Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 21:38:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Sean ORiley Subject: Vampire-High Priest CHAPTER 2: AHMOSE-THE MOON IS BORN Johan's staff was bewildered of his apparent flight to Egypt. They didn't know what to make of it; they just assumed their boss had finally lost it. However Malachi Dalton knew there was more to it than what met the naked eye, he had been assigned by the secret society of Ker Heb Moshe (Moses) to observe Johan's family. The society had been keeping track of this family for a long time. Malachi was the senior vice president of marketing for the company. When he reported to the Rabbi about Johan's flight, the Rabbi was greatly disturbed. Malachi didn't know the full extent of the matter but he knew there was a storm coming. Malachi also knew there was some sort of prophecy that was involved with Johan and their organization guarded this prophecy most aggressively. Only three apart from the Rabbi knew of the prophecy. When Malachi reported Johan left for Egypt the Rabbi knew the wheels of the prophecy were set in motion. However he knew they dare not interfere with the prophecy any more; their organization along with the other Elders from the time of the great Moses had removed Ker Heb's faithful systematically culminating with the murder of Johan's father. But any more tampering with the prophecy would be a death sentence to their kind. As it is he was not sure the Ker Heb would take their interference pleasantly. He just hoped the Ker Heb would be too busy consolidating his power that he would not notice their tampering. The Rabbi also knew Miu-Oa walked among the living once more and had found his only living faithful. It would be best if they seek him out before he did them. The Elite of the Rabbi had already been dispatched to Egypt; he and Malachi Dalton would join them along with the Elders soon. Miu-Oa was the only true vampire living, whether he was to be treated as a threat or a boon to their world was an impossible question to answer. One thing they thought for sure was that so much power vested in one person would be a disaster waiting to happen. They also believed was that by minimizing the number of his surviving faithful, so that when the prophecy of Ker Heb's reawakening came to past, they could limit his power. "Ahmose -- The moon is born. The great cat will claim the faithful as his own when the moon is in full bloom. Osiris, King of Gods and the lord of underworld will bless their union. The Ker Heb will be known as, Asarhotep, Osiris in peace and his consort as the KhenemetAsar (One joined to Asar) hence. Asarhotep will find all his life's love in this man after the KhenemetAsar returns from the underworld forever changed. The Ker Heb is truly Sekhemet; the world will tremble upon his arrival. The mery of Ker Heb is his weakness and strength. The world will change in his wake. Salvation or condemnation, Osiris will be the final judge." Excerpt from the Malachi Moses' (Prophet Moses) Prophecies. It was a new moon day when I awoke from my eternal resting. The moon was growing with each passing night, soon a full moon will shine in the heavens and I shall claim Johan as my own. It took all my will power to abstain from consummating with Johan before the full moon. The attraction I felt towards him was leading me to insanity, I knew the control over my desire would make the day of our union much more ecstatic. Meanwhile I hunted and gathered information on the workings of the current human society. I was really more interested in finding about the workings of the vampires though. I captured two humans, they were what the humans called bodyguards. I entranced them with my mind controlling abilities into submission and loyalty. They were for Johan's protection rather than mine. I did not want to lose another of my lovers to death. When I presented them to him, he said, "Ker Heb, I don't need bodyguards. What is it that you fear will want to take my life? Besides I can take care of myself." "Mery, I know you are capable of taking care of yourself, but the world is a hostile place. I am absolutely unwilling to risk your life. I lost one love before. I do not intend for it to happen ever again. Come my love we need to find some vampires for questioning." We roamed around the city of Cairo looking for vampires. There were many, but I was looking for one who might be important to the vampire community and knew much about their workings. We looked in the bars and at the parks with no success. Finally I sensed a gathering of many vampires at a bungalow in the outskirts of the city. Their human and vampire guards died trying to prevent our entry. When we entered the gathering we found dozens of vampires indulging themselves in every kind of carnal pleasure know to man and vampires. They were in a frenzy of feeding and fornication. It was Johan's turn to be surprised he was flabbergasted at the sight of the bloody orgy. Indeed these vampires had no style; they acted like mad animals in blood lust. None paid any attention to our arrival. I saw vampires feeding on cum and blood of the human's cocks. Yet others fed while mounted on their victims. Naked bodies were writhing and swaying in the throes of pleasure. Moans and grunts of pain and pleasure filled the room. I felt horny myself. I had to admit I was surprised to see some sexual acts that I was previously unaware of, I made a mental note to try them with Johan. Thinking of him, I looked his way, he was drinking in the sight of the ongoing dance of copulation. When he caught me watching him, he suddenly became conscious and grinned shyly at my bulge. He averted his eyes quickly looking anywhere else but me. God, I wanted to take him then and there so badly, it took a might effort to compose myself and focus on the business at hand. At the middle of the orgy there was a black vampire pounding a white man's nether region. I burnt the couple to ashes and viola; I had the attention of the revelers. The sight of the naked revelers frozen like statues in the various acts of sodomy was quite funny and I burst into laughter. They were more horrified now. I scanned every face in the room, there were some centuries old vampires but none seemed bright. Finally I spotted a tall vampire, his appearance was gaunt. His eyes shined with intelligence, he must have been about a couple of centuries old no more. This vampire was trying his best to conceal his thoughts and nudity with no success. I could feel a snarl like smile cross my face, I commanded him to approach me. He resisted his best against my powers. The other vampires were transfixed at the sight of a vampire being controlled and they stood frozen in their tracks. Their pitiful efforts at concealing their