Back during the times when man was just beginning to evolve into what it is today there were other beings evolving at the same time. Beings that live in the same world as humans, but at the same time they live separated from humans for safety and other reasons. Many took their families and fellow species away from the human society as it started to expand and create more threats especially during the times of the Salem witch trials. They live their lives now among the human beings in secret until the day that they hope will come soon enough when they can once again walk among humans as themselves.
AJ stares up at the sky and sighs. He takes a drag off his cigarette and then flicks it off into the street. He turns his head toward the right and lets it crack before turning it to the left and doing the same. It was a boring day for him today and since it was only eleven at night he was hoping it would get better soon. He was wearing all black because that was the way he felt. AJ always thought that he could express himself more through what he wore then any other way. So today he was wearing a pair of black baggy pants and a black wife beater that let his tattoos be seen and of course a pair of black sunglasses to top the outfit off.
He begins walking down the sidewalk and turns onto an alley until he reaches a back street. The street was completely empty except for a drunk that was sitting on a corner mumbling something about the end of the world. AJ looks at him as he walks by and shakes his head. That was what human kind was coming down too now a days and they seemed to have such potential in the beginning. He continues to walk down the street until he reaches a door on the left hand side that was made out of metal. There was a sign hanging above it that read Never Land above it in a green neon sign that bent slightly between the never and the land. It was the only light on the buildings along the street and the occasionally flicker of a street lamp here and there. He was in the part of the city no human would dare go wondering in unless he or she knew where she was going. But that was the human’s problem.
He steps inside as the pulsing beats of rock music fill his ears. It was dark inside and sets of table and chairs fill the left side of the club, a dance floor that was filled with people in the center and a bar on the right side. He looks around the club and notices a familiar figure wearing a black cloak sitting at a table. He makes his way over to the table as a person backs into him. AJ turns toward the young boy and hisses at him flashing his fangs. Stupid fledglings never knew who they were bumping into. The boy looks at him as his eyes fill with fear and backs away thinking I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too until AJ turns back around and makes his way over to the table.
So you think it’s easy being a vampire? Like hell it is. Stupid humans with their stupid movies creating this whole storm of controversy surrounding his kind, crosses, holy water, stakes, garlic, all that shit did nothing to effect vampires. Vampires had souls and they weren’t automatically going to hell the same God made them as he made humans only well better according to AJ. The sun didn’t hurt them and yes they were immortal, but that was about the only thing movies and books seemed to get right about them aside from the whole blood drinking thing and that was a minor detail. You think it’s cool to see Buffy the airhead running around staking vampires? Then you become a vampire with some basket case human chasing after you with a stake in the woods yelling die demon die. Yeah, barrels of fun. There were the occasional perks off being a vampire though teleportation, being able to fly, being one of the strongest creatures on the planet and immortality was as much a curse as blessing.
Even though he looked twenty-three, AJ was really six hundred years and he was lucky as hell to be alive at his old age considering all the vampire hunters out there now. And no they weren’t Buffy like people they were witches who were raised from birth to hunt them. The only thing that could hurt vampires was one thing witch magic.
“Kevin,” AJ says to the figure staring at the table before sitting down in front of him.
Kevin stares up at AJ before taking another sip of his martini. AJ was one of those vampires who was going to get himself killed with the way he ran around on other beings territories. Of course he wasn’t going to be the one to tell him to stop, not that AJ could kill him or anything. It would take a lot more then AJ to kill him.
“What are you doing here?” Kevin asks looking at AJ, “I thought you would be smart enough to stay out of New York until the Riders left.”
“Oh c’mon, Kevin, you know me,” AJ smiles as he fangs glisten in the lights, “Guns and Roses never put it better, have some sympathy for the devil.”
“Yeah, and look what happened to them,” Kevin says pulling back on the hood to his cloak.
“C’mon, Kevin, I saw the fall of the Russian empire and I missed the fall of Rome by a few hundred years, but still why would I leave for some Riders and not that.”
“Because your bull headed.”
“That too.”
Kevin could only shake his head in response. He was older then AJ, a lot older then AJ and that counted for a lot. He was actually around to see the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 and it was not a pretty sight, of course what did they expect when leaders like Nero coming to the throne. The only thing different between the two of them was Kevin wasn’t a vampire. He was a witch.
