Supernatural Earth Pt. 01

Jezelle stomped out of her chambers and down the hall to Conrad's suite, fuming all the way. Any other Vampire that was helpless, she'd just stake and get it over with. However, having Ashley waste away to nothing after exposing Jezelle's first plot to take over was better. Jezelle had wasted away to a shell of her former self with the loss of face and prestige to the point that her blood magic and whoring herself out to Conrad was her only option left.

The guards stopped her at Conrad's door and pointed down at her thigh where her knife was at. Jezelle gave them her fake sincere smile and batted her eyes at them. "It is for the sharing of blood, no?" she said in her lousy accent. It'd taken her decades to develop it as her cover while talking halfway decent in her inner clique. After she was in charge, the French persona would be gone for good. The guards just rolled their eyes and waved her through.

She found Conrad waiting for her in the master bedroom, naked and lounging up on the bed. Jezelle bowed meekly at the door before coming in. As she passed his desk, she paused and took the vials from her cleavage and poured them into a goblet. "A special concoction for you tonight, my Prince," she said, now sans accent, as she swirled the goblet around to mix it.

"Hmph," Conrad grunted over at the bed. Jezelle held the goblet up questioningly and he waved her off. She could feel the displeasure radiating off of him. He was annoyed with her, that much was obvious. What had she done now? Did he actually know that she was the one who had his Hunter killed?

Well, even if he did, it did not matter. She walked over to the bed, took the knife out and placed it on the end table, and lay down on the bed to await his instructions for the evening. Conrad looked at her as if debating whether or not he was going to actually take her or not. He rolled on top of her and looked down at her. "Why do I even bother with you?"

"You like what I can do for you." Jezelle said, gyrating under him. Besides, a Prince has to have his harem, doesn't he? And does not the Prince have to exact his tribute from said harem in order to keep his claim on them?"

"I guess that would be one reason," Conrad said dryly. He willed his cock to harness, moved the crotch of Jezelle's teddy to one side, and drove into her without any preamble. Jezelle let out a grunt as she was roughly penetrated. She glared up at Conrad as he fucked her hard. Conrad clasped his hand around her throat and squeezed. "What the hell did I ever do to you to make you hate me so?" he growled down at her as he pumped his hips into her. "I gave you everything over the centuries; power, wealth, immortality, protection, everything. Why do you repay me so?"

"Because you never gave me freedom," Jezelle snarled. In a flash, she reached out and grabbed the knife. She brought it around and drove it towards his head.

Conrad rolled off of her and blocked the blow with his arm. He reversed his hand and grabbed her wrist that held the knife. Jezelle rolled up to her knees and struggled with him for control of the knife.

Finally getting control Conrad wrenched the knife away and backhanded Jezelle across the room.  He looked at the knife he took from her and threw it down in disgust, the blade clattering across the wooden floor.  "Jesus, you can't even do an assassination correctly." He ignored her cowering form on the bed as he crossed to his desk to take a drink of blood.  These sudden exertions were starting to wear on him.  "What a failure," he muttered as he took a big long drink.

Jezelle just smiled.  "Who said that I failed?  The knife was just a distraction."  Conrad looked at her and then at the tumbler in his hand, a feeling of uneasiness washing over him and James' prediction came back to his mind.  "Can you feel it, my Prince?" The Mistress said with glee, happy to be rid of her longtime oppressor.  She stood up and crossed the room to him as he slumped down into a chair, the strength fleeing his body rapidly.  Decades, almost centuries, of planning and spending time as his whore were finally coming to an end for Jezelle. "Can you feel your body slowly turning to ash and dust?  It's taken me ages to perfect it but I think that it's just the right potency now so that a Vampire can feel their final death coming on."

Conrad then did something that she didn't expect... he laughed in her face.

