THE VAMPIRES OF MARS
INTRODUCTION
In the many centuries past and throughout mankind's long reign over the planet Earth. Superstition and folk law had always played a major role in driving fear into the hearts and minds of the less educated. Even all the way up the chain to aristocracy, feeding their imaginations with dreadful and fearful imagery. For within these story's and superstition, lay hints of truth, shrouded though it may be and hidden in the depth of time, the real truth behind legends were never, ever what they might have imagined them to be. Not even close, especially when it came to the life and origin of the infamous vampires and their mistaken ideology.
Vampires, dismissed for many hundreds of years and now nothing more than a bunch of myths and tales from the times of old. People now generally understand that Vampires are in no way thought or believed to be real. And so, a vampire today adds up to purely nothing more than a child dressed up as say, Count Dracula on Halloween, or as an actor in make-up performing in a box office movie, meant to entertain the masses. Even our kids eat their morning breakfast with cartoon vampires on television and Buffy the vampire slayer entertains the adults over their evening meal. Plastic joke fangs and dustbin liner capes are all that remains of an age old myth of a supposedly feared race known as Vampires.
These days nobody other than crazy people actually believe in Vampires because, after all, Vampires don't really exist!
Or at least, that's what we thought.
Chapter 1⃣ Hidden in time.
The year is 1686 in central London, England and the last living vampire in the world has been cornered hiding away in his own derelict mansion from an angry mob with the intent of killing him.
"My time has almost come" he quietly speaks to an artifact that is on a tall dressed table, "they have found me again! What should I do?" The artifact speaks back with a masterful tone "You disappoint me!" It said as a large red gem glowed as it spoke "six hundred years, and you have wasted it on that retched world and now it is all lost to us! Your fate is sealed" it said.
The vampire cowering and desperate to appease his master strokes the artefact with his bony fingered hands and long sharp chipped nails "I could sleep until this turbulent time has passed and I am long forgot" Suggests the almost skeletal figure clearly in pain from not feeding.
The power and presence of the mystical object is enough to cast obedience without delivering even a single word, the vampire almost penitent holds out his hands to plead with it's silence.
"Please Sire I can still serve you" he protests in a desperate attempt unwilling to disappoint his superior.
With the transmission ended at the other end silence was his only reply "so be it!" He says in a depressed tone. Giving up, he gently takes the dark, jewelled ornament from the table and carries it through the damp house taking care not to stumble on dead rats and debris from his crumbling home. He reached an extremely damp kitchen area which has water trickling from a crack in the ceiling, dirt and thick grime covered the sink and cupboards as a fly covered corpse lays rotting away awkwardly piled on a stack of old news papers and filling the kitchen with putrid odour. A fragile looking shell of what used to be an energetic killer places the stone device down on the floor beside an old wooden trap-like door. He feels for an elaborate key from a chain around his clammy grey thinning neck and unlocks it.
Always prepared for darkness, melted old candles are everywhere where there's a suitable surface, although mostly unlit.
He picks the one closest to the door and tips the candle into a flame from one already lit on a dresser. The new flame of his candle flickers and dims, almost extinguishing from the draft as he turned to bend down for his precious cargo.
The now candle-lit figure of himself almost resembling a man makes its way down through the doorway, then using his key he pulls down and locks the door behind him and walks down a dozen or so creaky wooden steps to a dark cellar. As he reaches the bottom, more very old dust covered candles awaited and received his flame lighting up part of the dank place. The new flames spit and crackle from the dampness and the coating of dust that had built up over time. On the far side in near darkness was an old cobweb covered table with prominent decorative holders with half melted candles. He walks over with the artifact and stands it pride of place in the centre of the table of which although looking old and very dusty, underneath was a beautiful chestnut carved display table.
he lights the remaining candles illuminating it and destroying random wisps of clinging web in the process. Dim flickering light dances all over the walls and ceiling creating a show of moving shadows. A moving silhouette of the jewelled statue moved over the vampires face. He knew he was going to die soon, he could feel his time coming to an end as he was getting gradually weaker.
A vision of his past battles and conquests throughout the ages flash in his mind as if it were happening now, he shakes his head to one side and re-enacts biting into a girls neck with a piercing crunch, his demonic eyes turned up as his unnaturally long teeth sink in, spilling deep red trails of blood down to her breasts. He sucks harder and harder relieving the young woman of her life, moving down to her breast he bites again and again until he reaches the firm flesh above her nipple and bites hard and deep until the last bit of life leaves her limp pale body. Satisfied he drops the lifeless corpse to the pavement and lifts his head revealing his pale sunken face, the woman's deep red blood still pouring from his fanged mouth and down his chin and neck.
With a shiver down his spine his eyes open glazed and aroused by hunger as he is reminded of his need for feeding and its pleasures. Having little strength left the thought of never feeding again suddenly gives him a sense of purpose.
A wooden crate lay open on the cellar floor with straw inside ready to pack away the Red-Stoned artifact. He picks it up and whispers to it for a moment before kissing a large blood ruby set into its design. He places it into the box of hay making sure to cover it and make it safe, he then nails the lid down tight. "When you return I will be gone, may time protect you and keep you from harm" he says pressing his head to the splintery wooden case, he then slides it through a pre-dug hole in the wall and then lays the stones back into place hiding the box until it is needed once more.