Ok, so he wasn’t a witch exactly, he was a Lore. Lores were one of the highest branches of witches and like vampires were immortal. How powerful are they exactly you ask? Remember the last snowstorm in Florida all those years ago? That was Kevin when he got very drunk and trust me he suffered the consequences. You name the trick and Kevin could do it. Levitating, moving objects, teleporting, mind reading, controlling weather, and he could name every beginning known on this earth. The only people Lores didn’t have authority over were the Riders. Otherwise every other being on the planet, other then humans who were oblivious to everything, listened to them.
Kevin had been trained from birth to be a Lore by teachers who were assigned by his father and he would rather not talk about his past to anyone. AJ had tried by reading his mind, which only got him thrown into a wall with a hand movement by Kevin. Kevin didn’t get along with many people either whether they were his own kind or others. AJ was an exception though for some reason. He had meet AJ two hundred years ago in Florence Italy where AJ was staying for that time period. What did you expect for an Italian vampire though?
“So who are the Riders after this time?” AJ asks as Kevin stares at him for a few seconds pursing his lips while he thinks.
“I’m not sure actually,” Kevin says as AJ makes a shocked face, “Well I have an idea ok. I’ve been hearing that they are searching for some guy known as the life giver.”
“The life giver? No one can bring people back to life it shifts the balance of power on earth.”
“I know.”
“So wait is this some kind of second coming?”
“No,” Kevin says staring at him coldly, “Don’t mix religion up with this shit.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s some kind of prophecy and he’s supposed to be some kind of “chosen one”.”
“Like in Bless the Child?”
“No, well I don’t know actually maybe.”
“Ha, see I am right at times.”
“Fine, blah blah you were right.”
“Thank you every much,” AJ smirks and puts his feet up on the table.
“I…” Kevin starts to say put then stops and looks around the room as AJ follows his gaze, “Did you feel that?”
“Something crossed over,” AJ says putting his feet back on the ground.
“No, it didn’t cross all the way over,” Kevin says, “It’s here, but at the same time it’s not.”
“A Rider?” AJ asks.
“Yeah, it’s close too.”
“Damn, do you know what it looks like?”
“No, but it’s young.”
“I hate this damn world,” a figure dressed in a black trench coat.
He runs a hand through his spiked blond hair and sighs as he kicks a rock that was on the ground. It sails through the air and hits a parked car’s tire popping it. He was pissed off as it was because he had to come to New York City and search the whole damn city for one person. He hadn’t asked to come to New York the elders sent him here for some reason.
“Nick, do this. Nick, do that,” he mumbles to himself as he walks down the dark street. So everyone thought he had it good being a Rider, not even close. Yeah, he wanted to be one when he was little, but now it was just so much work. He had to study every being ever known an what powers they possessed, then he had to learn to be a witch and on top of that he had to learn the laws of beings. Riders were entrusted with the most power among beings, so they could watch over everyone and make sure the laws were kept.
The Riders were immortal once they had reached the highest status and were considered Riders. Nick had only reached that status a year ago and because of that he didn’t understand why he had been chosen as one of the few who would go out and look for the chosen one. There were Riders alive who dated back to the beginning of the Riders and they were now the elders, if the elders were so smart why did they pick him.
Riders dated back for centuries and had always tried to keep the peace between the power beings as they were called. The Riders existed in the human world, but at the same time they existed in their world called the Thesa at the same time. For Nick he just wanted to be able to stay in his home because the truth was the Earth scarred the shit out of him. There were too many beings that existed that scarred him, but at the same time intrigued him. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches and spirits were only a few too name.
“In reality there is no spoon,” Nick says staring into a shop window at a man who is eating soup with a spoon. Nick smiles as the spoon starts to bend as he tilts his head to the side, but stops and lets it return to normal, “I always did like that movie,” Nick says as he continues walking and turns down an alley.
He looks around as he feels something. It’s hard to explain what you feel when you pick up a beings aura, but mostly everyone can accept humans. The aura was strong at that and he could tell immediately that it was a vampire. Vampires intrigued Nick because they were such amazing beings. They were so strong, but were as light as their feet as cats. Nick looks above his head at the rooftops and squints trying to see better. He could see something jump from one rooftop to another. Yeah, it was a vampire, but a vampire wouldn’t try to feed on him. He could still see the vampire who was perched on the edge of the building staring down at him.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” Nick tells it telepathically.
