Strength and Power
Prologue
Another day of school begins. The world has changed for the group. Their lives are no longer the same. Only now have they realized their destinies, and how they are to live.
Mike sits in his Italian class about to fall asleep, as the teacher projects a video from Italy in Italian. The lights are off and the teacher sits at her desk fiddling around. The classroom is quiet and most of the other kids are also about to drop dead from boredom. Mike finally dozes off and begins to have visions.
As he stands in the middle of the park, he hears the cries of a little girl. He looks around, and sees nothing but trees. All is still for a second. Then he hears the shrieks again, this time louder and it sounded more desperate to get away. He tries to follow the sounds of the cries, and as he runs, he knows he�s getting closer as the sounds get louder. As he�s running, the branched protruding from the trees around him were cutting his arms. He had two on his right arm and one on his left, but he kept on running.
Suddenly he just stops. He sees a girl being dragged by her arms by a man wearing a long brown trenchcoat. �He�s huge,� Mike thought to himself. �He must be like six and a half feet tall!�
The girl notices Mike standing there and cries out, �Help me please!� She was dragging on the grass, her brown hair all frizzy and dirty, her white silk blouse torn up and muddy, and her tight black pants also torn. She looks like she just put up a fight. But she wasn�t bleeding, nor was she bruised or cut. He stands there, watching as the man picks up a dagger, that he knows was a ritual dagger. The dagger was silver and shining with a handle lined with gold and rubies. He holds it in the air looking at the girl, says a few words in Latin and brings the dagger down into the girl�s chest.
Before it reaches, Mike wakes from his dream throwing his head up in the air from his desk. His heart races, and sweat begins to drip from his forehead. He gasps for air and begins to breathe heavily. He feels a sudden stinging on his arms and so he feels his arm and notices something wet, the cuts were there and still bleeding.
Chapter 2
The lights in the classroom are on and the teacher is standing up at the board.
�Are you ok Michael?� she asks. �You look like you�ve just seen a ghost?�
All the other kids in the class begin to laugh. �Umm�I have to go,� he says as if he�s in a life or death situation, gets up and leaves the room. Terrified at what had just happened he rushes to his best friend, Paolo, while he�s in math class. He stands at the doorway rushing Paolo to get up and walk with him. So Paolo raises his hand and asks for a pass. The teacher not noticing Mike at the doorway gives him the pass and goes on with the lecture. Paolo then gets up and leaves.
Matt and Christina look at each other and wonder what was going on. Matt just shrugs and begins to write. Christina sits impatiently scribbling her notes and looks up at the clock waiting for the bell to ring. �I hope everything�s ok.�
Mike and Paolo are sitting outside of the school facing each other and talking. "It all felt so real, and I didn't do anything to stop it. I just stood there. I saw her and I froze," said Mike under one breath. He sits there looking so worried about what he did.
Paolo sits in confusion at how it can turn out real. "Everything will be fine, It was a dream, don't worry so much about it."
"How can I not worry, I let a girl die! I stood there and I was afraid. Can you believe that?!?! I was afraid!"
"There might have been a good reason why you just stood there. I know you, if you knew someone was in trouble, you wouldn't hesitate. You'd do what wad right," Paolo explained.
"Well, I guess you're right. I'm just a bit confused is all."
"Yeah, I know. You'll be fine."
"Yo, so you want to go to OZ tonight?" Matt asks. "We need to find some girls, you know?"
"Definitely! Lets get Vin to come too," Tom suggests. "I wanna see him try his luck with a girl there, hahah."
As they converse, Vinny walks by them and nods as to say hi. "What's up guys?"
"We're planning on going to OZ tonight, we were wondering if you wanted to come with us. Pick up some chicks, ya know," Matt tries to convince Vin.
"Nice," He replies enthusiastically. "That sounds cool. When are we going?"
"We're gonna meet at the Tolentine at 7," Tom says. "So you better be there. I'm gonna go there to pick Matt up."
"Ok, Nice. I'll see ya there," Vin joyfully replies. "This should be interesting." He just walks away towards History class.
