Jacqueline

Power erupted around Jacqueline like a flare as she stepped from her magical portal and into the mausoleum’s shadowy depths.  The crypt’s murky blackness lashed out at the light, thrashing hungrily—straining futilely to devour it.  She reached out with her mind and instantly grabbed the crypt’s power, reining it to bay.  With a firm grasp, she choked it down liked a starved dog on a collar, exerting her will until it shuddered and whimpered at her command. 

Turning abruptly, she dismissed the portal and watched it evaporate into a smoky haze, leaving only a faint fading impression of its former existence. 

She stood tall.  Her six foot, well rounded, body framed the crypt’s hallway.  Absently she ran her long, red nails through her thick, coarse black hair that trailed well below her waist.  In today’s world she was model material, with her long curvy legs and vivid blue eyes and she knew it.  She was not above using her beauty to her advantage when she could.  Today, however, would not be one of those times.

She stared at the spot where the portal had disappeared.  Two months ago she could not have held the portal that long, let alone keep the flow of energy from announcing her presence to all the sensitive’s in a three-state area.  But now, thanks to her new tome of knowledge and her expanding power reserves, she could, that and more, so much more.

Turning her thoughts to the situation at hand, she searched for Richard, her reason for coming to this dismal place.  With unseen probes of her twisted mind, she reached invisibly to him and quickly found him--His Highness, Richard the Seductive, the Vampire Prince of New York City.  He was at the end of the narrow corridor ahead of her.

A wave of raw emotion hit her and she blocked her mind from the assault, shielding out the tortured emotions that blared through the meter thick granite—desperation, loss, and despair.  Yes, Richard was still hidden here, just as she had expected he would be.  She couldn't have planned this better. 

This whole ordeal started three months ago.  She rushed into New York from Boston, in the guise of a desperate fledgling, fleeing for her life.  She had fallen on her knees and pleaded with Richard to grant her sanctuary.   She told him the dreadful tale of Boston’s fate.  All the Boston vampires were gone.  As far as she could tell she was the sole survivor.  She knew for a fact they were all gone.  She had taken care of that.

He had accepted her story and promised her protection, if her story were true.  When no one could find any vampires in Boston she was given asylum.  She slowly gained his trust over the passing weeks, often backing his inane ideas and plans that the others argued about.  She had proven to be the only one to support him unerringly, soon making her way to his favorite.

Then slowly, she began severing the outside ties they maintained, isolating them completely from any help.  She had acted swiftly, putting an end to the dangerous peace negotiations Richard had been mediating with the Minnesota kingdom.  She had been planting seeds of suspicion toward Minnesota and even hinting that they might have been responsible for Boston’s downfall.  After all, the Prince’s own sister was not only a vampire but a known witch, and presumably a dangerous one.  It had not been a lie.  The Minnesota group was dangerous, even if they were outcasts, scorned for the eccentric lifestyle and the Prince’s sister.

The Minnesota kingdom was small but powerful, only fifteen in all, yet they held vast power and she knew they would be deadly enemies for the unwary.  But it was more than just their power, it was their bond.  There was some unknown tie between the vampires that connected them to Prince Colin and his bitch sister, Bridget.  No one seemed to understand nor could they identify it.  Most, simply dismissed them since they had never outwardly threatened anyone, but that group would be one to reckon with when she crossed them.

Jacqueline knew she was still not powerful enough to take them not yet—but soon, very soon, she would.

With her prodding and guile, suspicion grew fast.  Richard began to read things into Prince Colin’ words, turning and twisting them.  Then suddenly without warning or word, Richard cut off all contact with the Minnesota group.

Without the interference of Colin and his clan, actions fell into place rapidly.  Over two weeks, Jacqueline had drained Richard’s flunkies one by one, leaving body after body drained of its life essences with nothing but their physical husks still surviving.   

She reveled in Richard’s vain struggle to protect and save his people.  He was racing from one lifeless corpse to another unable to form any plan or action.

In desperation, he had ordered her to find a safe place to store the fallen vampires until he could find a way to restore them again.  She had obeyed him as always without question, choosing this isolated tomb for their final resting place. 

She had pulled the energy from each of the fallen bodies she entombed, secretly weaving it into an existing framework of spells.  The crypt was a storehouse of power…their power…now her power. 