“I can’t say the same though,” it says back to him before Nick feels a severe blow to the back of his head and the whole world fades into darkness.
When Nick comes to he is laying on his back staring up at the trees as they blow in a soft breeze.
“You’re awake good,” a voice says from behind him and he turns to look at a tall figure dressed in a cloak with his hood up.
“You’re a Lore,” Nick says.
“And you’re a foolish young Rider,” a voice from the tree branches says.
“I’m Kevin son of Louis,” Kevin says walking up to Nick.
“Nick. And you are?” Nick asks sitting up and looking at the tree, “It’s no use hiding I can already tell where you are.”
“Smart ass at that,” AJ says hopping out of the tree, but gliding over to Nick a few feet above the ground, “Names AJ. How did you get messed up with the Rook clan? You would have been dead by now if we hadn’t found you.”
“I let my guard down and why should I be telling you this you’re a vampire too.”
“Oh don’t pull that you’re a vampire too shit on me,” AJ frowns, “If you’re gonna be like that Kevin and I will take our business else where.”
“This is one of my first assignments here,” Nick says, “I’ve never seen any real beings.”
“So you sight see,” AJ smirks stretching out and turning to float on his back, “So tell me are you going to tell the family about this?” he smirks turning upside down and coming face to face with Nick fangs flashing.
“AJ, leave him alone,” Kevin says.
"Why?” AJ smirks locking eyes with Nick as Nick begins to fell light headed.
“AJ!” Kevin yells as AJ goes sailing through the air and smashing into a tree.
“Son of a bitch,” AJ yells getting back up and then coming back towards them, “You’ll get yours, Kevin,” he hisses flashing his fangs.
“Fine, humor me then,” Kevin says staring at AJ.
“You fucking dislocated my shoulder this time,” AJ says looking down at his shoulder, which Nick could see was hanging out of its socket.
“You’re such a baby,” Kevin says taking the arm and snapping it back in place as Nick cringes at the sound.
“That hurt too,” AJ says.
“Well I’m sorry, but…” Kevin goes to say as a large crash of thunder sounds through the sky and a bolt of lightening strikes in the distance, “Something is happening.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” AJ says staring up at the sky removing his sunglasses, “There it is again,” he points as lightening strikes the ground in the distance again.
“One to rule them all. One to find them. One to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,” Nick says as a lightening bolt crashes again and he disappears into thin air.
Brian sighs as he turns off his TV finally admitting there is nothing on TV worth watching. His apartment was on the fifth floor of the small apartment building that was three blocks away from central park. It wasn’t very big and only had one bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, but that was all he needed. He gets up off the small couch he was sitting on and walks over to his window staring at a flower box full of dead flowers.
“Suicide,” he mumbles picking the box up and carrying it over to the trash can dumping the contents out.
Brian was your typical bachelor who was a little down on his luck. He had enough money to sustain his lifestyle, but that was about it. He didn’t have enough money to go spending it on frivolous things. He was your good Baptist boy too. He went to church every Sunday and prayed every night before he went to bed. The beliefs were instilled in him from his childhood growing up in Lexington.
There is a soft breeze that comes through the window and brushes against his check moving his hair slightly. He walks over and closes the window turning back around as the window blows open. He turns back around and stares at the window walking over and shutting it again. He steps back and stares at it as it blows open again. He walks over to it and sticks his head out the window looking around.
“What the hell is…” he starts to say as a lightening bolt crashes to the ground down the street for him hitting a small tree planted along the sidewalk sitting it on fire.
Brian jumps back from the window and falls backwards onto the floor staring up at the sky as another lightening bolt strikes the ground. Then the pain in his head started again. It had been coming and going for a few months now and it felt like the migraine from hell. He puts his hands on his head trying to stop the pain to no avail as another lightening bolt strikes and his attention if focused on the window. A shape takes form outside the window as Brian stares at it. It was the shape of a man, but had no facial features just a black void.
“Oh God. Oh God,” Brian mumbles staring out the window at the black figure.
Then the figure stares at him and smiles. Brian did the only thing he could think of. He screamed as a bright flash of light fills the room.
