Vampire Nation 3: Titan Rules, page 9
“Hey. How did it look?” Lorac asked.
“Cronus was angry. It is the only explanation I could see. There were places where bodies were thrown for no reason. It hit me after the third time seeing it. All this killing is hurting him. He grew angry at himself for what he is doing.” Arria shared her theory.
“Titan, do you agree with Arria?” Ghost asked. There was no other agenda. He was really wondering if I saw things the same way.
“It made the most sense. I couldn’t see the reason. I was staring at the damage. It didn’t appear to be from a struggle as it would if there had been fighting. We all know these vampires couldn’t fight Cronus anyway. Arria saw it. It fits what we saw.”
Arria and I sat for a moment letting Ghost process things. I was brought to attention quickly by something else.
Ares.
“Arria, hang up the phone.” I told her firmly. She looked at me in shock before following my line of sight. When she saw Ares, she hung up on Lorac and Ghost.
I stood and took a few hesitant steps toward Ares. He was standing at the door leading into the facility. By the look on his face he had just seen everything. When he saw me walking toward him, he motioned for me to stop. He moved in one of those unbelievably quick movements to stand next to me. I saw a bit of his blur. I guess I was fast enough to at least see a blur now.
“Arria, I am sorry for what he is doing. If you will, let me speak with Titan alone for a while.” Ares spoke respectfully.
Arria didn’t speak but she gave Ares a small smile before she sped from the room.
“I know Cronus means a lot to you. I can understand how hard this must be to see.” I knew my words were an understatement but they needed to be said.
“It is breaking my heart. Cronus is for me what Apollo is for you. Simple goodness. For twelve hundred years he was the one I looked to for inspiration. Now, either he is losing his mind or he is right and I can’t see it.” Ares truly sounded heartbroken.
“Do you know of anything that would have spurred him into this action?” I asked.
Ares moved to sit in one of the chairs. I took a seat across from him on one of the couches. He took a minute before answering my question.
“The whole thing last year hit him hard. Four council members conspiring to commit murder was a fire alarm to him.” Ares stopped and didn’t appear to be ready to say more. I waited a minute before asking my next question.
“Why is he after me? I remember what you told me last year but I haven’t done anything wrong. Nothing that would make him come after me, anyway.”
“I spoke to him after you told me about Gnome. I asked him the same question. He said this was a two part plan. One, he needed to clean up some of the trash. Two, he thinks you are too much of a lightning rod. He is afraid Arria will be the one getting hurt by being so close to you. He considers what he is doing to be the best thing for Arria.”
My mind was spinning out of control. Arria and I were happy before this started. We would be happy now if Cronus would stop killing vampires. The absurdity of his way of thinking was making my stomach turn.
“Is my death a part of the plan?”
“Yes.”
I hated what I was about to say but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t say it.
“Tell Cronus to come for me then. I would rather die than keep seeing others die in an attempt to frame me. If my death would save others, then let it happen now.”
Ares looked at me.
“I really believe you would. Cronus wouldn’t believe though. He doesn’t think you capable of dying for others.” Ares sighed then. I could see the turmoil within him. “I am trying to decide whether I should try to stop him or stay out of the way. You do realize he might be stronger than me, right?”
“Yes. From what I’ve heard, he is over nine thousand years old.”
“Thirty eight hundred is the oldest I’ve drank from. That is my base. The extra is the speed and strength gifts. I wish I had been trying to gather more along the way. I haven’t drank in a gift in over eight hundred years and that was only a unique talent I wanted. I knew only Cronus was stronger so I didn’t bother. It didn’t seem necessary.” Ares admitted.
“I’ve only drank from newly turned vampires. I built as quickly as you can from that though. Arria and Lorac see to it that I drink from every speed or strength gift we encounter among their fighters or even the council’s fighters. Ghost made the suggestion to Arria for me to drink from the council members. Arria is making that our last resort. She knows all the old ones will be in an uproar if she allows that to happen.”
“Try to convince her, Titan. You may have already taken in more gifts than me as far as speed and strength. You need a stronger base though.”
A question came to mind. That brought a follow-up question. I chuckled a little at the absurdity of asking at such a serious time.
“What are you chuckling about?” Ares was intrigued. He loved to laugh more than anyone I knew even though he could be extremely intense as well.
“I was wondering what Cronus’s gift was. That brought to mind something I’ve been pondering for the last year. Does our personalities as a human have anything to do with the gifting?”
“It does but you shouldn’t dig into it too deeply. It isn’t an exact science. Let me guess, you were wondering why the two of us were singled out for this gift?” Ares asked with a smile on his face.
“Yep.” I laughed lightly. Ares joined in. “I don’t have the answer yet. Maybe someday, if I live.”
That wiped the smiles off our faces.
“Going from what you know, what gift would you think Cronus to have?” Ares asked.
“Well, everyone says he was always purely good. From what I’ve seen that usually means he is a daywalker.”
Ares smiled and nodded.
“What conclusion did you reach for speed gifts? That one was the hardest for me.” Ares seemed a bit more cheered by this conversation.