Once again the Vampire takes a candle in hand then blows the rest out, leaving behind the harsh smell of burned cloth and plumes of grey rising smoke. Using the candlelight to guide himself back up the steps he makes his way to the door and opens it once more with the large blackened key and returns the candle to the side where it belongs. He closes the door and locks it. On the cobbled floor of the Kitchen, slightly raised was a single lose stone, so using it as a convenient hiding place he takes the cellar key and hides it underneath. "All that I need to do now is wait" he thinks to himself, happy in the knowledge that he had protected his precious stone statue.
Outside the mansion was a large garden barely well kept with surrounding trees. Beyond the trees was the Main Street. It had proved easy over the years to snag a meal around there at night, a lone passer by or even a lady of the evening were his favourites, easy prey! The problem wasn't feeding it was turning them to do his bidding, for some reason he could never do it, so he was always alone.
No longer living and hunting in secret, generations of his kind are vanquished by a secret order in just a mere few months.
There was no plan left for him other than to survive. But his time was up, he knew it and so did the people hunting him so he went out into the darkness of the London streets to meet his fate.
Chapter 2⃣ Shrine
The red planet seen from earth looks so small as it peers and twinkles like the billions of stars surrounding it on a blanket of black satin, but unlike its neighbours, Mars has a distinct orangy reddish glow about it. On closer inspection the red and orange colours seen from earths perspective seem to have no place, modern satellites and telescopes reveal a rugged landscape of volcanic and sedimental rock that carries on forever. Sloped peeks and scattered lumps of rock are most of what seems to dominate the endless choppy terrain. Now and again formations appear resembling dry river beds with gaping cracks and impact craters left over from asteroids long ago.
Giant wide volcanoes litter the planet without peaks to climb. Just mounds that stretch for hundreds of miles formed by lava spreading out over the planet. Out of Earths telescopic eyes reach, lava tubes formed from ancient volcanic activity have left narrow cave systems that litter the planets crust, providing Mars with a massive network of natural tunnels.
All that remains on a world that was once full of potential like Earth, is now nothing more than a lifeless rock covered playground for NASA's toys.
Deep underneath a seemingly dead coating of rocks and sand is another world hidden from the thin sky. Unseen on the surface of Mars since the time of the last volcanoes like gigantic Olympus Mons, an ancient society still flourishes, hidden in sub surface cities. One crumbling surface entrance of a great network of passageways, leads strait down into a mile of sloping twists and turns.
In complete darkness the deeper wet, night covered rocks gradually capture eery light from an opening chamber. The damp rocky walls are covered in moss with minuscule white glowing flowers that look like bright stars in a clear night sky.
Further in, the mossy surroundings dim glow turns to a mild light and the tiny flowers are replaced by scatterings of bio-luminescent foliage. Rich in bright colour, the plants paint their inviting light in all directions, making what could have been a dank and disagreeable cave system into a welcoming oasis of warmth and sweet scented flowers.
Further in through a rich neck of wandering leaves and pretty flowers, the tunnel opens up to a wealth of strange and weird plant life. An open cavern as wide and as long as the human eye could see is littered with awkward looking trees and oddly shaped stalagmites creating a spiny and uneven landscape. The bright energy from the plants continuously fills the air and covers everything, almost as if the underground world was bathed in daylight.
Carved into the cavernous walls and covered in ancient vines are massive reaching pillars and alcoves with warrior figures, aged for millennium and still guarding the ancient remains of an iron and stonework city long abandoned. A massive barrier of high walls also covered in dead vines surround an inner cocktail of strange and wonderful trees and dilapidated buildings. A long sharpened edged formation of iron stretched and deformed, spans the length of a long pathway leading from the edge of the settlement to a tall jagged topped castle hidden under shadows.
Looking like a thick wall of corroding knives melded together and moulded with the faces of damned souls, the metal wall dominates the entirety of the pathway on both sides. Now and then the wall lowers so that the tops of the foreign looking buildings become partly visible, giving signs of dark Gothic architecture accompanied by the skeletons of dead treetops that are tangled with dried hanging moss and vines.
At the foot of the spectacular castle, on carved pedestal ends of stone, stands a pair of statues depicting ferocious hell hounds, fitted with red gems for eyes they hang over the first of a series of wide, worn steps that lead up to a heavy arched entrance hall whilst rusted and thick spiked chains hold the hell hounds in place by the way of rings forged into the walls. Again like inside the cavern, more statues of ancient guards in various styles of armour are carved into the walls of the hall, all holding exotic melee weapons and arranged to have a protective stance over the decorative looking shrine standing in the centre of the hall. Extremely large and oddly shaped a black marble pedestal plays host as a eight foot high Shrine made from a detailed piece of red stone, dramatically carved and covered in large coloured gems sits sparkling prestigious-like on the top.
Other than its larger size it seems to be almost identical to the smaller one that the ill fated vampire hid back on earth over three hundred years ago.
Chapter 3⃣ Family affair
Just an average early Autumn Saturday morning and a cycling Paperboy is doing his early round with a heavy paper filled sack, stopping from door to door for his regular customers. A milk van drives past him as he walks up someones pathway, it's familiar electric motor whir and chinking of glass bottles reminding sleeping residents of the very early time of day. Bedroom curtains in most of the streets windows are still tightly shut even as the blinding low sun beats right through.
