Having his mind overwhelmed by an elder vampire was a completely different experience from a newborn. Before, Gary had felt that there were moments he could resist direct interference. He just couldn’t afford to with so many vampires around. When Fara Duvall sent him a mental command, Gary simply could not disobey.

Worse still, she could create an entire mental world around him, even when he was awake. Fara kept putting him in elaborate visions that transformed him into some type of warrior. He would be a knight one moment, and a World War Two soldier the next. Every time, he always answered to her, his service to her made to seem magnificent and glorious. He saw through each illusion, however, and the visions would shatter. Was this it? Was this her strategy to break his mind? It seemed so obvious.

Fara, seemingly frustrated, threw him into a bedroom by himself, letting him land on the floor face down.

“You’ll see reason soon enough,” said Fara sternly. “Just give it time.”

She slammed the door, and Gary turned over, staring at the ceiling. He wasn’t distraught in the slightest. Penny had gotten out, and that made Gary all the more determined to resist this until Alice and the other hunters could come after them.

Gary lay there for a moment, just resting, when he heard something. Someone was crying nearby. The sound was muffled, but Gary could just make it out.

He sat up and crawled toward the wall, following that sound. When he reached the wall, he put his ear to it. It was definitely a young woman crying.

“Hello?” asked Gary. “Is someone there?”

“Who’s there?” asked the young woman on the other side of the wall.

“My name’s Gary,” he said. “I’m a prisoner here.”

“Then you’re trapped, like me,” she said, beginning to sob.

“Hey,” said Gary. “What’s you’re name.”

She sniffled, “S…Sierra.”

“Sierra, we’re going to get out of here. People are on their way to help. We just have to outlast them.”

The young woman kept crying, but that sound just strengthened Gary’s resolve. He was determined to save anyone he could.

Out in the hall, as the scenario played out in that room, Fara Duvall grinned.

“I don’t understand, mistress,” said the blonde vampire who had taken Gary before. “That thrall, Sierra, has been one of yours for a while. What do you hope to accomplish with this?”

“Patience, dear, patience,” said Fara. “Just pay attention and see if you can figure out what I’m doing.”

“Aw, don’t be like that,” said a deep, mocking voice. “Tell me now.”

Fara hissed, “Jackanape.”

She angrily turned in the direction the voice had come from, but no one was there. A moment later, Archibald Jackanape whispered something in her ear.

“Behind you.”

Fara hissed again and turned, revealing the claws in her hand and swiping at him. Archibald backed away, letting her swipe empty air and laughing the whole time.

“Fara, my dear,” said Archibald. “You should see the look on your face. It’s absolutely priceless.”

“Archibald Jackanape,” Fara hissed. “If you come near me again, I will rip your heart from your chest!”

“So you admit you wish to steal my heart,” said Archibald, backing away and pretending to be sheepish. “My oh my!”

“That’s it,” Fara spat. “I’ll…”

“Enough!” came the powerful voice of Lord Victor Sorenson, standing at the end of the hall.

He strode forward, and Fara backed away from Archibald, though a scowl never left her face.

“Fara,” said Victor. “Archibald is our guest. Please try to refrain from killing him before he can be of use to us. As for you, Archibald,” he stared seriously at the clownish vampire. “Try not to make me regret bringing you on.”

“Oh, I just can’t help myself,” said Archibald. “But I’ll try. Anyway, where is it?”

Victor raised an eyebrow, “It?”

“Oh, come now, Victor,” said Archibald, a sly look in his eye. “You know what I mean. I want to see it.”

Victor considered this, “Very well. Follow me.”

Victor Led Archibald to the ballroom, where vampires opened the trap door, hinges creaking as they lifted it. The two elder vampires descended into the darkness, down stone stairs that went deep. At the bottom, they came out into a long stone corridor with elaborate carvings on the walls.

“Is that…” began Archibald.

“Yes,” said Victor. “Aztec art.”

“I didn’t know there were ever Aztecs in this part of the world.”

“You’ll understand soon enough,” said Victor. “It’s quite a story.”

Before they got far, they passed a side corridor, and an army of creatures immediately began shrieking loud enough to be heard at the top of the trapdoor.

