New Empire

During the night, Raven made good use of Anubis' stamina and strength and indeed, she took every last drop he could give. Shortly before dawn, the pair fell asleep. Raven was happy she had done enough and she was as deeply in love with her husband as she had always been. She slept soundly for over an hour before the dreams took hold.

The darkness was all around, smothering and suffocating her. She couldn't breathe or move to escape it. She couldn't fight it either. She thrashed all her limbs around; a futile battle for the darkness would not leave her, but she had to fight it. Slowly but surely, she began to feel it taking over. First it was her wings that disappeared, leaving her flightless. Then her feet and legs disappeared, followed quickly by her arms and then her body. Her screams were the last thing to leave her and the darkness had consumed her. A deep sense of loss and hopelessness took hold in her soul and she cried out one more time in futile defiance and then she was gone.

Raven woke again covered in a cold sweat and screaming. Her scales glittered with the sweat seeping between them and she was shaking all over. She battled to gain breath, but it would not come. Her wings flapped and beat against the bed and against Anubis, and all around them, the air seemed cold and foreboding.

In the guest rooms a few floor below, two more of the female Angelus woke up in the same way. Both were screaming and flailing about in terror after suffering the exact same dream as their queen. Sanura was one, terrifying the slaves attending her and knocking one clear across the room with the beating of her wings. Afrika was the second, shattering all the glass in the room and filling the air with feathers and down from the pillows as her claws shredded them......

Anubis and Cain awoke abrubtly to the tossing and turning of their mates. They both could see that Raven and Afrika were having some kind of dream that was adversely affecting them. They noticed their difficutly in breathing, the way their body's jerked. When they awoke, they awoke screaming, their wings buffeting both Cain and Anubis, knocking them from the beds. Both rose and went to their mates and took them into their arms and held them, trying to comfort them, talking to them in a soft and calm voice. Cains children now grown and staying in the same suite of rooms that had been given over to the family, came running in to see what was wrong, armed and ready to kill unknown attackers. Evie came running in, "Mother, what is wrong, what has happened?"

Afrika calmed faster than Raven did, managing to gain her breath whern she realized that she was actually awake. Her screams turned to tears as the shivers left her and her soft scales began to dry again. She cuddled into her mate and let her wings drop right down to lay lifeless on the bed. "The darkness, the darkness wouldn't go away!" She cried. Across the hall, the same cries could be heard from Sanura's rooms and slaves were quickly leaving the suite to escape the danger she posed them. Upstairs, Raven took longer to calm down and despite Anubis' hold on her, she managed to wriggle free of him and bolted up to the beams of the room and backed herself tightly into one corner of the roof space. Then and only then, did she managed to gain some sense of reality again. Her dark eyes darted from Anubis to Evie and then Kaitlyn, and then back to each in turn a second time. It was as though she wasn't sure where she was or what had just happened.....

Anubis leapt up tot he beam and again took her into his arms. "What is it?" he asked her concerned. Anubis tried to coax her down. He could see Evie was terrified.

Raven jolted slightly when Anubis came to her and took hold of her again. She blinked a few times and shuddered, "Darkness." She said, "It ate me. The darkness ate me.".....

"What darkness?" he asked. He knew she had a dream, "It was a dream, just a dream." he told her.

Raven trembled again and her scales visibly prickled under his touch. All her feathers stood on end and she looked like she'd been electrocuted. "The darkness!" She yelled at him, "It took my wings and my claws and my voice. It swallowed me piece by piece until there was nothing left! That was no dream, it was as real as you are.".....

"It was just a dream." he tried to calm her. "You are here and whole."

Just to make sure, it seemed, Raven dug her claws into the beam and moved her wings against the wall. On the ground, Evie stared up at her mother with worried eyes. "Mum? Mum, you're scaring me." Raven took a few deep breaths and looked down at Evie. "I'm ok, love." She said shakily, "It was a nightmare, that's all. Just a very bad nightmare." She didn't know yet that Sanura and Afrika had shared the very same dream....

Cain's and Afrika's boys looked on wondering what had happened. "Just a bad dream boys, just a bad dream." he told them and they eased themselves out to their bed chamber. The slaves huddled in the hall way, not sure what to do for Sanura. Her actions frightened them out of their minds.

