Episode 12: One Last Time

“They’re not here!” said the Vampiress.

Mr. Rousseau and the others had stepped into Lord Colvit’s chamber. They had gone into other rooms too but they were empty. Tara then flashed something. Her eyes turned red for a while.

“We must go back! It’s a trap!” she shouted.

They had no time to escape. As soon as they turned around, Lord Velkhine had appeared with other Generals. They outnumbered them and they’ve got Gina in custody.

“Follow us silently if you don’t want the girl to die!” he warned.

Oliver and Theresa threw their weapons to the ground. Lord Velkhine had a knife pointed at Gina’s heart. They weren’t able to do anything so they followed him to the Big Hall.

“Father, we meet again,” bid Mr. Rousseau.

Lord Colvit shrugged. Then he studied those in front of him.

“Where is the fourth one?!” he asked.

“There were only nine of them,” Lord Velkhine answered.

Lord Colvit stomped his feet and gave out a loud roar. It was terrible.

“No matter! When we’ve got rid of them, we’ll get to him!”

“You won’t find him! He’s well protected!” replied Oliver.

It wasn’t a wise thing to expose Chase’s whereabouts but Oliver wasn’t the smart one on the team.

“Oh really? Has he not warned you about a traitor?”

They went silent. Until then, they have not found who the betrayer was.

“That’s right! You don’t know who it is! Well, how did you think I’ve got you here?”

It was worse enough to be backstabbed by the one who you trust. But revealing everything to the enemy? It was really bad. They didn’t stand a chance now.

“But our armies are winning out there!” said Theresa.

“Little girl, my vampires are best at faking. By now, your armies would have been dead.”

They gulped. Things were really bad now. Lord Colvit raised his left hand and a round, penetrable sort of image appeared; just like the time when the Council sent a bat to give the gang message. Anyway, the image showed that Mr. Rousseau’s Generals of the North, South, East and West’s armies were being slammed, pounded and slaughtered to flames. The enemies suddenly rose up from their ashes reappeared stronger and took the armies by surprise. And then the image diminished until it wasn’t there anymore.

“Now, let us see who the mole shall we?”

The Lord looked rather satisfied and content. All of these things were amusing him.

“If the traitor, please step forward,” Lord Colvit welcomed.

They knew there was a traitor but they never thought it would be among them. Ten seconds went by but no one stepped forward. But then, out of the expected, Gina was released by Lord Velkine and walked toward Lord Colvit. Everyone in the room gasped.

“Gina? You’re the traitor? How could you!”

Theresa wanted to jump at her but Oliver held her back.

“But why?!”

She almost turned her head back but went forward and kneeled at Lord Colvit, discarding the angry faces.

“She had every good reason to! Unlike all you pathetic vampires, she knew which side will win. She chose well.”

Tara felt most betrayed. All of the Gatherer’s secrets had been revealed to her.

“Chase trusted you!” said the Vampiress.

“I have to-”

“Ignore them! Now come forward and proceed with your next task. Take this knife and stab Verdict right at the heart.”

She looked pale and hesitated for a while.

“Ms. Huntington, I am certain that whatever he promised you, he will never live up to his words. You are better than to trust him.”

“Mr. Rousseau, I have to do this. You won’t understand...”

She took the silver knife and it was so heavy she almost dropped it. When she caught the reflection of the shiny blade, it almost made her eyes bleed. It must be enchanted somehow.

“Generals, kill them all!”

“With pleasure, my Lord!”

Lord Velkhine turned to Theresa first.

“You smell good. I’ll eat you first!”

“Wait! It’s me that you want right? Release them!” urged Chase.

He had arrived there promptly before there was bloodshed. Gina almost collapsed. Somehow Chase looked livelier, even if death awaited him. He wore white from top to bottom. Everyone couldn’t take their eyes off him as he stepped forward. He looked like an angel.

“Have you come to surrender, boy?” asked Lord Colvit.

He smiled.

“Yes.”

“Good! Gina, get done with it!”

He looked at her happily.

“Gina?”

Tears were rolling down her face as he walked toward her.

“Why are you crying?”

“Chase! Don’t get near her! She’s the-“

Oliver didn’t manage to finish his sentence as one of the Generals punched him in the gut.

“What is he talking about?”

“Chase, I’m really sorry...”

“Why-“

“No!!!”

She took the knife that she was hiding behind her back and stabbed it right at his heart. For him, it felt like Gina had just stabbed him over and over and he can’t stop the pain. He looked helplessly at her. He was levitating in the air, like he did when he had a vision about Theresa. He was floating in an air bubble that had layers of white lights. He was glowing. As he looked down, he realised that no one was moving and it was not because they didn’t want to but because they can’t. Dark cold blood was dripping from his heart to the floor. The weird thing was; the blood didn’t seem to touch his shirt, at all.

“Thank you.”