In the still sleeping household of number 18 an empty quiet hallway is met with fumbling sounds followed by a loud clank as the thick Saturday morning paper is squeezed tightly through the Hunter residents letterbox only to then fall to the carpet below.
" Oh my god what time is it Honey?" Groans a sleepy, rudely awakened man to a lump of snoozing duvet at the side of him.
"No idea" replies the lump "go back to sleep its still early" and with that the lump changed shape as the body underneath the quilt turned to his direction. A woman's hand leaves the cosy confines of the bed and rests on the exposed hair covered chest warming him up. The house was pretty cold for a change, Summer had only just ended and no thought had yet been put to turning the thermostat up past fifteen degrees. "Your nice and warm sweetheart" he says and tucks back under the covers to snuggle up.
Just as they both get reacquainted and settled the doorbell rings making them jump 'bing bong' "oh for Christ sake!" Max says to himself in a fluster, throwing the quilt off them both. The woman shocked by the cold draft curls up in a ball pulling the duvet back and shoots her dressing husband a stare "Thanks for that! who is it, calling round at this time of the morning?" She asks as he peers though the curtain at a familiar looking middle aged man at the doorway.
Recognising the hat and tweed jacket he taps on the window pane to get the visitors attention and holds a finger up mouthing words "I'll be there in a minute!" and then replying to his wife "Oh great it's me Dad. What the hell does he want at this time?". He buttons up the remainder of his shirt and slips on his shoes ready to go down. "Are you getting up?" He asks. "Yes i will see you down stairs in a minute," she replies then continues raising her voice as he walks out the bedroom almost shouting "love you!".
Rushing and thudding down the stairs to get to his waiting Dad he shouts back to his wife saying "I love you too" then gets to the door to unlock it.
His dad, waiting ever so patiently and visible through the patterned, frosted glass, smiles as the door is opened for him. " Hello Maximilian" jokes his dad knowing that he hates his full name. "Come on in" replies Max, and with a hand on shoulder, he invites his dad through the doorway and into the house. His dad inadvertently stands on the newspaper on the floor. "Oops sorry son, didn't see that there" he picks it straight up and passes it to his son now featuring a size 10 wet footprint on the front page. "Thanks Dad, come through" he says pointing the way through to the kitchen with a slightly soggy and torn newspaper. They both head on through, his dad finds and sits at the closest breakfast stool in relief from his aches as the son fills the kettle and sets out three cups.
"Tea or coffee?" Asks the still yawning young man "Ooh a nice strong cup of tea please son that'll be great thank you". Preparing the drinks he broaches the subject of the early and unexpected visit. "So dad what brings you all the way up here then? I've not heard from you since mum!. Max asks referring to his mothers funeral
"I know I'm sorry it's been ages, I've been out on a job in London" explains his Dad "and I think I found another" he says quietly and averting his eyes to the stairs to check to see if it's safe to talk. Rolling his eyes Max Immediately focuses on his dad and eagerly asks him with a firm tone "Seriously where abouts?".
Before his Father could discuss any further his sons gorgeous wife, still in nightwear steps into the kitchen from the hallway stairs "is the coffee ready yet sweetheart?" she asks her husband, bending to hug her father-in-law and trying to keep herself unexposed at the same time. "Almost" Max replies.
"Hello Daddy" she says and then sits next to him at the breakfast bar. Finished making the drinks, cups of hot tea and coffee are placed on mats neatly in front of them and they all start to sip on their steamy hot brews.
"So" Maxes wife starts "I heard you talking, something about you were at London, I went there once with some girlfriends for a shopping day and got completely lost on that tube thing!"
"Its a easy place to get lost. I try to avoid it if I can" her father-in-law Jonas replied, pulling a bashed up tin of rolling tobacco out of his chest pocket. "err we don't actually smoke in the house any more Dad, well not since she packed it up" he pointed out to his Dad who replies "You coming outside for a fag then?". Knowing that it was an easy attempt to get them alone to talk in private, Max agrees with a "k" and a and tells his wife "we'll be back in a minute" and they both head for the back garden with drinks in hand ready to have a satisfying Cuppa and a smoke as well as a private chat.
On the patio was a weathered bench for them both to sit on immediately next to a round table with a folded green parasol and disgustingly nearby, sits a metal industrial baked bean tin full of dog ends and filthy rain water to throw spent cigarettes in. Everything in the garden is covered in mildew even the cobwebs have beads of water clinging to them sparkling in the early morning sunshine.
Dad sits down and gets a wet bum off the seat then uses his hand to wipe away the gathered mist from off of the table then drys his wet skin by rubbing his trouser leg. "I'll stand" Max remarks after observing his dads mild discomfort caused from his soggy behind, then they both get papers and dig into the tin for tobacco. As they commence rolling and lighting their cigarettes they discus his dads new find.
"I've done it, I've found the location of the last stone!" says the fifty-odd year old man with a face like the cat that has the cream, and he takes a thick tattered leather notation book from inside his tweed jacket and opens it to a previously bookmarked page "here look at this" he continues placing the book in his sons hand.
