Chapter 41: Armor of God

March 1999

I do not know what it was that made me do what I did next. In the fraction of a second that I saw that crossbow raising its ugly head to shoot its deadly bolt, I had sprung from my chair and lunged sideways, not to escape its aim, but to deflect it from its target. Tayla! This was an assassination attempt, upon the Queen, and I could not let that happen. What made me do it? Did I think that such a thing could harm her? I was not ready to let her go just yet. There was still so much more that we could learn from each other.

As I lunged across the front of the Queen, I felt a stinging blow hit me in the back of my shoulder. It was immediately painful, but I was satisfied that I had stopped the bolt with my body and saved the Queen. I shielded her body with mine, hoping there were no more bolts, but there was one more. I did not feel it hit me, but heard it hit the back of a chair. It had happened so fast. She allowed my body to fall into her lap. Shock was busy calling out orders to shut down all exits and called up on his landline phone to Dread, to notify him of the assassination attempt. After the vampires drew their attention to the event, they seized the assassins immediately.

Tayla’s suspicions had come true. The Order of the Jackal had infiltrated the Lower Estate but to what extent? Were these the only ones? How did they penetrate Tayla’s defenses? Had they already attacked the Mansion and eliminated Dread’s security forces? As usual, there were many questions, and as always, no answers. I was in pain, and possibly going into shock as the pain became more severe as I breathed.

Tayla called for her medical staff. She was communicating at the same time with her staff of familiars to ascertain the extent of the security breach.

Shock came to her side. “Apparently, there were only two ... these cowards are assassins of the worst kind, the suicidal kind.”

One thing I knew for sure. Tayla and her story about this cult were right on track. She had indeed told the truth.

As she held me in her arms, my blood flowed onto her gown and onto her arms. She reached under me and placed her hand under my shoulder, and I could feel her pressing against the edges of my wound, to control the bleeding. The bolt had penetrated my shoulder, striking my scapula and fracturing it. This seemed to be the main source of my pain. I had not realized that the tip had penetrated far enough into my shoulder to come out the other side under my armpit. Tayla had such a look of concern on her face that I do not think I will ever forget it. She found the other end of the bolt as she tore my shirt apart to find the source of the blood that was flowing from the front of my chest. As she did, she gasped. The tip of the bolt was made of silver. She was the target and she knew it. I could tell by the way that she looked at me. I had saved her life. I had taken the bolt that was supposed to have killed her and now I was bleeding profusely from it.

Tayla was asking for bandages, any kind of medical care she could get. Shock stated, “Medical teams one and two are both enroute. Shock had also called the other medical team that was normally off shift to duty.

Anubis called to Tayla. “Your majesty, I know this may not be the proper time, but something has come to my attention that I think warrants your attention,” he said calmly.

“Anubis, what is it?” She asked, frantic and annoyed. She was angry that these two assassins had infiltrated them. More than that, she was angry that anyone would dare sanction an action of this sort against her, especially in her own palace.

I was still conscious as the pain was severe and my breathing labored.

“Your majesty, this is the second bolt. I dug it out of the back of Mr. Harris” chair. It is a bolt laden with poison. This was a double assassination attempt. He took your bolt instead, and they missed him with the one intended for him. This man has saved your life, and subsequently, possibly your entire clan.” Anubis was so matter of fact about everything, but he spoke the truth. “Yes, he did. This man deserves the best care possible. We must get him to the infirmary, and quickly.” Tayla picked me up, because she possessed great strength and began to walk down the steps toward the doors of the Hall of Skulls. My blood flowed down her gown of gold Lame”. I was going into shock. By this time, Scabs and Medusa had arrived with a stretcher and emergency equipment. Tayla placed me on it and they whisked me away on it very quickly. I was starting to lose consciousness as the shock from the blood loss was reaching the severe levels, and my blood pressure was dropping. The bolt was still in me.

I awoke much later, in the familiar surroundings of the infirmary, in a bed next to Julie. Exactly how long it was that I had been unconscious was not clear. Scabs had performed surgery to address my wounds. I had a fractured scapula, as I mentioned before, and a punctured lung, and lacerated brachial artery. The doctor was working on setting some equipment settings when he noticed that I had regained consciousness. There were tubes inside my chest hooked up to suction device, because I could hear bubbling coming from some device hooked to my bed. My arm was in a sling, and there was a large bulky dressing under my arm. I was very groggy, and in a lot of pain. Soon I passed out again, only to wake up a little while later, in the same situation.

Once, I woke up only to see Tayla’s face close to mine, as if she wanted to kiss me. Her eyes were very seductive and beckoning. She said she was only listening to me breath.

“Nice try, lady! You could hear me breathing across the room!

Anybody could, with the chest tubes bubbling.”

Tayla smiled and was very gentle with me when she helped me up in my bed. She might have made a good nurse until it was time to take someone’s blood.

“How long have I been here?” I asked. My voice was a dry whisper. I could barely speak, as my throat was sore, and my mouth was very dry. No doubt, I had had a lot of narcotic pain medication.

“Two days, my friend ... two days. My dear Malcolm, you have done what no other mortal in history that I am aware of has done. You have saved the life of one who under normal circumstances would devour you. What you did was an extraordinary act of courage. You have my thanks and eternal gratitude. I owe you much, even my life. She looked over to a chair and it in turn moved closer to her so that she could sit down. Taking my hand, she whispered to me, “I have a surprise for you. Your family will be here soon but as of this moment; it is still too dangerous to move them. I want you to talk to them as soon as you are able. It has been some time since you have been in contact with your wife. It is good that you talk to her. I think it will be good for all of us if she is here among us, safe inside the estate.