"You dumb bitch," Conrad said as if he were enjoying the greatest joke ever told.   Conrad shook his head while still smiling as his skin turned grey, and then charcoal.  "You think that you've won?  All you've done is accelerate your own downfall." Conrad was still laughing as his body dissolved into ash.

It was the most chilling thing that The Mistress had ever heard in her life.  She could still hear the echo of Conrad's laughter even after the ashes had settled in the room.

*

PART 2:

"I would like you to know that even though you tried to have me terminated, revenge is not an idea that we promote on my planet...but we're not on my planet, are we?"

                -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story

Now at last I hold you.
Now all is said and done.
The search has come full circle.
Our destinies are one...

-Survivor, "The Search is Over" (1985)

*

James returned via a darkened corridor in the Vanderheim Towers, dressed ready for battle, and found himself in the middle of absolute bedlam.  He swore under his breath as he watched Vampires get hauled out of their rooms by others and ushered out to the main hall.  The Mistress was moving faster than he'd expected.  Fine, Plan G... he thought.  He waited patiently until the 'Mistress Minions' were around the corner out of Vampire earshot before slipping in.  Ashley was still on her bed naked and asleep.  Apparently they didn't find her a threat in her catatonic state.  That was just fine by him.  He grabbed the syringe that was still there from the previous night and gave his girl another dose of his own blood, wondering just how often he had to feed like a Vampire did, if he had to do so anymore at all.  His Angelic state on Earth was still confusing to him.

Taking a stake out from under his trench coat, James placed it into her hand and closed her fingers around it.  He then found a pen and paper, scrawled out a quick note to Ashley, and placed that in her other hand.  "Babe, you have got to wake up now."  He kissed her quickly on the lips and rushed out back out the door. 

The commotion was all over as The Mistress directed all of her people to round everyone up who was up and about to the main hall.  There were protests, a few fistfights, and a couple of ashings on both sides as those loyal to Conrad put up a fight. So this is what a Vampire coup looks like, James mused.  He kept alert and kept to the shadows, surprised that he was able to blend in so well and not be seen.  By all rights, someone should've noticed by now.  He chalked it up to his 'Angelic' powers.  Eat your heart out, Sandman Slim...

Not questioning his good fortune, James took up a spot at the entrance to the hall to wait to implement his plan.  He really hoped that Plan G worked.  He remembered something that he'd seen on TV before where a criminal came up with Plan A and immediately discarded it.  The Mistress moving now meant that he had to ditch Plans B through F.

He really didn't want to go any lower than Plan G.  After this plan, things got ugly.

*

Ashley woke up with a start and a feeling of dread, but surprisingly refreshed.   She then swore and cursed Zoe for finding some way to revive her.  Ashley didn't want to be revived.  She wanted to die.  She wanted to be in whatever afterlife she'd just dreamed of being in with James.  The whole situation made her so mad that she shook her fists in front of her out of frustration.

Looking down at her body, she saw that she was flushed from sex and she had a feeling of being well fucked. Tentatively reaching down between her legs, her fingers came back damp and sticky. The sex she'd had with James had been just a dream, hadn't it?

That was when she noticed the crumpled note and wooden stake in her other hand.  She regarded them with curiosity for a moment before she opened up the note and was taken aback when she saw James' handwriting.

Hey Babe,

Yes, I'm alive... more or less.  No, you were not just dreaming about us earlier this evening.  I'll explain everything later. Conrad's dead.  Jez is taking over; she's the one responsible for us getting jumped.  Take the stake that I gave you and wait by the throne for my signal.  I hope that you'll know what to do.

                                                                                I love you,

                                                                                James

Tears came to Ashley's eyes as hope sprang up in her chest.  He was alive and she didn't imagine the whole thing with him!  She then paused as she reevaluated her situation.  The blood now coursing through her body felt off a bit.  Closing her eyes, she concentrated hard and turned her vision inward attempting to find out what kind of blood was in her.  She caught fleeting images; Zoe trying to drip blood into her mouth and then Michael mounting her for some odd reason.  Why the hell was he going to fuck her?  Ah, there it was; Zoe was trying to prompt a feed reaction during sex.  But it didn't come to that.  James then came busting in with a syringe.  What did he do right before he put the blood into her belly? 