"So what am I looking at?" the younger man asks staring at a jumble of notes and scribbled diagrams. His father Jonas, obviously excited about the little books contents, points to a section on the page that has a familiar ancient symbol and continues to explain the notes to him.
"This was found in London two weeks ago on a unearthed dig on a demolition site, it's description is exactly the same as the other eleven markers I found in Europe, this has to be the map for the last piece of the puzzle"
The son response is less than enthusiastic because through his childhood he was dragged around countless muddy dig sites all over the continent. " I get it" he says " but why come to me? You know how I feel about all of this".
His father looking unexpectedly hurt, reluctantly shies away the notepad back into his pocket. " I thought you would want to know" he says with a confused look. The sons standing stance changes and he moves next to his dad to vent. " I haven't heard so much as a peep from you in almost two sodding years, and as much as I want to be interested in your work, I'm just a bit annoyed cos it would just be nice for once if you kept in touch or at least ask how we have been when you do actually, finally turn up". Vent over he apologises for having a go at him and puts his arm out expectantly. "Look I'm sorry" he says "show me what you have and I'll have a proper look".
The berated middle aged dad takes the notes out again, he gives them to his sons waiting hand and try's to explain his actions as his son flicks through the notes." Max! you know better than anyone the time it takes investigating this stuff, and foolishly I just thought it would be best to just give you some time" he pauses, "you know, after your mother passed"
"No your work comes first and always did" he says trying his hardest not to sound annoyed "though by the looks of this it was time well spent" he says partly distracted, fingering the illustration drawn on a dirt stained page and then continues. "I'm guessing you have worked out the location for the next artefactual peice?"
"Of course" was the reply.
Jonas, his father, knowing he had probably reached his sons better nature, puts his hypothetical cards on the table and fills him in "There's a train in an hour, And i suggest you pack a torch and some snap it'll be a long day"
Chapter 4⃣ London
After a short ride in a taxi to the local train station, Father and Son quickly grab a coffee from the stations cafe before meeting the third member of their days group who had been waiting patiently for them to arrive and get on with the task at hand. Peter Davies a seemingly ordinary fifty something year old man, sporting thin glasses and longish greying beard. His scruffy hair and well over due shave looked almost out of place to his pricey blue grey suit. A suit that you would expect a highly paid barrister or a CEO of a top London firm to wear clashed with his obvious lazy hygiene habits and scuffed up shoes.
"Oh my goodness" shouts Peter as he spots them walking from the cafe towards him. He puts his hand out in front ready to shake " Oh my god you haven't half grown" he says directing his hand towards the younger man "you don't recognise me do you Max? well, I can't really blame you, it's been a very long time since I last saw you". Unsure who the stranger was and wondering how this bearded fellow knew him at all, he reluctantly and with a confused expression, shook the mans hand.
"This is your uncle Pete! he's not laid his eyes on you since you were about ten!" Assures his Dad who also gets a handshake, as well as a hearty man hug. " yep I'm a bit taller now" Max says as a little joke to break the slight discomfort of not realising who he was.
"Well the trains getting in, in a minute or so, so we'd better get over to the platform" suggests the uncle. Max moves towards his dad as they all walk up the bridges stairs and whispers "I didn't realise anyone else was coming with us!" He says as they reach the top of the bridge, his dad whispers back to him "who else do you think has been helping me all this time? he is after all my brother". "OK, but you could've told me though" Max replies, then, after walking down the steps of the other side of the bridge they reach the platform just as the train rolls around the corner towards them. A large carriage rests with the doorway opening directly in front of them so they finally get to board the train along with a platform full of people including a dark dressed man who follows them on. Trying hard to look inconspicuous the shaddowing passenger sits conveniently within earshot and pretends not to notice their presence as they talked all the way to Kings Cross.
Chapter 5⃣ hole in the wall
"Records show that a few hundred years ago there stood a mansion at the site now under demolition!" Said Peter reading from his own research notes, "And now they're knocking down a row of houses on the same patch to build another damn city car park!".
Max replied at Peters pick at the situation "That's progress for ya!" Jonas looks at his note book and finds a drawing of the nearby streets to get his bearings. "It should be just up this next street!" he says pointing to a road just a few yards away.
Arriving at the site they duck down weaving under the black and yellow cordoning tape situated at the entrance. "I think you would be surprised how many times each little patch of land gets built over, in fact I bet these houses were only about a hundred years old, before that, there could have been anything here after the mansion went to the dogs" Jonas explained.
Jonas, Max and Peter all work their way over the remains of a demolished building. looking for any evidence of the old mansion. Tonnes of bricks and rubble along with smashed wooden beams and window frames surround a large yellow J.C.B machine with tracks and a large bucket. Peter heads to one end of the site next to a big pile of rubble where remains the L shape corner of an end wall. Suddenly, with a loud crack of splintering wood and a yelp, Peter unwittingly falls through a cleared rubble floor. having created a hole through a rotted series of thick floor boards, he had found an undiscovered cellar left over from the previous old Mansion.
Laying in a pool of light Peter looks back up to the jagged hole, ten foot above him with blinding sun in his eyes.
