The Bane of Existence

Published: 12 Jun 2017

Erika, now calling herself Rinaldo’s Bane, paced the basement room in Virginia where she had holed up after failing to nab her two younger sons. The Rogue she sent after them should have reported back weeks ago. Apparently, her oldest son, known as Rinaldo’s Child, had foiled her yet a third time.

Losing Rinaldo’s personal book of magic was the most galling. The magic power she would have gained by training and then draining the brothers, Duncan and Thomas, was a drop in the bucket of what the owner of the tome gained directly from Rinaldo himself. To think it now belonged to her oldest brat whom she had left because he didn’t appear to have any magic in him at all. It was almost more than she could bear.

The destruction of three Rogues and the one Ancient that objected to her actions helped calm her. Now she had revenge to plan but without the full prophecy she had to guess how to hurt him the most.

The Ancients! Now, there was a surprise; she hadn’t even known they existed until four of them walked into her sanctuary in the woods of France. She’d bet that the brat known as the Child had no clue they existed. The four that came to her were looking for a return to the power they had wielded in long ages past.

When the four Ancients first appeared the Bane recognized immediately that they controlled more magic than she did so she kept them at a distance. She put off giving an answer to their offers of help until she had become their equals in magic and had several Rogues to do her bidding.

Not long after she had finally accepted their help, the strongest Ancient tried to bend her to his will. She fought him to a standstill then had her Rogues build and set a fire around him. She turned a deaf ear to his threats, bribes and cajoling until she heard desperation building in his voice. She let him squirm a little longer then forced him to release half his magical powers to her before she vanquished the fire.

With full control of the Ancients she set them to work helping train Rogues but making sure they were loyal to her not the four Ancients. Her rampage over the setbacks caused by the Child had another purpose besides giving vent to her anger and frustration; one of the other Ancients was creating his own Rogues.

Rufus, the Ancient who gave her his power, had toed the line ever since and even helped keep the others in line. He came to her a week before the run-in with her offspring ratting out Brachon, one of the other Ancients. He was the one making his own Rogues in defiance of her orders.

Once she had confirmed the truth of Rufus’ report and determined which of the Rogues belonged to Brachon, the Bane used the fiasco as an excuse to destroy the Rogues. Of course Brachon would protest since they were his which gave her a reason to turn on him. The others became even more subservient than before.

“Rufus!” called out the Bane in a demanding tone. “Get Clovis and Machon! I have an assignment for the three of you.”

“At once, Lady Bane!” Rufus scurried off to find his fellow Ancients.

“Dad! I’m tellin’ ya somethings goin’ on,” Marko insisted as he and his adoptive dad, Grayson, raced side by side down a deserted street. “I can feel all kinds of magical energy being used near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina.”

“Are you certain, Marko?” Grayson asked once again. They had had this argument twice before. “I still haven’t picked up anything.”

“Yes, I am,” replied Marko with exasperation. “I know you’ve been at this longer than I’ve been alive and all. But I have become very sensitive to magic use lately. You’ve said so yourself.”

“I have so spoken. Alright then, as soon as we catch and dispatch this group of Rogues we’ll check it out,” capitulated Grayson with a chuckle.

“Thanks, dad! Whoa! There it is again,” announced Marko coming to an abrupt stop. “Didn’t you feel anything, Dad?”

Grayson, once known as Graemar, stopped and returned to where his son was standing with his head cocked to one side as if listening. Grayson shook his head in the negative when Marko looked to him for an answer.

“You’re tracking the Rogues, right?” questioned Marko. “So, you’re concentrating on dark magic. What I just felt wasn’t dark magic. In fact, it was very similar to what I use.”

Grayson waited attuned to the Rogues they had been tracking while Marko was deep in thought. He perked up just as Marko starting speaking again.

“Dad, one of the largest bursts is very familiar. I think I may know who it is,” an excited Marko proclaimed. “I do; I do know who it is. Dad, it’s . . . ”

“Rogues on the move. We’ve gotta go now,” interrupted Grayson taking off again. “We’ll check it out after we finish this.”

“Come on, Zane!” shouted an aggravated Gavin from a rocky knoll where he could see anybody approaching while he absent-mindedly rubbed the bruise on his right arm from Zander. “You can’t hide for the whole hour. It isn’t fair!”

Zane had to cover his mouth and bite down on his tongue to keep from giving his position away by laughing at the whining tone in the big vampire warrior’s voice. He had silently moved from tree to tree by using the same spell he used in the cave when he finally came back to the world.

During that time Zane not only had moved halfway around the hill but had watched the other five attacking, counterattacking and dodging each other all while trying to figure out where he was. Other than Zane, Zander was the only one without a mark of some kind so far.

