Intertwined Fates 17: Desperate Measures

Chapter 17: Desperate Measures

"If you haven't figured it out by now Kally, you're bait. I want Jake to at least suffer a little. See what happened to my face?" asked Miranda gesturing to the burns on her face.

"His friend did this to me and then he abandoned me! I made him, and he still has his looks intact!" raged Miranda. Gregor who was standing by the door listened intently.

"Since we will be here for sometime, I am going to tell you a story. What it was meant to be like... You could have so much power Kally; my bodyguards tell me of your fiery spirit," said Miranda.

"I was just finishing my degree when I met this man; he said he could promise me power and influence. I was always a very manipulative person so this seemed perfect to me, I didn't know what he was just yet however. So I accepted his offer," said Miranda

*

"Follow me then," said Markus as he led Miranda out of the crowded club.

He led her inside a small room in an apartment building and sit down in one of his chairs. "I am a very old vampire, Miranda. I believe it's been almost half a millennia since I died," Markus started.

Miranda stared at him open eyed. "I know, it is a shock when you first hear about it. Finding out the myth is reality, come over here I want to show you something,"

Miranda walked over to him. "Kneel down, this is not something I can do while I can't reach you," said Markus

"Ok, vampire, this should be interesting," said Miranda as she knelt down beside Markus.

He reached over and bit into her neck with his fangs, she gasped in pleasure as Markus fed on her.

"I hope you don't have to be anywhere for the next few days, this process takes a few days to recover from," he said as he pulled away.

"I am fine, I don't have anything important going on," she replied. She squealed as Markus picked her up and carried her into his bedroom. Lying her down on the bed he continued to draw blood from Miranda's neck until he felt her pulse grow weak. He lifted his mouth away from her and sealed the bleeding.

"Now rest, I shall talk to you tomorrow when you are rested up," said Markus. Lying down beside her as she fell into exhausted sleep.

*

"Now I knew that to get this power, I would have to undergo the change. But Markus withheld that from me, he kept saying that I wasn't ready. Some months later I was at a bar having a drink when this sexy man sat down next to me and bought me a drink. He told me that he was finishing his last year of his business degree and had already got a mid-level job with a large manufacturing company. Since Markus was still withholding what I wanted to get I decided to use this man. Markus still needed to get power and support. He knew of one way to get a large amount of power but it would take a long time to set it up and it would need a willing subject for it to work correctly. So I got to work on the man I met, I certainly had fun doing it too. He had such a great body and was better in bed then Markus was. Then it came down to start my plan."

*

"Miranda, these past two years with you have been so amazing," said Carl he grinned happily, kissing her softly.

"You have been great too Carl, I'm glad I found somebody like you," smiled Miranda sweetly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. 'I think he'll make an excellent vampire, he has hidden strength that he hasn't discovered yet,' thought Miranda.

"Make me the happiest man, Miranda, and marry me," said Carl as he kneeled on one knee and presented her with a fine crafted diamond engagement ring.

Miranda grinned happily and thought 'This isn't going to take as long as I thought.' "Yes of course I'll marry you, Carl," said Miranda and hugged him tightly.

"Everything is going so well, I have an awesome job and I'm getting married to the most beautiful woman" said Carl, he kissed her passionately.

*

"I did tell you Kally that he was incredibly good in bed. Well he certainly knew how to make me scream, after I accepted his proposal, he took me to bed. Of course still being human I was very sore in the morning. Later I learned how impatient Markus could be. After I married Carl he wanted to move things along. He wanted to turn me and use Carl for the ritual as he was getting quite power hungry. I still needed to find out more things, so I went and found more about this ritual. I found that it was a blood binding ritual that connects the human to the vampire as the change is made. If the full ritual is used both will be connected and will be able to contact the other, but if its used with the one sided way the human will be bound to the vampire and won't have any will," said Miranda studying Kally as she watched her.

Kally decided that it was better to listen to her story then trying to struggle knowing that Gregor was standing in the corner keeping a careful watch over things.

"If Markus hadn't been so damned impatient things would have turned out the way I wanted them to. I was looking for somebody to share the power with. I thought that was going to be Carl. I was so close to revealing everything to him. Then Carl got promoted to the boss and ran an audit, finding all the money that I had been using for Markus. I really did like Carl, maybe not actually love him but if more time had passed then I could have had a deeper connection," said Miranda sighing.

*

"Miranda? What is all this? Where did this money go to?" asked Carl, heart broken as he discovered that his wife who he loved deeply had been stealing from him.

"I was going to tell you very soon, Carl," said Miranda knowing that it was a lost cause.

"Yeah, right. You weren't, you wouldn't have ever said anything if I hadn't caught you," said Carl sadly. He continued, "I want you out of this house now Miranda, I don't want to see you again," while trying to keep his composure. When she turned to leave Carl called out to her. "My lawyers will be in contact with you."

