Chapter 40: The Hall of Skulls

March 1999

Tayla informed me that this was a standard form of punishment. The clan would lock the two offenders into coffins, placed in a courtyard where the sun would be able to shine upon them all day long. Then the clans would place chains about the coffins, locking them inside during the night, denying them any contact with vampire or familiar, and most of all, any mortal who could supply blood. It was starvation to a vampire, a slow death, which continues. I suppose it was fortunate for them that it was only three days. It reminded me that Christ was in His grave for 3 days. However, He came out of his tomb, to a greater glory. It was much greater than anything these creatures would ever experience.

From here, we walked through a passageway constructed like the hallway of a building or any other structure. It had straight vertical walls, flat ceiling, and a flat floor as well. All constructed of polished marble. Torches in sconces burned brighter as she passed by. The temperature began to get cooler as we walked, and I began to dread the cold. I did not know how to account for it. Was it because of the depth we were at underground, or was it due to the presence of Queen Tayla? Tayla had an amazing ability to be able to adapt to her surroundings. She neither became too cold, nor too hot. She could go without food and water, and yet she could skip a night of her earthly pleasures and partaking of blood just as easily.

As we turned the corner, vampire sentries bowed in homage to her, muttering adorations of the highest kind. The marble floor began to get wider, the torches in the sconces became more frequent, and courtesans of her court began to appear, hovering around her like moths to a flame. These vampires must have been with her the longest. Then the corridor opened into a magnificent forum, a plaza that stood before an even more impressive structure. An extremely large door gilded in gold was at the top of a tall staircase. It resembled the nation’s capital steps. Wide, impressive, and formed from black granite, its steps had a large red carpet that cascaded down from the door to the bottom onto the plaza floor. Large statutes of strange creatures were at each side of the doorway. The doors began to open.

Tayla looked at me, saying, “Malcolm, would you be so kind to escort a queen into her palace?” She held out her arm to encourage me to place mine so that she could take it in escort. I was shocked as well as speechless, not to mention overwhelmed as to the beauty and magnificence of the underground palace.

I held out my arm, and she took it as if I were escorting a young girl to her first prom. She seemed proud to be with me. We walked up the steps, the doors now fully opened at this time. At the top of the steps were more courtesans, and I could see some familiars who looked familiar. There was Anubis, her counselor, waiting at the top, dressed in formal robes, as he was highly regarded in the clan. In addition, there was Shock, the Chief of the Lower Estate. Tall, and slender, he resembled something from the Rocky Horror Picture Show! He too was in his formal robes except his were very black. Worse, Shock lived up to his name. Never had I seen an uglier man in all my life. This man looked more like a corpse, than a man. Shock’s scalp looked partly disfigured, as hair only grew from part of it. The rest of it was bald perhaps from what appeared to be burn scars. He could have passed as an extra from a Star Trek movie. When he smiled, he showed that he was in dire need of dental care. Over the last twenty-four hours, I had had enough reality checks that would last me a lifetime. I felt as though I were part of another time, as if cast in some great movie epic, along with a cast of thousands. I could not tell what looked like costumes and special effects from reality.

We walked through the palace forum, where tapestries of immense size recalled the history of her lineage she had created. Some of the scenes were very bizarre. Upon arriving at the throne room, doors of black and red opened for us, and as we walked in, hundreds of creatures greeted us with bows then followed by a ceaseless applause.

“Tonight, you are meeting the rest of the clan. This great occasion has never been done before. Never has a mortal been invited into my palace hall as an honored guest before. We call this palace the Hall of Skulls. It houses my throne, and much of my treasure that I have accumulated over the centuries. Malcolm, pay special attention to what you see, and hear. You may never be able to return to this moment.”

Seeing her dressed in such royal splendor made me realize I should be wearing a tuxedo. Everyone was dressed impeccably formal, with some in contemporary formal wear, others in attire of the past.

“I have ordered a ball and banquet to be given, an extravaganza if you will, in your honor.”

I was overwhelmed again, at what I was to see next. The most impressive display of food and drink lay before me. There were works of art displayed on the walls, while great statutes of historical figures and others were on display in the middle of the great hall. They had robbed the entire Louvre and brought it here to the states. The great Hall of Skulls was really a museum or an art gallery, not a palace. “I am impressed with the collection of art. I am very curious to know how you acquired it all.”

