The Bane of Existence

Published: 16 Apr 2020

From the Previous Chapter:

It did not take long as this cooperation spread around the globe for the tide of the war to swing back to favoring Zane, Zander and Z-Troop as they fought against the malevolent forces of Rinaldo’s Bane and her Rogue vampires.

This swing in fortunes also meant that the cohorts in Z-Troop did not have to intervene as often as they did before. They were now able to concentrate more of their time to their own training and to working on a way to track the Bane to her own hideaway.

As often as they could the group as a whole or sometimes just several of the members would combine their magic and search for magical hot spots around the country. During one such sweep a powerful magic user was noted in close proximity to the group.

After much discussion, deliberation and one or two disagreements they decided the individual needed to be investigated. At the end of more consideration, Grayson, Marko, Drew and Karl were appointed to see what they could discover about this individual. They left the next morning.

Erika, Rinaldo’s Bane, who fashioned herself Lady Bane, paced agitatedly in her private office at the large house in Virginia. Her war on her oldest son, Zane, Rinaldo’s Child, was not going well at all. In fact, lately her forces were flat out being decimated even with the addition of several groups of human magic users.

She had tasked the Ancient vampires and her top Super Rogues with finding a solution to their increasing losses. Waiting for their reply was wearing her patience thin and Erika was ready to blast something or someone if they didn’t provide her with a course of action quickly. As she continued pacing Erika started popping little fireballs into her palm then making them disappear.

About a half hour later a Rogue that was used as a messenger after failing the Super Rogue training stuck his head in the door without knocking and announced, “The leaders have a plan for you. Will you join them or shall I have them come here?”

The feckless and oafish Rogue had the misfortune of interrupting the Bane just as a fireball appeared in her hand. By the time he had uttered his last word the fireball was headed his direction and growing in size as it closed in. His eyes widened and mouth fell open but that was all he could accomplish before the fire engulfed him and the door still in his grasp.

With a slight smirk and renewed calmness Erika went in search of her assistants to discover their plans to counteract her offspring’s current upperhand in their war. She breezed into their conference room and demanded, “What do you have for me? And it better be good!”

The four sent to investigate the strong magic-user getting close to their headquarters set a pace as fast as the two humans could handle. Around mid-day they stopped for a break and joined their energies to determine if they were still on track and how close this person was to their position. To their mild surprise, she ( yes, they could now tell it was a female) was very close, was also scanning the area with magic and traveling on a direct line towards their position.

After a brief discussion Grayson sent Drew to one side and Karl to the other while he and Marko stayed in the center on their original course. The foursome also slowed their pace and kept their guard up. They weren’t taking any chances since this could be the Bane hunting for them. Drew and Karl increased their shields including trying to block their opponent’s ability to detect them. At the same time, Grayson and Marko relaxed their shields slightly and lightly broadcast their position.

The woman paused to check her surroundings again. There were still three people ranged behind her loosely following. In front she detected two for sure but she had thought there was more when she first noticed them. She changed her trajectory again to aim directly at the two ahead of her and increased her pace. She hoped to dispatch those two before the three behind her could catch up and trap her.

Fifteen minutes later Grayson and Marko stopped in a small clearing to wait on the woman hustling toward them while Drew and Karl closed in but remained out of sight. About a minute after that the woman entered the other side of the clearing stopping at the edge. This close to the men she could smell them: vampires!

She immediately went on the offensive chanting the words to a major fire spell. At that exact moment Drew and Karl entered the clearing having recognized the building of a magic spell.

Just as the woman released the spell Drew yelled. “Mom! No!”

Feeling a new ability connected to his ice eyes Karl blew a huge breath out at the large mass of fire barreling toward their friends. An icy mist intercepted the fire and the frozen flames shattered against the hastily strengthened shields of the father and son.

“Drew!” said the woman with surprise as she readied another spell. “They’re vampires!”

“I know, Mom,” replied Drew, placing himself between his mom and two vampires. “They’re also friends!”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Karl?” she questioned turning toward her son-in law.

“Yeah, Mom. They‘re on the side of good.”

“That’s good to hear,” she commented before asking, “What about the three that’ve been following me?”

Sooner than the four could ask what she meant a rough voice sounded right behind her. “Yeah! What about us?” The Rogue vampire grasped Drew’s mom, Brigit, by the throat and yanked her against him.

Drew and Karl immediately tensed up ready to attack when two more vampires appeared, one between each of them and Brigit. “No, no no, boys,’ tsked the first Rogue. “You better play nice.” Grayson and Marko each had their swords out looking for any opening to help their friends and Drew’s mom.

