Chapter 37: Unholy
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“The plan was to just trap him there,” a flirtatious voice rang in his ears. Xana turned back and saw Marabonta in a bright pink bikini.

“What in the world are you wearing?” Xana smirked in disgust. “This is indeed indecent.”

“I heard it’s an ‘in’ thing in the twenty first century,” Marabonta got up from her seat near the oval stone table and wrapped her hands behind Xana’s neck. “For men, you don’t even need the top.”

Xana pulled away from her embrace and took his place at the end of the stone table. None were in the room except for them both. He distinctively remembered that he called for a meeting earlier, and it looked like no one obeyed. “Oh don’t be rough on the edge,” Marabonta leaned against the table. “You were an hour late, and they do have their various assignments to accomplish, also by your orders. Who told you to play around with the boy?”

“Then what about you?” he balled his fingers into a fist. “You have an important role to play as well.”

“Currently, there are no orders to infiltrate yet. You started to forget about me and didn’t give me any tasks so far,” Marabonta blurted and folded her slender arms. “Anyway, your recent doing may have exposed us. It doesn’t matter whether he’s already dead. That mouth still functions even seventeen years later! And we don’t even know when –”

“Patience, is what I see that you lack most in, Marabonta,” Xana shot up straight, walked to her and gripped her wrist. “If you want a task so much, then I’ll give you one right now!”

♥

“What do you mean you can’t find my brother?!” Cornelia shouted too loudly in Tiadora’s ear as she was kneeling over Cornelia, healing the wound at her stomach.

Tiadora stood up back, looking at both Kiara and Cornelia who sat on David’s bed. Without having a clue of what to answer, she didn’t make eye contact. Instead, Tiadora faced David who was leaning on his study desk, silent with downcast eyes with Mokona by his side. It was necessary though. David was losing control, and Mokona was the only one who could mentally ‘ground’ him with her ‘shared’ gift.

David felt like letting it go, but it’ll only injure his friends. He remembered fainting earlier due to an unfamiliar stench, and the next thing he knew, Mokona was patting on his head and he didn’t feel bloodlust anymore. He can’t recall how many times he had apologized to Cornelia, but she’d just shrug it off saying that it was normal. Which part of that was normal?! He thought deeply to himself.

“Like I said earlier, I thought he was with you after transporting the barrels because I couldn’t enter the opening,” Tiadora explained. “So I ran back here and found you in a mess.”

“Yeah well thanks anyway,” Cornelia rolled her eyes and winced at the pain. “Without you, we wouldn’t have controlled vamp dude over there. Thanks, Mokona.”

“Without her?!” Kiara suddenly fired. “Heck she didn’t even tell us that Mokona could! I mean the job would have been hell of a lot easier if she did! Cornelia wouldn’t have to even suffer that cut!”

“Kiara,” Cornelia was taken aback.

“No! I’ve had it! Really!” Kiara almost screamed. “I really have no qualms about taking on the role as a guardian of Water now. I know that in all these years of generations, we’re the only ones suitable blah blah blah. But if you really want our fullest devotion and whatever, you got to fill us with everything! We’re not stupid peasants you can fool! Since you didn’t know, Kadic is one of the most prestigious academies in the world!”

Tiadora looked down, feeling afraid of Kiara’s temper. “What’s this I heard about Amerix? Depleting energy from the Sun? Would you rather have our Sun die?!”

“No, of course not! Mokona needed to be with you because it could help control David…”

“Then why didn’t you tell us this when you were sending a telepathic message to Cornelia, huh?!” Kiara seethed, standing in front of Tiadora to get the message through. “Answer me! Jason is blindly following your orders without considering anything that is realistic or detailed. To him, as long as people are happy, he is too, regardless of whether it affects him negatively or not. And you’re just some…bitch you just plopped from the sky and ‘boom!’ all four of us have powers! And I hate it if I do not get all the facts!

“Having powers is one thing,” Kiara lowered her voice, but still filled with fury. “Controlling it, is another, but knowledge is always power.”

