At last there was silence, but midnight didn't pass in silence. Bleeding into the gothic windows of the castle, moonlight illuminated the white bone blade.
Elizabeth felt it nearing towards her neck, her ears clogging up in the sound of her heart. But fear was not her face, she on the contrary did not blink or take her eyes off of Dominic.
"Even after death, I will find you! I will haunt you! Your death is my resolve" Elizabeth barked her final words.
Like a tap her blood fell crudely into the wooden bowl, her body didn't twitch nor did it convulse….her gaze still held strong towards Dominic. An instant jolt of energy went up Dominic's back, his scales began to gap…..letting out a drip of sweat.
"Elizabeth! I'm here to save you!" Was the last thing everyone in the room heard….
Boom! The walls crashed in, dust filled the area. The sounds of cough and groans blocked out any thoughts, a tall man dressed in all-black stood at the gaping hole at the wall of the room. Dominic raised his head to see who crashed his ceremony, and when he saw it his eyes squinted in rage and his body glowed instantly with Uud.
"Tev Eindritch!" He screamed, charging his body with murderous intent.
"No! No! No!" Tev exclaimed, "You don't get to call me that, Tev Almighty to you lizard prince"
Dominic charged recklessly at Tev and got smacked with a mighty back hand, he was sent flying though the all at the opposite end of where Tev stood. When Tev laid his eyes on Elizabeth his face rested into a mournful frown.
"You spilled the blood of an innocent" Tev whispered, "For that none of you will live to see the sun rise today." Tev announced.
His hands began a merciless slaughter of every reptilian at the castle, he charged at blinding speeds….his hand slowly turning red. The screams of horror did not go unheard, Dominic tried to be the focal point of Tev's assault but he was once again smacked with a mighty back hand.
Dominic rolled in the dust and immediately stood up, his eyes full of tears. The screams of his kin filled the hill with a mournful woe, and still he charged in full throttle only to once again be smacked on the face with a might back hand.
Then the old reptilian finished chanting a spell written with Elizabeth's blood, when he did a tremor unlike anything ever felt on the earth shook the castle grounds. Tev paused his wrathful assault, his eyes widening in horror.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Tev screamed a wrathful cry.
"Behold! The mighty general, the weeping talons of death, reapers wings....Great and mighty Sky Leviathan! Ver-ma-thorn!" The old reptilian announced.
The sky crackled with a mighty lightning, there were no clouds or winds simply special pressure.
The image of a talon the size of a car tearing through space sent shivers down Tev's spine. He broke down in a fearful sweat watching as a mighty black dragon passed through the special rift. His form majestic and terrible, his eyes immediately set on Tev….his talon swinging down a forceful strike.
Vermathorn stroke the ground where Tev stood and it turned into a pool of lava due to the force and speed of the strike. But Tev had escaped the deathly blow using his speed, he stood in the broken down castle holding Elizabeth's body.
He and Vermathorn starred down at each other for a moment then Tev made a tactical retreat.
"Uncle!" Dominic screamed, "I couldn't protect them, he killed them like animals."
Breaking down in a weeping bow, Dominic cried for his slain kin. The castle slowly bled into a firry scene as the enormous dragon dwarfed it.
"Why haven't you conquered this world, Dominic?" Vermathorn questioned.
Fear filled Dominic's heart, he kept silent…fearful of the leviathan's wrath.
"In that moment, the mythic level threat 'Vermathorn' had fully descended into the Earth. The balance of power had truly shifted." a voice in the darkness remarked.
Sbrana mortuary....
Ceaser Grey was found dead in his cell, not a single drop of blood or struggle. Astor picked up the head, she held it eerily close to her face. Tears dropped from her eyes and she inevitably kissed his cold lips.
She took a needle and started threading it, mending the body to its head. Another nurse walked in to see the sight of her mourning face, not a single word left her lips.
Afterwards she dressed him in black suit and gently pulled on his black tie to fit it perfectly, then she picked up a pair of scissors and lined up his hair properly.
"Hmm, that looks better." She remarked.
A group of men in suits came into the room carrying a coffin, and they left with Ceaser's body. Astor peeked from the window as they loaded it into the black van painted with funeral insurance advertisements. Her lips slowly creaked into a smile, and she blew a kiss.
The Court of Spiritual Beings....
Tev arrived with Elizabeth's bleeding body, she was immediately taken to the court doctor, while healing her the court doctor took samples of her blood to check if she had any donors available.
But in that moment he saw her neck mend as though it was never cut open.
"Dear lord! she has an astonishing amount of Uud." the doctor remarked, "Normal humans don't have this much, not even those in Helios."
Elizabeth felt a searing, radiant pain followed by an unnerving stillness. She was no longer pinned on a sacrificial altar but suspended in an alien, brilliant white room. The air here didn't smell of rot and iron, but of ozone and medicine.
A strong, cold hand pressed against her shoulder.
"Calm yourself Elizabeth," Tev's voice echoed, sounding less like a mocking judge and more like a weary doctor. "That monster spilled enough of your blood to anchor the Leviathan here, but not enough to kill you. Just who are you, Elizabeth Kylie?"
Elizabeth's eyes snapped wide. "My son! Robert! Where am I? I need to get to him!"
