Into the fields of Summer - 70. Retribution 5

I wasn’t able to sleep that night, I was restless, Victor had barely kept me updated with what was happening, he mainly gave me one-liners such as “I’m fine” and “don’t worry” as replies. How can I not worry?! He was attacked! I can’t let that pass, this is serious, his agents have been compromised and who knows who else could have been as well. I tried calling Victor several times but he didn’t pick up, I wanted to call Henry or Troy but they didn’t know that Victor and I were back together. I had to trust Victor on this, but I wanted to help, I wanted to be of use to him.

I went to dad’s study and he was busy liaising with the human agents and state governments regarding the incident.

“Any updates dad?” I asked him as he typed away on his laptop.

Dad looked up form his screen and said “Yeah, Victor wasn’t the only one attacked, agents from across the country have been compromised. What happened to Victor was nothing compared to the other districts, 22 out of the 51 agents for the entire Texas District were compromised, the Governor was seriously injured trying to put down the uprising, several humans that were nearby the Governor's mansion were injured as well, 3 people died; 8 agents were compromised in District 15, they attempted to assassinate the governor in as she was on her way to a meeting, she survived but her deputy governor was killed” dad said, with a mix of exasperation and worry in his voice.

“Dad...” I gave him a concerned look.

“I know Chris, I know, this is bad, and I have a feeling this will only get worst” Dad said mournfully.

“We have to help them dad”

“We’re working on it son, all upper and mid level officials in the state government together with their security teams have been cleared, the rest of Victor’s agents including the ones under Patrick and Lucy have been cleared as well, they only found 7 more compromised agents in the other 59 agents in the Carolinas and Georgia.” Dad sighed then continued, the Vampire High Council has already started to purge Stratos as well, multiple examinations will be done on them to ensure no one slips through.”

“Any news on Gustav?”

“No. We haven’t heard from him, and both human and vampire resources are now stretched thin, especially with the number of compromised agents” dad sighed again.

“What about the werewolves? Aren’t they going to help?”

“That’s what we’re counting on, several Clan Alphas and members of the Crescent Council have moved to support the Vampire and Human effort against the Blood Army, I think the motion is going to pass, August is behind it and with us knowing that there are rogue werewolves in the Blood Army, I think the werewolves would do what’s best for them and address this situation as well, they also have a lot to lose if all of this goes to shit”

Just 20 minutes past 1 in the morning, Victor gave me a call.

“Chris...” he said

“How are you? Finally you’ve called, I was worried sick”

“I’m fine, It’s just that we thought we were ahead but just when we were about to pounce, the Blood Army hit us first” Victor said, with clear frustration in his voice.

“What can I do to help?“ I asked.

“We have to end this with Gustav” he said.

“We do, but we know he’s not really calling the shots though”

“You’re right, but it seems that Gustav is one of their major players, given Gustav’s age, and the way he’s acted so far, it’s safe to assume he’s just under the three senior vampires of the Blood Army”

“How do we find him though?”

I asked.

“That’s the problem, we cant trace where his exact location is, I have a dozen agents working on it, but he could be anywhere” Victor grunted in frustration.

“Seers?” I asked hopefully.

“We’ve asked for their help, but they’re having a hard time finding him, it seems like he’s being shielded”

“We’ll find him” I tried to reassure Victor.

“We must find him” he replied.

Things started calm down just after 3 in the morning, the air was cold, and it was snowing outside. I went to bed, and had a dreamless sleep.

My eyes shot open, it was dark though there was some sort of glow in the room, but the sun hadn’t risen yet, I awakened to a scream, a near constant, loud, blood curdling scream, it took me a second to realize that the screams were mine, the door shot open and dad came in “Chris?! What’s wrong?” He said, he was clearly worried.

I couldn’t reply to dad as I kept on screaming, then it hit me, I was in terrible, terrible pain! Across my arms and entire body were streaks of silver, I was warm... no... I was burning. I knew what this meant, I was having a Kumhakta.

Dad tried to touch me, but he flinched and jerked away as I was too hot to touch. “Chris...what can I do?! What’s happening”

I was breathing heavily as I hugged myself, I was in terrible pain and it only became more and more unbearable by the second. Pulses of heavy air were flowing from me, it was as if the air in the room was vibrating. Dad started to have a hard time breathing as the air became heavier and heavier.

“Dad...” I muttered, I’ve stopped screaming out loud as I tried to make sense of the pain. ‘Concentrate Chris, Concentrate!’ I thought to myself, I had to release all the excess energy. I’ve done this before but the energy was too much, I couldn’t safely release it here in the room without hurting dad, actually, even our neighbors.

I tried to get up, and I fell. Dad tried to help me up again but then again he couldn’t touch me.

On my second try, I was finally able to stand. I was now brighter and warmer than I was a few seconds earlier.

“I have to go” I whispered, my voice strained in pain.

