fol-jb's Diaryland Diary

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the next two chapters

Chase

This one was faster than the others. As they sped through the streets of England, the soldiers of the Order could not help but feel that this chase was going to turn very sour very quickly. This nightwalker was different than the others, although they couldn't tell how. Every time they would catch sight of him, he would disappear around another corner. The fastest men in the unit were already gone. They had been able to chase him down, but the blasphemous creature had slain them all. Now the unit was down to fifteen men. These beasts were always stronger and faster than any human man could ever be. The Order relied on either sheer numbers or cornering one a vampire to defeat them. As the unit rounded a corner and saw another three men bleeding on the ground, one of the men thought, "Looks like this one is going to the Coliseum."
With only twelve men, they would have to get lucky in order to catch this beast. As the unit followed the echoing footsteps down an alley, it split into two. One of the groups continued to follow the sound, while the other turned right and hoped to come up behind their quarry. It was a dangerous tactic, but it usually worked. As one of the two groups entered a small courtyard, it stopped. There in the center stood the creature they had been hunting, staring at them.
"Give up, Nightwalker. You can't run forever," yelled the captain.
"Ah ah ah, perks of immortality, I can run forever. You, however, cannot," replied the creature with a wicked smile.
At that moment, the creature leapt forward at the captain with superhuman speed. Before anyone could react, the captain was down. As the men hurried to organize themselves, the vampire faced another of them and prepared to lunge. As he did, however, he was struck in the shoulder by an arrow and pinned to one of the walls of the narrow alleyway. With a curse, he snapped the shaft of the missile in half and lunged at the unit again. Another arrow nicked him in the arm before going past him and piercing one of his adversaries. He spun and realized that he had been fooled. Enemies now stood behind him as well as before him. He pounced nimbly onto the soldier who had shot him. He was pulled off of the screaming man by the other soldiers, but not before sinking his teeth into the archer's neck.
As the vampire was dragged to the ground, he clawed and bit at anyone unfortunate enough to be caught unaware. He was far outnumbered, and knew that he could not prevail. Nonetheless, he clawed at one man's throat and was able to get a good enough grip to pull him in for a bite. He tore at the soldier's throat with his teeth until the man fell silent. The other men redoubled their efforts and were able to pull the struggling monster to the ground. As they did so, two of their number spoke.
A soldier asked, "How many have we lost?"
"Well let's see," replied another, "we started with twenty-five. The fastest five caught up to him and were completely slaughtered before we arrived. When we did, he was able to ambush us and take out another two. We lost another three when they got separated. He took out one of our group before you arrived."
The other man finished, "And then he took out one of our archers and another man while we were subduing him. So, that brings our final count to nine. The man that was hit with the arrow got lucky. It only hit him in the leg."
The vampire writhed under the hands of the soldiers, trying to break free. One of the men who had been talking approached him. He knelt down and spoke into the creature's ear.
"You killed sixteen of my men, Nightwalker. If it were up to me, you would die here and now."
"Then," replied the vampire, "I am grateful that it is not up to you." He smiled to show the man the blood of his fallen comrades.
Obviously angry, the soldier replied, "Just because I must take you before the Emperor alive, that doesn't mean that you will make the journey awake."
As he said this, he struck the vampire on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. The creature blinked drowsily a few times before losing consciousness.

Judgment

As he walked through the halls toward his throne room, young Emperor Longinus recounted the story that had been sent to him from the Order by one of their runners. They had recently tracked a particularlydangerous vampire to England, where he slew sixteen of the Order's hunters. Sixteen! Normally, he thought, the quarry would be lucky to have four or five kills. This prey, however, had apparently proved to be much more difficult a challenge. He was excited to meet this creature. He did regret, however, the terrible inconvenience at having to do so at night. Ever since he had become Emperor of Rome two months ago on his seventeenth birthday, he had been quite busy. He had known that ruling was hard work, but he had never imagined the volume of work to be done. As he yawned off the last traces of sleep, he rounded the corner and entered the throne room.
As he sat, the doors to the Great Hall opened. Six men of the Order entered, carrying a large iron cage with a heap of cloth in it. In front of them walked another man, dressed in ceremonial robes, a cleric of the Order. As they neared the Emperor, he saw in the candle light that this heap was in actuality a vampire. As he looked into the cage, the creature met his gaze. The young ruler was transfixed as the captive stared at him with icy blue eyes. As he broke off his gaze, Longinus saw the vampire run his tongue over his teeth.
Longinus asked the cleric, "Is this the one that was mentioned in the message?"
"The same, my lord," he answered.
Longinus looked again to the vampire in his iron prison. The beast had not taken its eyes off of him. "So, you are the Nightwalker who killed sixteen men of the Order?"
The vampire smiled devilishly and looked at the priest and said mockingly, "The same, my lord." He looked back at the emperor through his bars and hissed, "Where are your infamous Praetorian bodyguards that I've heard so much about, O Mighty Ruler?"
The young potentate ignored the creature's obvious contempt and answered, "I make it custom not to have them present at these judgments. They tell me that vampires are too dangerous to be kept alive."
"You should listen to them," the vampire replied showing his fangs.
"Oh come now," continued Longinus, "people once thought dogs too dangerous to be kept close. Over time, however, they were tamed."
The creature was visibly angered by this analogy and said, "With all due respect, Emperor, my people are not dogs, and will not be made subservient."
"We shall see," said Longinus. "Tell me, Nightwalker, what is your name?"
The vampire gnashed his teeth and stared at the emperor for a moment before responding, "Brittanicus, O Noble Lord."
"Well, Brittanicus, you have passed judgment. You shall be taken to the Coliseum tonight, given quarters and begin your training as a gladiator. I think you will find this option much more favorable than death. Of course, even if you don't, I'm afraid you have no choice." As he said these words, he waived his hand and the men who had borne the cage to the throne room lifted it once more and carried it away. After they had gone, the cleric approached Longinus.
"My lord," he began, "I must advise against this. This vermin has already killed many of the Order. He is much more dangerous than any other Nightwalker we have yet encountered. I fear for the safety of Rome as long as he lives."
Longinus attempted to calm the old man. "Don't worry Corminus. As I told the Nightwalker, all that is required for obedience is time. Once he has calmed down a bit, I think he will be very valuable for the entertainment of my subjects."
"As you say my lord," Corminus replied, "but please, to ease my nerves, have the Praetorians with you at all times from now on."
"Of course."

8:06 p.m. - 2006-01-24

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