Kiara paced herself and looked at David, who was still as silent as ever before shouting again, “My David suffers. He was left there at the beach alone with that sick pure-blood vampire, and was not fully-prepared to be able to defend himself! He kept quiet all the time, making excuses to go to the Principal’s office because he’s practically Cyrus’ coka-cola or champagne for god sake. If you’d had told us earlier about everything, he could have…”

She was caught short when David suddenly appeared in between them. He looked up to me her amber eyes and shook his head. “No, Kiara,” David said it in a sad whisper. “There wasn’t…enough time. And at that day, it was only three days after we found out that we have these powers. It would have been a shock to all of us to compile all of these ‘magical’ information all in those three days.”

He saw her face change, from anger to mixed feelings as he touched her cheek and pleaded with his eyes. There were already in a difficult situation themselves, and David knew that making it worst wouldn’t help. “Please,” he stared into her amber eyes. “I am…grateful that I’m a vampire. It’s a punishment for everything I did to you and to others in the past. At that time, I didn’t trust Tiadora either, but she’s now our only hope of keeping all of this together.

“Don’t let me being a vampire, affect you,” he continued, trying to reason. “I…deserve it.”

“For what?” Kiara, flared up by her anger once more, shot back. “Don’t act dumb with me. There’s something about you, your retribution, and I’m not surprised if Austin is involved!”

“Austin?” now Cornelia was really confused. “That new kid who got you to the hospital when you were bitten? How does he fit into the situation?”

“He attacked David once, remember? That evening after we sent Ulrich to the infirmary because of that giant sea creature, he attacked him for no reason. So it’s either he’s a villain dolling up as a student and randomly trying to hurt David or he’s an old friend of David’s whom he doesn’t have a good relationship with. I’ve never heard you talk about this Austin guy before, but when he saved me from you that night and from the way he spoke about you, it’s quite obvious that you and him, ain’t pals!” she blurted all at once.

Kiara could see that she had hit a nerve as David looked almost stunned. "You don't need to know about it..."

"No, you're wrong. I want to know about it. I want to know everything about your problems, and even this magical shit," Kiara began to blaze her fury feelings even louder, looking back at Tiadora as she pushed David aside to face her. "How can we, as a group, proceed, if all of us are keeping secrets from one another?! There would be no connection!"

"Stop!!" Cornelia shouted, silencing Kiara and breaking the demonic tension in the room. "Have all of you forgotten that Jason is missing?! You want to do this as a group? Fine. But the group is currently missing a member, so can we please just look for Jason first!! And then we discuss it, as a group!!"

Everyone turned silent and looked around guilty. Soon, Kiara was the first to exit.

★

A melodious tone rang in the air. Jason couldn't make it out what was it but all he saw was just blank void. Then, the sound turned symphonic and it grew in crescendo so soothingly. He thought maybe, it was heaven's welcoming party. But it didn't matter, it was beautiful to hear, as it was the string sounds of a violin, an instrument he plays. Although he knew and played millions of violin pieces worldwide, Jason couldn't recognise the particular tune. It was like as if it was created unknowingly.

When he could finally flicker his eyes open, Jason gazed upon the turquoise sky. It was obvious that it's the sky as the clouds were all puffing about in midair. "I'm alive?" Jason muttered, not believing himself that he had made it out of the basement. "But that would mean..."

"You talk to yourself often?" a female voice halted Jason's thoughts. It wasn't Tiadora's, hers would be more soothing, and Kiara's would be a high-pitched voice like Sally's. He had heard it before but couldn't recall, so he braced himself, sat upright and turned around.

There, standing up with a violin on her shoulder, was a girl with a long straight blue ponytail that pushed her fringe all the way to the back. She wore a normal simplicite white blouse and blue jeans to match. Jason squinted his eyes properly as the Sun was behind her, she was awfully familiar. The girl then kneeled forward towards him and gave a small smile, "Hello there, violin buddy!"

"Do I know you?" Jason scratched his head. "It's like I've seen you before."

The girl giggled, "I'm Melody, remember? We ate nachos to gether the day after the Snow White play."

"Oh yeah!" Jason snapped his fingers. "You're that French girl, right? Sorry I kinda forgot."