Max and his dad Jonas run over and peer down at him through a gaping hole in the floor, casting shadows through the dusty air of the disturbed surroundings. Jonas switches on his torch and drops it down to his Brother below, who amazingly catches it with one hand, a very dusty hand.
Jonas being the cockiest of the group, shouts down to Peter, "What the hell do you think your doing down there?" "Found it!" he replies coughing up dust.
Peter then stands up on a sore ankle to take a look at his surroundings and then sticks his middle finger up at his mocking brother who was laughing as dust and rubble drops off his clothing, leaving his nice posh suit covered with white, dry brick dust. He shines the torch through the blackness muttering to himself stressing about his dirty clothes and spots a set of stairs leading upwards to a cellar hatchway. But his companions soon discover that in the same place on the surface of the exit still stands the corner wall of the demolished house. "Never mind then, you'll have to find another way down" shouted Peter wincing with the pain of his ankle.
Soon after, desperately looking around for a ladder or a rope, Max and his dad Jonas return with a length of armoured cable still attached to a lifeless fuse board. After tying it off around the J.C.B's bucket they lower the thick black cable down into the hole and climb down the ten foot drop to the bottom. Once down, they probe around every surface looking for clues by torch light, but the only things down there was a dusty old table with candle holders, a few empty crates. And an old collapsed chair. On the floor thick with years of dust and debris were the remains of a ton of wax candles and even an old rusted oil lamp but nothing of any use or importance. On one wall Max had discovered the brickwork was uneven and shoddy as if an armature had built it. "Here check this out, the brickwork looks different" said Max pointing his torch at the bottom of an uneven stone wall and then rubbed his hand over it.
Knowing what they all needed to do, they immediately got to smashing at the patch job to get through, using bricks and pieces of metal rebar that had crashed through the ceiling with Peter from the demolished building above. After clearing the fresh stone rubble away they expose a cobweb and dirt covered wooden box which they pull from its tight fitting space in the wall. "do you think this is it?" asks Max generally to his companions.
"Let's just get it open and find out" replies Jonas. Then with a hefty pen knife, Max pries under the tightly nailed down lid, opening it just enough for something better to do the job. Peter uses a length of rebar like a crowbar and pushes it under the lid, lifting it off, it exposes its contents full of straw. All three men look at each other for a moment in excitement before Jonas puts his hand into the straw to feel about. Suddenly with an almighty cry, Jonas screams out in agony as his hand is trapped by something in the box. "Ahhhhh" he cries! with a look of pure terror. He then slowly pulls out a large stone object, smirking as his companions look like they had almost died of fright. Jonas then laughed hysterically at their gullibility as both faces started to change from a ghostly white, back normal. " You ass hole!" says Peter giving him an evil look and holding his chest to calm his heart.
Max, knowing all to well what his dads sense of humour was like, also shot an annoyed glare that quickly turned to an interested smile at the sight of the spoils in his dads hands. "Oh my god it's beautiful!" says Max as he offers his hands for a closer look.
They all sit ready to examine the piece in torch light until Jonas catches the faint sound of footsteps in the demolition site above. "Shhh" Jonas shushes to them quietly and indicates to his son Max to bag the artefact which he did with the help of Peter taking great care not to drop it or make noise. They turn off their torches and listen in the darkness, watching for signs of movement at the light bearing hole. Listening hard, the sound of stumbling footsteps over the debris above, gradually moves away until it is quiet again. "We need to get out of here" Peter says still trying to talk quietly. Max replies with "ok grab your things, lets go". Then getting ready to ascend they move under the brightness of the gaping hole above "right dad you go first, I'll give you a boost, just grab hold of the cable and pull yourself up!" doing so, and with a lot of effort Jonas struggles and uses his foot on Max's head for leverage.
Finally his dad just manages to get out of the hole with Max's invaluable help.
"Now you!" Max instructs his Uncle Peter to climb "when you get up. you'll have to help lift me out!" Max says as he puts the heavy back pack over his shoulders.
"Ok then, no problem, i'll see you up top" replied his Uncle as he started to climb up the cable.
Once Peter was finally out with a final push from Max and after making sure his backpack was secure, Max made his own way up the cable expecting Peter to help him, but instead there, hanging down through the hole was an unfamiliar waiting hand, belonging neither to his dad or his uncle. Believing he had little choice other than staying in the hole, he grabs the gloved hand and reaches the surface to an awaiting stranger. "Thanks for the assist" said Max and shakes the mans hand "and you are?" The stranger asks not letting go. His dad was shaking his head out of the Samaritans view to Max indicating that the man was bad news and not to be trusted as Peter completely oblivious to danger of any kind was stood next to Jonas, brushing the dust out of his long hair and off his ruined jacket. "Great!" he says, completely distressed "I'm gonna need a new suit!".
Max replies after the interruption from Peter's outburst "Oh I'm David err Banner" he lies giving the stranger the first name that came to mind.
"I was just passing when I heard banging" said the man in black letting go from the long handshake, "I actually thought it was kids again in the site, I didn't realise you'd actually fell through the bloody floor!".
Peter shouts to the stranger "It was me, I was looking for scrap metal when I fell through the floor and twisted my ankle, thankfully my friends helped me climb out" explained Peter, taking the attention from Max.