“Driven. In one facet of life or another, all speed gifts seem to have been overly motivated.”
“Interesting. I can see that.” Ares got a sad look then. If I had to guess, I would say he was sad about my imminent death. “I will try and talk with Cronus some more. I don’t think he will listen. It is still hard to imagine this of him. To step this far out of character, I would think it is a no going back statement. I will try though.”
“Thank you, Ares. I know it might not help, but it is appreciated.”
“We will talk again if there is something you need to know. Tell Ghost…well, I guess you don’t really have to tell him. He will figure it out. That is one incredible mind.” Ares stood to leave.
“You got that right.” I said, with a chuckle. I stood to see him off.
We shared a brief look. There wasn’t much to say. He wanted to help but was standing between two friends that were on a collision course. I wanted to live but couldn’t ask him to risk his own life to save mine.
With a nod, he sped away.
Chapter 11
Arria sat in frustration. Our hands were linked between us as the plane neared her facility. She knew I needed time to process things. She also knew I didn’t want to talk in front of Reptile. She would need to wait until we were home.
I had gone over my conversation with Ares a few times in my head. I knew I would repeat this again and again. I wasn’t finding an answer.
I recalled my first night as a vampire. Trog told me how powerful my gift could make me. He was right. What kept coming to mind now was how close to dying I seemed to stay. The unravelling almost got me, the incident last year could have ended me, and now Cronus was an almost unstoppable force targeting me.
“Why couldn’t I have just been a daywalker?” I mumbled out loud.
Arria looked at me puzzled. Reptile burst into laughter. Arria and I both turned to look at him. He tried to compose himself but failed. We waited with smiles on our faces for Reptile to regain control of his laughter.
“Sorry, it just hit me funny.” He didn’t look like he was going to explain further. I let it go and Arria seemed to as well.
“You would have still been you. You would just have been less powerful.” Arria told me.
“I wouldn’t be a magnet for trouble though. Apollo and I could be manning the employee ranks like normal friends. I wouldn’t have Cronus killing hundreds of vampires to frame me.”
“We will find a way.” Arria sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
I squeezed her hand and smiled. I knew she was trying to be brave. She had proven her love for me more than once. It must scare her to see another chance of losing me looming over us. I knew how the thought of losing her would be for me. I would be petrified. And angry.
Once we were home, Arria looked at me. I knew she wouldn’t demand I tell her what was said but she really wanted to know. I motioned for her to sit as I took my chair.
“It was more of what we guessed. Cronus is cleaning up some of the bad parts of our society while pointing a finger at me. He thinks I am a danger to you. He is worried you will fall because of me. Whether directly or indirectly, those near to me are in more danger than might be necessary. Cronus is taking a very scenic route to show it.”
“Is he going to kill you though?” Arria asked.
“Yes.” I replied. I knew not to sugarcoat it. Arria’s face fell. I took a deep breath before continuing. “Ares isn’t sure he could stop Cronus. He isn’t sure he will try. You are one of the many who have spoken of the pure goodness of Cronus. Ares did as well. How can Ares stand against someone who has been his inspiration and role model for twelve hundred years?”
Arria let a tear fall down her cheek. My instincts were to comfort her but I knew this conversation was needed.
“What did Ares say about you drinking from the council? Did that come up?”
“It came up. He encourages it. He knows it will give me a fighting chance. I could tell he didn’t like my chances even then. I felt sorry for Ares. He is between two friends knowing there is a good chance he will lose one of them. Maybe even having to fight one of them.”
“I am still finding it hard to believe Cronus is killing so many innocents. What made him start doing this in the first place?” Arria thought along the same lines as I did.
“The council last year. Four members conspiring. Ares told me how much it affected Cronus. In a roundabout way, Agda is going to cause my death. It just isn’t the way she had in mind.”
“I am still not giving up. It may sound strange but I think Cronus will come to his senses and stop this. It is an overreaction. He will realize his mistake and stop killing.” Arria’s desperation was showing now.
I knew I needed to cheer her up but wasn’t sure how. I searched my mind for a topic that I could get to but was coming up empty. Then I remembered Ares being cheered by the conversation of the gifting.
“Ares thinks along the same lines as I do about the gifting. We were in agreement on some of the underlying characteristics.” I offered.
“There is no predicting it. It doesn’t have a reason behind it.” Arria had the stubborn set to her jaw almost instantly. I smiled inwardly.
“Name a daywalker who isn’t purely good.” I challenged.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” She argued.
“Nosey equals mind reader. Driven equals speed. Overly selfless equals incorporeal. I could go on and on.”
“Do you think you are the first to try and explain it? Since the beginning, vampires have wondered over it. One theory would sound good until enough examples were given to prove it wrong. It happens every time.” Arria insisted.
I wondered if she realized what I was doing.
“If there wasn’t something to it, then it wouldn’t come up so often. Remember, to humans vampires are a myth.” I smiled when I added that last statement.
“You are so frustrating sometimes.” Arria smiled while shaking her head.