Brigit was not exactly helpless and shot a feral grin at the two friendly vamps across from her as her red-orange hair flared into actual flames much as Drew wore his constantly. As the startled and burnt Rogue snatched his hand arm away from her neck Brigit dropped to a plank on her hands and toes then flipped to her back preparing a spell.

Before she finished her spell Brigit saw and felt a blur go by. Looking up she saw a shocked look on the vampire’s face as his head slid off his shoulders. She completed her spell incinerating the head long before it could strike the ground while the body slumped to the side. A pair of hands appeared in her vision so she reached for them and as they lifted her from the ground she felt another pair under her arms help set her upright. After gazing for a moment into what had to be the most intense eyes she had ever seen Brigit looked around to check on her sons.

On one side stood Drew with flames still running over his hands and ashes blowing around him. On the other side she almost laughed as she watched Karl meticulously knocking pieces off the frozen vampire in front of him. Tiring of his game Karl drew a sword and smashed the rest into bits with the hilt. Drew and Karl turned toward one another at the same time then hurried over to join Brigit and their friends.

“Are you alright, mom?” asked Drew, drawing his mother into a tight hug.

“Yes, Drew. I’m good,” answered Brigit with a slight smile. “Thanks to your speedy friend here.”

Karl took his turn hugging his mother-in-law while Drew thanked Grayson and Marko. When Brigit and Karl finished hugging, Drew started introductions.

“Mom, I’d like you to meet our friends, Grayson and his son Marko. Grayson, Marko, this is my mom, Brigit. She’s the one who first taught me magic.”

Marko nodded as he spoke, “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

Grayson, however, took a moment to study Brigit’s face before taking her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the top. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, milady. Would you like to join us?”

“It would be a delight, kind sir,” Brigit replied with a small curtsey looking once again into those intense eyes.

With a smile on his face Grayson directed Marko to take the lead with Brigit following. Drew and Karl again took the flanks but closer in than before while Grayson kept everyone in sight from the back. He found the view quite pleasant as he watched Brigit in her kelly green blouse and dark blue jeans having no trouble keeping up with the pace set by Marko.

Once they arrived at the caves Brigit was introduced to the rest of the guys. She was surprised to find four more vampires and even more surprised when shown the two werewolves. When she checked them all using her magic vision she was astonished at how pure their auras were and she was right down flabbergasted at the amount of magical power radiated from the smallest blonde.

The guys also introduced Brigit to their workouts and schedules in which she joined them without missing a beat. In the late afternoon she was taken to the house and had a room made for her to stay in while she was there. Some hunting in the attic and basement storage areas produced more feminine sheets, bedding and curtains for her to use.

“What do you have for me? And it better be good!”

The Super Rogues and Ancients sitting around the table gulped as they waited for Lady Bane to take her chair at the head of the conference table. Their consternation increased when they noticed that the messenger didn’t return with her. Glancing nervously at one another they hoped what they had decided would be enough to satisfy the Bane.

“Well . . . I’m waiting! Someone better start talking. Now!” Erika screamed, banging her fist on the tabletop.

All the vampires at the table turned toward the eldest Ancient seated at the opposite end from Rinaldo’s Bane. He gave an inaudible sigh and began speaking, “We have three suggestions for you. The first has to do with the fact that magical energies are on the rise. We are in agreement that the level of magic in the world is high enough for us to increase the number of Rogues we change into Super Rogues. This will give us a more powerful army.”

Erika smiled evilly as she inserted, “That sounds good for a start. Now, tell me about the second idea.”

The Ancient breathed a little easier and the ones around him relaxed slightly. He continued, “Our next idea is to use the internet to contact some of the darker magic users and convince them to join us. It would also be used to aid in training them and coordinating attacks.”

“How do we go about doing this?” interrupted Erika.

“We have found a few of our Rogues were hackers and all around geeks so they are very familiar with using computers,” answered the Ancient quickly. “They have already shown us that some of these magic users are already on our side and in touch with one another online.”

“Okay,” replied Lady Bane nodding. “That will be helpful. What’s the last one?”

“Yes, the third suggestion,” answered the Ancient. “The third option is to recruit abroad. Almost none of our Rogues and Super Rogues are from overseas and there is very little action in any country or on any continent except for a very small amount in Europe. There are many vampires and dark magic users in many countries in Europe and Asia and we are certain that we can find them in Africa and South America as well.”

Erika contemplated the suggestions while the vampires gathered in the conference room held their breaths waiting on her final decision. Finally, she rose to her feet, leaned on her hands over the end of the table and glared at the Ancient vampire still seated on the other end.