Everyone panicked. Theresa closed her eyes. Oliver fell to his knees. Mr. Rousseau was trying to understand what was going on. Lord Colvit and Lord Velkhine looked at each other as if their plans were ruined.

“What’s happening?! Stop it!” yelled Lord Colvit.

The stab didn’t harm Chase one bit. In fact, the knife had somehow melted into a liquid form and it was sucked to Chase’s skin. And when the air bubble had popped, he was dropped to his feet again. He looked at his hand, checked his body and touched his face. He knew he had changed, inside out. He grew one foot taller and had more facial hair. His voice had changed and he did no longer look like he was 13. Gina had turned pitch-black. And everyone was back at their momentum as time turned normal. They all gasped for a breath.

“He has transformed. He’s the one!” said Mr. Rousseau.

“Lord Velkhine you have failed me again!”

Lord Colvit pushed Lord Velkhine with all his might and he was thrown out of the big window. If there was one person who understood what was happening, it was him. Meawhile, Chase was still feeling overwhelmed by what had happened.

“What happened?” Jocelyn asked.

“She has set his power free,” Mr. Rousseau explained.

“Yes, a sacrifice was needed in order to restore my true power,” Chase added

“Power? What are you talking about?” the Vampiress asked.

“Everything that I was meant to do, the person that I was meant to be, it all comes down tonight, to her. It would take a sincere heart with a pure intention to grant me my strength. That’s was her fate. And she did well.”

He picked her up and gave her to Mr. Rousseau. Then he looked back at Lord Colvit.

“The war as you have seen has caused many innocent lives. You have nothing left to fight for. You are at your end.”

Lord Colvit was scared as Chase was getting nearer.

“I-I- forgive you.”

He almost choked on his own words but he made it through. The Lord felt his power was being sucked out of him as Chase gripped his hand. The Lord became weak and grew older by the second.

“What are you doing to me?”

“What should have been done long ago.”

He put his hand on the Lord’s head and closed his eyes. Thunder grew loud, yelling in the cold night. Rain started to fall heavily and a storm blew everything that was in its path.

“Take a cover!” warned Mr. Rousseau.

He pulled the others as far away as he can from Chase and Lord Colvit. The Generals have fled the scene five minutes ago.

“Gulliver Pennington Colvit, I hereby release you from this world. You will be transported to the After Life and redeem yourself with all of your sins to be paid for every life that you took.”

“Noooo!!!!”

Slowly, Lord Colvit turned thin until his bones replaced his skin and after that the bones decayed into dust. He died screeching in agony as he faced Death. Chase closed his eyes and talked to each and every vampires of the Resistance Clan that still stood breathing on the battlefield.

“I, Chase Alexander Verdict, forgive you. You may now rest in peace. ”

Just like Lord Colvit, all of them were burnt into ashes. Chase turned to the rest at the Big Hall.

“Mr. Verdict, I’ve never thought-“

“Idiot!” scolded the Vampiress.

She smacked his head but her hand took the pain. Chase grinned.

“I’m untouchable, sorry.”

“But how?” Oliver asked.

“My ancestors-they erm-paid me a visit and kinda showed me everything.”

“I always knew,” said Mr. Rousseau.

“Yes, you were right. All this time I couldn’t find what my strength was but that was because they locked it away. They said it was too powerful even for me to bear. But it was all inside of me; in my heart.”

“Well, whatever you do, you did good man!”

He patted Chase’s back. Suddenly, Chase felt dizzy. He was breathless. And then he fell on the floor, panting, gasping for air. Everyone rushed to him. Yvonne cleared the way for Tara to check on him. She used her hand, like a scanner, and scanned his whole body.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Please fix him!”

Chase stopped Tara.

“You can’t. This is beyond your knowledge,” warned Chase.

Chase thought he saw the ghost of his ancestors smiling at him. They were inviting him. Gina was leaning to the wall had just woken up. She saw everyone was surrounding Chase and she knew something was wrong. She got up and ran to his side.

“Chase? Oh my God! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

She cried as she looked at her boyfriend. Theresa would have jumped at her if Chase wasn’t dying.

“It’s okay. It was my fault. They’ve warned me not to cross the line but I did.”

“What do you mean?”

“They gave me enough power to destroy all of the vampires, including the Delacruz sisters and the Council. I couldn’t let that happen, can I? But when you stabbed my heart Gina, you’ve given me full power. And now, they’re going to take it away.”

“But the root of your power is your heart. And if they take it away-“

“I’ll die.”

“I’m so sorry Chase. If I had known-“

“If you knew, you wouldn’t have done it. This place is finally safe and peaceful thanks to you Gina. You’re a hero. Believe me, I’d know.”

He coughed out dark red fluid. It was blood. He looked at the rest of the crowd.

“Thank you.”

Chase closed his eyes for one last time.

***