Afrika calmed enough that she felt safe enough once again to let Cain go and she flopped back into the bed with a huge sigh. "I feel so stupid." She told him. "I'm too old to get frightened like that by a stupid nightmare." Across the hallway, Sanura was making her own statements on the matter, cursing herself loudly for being so frightened and yelling for her slaves to get back to their duty. Her shouts and anger were plenty koud enough to drift to Cain's ears.....

Cain moved to the door of their suite of rooms and opened it. He saw the frightened slaves in the hall way cowering and not knowing what to do. He heard Sanura and went in to see what had happened there. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

Sanura growled as she tossed aside what was left of a pillow. "I'm fine!" She snapped, "Where are those bloody humans to clean up this mess?!".....

He looked at her and smiled. "You know how easily our kind frighten them. From the looks of the place I do not blame them for running." he told her, "Your tone of voice also has them thinking that they are going to be executed or something." he looked at her with a look that basicly said to calm down and coax them back in.

Sanura growled again and flopped down onto a long sofa. She let her wings drop right down and then took a deep breath. "Humans!" She called in a much calmer tone, "The Dragon Lady is awake now, you can come back in!" She then cocked an eyebrow at Cain....

He gave her a smile, "I will try to calm them and get them back in here. Be gentle with them." he turned to go and then turned. "What happened?" he asked her.

Sanura almost blushed, "I had a nightmare." She admitted and then rubbed the brudge of her nose with her forefinger and thumb as though to massage the images out from the corners of her eyes....

A nightmare. He looked at Sanura and then across the hall and back again, "Darkness devouring you?" he asked, a glint of worry in his eyes.

Sanura furrowed her brow, "How did you know that?".....

Cain did not like it, not at all. There had been a simalar dream by a number of female vampires back at the begining in his original empire just be fore the great flood destroyed it. They had dreamed of water enveloping them, suffocating them, filling their lungs. "Afrika had the same dream." He looked at her now with a worried look and one of knowing.

Sanura closed her eyes and shuddered. She covered her mouth slightly and took some deep breaths. "She's our Primus, I should have known." She got up quickly and went to find some clothing. "We need to see Raven, immediately.".....

Cain nodded and went back out. "Inside and help the Dowenger. She just had a nightmare that seemed so real. She will not harm you, she had calmed down now. It took a minute but one got up and swallowed hard and entered, then another and another untill they all went in. "What can we do to help Dowenger." one of them asked still with a bit of fear in her voice. Cain went back and got Afrika and headed up to Anubis' and Raven's nest.

Raven had finally calmed down and felt stupid for getting so tankgled up about a simple dream. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she left the bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom for some silence and to get cleaned up......

Anubis took Evie out into the living room and held her. She was worried about her mother. "She will be alright my little one." He hugged her and tussled her hair.

Evie nodded, "I know, Dad." She said quietly, "I've just never seen her so frightened like that, not since the human attack. I mean, nothing frightens Mum like that anymore." A familiar scent drifted from the doorway and Evie turned her head to the door. "Gramps is coming up."....

Anubis turned as Cain and Afrika came in. Cain looked around, "Where is Raven?" he asked.

Evie furrowed her brow, "In the bathroom, why?"....

"Can you get her for us?" Cain asked and put a hand on her head, and smiled.

Evie looked up and smiled, "Is everything ok, Grampa?" She asked. At this point, Sanura arrived, looking stonefaced, "Not really, Child. Just go and get her please?" She looked from Cain to Anubis and then at Afrika as Evie went to the bathroom. She knocked, but her mother didn't open the door. Evie came back a few minutes later, "She wants to be left alone for a while." She said. Sanura didn't look pleased, but it was understandable. "Anubis, would you pry her from the bathroom please?"....

"What is going on?" he asked first. "What has happened?"

Sanura sucked her fangs a little, "We've all shared the same nightmare." She said, "Darkness eating us alive piece by piece until there's nothing left. Sound familiar?"

Anubis looked at them his eyes going a bit wide. "I'll be right back." He went to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Raven, it is very important that you come now." his voice had urgentcy to it. "You are not the only one that had that nightmare."

A small growl came from the bathroom as Raven looked at her reflection and then the door. "Who else is out there?" She asked.....