“Chris, you’re in pain” dad observed.

“I am” I grunted, then I continued “but it’s not safe for you...” my voice strained. Then a searing pain shot through my stomach, and I held my stomach, held on it tight, as I rode the wave of pain. A few seconds passed and the pain was more manageable again.

I thought of the realm, no specific location as I’ve barely ventured out in the realm, but I thought of an empty space where I could do what I had to do. In nearly an instant, I found myself in a large empty field, the wind blowing the grass under my feet. The sun was setting in the realm as it rose in Greensburg. Aside from the rusting of the leaves, it was quiet... I was alone.

I really didn’t have the time to take everything else in, I was in pain. So I started to pull out the energy that was building up in me, then I released it all, almost in a single burst, as the energy exploded out of me, a loud bang was heard, and I was surrounded by bright white light, for a second or two it was as if it was noon again. I heard and felt the ground tremble under me the excess energy left me. I fell to my knees as I started to feel better, I was breathing heavy, but I was also able to breathe a sigh of relief as I was able to avert having a Mikra, which is something that happens when a Kumhakta isn’t dealt with, when excess energy isn’t released in time, the elf will either go mad and leave a path of destruction behind before it’s subdued, or explode all at once in a large explosion. Yal has told me stories of entire villages being wiped out thousands of years ago when very few elves still had Kumhaktas, for a thousand years I’m the only one reported to have had one.

A few minutes passed, and I stretched myself as my body recovered from the strain earlier. I still can’t believe I had a power surge in my sleep, I’ve followed Patri’s instructions of releasing excess energy occasionally, like three times a day or so, but clearly those aren’t enough anymore.

I looked around and I was still alone, it’s dark now, the sun should have risen back home. I then thought of dad, and I was almost instantly back in the house, I was now in the living room, and feeling that I was now back, dad called for me from upstairs “Chris?!”

“Dad, I’m back” I shouted back.

Dad ran down the stairs and lunged towards me and hugged me tight.

“Don’t scare me like that” he cried into my shoulders.

“Sorry dad, didn’t mean to”

“What was that?” Dad asked curiously as he pulled back from our hug.

“It was a Kumhakta, a power surge”

Dad raised his eyebrows and I explained to him what happened to me. Dad got worried and I had to reassure me that I’ve been trained to handle it.

“Don’t worry dad, I’ve got it under control” I confidently said.

“Didn’t seem that way earlier” dad retorted.

“Trust me dad, I got this” I replied, but honestly, I wasn’t quite sure either, I didn’t even know I could have a kumhakta in my sleep.

Dad and I were eating breakfast when we heard a commotion outside. Dad wanted to check it out but I stopped him. “Don’t go out dad” I warned him, I then reached out with my energy and I felt and had a sense of what was happening outside, and it was in our backyard, 4 of the vampire agents were fighting 6 rogues.

“Dad, stay behind me, and don’t leave my side” I seriously said to him, to which dad gave me a confused look but he followed anyway.

We opened the back door and in the backyard we saw the agents and rogues fighting, 2 male and 2 female agents were fighting 6 male rogues, the rogues were dressed in black jackets and dark pants and were holding long knives.

Some of the agents had cuts and bruises but no major injuries so far. That was about to change when one of the rogues pulled out a grenade and throw it towards 2 agents that were standing back to back, trying to protect each other.

One of the agents saw me and he had a look of terror in his eyes as he thought the grenade would explode and kill him and his comrades. I reached out with my right hand and a shield enveloped them, and the grenade’s explosion was safely absorbed by the shield.

“What the hell?!” The leader of the rogues said as he noticed the shield surround the agents. The rogue then looked around and saw me and dad, he had a menacing smile when he saw me. “So you’re the ex-boyfriend of the Governor, eh?” He spat and then continued “well... we thought It would be a nice gift to him if we gave him your head” he laughed demonically, and then he added “that will surely bring down the 5th district, Governor Meyer has been a thorn in our plans, Master Gustav would like this done”

“Ah, I see” I calmly replied.

“Aren’t you afraid, Human?” He clearly forgot about the shield and wasn’t able to connect the dots that it was my doing. Stupid.

I lifted my right hand and then flicked it down, in an instant all 6 rogues were on their knees. The agents looked stunned as they saw my display of power, I didn’t look back at dad, but I’m sure he was just as shocked if not more shocked than everybody else.

The rogues looked helpless, with fear in their eyes as they realized the power that was holding them down.

“So you wanted to kill me, huh?”

I asked, a little cocky on my part but I think I’ve earned the right to be cocky even just for a bit.

The leader of the rogues tried to fight back, he was angry with the helplessness he felt. But he wasn’t even able to lift a single finger.

“You know Gustav, eh?” I asked the leader. And for a moment I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes. Without any delay, I pulled out all the information they had from their minds at once, it took me only a few seconds and they all looked to be in terrible pain, I did the memory harvesting without ceremony and that must have felt like they’d been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.