She found the irony almost too much to bear.  Here sat their Prince among their listless bodies, pining for them and totally unaware that they surrounded him, calling out to him voicelessly, begging him to save them.

Out of habit, she caressed the web of power and a jolt the power surged through her body sending chills of pleasure up and down her spine as it held her, caressed her and kissed her soul.  She wallowed internally in the heady, drunken high that she always felt from the masses of power.  It was better than drinking the blood and life essence from her mortal victims. 

Begrudgingly she forced herself to let go.  She moved gracefully, her steps fell as still as the darkness that surrounded her.  Richard would be expecting something and she couldn't afford to be drunk on power—at least not yet.

She released the shield spell that blanketed the vault as she stepped under the main arch.  Raw and pained tension lay heavy in the air, stabbing at her senses like a stake through the heart.

Poor Richard sat statuesque among the numerous caskets that were crammed into the room with his head buried in his hands.  His once tall, regal body was now hunched and beaten.  His unwashed short brown hair was plastered against his head and his once warm blue eyes were dull and grey.

She tapped the raw power again and manipulated it, forcing it to the back of her mind, ready to be called back at a moment’s notice.  With the stealth and speed of a panther she turned on her intended prey.

“Your Highness,” she said stepping from the archway and into the vault.  Her voice broke the grim silence like a clap of thunder.

“Jacqueline,” he said leaping to his feet in surprise.   “My God, you’re back and safe.  Have you found a way to help them?  Any news?  Anything?” He pleaded, hope bleeding into his eyes.

“The only way for you to help them and put an end to this situation is to join them,” she replied.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” he said misunderstanding her.  “This is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.  It’s as though they never existed, even their bonds to me have evaporated.”

Jacqueline pulled an octagonal charm from under her belt and held it up for his inspection.  He gazed at her with disgusted skepticism planted firmly on his face. 

Secure that she had his full attention now, she chanted a harsh phrase.  Her voice was raspy and discordant as she thrust a pointed finger toward the wall.  A torch levitated sedately towards her.  Grasping it, she dangled the charm from a thin gold wire, directly into its flame.

“Watch,” she said, “notice the flow of the flame.  Instead of radiating the energy as he expected, this glass-like stone absorbs everything it comes in contact with.”

She jerked the pendant from the fire and crossed a few steps to Richard’s side and pressed it to his cheek.

He flinched, expecting to be burned.  Shock turned to amazement as the stone was cool to the touch.

“How and where did you get that torch?  I didn't think you moved that fast.” he stammered.

“It’s easy.  Once you realize the power of this charm.  With this, I can help you find your people.”

Turning to the center of the vault, she summoned her frenzied slaves, the power of all the vampire’s essences and raised her hands.  She embraced their power that swirled about her.  The wind whipped about the room in a whirlwind, extinguishing the torches in a mad gush, until the only light emanating was from her. 

Casting the charm at Richard’s feet she intoned, “Let this person know his place, let him go where he has no face, let his essence roll to me, and his master shall I ever be”

Richard started to move and tried to balk but she continued the incantation.  Blazing bars of light leaped from the pendant entrapping the Prince. 

“You are mine!” she finished as his body transformed from the beast within.  First his humanity and then his soul were shredded from his body.

She looked at his crumpled body on the ground.  “Poor Richard,” she said aloud, “brought to this,” she said as her arms encompassed the entire room.

She watched the essence that had once been Richard being sucked out of his body and disappearing into the crystalline structure of the charm.  She chuckled.    He was completely coherent and totally devoid of all his perceptions:  blind, deaf, and robbed of all his tactile sensations, how wonderful.

She kicked the lifeless husk of Richard’s body out of her way and retrieved the jet icon that held his essence and smiled at the warmth that now radiated from it.

“They never suspect their own of genocide.  Too proud to admit any weakness in their abilities, they don’t see it and they don’t warn the others.   Soon all the vampires in North America shall be mine to call upon,” she cackled.

She moved to a coffin and threw back the lid, pulling out a large handful of charms and turned back to the center of the desolate room.  With a careless wave of her hand, she opened a portal and gathered her minions to her.  A blinding shaft of light pulsated through the darkness and in a moment she was gone, leaving behind a ringing cadence of maniacal laughter and thirty plus vampire corpses.