt like someone was taking a lighter to my nerves, burning them up. I didn't want to be stuck here, not knowing what was happening back at the castle. I didn't want Eris or Kasper to get hurt. Reaver I didn't really care about, but I supposed I might prefer if he lived. Because he was a powerful ally, I guess. And really, right now I needed all the allies I could get.

"So, what's the deal with this magick stuff?" I asked Dimas, moving over to a dark gray couch.

He looked at me, but remained silent.

"I'm your prince, there's nothing you should hide from me." I reminded.

Dimas stood by the balcony doors, keeping an eye on the dark streets below. "I suppose Kasper's going to tell you sometime, anyways."

"So?" I hedged, taking another mouthful of honey alcohol.

"Kasper and I come from an old bloodline of Slavic witches. It's a small, closely-knit group. We don't openly display our magick to outsiders. But we're here in your country for a reason. A purpose."

"And that is?"

"A prophecy," Dimas stated. "One that our oracle saw coming many years ago."

"Guessing it's bad," I murmured around the rim of my glass. "Because everything's shit right now."

"It's very bad." he agreed. "The prophecy tells of a very powerful demon coming into power, one that will bring all the demons out of the underworld, and to here to the surface realm, the human realm."

I stared at Dimas for a long moment, fingers tightly gripping the glass in my hand to stave off the shaking in my appendages. My body was a wreck with anxiety. "Well, that sounds depressing."

"If a demon gets control over this realm, you'll never get it back. Think of it as the end of times, an apocalypse. This world would no longer resemble what you're used to. And humans are very low on the ranking of usefulness in the minds' of demons. You'd likely just be used as slaves for them to practice their magic on, as humans are in the underworld."