"It's ok. I'm not so used to mixing around your crowd so much," Melody sat on the floor, cross-legged like Jason to be on the same level. "What were you doing up here?"

"Me?" Jason asked himself again too. He could only remembering on the verge of dying in the basement. How did he end over here? "What do you mean by up here?"

"Duh, we're literally on top of the auditorium. Can't you see that it is four-sided and that there's no building around us but the skies," Melody spread her arms wide as if hugging the wind. "Normally, I'd sneak here to practice my violin almost every evening. No one knows about it. And so, after about ten minutes of playing, a blast of light came from behind there."

Melody pointed to a generator not far from their position. "I was so worried when you were unconscious and I kept on trying to wake you up. I thought you were dead because you weren't even breathing," Melody looked down with a mixed expression. "What happened to you? Why are you like this?"

Melody's thrusted her finger at Jason. He was confused and looked down at himself as well. The rusted poles were no more and all his wounds had healed. There wasn't even a single ugly scar. But he understood why she was shocked. His clothes were ruined, torn and battered. No wonder he could see his bare skin easily. There were jagged holes all over. It seemed that the Sapphire Crimson didn't sew back his shirt or jeans. Even his exclusive jacket was destroyed. And what was worst, there were the blood stains on his 'remaining' clothings. Melody got impatient and asked again, "Did you like, get into a gang fight or something?"

"Erm no," Jason got up and scanned himself. Not a good sign at all. He wanted to give an answer but he himself didn’t know what had really happened. If Dakota had saved him, Jason didn’t notice. And there was also another factor to consider, how did the poles get pulled out from his body and he didn’t feel a single thing? "Really. I just woke up and found myself here."

"Are you..." her voice was interrupted with a song. Melody fished out her phone from her bag pack and answered. After a few 'yes' and 'alright's, she snapped her Samsung shut and started to carry her bag. "I'm sorry. The delivery man is here for my dinner. I'll have to speak with you another time. Goodbye."

Jason nodded, letting her go. He didn't wish to answer any more questions, but as she trotted to the exit, Jason called out, "Hey! What song were you playing just now? I've never heard of it before."

She stopped in her tracks and looked back. "I made it yesterday," she chimed cheerily. "I call it 'Knights of the Round Table'."

In moments, Melody trotted off through the exit, leaving Jason alone to his thoughts. Dakota, did you save me back there? If so, then why up here? The moment he thought of that, he’d figured it was ridiculous. Dakota was a dragon. Of course, it will drop him somewhere high. Jason chuckled at his thought and stared into the skies hoping that Daokta could hear him, “Wherever you are, thank you.”

♫

"Mokona," the white creature's ears shot up when its name was heard from its master. "May I ask you something?"

"If it doesn't involve anything regarding the cause of nature, sure," Mokona beamed at David from his shoulder.

"Remember the flower, Vitani?" David continued as he walked along the deserted corridor. "She can grant any sorts of wishes, am I right?"

Mokona nodded slightly, "Yes, but she's still young and therefore can grant only three wishes. It'll take probably another few million years until she can grant as much. Plus, her powers now are not as vast. It is necessary that whatever you wish for must be within her capability. You're not thinking..."

"No, I was just curious," David said almost too quickly.

"Most people misunderstand this but, a human vampire’s physical form is very different from a pure-blood’s," Mokona tried to see if David flinched, but he made no drastic expression. "Once a pure-blood bites a human, its saliva or rather its venom, gets into the blood streams of a human. Now the genes in the venom are normally used to a pure-blood’s physical body but once it’s in a human, the genes get confused and instead, changes all of your ‘human’ parts into a vampire’s one. However, since it’s not as pure, it’s defective, and that’s why humans don’t live very long once they transform into one. The body just can’t support vampire functions.”

“So it looks like I got about five more days left since Tiadora said normal human vampires live for only a week,” Mokona was surprised that David looked like as if he was smiling while saying that. It really didn’t understand what David was thinking. “Why did you tell me all this?”