I was able to recover bits and pieces of information that could help. Realizing what these rogues have done, and the torment they’ve inflicted on their other victims, I didn’t think twice about it, and with a simple wave of my hand, they all turned to ashes. The agents gasped and dad stood silent as I ended the rogues easily.

“Come on, let’s all go inside” I said to dad and the agents, the agents have mainly kept their distance from me, and this is one of the few times I’ve been near them. Hmm, it seems like Victor has not removed my security detail even though we’ve ‘broken up’.

“Master Chris...” a female agent started to say. But I stopped her.

“Just Chris” I said with a smile.

“Of course, Chris” she smiled back.

“What is it?” I asked.

“How were you able to do that?” She asked.

“You’ll have to ask your boss about that” I laughed then added “it’s our little secret though, news of this does not get out of this house” I warned them.

“Yes sir” they answered in unison.

I texted Victor and gave him a summary of what transpired, he got worried but was relieved when I told him everyone was well, the cuts the agents had were almost completely healed by noon.

Dad and I invited them to join us for lunch, but they all politely declined as they had to call for new agents to replace them as they recovered.

I also told Victor that I had information that could help us get Gustav. I told him that we had to meet so that I can transfer the memories I’ve recovered from the rogues to him.

I missed out on my morning lessons because of the kumhakta and the incident in the backyard. So we moved it to the afternoon. While I was reading on literature, dad mused out loud “so they know where we live, huh?”

I looked up from the book and I answered “it seems so, they should have connected the dots already”

“Is it still safe for you?” Dad asked.

I smiled at him, and answered “dad... I’m safe, it’s you I’m concerned about, but stick with me and you’ll be safe”

Dad smiled back and said “you’ve grown so much Chris, who would’ve have thought that the day where it’s you protecting me instead of me protecting you would come” dad got teary eyed at that then he added “I’m so proud of you, Chris” at that, I stood up, and hugged my dad.

“Hmm... dad, I’ll always be here, we’ll get through this, and we’ll achieve so much”

“I like the sound of that” dad smiled back.

Victor arrived at 3pm, and he did a 10 minute pretend wailing and pounding at the front door, to make it appear he was pleading for me. After the ruse, I let him inside. And as the door shut behind him, I pulled him into a tight hug and kissed him deeply.

“You had me worried sick” I said.

“Hmm...it’s fine, it could have been worse, you heard what happened in Texas and the other districts?”

“Yeah...it was bad” I remarked, saddened by the lost of lives.

“Indeed, we’ve been working double time to deflect media attention from the incidents, so far, only local media and conspiracy theorists have sniffed the incidents out, but we’ve paid them to keep away” Victor explained.

“So how about your agents?”

“Well...they’ll all be rehabilitated within the week, and we’ve extracted information from them just this morning, Chris...the Rogue Army has several good mind manipulators, this is gonna be tough”

“Hmm...seems like it, speaking of which, I have to show this to you” I said, holding his hand.

“You found something?” He asked.

I nodded in the affirmative. Then after a brief pause to calm ourselves, I started to transfer the memories and bits of information I’ve extracted from the rogues earlier.

Victor had a minor headache, if he were a younger vampire, it would have been like a migraine, good thing Victor is one of the strongest vampires in the east coast.

“Do you notice it?” I asked him.

Victor wrinkled his forehead and then he smiled. “Yes, it’s subtle but it’s there”

“How do we go about this?” I asked. Victor and I were talking about the memories, the thoughts and images recovered were tampered, the memories were false.

“Only a very good mind manipulator can do this” Victor commented.

“Gustav?” I asked.

“Most likely, if not, then we’re in trouble coz this vampire or whoever did this might be just as, if not stronger than Gustav” Victor answered.

“Can you extract the original memories?” I asked him.

“Yes”

Then after half an hour of rummaging through the images and thoughts, Victor smiled, and he then reached for my hand, and he started to transfer the correct memories. I knew the memories were tampered with, but I didn’t know how to patch them back, now, with Victor teaching me, I’ll be able to do it next time.

After the memory transfer, I took a moment to collect my thoughts. And then wide-eyed, I look at Victor. “This Friday?!”

“Seems like it.”

“Victor...we have to do something!” I nearly shouted at my boyfriend.

Victor squeezed my shoulders, looking straight into my eyes, and said “It’s going to be tight, but we have time, we’ll make it”

“But... Gustav...” I tried to respond.

“Yes... Gustav, and we will be prepared” Victor assured me. He then pulled out his phone to make calls. Later that night, Victor had a video conference call with most if not all of the other governors of the vampire districts in the United States, several members of the High Council were there as well. I wasn’t in the conference call, but Victor updated me as to what the plan was, and after hearing the plan, I could only wish that it would work out, because if it failed, there would be serious repercussions, not only to the vampire race but to the entire world as well.