"The Dowenger, Afrika and Cain." he told her.

Raven growled again lightly, "Tell Father he has to leave." She said firmly, "I've reached the height of my cycle and I don't want him scenting me.".....

He nodded, "I will." he told her and went back to the others. He told Cain what she had said and he pulled out one of the rebreather masks. "I came prepared. I know she is in her cycle." He put it on and looked around. "Let her know it is important that I be here." Anubis went back and told Raven.

After a moment, Raven pulled the door open and strode into the main room. Her scales were pure white now and her breeding band a much darker purple than the night before. She saw Cain with his mask on and growled lightly. Sanura and Afrika both breathed shallow as the scent hit them. Afrika even turned a slighter shade of pale. "Ok, you got me here, now what is so important about this damned dream?" Sanura closed her eyes a moment to concentrate on her breathing. "The darkness." She said, "Eating you piece by piece. Both Afrika and I have had it too. When Cain told me, I knew we had to see you. I know the timing is terrible and we've interrupted your breeding, but you need to know.".....

Cain spoke through his breather, his voice a bit strange coming from it. "Back in the begining when I created my first empire, several of the female vampires had the same dream of drowning, being swallowed up by water. That was before the great flood that destroyed my empire."

Sanura half turned to him and nodded, "Sounds about right." She turned back to Raven, "I think something terrible is about to happen and as Primus, we've been given foresight enough to prepare." Raven looked at her friend and then the others, "What could the darkness be then?" She asked. Sanura tried to breathe, but shook her head and made for the door. "I think it's the Nexus." She gasped from the doorway.....

"The nexus?" Both Cain and Anubis asked at the same time.

Sanura nodded as she took deep breaths of the cleaner air outside the door. "As impossible as it sounds, I think it's back." She said, seeming to breathe easily enough to take a step back into the room. "Nexum Subrah was the name our Elders gave to the asteroid that destroyed Genorra. At first, we thought it was just another rock, but we were wrong. It carried a parasitic virus we named the Nexus. You know well enough now that there's very little that can bring us down, but this disease did. It destroyed us from the inside. The inbreeding after that did the rest. It's the base reason for many of the diseases that have kept down the human population until recently. The last time it got loose, it wiped out nearly half the humans on the planet. I know this because I've seen it before. Most of you remember it as the Black Death. It mutates as quickly as the common cold and each time it becomes stronger. The Elders managed to find a base cure to innolculate what young we had left, but it was never a guarantee."

Cain's eyes shifted back and forth between the three. In his wonderings he had heard of many strange things that had happened over the centuries. One had been Pandora's Box. Once opened it unleased plauge and all sorts of evil. "So you think this Nexus is once again lose on the world?"

Sanura nodded and looked at Raven briefly. "Yes, I believe it is." She said, then looked down at her clawed feet before looking back up, "And I believe it will have learned from the last time it was freed."....

"How do we prepare for what it will try to do?" Anubis asked. He only knew a little about Gennora and nothing about what they called the Nexus.

"The archive will have better answers than I do." Sanura said. "The last time it was set loose on the world, it took a human host; a young girl to spread the plague around the world. It killed almost everything it touched, but deep within the archive, there was a book written by a Primus that predates all others. Sulamanti. She was the first one to unlock the Nexus' secrets and make it dormant. Find the book and you'll find the best way to be rid of it. It will be up to the Primus to fight it back long enough for the encantations to be cast." At this point, Raven pushed past them all and went into the study. She grabbed her bow and quivver and made for the door. "Find me some quarry!" She yelled as the hallways were quickly cleared and Raven made for the garden. Sanura chewed her lip and then covered her mouth with her fingertips. "I think she's pissed at me."....

"Why would she be pissed at you." Anubis asked. Cain was already thinking. He would be sending or going himself tot he santuary to see if Shamus could find the information that they needed. He already knew how he was going to rid the world of what ever it was that made up the Nexus. It sounded like Gennoa so therefore it had to be some piece of the astoroid that had destroyed that world and
caused Gennoa to hit the earth and scatter peices of it all over. A piece of that cursed rock had also fell to earth.

Sanura looked decidedly guilty then, "Because she's figured out how it began to learn and evolve on this planet." She said, "And now she and Afrika have to figure out how to fight it without getting themselves or any of the flock killed and I know exactly how Raven will work on it.".....

