Ekron

Crepuscular Lullaby - 3

On Sunday morning, an old car parked outside Vladimir and Alondra's house. Inside the car, Duchess Sephia and two local gangsters were having a conversation.

"This would never work; it would be better if we just kill him and take the child," said a gangster to the Duchess.

"Hope is blinding, and everyone has a price, future can be a deceiving mirage when you have nothing."

"Why risk having a loose end like this?"

"Because they have no parents, the house would be empty one day to another, it would call too much attention. If it works, you can kill him later; if it doesn't, you can kill him now. Not much of a difference."

They came out of the car and knocked on Vlad's door. Alondra was still sleeping, and Vlad was breakfasting. He opened the door and immediately understood what was happening; the unknown darkness he refused to acknowledge had become tangible in front of him. He made a reverence for the Duchess and invited them to come inside. He knew the gangsters, and he knew they were gangsters. He made them sit in an old sofa and apologized for the mess.

"We had a birthday party yesterday, I haven't been able to clean, my apologies My Duchess. Can I offer you something to drink, tea, coffee, just water?"

"Tea."

"Coffee."

"Water."

"Well, then just give me a minute."

He went to the kitchen, prepared the drinks, and hid a knife in his pants. He came back to the living room, let the drinks on a coffee table in front of the sofa, and sat in an armchair in front of them. The coffee table was between Vlad and his guests.

"To what do I owe your illustrious presence, my Duchess?"

"We, the Queen and I, have a great interest in your sister."

"I can imagine."

"How so?"

"She has remarkable grades in school," she was barely average indeed.

"Exactly, we came to offer you as scholarship for her, with private tutoring, all expenses paid and a new house for you in the upper levels, but she would have to live in the palace, where the tutoring would take place."

"What's wrong with my house?"

"No, nothing..."

"You can send the tutors here."

The gangsters got nervous, and Vlad realized that he was at the end of the line.

"Well, let's stop playing. I know what this is about... I want three million marks, cash, and you can take my sister. I'll wait for you here until you bring them."

"We have ten million marks in the car, go get them please," said Sephia to one of the gangsters.

The gangster stood up, Vlad took the coffee table and threw it at them. Then he ran to Alondra's room and locked the door from inside. He woke her up and opened a window.

"You must escape, go to Sonja's house."

"I don't understand, what's happening?"

"Hurry up and go."

She was going out the window when the gangsters forced the door lock and entered the room. One took Vlad by the neck and threw him against a wall, then kicked him on the floor until he passed out. The other one grabbed the girl before she could escape and took her to the car; she was crying with her harlequin costume still on. They put her in the car and Sephia sat by her side.

"Don't cry, baby, you will meet the Queen."

"Where is my brother?!"

"He will come with us too."

The gangsters put Vlad in the trunk of the car and drove away. They left one gangster and Vlad in a vacant area near the forbidden levels, the other gangster drove to Carmina's palace and left Sephia and Alondra there.

Vlad was still unconscious, the gangster left him on the floor near a big crack in the structure that reached the level below them; with a fall of two hundred feet. The idea was to stab Vlad and throw him into the crack. Vlad woke up laid on the ground and took the knife from his pants; when the gangster approached to stab his neck, Vlad kicked him back on a leg and the gangster tripped over him, they struggled, and both fell to the crack. The gangster let go his knife to grab a metal rod coming from a wall while falling, Vlad clung to him and stabbed his knife in the gangster's stomach, the gangster let go the rod and both fell to the ground in the inferior level. Vlad fell over the gangster, took the knife from the gangster's stomach, and stabbed him in the neck. Vladimir was injured but could still walk. Giant rats of the size of dogs crossed his way in a dark passage, so, he took a metal rod from a pile of debris and hit them with it. That only drove them away momentarily, but he managed to reach a more illuminated section. Then he found a store, a small and peculiar handicraft shop.

Vlad threw the metal rod away and sat on the floor near the shop's entrance, took his head between his hands and cried almost in silence. The shop's door opened, and a humanoid vulture came out.

Vlad looked at him with disbelief and the vulture said, "It seems to me that you need help, Vladimir."