“Are those feral vampires?” asked Archibald.

“Something like that,” said Victor with smug satisfaction. “They’ve been altered.”

“Really?” asked Archibald, intrigued.

They walked on, passing many branching pathways before they reached their destination. They saw it in the distance first, a soft, red glow at the end of the tunnel. Archibald looked on, intrigued, while Victor smiled smugly. Slowly that red light came closer and closer, and yet despite their sensitive night vision eyes, that light didn’t hurt them in the slightest.

Soon they stepped into that room, and if Archibald Jackanape’s lungs still functioned, the sight would have taken his breath away.

“My word,” the painted man said.

The corridor ended where a bridge began, a bridge of stone that spanned a chasm. Six bridges began at the edges of a gigantic cavern and met at a platform in the center. The platform was housed on a single column that descended down to where the red light ended and an all encompassing darkness began. Atop that platform stood the source of the red light, a red crystal sphere. Within that sphere lay the golden statue of a feathered serpent, suspended as if trapped in amber. Archibald looked at it, awestruck.

“My word,” said Archibald. “That’s it, isn’t it? The seal?”

“Yes, Archie,” said Victor. “The seal holding magic from entering the world, aside from this place, of course.”

Archibald gazed in wonder for a moment or two. After about a minute of the vampire gaping, he noticed something at the base of the crystal.

“I say,” said Archibald. “Is that your witch and warlock?”

The two figures kneeled at the base of the crystal, chanting in a language normal human ears couldn’t discern.

“Yes,” said Victor. “Walter and Alissa. We keep them down here to absorb magic, even when they’re sleeping. They’ve made great progress expanding their powers.”

“Excellent, I’m sure,” said Archibald. “Just where did this seal come from? Who built it? Oh, do tell me.”

“As you wish,” said Victor. “We found an Aztec codex at the base of the crystal that tells the story.

Victor turned his head and gazed at the crystal, a smug smile on his face.

“It begins with an Aztec priest,” said Victor. “Young and ambitious, who gained much power in the mystic arts. He perfected ways of drawing power from human sacrifices, not unlike how we vampires gain power through our thralls, now that I think about it. He mastered the weather itself, promising bountiful harvests and power over their enemies, promising to usher in an era of prosperity for the Aztec people.

“However, the elder priests became fearful of his potential and plotted against him. Hearing of these plots, the young priest knew he couldn’t fight them alone, so he took as many people as would follow him and fled north. Though the road was hard, he eventually settled right here, where this mansion rests now. There he and his follows built a city, and he began what is arguably the most ambitious project of the ancient world.”

“He made the seal?” asked Archibald.

“Indeed. It took over a hundred years of work to cast the spells necessarily, and many human sacrifices to extend his life. Ultimately, he built this seal, which cut the world off from magic. In the rest of the world, magic began to run out. Only he could tap into that power from then on out by drawing it out of the seal. With this power, he built his city into the most prosperous city in the world.”

“Uh-uh,” said Archibald. “Color me crazy, my friend, but I think I would have noticed an ancient Aztec city on my way here.”

“Yes,” said Victor. “Well, something happened to the inhabitants of that city that no one could have predicted or prevented. They were infected by disease. In those days, humans had little defense against sickness. Even wizards and warlocks had no remedy for such things because they didn’t understand what caused disease. I must admit, I couldn’t believe it when I found out.” He smiled. “Tiny little living things, too small for the eye to see, swimming around in people’s blood. I always thought that was a quaint idea. Regardless, the Aztec warlocks couldn’t cure their illness, and it ravaged the city.”

“Hmm,” said Archibald. “I seem to recall that this part of the world experienced much sickness when the first European settlers began arriving, bringing with them diseases they had long since adapted to. Would this have anything to do with that?”

“There’s no mention of visitors from a far off land in the codex,” said Victor. “But the timeline does seem to line up. Regardless, even the priest grew sick and was helpless to stop it. With his final act, he closed the seal off completely. If he couldn’t use magic, no one could. When he inevitably perished, the city he built, infused with his power, died with him. The buildings crumbled to dust, and the few survivors fled, joining various native tribes to survive.”

