Chapter 11: For the Love of All That's Roman!

     I had walked quite a ways before I realized that I didn’t know where I was going. I knew that there were vampires here, but I didn’t have a clue where they were stationed. I stopped where I was, trying to figure out where I was. I looked around and saw that I was walking towards the Coliseum. I suddenly straightened up with a smile and snapped my fingers, “The Via degli Annibaldi!” I laughed and swung my hips as I did a little victory dance. I knew where I would be going now. I twirled around until I was facing the right direction. Most of the vampires that I knew of were extremely vain, especially the old ones. If there was any where I was going to find even one, the Temple of Saturn would be it. I had passed it on the way here and not even noticed. As I began to walk towards my new destination, I saw a white light flash behind my eyes and felt an aching pain in the side of my head.

 

 

I woke to the sounds of a heated discussion. I groaned and heard the conversation stop. Someone kicked me in the side. “Shut up, Lycanthrope, we aren’t done talking yet.” I shook my head.

“For the love of, why do I just keep getting knocked out, kidnapped, and waking up in the middle of a ring of people I’ve never seen before!”

They all just looked at me before hitting me and knocking me out, yet again.

 

 

Before I woke up completely, I felt my head throbbing as I was moved. I was swinging back and forth, and when I opened my eyes I found a confusing scene. The road was above me, the sky was below me, and my eyes were about level with someone’s butt. I groaned and looked down…up. I was tied to a large, straight piece of wood that was held on the shoulders of two extremely nice looking young men. I saw that we were in a huge hallway, dark despite the light stone of the walls, and extravagant to the max, as if made for some sort of royalty. As we headed for a set of double doors, I heard one of the voices from the circle of people say: “Master, I have a surprise for you.” The voice was distinctly female, which, quite frankly, scared me more than it would have if it had been male. I once again heard a voice that I thought was vaguely familiar respond.

“What is that, Dearest?” The door opened at the snap of fingers and I was hauled in. As we entered I saw the face that belonged to the voice I had found so annoyingly familiar.

“Hadrian,” I said with a wry smile and upside down, “Fancy seeing you here.” Hadrian laughed.

“Yes, fancy that.” He turned to the shocked woman beside him, “Nike, I didn’t know that you knew about Akira. How nice of you to bring her here on a platter.” The man beside the woman Nike, her mate I presumed, seemed to be stifling giggles. I yawned.

“This is all very nice, but I’m getting rather tired of being knocked out and kidnapped. Plus, this is just really uncomfortable.” With that, I grabbed the pole that I was strapped to and swung back into a right side up position, wincing as the blood rushed out of my head. I shook my head before proceeding to bite through the leather tying my hands, my teeth sliding through them like they were butter. Then I used a stiletto from my boot to cut the bonds on my feet so that I could sit more comfortably on the pole that was still being held by the two handsome vampires. “Now, you were saying? Something about me being on a platter?”

The entire room shook with the laughter of about 20 vampires, including the ones that were currently holding my seat. I didn’t move from my perch on the never tiring shoulders of the vampires. I knew for a fact that they could hold something a million times heavier than I was for an inconceivable amount of time. Plus, they didn’t seem to mind so much.

As the laughter died down, one person spoke up. “But, Nike, did you tell him why we brought her here in the first place?” The speaker was a tall blond man who looked like he came from the time of Caesar. The first one. Nike’s face lit up, “Why, no Valerius, I did not.” She turned to Hadrian, “Would you like to guess, Master?” Hadrian brought his hand to his face and cupped his chin in thought.

“Umm…You found out that she’s a thousand year old Viking that found a rip in time and we have to eliminate her because she is the only one who can stop us from ruling the world?” Nike stared for a moment before regaining her composure with a smile, “No, guess again milord.”

“Uh…Oh, I’ve got it! She’s the Great Cosmic Aardvark!”

“No.”

“The empress of the Aztec Empire?”

“Not quite.”

“Jack the Ripper?”

“Non.”

“She accidentally smashed my Porsche?”

“Niet.”

“The person who stepped on my shoe three centuries ago and never apologized?”

“Nine.”

Hadrian’s face got red, “What then!?”

Nike smiled with a look of vicious victory that would have suited her name sake. “She killed Richard.” I cocked my head to the side as Hadrian reacted.

“What!?”

“It’s true, Master. Several witnesses saw her exit the building before he was found dead by his fledgling.”

“Excuse me.” I said in a small voice.

“How!?” Hadrian asked with rage. The one named Valerius shrugged.

“Excuse me!”

“How else? His heart was ripped from his chest and the hole was seared shut with holy water.”

“EXCUSE ME!!!” I yelled.

“WHAT!” They all screamed in response.

“You said Richard is dead?” I asked, having trouble grasping it.

“Yes,” Valerius sneered, “Like you didn’t know.”

“Actually, I didn’t.” I said with a mild amount of surprise.

“Lies!” a new roman exclaimed.

“It’s true. Last time I saw him he was alive and well.” I stated with a shrug.

“That’s exactly what all murderers say.” A dark haired woman said from across the room.

“That’s exactly what all wrongly accused innocents say as well.” I spat exasperatedly.

“Enough.” Hadrian declared quietly. The group quieted and I stared at him out of habit. He glared at me. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

I shrugged, not taking my eyes from him, “Ask Henry.”

“Who?”

“His fledgling, Henry.”

“No need,” Nike said nonchalantly, “Philia, bring him in.” The dark haired woman that had tried to discount my claims nodded and danced over to a door in the marble walls. She opened it, disappeared for a moment, and then reappeared with Henry. I heard his familiar British accent.