“As I told you, I have picked things up over the centuries. I might add, for much more reasonable prices as they were not quiet the finds then as they would be now; if the world knew they existed. You will have ample time to examine them all in the future. However, tonight, we feast. As I said before, there is a ball tonight, in your honor. We are to celebrate tonight. We will dance, and we will drink, and dine. We shall laugh, and we shall look into each other’s eyes and,” she paused, leaving her sentence unfinished. “And what, Tayla?” I asked. She looked at me and smiled.

“We will know the regret of what we cannot have. We shall know sorrow.” She smiled, as we kept walking, arm in arm. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, watching her eyes fill with tears, but none ran down her face. Still, she clung to my arm. “I already know regret, my friend. I sense it in you also.” I told her this, knowing she would have a reply for me.

“You will never know regret to the extent that I do. At least you can see an end to your regrets, as mine goes on eternally. As all those you see here before you tonight, our regrets go on. Only they do not regret what they do. These children of mine, they are oblivious to the trauma that they inflict. And much more so, my brothers and sister are so blind to the evil they perpetuate on your race.”

We had reached the throne, sitting upon a stage-like platform of the great hall. Her throne was a treasure. Undeniably designed for a royal personage, it was a massive, awesome object of gold, with a high backing, and majestic armrests. However, it did look ominous just the same. The ends of the armrests formed into skulls, which had teeth that resembled fangs. These skull accents were of solid gold, with black onyx stones for eyes in their recessed sockets. It’s backing consisted of black and red checkerboard enameled squares, set upon a gold concave plate. The decoration placed upon it bordered upon somewhere between gaudy and excessive. The throne sat upon a black granite pedestal, which was of a circular fashion, bordered with rose-colored granite below it, also in a circle.

Nevertheless, I escorted her to her throne. She turned, and sat as any queen would, upon her throne with grace and confidence, placing her scepter in a receptacle specially designed for it on the side of the throne. It was then I felt I was in the presence of a queen ... a queen of more power, intuitiveness, and wisdom, than perhaps any mortal who had ever lived. Of course, it could not compare with the King of kings. After looking around me, I decided to include grandeur and flamboyance in that list of attributes. There must have been at least a thousand people inside this grand structure. As she sat, a great hush came over the crowd. All bowed down before her. Some were on one knee, but all were silent.

Then, Tayla began to address her subjects. Her usual smoky quality kind of whispering voice became as strong as any that I had ever heard. No one could deny her presence was great. In an overpowering voice, clear and resounding, she spoke these words. “Hear my voice Oh Children of the Night! Hearken unto my words ... for I bring unto you my guest, and my friend. Yes, though he is a mortal, he shall prove his worth unto our race far more than any ordinary mortal of his kind has yet to be. Tonight, is the night of celebration, for tonight we seal our enemy’s fate.” She then paused in silence. “And ours! For we have evolved to be a greater being than those we feed upon. To be wiser, and stronger, than he who would destroy us, and we have always remained victorious. Now, as many of you know that our greatest enemy is not from the mortal humans, but from those of our own kind. We have survived through wit, and maneuver, being able to overcome direct confrontations, and keeping a peace through the strict enforcement of ancient codes of conduct. We have done these things because it was the only way to survive. Now, that code is in danger. Our enemies, who seek to destroy us outright, and usurp our place as the dominant clan of our race; have allied themselves with a powerful entity. It is an ancient entity; whose source of power is the same as ours. They seek blood, living blood as we do! We do this by nature, but they do it by choice.” Another great and lengthy pause followed. She continued, “My own brothers and sister have turned against me. They plot and plan my relinquishment of the throne. This throne upon which I now sit and have always sat!”

This was so loud that it almost became a scream. “But no one that I know shall be destined to rule our clan or race other than myself. I am strong but know this! I can be cruel and vicious. Yes, I am like you but also unlike you. I am the source from which you have been born unto eternity and darkness. I have always ruled fairly, and with wisdom, putting our race and our survivability first as our priorities. Now, the time has come to act against our enemies who pretend to be kindred, who pretend to be our brothers and sisters. Those are the same siblings who, for three days, I laid in the ground next to!”