Radesh had some singed fur from Shayn who had light scratches across the back of one of his shoulders from Rogan who had a pump knot on the left back side of his head from Gavin who, of course, had the bruise from Zander.

From his vantage point Zane could see all five of the other players and who they were tracking now. They were almost in the positions Zane needed to put his plan in action. He wanted them close enough to see as he left a mark on each one of them in turn. He just had to have Radesh or Rogan, both of whom were after Gavin to move another five feet or so and he would be set.

Zane watched with a satisfied grin as Radesh began to slowly and silently edge forward trying not to attract Gavin’s attention. As the werewolf crept up to where Zane needed him to be to pull off his plan, the small, blonde vampire reviewed the order and spells he would use to tag each player. Just as he completed his review Radesh stopped moving within the area Zane hoped for.

With a loud whoop Zane stepped out of the leaves into plain sight and as everyone turned their attention he blinked out of sight. He reappeared behind Zander, pinching his butt and saying, “Hello, loverboy!” Then he uttered a quick spell and slapped the brown-headed vampire on the chest leaving a glowing, bright green handprint before whisking out with a wink and a blown kiss.

“A-r-r-g-g!” screamed Zander in frustration bringing the others’ scrutiny his direction.

Radesh laughed so loud and hard that he gave away his intentions on Gavin. He nearly jumped out of his fur when he heard a loud booming voice behind him.

“Thought that was funny, did ya?” Zane smirked as Radesh did a 180 degree turn. A couple of quietly uttered arcane words came from Zane’s lips next.

The werewolf gasped and nearly fainted when he realized his entire fur had suddenly turned the same bright green as the handprint on Zander’s chest. Rogan in full wolf form raised his muzzle and howled into the air at the sight. His mirth was short lived.

In front of him popped Zane with the finger of one hand already pointed at Rogan and the incantation was quickly voiced as the fingers of that hand spread apart. The wolf found himself in his human form in all his glory (meaning not a stitch of clothing did he have) and when he tried Rogan found he could not change back to either of his wolf forms.

Angry and embarrassed Rogan kept his attention riveted between Shayn and Gavin who were the only ones Zane hadn’t tagged yet. As soon as he saw Zane materialize in front of Gavin, Rogan shot a small ball of energy at his back. His glee over the possibility of being the one to tag Zane turned to horror as he watched the teen cast a spell that covered Gavin in bright green spots and popped out of sight again before the ball reached him.

Shayn saw his boyfriend about to be hit by a sphere of energy and tried alerting him with a mind message. Just after he sent it Shayn heard soft words spoken behind him then Gavin’s painful scream. Gavin had gotten Shayn’s message a little late and when he looked up from being preoccupied with the dots of green all over him, the energy spell was three feet away and closing fast.

“NO!” shouted Shayn as he felt the whoosh of the change in air pressure as Zane teleported again.

Reappearing at Gavin’s side, Zane helped him lay out as comfortably as possible and reached up to bring his hand down across Gavin’s face closing his eyes. While he did this Zane used a spell to put the oversized vampire into a deep sleep.

Eyes boring into Rogan, Shayn raised his hand and started the incantation to a spell of his own. At the same time Radesh was preparing to rush at Shayn and Zander had just bunched his leg muscles to intercept Radesh while Rogan just stood focused on Gavin and Zane.

Before any of them could complete their actions Zane arced his hand around behind him and hollered out, “Da hesch!”

The other four were frozen in place unable to move or speak. In this position, with his arm held up in front of him, Shayn couldn’t help but notice that his hand and arm sparkled in the sunlight because it was covered in bright green glitter. He wondered how much of him was shrouded in glitter but couldn’t move to find out.

With the ruckus that was about to start taken care of Zane began the task of stopping the energy ball and healing his friend. First, he laid his hand on Gavin’s forehead and muttered, “Andeis,” causing the teen vampire to return to his normal size. He immediately held his hands over the wound and drew the energy out of Gavin’s body. Zane then used that energy in healing the burns his hands glowing green as he laid them onto the sore on Gavin’s chest. After about eight grueling minutes Zane straightened and rolled his tense shoulders to find relief.

The small, blonde vampire stood and faced his paralyzed companions looking from one to the other as he decided what to do. Nodding to himself, Zane then flicked his fingers at Rogan releasing him from the holding spell. The contrite werewolf hurried to where Zane stood when he was beckoned and waited for his punishment.

“Take Gavin to the cave and protect him until his body finishes recovering,” directed Zane flatly. “I have some hot heads to cool down.”

“Right away, Heir,” agreed Rogan with a head bow. He picked Gavin up carefully and headed for the cave.