Max knocks the man out from behind with a lump of wood sending him to the ground unconscious on his face.
"Nice performance!" said Max to his almost pleased uncle Peter.
Jonas walks over to the limp body on the rubble and bends to search his pockets.
"So who is he" asks Max. Jonas pulls a wallet from the sleeping mans trouser pocket and takes out a business card featuring a dragons head printed in gold. "I knew it" said Max's dad "you see this gold symbol? I recognise this, and I think he belongs to the Order".
"Never heard of them, what do they want with us?" asks Max.
Peter steps into the conversation "It is rumoured that there were vampire hunters that used a golden dragon like that" indicating to the card "It is supposed to symbolise their Secret Order, if you even believe in such things, and people do!" he said condescendingly.
Jonas lifts up the unconscious man's feet "Come on give me a hand!" he says, then Peter grabs hold of his limp arms and they both lift and carry the body over to the hole. As a joke Jonas sings "with a leg and a wing to see the king, and with a smirk from Peter they both drop him down, with a satisfying thumping noise as he hit the cellar floor. Jonas turns to his son who is in shock still from bashing the guy over the head, "he'll be ok son, you didn't kill him! However we can't have him following us or have him find this stone. We have worked far too long for it".
Max replies to his dad feeling the weight of his actions "so he is alive still yeah?" his dad gives him a nod and try's to reassure him, "like I said, he will be ok but now we need to get out of here! Pull the cable up with me and that should buy us a bit of time" said Jonas and they both remove the heavy cable from the hole just as the wounded man awoke.
"Ok time to go!" shouts Max as his eyes met the annoyed stare from the man below, "I'm gonna kill ya!" Shouts the man in a cockney accent, rubbing at his painful head.
All three of them at speed, ran out of the demolition site, back to the London sidewalk. A short time later after walking quickly away for about a half mile, looking over their shoulders and scanning passer-by's faces. Finally they slow their pace and look for somewhere to lay low for a while. Spotting a greasy spoon cafe, they head inside and sit, then order lunch from their table.
After a short time waiting, in front of them sat a hearty full English breakfast and a coffee each. As they ate and engaged in light conversation Max had started to feel strangely hot all over, he puts his cutlery down beside his plate and wiped the sweat rolling down his forehead. 'I wonder what's up with me'? Max thought to himself, he wasn't exerted anymore from his short run, in fact it had been a good fifteen minutes or so since they had stopped in at the cafe for food.
Out of sight under the table where they sat, was the artefact tucked away inside Max's back-pack, though unbeknown to the group the large gem on the side of the stone had started to light up emitting a reddish glow. A moment later Max started to look agitated.
A whisper sounding as though it was right beside Max's ear faintly spoke incomprehensible words, too quiet for him to fully make out had made him jump.
"Oh shit" Max suddenly blurted out loudly enough that all of the cafe's customers were compelled to look at him. "did you two hear that?" He asked lowering his voice and masking his embarrassed face from the onlookers.
Max's Uncle and Father both looked at him with shocked, confused stares and acknowledging nothing. His dad although acting confused and ignorant, sort of knew exactly what Max had heard as he had been hearing things too, just whispers, except for the fact that his whispers had been happening on and off for near on twenty years, ever since he found the very first one of the gem encrusted stone Artefacts in Belgium.
"What was it you think you heard?" Jonas asks his son hoping to confirm his hypothesis.
Max was feeling just a little bit creeped out by the fact that somebody whispered right in his ear without anybody actually being there, and it showed on his paling face.
"I went really hot all over, and then, I heard someone whisper right next to me!" Max explained, "I think I've got a pet ghost or something" he chuckled to himself, still unnerved. His dad then puts his knife and fork down on the remains of his sausage and tomatoes, he then takes a drink of his coffee before replying to Max's daft remark.
"Son, do you remember when we went to Belgium?" Jonas asked. "Just!" Max replied rubbing the day's worth of short stubble on his chin "actually yeah!, I remember we went there on one of your archeology digs, it did nothing but pee it down with rain for almost the whole six weeks holiday. I also remember being covered in mud quite a lot but that's about it" Max moaned referring to his miserable summer break.
"Well, you didn't know this at the time" replies his dad "but we were digging for an artefact, which we didn't find until after you went back home to your mum. You needed to be back for school starting you see. Anyway! It looked almost identical to the one wrapped up in your backpack, as well as another ten of them that I've found over the years" explained Jonas to Max who seemed surprised, Jonas was looking almost guilty for not telling his son about the red stones before now, all that Max was aware of were the markers, and Peter also knowing about the stones because he was with Jonas for half of the finds, chose to let father and son talk and completely stayed out of their conversation.
Max, astonished that there are so many of the stones, took a moment to get his head around it all.
"So you're telling me that there are twelve of these things knocking about?" Max asked "so where are the rest of them?".
"Look we're not on about markers anymore!" says Jonas "this is my life's work we're talking about here and we need to be careful what we say around people, we have to talk about this somewhere else!". Max stood up "ok so lets get going then" said Max, and with that he picked up his bag and placed it over his shoulder, then he and his Dad made for the cafe door. "Oh ok, I guess that means we're off then" said Peter, quickly downing the rest of his coffee before joining them outside, almost choking on the last gulp as he was closing the door behind him.