"He lives, for now. Our people saw a woman who shares your resemblance enter your house. A woman we identified as Kravicha Ispove, how you related to that family miss Kylie?" Tev asked again.
Elizabeth paused in frustration, then fixed her hair.
"I cut ties with those people a long time ago, but if Rob is with them he is in safe hands" Elizabeth interjected.
"Why don't you start by telling me who you are and what the heck i just saw today?" Elizabeth questioned angrily.
"I am Tev Eindritch, a senior attorney at the court of spiritual beings" He announced, but Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion.
"Kgmm, the CSB is a multi dimensional organization established by humanity to keep us safe in every world we ventured to. A really long time ago....like hundreds of thousands of years, humanity migrated from the original world 'Helios' in order to gain prosperity but the threat of annihilation followed us everywhere."
"So you see miss Kylie the Ispove family is the last blood line with the first man's DNA, unlike other beings he was directly created by the one God. That's why its imperative i know how exactly you know them, cause you see everything makes sense if you are a descendent." Tev urged.
"Okay! Okay! My real name is Rose Ispove, i changed it when i ran away with Ceaser." Elizabeth answered.
"In that case you need to remain dead, and also you need to know something." Tev paused eerily.
"Ceaser Grey was executed as of yesterday night, his existence was a direct threat to the peace of humanity and other beings." Tev announced .
"I'm truly sorry for your loss." Tev whispered a condolence.
Elizabeth froze in denial, she'd just seen him yesterday and suddenly he was gone.
Tev placed a heavy, dark-metal ring on her finger.
"This is a glamour. You will wear it, and no creature of the Grey house will recognize you. You are officially dead. Your final duty as Elizabeth Kylie is to attend your own funeral, observe the enemy, and safeguard your son."
Block 5 cemetery....
The funeral service was a quiet, suffocating affair held on a rare, unseasonably cold afternoon. Two matching, polished mahogany coffins lay side-by-side near a fresh mound of earth. One was for Ceaser Grey, the other for Elizabeth Kylie, homicide detective.
The funeral had media buzzing, both lovers passing away mysteriously provoked investigation but the police didn't lift a finger.
Elizabeth stood behind a sprawling oak tree, shrouded in the subtle optical trickery of the glamour ring. She looked like a tired woman in a dowdy coat.....anonymous. Watching the mourners approach her own coffin was a cruel, necessary torment. She searched for only two faces.
A pale, beautiful woman with sharp eyes and coiled intensity was comforting a small boy. That was Kravicha Ispove, her older sister, and now Robert's guardian. Kravicha hadn't been seen by Elizabeth in years, a deliberate estrangement.
Now, Kravicha was here, fiercely protective of the last remaining piece of her sister. A large crowd was necessarily there for Elizabeth but Robert was the only one to lay a flower for his father's grave.
Then came Dominic Grey.
He was immaculate in a charcoal suit, every thread screaming wealth and composure. He wasn't weeping. He was performing. Dominic approached Kravicha and Robert, his expression a masterpiece of sorrow.
"Kravicha" he murmured, his voice laced with the same false kindness he used to lure Curious Joe. "I know words are poor comfort, but Ceaser was my brother. His last wish was for Robert to be well cared for."
Kravicha's eyes narrowed. "Robert is my nephew, Mr. Grey." She asserted, "He is in my care."
Dominic knelt before the boy. Robert, confused and fragile, instinctively flinched, but also peered closely at the man who looked like his father.
"Hello, little man," Dominic said, placing a cold, reptilian hand on Robert's shoulder.
At that touch, a flicker crossed Robert's eyes. He didn't cry or pull away, instead, his gaze fixed on the man, an uncharacteristic calmness replacing his confusion. Dominic smiled, his eyes glinting.
He recognized the boy's resilience, the fusion of his brother's dark blood and the potent, ancient human power of the Ispove line. Robert was the perfect hybrid, the chalice needed for him to ascend the throne.
"You are very special, Robert," Dominic whispered, his smile becoming genuine, predatory. "Your uncle will make sure no one ever hurts you again."
Kravicha pulled Robert back instantly. "He will need a full investigation into his father's estate, Detective Kylie's insurance, and a full medical workup, of course," she said, cutting through Dominic's feigned empathy like glass. "I suggest you contact my lawyer. Now, stand away from my nephew."
Dominic's face tightened, but he conceded the moment with a slight, arrogant bow. He was losing the skirmish but knew he would win the war for the boy.
The Final Farewell and the Hook
Elizabeth, trembling behind the tree, felt the instinctual terror of a mother watching a predator mark her child. Tev had been right, everything was orchestrated to get the Ispove blood, she had to act.
Dominic, now walking toward his own black SUV, paused and looked back at the retreating van, his gaze intense. Then, just as the van passed the cemetery gates, Dominic turned toward the tree where Elizabeth stood.
He didn't see her. The glamour held. But he looked straight through the leaves, a chilling sense of purpose radiating from him. He adjusted the red knot of his tie, his lips stretching into that familiar, unsettling smile.
"The war has just begun," he mouthed silently, though his words were only for himself. He climbed into his SUV and drove off after the funeral van.
Elizabeth, released from the paralyzing fear, knew what she had to do. She pulled the trench coat tighter around her and stepped out of the shadows, no longer a detective, but a ghost.