A Loyal Companion
TWO: Tarkas [part 1]

Humidity filled the air, the North wind blew my dark brown hair and took my scent with it as I stepped out of my jeep. I walked the large clearing, mud covered my boots as I walked on the wet grass. A mansion stood before me, as I walked towards it, the rain became heavier. I looked back towards the city, besides the stone walls and massive size, Tarkas had a magnificent view of the civilization outside, it was something I greatly missed being away from the stone mansion.

“Ondine!”

I turned to a tall man stood at the entrance with a grin in his face. He was Teal, a werewolf. A young one at that. He may not be my favourite person in the world at the time, like hell… last time I went on a mission with him, I almost lost a limb, but he was also a good friend, or more like a little brother to me. I don’t mind getting badly bashed as it wouldn’t do much to me, I’d heal very fast anyway, but I would mind losing a limb as it wouldn’t grow back. I didn’t know that for sure of course, but I wouldn’t dare to try. Teal was a great fighter, but a little too soft, he had never made a single kill. He’d leave the killing blow to me. I didn’t understand why he chose not to kill, it was his nature to hunt, but even during a hunt he would let go of his prey after he caught them. He preferred for something that was already cooked, or something raw that came straight from a butcher. He admitted that the raw meat that came straight from the butcher doesn’t give him the satisfaction but it wasn’t nice to eat a live animal, especially if he knew the animal didn’t like to be eaten. I learned that Teal had a great gift for being able to communicate to any animals, and the gift had once saved us. The choice of not killing his enemies during mission however, was a different story, he simply wasn’t ready.

“Hey…”

He folded his arms and pouted.

“That’s it? No hug? No ‘I miss you’?”

“You wish” I said and gave him a smile.

His long black hair tickled my face as he moved and gave me a hug. His arms around me made me feel that I was needed. Although I’d get annoyed with his neediness sometimes, but I knew that he was just as lonely as I was, only that I could handle it better than he could. Teal was still a baby compared to my age anyway.

The founder of Tarkas was Gin, a spellcaster, and something else, but no one knew what. He wasn't quite a shapeshifter, but rumor had it that his human form was a result of a spell he put on himself. Gin had been around in this world for much longer than I had and was the one who took me under his wings. He, like other people I came across with, didn’t know what I was or why I was here, but he had heard of the legend. It was while under his care that I found my skill of spell casting. When Gin found out about my other ability, he was excited and started teaching me some ancient spells, the powerful ones, and also some basic offensive and defensive spells. Having lived for as long as I had, it wasn’t hard for me to master the ancient languages of the spells, as I was there when the language was still spoken. Spell casting wasn’t my strength, but it was good to know spells that could help in a crucial situations.

“Gin is waiting for you… and so are the heads of houses, they’re all here”

I looked at him with a questioning look. We hardly had any meeting when all head houses representing members of Tarkas gathered together. Usually people come and go, and when there was a meeting, only the ones needed were invited. So whatever was going on was deadly serious.

“Gin hasn’t said anything yet regarding the matter, I think he wants all of us to know all at the same time” He bent down to grab my luggage, and walked down the long hallway towards my room. Another man met Teal halfway down the hall to grab my suitcase from him and continued to my room. The other man was Ulyn, one of Gin’s followers since the early days. He was taken under Gin’s care at a very young age after Gin saved him from the tragedy that swept Ulyn’s whole family. Ulyn was a young sorcerer confused with his abilities at that day and age, but Gin patiently had given him what he needed to grow and accept his gift. I hadn’t talked much to Ulyn, he was a man of few words. I couldn’t even engage in a conversation with him for more than two minutes, so after a few tries, I decided I’d leave him be, it was a pity, I thought that he was quite an interesting gentleman.

The Hall of Life, I called it. Tarkas’ main hallway was full of history. Histories from the period of Gin’s life, to mine, to the wars, and down to today were all displayed in that hallway. I loved looking at them, as they reminded me of my timeline. I had forgotten how the earth looked like when I was born, but being in that hallway reminded me of that bitter history, although it hurt to remember them, it was the only memory that anchored me to the world.

My heels made clicking sounds as I walked down the black marble floor of the hallway. I paused as I reached a particular statue. The sculpture stood in perfection before me, her face was flawless, standing solid against the test of time. The lady was Gin’s wife, Esther. Gin didn’t talk much about her, but I knew he loved her eternally. I had caught him staring at the statue for hours, and saw that desperation of not being able to touch her living flesh again. Centuries had passed since Esther who was carrying his unborn child, died of a disease which took the lives of his entire village he lived in, and though Gin had relationships after Esther, he still mourned her every passing day.