“Were there no legends of this city?” asked Archibald.

“None,” said Victor. “The author of the codex, in the end, wrote that his memory of the city seemed to fade from his mind over time. I can only assume that the city was filled with so much magic that even the memories of the city were tied to it. The name of the city was scratched out, and the codex’s final words refer to it only as The Forgotten City.”

Archibald whistled. “Quite a story. I wonder what that priest would think if he knew his creation was being used by us.”

“Who knows,” said Victor. “Anyway, back to regular business. We need to prepare for our assault on the Night Hunter Facility.”

Victor turned to go back the way they came.

“Ah,” said Archibald before turning to follow Victor. “That might be a problem. How do you intend to get our forces past the Night Hunters around the forest?” he grinned. “I flew over, of course, but you’ll need trick up your sleeve to move our forces.”

“Those catacombs we passed go for miles underground,” said Victor. “And the ends of the tunnels are still covered by earth. It won’t take long to dig the rest of the way out and come up outside the forest. The night Hunters won’t know what hit them.”

The pair chuckled.

###

The council hearing took place in a large conference room. Director Farrow stood at the head of the table while Alice stood to his right, and Agent Phoenix sat across from her. He scowled constantly and didn’t look Alice in the eye, though she noticed him glance in her direction every once in a while. Also at the table were Captain Wagner, along with the Dhampirs Gordon, Cora, and Jasmine.

On a tv screen opposite Director Farrow, the Night Hunter council sat in a row, their features hidden in darkness. Supposedly they were hidden to keep their identities secret in case someone interception the transmission. Still, Alice wasn’t entirely comfortable working for an organization that hid its leaders from its members, even if they were the only game in town for hunting vampires.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said one of the faceless figures with a deep, booming voice. “We have assembled this hearing to judge the case of recruit Alice Hayes. By her own admission, Recruit Hayes has been in contact with the vampire Jacqueline Castellane. For the last several years, Jacqueline has been serving as a double agent of sorts, spying on her fellow vampires through their psychic network to give us information.

“While Jacqueline’s information has been invaluable to us, many on this council believe she is merely using us to take out her rivals so she can regain power within the vampire’s Red Council. This makes her unexpected contact with a Night Hunter recruit very concerning. However, the results of this contact cannot be ignored either. Recruit Hayes and Jacqueline successfully engineered the escape of a civilian, which has allowed us to determine the location of the vampire’s base.

“What we seek to answer in this hearing is whether Alice Hayes should be commended for her actions or treated as a security risk. First, the council requests that Agent Jasmine Ross examine Recruit Hayes for any mental tampering. Recruit Hayes, will you allow Agent Ross to examine your mind?”

“I will,” answered Alice.

Jasmine stood and walked around the table to stand in front of Alice.

“I’ll try to avoid anything too personal,” said Jasmine.

The young dhampir placed her fingertips on Alice’s temples and closed her eyes. Alice could feel Jasmine going through her mind, examining the memories of her and Jacqueline. With Alice’s experiences in the mental world, she could tell what Jasmine was doing. She was identifying Jacqueline’s mental presence and searching for any signs it was somewhere outside those specific memories.

After a few minutes, Jasmine pulled away. “The only effect I see from contact with Jacqueline Castellane is the memories Alice is aware of. I don’t sense any tampering.”

“No offense, Jasmine,” said Phoenix. “But you’ve been having trouble finding the mole, haven’t you?”

Jasmine glared while Cora took a deep breath and Gordon remained stoic.

“The council recognizes the Crucivire Agent Phoenix,” said the voice of an older woman on the viewscreen. “And he brings up a valid point. We know there’s a mole who assisted Terry Caldwell in infiltrating the facility. Agent Ross has, by her own admission, failed to find this mole. We have to consider the possibility that the vampires have discovered a way to hide mental tampering, and since it’s Jacqueline’s job to spy on the other vampires, it isn’t out of the question that she figured it out.”