Mokona sighed, “That’s because…there’s a cure to turn you back into a human, but it became extinct ten years ago, Anastasia time. It’s a golden clover. A petal can cure anything, and sometimes even prolong death. I have heard that it can destroy the venom within you, but…”

David smiled and kneeled until he was close to Mokona from the ground. “It’s okay, Mokona,” David patted it on the head. “I don’t mind being a vampire. The only thing that irritates me is that wild lustful hunger whenever I look at people. I’m glad that you are able to stop it by just touching me.”

At that moment, David spotted a podgy man running across the corridors in a hurry. David didn’t really notice it but it was a long time since he’s seen Figis. The short man with the familiar small black eyes, wobbled hastily towards the main gate as if he was running away from the school. At first David wanted to run after him and ask him why, but then he had an idea. With a snap of his fingers, a wide brown wall immediately emerged from the ground, making Figis almost crash into the blockage.

The dwarf-like man turned around to face David. He was fumbling with the CL uniform, and shivering as if in fear once David started to walk towards him. “No! Stay away from me!” he leaned against the wall so hard David thought he made a dent. “You and that other boy are filthy! Unholy creatures who taints the guardians’ title, release me before I call forth Lord Xana!!!”

“Lord?” Mokona and David said in unison. They were finally nearer and even more confused. Figis was supposed to be on their side. “That thing ain’t a god, you know? I know that I’m a vampire, but that doesn’t mean that you treat me indifferently.”

Instantly, David, using his new quick ability, thrust his hand out and strangled Figis with one hand. He lifted Figis above ground and felt his green eyes scorch red. Even with Mokona by his side, David could feel his ‘hunger’ growing hot inside, but this time, he wasn’t so much triggered by the scent of Figis’ blood. David just felt angry. “Please!” Figis choked his words. “Help!”

Suddenly, the wall disappeared, and a puff of black cloud formed at the gates. With the wall gone, Figis began to struggle, but David looked like he didn’t need much effort to still hold him there, but there was something about the smoke that caught his eye. When he saw the moving figure walking towards them, David’s smile turned into a frown.

With hair so long that it touched the ground, David recognized the hypnotist strutting her way towards them. David stared angrily, as if Figis had summoned her here. However, the very moment she came up close, Marabonta pulled Figis’ back with such a strong force that when she released him, Figis crashed all the way to the next block after the school gates, which was several metres away.

“A message from my master,” she smiled cunningly and her eyes turned from blue to silver as if pulling David into a trance. Marabonta came closer to David’s ear and hissed, “Come and elope with me.”

“That’s sick!” David pushed her away in disgust, shaking his head. “Mokona, my head hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” Mokona looked at David pleadingly. “But I had to give you a headache so that you won’t get hypnotized. Your brain will be ‘preoccupied’ to not be caught.”

“Scum!” Marabonta got up and brushed her mini-skirt. “Anyway, Xana will be having a Venetian ball after the Summer vacation, and he is inviting you and the rest of the guardians. You need not fret. All of the citizens of Anastasia who has stumbled upon this time zone are invited. It will be on the sixteenth of June at the Heritage. Until then, let’s hope our paths cross again.”

With that, she quickly disappeared, leaving glitter on the ground. Mokona rubbed the texture and sneezed. “It’s the same powder that Kiara used this morning.”

“What?” David’s eyebrows raised. “How did you know what she was wearing?”

“It is similar,” Mokona patted the glitter. “Although, this one smells slightly different. My nose can’t stand this type of smell.”

“Sixteenth June,” David muttered to himself, totally ignoring Mokona.

“Do you think it is a trap?” Mokona wondered aloud.

David shook his head and scratched, “Some other event happens on that day too, but I can’t seem to remember what.”

“Hrmm, according to this time’s calendar that is about,” Mokona, too, scratched its furry head. “Two months and three weeks time.”

David didn’t reply immediately. Instead, his expression grew more serious and tense. “Figis called me and Jason filthy.”

“Wow. You sure know how to change the topic fast.”

“That’s no the point,” David run his fingers through his hair and sighed, as if he was worried. Mokona thought he looked as if he was panicking. He then stared back at Mokona and gasped, “The sixteenth day of June is Jason's birthday."