Prometheus' Orb (Legends of the Dark Creatures Book 1)
Chapter Nine: The Master's Message

Sebastian exhaled deeply as he tightly gripped the cold, metal door handle. As he watched the green Coley’s Diner neon sign flashed above the transparent glass door, he began to wonder if this was a good idea.

Is this what she calls herself these days? Sebastian thought, chuckling.

He pushed the door open and walked into the diner. It was quaint, with an old-fashioned atmosphere. Most of the chairs and tables were made of wood and the room was fairly lit. Sebastian could hear the humans’ indistinct chatter as he made his way towards the counter.

For a vampire who fed on humans, Claudia sure knew how to serve them. Sebastian could feel it in their auras. It was like the place itself gave each and everyone a certain level of peace that most in the diner clearly needed.

Sebastian walked to the counter and took a seat.

“I’m sorry Sebastian but we don’t have anything for your kind on our menu,” a woman in a white apron said.

Sebastian felt his heart jump. The woman stood facing the other way but that voice... that voice still frightened him.

He gathered himself.

“Don’t you mean our kind,” Sebastian replied, almost swallowing. He had to choose his words carefully. They were the bridge between him leaving this place alive or having his head torn off... and Claudia could easily do it before he even blinked.

Claudia finally turned to face him. She looked the same as she did four hundred years ago; golden hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and her red lips were curved into the devious smile.

“You know... in all my years I have never met someone who seeks death more than you do,” she said, pouring him a drink from a bottle labeled whiskey.

“Coming from someone who has lived for over ten thousand years I will take that as a compliment,” Sebastian said, taking a sip. The drink burned his chest. It had been a while since he tasted some of the earth’s best-bottled delicacies.

“What are you guys talking about?” a man in a suit sitting next to Sebastian said, sounding rather confused voice. Sebastian didn’t even notice him.

Claudia slowly grabbed the young’s man’s wrist and stared right into his eyes.

“Now Derek...” Claudia said. “You won’t remember ever meeting me or our little discussion today... Also, I’m sure your reporting skills will lead you to the perfect story someday, so keep chasing your dream and stop wasting away your life beneath a bottle. Now go.”

The guy rose from his chair and left the diner.

“Compulsion... Still popular even these days I see,” Sebastian said.

“It’s one of the burdens that we as dark creatures all have to carry,” Claudia replied in a low voice. “So why did you come here, Sebastian? Last time we met I clearly told you not to involve me in any of you and your master’s affairs.”

“I need the keys of Zoria,” Sebastian stated.

Claudia stopped whatever it was she was doing. Her fingers were curled into fists and veins popped across her face.

“I should tear your heart out right where you stand Sebastian,” Claudia said in a firm and low voice. “So the rumors are true then... You have gone insane thinking that you can revive your so-called master... I wonder why you even hold such loyalty for him when it was because of him that you lost everything... including your own soul.”

“Claudia I don’t care how powerful you are but if you dare speak ill of Lord Ethan I swear you will...”

“Hey Coley!” a voice shouted. It came from the diner’s entrance.

Claudia’s face suddenly changed and the dark look she once had completely disappeared. Sebastian turned to the direction the voice came from only to have his eyes fixed on the one person he least expected to meet. It was one of the humans he tried attacking earlier... before the Arzyrian came in and stopped him. Earlier that morning he could only sense their human auras but looking at this one now, Sebastian was ashamed of himself. If he had caused them to crash their car he would have broken his promise; his promise to never feed on or kill children.

However, Sebastian’s eyes studied the girl curiously. She had brown hair, fair skin, and brown eyes. For a moment... just for a moment, Sebastian felt like he was staring at his own daughter. He remembered his daughter’s smiles, how her hair danced in the ocean waters...

“Ashley,” Claudia called, pulling Sebastian out of his daze. “I see you’ve finally accepted to call me just by my first name.”

Apparently, everyone in this town knew Claudia as Coley.