Out on the roadside Peter flagged down a black taxi cab for them which took them back to Kings Cross train station, they all then boarded the train back to Max's town where they got another taxi home.
Chapter 6⃣ Quick change
"Sweetheart are you here?" Max shouts as he walks in the front door followed by his dad and his uncle Peter.
"It doesn't sound like she's home Max" says Peter. "No it's two a clock so she'll be at work" replied Max referring to his wife. "Right then we can talk whilst there's no one about" said Jonas and Max replies by picking up where they left off in the cafe. "Ok so you said there are twelve of these bloody things, what are they? and yes I'm still hearing that bloody whispering as well, it's driving me mad" Max said frustrated after constantly having to endure the freaky whispering all the way home.
Max's dad flicks the switch on the kettle to boil it up for a coffee after their journey "right I have been listening to these whispers for two sodding decades, at first I couldn't make heads nor tales of them until that is, when I discovered the second one in a Romanian church" he said "I realised that the whispering had led me right to it, and so on for the rest, though its not always been that simple, I can only describe it as being a guide to follow but without a map, the closer I got to the next artefact the more the whispers filled my mind. Half of the time I couldn't sleep through the noise of it".
Jonas finished his weird explanation and went over to finish making the coffees.
"I'm surprised you haven't gone mad" states Max to his Dad who replies in jest "well not totally!".
"So what are we supposed to do now?" asks Peter who's feeling a little bit jealous of his nephews new involvement. Peter had never heard the whispers or ever been compelled to travel Europe by the say so of a nine inch high statue.
Jonas replies being unsure about what to do himself "I'm not sure but I guess we should have a proper good look at this artefact! as well as the rest, then we may get some kind of clue as to what they are and why we can hear things.
Jonas helps himself to the milk that was in the fridge and stirs it into the black drinks, turning them into dark caramel coloured cups of coffee. "Here you go" he says passing the cups over to them and in turn getting thanks from them both.
"So do you have any ideas what they are for?" asks Peter to his brother Jonas. "I have an idea but its a little bit far fetched" replies Jonas. "What like whispering stone statues you mean?" jokes Max, "not exactly" replies Jonas "we will need to go to my house, that's where I've got the other stones locked up" he explained.
"Ok then we'll go after I get changed and you can get cleaned up as well uncle Peter, and I'll see if I've got some clothes that'll fit you" Max says pointing the way upstairs to the bathroom.
Peter still upset about his ruined clothes from his fall accepts his nephews offer and follows him upstairs to get cleaned up. Jonas, alone downstairs opens the backpack to look at his newest prize, with a smile on his face knowing that he now had all twelve artefacts he can finally complete a puzzle that he had been trying to solve for the last twenty years, he hears their footsteps coming back down the stairs and so he packs the artefact back away in the bag and picks up his coffee to drink.
Max and Peter join Jonas back in the kitchen dressed in fresh clothing. Peter looking rather out of sorts, wasn't and has never been into sportswear, and yet there he was dressed in a navy blue jogging suit and wearing a white illustrated T-shirt underneath. He had even shaved off his beard leaving behind a clean, fresh face.
"Well dad what do you think of your brothers new look?" Max asks trying his hardest not to laugh and embarrass Peter any further.
"We'll you look about fifteen years old again bro!"
Jonas points out trying to sound positive.
"Ha ha I feel like an idiot, just look at me" Peter instructs by gesturing his hands up and down his new clothing, "how am I supposed to go out looking like this?" he asked. Max with not exactly his most subtlest comment of the day spoke "Well you went outside looking like a hippy in a yuppy suit and that didn't bother you!".
Peters face dropped as if he was totally gutted and Max realised what he had just said. "Look I'm sorry! I was only messing" said Max trying to reassure his uncle that he looked ok. "It's alright Max don't worry about it, I'm used to it". Almost ready to depart again Max leaves his wife a quick note on the back of an envelope from the mornings post delivery saying, 'Hi sweetheart I've gone over to dads, I will be back sometime later this evening. I love you always XXX Max XXX.'
After quickly scribing the note he places it under a magnetic elephant on the fridge door and then they all depart using the car in the side garage. A second hand black Porsche 911 that he bought with his mothers inheritance was Max's dream car, beautifully shaped body with black alloy wheels and a meaty engine it was his pride and joy however it was never really built for rear passengers so Peter was pinned behind Jonas's bucket seat all the way to the house, the bumpy country roads leading up to his Dad's stately home took it's toll on Peter as he was thrown around like a hamster in a washing machine, whilst both Max and his Dad loved every second of the one hour road trip. Finally Max slowed to pull into the driveway, the electronic gate slid to one side to allow the car to follow the driveway to the house, the gravel crunched under the wide tyres as they approached the main doors.