The school bell that ends the day has just rung ending the boredom Mike, Paolo, Matt, and Christina were going through during physics class. "Thank God that�s over, I don't think Plotsky had any idea what he was talking about in there," Paolo tiredly said.
"Well didn't he say the last time he took physics was when he was in college? He's a sub, what can you do. College physics for him was like in the 1500's. He probably cheated off of Einstein," Christina says with a lot of sarcasm. "I mean, the guys ancient! Physics has changed since his century."
"Definitely true," Matt says with a little laugh. Everyone else starts to laugh also.
Mike, still looking spaced out, just walks in silence. Not even paying attention to what's going on around him. While walking, he bumps into another student about six feet tall. In amazement he just freezes. He sees the guy stand there in baggy black UFO pants, and a black shirt. His eyes were covered by the shadow of his visor. "Sorry," he says to Mike. And he walks around them and walks on.
"Holy shit! That's the guy in my vision! He's here? In our school?"
"You sure that's him?" Paolo asks.
"Postitive. You think I'll forget? Not in the least."
Later that night, the whole group is sitting at the entertainment room at the Tolentine. Tom walks in and sees them just sitting and talking with the radio on. Tom signals for Vin and Matt to leave so they can get to the Club. "Aight guys, we're out. We're gonna go to OZ," Matt says walking to the door.
"Alright guys, have fun!" Paolo said. "You think they'll get lucky?" He says quietly to Mike and Christina. Mike and Chris begin to laugh hysterically.
Suddenly, Mike sees a bright flash of light in his head. He can't see anything and he's just frozen. He sees the same girl as in his last vision standing in the park. It's dark and the moon is full. This time he sees strands of shadows reaching towards the girl. She looks terrified and lets out a terrifying shriek.
To his dismay, he does not see the tall blonde man attacking her. This time, the shadows are coming from Paolo! "No! What are you doing?!?!" he yells out. He notices that Paolo was not paying any attention to him. The shadows just inched closer and held the girl.
He wakes up to find Chris and Paolo standing over him. "Why? Why did you attack that girl?" he argued.
"What are you talking about," he asked with great concern. "I didn't do anything. I've been here the whole time. What did you see?"
"I saw you attacking the same girl that was in my other vision with your shadows. I tried to stop you but you wouldn't listen. It was like I wasn't there, and you had no idea who I was," he said while tears of anguish rolled down his cheeks.
"I'm sure He would never hurt anyone, Mike. He's not like that. C'mon, you know him better than that. He would never use his magicks on an innocent, nor a human for that fact," Chris explained.
He looked at Paolo and was certain of that. "Yea, your right." But, I still want to know what's been going on in my head. It's so hard. It hurts to see this pain."
Meanwhile, Tom, Matt, and Vinny arrive at OZ. They enter the club to find a darkened room filled with people. They look around to try and find someone to "hook up" with.
Finally, Tom speaks up and says, "Vin, you see that girl over there?" and points to a dark haired Asian girl, wearing a short navy skirt and a white top, dancing with two other girls. "Go over and talk to her. See if u can get her friends over too."
"Hmm, why don't we wait a while," he suggests. "Well, I see Matt has his sights set on someone right now!" and laughs.
Out of nowhere appears a girl in Blue flare jeans, with a black shirt, brown hair, and streaks of blue and blonde. She walks up to Matt puts her hand on his shoulder, and commences a conversation with him. "Hey, you're in my business class right? Yea, I've seen you around. You hang out with that kid Paolo right?"
"Yea. That's right. What's your name?" Matt responds.
"I'm Adrienne, but call me Age. I'm a friend of Paolo's. I see you guys walking around campus with your little click."
"Well, yea, I guess," he says then looks at the girl again over at the corner, standing alone. She's wearing a short black dress with thin straps and a plunging neckline. And she stands there with her black hair flowing down to her shoulders.
"So, I see you've got your sights set on someone," Age says.
"Yeah, Kinda. You know her?" he asks.
"Not too well, but well enough to tell you, be careful with that one."