“Ondine, come in please”

I turned to the voice I recognized as Gin’s. He stood there in his black satin shirt and black trousers. Gin liked wearing black with a touch of red, and that day he was wearing a red tie to go with his all black clothing. He was tall, with silky smooth pale skin, and his blond hair, almost silver was straight and smooth, so long that it touched his hips. His face was free from wrinkle and imperfection, a gift of most immortal, which I also possessed, but his eyes gave away that wisdom he had, all the ages he had endure embedded in his pair of grey eyes.

A smile slipped away, welcoming me home. I replied that smile with mine, and bowed my head. It was a polite gesture for someone who I considered as my elder, a mentor and a friend. Although Gin was older than me by many centuries, he often turned to me when he simply needed a friend to stand by him and I did the same to him. He moved and gave me a warm hug instead.

“You look well”

“Likewise” I said as I turned my gaze to him, and found a flicker of worry in it. I didn’t say anything, because I knew whatever he was worrying about, I would find out soon after I walked into the meeting room.

The meeting room was more of a big hall, so plain with a long table and so many chairs around that long table. No fancy chandeliers decorating the ceiling, no 18th century style shelves full of books on the wall like in the movies. It was simply a big hall with table and chairs. Gin learned that sometimes when all of us gathered, things could get rather ugly. After a disagreement a century ago between a werewolf’s second in command and the vampire’s head of house’s right hand that turned into an ugly bloodshed, Gin decided to strip the room bare... safety measures, he called it.

A vampire by the name of Nasya looked up and smiled at me, which I replied with a slight nod. She was a vampire from the 17th Century, and her vampirism was a heritage. If I could choose a partner to work with, I would’ve picked Nasya in a heartbeat. Not only that she was experienced and efficient, she and I shared the same thirst, the thirst for blood. Nasya hunt her prey and drank their blood, while I’d hunt my prey and slay them with my sword… yes, it wasn’t me who was thirsty for blood, it was Crimson Tears, it was its hunger that I felt, it was for its hunger that I hunt.

Sitting across from Nasya was Elliot, a shapeshifter and a telepathic. Not my favourite. Elliot always had been an arrogant one, thinking that he was the strongest out of the whole group. His body build was the biggest amongst all of us, and his telepathic ability was known to be deadly dangerous, but he certainly was not the brightest.

The little man sitting next to Elliot was Losec, a healer. One touch from Losec could heal any wounds no matter how bad they were. Luckily I have never had to come to Losec for healing as I would heal a lot faster than the others… but I had taken many to Losec, and had seen the wonders he could do. His healing hands were precious to us. Losec was a lovely man, he didn’t say much, he observed, he was wise and he was a little man with a big heart. Losec would’ve been perfectly proportioned for his size, if only he wasn’t missing his legs. His legs were cut off sometimes in the 15th century, before he discovered his healing hands. He never regretted that he didn’t find out about the healing hands any sooner, he always said that everything happened for a reason, and he believed that losing his legs before his power came was the reason why he felt happy to be able to help people. With the lack of limbs, another power came to him, it was given by one of Losec’s patients whom he failed to save. She was badly injured and by the time Losec got to her she was already passing, Losec tried to bring her back but had failed. Her spirit saw the effort, and the condition Losec was in, that was enough for her to pass on her powers to him, the power to teleport.

As I walked towards my chair, I found the twins Yolen and Yanou sitting next to Nasya. I have never seen their powers, but I heard the tales, and glad I never had to witness it firsthand. Both possessed extreme beauties and were gifted with a generous amount of charm. Their kiss alone could suck massive amount of energy, sexual encounters with them could be fatal. The pair had wavy long bright blond hair as if the sun was constantly shining on them. But their eyes did not match the beauty of their bodies and hair, they were dark, full of lust and hunger. I dare not to look deep into their eyes, as I would find myself lost in that lust.

I found an empty seat next to Faye. Now, Faye was an interesting creature. She was like a living poison but with her power, she also brings life. Faye was heaven and hell in one body. Her hair was silvery white almost like Gin’s and sometimes I’d see her hair being black, her eyes were unnaturally blue-ish purple which sometimes changed colours to blue-ish green, and her skin was as pale as a vampire’s but sometimes glowed like the sun. I could never understand the nature of Faye. I have seen her kill the enemy with a blow of a kiss… I have seen her brought a person back from death with that very same kiss. She was... interesting.

