The Last Vampire: A War of Worlds

29: PROJECT AZAKAI

It was the day after the whiskey with General Winston. Azarian replayed the conversation he had with him in his mind again and again. 'He has a file on me?', he said to himself. The Vallath Empire really had eyes and ears everyone, to a have a file on a man who lived his days as a ghost.

There was a knock at the door, Azarian stood up, "Wait!", Humphrey said with a look of worry on his face, "What if it's enforcers again?"

"If there were enforcers they wouldn't be knocking at the door.", he said, "The order to hunt us down hasn't been granted yet. We still have time to find Malak. It's Winston."

"Can we even trust him?", Humphrey asked, " Isn't he working for the people that will eventually come and have our heads. Seems very unwise."

"Trust me."

Azarian opened the door and as his prediction served him right, it was Winston. He looked a bit worn out, the few dozens more drinks after Azarian left really took a toll on him. His pants were barely holding onto his waist, he kept on tugging on them just to make sure he didn't make a fool of himself. He knew what Azarian had asked him to do was going to require a mad man to do it. Giving any form of information to a non authorized personnel was a guaranteed death wish. A mad man might have not been what the General was but a drunk was good enough. In his hand was a small brown envelope. His hand was shaking. He handed over the envelope to Azarian and slowly turned away without saying a word. For a brief moment their eyes made contact and Azarian saw the look of terror in his eyes.

'Wait!', Azarian shouted, What's inside the envelope? Does it say what happened to Malak?'

'Its more of a theory rather than an answer.', he said, Information doesn't flow the way you think it does here. People only need to know what they need to know. Apparently I was never meant to know any of this but I guess a promise made to my brother to look after Nancy and her boy outweighs my allegiance to this great nation.'

'Thank you by the way really appreciate it.', Azarian said, 'I will find him.'

'Good.', he said, 'By the way you might want to get moving now because the order has been granted and soon you are going to be hunted down. I've done my part and given you the headstart. From now on consider me your enemy.'

Winston walked away with nothing but the thoughts of what he had just done. He knew if anyone was to find out he would be as good as his brother, dead. Azarian watched as he walked off barely able to walk straight.

Azarian sat down and opened the envelope, there was a a dozen pages stapled together. The front page read, ' PROJECT AZAKAI', right in the center of the paper.

After the fall of the vampire race, the next question was who was going to be the alpha race of earth world. Humans were always at the bottom of the food chain but over the past two centuries man had made their way up the chain with not their god given ability but with their wit and technological advancements. One man had been prominent in the advancement of humans was Lord Azakai. Azarian had heard stories over the years during Azakai's reign over Vallath during the expansion age. Azakai was a brilliant man and extraordinary leader who brought prosperity to Vallath. He had a vision, a vision where the Vallath nation shared this prosperity with the entire world. In this perfect world, the only race that would live was the Human race. He died in his sleep before he could see his vision see the light.

Azarian knew anything attached with his name wasn't a good thing. He flipped the page and began to read it's contents. He spent an hour reading through every page, every sentence, every word and every letter. Humphrey looked on and wondered what he saw. He shouted at Azarian several times trying to get his attention but he never moved an inch.

'What could he possibly be reading that has him so glued?', he thought to himself. All of a sudden there was a loud argument that could be heard from outside the apartment. Humphrey went to look outside the window. The landlord was butting heads with a group of enforcers. 'You people already messed up my place and got your asses handed to you!', the landlord shouted, ' Then you want to come here again to get your asses beat? Fuck off!'

'Excuse me sir.', one enforcer said politely,' Move out of the way before we hurt you. We aren't here for you.'

'Eat shit!', the landlord spat right between the eyes of the enforcer. The group pounced on him like a pack of wolves and nearly left him for dead. Humphrey was horrified as he watched on. The enforcers rushed into the building.

'They are here!', he shouted, 'We have to go now!'

Azarian got up with the envelope in hand. The enforcers were coming up the stairs fast. Azarian looked around there was no exit. 'Shit!', he ran over to Humphrey who was still glued to the window. He grabbed him by the shoulder, ' 'We have to go now!', Azarian shouted, ' Let's jump.'

'Are you mad?', Humphrey asked.

Azarian smashed the window with his elbow. Like a mad man possessed, he leaped out of the window without any hesitation. He rolled to ground and stood up like he had not just jumped out of the third floor. He didn't even have a scratch on him. "You sir are mad!', Humphrey shouted, 'A psychopath of an individual'

'Jump!', Azarian shouted.

The footsteps of the enforcers were getting louder by the moment. Jumped looked down and all he could see was the spinning concrete street. He took a deep breathe and let go. Azarian caught him before his legs could hit the floor. Thanks for the catch.', he said. Azarian put him down and they began to run. They ran as far away as they possibly could from the apartment and found themselves right at the doorstep of a teashop. Humphrey could barely catch a breathe, his legs gave up on him and the only thing keeping him on his feet was the red brick wall of the shop.

'Azarian I can't keep running.'

'We have to keep moving or else they are going to find us. Get up we have to go.'

Humphrey mustered up the little energy he had left and pulled himself together. He trotted slowly behind Azarian, who barely broke a sweat. 'You know you never told me what was in the envelope?'

Suddenly the two were no longer in the cold narrow streets of the capital. They had been teleported into this room with a round table with a beautiful chandelier made of dragon bones handing in the center. 'Where the hell are we?', Azarian asked, 'We wer-'

'Why does this always happen to me!', Humphrey complained, 'First coming to this disgusting place of a home and now this.'

A man appeared from absolutely nowhere. He was a well aged man with a full beard and slowly aging hair. Azarian felt something about this man but couldn't put his finger on it. 'Who are you and why have you brought us here?'

'I am Zoltan.', he said, 'I am a member of the House of Ten and I think I can help the both of you with your quest.'

With a dead serious look in his eyes, Humphrey said, 'Why are you in a house of ten people?'