After turning off the growling engine and getting out to stretch, Max and his dad started laughing at Peter, who was struggling to fight his way out of the back seat of the Porsche. "Oh for god sake give me a hand will you" demanded Peter in quite a stress "there you go" said Max as he pulls a lever to move the passenger seat out of his way. "Thank-you, and next time I am claiming shotgun ok!" said Peter who quite obviously doesn't have the same level of admiration for the car that Max has. "Ok here we are then! Welcome to my humble abode" Jonas presents his home which is anything but humble. He opens up the big oak doors revealing a bright chandelier-lit entrance hall with curled staircases running down both sides of the ample room. An open fireplace in between the staircases is the main vocal point featuring a stags head above it accompanied by a hunting rifle. Rooms splinter off to each side with one door at the bottom of each set of stairs and a door behind each of the stairways sexy curved under-bodies. This was the first time that Max had been in the house and he just stood there quietly impressed, looking at the paintings that cover the walls.
"Come on Max this way" Jonas said as he guides them past the stairs ahead and through a door leading to an equally impressive room. Wood paneling covered the walls and ceiling creating a classical and inviting study room, carpeted to dim out the sound of footsteps gave the panelled study a warm home-like feel. Jonas especially liked this room as it feels cosy and looks prestigious.
Dotted around the room were studded red leather suites, a large antique coffee table and a large leather topped study desk with a leather high back desk chair behind it. "I love this room" said Max "yes it's one of my favourite rooms of the house" replied Jonas.
They carried on through the study's far entrance leading to a corridor with half a dozen closed doors in it and Jonas takes them through the one that leads to the kitchen. "It's been a long drive, do either of you want something to eat or drink?" asked Jonas being polite even though all he really wanted to do was check out all of the stones together 'it can wait half an hour' he thought to himself, it had already been a long day traveling around since the early morning and he was getting tired.
Peter was aching from his uncomfortable journey and still had a sore ankle, so he just wanted to lie down and rest, though he was hungry as well. "Have you got anything for a sandwich?" Peter asks "yeah of course, is honey roast ham ok? replied Jonas who receives a nod back from his brother "is ham ok for you son" "yeah, sounds good dad, and a coffee if that's ok!" said Max. "Go and make yourselves at home in the tv room and I'll bring it through." instructed Jonas pointing to a door at the other side of the kitchen. "I'll have a beer if you have any" mentions Peter as he stands up to go.
"In the fridge" replies Jonas as he started to slice a loaf of bread, "nice one, cheers Bruv" and so Peter retrieves his bottle of cold beer and heads to the sitting room to relax with Max.
In the kitchen, behind a cupboard door is a remote security station for the house. Jonas turns it on and glances at a screen for a second before setting the state of the perimeter cameras and alarm systems to active. He closes the cupboard and finishes making the sandwiches and coffees then takes them through on a tray to the living room. There sat down, TV remote in hand is Max checking out the news whilst on a sofa is Peter, fast a sleep still holding the beer.
"Lazy Bastard!" Sniggered Jonas.
"I think today has taken its toll on him" points out Max as he reaches for a sandwich "to be honest I'm not far behind him".
Jonas takes the bag from beside Max and opens the flap revealing the stone "yes me too, it has been an eventful day and i suppose this can wait until tomorrow".
It wasn't long before Max and his dad gave in to their tiredness and went upstairs to go to bed leaving Peter asleep on the sofa downstairs. Jonas went to his own bedroom after showing Max to the guest room.
Max found the WC and took a refreshing shower removing the days grime from his hair and body. After he returned to the guest bedroom, he placed his backpack with the stone artefact inside it beside the bed then proceeded to get under the covers for a good night sleep. He closes his eyes with fond thoughts of his wife and of the days odd events then finally drifts off into a much needed deep sleep.
In the night Max stirs in his sleep, as he tossed and turned whilst the stone artefact in his bag had started glowing. Releasing beams of light from the bag onto the bedroom walls and ceiling, the coloured lights flickered unnaturally and dashed around the room and over his face. Still fast asleep Max's eyes closed tight and ticked with an array of disturbing dreams entering his mind. Spine chilling images of dark figures with splashes of bright red blood swirled in his mind, curdling screams and wailing of tortured souls accompany images of horrifically tortured bodies exposing the blood soaked tissue of their innards as shadowy devilish figures eat animal-like and claw away at the still moving souls thrashing and writhing in pain.
All through the nightmare there was a disembodied voice whispering a chant almost as if it was driving the imagery into Max's mind. The terrible dream progresses and his mind is taken deeper into the madness until he is left with just one final image, the artifact he had found hours earlier had a pulsating fiery orange glow, the colored gems beamed and lines of blue light connected up the gems meeting up to the large gem in the centre. Then the central red gem burst into shards of the brightest blinding light which turned into cold white torchlight as Jonas tried waking him up shining a small torch in his eyes. "Come on sleepy head, wake up" said Jonas in a loud unforgiving tone " You were screaming and shouting in your sleep".
Max rubs at his unfocused eyes, sore from his dads bright torch light "what the hell was that"? Max cried. Jonas looked at Max bemused "you were having a bad dream and woke me up" Jonas says as he sits on the bed beside Max "are you ok now Son"? " yeah I guess, Peter is still asleep I see" replies Max. "Yes you know he can sleep through anything, ok I'm going back to bed so ill see you in the morning" "ok Dad, oh by the way can you take the stone with you it's creeping me out"? Max says and he passes the bag to his dad. Jonas took the bag in hand and went to bed.
Work in progress
The Vampires of mars
written by David A Stark..
A StarXDesign™ ©2012 production
Last update 11/10/2012
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