While you were unconscious, there was an attack on the Upper Estate. I suppose the contingent of cult soldiers up on the surface had a prearranged time of attack. I can only assume they thought I was dead, and I would surely have been if it were not for you, my friend. Dread was well prepared for them, and they are all dead at this moment. Even the ones we captured. The last thing I would tolerate is an attempt to break into my house and try to kill me.

Who do these people think they are? Don’t they know who I am?”

She was very indignant about all of this. I did not blame her, as the cult had invaded her abode and tried to assassinate her, and she was mad about it.

“Malcolm, there is something important that I must discuss with you now. I know that under normal circumstances I would not discuss this at this time. However, I must take a defensive step. I must make you the master of the house. Now before you give me the look of disbelief, let me explain why. You know there is a lot to the, what did you call it? Oh yes, vampire etiquette! There are reasons why we do what we do. You have been finding out all about that in the last few weeks. You have discovered much and been through a lot. A vampire cannot cross the threshold of a mortal’s house unless the master of the house invites the vampire in. If you are the master of the mansion, well, then that puts a lock on the door against any of the Black Clan’s vampires. We should be able to deal with the Jackal soldiers easily enough. No doubt, they know their attack on me has failed. Something you did not know. There was an attack on you also. After you threw yourself in front of me, another arrow hit the chair you were sitting in. It was a poisoned bolt. It would have surely killed you even if it had only grazed you. The silver tipped bolt would have surely killed me, as the bolt was coming straight for my heart. I am still not sure how these two assassins got past my security. I think that the Dragon himself had something to do with that. I want you to talk to Anubis, as he has some papers for you to sign, giving you ownership of the estate. This will automatically make you a wealthy man ... and a feared one, at that.”

Anubis was standing outside the infirmary, as I could see him through the window.

She continued, “It is still early tonight. I am taking some of my legion out tonight. I will put this behind us, and I intend to do as much destruction tonight as possible. We know where they are and there is hell to pay, I assure you! I want you to get as much rest as you can tonight. I expect you to be much better by the end of the week.”

With those last words, she patted my hand, and kissed my forehead, then turned and left. I realized that she had done most of the talking, and I had not said a word about the transfer of ownership of the estate. Still, I wished that I had the opportunity to either accept or decline, but I was too weak.

Anubis entered the infirmary with a folder of papers, no doubt for me to sign. I did feel pity for those hapless cult members who no doubt would meet an even more cruel death than those who tried to take me in Colombia. This was the second time they had tried to kill me. It would not be long before they were about to get what they deserved. I almost felt like cheering them on.

I signed the papers for Anubis and finished just in time for Scabs to change my dressing. The “lovely” Cadusa assisted him. I say that because she might have been attractive if she took off some of the war paint. As it was, she looked more like a dominatrix in a nurse’s outfit.

Scabs and another surgeon had performed the operation to remove the bolt and repair the damage to my brachial artery, fractured scapula, and punctured left lung. The chest tubes made it possible for me to breath. What a wreck I was! Still, it was a lot better than being dead, and I knew I should thank my Lord that my angels had alerted my senses. They were warning me! They also guided my eyes to spot the assassin at the right time, so I could throw myself between it and the Queen. I was kind of hoping I could talk to them about this incident. After all, they would have seen things that I would not have. Tayla should have seen the assassins as well but she did not. Here was another question for the angels.

After Scabs and Cadusa had changed my dressing, I was in a considerable amount of pain. They medicated me through my IV and I began to get the groggy, dulling sensation of twilight that had become so familiar to me. As I drifted in and out of waking moments, I noticed other people in the room. Were the other familiars or vampires? Whoever they were, they were sitting there, two were in chairs, and the other two were sitting on my bed. The movement of the bed had stimulated me enough to open my eyes.

As I struggled to open my eyes, and keep them open, I called out to them, “Who are you?” They were all dressed in dark clothing, with short dark hair. Then I noticed that one of them, sitting in a chair, was a woman. They all looked like members of a rock group or something.

One of those sitting on my bed, turned to look at me, and whispered, “You know us already. We have met”

“When, and where? I don’t remember.”

“In your dreams, and in the mansion above, in the library,” the other dark stranger said. He stood up and placed his hand upon my forehead. “I am Erlandis.”

This caught my attention, and immediately my head began to clear. “My angels? You’re here, in this infirmary?”

“We never leave you, not even for a moment. Even when you think we are not there, we are. We know you have questions, and sometimes are confused as to why you are here, walking this path.

We will try to explain these things to you.”

I wanted to sit up, but the pain was too great. Ariel, sitting on the opposite side of my bed as Erlandis, held up her hand to ward off my attempts at movement.

I decided to yield to her suggestion. Wondering if anyone else could see them, I turned to look at Julie, lying in her bed not six feet away. She was sleeping soundly. My first question was somewhat stupid. “Can Julie see you? I mean would she be able to see you as earthly beings?”

“No, as we were not sent for her at this time but for you. The Lord has sent us to protect you while you carry out this great work. We are here for you, to guide you, comfort you, and strengthen you as you prepare for a great battle. You will lay waste to the unholy that abide here, through His power, and His holy name. Though you walk in this valley of death, its shadow shall not pass over you. You must fear no evil, for the One who dwells within you is greater than all the evil residing inside these caverns. He has made the evil that dwells within these creatures to fear Him, and they quake and tremble. You must put on the armor of God and keep it on. Take up the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of faith, and the shield. Prepare to draw forth the Word of God, that which is His sword.