Resurgence

5

I was running. I didn’t know what. Suddenly, I woke up, covered in sweat. Brendan was still asleep. I tried to go back to sleep. I saw a terrifying thing giving a young man blood in a cup. I saw him battling vampires. I saw those terrifying things talking to each other. I got up and I grabbed my pack of emergency cigarettes and a lighter. I walked out and marched down the hall before bumping into someone.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry.” I look up to see Marijorie.

“It’s fine, are you okay?” He asked me.

“I just-” I do not want to tell a stranger about my dreams. “It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“I’m sure.” I sighed. “Why do you work for the vampires?” Oh my god, Erika, bad time.

“Well, my great grandfather swore fealty to Mina’s father after he rescued our family from a massacre.” Marijorie shrugged. “You know, our people have suffered a lot in the hands of others.”

“Our people?” I asked.

“Well, you’re Roma, aren’t you?”

“How did you-”

“Mina told me before you and your squad got here. My family was almost massacred by a mob of angry Polish peasants before Mina’s father killed them and saved our lives. We have been serving the Draculesi since 1942.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

“Well, I should return back to my apartment.” I say. “Thank you for the talk.” He nods and I walk back to the room. Brendan is still asleep. I leave the cigarettes by the table and crawl back into bed.

“Erika?” Brendan half opened his eyes.

“Yes, love?” I asked him.

“I love you.” He smiled, kissing my forehead.

“I love you too.”

The next morning, I woke up, feeling annoyed as hell. The room was cold as hell, no matter how many blankets I used. Brendan rolled over and laid his arm around me.

“I love you, Erika.” He says, gently.

“I love you too, Brendan.” I snuggle closer to him. I wish we could stay like this forever. We’re not that lucky with that though.

I get up and wash my face with a basin to the side of the bed. My hair is sticking up and there’s mascara smear on my under eye.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Brendan smiled at me as he sat up.

“Good morning.” I smile as I dry off my face with a towel. I was not looking forward to this assignment at all.

We get dressed and head to the dining room where the servants are finishing putting plates and silverware on the table. They are finishing up on a breakfast buffet. Yum. Heather and Jackson were right behind us. Heather had braided her hair into two braids and Jackson was in need of a haircut.

“Good morning and thanks your Majesty- I mean Mina.” I tell her as she walks into the room wearing a surprisingly plain red dress that stopped at her knees. It did have a tulle skirt to it.

“No problem, I figured it was the least we can do for you.” We walked to the buffet. There’s eggs with and without cheese, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, pancakes, mini omelets full of cheese and some cups of yogurt.

“That looks pretty good.” Brendan says as we’re serving ourselves. I got scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and a cup of fruit. Aurelia walks in, wearing a purple gown.

“Good morning.” She says to us. We say good morning back.

“You’re a strange one.” Aurelia looks at Jackson and then back at me.

“I get that a lot.” Jackson only had eggs and fruit so far. Poor guy, his body seems to hate anything with flavor.

“You’re not of Earth, are you?” Aurelia asked. I think all of us tensed at the same time.

“I am not.” Jackson looked at her.

“Well, I welcome you to Earth. I hope it is going good for you.” If only she knew…

“Thank you.” Jackson responded as we sat down on the table.

“So, Mina, what are your plans for the Vonjac clan issue?” Aurelia asked her. I noticed Marijorie came in. He greeted everyone and stood by the guards.

“Well, I don’t know. I know Amadeus wants my throne.” Mina responded. “I fear that my life is in danger.”

“It may be. But that should not stop you from fighting back against them.” Aurelia spoke. “You are the daughter of the rightful King.”

“You’re right but they don’t see it that way.” Mina sighed. “I think maybe I could host a ball or something to make them think I am unaware of their plans.”

“A ball would be a good way to communicate with potential allies as well.” Aurelia spoke.

“That could be fun too.” I told her. “Maybe to ease your mind a little.”

“You’re right. It should totally be a masquerade too.” Mina clasped her hands together. “We will provide the masks to be on the safe side and they will only conceal the top part of the face.”

“Wonderful, would you like for me to start planning the ball with the ladies in waiting?” Aurelia asked her. Mina nodded.

“I would like to. We shall have a meeting with them around lunch.” Mina looked at us. “I will be sending out invitations to everyone via email as soon as we settle on the date.”

We continued to eat our breakfast as most guests passed by the dining room. The vampire leaders were either dressed in very fancy traditional clothing or shit that looked so expensive we would never know what brand it was.

“Anyway, I should get to speaking with them in private. I’ll see you around.” Mina walks away. My phone vibrates. I look to see that it’s a text from Kyra.

“Hey, I got your weapons for this mission in the HQ, feel free to pass by anytime to pick them up. Love, Ky.”

I smiled. I was kind of glad to have them ready. I wonder what kind of weapons they are.