***

Miranda slammed the door in frustration upon entering her house. "What's wrong Miranda?" asked Markus.

"Carl is divorcing me because he found the missing money that you said he wouldn't find," snarled Miranda.

"Well that is certainly a problem," said Markus

"It certainly is. Now we can't do that ritual of yours properly. He's not going to want to do it now, I was going to talk to him very soon. If you hadn't needed that money, Carl would have been ours. The council will not agree to this now that Carl will be unwilling," Miranda growled.

"I have favor in high parts of the council; I will see what I can get," said Markus.

*

"Not much longer after Carl sent me the divorce papers, Markus turned me. They would have left Carl alone if it had not been for them uncovering a picture of Carl and Joy in a hidden storage room. The council has access to a seer and she spoke of a prophecy that I don't know the details of, but it included Carl and a threat. So The Queen wanted something done about it. But she didn't really push on the issue until the seer actually started seeing Carl in visions.

I thought that if I could get close to Carl again I could convince him to join me when I received the power. But that chance was lost, I moved too late and he started seeing Joy. So the only choice left was to do the slave binding spell.

There needed to be a human channel for it to work, the channel also had to be connected to me in some way. So Carl was the only one I could use. When it was time to bring Carl over, I couldn't believe that I was upset that all the love that Carl used to feel for me had turned to anger. Then it happened, when I was drinking his blood, turning him. A wave of searing pain blasted into me and the cloud of silver gas spread, it hurt so badly," said Miranda, watching the interested gaze in Kally's eyes.

"Out of all of the agony Markus drew away all of the pain. His power is that he's immune to the effects of silver and that he can draw silver poisoning out and reverse its effects. He did his best but I was still left with these deformed burns on my face. I think he considers me damaged as he hasn't been around as much, he just has my bodyguards assigned to me," said Miranda, deciding that she could trust Gregor to keep the secret she continued, "Markus is going to wish that he never scorned me."

The door creaked open and Igor stepped in. "Gregor, could I talk to you outside for a moment?" asked Igor. Gregor stepped outside with Igor and the door creaked shut.

"It shouldn't be too much longer before Jake appears Kally. But I want you to know that I can offer you power the queen is weak and foolish. By chasing this prophecy all she is doing is chasing her own doom. I am still in need of somebody to share the power with, it's too much for one person. Decide carefully," said Miranda.

The door creaked open again. "Miranda, its ready," said Gregor.

"Ok, I'll be right there. Think about what I said, Kally," said Miranda. She walked outside and shut the door.

"Miranda, you're not damaged to me. Your scars make you even more beautiful," Gregor to her as he kissed her softly.

"Thanks, Gregor," said Miranda.

***

Leaving another bar, and another dead end, Jake walks towards one last place, hoping that he could find even one of Miranda's followers, just as long as he found Kally. Walking into the bar, he looks around as he heads to the bar. Sitting down at the bar his worry began to amplify, he only had two hours to find where she was. He spotted one of the vamps that he knew was connected to Miranda and he jumped up from the bar, looking for the stairs. Hopefully that the vamp doesn't notice him before its too late. Making his way through the crowd Jake saw his target jump up in fright as his eyes widening in fear as he saw Jake charging towards him. He tried to escape but the thick crowd blocked his attempts to flee while the crowd seemed to part like water for Jake. Jake rushed forward and slammed him against the wall, his arm crushing against his neck. "Where is Kally?" asked Jake coolly.

"I... don't know" managed the vamp, even though he had been there only a few hours before. Jake's inner demons began taking control of him as his eyes simmered and his fangs began to grow. Now as his human side began sliding away it allowed Jake more access to the vampire's demon bound power. He glared into the struggling vamps eyes, his literally burning gaze cutting into him. 'What the hell? He's not supposed to be able to do anything like that so soon after being turned,' thought the vamp desperately. Jake began to burn through the vampire's psychic shields.

When he had broken through the vamp twisted in silent pain as Jake ran through his mind looking for the information he knew he had. Jake staggered slightly when he saw a large decrepit looking building with a street sign out in front of it. He let the vamp go, the vamp collapsed to the floor shaking as the psychic intrusion had broken him.

***

Jake stood in front of a decaying building that used to be a hospital but fell into disuse when the larger better equipped hospital was built closer to the city centre. 'Looks like a place for a good hideout,' thought Jake. As he walked inside hoping that he'd find Kally down here, he pulled a gun out of his pants ready to fire it if he needed to. He hid around a corner watching a patrol pass by, when they passed he shot them in back with the darts he loaded the gun with. They collapsed, seizing as the liquid silver coursed through them. He snatched the keys hanging off the guard's belt, he continued down the hall as the guards vaporized into ash.

Jake came across a locked door, taking out the guards he walked towards the door. He tried the keys, trying to unlock the door not knowing the guards creeping up behind him. One of the guardsmen slammed him against the door while the other knocked him out. They opened the door and carried him inside. "Miranda is going to love this," said one of the guards.

