Chapter Six

Bedrich, Danek, Kazimir and…Vladislov

Sitting alone in his office chamber, Vladislov watched the world teem outside his window. A phenomenal October sun painted its jack-o-lantern color across the morning sky. The moon had begun to disappear, fading against the periwinkle clouds behind the mountains of the West. His side of the world was now waking up to greet the day as Western civilization tucked itself in for another dark night. Mortal children stretched in their beds, yawning up at the brightened sky as their mothers rushed them out into their mundane lives. School. Work. Mortals wasted this earth. They took up space better used by the Occult—those with what he considered to have divine blood. But as everything ordinary was, they were temporary. Dust in the wind. They’d be gone soon. He cracked a smile that stretched the cavernous lines in his face.

Ever since the advent of life on Earth, there had always been deviations from what mortal society considered normal. Otherworldly creatures with the divine spark of magic—things only spoken about in fairy tales and legends among humans, were the things Vladislov considered normal, and fought to conceal behind walls. But with a powerful civilization comes a powerful government to keep order, and Vladislov resided at the very top.

Wind whistled through hollows in the alleyways of his city, while unseen spirits descended into the white light of the sun now raying off car windshields. People rushed off in their lives, completely unaware of the more powerful forces existing in the simplest forms around them, all of it going unnoticed. It existed in the wind malevolently blowing their hats into the path of an oncoming vehicle. It existed inside the perilous mind of an envious ex-lover. And it existed in an unassuming building standing very regally near the center of Prague, in Old Town, where Vladislov sat.

The Regime Headquarters did not exist in some grand Occult city at the top of the world, as even he used to fantasize as an Elven child. The oligarchy of the master Wizards ruled from a small country in the heart of Eastern Europe in a capital city, infested with mortals, hiding in plain sight—as magic always tended to do.

Vladislov and his advisors lived and worked in the center of Prague, completely unbeknownst to mortal society. It was the most enchanted, modern metropolis in the world and the only Occult city the Regime could not hide. Human population flocked to the city mainly for its beauty. The history etched in the brick and mortar of Prague Castle, the old gates and bridges, kept mortals coming, fantasizing about the things they didn’t know actually existed. People could not deny the energy one found when walking about the glistening streets. It was powerful enough to fuel both the magical and the mortal realms, and so the Regime made the choice to have their order exist secretly amongst the common people of Europe. Because, after all, Vladislov couldn’t blame the lesser species for being so attracted to his divine race.

To the outsider, the building’s façade might have looked like some sort of embassy, with darkened, common bricks and long mirrored windows—all things completely spellbound, of course. If human blood ever tried to enter the palace doors, a simple touch of the handle would erase all short-term memory. Vladislov chuckled darkly. The grand doors always seemed locked, but could be opened with a rune most common Elves would not be familiar with. The Regime remained protected and coveted, even from its own kind, as any other government building was. Its one spire, atop the tarnished dome that shone turquoise in the sun, protruded high over the other surrounding rooftops. The building, for the most part, seemed completely common, except for the fact that once inside, its depth seemed to go on indefinitely.

Kazimir, the lowest of the oligarchy, and a master of the Fifth Realm and psychic arts, could make human beings see and believe whatever he wanted them to. His name meant “the great destroyer” and in many ways, Vladislov was lucky to have his younger brother in his good graces. Kazimir was once responsible for destroying whole villages in Asia, making it look like the responsibility of human military.

Bedrich was the high priest of the oligarchy. He was closest with air, and a master of everything theological. He was the brain, and had been since he was just a young Elf. His massive cranium he hid under hooded robes reflected that.

Then, there was Danek Price. His family had immigrated to the golden city from an Occult town in Ireland when Vladislov called upon him. A master of the earthly realms, he was best at cunning strategy. Danek was strong and quiet, just as he had taught his son, Aiden, to be.

Vladislov, the leader of the oligarchy, was a master of every element, something only few could dream of achieving. He could cause and control tsunamis, tornados, flash floods, brush fires. Anything to bend others to adhere to his will. He indulged himself with the finest of all things and held no compassion for the creatures he considered to be beneath him. Foremost on his list, were Vampires—specifically one: Valek Ruzik. The upstart who’d dared break into his rooms uttering demands that were not his to make.

Late one particularly dark winter night when the moon was new and the sky was at its blackest, Vladislov sat alone, once again, in his chamber. The bedroom was completely draped in red velvet from the curtains, to the bedclothes, to the upholstery used to make the chair he sat in.

The year was 1989, the year Czechoslovakia would divide into two nations. The human condition about the country was in turmoil, with the raging end of oppression and communism.

