Alcingeria Chapter Eleven: Ignacio's True Motives

Ignacio reveals his true motives for capturing The Scorpions. Ignacio reveals some very shocking information about Alcingeria's rulers.

Chapter Eleven Ignacio’s True Motives:

Wednesday June 23^rd 1690

 “Kid, grab a jar of blood and throw it at him! It will distract him for a few seconds!” Don shouted.

Doing as he said, I reached down behind myself and palmed a jar of blood. I reeled my arm back, ready to throw the jar at Ignacio. Ignacio darted forward quickly, this surprised me and threw my concentration off. He was now heading straight for us! Thankfully Don was quick and made a perfectly aimed throw, causing the jar of blood to hit Ignacio in the face and shatter. Ignacio screamed in pain and what I could only assume to be bloodlust. His tongue darted out of his mouth to lick the blood off of his face.

            “Take that! You pathetic leach!” Don shouted with a laugh.

Ignacio growled.

            “You arrogant mortal! I’ll show you a fate so painful that you’ll beg me to kill you!” Ignacio shouted at Don.

Don laughed with his natural cockiness.

            “I would love to see you try, you wretched blood-sucker!” Don taunted.

Ignacio lunged for Don, desiring to teach him a lesson. I aimed a throw at Ignacio and tossed the jar of blood that I still had in my hand at him. The jar broke on his shoulder, sending glass shards and blood across his skin. Ignacio screamed in pain and bloodlust and fell to the side.

I looked over to Macalister, who was behind Don, Robert and I.

“Troll, hurry up with those stakes! We’re almost out of time!” I yelled.

I saw that Macalister was stomping on the leg of the shelf, trying to break it off as the shelf was now on its side thanks to Macalister.

            “I almost have the support off! I need a little more time!” Macalister yelled.

            “Kid! Look out!” Robert yelled.

I turned my attention to him, only to see that Ignacio was running at me! I yelled in fear.

            “Help me!” I yelled.

            “Hold on, Kid!” Robert shouted at me.

I then saw something flying through the air. That must have been another jar of blood. It was about to hit Ignacio, but he easily doubled his speed and the jar of blood that was going to hit him was now behind him! Ignacio kept running at me and in seconds he slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. He was now on top of me. He had my arms pinned to the ground.

            “Get off of me!” I shouted at him, struggling against the hold that he had on me.

Ignacio’s blood colored eyes bore into mine. His eyes then shifted from mine and down to my neck. He spread his lips and opened his mouth, revealing two razor sharp fangs that were each about two centimeters long.

            “I have the stake!” I heard Macalister shout from behind me.

I heard Macalister running at Ignacio. Ignacio released his hold on me and sprang backwards with lightning speed. I stood up and got behind Macalister, who had a stake about four feet long in his hands. He had the end that was jagged from being broken off of the shelf directed at Ignacio. Macalister stepped forward towards Ignacio cautiously. Ignacio took an instinctive step backwards. His back hit the far wall. There was about twelve feet between Ignacio and Macalister. I heard Macalister chuckle.

            “Now before we kill you, I want you to tell me something.” Robert said.

Ignacio’s head inclined towards him.

            “What might that be?” Asked Ignacio.

Macalister tightened his grip on the stake.

            “What was the real reason that you captured us? It can’t be merely because you desired our blood. Was there anything more? What were your other motives?” Robert went on.

Robert’s tone sent the message that he wasn’t joking around. He wanted answers. Ignacio raised his hands. He didn’t seem afraid of the stake in Macalister’s hands at the moment, but the fact that he backed up when Macalister started to advance upon him with the stake suggested that he was afraid.

            “Yes, I understand your confusion. I’ll tell you the real reason that I captured you.” Ignacio said.

Macalister growled.

            “Go on.” Robert urged impatiently.

            “You see, what I said before wasn’t exactly a lie; I do come across strangers in the forest and I bring them in, poison them and kill them for their blood. However this wasn’t the case with you four.” Ignacio said.

There was a moment of silence. Macalister gestured to Ignacio with the stake threateningly.

            “Are you going to tell us what was the case?” Macalister asked, his impatience growing.

Ignacio cleared his throat.

            “Yes, but first I require some blood. Would one of you pass one of those jars over to me? The wounds that you gave me haven’t entirely healed and are becoming quite painful.” Ignacio said.