“Well,” Ashley said. “If the owner offers to give you free meals every day for just calling her by her first name then how can I refuse.”

Claudia laughed... it was a genuine laugh. Sebastian had never seen her laugh like that before but then again... she was a vampire living amongst humans so maybe this was just her playing her part. In his experience, it never ended well whenever predators tried living alongside their prey.

“No Samantha today?” Claudia asked.

The girl’s face fell.

“Did you guys have another fight?” Claudia said.

“I guess I will be taking my leave Clau... I mean... Coley,” Sebastian said. He received a frightening glare from Claudia but was also met by a stare from Ashley.

“Excuse me... have we met?” Ashley asked.

“I don’t believe so miss,” Sebastian replied. Claudia had clearly taken a liking upon Ashley. If she found out that Sebastian had almost killed her...

Sebastian left the counter and walked out of the diner. He found himself breathing heavily and his heart was racing. That girl really took him by surprise.

He raised his head and sighed, a cool evening breeze sweeping through his nostrils. The sun had almost gone down, casting a red glow in the sky.

That went better than expected he thought. He pulled out a small brown paper from one of the pockets of his coat, unfolded it, and stared at the map. Three ‘X’ marked locations, each signaling where his targets resided, were on it. The nearest one was in Salem; that was Richard. The other two were Talya and Roagu. Roagu was the easiest to get rid of but the problem was even though his marker showed that he was somewhere in the Arctic, it actually pointed to the location of a portal; a portal leading to the realm of Zoria. That’s why Sebastian needed the key from Claudia. Without it, he would be burnt to ash upon entering the portal.

Suddenly something caught his attention or more clearly... a familiar scent went through his nose. A red liquid, a satisfying coppery taste, the euphoric drink those dark creatures like him needed for both survival and strength... blood.

This was human blood Sebastian thought.

He followed the scent to a small alley a few builds away from the diner. There he found a young man in a black T-shirt with his mouth pressed against a woman’s neck. His fangs had pierced through the woman’s skin and dark red blood dripped as the man slowly fed. From his dark aura, Sebastian could tell that the young man was a vampire... and a very young one at that. The woman was already dead... her lifeless eyes staring directly at Sebastian. Sebastian was starving but he was never one to feed off some else’s prey. So he decided to leave.

“What if I told you there was a way to free your master without killing the rest of The Ten,” he heard the man behind him say.

Sebastian turned. In a blink’s length of time, he had already separated the young man from the woman and had his fingers wrapped the guy’s neck. Sebastian lifted the vampire a few centimeters off the ground. The guy, who Sebastian now saw as being in his early twenties (or at least that was his age when he died), wasn’t trying to struggle but instead just smirked.

“Now I don’t know what games Claudia is playing with me here but she clearly underestimated my power... sending a vampire-like you,” Sebastian said.

“First off...” the guy said, choking. “Claudia’s blood may have turned me into what I am but I have no ties with her whatsoever. And secondly...”

The young vampire quickly placed both his hands against Sebastian temples.

A white flash.

Sebastian let go of the guy. It may have taken less than a second but apparently, that was all time the vampire needed.

“What was that?” Sebastian said, grunting.

“Consider it a gesture of goodwill,” the guy replied, running his hands across his neck. “I hope now you trust me.”

“That was lord Ethan’s location from Richard’s memories,” Sebastian said, gathering himself. “Only Richard Thane knows where he is... I can tell you haven’t spent more than a year as a vampire... so how did you manage to infiltrate the mind of a fifty-thousand-year-old creature.”

“Same way I just gave you that info about your master,” replied the vampire, flashing his blood-stained fangs. “When distressed or emotional all dark creatures leave their minds open and that’s all I needed to do with Richard... and the best part is... he doesn’t know what memory I accessed from in his mind.”

“Impressive... So what’s making you so sure that I just can’t compel you to give me everything you know and pull out your heart right now?”

