The 4 Kingdoms: Rise of The Vampire

Chapter 14: Reflection

    I sat against the wall as the sun began to rise even more, in a matter of minutes it covered the whole area. The heat gave me a horrible feeling of pressure in all my body; it even pained me to breathe. The brightness was also hurting my eyes, I felt like if I was going blind. I was miserable in the heat. I decided it was enough of waiting in the heat after only a few minutes. I got up and began to walk towards the back of the shop. I was planning on looking for a back door and breaking it down. I did find one but something I heard stopped me, a car parked in front and someone got out of it. I could hear it perfectly, almost like if was happening right in front of me. 

I walked quietly to the front where I heard it and looked who it was. I knew immediately that it was Roy, those shiny piercings reflected the light. “Call your cousin.” I said to him coming into his view.

I don’t know if it was my sudden and quiet approach towards him or my cut up and bruised look that surprised him. “What the fuck! What happened?” he said approaching me.

“Just open the damn door and call Daniela, I’m not really in the mood to talk about it.” I ordered him. He pulled out his cell phone and his keys. He dialed a number and opened the door at the same time. I walked into the shop and went into the other room where I received my tattoo, a room without any windows. I took my shades off and put them in my jean pocket. I heard him pressing the buttons to some kind of security alarm and talk in the phone in Spanish. Good thing he was there, if the alarm had gone off it would have been more trouble for me. I took my jacket off and threw it in the floor. I lay in a chair and closed my eyes; my wounds were already forming scabs where the blood dried. Roy came to the room and sat down in a chair. “Have you seen the news yet?” I asked him thinking about not explaining what happened to me. I didn’t have to tell him but it wasn’t in me to leave him with the question.

“No” he simply answered.

“Do you have a TV anywhere in this place?” He didn’t nod, he simply pointed to a table next to the chair I was in. besides the tattoo machine and the latex gloves there was a remote control, I looked at the opposite side of the room where the control was and found a small TV. I pressed the power button on the control and began to flip the channels until I found what I was looking for, the local news. The main report (I didn’t doubt it was) was the news of a huge chaos that happened last night. I learned something from the report that explained why the police was there and why there was a huge riot over leaving the place. Apparently the Vegas DEA made a drug bust on what was believed to be a mafia hangout place. A group of undercover officers that were sent in were killed before anything could happen. The people who did it remained anonymous. To me it must have been the followers I fought. The bust turned from bad to worse, after the bust failed the police moved in and were taken down. There was a great amount of damages and a great number of officers had to be hospitalized.

“There is a big mystery behind all of this; here is the footage from one of the trooper’s camera. The officer who sent it claims that this did happen and that it all happened before a mysterious type of smoke appeared, knocking out almost the whole squad that had been sent here. Please play the video.” There was a black and white video footage of a huge black crow and a boy with glowing wings falling from the sky. The boy stood like if he was going to kill the giant crow. No one saw his face because he was wearing a huge black jacket with the hood on. The image began to get blurry until it was all set out of focus and nothing could be seen. Damn, that was me! Are people going to buy this or not? I thought. “Let me inform you, the viewer, that this is an actual video, not a hoax. Ashlee River reporting to you…” The news went to the weather; I pressed mute and looked at Roy.

“Does that answer your question?” I asked him, he nodded and the two of us didn’t say anything after that. I closed my eyes and began to think of everything that happened. What I felt was the same feeling I felt that time a few months ago that I faced Rodrigo. I was taken by surprise in a place I wasn’t ready for. I fought and was lucky to escape with my life in both occasions. I heard the front door open followed by a series of steps and a stop. The person called my name and I instantly recognized it. It was Daniela! I got up and looked at Roy. I still remember what Cynthia told me. Roy was one of the very few followers I had that knew what this business was actually about. I was going to walk to the other room when I realized that Roy hadn’t moved at all. He was still in the chair looking at me with droopy eyes. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked. He simply gave me a weird laugh and showed me a little bag of pills. I chuckled under my breath, got my jacket and walked out of the room. The instant I was there the light from the windows began to burn my eyes like if I was looking at an intense flash. I began to squint a bit as the light made my eyes feel like if they were on fire. I reached into my jean pocket for my shades and put them back on. The light still bothered me but it wasn’t that bad.