I sighed and picked up a jar of blood from beside me, placed it on the floor and slid it over to Ignacio. Ignacio picked the jar up, removed the lid and raised the jar to his lips. In seconds, the blood contained within the jar had disappeared. Ignacio set the jar down and looked up to us.

            “Thank you. Now I’ll resume my explanation. Where was I? Oh yes. I was saying that I do kill strangers for their blood, but with you four, I have been following you ever since you left your hideout to commence your heist on the Haywood estate.” Ignacio continued.

            “Why were you following us?” Macalister asked angrily.

            “I was following you because King Lucias asked me to.” Ignacio said.

I was shocked. What would the king of Delron want with four outlaws like us?

            “What are you talking about? Why did King Lucias tell you to follow us?” Asked Macalister.

            “Troll, can you not see what he’s doing? He is merely spouting nonsense in order to prolong his own life! He is telling us such nonsense to act as a diversion, so he may escape when you’re distracted.” Don advised.

Macalister didn’t take his eyes off of Ignacio.

            “Is what my friend says true? Is this merely a diversion created to prolong your own life?” Macalister asked Ignacio angrily.

Ignacio shook his head fiercly.

            “No! No, it’s not a diversion! I shall explain why King Lucias told me to hunt you down and kill you!” Ignacio said.

Macalister nodded.

            “Very well, I’ll hear out your explanation.” Macalister told Ignacio.

            “Thank you very much!” Ignacio said with sincere happiness.

            “Well? Get on with it, otherwise I’ll kill you where you stand.” Macalister threatened.

Ignacio attempted to back up further, but his back was already up against the cellar wall.

            “Yes, very well. Queen Mycta, King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias all know of the existence of the vampire race, but keep it secret from their people. They do this because if the knowledge of the vampire race becomes known to the people of Alcingeria, it would cause panic and chaos. This is why only a select few know of the existence of vampires.” Ignacio began.

            “Who knows about them?” Asked Robert.

Ignacio closed his eyes and nodded slowly, as if trying to remember something.

            “I’m forbidden to tell of all who know of the existence of the vampire race, but I’ll tell you what I can. Like I said, Queen Mycta, King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias all know of the existence of the vampire race. Within the five provinces ruled by those five rulers, there are a handful of commoners who know of the existence of the vampire race. Most of these commoners are vampire hunters, but a very small fraction of these commoners are not vampire hunters. The vampire hunters are the sworn enemies of their prey, but they don’t tell others of their presence in this world, as they know what can happen if the word gets out that vampires exist. The commoners who are not vampire hunters, however pose a particular threat to us. They know not of the consequences that will ensue if the word of the existence of us gets out. As a race as a whole, vampires kill the people who can’t keep our secret. We track down as many as we can, however it’s nearly impossible to track down all who know of us.” Ignacio continued.

There was a moment of silence as my friends and I took in this information. It was Macalister who spoke first.

            “Is that all who know of the vampire race?” Macalister asked Ignacio.

Ignacio shook his head.

            “No, not at all. The humans of Alcingeria make up only a small fraction of those who know of the vampire race.” Ignacio said.

What did he mean by ‘the humans of Alcingeria make up only a small fraction of those who know of the vampire race’? We now knew that there were races other than human, plant and animal in Alcingeria, there were vampires, too. Surely that’s what he meant?

            “Are you going to tell us who the rest of the people who know of the vampire race’s existence are?” I asked.

Ignacio shook his head.

            “No, no. You see I’m forbidden to share information of that sort. My apologies.” Ignacio said.

“That doesn’t explain why King Lucias sent you to kill us.” Macalister said.

            “Yes, my apologies. I’m getting to that. Now, King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias all use vampires to hunt down criminals and criminal groups that become too numerous or too dangerous for humans to handle. You, The Scorpions, have been on the threat lists of King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias for quite some time now. The aforementioned threat lists are quite small, but enlisting the help of a vampire is only ever used as a last resort, as the price for enlisting the help of a vampire is quite… Steep. It’s for this reason that you four remained alive for so long.” Ignacio said.

            “Why does Queen Mycta not use vampires to hunt down dangerous criminals?” I asked.

            “Queen Mycta is a kind, gentle woman. She says that using vampires to track down dangerous criminals is too cruel a fate for said criminals, as being hunted by a vampire means that you’ll be constantly looking over your shoulder. Wherever you go. Be it the tavern, the forest or even in a capital city. By the time the vampire reached you, you’d already be half eaten by the fear and the anxiety. When you finally die, it will be very slow. Being drained of blood is a horrifying way to die if you ask me.” Ignacio explained.