He looked at her, "And how exactly will that be?" he asked

"She'll use me as target practice."....

Anubis put a hand on her shoulder, "I Doubt that."

Sanura looked up at him and nodded, "I know she will. She won't kill me, but she'll hurt me until she's satisfied I've learned my lesson."....

Anubis shook his head and went up onto the roof. He approached Raven. "Sanura thinks you want to use her as target practice? Why would she think that?" he asked her.

Raven had picked a spot on the West corner of the garden and was stood with one clawed foot over he base of her bow. She had the ancient string on her talons and was in the process of stringing the ancient ivory covered wood when Anubis joined her. "If you knew," She grunted as she strung the bow, "You'd do worse." She hung her quivver from the guard rail and then screeched into the air for the first target to be let loose over the ocean.....

It was early morning and the sun was just warming the morning air. In the distance two birds were let loose from their cages. "What did she do?" he continued his questioning.

Raven knocked her bow carefully and then waited for the birds to fly out to sea far enough to challenge her a little. They landed about 2000 yards yards from the breakers. "The book of Salumanti was kept locked away in the depths of the archive for a very good reason. The spells in it aren't just to render the Nexus dormant. It can also unleash it. I knew the moment she spoke the book's name." She drew back the string with ease and picked her target. with only the faintest thwap, the arrow disappeared into the distance. A small plume of feathers told she had hit her target. "In 1364, there were rumours among the humans that a book had been discovered. They called it the book of Soloman and it coincided almost to the month that the Plague was unleashed on the world. Only the Elders knew exactly where Salumanti's book was and the humans had a copy. Sanura could only know if she'd handled the book." She knocked another arrow and pulled back the string. "She gave it to them, knowing they would unleash the Nexus. How else could she possibly know what she does?" She let the arrow fly, but it missed the bird....

"Why would she give it to them knowing they would unleash it?" he asked.

Raben stood the bow near her foot and half turned to face him. "The Elders humiliated her entire nest and everyone connected with them and banished them to a wasteland with nothing but the scales on their backs. Vengance runs deep in our race, Anubis, deeper than you can imagine."....

Oh he knew all about vengence as did Cain. He shook his head, "You forget who you are talking to my love. Remember what Cain and I have done." He moved up to her and caressed her face. "If that had been you that the elders had humiliated, would you have done something different?"

Raven shook her head, "I don't know what I would have done." She said, taking up her bow again. "Pull!" Two different targets were relased into the waves. These two were floating bouys and they landed just beyond the surf, perhaps 1700 yards or so. "She could have attacked them directly, but instead, she robbed us of the best viable food source we had left. She took vengeance on all of us because of the Elders." She knocked the arrow and pulled back the string. She breathed out slowly and let it loose. The target exploded. "These targets are good, better than the birds."...

"But that does not mean you should hold such a grudge against her. Also she is now the Dowenger and like I told you many years ago, what is in the past is in the past." he was talking about the book shamus had and Cain had sent, and the things it said she had done. He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Raven closed her eyes when he kissed her cheek. His touch was always a great comfort and it always made her stop to think on things. "The past is the past." She said. "I'm curious how she managed to get in there long enough to copy the book and get out again." The second bouy bobbed up and down in the water and she seemed to consider it carefully. "How's your long shot?".....

He shugged his shoulders, "Was pretty good with the bow, better at the spear though. I could throw a spear through a dozen small rings without hitting them at all and hit the target." he told her. "I would say that someone copied it for her, one that had more access to the archives."

Raven shrugged, "Nice," She said, "But have you ever pipped the ace at 2000 yards?" She offered a small smile, showing her anger was fading, "I leanred that little analogy from the best human rifleman I ever knew. His name was Quartermaine.".....

"Mmmmmmm Africa, great hunter and explorer. It is said that Africa would never let him die." he grinned. "Remember Odyissus. When he came home finally he found his palace over run by nobles that wanted to marry his wife, and he had a bow, I think, like this one." he nodded to her bow. "No one could string it but him and shoot it through the rings of several axes. At the time a near impossible task." he eyed the bow. "Was made only for him."