"Yeah, she's going to love playing with him," said the other.

***

Kally sat back against the wall of the tight chamber that she was in, considering what Miranda had told her. Hoping though that Jake would come and save her, she berated herself for being so rash. The door creaked open and Jake was thrown into the cell, the slight scent of blood reminding her of how hungry she was.

She leaned over him and inspected the wound on his head, she impulsively licked the blood off his wound. She forced herself away from him as the hunger threatened to tear out of her. Jake groaned as he woke, he opened his eyes and saw the dirty ceiling of the isolation room they were in. He turned on his side and saw Kally.

"Kally! Thank god you're alright," said Jake.

"Thanks for coming, baby. I'm so sorry, baby. I was being completely irrational, I don't know what came over me," said Kally, looking into his starved eyes. "You haven't been feeding have you, Jake?"

"No I haven't, I feel faint. Like I'm going to pass out," said Jake as he stumbled over to Kally, collapsing against her.

"I wish I had some to give you baby, but I'm hungry too. I think they are waiting so they can force us to feed on whatever they throw in here," Kally said softly.

"I thought they might have to do that. You wouldn't feed on anything if you didn't want to, Kally," said Jake. "It's ok, baby, there's always other ways we can try if you want to, just me being silly. You wanted to become a vampire and be with me forever, so why wouldn't you want to get married?"

Kally squealed and hugged Jake tightly. "Of course, baby. We can figure out ways to do this but first we need to get out of here," said Kally.

***

"Igor found what we needed to trap Flavros, it's a mage's triangle. It's cornered by power stones that make a magical cell that demons can't cross," said Gregor as he and Miranda entered the catacombs under the headquarters. He pulled his shirt off and picked up some powder from a bowl and rubbed a line across his chest.

"Need to have blood split for the summoning. Igor needs to concentrate on the summoning so you can ask it questions. I don't have a clue what this powder actually does but Igor said it's needed. Its some sort of magical powder," Gregor told her.

"Good, we will be able to manipulate things to go our way," Miranda said.

"We need to have body contact for this, Miranda, since I need to transfer power to you so you can talk to the demon," said Igor as he prepared the spell. He placed the power stones in the large triangle of power laid out on the ground, moving back to the tome he accidentally nudged one of the stones without noticing it.

***

Flavros silently watched the man find out about his adulterous wife, and then he feels a sharp tugging as he is dragged away. When he reforms he's in a large chamber room with the same woman present when he broke into the world with two other men near her, one with energy flowing into her and the other standing their shakily with blood dripping from the slash across his stomach. He realized that the triangle of power they had him locked into wasn't completely sealed so he knew that he didn't have to tell the whole truth.

***

"Flavros we need to know certain things about the past and present," said Miranda, grasping Gregor's hand more tightly as his grip weakened.

"Go ahead, you caught me," said Flavros, thinking that this could be very fun indeed being able to tell the truths that he'd like to.

"I'd like to know where Joy Velasquez's brother is," said Miranda.

"Well you'd be in for a long list, do you know how many people there are with that name and have brothers?" asked Flavros "It's too general, what's the man's name?"

'Damn, I need his name. Well I could always ask something else,' thought Miranda.

"Will the prophecy involving Carl Knight who lives in this city and is a vampire come true?" asked Miranda.

'Well at least she tried,' thought Flavros as the future appeared blank as if the future was still trying to decide itself.

"The future is having trouble deciding that itself," said Flavros.

Miranda sighed impatiently and asked Igor, "Are you sure you did it right?"

"Yes, Miranda, he's compelled to tell the truth. The damn seer could have been lying about what she actually saw," said Igor.

"Did the seer Shiva lie about what she saw?" asked Miranda

"No, she did not," said Flavros, not bothering to say that she didn't say that she wanted to know about the past, giving him free reign on what he wanted to tell her.

"How long can this be maintained Igor?" asked Miranda.

"Until the power ring is broken." said Igor.

"Good, we'll be back to ask more questions later" said Miranda. She let go of Gregor who groaned and collapsed onto the floor.

"I'll get you some food, Gregor," said Miranda as she and Igor helped him from the room.

When they left the room Flavros used the energy that he had gained tormenting humans to push one of the stones out of alignment, opening two gaps in the field.

"Miranda, we just got word that Jake found the safe house. He's been locked away waiting for you," said a vampire that greeted Miranda as she entered the main hall.

"Good, I'll deal with it tonight. It's too late to go back now," said Miranda.

***

The door creaked open and a man walked into the cell. "Jason?" asked Jake stunned to see somebody that he worked closely with be apart of his imprisonment.

"Hello, Jake, Sarah wants to talk to you," said Jason as he picked up Jake's struggling form, and hauled him towards the door, ignoring Kally's cries.