“No,” said Jasmine. “This is different. I know the vampire she’s contacted, Jacqueline, and can search for her mental signature specifically. I don’t know which vampire the mole is in contact with, so it’s easier for a mole to hide mental influence.”

“Maybe so,” said the woman. “But we still cannot rule out the possibility. Alice, has Jacqueline explained how she forged a connection between the two of you?”

“She say’s she’s not sure how she did it, only that I was crying out for help when Victor was trying to influence me, and she wanted to help me.”

Phoenix snorted derisively.

“Is this possible?” asked the council member.

“Sort of,” said Cora. “Truthfully, many things can forge a connection between minds, such as blood relations or a powerful friendship. There is a bond we can forge with those whose lives we’ve saved with the gratitude they feel towards us. However, none of us have been able to do so before we actually save a person. Then again, we’re not hundreds of years old. If anyone could do it that way, it would be someone like that.”

“Maybe so,” said the council member. “But personally I’m with Agent Phoenix. He was, after all, nearly turned into a vampire and has more experience with their mental influence than anyone. If he is concerned, then I think we should all be concerned.”

Alice looked at Agent Phoenix, the man who used to be Arthur Hayes, her brother. He’d barely looked at her since the hearing began, yet he seemed to be her biggest obstacle.

“With all due respect to Agent Phoenix,” said Wagner. “One could argue his history with vampires makes him biased in these matters.”

“Oh? And you aren’t?” Phoenix snapped back.

“Phoenix,” said Gordon sternly.

“No,” said Wagner. “I’d like to hear what he has to say.”

Gordon relented, though he still gave Phoenix a stern glare out of the corner of his eye.

“I looked you up,” said Phoenix. “Quite a backstory you got there—a monster who turned against his creator. Don’t get me wrong. You’ve killed a lot of vampires in your time. I respect that, but you’ve also tried and failed multiple times to rehabilitate monsters. Just because you turned over a new leaf doesn’t mean every monster will.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” asked Wagner. “We’re not talking about all monsters. We’re talking about Jacqueline. She’s been nothing but a help to us, and no vampire has worked with us this long before.”

“Because she gets something out of it,” said Phoenix, visibly agitated. “She’s using us. Once her rivals are out of the way, she’ll turn on us. Mark my words.”

“That is the fear,” said another man on the viewscreen. “Jacqueline hasn’t told us why the other vampires exiled her, so we cannot say for certain that she cannot leave exile should the circumstances turn in her favor.”

The table considered this for a moment, and Alice noted that Phoenix still wouldn’t look at her. She did see his eye twitch in her direction for less than a second, but that was all.

“Gordon, Cora,” said Director Farrow. “You have more experience with vampires than most of us here. What do you think?”

Gordon and Cora glanced at each other.

“Not much to say,” said Gordon. “We dhampirs are always one drink away from going full vampire.” He paused. “We lost one of our numbers recently that way.”

Cora bowed her head sadly, and Jasmine looked away.

“The urge to drink blood is strong,” said Gordon. “Sometimes I’m surprised I’ve managed to resist it for this long. You layer a thirst like that on top of a vampire’s mental conditioning, and I’m not surprised we’ve never had a case of a vampire turning over a new leaf. I think the chances of a vampire genuinely repenting of their misdeeds is a million to one.”

“I suppose,” said Cora. “That Agent Phoenix is living proof one can resist the vampire conditioning, but Jacqueline is centuries old. I don’t see such conditioning breaking easily after all this time. I have to agree with Gordon.”

Alice felt a sinking feeling. She owed Jacqueline everything, but she couldn’t say that these dhampirs were wrong.

“Maybe so,” said Wagner. “But consider how helpful Jacqueline has been, the kind of secrets she’s given us. She’s told us things the vampires have kept secret for centuries.”

“Wagner…” warned the woman from the council.

“I know it’s classified,” said Wagner. “And we don’t need to go over specifics, but the information obtained from Jacqueline Castellane now deemed classified is compromising not just for the Red Council. We could use it against her should she ever take power.”

“Noted,” said another man on the council with the raspy voice of one who has smoked his whole life. “It would seem counterproductive to any long term plans she might have against us.”