At the end of the table was Payne, an Alpha werewolf. He bore many marks on his body, even on his face, he always said that those marks were the map of his life. He had been in many fights and wars. He was an excellent fighter, his Pack was the strongest front line fighters we’ve ever seen. He was not a tall man like Teal, he was a little taller than me, shorter than Gin, but his body was perfectly built, packed with muscles, and he stood with pride in his perfect posture, his hair was almost the same colour as mine but short... an army cut. For Payne, long hair was a hassle, especially in fights, so he had never had his hair long. Payne was getting old, and was about to name a successor to his position, and the one that would probably get it was Roan, his right hand.

Werewolves and vampires were the only house members of Tarkas that only had people of their own race under their care. The rest were interracial. I guessed it fit them, both werewolves and vampires had their own way of dealing with their own problem, or simply because they were very territorial.

Sitting across from me of course was Teal, the youngest of all. Teal and I weren’t heads of house or anything like that, but we were almost like the permanent residence of Tarkas, and in many occasions I had represented Tarkas in Gin’s place. Though I was once I was invited to officially become a member of Tarkas, I kindly refused him, because I liked my freedom. I knew one day, even though I had given up, I’d found my other half, and from then I would have to serve that person alone, so I would like to live my life under no one else’s house until that day come. It was the reason why I bought a house out of the Tarkas, but still close enough so I could come back when I needed to. Gin had always included me in whatever business going on in Tarkas. Most of the time I was also the appointed squad leader for any mission we were doing, therefore I would always find myself sitting in every meeting the Tarkas held. Teal, on the other hand was my apprentice. He would tag along with me, on Gin’s order, of course, to almost every mission. We haven’t found any werewolf that would take Teal into their pack. They thought that Teal was too weak, too human, too needy. Even Payne, who had seen Teal changed form didn’t consider Teal as a full werewolf yet, as Teal had not made any kill yet.

The room went silent as Gin sat down on his seat. His movement was so graceful that not even a vampire could hear his footstep. Gin was indeed the oldest out of all and the most experienced, I was third in the line after Cael, who was supposed to be present, but was replaced by Nasya instead. Even so, I did not feel as one of the oldest, as my body stopped aging when I reached 30, and in my mind I was still very young, still eager, still thirsty… from my understanding it was Crimson Tears that made my soul young.

Gin crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. He stayed quiet, looking at each one of us in the room.

“Welcome… thank you for being here at such a short notice I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t urgent. So I’ll cut to the chase”

Silence swept the room again as Gin paused. He looked around again, and then took a deep breath.

“Yesterday a portal was found in the village of Pyrii… and it wasn’t from this world” he paused.

“Cael is there at the moment with this team to investigate”

“We assumed it was from Absolon” Nasya added, all head turned to her.

“The underworld does not have any access to this world, that’s impossible” argued Elliot.

I heard of Absolon. It was the world beyond the living, the underworld. From the myth, we who still walked the earth would not be able to walk in the dark land, and they who were beyond the living would not be able to walk on earth. Not because we or they were not able to, but because none of us could have any access into either worlds. Absolon was full of creatures far worse than us. Even us Supers, unless a powerful one, would not survive if we had to walk the underworld.

“Not if the one who triggered the portal doesn’t belong to Absolon but is living in it”

“What are you thinking?” Elliot cut to the chase.

“Aranthias” I said before I could stop the words leaving my mouth. When I realized it, the name had been said.

“Did you know something about this, Ondine?” it was Gin who asked. If Gin was hurt that I kept this from him, he didn't show it. The name Aranthias came to me in my dreams and it sounded like the right name to say at the time.

“I had dreams in the past couple of weeks and the name Aranthias came up. I thought it was just nightmare from my past” I answered him.

Then there was silence once again. Gin kept his eyes on me, as if he was trying to reach my unconscious mind, and find what my nightmare was.

“We have never heard of that name, so maybe Aranthias had nothing with this matter” Yolen broke the silence.

“I wish you were right… however, Aranthias does exist… but only in myth” Gin finally took his eyes off me.

“How come I’ve never heard of it? I have lived almost as long as you have” I asked.

“Because people stopped telling the myth of Aranthias before all of you were born or created”

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