Zane was deciding who to deal with next when the importance of how Rogan had answered him impinged on Zane’s consciousness. It was the acceptance of a servant. Zane’s shoulders sagged as he sighed heavily. Being Rinaldo’s Heir and Child was more responsibility than he had bargained for. Everyone expected him to lead while he felt like the youngest and least experienced of them all.

Somehow he had to get them all past this incident and back to being friends. Zane didn’t need or want a bunch of servants. He needed friends who could assist his endeavors to put a stop to Rinaldo’s Bane and her evil. He wanted companions to share his ups and downs especially ones that would pick him up when he stumbled. But, for now, he had to get this mess settled.

He flicked his fingers at his boyfriend then leaped to intercept him. Zane could tell that Zander had been close to leaving his feet by the time Zane had frozen all the action. He met the chocolate-eyed teen in midair, spoke the words to the hover spell and guided them down to the rocky outcrop where Gavin had been.

As they landed Zander slid his arms around the smaller vampire’s waist pulling him close. At the same time Zane reached behind Zander’s head pulling it down and locked lips with him in a long passionate kiss.

“H-m-m-m, that was nice,” breathed Zander when they broke apart.

“Yes, it was,” agreed Zane. “But I have Rogan taking Gavin back to the cave to watch over him and I need you to guard them, please.”

“No problem, Child,” complied Zander smiling and laying a finger on Zane’s lips. “I love you and will always be here for you but right now you need to be the Child. As Samhain’s Son I’ll follow your lead.” Then, he kissed his lover one more quick time and left for the cave in huge bounding leaps.

Zane watched him for a couple of seconds then sighed and turned to deal with the last two members of their group. Since the target of his attack was no longer there, Zane started with Shayn flicking his fingers again to release the spell.

With a major effort, after finding himself free of the spell, Shayn halted his own incantation and drew the magical energy back into his body. Shuddering from the effort and the sudden influx of energy the larger blonde vampire turned toward Zane with tears forming in his eyes.

“Gavin?” he managed to hoarsely ask fearing the answer.

“He is recovering in the cave and is well watched over,” replied Zane kindly. “I have a task for you before you see him.”

“What is it?”

“When Gavin awakens from the sleep I put him in, he will need to feed,” Zane stated. “Go, find him blood. If you can find a human evil enough to deserve death; that would be best for Gavin.”

“Okay, I can do that,” agreed Shayn with relief. Pointing at Radesh Shayn queried, “He was about to attack me, wasn’t he?”

Looking over at the statue-like werewolf Zane nodded, “Yes, he was but he wouldn’t have made it. Zander was already about to leap when I stopped everyone.”

“At least you were thinking clearly,” sighed Shayn shaking his head. “Since you gave me time to think I realize Rogan didn’t mean to hurt Gavin. Thanks for stopping me from doing something stupid.”

“Don’t worry about it. A lot of mistakes were made today,” admitted Zane with resignation. “We’ve got to do better if we’re going to war with the Bane. Now, go hunt; I’ll send Radesh after I’ve talked to him.”

Shayn nodded and took off down the hill, through the woods. The small blonde vampire turned his attention to the last of his companions and released the spell. The still bright green werewolf finished his leap by landing in front of Zane. He waited patiently for the chewing out he was sure was coming.

Zane laughed as he took in Radesh’s stance, facial expression and the emotions rolling off him. “No, I’m not going to dress you down.” He continued after the look of surprise appeared on Radesh’s face. “I’m not intruding on your mind either; I can just feel the emotions emanating from you along with the way you’re standing.”

“Okay, what can I do? I heard you tell Shayn you would send me,” Radesh straightened up waiting for orders.

“I sent Shayn to find a source of blood for Gavin. Catch up to him and help him,” came the gentle order from Zane. “Then run a quick patrol of the area but be careful.”

“You got it, Child!” And he took off on the double.

Watching the wolf run Zane suddenly realized he hadn’t removed his prank spells from any of his companions. It was too late for Shayn and Radesh because he had to be in close proximity for this particular type of spell but he could correct the others when he got to the cave.

As soon as he got back to the cave they were living in, Zane checked on Gavin and removed the green dots from all over his body and made it possible for Rogan to transform again. Then, he went to Zander and wiped across his chest with his hands as he spoke the counterspell that removed the glowing green handprint.

Rinaldo’s Child went on to kiss Samhain’s Son’s breastbone followed by the hollow of his neck before pulling his head down to kiss him fully on the lips. They made out heavily for a few minutes then Zane pulled back with a sigh.

“When the others get back and Gavin’s awake we need to have a meeting,” announced Zane caressing his lover’s face. “Come get me when they arrive.”

Zander pulled him back when he started to leave and kissed the top of his head running his hand down Zane’s back and across his firm butt. It was a promise for later.

Unknown to either of them, a lone figure slipped away through the trees.

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