“What else could she do?” asked Phoenix. “She had to give us something, and she knew it had to be good. If we keep this up, we’ll play right into her hands. Assuming control over a Night Hunter is only the first step, mark my words.”

Wagner raised an eyebrow, “Tell me, young Phoenix. What exactly do you think Jacqueline Castellane hopes to gain from taking control of a recruit? Someone who isn’t even fully inducted into the Night Hunters yet?”

“Someone you’re still considering,” said Phoenix. “You let Alice advance in the ranks while connected to that…thing… and it’s only a matter of time before she’s used against us.”

“I don’t believe Jacqueline will betray us.”

“You wouldn’t,” said Phoenix spitefully.

Captain Wagner raised and eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you’re tired of being alone,” said Phoenix. “I’ll bet not many people can relate to a rehabilitated monster such as yourself. I think the idea of finding someone else like you is affecting your judgement.”

“Young man,” said Wagner sternly. “I have lived far to long to let a boy like you lecture me on my emotions affecting my judgement.”

Phoenix stood angrily, “You wanna see see how much of a man I am, I’ll…”

“Phoenix!” cried Gordon, standing. “Sit down! Right Now!”

Phoenix glared, but did as he was told, his eyes never leaving Gordon’s as he sat down.

“Alice,” said the female council member who had spoken before. “We’ve heard a few opinions on the subject. What do you have to say about this?”

Alice took a deep breath, “I think we can trust her. She’s kept her word and helped me save my cousin. More, still, I’ve spoken with her. I think she means what she says.”

After a moment of silence, the first council member said, “Very well, the council will deliberate.

###

They waited in the conference room for over and hour, the viewscreen dark. All the while, Agent Phoenix avoided Alice’s gaze as he stared angrily at the wall. Finally, the council members reappeared on the viewscreen.

“We’ve made our decision,” said a council member. “While we acknowledge the risks, we believe the partnership between recruit Hayes and Jacqueline Castellane offers too many potential benefits to ignore. As we know Jacqueline is against the vampires invading St. Vivia City, we will allow her to commune with the vampire uninterrupted until this crisis is past. Once the danger is dealt with, a true psychic will be sent to St. Vivia to monitor their interactions and make sure Alice isn’t being influenced. That will be all.”

The viewscreen went dark.

“Well,” said Farrow. “You heard them. Let’s get back to work.”

“A moment,” said Phoenix. “I’d like to speak with Alice…alone.”

Alice looked up and realized that Phoenix was looking right at her. He was as angry, but his face seemed softer than before. Alice couldn’t put her finger on what that meant. Director Farrow looked at Alice, and she turned and nodded to him. Alice wanted to know what her estranged brother had to say.

Everyone else stood to leave, leaving Alice alone with Phoenix. She crossed her arms, expecting a lecture, but something in his demeanor seemed nervous. After a few moments of people shuffling out fo the room, the pair were left alone.

“So,” said Phoenix. “You’re really committing to this?”

“I am,” said Alice. “I think we can trust her.”

“I think you’re crazy.”

Alice shrugged, “The council seems to agree with me.”

Phoenix shook his head, “The council? Let me tell you about the council. Did you know that they deliberately make sure people don’t know about the supernatural?”

Alice frowned, “What do you mean?”

“They have teams of people all over the world whose sole job is to contact local and major news organizations with fake stories of supernatural events. They post hundreds of these stories online every day too.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s an old saying among the night hunters. The easiest way to cover up a sound is with a louder sound. News outlets get so many fake stories from people posing as crackpots, and a few from real crackpots, that any real stories get lost in the shuffle. Most reporters refuse to touch them once they learn most stories are dead ends. Sure, a local news station might report the details, but national outlets won’t.”

Alice seemed skeptical.

“If you don’t believe me,” said Phoenix. “Check the Night Hunter Archives and compare it to urban legens online. I garuntee you some of those urban legends will be in the archives, you’ll be familiar with them, and you dismissed them without a second thought.”