“Why am I coming in ‘ere? I already told you all I know, why do I need to ‘give testament’ again? I…” He stopped as he saw me. I waved and hopped down from my perch. The vampires seemed to edge away from me. “Blimey, if it ain’t Akira. I didn’t figure on seeing you for another couple weeks at the very least. How’d you end up ‘ere?”

I laughed, as Henry walked up and hugged me, “Well, it seems I’m in a bit of a pickle. It seems that when you ‘gave testament’ these wonderfully cheerful individuals decided that I had to have been the one to do it.”

“Blimey! The gits, I didn’t mean that you’d done it. I saws you leave, why would I jus’ let you leave if you killed my maker?”

“The ‘gits’ are right here. And if she didn’t do it, who did?”

“I dunno! I just knew that Richard’d told me that if anythin’ went wrong I ‘as to call that there numba, so’s I did. Lot o’ good it did me, but I did.”

“No one saw any one else come in or go out?” I asked, ignoring the death glares coming from the ‘gits’ in question.

“The gels didn’t see nothing, at least far as I know.”

“Huh. I wonder if-”

“This has been a wondrous amount of fun,” Hadrian said coldly, “But I believe we have things to discuss.”

“I was just leaving in any case,” Henry said with a smile. He waved to me and then ran out the door. Back to England, I presumed.

“And what is it that we have to discuss, Hadrian? More plots to get Adrian back?” I rolled my eyes as I sat on the edge of a grand fountain that I’d just noticed was there, flinching as His name accidentally slipped out.

“Everyone out.” Hadrian commanded, and the room emptied but for four people. “Amandus, shut the door.” The dark haired gladiator who had called me a liar crossed the room in an instant and shut the door. “Dearest Akira, I’d like you to meet my fledglings. This is Amandus and Philia, and of course you know Valerius and Nike. They’re my seconds. All of this, all of what was originally mine, is because of and for them. Do you know why I’m telling you this?”

“Not really, but I’m sure you’ll get to the point.”

“My point is that I’d really rather not end up like Richard, if you get my drift. If you had anything to do with this-”

“Which I don’t, as we’ve already established.” I said with impatience, “What is your connection with Richard anyways?” All of their faces darkened.

“He’s been my closest friend for centuries, but back to the point. Somehow, you are involved, whether you know it or not. I don’t want my family to end up like him, so ask what you were looking to ask and leave.”

I got up, stretching. “Fine with me. I was just going to ask where I should look if I wanted to find old long in the tooth.”

“Come again?” Amandus asked with not just a hint of confusion.

“Dracula, where can I find Dracula.”

“Not the slightest clue,” Hadrian said with a cool smile, much as I had suspected, “The last place I heard of him was Paris.”

“Good enough,” I shrugged, heading out the door. “Smell you later, Hadrian. Or not.” I was given my bag as soon as I got out the door from one of the vampires that had served as my transportation. I made a slight bow as I turned and left. Upon exit, my eyes met a scene that I should have expected. “Huh, so it really is ‘Hadrian’s Villa.” And with that, I jumped into the cool night air and started flying in the direction of the airport.

 

 

As soon as she was well away, Hadrian gave a wry smile of his own. “Now that’s done. I’ve done my duty.” He turned and walked through a secret doorway in the stone. He strode down a darkened hallway, his face stuck in the mask of solemnity. At the end of the hall was a small well lit room. In its center was a man dressed in black. He wasn’t injured in any obvious way, but he was hanging by his hands from a thick length of rope in the middle of the room.

“So,” Hadrian stated coldly, “This is our little intruder. You gave us a bit of a scare there. You and your friends almost had us there. If Akira hadn’t walked up at that moment, I believe you may have had my children in their graves. I really must thank her for her incredible timing. Not only did she give my children the upper hand by distracting you, I didn’t have to hunt her or you down. It really is remarkable.” Hadrian was circling the intruder as he hung from the ceiling. He had been the only one kept alive of the group of 20 or so that had caught Valerius and the others unawares on the Annibaldi. At just the right moment, Akira had walked up and distracted them. She had lost the group that had been following her from the airport, though they weren’t far behind her at the time. Valerius, Nike, Amandus, and Philia had found just enough time to dispose of the mob, knock out this one, and knock out Akira twice. He chuckled.

“Are you going to kill me yet?” The man asked from the middle.

“Oh, no, not yet. There are things to…discuss.”

“Like what?” the man exclaimed with exasperation, “The weather? Just kill me and get it over with!” Hadrian and the others laughed.

“Anxious are we? Don’t worry, I’m getting to it. But first…” He grasped the man’s chin firmly so that he couldn’t look away, though he tried. “Who sent you and why are you following Akira?”

“We are the One, we are sworn to defeat those who are beyond time,” The man recited from memory, Hadrian recoiled. “We pledge to protect those weaker than us by any means necessary. We pledge to never harm the innocent. We pledge to remove the ageless ones from the face of our mother earth. We pledge-” The man’s voice was cut off as Hadrian quickly gave him the death he had asked for.

“So that is why.” He said quietly. He looked up at Valerius. “Gather as many troops as you can. We must warn Him at all costs.” Valerius nodded and he and his brethren escaped from the tight little room. Hadrian followed at a slower pace, thinking. As he returned to the grand hall he reclined on one of the many chaise lounges and accepted a glass of bourbon from one of his children. He took a sip before leaning his head back. “We’re coming friend. Just hope we aren’t too late.”