Our conversation remained lighter for some time after that. We enjoyed some playful bantering before calling it a night and getting into bed.
“I can’t lose you, Titan. I can take most anything, but not that.”
“We will find an answer.” I wish there was more for me to say to her. I wish I could make the statement sound more confident. I couldn’t.
Chapter 12
We continued sending council members and the special guard to the events around the world. Every fight had a representative sent by the council to try and promote safety and peace of mind. Only a select few knew the futility of this gesture. Any event Cronus crashed, would die.
The good news was the lack of crashing. Cronus didn’t continue his ways for over two weeks. Ares never called to let us know anything. Our obvious hope was of him talking Cronus out of the killing spree.
While some were relaxing, I was becoming a basket case.
“Hey, Titan.” Sweetie said, cheerfully.
She’d called and asked me to meet her in the lobby room. She didn’t give a reason but I would always welcome her company.
“Hey, Sweetie.” I smiled as I took the chair beside hers.
This reminded me briefly of when we were acting like old ones. She was Emelia then and scared to death. I was Darius and worried. This should be better but it wasn’t. I couldn’t get away from the thought of Cronus showing up to kill me.
“You weren’t busy were you?” She asked.
“Nope. For the most part, I have no responsibilities anymore. Reptile is Arria’s second, though I fill that role some. I’m not an official member of the council, though I seem to be at every meeting.” I sat back amused. “I guess that makes me the highest ranking member of the ‘I don’t have a job’ group.”
Sweetie smiled.
“It’s good to see you in a good mood. The guys told me you’ve seemed strained lately.” Sweetie started looking at me funny then. It was like she was trying to look through me.
“Other than expecting Cronus to jump out at me at any time, I’m fine.” I tried to laugh. It got stuck in my throat.
“The others are hoping he stopped. Maybe he will reconsider and won’t attack you.”
“He’s gone too far to stop now. It would make the deaths of the innocent vampires meaningless. The bad ones he killed may have deserved it. The ones who hadn’t done anything wrong will make him see this through.” I looked at Sweetie. I hated to do this but… “Have you heard from Ares? I hate to ask but any word would help right now.”
“We’ve talked. We talked about a lot of things. He refuses to speak to me about all this between you and Cronus. He needs me to be his free time. I am his break from worrying over which one of you he is going to lose. It will hurt him either way it goes.”
“I won’t ask anymore. You shouldn’t either. What you said is right. Ares hasn’t done anything wrong. Still, he is being put in a very bad situation.” I regretted asking her.
“The same could be said of you. You did nothing wrong but Cronus is singling you out for execution. Look, when I say Ares hasn’t talked to me about this stuff, I mean he hasn’t said a word. Will you give me the details? I know less than Apollo about all that’s happening.” Sweetie was pleading.
“First off, have you met Cronus?”
“No. Ares told me I would someday but it never seemed to be the right time.”
“Well, from all reports, Cronus is like Apollo. Like Hermes. Cronus has been considered one of the greatest of our kind. It’s the whole simple goodness thing.” I paused before continuing. Sweetie broke in before I could.
“He must not be so good. He is killing innocents!” Sweetie exclaimed.
“Ares told me he is torn. He doesn’t know if Cronus has lost his mind or if Cronus is right and we just can’t see it.”
“There’s no way this could be right. Why is he doing this?”
“Cronus has a two part plan. He wants to clean up the bad elements and kill me. Remember back to what Gray told us. Arria is one of Cronus’s favorites. Unfortunately, Cronus thinks I will be Arria’s downfall. He thinks she will be hurt in all the madness that constantly surrounds me. I still don’t understand why he is going so far out of his way to frame me. That is the part that doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t he just come for me? I even told Ares to tell Cronus that. If he wants me dead, then kill me and leave all these innocent vampires alone.” I was coming apart inside by the time I finished speaking.
Sweetie grew quiet while she thought about the things I told her. I spent the time trying to calm down. I forced myself to get a good grip on my anger and frustration.
“I get the feeling there is something else here that I don’t know.” Sweetie wasn’t accusing. She was afraid. She’d shown herself to be highly observant and insightful.
“You’ll need to give more information. What is it you think you’re missing?” I asked. I didn’t know what to tell her.
“Ares seemed worried. I actually got the impression he was afraid of losing me. Why would all this cause him to lose me?”
I knew then. I wasn’t going to enjoy telling her but she deserved to know.
“As powerful as Ares is, he still might not be a match for Cronus.” I told her.
Sweetie was shocked. Her eyes grew big and I saw the pain fill her eyes. Sweetie wasn’t the kind to care about who was toughest. She knew Ares well enough to know he might fight for me even if it meant he might die himself.
“How can that be? You saw what Ares did to Feng and the other council members. They couldn’t even defend themselves!” Sweetie was coming undone.
“Feng was forty seven hundred years old. Cronus is over nine thousand.”
We sat quietly. I wanted to comfort her but knew to wait. I made up my mind then. Ares was having the tough decision of standing between two he considered friends. Sweetie shouldn’t have to worry about the same sort of thing. She and Ares had something really great.