“Well you would but you won’t know, will you? Even as young as I am, you still can’t compel a vampire and if you were to torture me that would just be a waste of time. And time is something you clearly don’t have. More importantly, I can be an asset to you and I am willing to tell you everything I know.”

Sebastian grinned.

“You really thought this through didn’t young one,” he said.

“I try... old one,” the vampire said.

“What’s your name?” Sebastian asked.

“Jacob... Jacob Hill,” the vampire said.

“You told me that I could free Lord Ethan without eliminating the rest of the Ten... how?” Sebastian asked.

“All in due time old one,′ the vampire said, disappearing into the shadows of the dark alley. “The way you are now... let’s just say... it goes against your nature.”

Jacob’s presence slowly faded until it was out of Sebastian’s reach.

Sebastian headed in the opposite direction, everything blurring past him as he dashed at incredible speed.

Minutes later, Sebastian was standing by the edge of a cliff. This was the cliff where Richard fought Lord Ethan. He dived into the ocean and changed into the merman form.

Following the directions Jacob forced into his mind, Sebastian swam to a place so deep beneath the ocean that the pressure pressing against him would have crushed a normal human. All merfolk could without the enormous pressures of the great depths. It’s what made them stronger and faster than humans.

Sebastian swam until he reached his destination; Prodeth. From the outside, it just appeared to be like a large expanse of green grass, surrounded by huge rocks. To be honest, Sebastian thought it was a myth. He had heard stories about it. It was said that Prodeth was a pocket dimension or a realm within the earth realm. Even Sebastian didn’t know what that fully meant. All he knew was, according to Lord Ethan, the earth was the bridge to many realms. To get to other realms, many beings and creatures would and still used the many portals that opened in it. Pocket dimensions, however, resulted from people using the portal’s magic to create areas where only they could access. Once that was done, an area that just appeared to be a desert could, in fact, have been an entire city when accessed by the right people and when the right spell was cast.

Sebastian moved his tail and swam over the long grass which danced gracefully with the dark waters of the ocean. Lord Ethan was here, Sebastian knew it. He had seen it in Richard’s memory but he had no idea of how to access the pocket dimension of Prodeth.

A feeling came upon him.

Sebastian froze. His body shook in the midst of the presence he felt. That aura... darker than any he ever felt, more powerful than all of the creatures he had ever come across combined... that was Lord Ethan’s aura. Sebastian fell into the grass and lowered his senses. Lord Ethan’s power... Sebastian had seen first hand what it could do.

"Lord Ethan...” Sebastian whispered, his lips trembling.

He could feel that he was right next to his master but Lord Ethan was in another realm... far from his reach. He, however, had just felt that surge of power from Lord Ethan. It was expected. Lord Ethan was powerful enough to do that even across realms and this was just a pocket realm.

Sebastian closed his eyes and focused on the sensation he had felt earlier. Lord Ethan was trying to send him a message.

Everything around him went still for a moment until suddenly the waters around him start swirling faster, the ground was almost shaking and the grass lit up in ferocious orange flames... almost burning his body. This was his master’s power. Though daggered with one of the most powerful objects ever created by magic, Lord Ethan was able to demonstrate that he was and would always be The Chimera.

Sebastian opened his mind to Lord Ethan until at last an image appeared in his mind. Everything around Sebastian calmed down. The water spiraling, the ground shaking and even the fires had all stopped. Sebastian found himself breathing heavily as the burns on his body healed.

That image... It was an image of a girl standing by a cliff. Sebastian had seen that person before. In fact, he had just seen her. But why would Lord Ethan send him that message? Why would Lord Ethan show him the image of Ashley?

Sebastian’s wounds healed and he swam a few meters above the long green grass. Lord Ethan could have shown him anything but he chose to show him that. Sebastian had no right to question his master. He was going to replace out what that vision meant and hopefully, it would help him in his quest to awaken his master.

...

And the plot thickens...

Guys thank you so much for the support and for completing this chapter