Her eyes sprang open in surprise as she got the fleeting glimpse of him taking his own blood and putting it directly into her.  She knew that his blood was potent; it was one of the things that first attracted her to him.  But his blood now?  It was like some kind of super-blood that he had.  Ashley was now feeling better than she had in decades and she felt like she could take on an army and win.

Looking down at the stake in her hand, maybe that was what James wanted.  She crumpled the note in her hand and looked up at the open door.  Jezelle; That fucking cunt.  This was all her doing and now she was taking over?  Ashley focused her hearing and could hear that French bitch making some kind of speech out in the grand hall.  "I'm coming, love," Ashley whispered aloud and in her mind, hoping that if James was still near that he'd pick up on it.

In a flash, Ashley was dressed in her favorite outfit and out the door with murder on her mind.

*

"...and so, in accordance vith our sacred laws and traditions," Jezelle was saying in her French accent as she paced back and forth in front of the throne to the gathered throng of Vampires, "I 'ereby take over ze throne of Metropolis as de reigning Princess."  She paused and glared at the crowd.  There had been stiffer resistance than she'd expected but her troops and their blitzkrieg attack during tonight's gathering had the ultimate effect that she'd been looking for.  "I trust dat 'dere are no objections, no?"  She smiled at them sweetly.  "Ve do 'ave a var to plan against the Verevolf.  Dey vill not get away with their 'orrible atrocities, no?  Ve 'ave, 'ow joo say, vell laid plans?"

"Yeah, I have an objection," A man's voice rang out from the entrance.  "Why don't you take your well laid plans and shove them up your well laid ass?"

"VHAT!" Jezelle screeched.  ""ow dare joo!  'oo is dat?  Show 'ourself at vonce!"

"Drop the fucking act and the lousy accent already, Jezelle." James Parker said, glaring at her as he emerged from a shadow near the entryway to the hall.  Jezelle's eyes went wide as the last person she expected to see alive calmly walked forward.  There was a general sharp intake of breath all around as other Vampires shared her shock.  Some even shrank away from his presence as they got near and figured out that he was something weird.  James pulled a sliver stake from underneath of his trench coat and pointed it at her.  "You've been playing both sides of the field.  You've been manipulating both the Vampires and the Werewolves to goad them into a war with each other.  What was the play after that?  Take over the wolves after they'd been beaten into submission?"

Jezelle's eyes narrowed.  "I don't have to answer to you," she said, losing her cover accent.  "I am the Princess now and you answer to me."

"I don't answer to anyone," James countered.  "As a lot of you are noticing, I'm not a Vampire nor am I a Human anymore.  So fuck you, and fuck your claim to the throne."  In a flash, James reared back and let the stake fly.

On reflex, Jezelle brought her hands up and dodged to the side.  She clapped her hands together and caught the stake between them.  The silver burned the flesh of her palms so she threw it to the side in disgust.  She then smiled cruelly at him.  "Did you really expect that to work?"

"No," James admitted.  "I just wanted your full attention so that she could get behind you." He jerked his head up slightly.

Before Jezelle could even ask what he meant, her body jerked as she felt a stake pierce her skin from behind.  Looking down dumbfounded, she saw the tip of it now protruding from her chest.  "Merde..." she swore as she felt the blackness overcome her.

"That's for trying to kill us you bitch," Ashley hissed in her ear right before her body dissolved to ash.  She took a step back to avoid the ash dust as it fell to the floor.  She looked at her lover who was already walking her way. 

James stepped up to stand in front of her by the throne.  He hooked his arm around her slender waist and gave her the most passionate kiss that he could.  "I've missed you," he murmured after they broke away.

