The Dark Messenger Read Online Free Page A

listen to this rubbish,’ someone else said loudly. Then
others shouted out, ‘We are leaving!’
     
    Suddenly there was another
uproar from the coven members, and this time Hoidrious, who had been glaring at them in
fury, looked down at his guards and ordered the m to set fire to their caves. The
guards below responded instantly; they thrust their bows out in front of
themselves and pulled back on their drawstrings before touching
their arrow’s tip into a flame by their side. They paused, pointing
the lethal archaic instruments of death up towards the caves, as
they waited for Rex to confirm the order of death.
     
    ‘Check your doors,’ Rex thundered, ‘and you
will find that you have all been locked in. Believe me when I tell
you that you are on the last chance with me.’

    Then, suddenly, against his own beliefs and
to the surprise of all, he ordered the guards to stand down. They
obeyed immediately; their arrows were extinguished again and the
archers’ bowstrings fell limp.
     
    Hoidrious furrowed his brow and cursed inwardly at Rex’s
obvious clear weaknesses. He reasoned that the old buzzard should
have killed at least some of them. After all, they would be so
easily replaced by a couple of nights’ gluttony. No
matter , he
thought, and laughed. Stage One of his plans to overthrow the
leader’s reign was about to be set into motion.
     
    Rex hearing him
laugh and having no idea why he had, he simply turned and gave
Hoidrious a stern look.
     
    Then he spoke and his voice thundered through
the room. ‘Now, before we move on, let us not forget that one of
you just told me I was an old fool…” He looked around at the
gathering, knowing full well who it had been.
     
    ‘Lance. You just dared to say I had gone mad,
didn't you?’ he yelled. Everyone turned to look at Lance, who said
nothing in response but looked extremely guilty.
     
    Lance was 5ft 10 in height and about 1500
hundred years old. He looked quite athletic for his age, and his
body shape was still very much strong and muscular. He had long
blonde hair that flowed down past his shoulders before being tied
back into a low ponytail, centered between his shoulder blades. He
was dressed all in black like the guards that Kaine had passed on
his way down the stairs, but his cape had a red lining to it, and
he wore pure white silk gloves.
     
    Unusual
attire , Kaine thought, as most vampires
wore all black to these meetings out of respect for Rex. There’s always one though that likes to bend the
rules, so it’s not surprisingly that he too was the one who had
just opened his big mouth. Kaine glanced
up at Rex to see if he was giving off any clues yet to the
punishment Lance was obviously just about to receive. No one came
to Rex’s coven without the utmost respect for him, and everyone
knew there were severe punishments for stepping out of line. The
way Lance was dressed was sure to make Rex angry enough, let alone
calling him mad and an old fool.
     
    ‘So. Lance, have we not
known each other for over a thousand years? You dare to try to
ridicule me, make a fool out of me in front of my fellow brothers
and sisters? Well, I don’t take kindly to your comments, so get
yourself down here! NOW !’ he screamed.
     
    There was a huge roar of laughter, and all
the other vampires started banging the walls again, forgetting that
they had just been warned to shut up.
     
    Lance placed his hands firmly on the small
ledge in front of himself and then took a huge leap out of his
cave, landing down hard beside Kaine. As he did, a huge cloud of
dust roared up into the air all around him, so much so that it
covered the face and body of the older prisoner, who was standing
nearby. She started to choke and then began to cough, like a cat
that had a huge fur-ball stuck in its throat. She was furious, and
cried out in rage as she rubbed the dust from her pain-filled
eyes.
     
    Lance walked towards her sniggering and put
his hand out to prod her. As he did, she