He turns around to look at her in wonder. Once he gets around, she's gone. She just vanished out of thin air. He begins to move around trying to figure where she went, and what she meant. "That was weird." He goes back to looking at the girl and to his dismay, she's also gone. But, to only find her standing next to him. "Holy shit, you scared me there for a sec."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she says in a really small voice. "I noticed you looking at me before. So I came over to say hello."
"Well, that's cool. What's your name?" he asks in a smooth voice, obviously flirting.
"My name's Mary. I'm not really from around here. I just saw the place and thought it looked pretty cool, so I decided to stop by."
"Damnit, How does that little bitch do it?" Tom says angrily, with sarcasm. "He gets them so easily."
"You think that's easy, watch this." Vin argues. He walks up to the girls that Tom had previously, pointed out, and begins a conversation. She holds his hand and walks up to the bar. Then he starts to talk to one of her friends and points to Tom. Both girls, smile and eagerly walks up to him.
Tom tries to get Matt's attention and succeeds. Signals him over and Vinny follows. So they all are in one group. They start to dance and laugh.
Paolo, Mike, and Chris take a walk down to a Starbucks, Talking and thinking. "You wanna meet up with Vinny and them? We can page them?" Chris asks.
"Aight, we all have to talk," Mike says. As they order their coffees, Mike and Paolo both notice the tall blonde guy sitting in the corner looking out the window. But they say nothing until Chris leaves to go page Vinny. "There he is again," Mike says. "I think we should go over and have a talk."
As he gets up, Paolo grabs his arm and pulls him back down. "No, not now. We don't want to do anything yet. C'mon just sit down, and we'll think of something."
Then they get up and go back to the Tolentine house, Frappucinoes in hand. As they're walking they feel a presence following them. They stop and look around, nothing. So, they keep on their way. Suddenly they hear leaves rustling. So Paolo turns around and lifts his hands, freezing the time. Mike creeps over to behind them where they hear the noise. A cat is all he sees there. "It's only a cat." So, he walks back to the group and Paolo waves his hand and unfreezes whatever was frozen.
Still they feel the presence as they continue to walk. Instead of stopping at the house, they walk to Christina's car, get in, and drive off, so as not to give away where they lived. Christina picks up her cell and dials a number then hands it to Paolo.
The other party picks up, "YoYo. What's up?"
"Yo, Tom, It's Paolo. Change of plans we're not meeting at the house, something was following us. So meet us at Java Java in 20 minutes. Aight? Later."
"Aight, We'll be there. But we also got some company, so we'll make due. Later."
Once they arrived there, Tom, Vin, and Matt were sitting at a table. "Where are the girls you said u were with?" Paolo asks.
Matt answers, "Oh, they're in the bathroom. So while they're in there, let's talk. What's going on? Everything Ok?"
"Yea, except I've been getting all these weird visions. Oh my God...I just realized today is a full moon!" Mike says loudly and surprised.
"Yea, so what? That happens at least once a month dude," Tom says with a lot of sarcasm.
"Shut up, I'm Serious. In one of my visions, it was a full moon, and it took place at the park. You know what, you guys wait for the girls to come out and meet us at the park."
"Ok, dude. No problem, we'll be there in a few, go ahead," Tom replies.
As Mike, Paolo, and Christina exit, and get into their car the girls come out of the bathroom and sit with the guys. Christina drives off not noticing the other people sitting in the coffeehouse with the others. "Ok, girls, change of plans, we gotta meet some friends at the park. You wanna join us?" Vinny asks.
"Sure, why not, we got nothing else to do," Mary says. "C'mon girls!"
They all leave and jump into Tom's car. Tina, Tom's date taking shot gun position, while Mary and Kristen get in the back with Matt and Vinny.
"So what really happened to the other girl, Diana was it?" Tom wonders.
"Yea, she said she met this guy there and they were gonna dance a bit then he'd take her home. She'll be fine. She's with other friends too," Kristen answers.
"Ah, I see. Aight, that's cool."