“Do it,” she commanded. “But I expect to see real results and sooner rather than later.” With that she turned quickly and strode out the door with purpose and headed for her private training playroom.

As soon as Erika was out of the room the three Ancients and ten Super Rogues sagged in their seats from relief and the release of their tensions. They waited until sure she was totally out of sight then they filed out of the room back to their duties. The Ancient who had spoken for them directed three of them to begin work on the suggestions that the Bane had approved.

All accepted that Rufus, the Ancient that had spoken at the meeting, was now the lead general for the Bane’s army. Rufus smiled ruefully to himself at the realization he was now seen as the head of the Bane’s army. This was both a good and a bad thing. Good in that he got to give the orders for others to carry out but bad in that if something went really wrong he would catch the blame for it. Unless . . . . . he would have to give this some thought. There might be a way to deflect the blame and therefore ire from Lady Bane onto a scapegoat.

It didn’t take Drew’s mom, Brigit, long to get into the groove with the others training on the hill. What she thought was going to only be a short stay to visit with her son and son-in-law kept getting longer and longer. She enjoyed learning new spells and new aspects of using magical energies as well as getting a chance to teach the others more about Celtic magic.

Brigit also found herself enjoying the physical training immensely especially the martial arts and sword fighting. She had always been good about keeping herself fit but this training pushed her to a new level and she discovered it was very invigorating.

Another reason Brigit found hanging around enjoyable was the company she kept. More and more of her time when not strictly training was spent in walking through the woods and talking with Grayson Reynolds who she found to be very intriguing and easy to talk with.

Grayson felt the same about Brigit and wanted to take her on a real date but felt he shouldn’t leave the hill during this war time. Brigit wanted to date also and was not above asking the male but was worried about how her son would feel if she did. The others watched them dance around the subject for a while and they took action of their own. Zane, Zander and Marko all worked on Grayson until they finally convinced him they would be fine while he went out. At the same time Drew and Karl labored to persuade Brigit that it would be great for her to date the handsome vampire. Ultimately, they succeeded and the two started going into one of the towns once every few weeks or so.

The war went on as the Z’s and Z-Troop continued to train and pop into hot spots as needed. The younger human members remained vigilant in their online pursuits keeping all the members in their network up to date on spells, training and vampire activity. They also kept an eye on the dark magic users’ internet presence.

The monitoring of the world wide web allowed the group to learn about two of the Bane’s changes to try to even the battles between the good and the evil. They noticed she was now recruiting the dark magic users and organizing them into groups. Soon several in their network reported an increase of dark magic use in their area and a few even had confrontations with their wicked counterparts.

They also found that the same addresses that organized the magic users were now sending messages overseas. The messages were directed at both dark magic users and a call for Rogues to rise up and join in Lady Bane’s cause. It didn’t take very long for them to notice a rise in Rogues here and abroad.

As the fighting continued and increased the troop noticed a marked rise in Super Rogues joining the vampire hit squads. It didn’t take very long for the fighting to be almost even again. If it wasn’t for the sharing of information and training tips provided by the Z-Troop the Bane’s goons would have the upper hand again. Zane and his troops needed to find a way to outdo Erika’s evil vampires and magic users.

For almost two years the battles continued to be close with the Z’s having a slight upper hand. At least in America they had the lead on Erika’s Rogues and Super Rogues. Across the rest of the world it was quickly becoming a different story especially in Europe where there were more Dark mages and Dark Druids joining Rinaldo’s Bane.

“What can we do to even things up in the rest of the world?” asked Zane when the group was all gathered together for a meeting.

Each member of the meeting looked at the other members hoping someone had a suggestion. It was silent for almost five minutes before someone spoke up.

“I’ve been contacted by an old friend,” Brigit offered hesitantly. “He has asked me to come meet with him and to bring my son.”

Drew and Karl looked with surprise and interest at Brigit. The others waited to see what would be made of this statement.

“How does this help with our problem?” questioned Zander patiently.

“Sean is now the head of the Druidic Order in Ireland,” Brigit replied. “I could see if he is willing to meet with everyone. We might convince him to contact others around Europe who could join the fight.”

Zane looked around as he said, “If no one objects I say we have Brigit contact the guy to set up a meeting.”

All around the cave were nodding heads with no dissenters. Zane dismissed them and they filed out of the cavern back to their training.

Brigit reported the next day that the meeting was a go and Sean expected them next week. Zane and Zander acknowledged the announcement then told the others. In two days they would meet again to decide who would be going on the trip.

The following day Drew finally got up the nerve to approach his mom. “Why does he want you to bring me? How does he even know about me?”

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