minds was pathetic, even without trying to read their minds I could hear their thoughts of confusion, fear and rage clearly. Their weakness and lack of courage to act sickened me, if this was how today's vampires were then probably I was better of not associating with them. The gaunt vampire stood about a foot away from me. I could sense him wondering how I was able to control him. He sensed I was ancient but had no clue as to exactly how old I was. Fear had not overridden his sense of curiosity, unlike others his fear was towards self-preservation rather than of me. His mind intrigued me, questioning him would indeed be interesting. He could be my potential counsel. "State your name vampire." "Octavius, Ancient One". "Tell me of the vampire hierarchy and your ways. Do not doubt that I will hesitate to rape your mind if I catch even a hint of deception or fallacy in your words. As it is I am tempted to invade your mind and cut our encounter short." "Your word is my command ancient one." "The Elders rule the vampire world, the Abbot in Asia, Shaman in South America, Patriarch in Europe/Russia and the Rabbi in the Middle East. Subsidiary to the Elders are the vampire houses; the workings of each Elder and their respective vampire houses are unique. North America and Egypt and the rest of the world are unclaimed; rogue vampires roam these parts, unrestricted by the rules of Elders." "I am guessing these Elders are not the original High Priests, what happened to them?" "They are long dead ancient one." "The kings of their territories executed them with stealth, fearful of their immense powers. Only the high priest of the Egypt is unaccounted for, no one knows what happened to him after the pharaoh Akhenaton was murdered. The vampire high priests anticipated their demise, so they gave a part of their hearts blood to their most loyal in preparation to the day they may no longer live to guide their own. These loyal vampires who drank of their high priests hearts blood, became the Elders to guide the orphaned vampires. However the Egyptians had no such luck, they were completely orphaned. The elders didn't dare touch the new worlds, like North America and the revolutionary Russia since they were busy consolidating their own territories. By the time they were ready, these worlds had become heavens for rogue vampires and too difficult to control, of course there was also the issue of which of the Elders would get these countries. The delicate power balance did not allow for any disruptions and it was decided by the Elders to leave the rogue countries to be left alone." "What are these rules established by the Elders?" "The Elders have decreed that a vampire may not kill another of his kind, unless in self-defense or in a blood duel for honor. Further a vampire may kill humans only for the purpose of feeding and never for entertainment. Any vampires who breaks these cardinal rules and the decrees of the Elders will automatically be declared rogue and be forfeit all protection." "Now based on what you told me Octavius, you and your friends are rogue vampires then?" "Give me a reason why I should let you live?" By now the other vampires managed to gain some sense of courage and were thinking of escape plans. They didn't have long to think though. As I burnt the first of the vampires, the others tried to escape in a mad frenzy. They died quickly thereafter, only Octavius remained standing with a horrified expression on his face. I had probed his mind the entire time he was speaking to me; I did not find any deception. "Ancient one please spare my life. I will serve you in any way I can. I pledge my fealty to you." "Please ancient one let me live." "Octavius, you have proved yourself most knowledgeable and helpful. Indeed you have a great potential to serve me. Fear not you shall not die tonight. I accept your fealty; you will have my protection until such time you prove yourself unworthy of my grace." I thank you, ancient one. All along Johan watched silently, the conversation had been as informative to him as it was to me. He seemed content watching the drama unfold. Octavius followed us to the hotel that bound to my service. Johan finally spoke to me in the hotel room about getting back to his country, he was uneasy about the way things were going so fast. I assured him that after our consummation we could go anywhere he wanted us to. He just nodded his consent. I asked him to make preparations to travel to Hamunaptra (City of the dead) for our union. I still pondered as to how all of my faithful had died; I had expected them to have grown in great numbers. There was a vital piece of information I was missing. I puzzled over all that I had learned so far, the death of my fellow vampire high priests, the Elders, their rules and the rogue nations. I had a feeling that there was an important piece of the puzzle that was eluding me. There was a price to pay for having mourned for so long. The Elders met in New York, the neutral rogue territory to discuss the matter of Ker Heb and the prophecy. The Patriarch, Rabbi, Shaman and the Abbot were seated at a round table in complete silence. Vocalizing their thoughts was unnecessary; they peered into each other's eyes, exchanging thoughts and emotions mentally. The Patriarch expressed his fear of the Ker Heb most vehemently; he was scared that the Ker Heb would target him first since his territory was closest to Egypt. The Rabbi tried his best to assuage his fellow brother's fears, assuring him that if anyone among them was to die then he himself would be that man, since he was responsible for the termination of most of the Ker Heb's faithful including Johan's father. The Rabbi further assured them that the Ker Heb was not one to punish indiscriminately, he would respect his fellow vampire high priest's dying wishes of their chosen loyalists to rule after their death. The Elders agreed that the Ker Heb would honor the ancient rules and not kill the fellow vampire rulers, after all the Elders were well in their jurisdiction in killing men if they so wished in his absence, even if the men they had killed were the faithful of Ker Heb. They thought the Ker Heb did not hold any powers in his state of hibernation and all mortals and vampires in his territory would be fair game. The Elders tried their best to console each other by listing all the reasons why there past deeds were right and absolutely necessary. But none felt completely satisfied by their arguments; they all harbored the fear that the Ker Heb Miu-Oa would kill them mercilessly. They decided that it would be best for them to present themselves to Ker Heb, to pay their respects to him and perhaps make amends for their past deeds by rare gifts. They adjourned the meeting and decided to meet again at Cairo.