Raven smiled again and nodded, "Yes, I knew him too." She said, "I made his bow. It wasn't unlike mine, but mine is about 5000 years older. I told him when I made it that he should never pull the string without a gauntlet and glove or it would take his hand off."....

"Ahhhhh You knew him as well eh. Interesting. I knew him when he was at Troy. The carnage there was a good cover for me, and.......well I was the one that instigated that little war." he told her. He shugged his shoulders, and continued. "When he got back I was there as well. Loved what he did to the nobles."

Raven smiled, "Then you missed me by about a decade or so." She said. "Did you ever get chance to handle his bow?" She picked hers up and then picked an arrow....

He laughed. "No never had the chance. I was there only a short time." he told her. "Why?"

Raven felt a game coming on and leaned over the railing, "Bring your strongest long bow!" She ordered. It was brought up a few minutes later. "The strongest long bow takes upwards of 300lbs per square inch to pull the string to its apex. Try and hit the target.".....

He looked at her and strung his bow. It had been made for him a very long time ago. It had a pull to it that no human he knew could draw it. Nocing an arrow he drew the bow stirng back, as he took a stance and had one of the targets released. He allowed for the wind and distance and let it fly.

Raven watched carefully and smiled. His aim was true, but she knew the arrow would fall short by a good few hundred yards. "The bow I made for Odyssius was twice the strength of yours." She told him, then lifted up her bow. "And mine is stronger still." She held out the ornately designed bow for him to get a feel of....

:He took the bow and weighted it in his hand. He looked it over and ran a hand over it. "Nice." he said.

Raven smiled, "It's lighter than yours." She said as she picked up one of her arrows. She handed it to him. "do you think you could pull the string back on it?"....

He looked at her, sure he could do it. After all he was much stronger then humans and her. He took the arrow and nocked it then took a stance and pulled. He raised a brow when it would not pull back. He gave Raven a glance and tried again. He chuckled. "Like Odyissus' bow, it was made for only him. This was made only for you."

Raven chuckled and shook her head slightly, "Not exactly." she said, "My father made that for me on my first centinery. He spent a good few years perfecting it and he pulled it without any problems. It took me another twelve years to gain strength enough to pull it."....

"Well Father and daughter. I am sure that with a bit of training, Odyssius' son would have been able to use the bow." He handed the bow back to her. "I believe Cain is sending word to Shamus to look for the book and any information on the Nexus."

Raven laughed at first, "Afrika can pull it too." she told him, but then her laughter faded and she took a more serious look again. She nodded. "If the old stories are true," She said, "It won't be like the other journals and tablets there. It was bound in Angelus scales to protect it better. At least, that's what I heard.".....

Both Cain and Anubis had sent trusted people up to the Artic to build a base outside of the Dead Zone. It was not your typical metal buildings and such but a more permanent type base with structures that could withstand the cold and keep everyone inside warm and healthy. A simple light refraction type signal was designed to send coded messages to a simalar one outside of the Sanctuary, where yet another livable base had been constructed. Between it and the Sanctuary itself those that were sent there lived a very comfortable life.

Though at the Sanctuary there was no type of electronical equipment that functioned, other forms of entertainment had been designed and brought in. That and the rotation of those there helped keep them sane. At the Base outside of the Dead Zone the message arrived and was sent to the base at the Sanctuary, and then delivered to Shamus.

Shamus read the message and looked over at Leanne. "Sounds like the world is headed for another mess." he handed the message over to her to read. It told of the Nexus and that it seemed to have been unleashed again and that the book on it had to be found. The filing system the Angelus had used told him it would not be with the volumes of the history that was recorded there, but it would be somewhere that individuals had stored things, private writings. That eliminated alot, but the private writings of the Angelus was extensive as well.

While he was looking for the book, he found another that greatly peaked his intrest. It was not even written by an Angelus but by a human that had been so far ahead of those of his time. Within the book, was formulas, equasions and detailed notes on genetic research. This he kept with him as he searched for the book on the Nexus.

It took him a couple of days of constant searching, only grabing a nap here and there, but he finally found it. He had a messeage sent and asked if they wanted Gaberial to fly it south. He had of yet not left the sanctuary and had indicated he would like to see the new empire and the new nest. The other book he brought to Leanne and showed it to her.