Preys and Predator Part II; the monster and witches' Chapter 51

 

51.

Spielberg stood up holding the cane. It was a hard decision for him. Was he to save his daughter or end the saga with the witches? Was he cursed to be associated with the witches? “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! Isaiah 14:12.” Those words swam in his mind. Was he cast by God to be there?

“Rudolph, please.” Lissa called him by his nickname. She once told him Rudolph suits him better in name. She told him that the name means "famous wolf. He was to her the prime wolf that leads the pack. Just like when he led the regiment colors, he was the leader.

“Save your daughter.” Lissa spoke to him. “We came far and wide to be with her. She will carry our legacy, and the coven will be ... established and ... famous.”

“Famous like Rudolph.”

“Spielsdorf, she speaks the truth.” Annabelle added.

“Betrayals are inevitable, but great devastation will come to the one guilty of betraying others. It would be better for him to have a heavy boulder tied around his neck and be hurled into the deepest sea than to face the punishment of betraying one of my dear ones! Luke 17:1-25.” Spielsdorf said while looking at Lissa. “Was I betrayed?”

“Did you ever feel love? We took oaths to cherish, to hold, to …… undergo all the events together. Yes, you left my side earlier, but I carried you in my heart. Did you?”

“Yes, I do. I have always watched over you and Lauren.” Lissa replied. “Love knew no boundary.”

“Did it? You bound yourself here to …… Say it out, Lissa.” Spielberg was angered. “We travelled to find the one who caused you to leave us. Did you ever know?”

“Yes, the coven matters to me… above all else.” Lissa sighed. “Carmilla, in her anger, made me lose my humanity and crippled our daughter, but now she has repented of her errors.”

“For that, all is forgiven, huh?” Spielberg looked towards Carmilla. “You destroyed my family, and now you are asking me to give my daughter……. What? A new life?”

“Yes, Spielsdorf. A new life to her. A new life to all of us. A new life to the coven. Lauren will be the …”… Carmilla cried out.

“No…….” Spielberg shot Carmilla from the concealed revolver. The bullet impacted on the lady’s chest. She was slammed back to the back of the seat.

“Spielberg, you……” Carmilla held up her hands over her wound. “I……”

“Sister …….” Lissa rushed to Carmilla’s side with Lauren.

“I am dying…… I will soon be…… dead.” Carmilla sighed. “The beginning and the end are nexus in the journey of life. Mine will be over. I am glad that Lauren has taken over that responsibility from me.”

“I can save you, Carmilla.” Lauren approached the lady. “I have the means……”

“Silly lady. You have more things to accomplish than to save my life. My journey ends and yours… is soon to take place.” Carmilla smiled. “With my death, the vampire war is over. The coven war is over.”

“No, my love. Please do not …… leave me.” Vlad, still stuck to the wall, called out. “Let me see you once more.”

Lauren released the vampire from the wall. He fell to the floor and then stood up.

“Dignity is mine.” Vlad stood up and then walked towards Carmilla. He went on his knees and took her hands.

“I do love you, Carmilla Karnstein.” The shrieks of the other brides echoed on the walls.

“Vlad, I do it for you, but we were never meant to be. I am a witch, and you are……”

“A lover for you.” Vlad smiled. “I loved you as mine, and not because you are…….”

The echoes of the brides were louder, and then the swarm of bats flew away.

“I need to go. Dead is not my favourite event. I may cry at the weddings, but at death, I have to say…….” Vlad's tears flowed. “I dislike deaths.”

Vlad stood up and walked to the door.

“Lauren, I will be back.” The vampire then dissipated. Carmilla Karnstein took her last breath.

“Spielsdorf, give me the blood jewel.” Annabelle said. “It may save Carmilla.”

“No!” Lissa intervened. “The blood belongs to Lauren. It was to be Carmilla’s gift.”

“She is our sister.” Annabelle cried out. “We have to save her.”

“It is not called anymore. It is Lauren’s.” Lissa looked at the younger lady. “If you give her the blood, you will be incomplete. The paths before you will be…… dangerous if you are not complete. You may lose it all.”

“I ….” Lauren, in the short time, has become a witch when just days ago, she was an invalid on the bedding. Her transformation was intense, and she had not come to grips with her new personality and powers.

“Rudolph, please give her blood.” Lissa begged," “She cannot be…… incomplete.”

Spielberg held hard on the cane. He was unsure of the action to take.

His daughter or her coven?

“I must save her.” Annabelle rushed towards Spielsdorf. The latter had raised the cane and leveled it at the witch. The sharp end of the cane pierced the witch at the throat. The blood from Annabelle spurted out, and some landed on Spielsdorf face. Her form dissipated then.

“Annabelle!” Lissa called out. She embraced Lauren as if to shield her.

“You killed Annabelle. She ……without her powers, she was like any mortal. You killed her.”

“No, Lissa. I did not. I…...was protecting myself.” Spielberg said.

“As you had done years ago. How many innocents died on your hands, Rudolph? Thousands or millions?”

“Lissa, I told you before. I am a military man.”

“No, Rudolph. You are a monster.” Lissa glared at him. “If she stays with you, she will be one soon.”

“I am not a monster. I am …” Spielberg defended his action. It was then he recalled the image of the monster at the lab.

“Yes, the monster dwells with you, yet you could not see it. You cannot, for you are one with them.” Lissa said. “Your monster dealt with the demon that was to attack your daughter. Not that day, but one day soon.”

“I am……” Spielberg looked at the cane he held.

“The witch shall not be complete.” The voice reverberated in the mansion. “I am the Supreme One.”

Spielberg felt force on the cane, and he gripped it harder with both hands. Lissa pushed Lauren towards the father.

“Take the cane, Lauren.” Lissa called out. Lauren jumped over the table, kicking away the feast there. She leaned forward to reach her father.

“Father!” Lauten called out," Spielberg heard her call and rushed to the table. He felt himself held back by some invisible force, and Lauren sensed it. She grabbed the athame, the carving knife on the table, and called up the spell. It propels her forward to her father, and with the knife, she slashes at the invisible force holding her father.

Spielberg felt the force was off him, and then he moved towards Lauren. He pushed out his left arm towards her. Lauren grabbed the cane and swung the head of it towards her. She jabbed the cane with the blood jewel into her chest, and then she screamed.

Her screams echoed in the mansion, and the stillness prevailed.

“Lauren, are you good?” Lauren, lying on the table, looked at the face of her father. She looked pale then.

“I am ……fine.” Lauren pushed herself and then got off the table. “It was a ……. Where is Mother?”

Lissa was missing.

“It took her.” Lauren said.

“Who?” Spielberg asked.

“Beelzebub.” Lauren said. “Master Ernest Frankenstein summoned the demon. The portal door is now open. The demon took the mother. We must find her.”

“How?” Spielberg asked.

“I do not know. I was with Carmilla, but I must learn from Mother or Aunt Annabelle. My …… training was …… not complete.” Lauren looked at the father.

“The blood jewel is an empowerment, but the training was to help me use it……fully.”

“Oh, God. What have I done?” Spielberg sighed.

“We must find Mother. The war is not over.” Lauren looked at the contents of the table. “I need to find the means to complete my training.”

Lauren called on the spell to rearrange the contents on the table. She picked up the wand and cauldron.

“Carmilla told me of the ancient books here. There are some at the other mansion. Aunt Annabelle entrusted it to Ernest. We need those too.” Lauren looked around the mansion.

“We also need the help of the undead.”