Alice’s blood ran cold. Now that he mentioned it, she knew of one urban legend she’d dismissed without a second thought, that of the Cross Killer. The truth was obvious to her now. Her brother had started killing vampires, and the newborn vampires had turned into fairly fresh corpses, making people think he was a serial killer. She’d dismissed that along with all the many other legends she’d dismissed like alligators in the sewers, and the Cross Killer legend was never depicted as supernatural online.

“You already know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” asked Phoenix.

Alice shook her head, “Why are you telling me this?”

“To make a point,” said Phoenix. “The Night Hunter Council does everything it can to make certain ordinary people know nothing about the supernatural, but they have defenses in place for people who could give the vampires resources. Politicians, CEO’s, anyone with national security clearance. They’re protected, while people like you and me are left out to dry, vulnerable to a threat we don’t even know about.”

Alice had to admit, that struck a chord with her.

“My point is,” said Phoenix. “The Night Hunter Council doesn’t care about you. There are some good people there, but most of them are using you for their own ends every bit as that vampire is. They may be the only game in town for hunting monsters, but don’t trust them. “

He leaned in close, his eyes intense, “They don’t care about you.”

Alice had to admit that she felt the same way about hiding all this from ordinary people. However, she wasn’t about to let him distract her. She looked him right in the eye when she asked her next question.

“And you do care about me? Or is this just because you hate vampires?”

Phoenix clenched his fists.

“Don’t get me wrong,” said Alice. “You have very good reason to hate them. I’m not saying you don’t. I just think you…”

“I remember,” Phoenix interrupted.

“What?”

“I lied,” said Phoenix, the anger fading from his face. “My memories started coming back about a year ago. I knew who you were the moment I saw Uncle Henry’s farm.”

Alice felt like the floor had just been ripped out from under her.

“Why?” was all she could say.

Phoenix, suddenly looking dejected, turned leaned on his hands with the conference table.

“They caught Penny,” said Phoenix. “I knew an elder vampire could use her blood to influence you. I’d hoped that if I preteneded not to care they’d give up, and since they could be watching through your eyes, I couldn’t tell you.”

Alice felt her eyes tearing up. Part of her wanted to scream, demand to ask how he could lie to her like that. Another part of her wanted to acknlowedge that he was trying to protect her, in his own blunt way. She wiped her eyes.

“Why tell me now?”

“Because it’s not working,” said Phoenix in frustration, covering his eyes with his hand. “They’re still after you…and now that woman…that thing is after you to. I just don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.”

“Arthur,” said Alice softly.

“Alice.” he said suddenly, looking at her with a wild look in his eyes, “You don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like. You don’t know what she’s capable of doing to you.”

He approached Alice, griping he gently but firmly, and Alice stiffened as she looked in his eyes.

“They parade you around like a puppet on strings, sucking your blood and leaving you weak all the time. You’re memories start disappearing one by one, leaving an empty hole in your head where you know your friends and loved ones should be.”

Tears started forming in his eyes.

“Sometimes they don’t turn a victim into a vampire when they’re done with them. They kill them in front of you.” He paused, then seemed to speak past her, a haunted look in his eyes. “You’re forced to just stand there and watch heplessly as the life leaves their eyes.”

Tears spilled down his cheeks as Alice looked on, horrified by what she was hearing.

“You can feel this other person inside your head, someone who likes being bitten, who wants to drink blood, and who loves watching people die as the life drains out of them. You don’t want this monster to take over, to start hurting people, but you can feel it slowly pushing into your head while you slip into this deep, dark place you know you can’t climb out of.”

He was breathing heavily now, and Alice could feel him trembling.

“And sometimes, they take you out late at night around normal people. You want to cry out for help, to beg someone to save you, ‘please, someone! Anyone! Help Me!’ But you just can’t get the words out of your mouth. You think someone has to notice that something is wrong but no one does, and you go right back to that living nightmare…all hope ripped away.”

He gripped her shoulders, panting as tears fell down his face. Alice, her lip trembling, felt her own eyes tearing up.

“Oh Arthur,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

Something broke in the man, and looked down, beginning to weep openly. He collapsed to his knees, sobbing. Alice knelt next to him and put her arms around his shoulders, hugging him close. Slowly, he hugged Alice back, resting his head on her shoulder as he cried.