"I missed you too," Ashley said, hugging him tightly.  "Uhm," she saw the Vampires behind James all waiting in mute shock.  Witnessing two coups in a matter of minutes was practically unheard of.  "Now what do we do?" she asked James in a whisper.

James looked over his shoulder.  Between Conrad and Jezelle both dying tonight, and them trying to figure out what James was, the Vampires all looked lost.  He turned, squared his shoulders, and addressed them.  "Alright all you Mistress Minions, what's it going to be?  Are you all going to toe the line and do what's good for your species, or are you going to continue this little civil war that your now dead leader initiated?" He pulled out two more silver stakes from under his trench coat and his eyes dated around, looking for threats.

The threats never came.  One by one, each of Jezelle's people either sheathed their weapons or dropped them where they stood.  Michael, Zoe, and her contingent leapt into action to keep them at bay.  James smiled.  "Good choice," he said.  "Now we can face the real problem; war with the Werewolves.  Jezelle did a pretty damn good job of getting them riled up so I doubt that they'll be too receptive to peace talks.  I'd say that we extend that olive branch anyways-"

"Who died and made you Prince?" a Vampire shouted from the back.

James pulled the scroll from his pocket and held it up for all to see.  "Technically, Conrad did.  I have his Will right here."  That made the Vampires stand up and take notice even though not all of them seemed ready to accept it.  There were mutterings and side talk all around as people debated what he was saying.  "Alright, I get it," James said, "You all have no idea what I am now so you're not ready to follow someone, or something, that might not be a Vampire, right?"  Murmurs of assent and nods came back.  "Fine, then in light of your unwillingness to follow my lead or follow Conrad's wishes, then I hereby abdicate the throne," James looked back at Ashley, who suddenly felt uncomfortable, "to Ashley."  James handed the scroll to her and slowly dropped to one knee, bowing his head.

That spurred the Vampires into a unanimous decision as they now followed James in kneeling to Ashley.  Her eyes went wide at the revelation that she was now in charge and that everyone now recognized her as Princess.  She regained her composure quickly, taking the scroll from James and tucking it into the side of her thigh-high boot.  "Very well.  By your submission, I hereby take control of the Coven of Metropolis.  Rise," she ordered.

As everyone got back to their feet, Ashley stepped forward and James slid behind her off to her right to take up a position of guardianship.  "But James is correct; we have to do everything we can to end this as quickly as possible no matter what.  I share his opinion that the Werewolves are not going to quit without a fight.  I saw their hatred of us first hand.  But we can't do this alone." Her mind worked furiously and she caught a mental suggestion from James that they recruit allies. 

She looked over at Michael and Zoe.  "Michael, you're still our Hunter and Liaison.  Go to the Fae that you and James met with.  Call in the favor they owe us if you have to.  Zoe, you're still the Sherriff.  I need an assessment of our strengths and weaknesses to wage a short term and a prolonged war.  We're going to need every Vampire we have if we have to end this the hard way.  Mika..." Ashley paused hating herself for having to issue this order as well as briefly hating everyone for putting her into this position.  "Mika, take some able fighters with you and offer terms of peace to the Werewolves.  I hope that the Lord and Lady are favorable in that the Werewolves will want immediate peace.  If not, be prepared to fight your way out of there."

"Let's get to work people.  We don't have a lot of time."

*

James looked around Conrad's... no, now it was Ashley's grand chambers.  The place made his house look like a rundown shack.  Hell, he could fit his entire house into just the entryway and living room alone.  He let out a long, slow breath as he reminisced about the long conversations, debates, and banter that he'd had in here with the now past Prince of Metropolis.  That led him to think about others that he'd lost along the way.

The front door opened and Ashley came storming in.  James smiled, now able to be happy that she was awake and well.  He crossed the living room to her and started to open his mouth in greeting right before Ashley decked him square in the face.  James went skidding across the wooden floor, taking a very expensive Persian rug with him.