He reflected by the warm candlelight, the law that had been passed several decades before, written by himself and his younger brother, and revised by Bedrich and Danek. Vladislov read the decision they made together. Bedrich had tried to persuade Vladislov not to pass the one law, which would lock every Occult creature inside their secret cities forever, making it unlawful for them to cross over the borders into mortal society. But Bedrich’s attempt had been feckless, and Vladislov made it so—doing this without anticipating the repercussion that would advance on this night.

He was about to turn in for the evening, leaning over to blow out his candle, when a black shadow crashed through the frosty windowpane. Shards of glass whizzed through the air to the floor around Vladislov. Chilled winter air from the night steeped the deep, red bedroom, causing the candles to flicker out on their own.

Cold wind blew Vladislov’s long, silver, wiry hair about his face as he squinted through the darkness for the intruder. Something inhumanly fast whizzed past him. He shot up from his chair. This wasn’t any kind of mortal thief.

“Who intrudes? I demand to know!” he bellowed.

The shadow leapt to the other side of the room. Vladislov spun to look behind him, trying to catch the thing, but he had no such luck, the creature was fast. It moved again, making one of his towering bookshelves crash to the floor. Vladislov could hear guards stirring downstairs from the ruckus.

“You will be punished dearly for this, whoever you are!” Vladislov spoke again, his tone significantly meeker. “My guards are coming with their Lycans. You will be torn to shreds!”

The being slowly crept up behind the Wizard and let out a cold breath that slipped like a chill of death the back of Vladislov’s neck.

“I know what you plan to do. Do not sign that document, sir, or you will surely live to regret it,” the phantom hissed.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“I am the thing which will watch you from the shadows until the day you die,” the creature whispered. “The thing that will haunt you as you dream. The only thing…you will never defeat.”

Vladislov, who had stealthily moved his bony hand to his desk, grasped a letter opener. He whipped his arm around and slashed the mysterious man’s throat open, blood spewing as the figure recoiled back into the darkness. But when he looked to see the body, nothing was there. The wizard let out a soft sound of terror as he suddenly felt someone standing behind him. The creature’s claws slashed at Vladislov’s hand, slicing it off at the bone, knocking the bloody letter opener to the ground.

Vladislov let out a loud cry of pain as he clutched his spewing arm. He fell to the floor and crawled like an insect from a falcon.

The obscure creature brought one claw down to wrap around Vladislov’s neck and sent him hurling into the wall. His back crunched with the impact.

The shadow slowly made its way to stand before him. The moonlight shimmered off the creature’s threatening fanged grin.

“Vampire!” He gasped.

The Vampire let out a low chuckle. “The only thing you will never defeat,” the Vampire repeated, just as the chamber door flew open. Guards rushed in, their footsteps booming on the floorboards.

“There!” Vladislov gestured with one spindly finger at the Vampire.

Just as the guards and their wolves lunged, he leapt back through the open window into the dark night. There was no evidence left of the fiasco, other than the destroyed chamber and the ‘Law One’ soaked in his red wine.

***

Eighteen years later, the Regime’s hatred for the blood-sucking creatures continued to consume its four leaders. Vladislov thought of ways to make sure it would never happen again. He would sit up, sleepless night after sleepless night, devising ways to make life more difficult for the only thing he would never win against and every night, he came up with the same solution: rid the Earth of Vampires completely. Form a mass genocide, and the world would no longer have to fear the blood demons.

“Sir?” A young Elf that worked in the building as a page interrupted Vladislov’s reverie. “Excuse me, sir, but the Vampires from the Northern most Slovakian occult city have arrived, sir.”

Vladislov nodded and waved him away.

Kazimir soon took the boy’s place in the room as he walked over to his elder brother and put one hand on his pointed shoulder.

“Tomorrow is the day, Vlad,” he said warmly. “This is only the first of many Occult districts to be cleared. Soon, the entire world will not have to worry about these savages appearing by their bedsides anymore.”

Vladislov slowly got up from the leather armchair with a tired smile.

“Yes, Kazimir. Soon human children will forget every vampiric fairy tale ever told. It will be as though they’ve never existed, and we can all rest easier.”

“Can you believe one of them actually asked me what she was being tried for?” Kazimir laughed, lines forming around his dark, shining eyes. He looked almost identical to his brother, though a bit more youthful.

“How did you respond?” Vladislov only slightly shared in his brother’s amusement.

“I told her they were all guilty on the count of ruthless murder. How could we let creatures such as these exist after killing thousands of people, and endangering our secret?” Kazimir beamed. “The little demon looked at me like I had three eyes.” His laugh was thunderous again. “You should have seen the way she clawed at those bars, as though she were strong enough to rip through platinum.”

“Let us see how strong they are when they are forced to meet eyes with sunrise,” Vladislov seethed, and started out of the large room.

“Good day, brother.” Kazimir eyed him as Vladislov nodded and disappeared behind the door without another word.