            “So why didn’t you kill us back at the Haywood estate?” Robert asked Ignacio.

Ignacio looked past Macalister and at Robert.

            “I overheard your plan to rob the Haywood estate back in your hideout. I wanted to let you rob Jonathan Haywood of the fifty thousand dollars, then I would kill you and take the money, and then I would take your corpses to King Lucias because he offered ten thousand dollars to me for your capture dead or alive, but my plan went astray when your carriage crashed. I took that as an opportunity to rescue you to earn your trust so that you would let your guard down, and I could kill you easier.” Ignacio said.

            “If all of that was part of your elaborate plot to get rich, why didn’t you leave us to die back at the carriage wreck, take the fifty thousand dollars, take our corpses to King Lucias and get the additional ten thousand dollars?” Robert said.

“You see, I haven’t been a vampire for very long, merely a few months. I showed hesitation in killing you because I hadn’t killed many humans before. The strangers in the woods that I come across are not plentiful, so I had some hesitation at the thought of killing humans, seeing as I was one a few months ago.” Ignacio explained.

            “Then why were you going to kill us here, in your cellar?” I asked him.

            “I was going to kill you for your blood, but also for the reward of ten thousand dollars that King Lucias offered me for your capture.” Ignacio said.

            “Well, why didn’t you kill us when you had the chance?” Robert asked.

            “As I explained to you before, killing humans is a fairly new concept for me. I don’t need to feed on human blood very often, and I have all of the blood that I need in this cellar because I kill strangers in the woods and steal their blood to jar it and store it for later use. I store blood so I won’t need to kill humans very often.” Ignacio said.

There was a moment of silence as we all took this new information in.

            “So what you’re saying is that King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias all use vampires to track down criminals that are too dangerous for humans to handle, we, The Scorpions, became too dangerous and are on the threat lists of King Bunsen, King Desmond, Queen Yuka and King Lucias, they sent you after us, you knew about our plan to rob the Haywood Estate and steal fifty thousand dollars, you let us steal the money, you let Queen Mycta’s guards destroy our carriage, you warded off Queen Mycta’s guards, took us in and treated our wounds to earn our trust, then when we let our guards down, you poisoned us to render us unconscious, you threw us down here, you were going to kill us down here but we formulated a plan and the tables have now turned. Does that all sound correct?” Macalister asked Ignacio.

            “Yes. That sounds correct.” Ignacio said.

            “Very well. You have outlived your usefulness. I’ll slay you now, vampire.” Macalister said.

Ignacio’s posture straightened.

            “My deepest apologies old boy, but I don’t intend to stay in this cellar any longer. I don’t plan on letting you kill me, either.” Ignacio said.

            “I’m going to kill you! No one picks a fight with The Scorpions and gets away with it!” Macalister said.

Macalister then lunged for Ignacio, but Ignacio bolted out of the way at lightning speed and reached the cellar doorway in an instant. There was no longer a door, as Ignacio had broken through it when he heard the glass jar break. The one that I had dropped.

            “Sadly, I won’t earn the respect of King Lucias, or the ten thousand dollars for that matter. Your fifty thousand dollars, however will more than suffice as a consolation prize!” Ignacio said wickedly.

He then bolted up the stairs and into the house above. I could hear him rummaging around above.

            “Quick lads! After him!” Robert ordered.

Macalister started running for the staircase with the stake in his hand. Robert, Don and I all followed him.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

The fight ended quick with that stake, wasn't the smartest move to give him that blood though. I had a feeling this was about the money too, though it seems like Ignacio was planning on taking it and killing them anyway, so I don't see why he dealt with them for it originally. Really good escape he made there, I knew the blood was probably meant to give him his strength back, but rather than face them again he used super speed to get the money.

The revelation about the knowledge of vampires in the world and the rulers is interesting. The back and forth between Macalister and Ignacio seems a little polite though on Ignacio's end, even if he is afraid. Also, with the saturation of information here, I can see why you might want to have it, but the summary Macalister makes at the end of the whole interrogation would probably be better left out. As long as they read everything the readers should get all of that.

Also gotta note, I love Robert's use of "Quick lads!". A great word choice for his time period and occupation, and it reinforces my image of him as being sort of the leader/brains of the operation.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! When the book is finished I will go back and clean up the dialogue so it doesn't look very clunky. I will be reviewing your work later today when I have more time!