When they arrive at the park, Tom parks his car on the curb and doesn't see anyone. "Guys get out of the car and wait over by the tree over there," pointing to a tree that stood alone in the middle of the park, "I have to go to the bathroom."
Kristen calls out, "Me too!" and runs along side him. They both disappear into the darkness. Vinny and Tina look at each other and they notice that Matt and Mary are a bit pre-occupied with their tongues down each other's throats. Vin and Tina just look at each other and start to talk to each other.
Tom and Kristen go back to the car to get a couple of water bottles from the trunk. They end up staying there and talking. For a while. Suddenly they hear Tina scream.
Mary was holding Tina in her arms with her face down to her neck! Drinking Tina's Blood! Vinny tried with all his strength to pry them apart, but she opens her eyes, looks at Vinny, and he just goes flying back as if a train hit him. Matt also tries but the same happens to him.
Then suddenly, the huge man that has been haunting Mike's mind appears and knocks Mary down with one punch. He gets on top of her and pulls out a silver dagger, the same dagger from Mike's Vision. He yells, "Mors te Mordeo!" and plunges down towards her heart.
All of a sudden, something held him back. It was the shadows emanating from Paolo's magick. Mike charges towards him and knocks him off Mary. Vinny trying very hard to speak calls out "No! He's not an enemy, The girl is! Mary is a Vampire!"
But Mike doesn't hear his cries and he and the strange man get into a rumble. Both men equaled in their strength and fortitude. This surprised Mike greatly. "Who are you? And why are you trying to kill that girl?" he asks.
"You're such an idiot, you have no idea what you're doing. You're gonna get us all killed," he said angrily. "She's one of the strongest Vampires in this world. She leads a legion of powerful demons. And if she escapes, its gonna be a big war for you to fight."
Mikes face turns pale with embarrassment and fear. He looks at Mary, getting to her feet ready to flee and yells out, "Paolo!"
"I'm way ahead of you dude!" His shadows were well on its way to restraining Mary. Restrained she was. Her limbs were tied together as was her whole body. "Yes!" Paolo exclaimed.
"Paolo! Cover her eyes, she can move things with her mind!" Matt yelled out a bit too late as Paolo flew across the park. "Fuck!"
"You amateurs will never defeat me, I am far more powerful and experienced than you can ever imagine. I am immortal!" Mary shouted with an evil expression on her face and added on an evil laugh. She then flies up into the air and disappeared in the clouds.
Vinny tried desperately to crawl and find out Tina's condition. He was overjoyed to find that she was still alive. Matt speeds off to find Paolo and carries him back to regroup. "Sorry about that dude, I didn't realize it at first."
"Don't worry about it Matt, I'm fine. You did what you could." Paolo said with sympathy.
"God, I was so stupid not to realize she was a Vampire," Matt shouted angrily. I almost got everyone killed.
"Matt, don't be so hard on yourself, I had the visions...And I interpreted it all wrong. I made a mistake and it allowed her to escape," Mike said. "But I'm sure we can get her."
"Well, at least we know who the enemy is now, so it�s not a total loss. It's not your fault. You didn't know. Neither did I, Nor did Vinny," Tom pointed out. "I mean, I got here too late.
"Yea," Vinny agreed.
"Well, why don't we go back to the house and gather up all the details. Tom, you go get Tina to a hospital. And Vin, you work on Kristen," Christina commanded. "And you, what is your name?" pointing out to the stranger.
"I am Carlo Carlino of the Ravenwolf Hunters. We hunt down these demons and destroy them before they can wreak havoc." he explained. "But with you kids, I cannot remain with. There's a Vampire I must hunt."
"Why don't you rest at our home for tonight so we can discuss what's been going on. We need some information. All we know is that we are destined to fight for the good with our given gifts." Mike dictated.
Mike shakes Carlo's hand and they return back to the Tolentine.
Onward To:
Chapter IIIChapter IV
Return To:HomeChapter I PrologueChapter IChapter II
All characters in this story are based on the personalities and names of my friends. The story belongs to me, and if you would like to link these stories to your pages, please e-mail me. Thank you.