The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning by Harold Straugh (best e reader for academics TXT) 📗

around here,” Mylicous said, putting his long hair into a pony tail and tying it with a long thin piece of leather.

“Once night falls, the vampires will be out, I didn’t think they would be worse around this region, but they are,” I said, confused. I was getting back to where it all started, but it came to me that Derium’s off spring were more infectious than I had thought.

“Roldian, I have a feeling that once we restore Derium, he will put a stop to this,” Mylicous said, referring to me by my name and not brother, so I knew he was serious.

“I hope you’re right, at least you’ve had enough decency to not go create a bunch of your kind,” I said.

“I’ve created but like I said, they have to survive the bite. The more I make the more I must worry about.  I only know of a hundred or more packs. We are spread out and hardly over here, mostly across to the new land.  It seems that Derium has no rules set into place and lets his offspring do what they please.”

We got on our horses and started to travel again. I was loving the change of scenery once more. The next two nights went as expected, numerous vampire attacks, transformations and bloodshed.  The last night was the worst by far, we battled until the sun came up and the vampires scurried off before they burst into flames.  Once everything settled down, I could see the Carpathian Mountains.

The mountains had an ominous fog about them, I found it beautiful, but Mylicous did not, “Are those where we are going?”

“Yes, there is a small village at the base, then we climb up a bit,” I said and looked back at Mylicous, who had a concerned look on his face.

“Of all places to leave his body, you couldn’t have found a better place?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly looking for a better place when I popped his head off,” I sneered.

I didn’t want to hear any more of his whining, so I nudged my horse with my heels and trotted towards the mountains.  Yura kept close to me and Mylicous stayed near the back.  As we traveled I noticed and eerie change in the scenery.  The leaves on the tree started to die off, then the trees themselves started to change color.  They went from a nice lively brown, to a leafless, moldy black.  The sky started to cloud up and a heaviness formed in the air.  Yura voiced a change a in temperature, then Mylicous trotted up to the other side of me.

“What is going on here?” he asked, obviously as puzzled as I was.

“Well, if his head could infect the ground and a hut, imagine what his body could do? Derium is evil Mylicous, and you’ve been too blind see it,” I gave Mylicous a cross look.

“I’m actually starting to think you’re right, but evil can become good.  Look at me, look at Lucifer, I’d say look at you, but you’ve always been the better of us,” his words struck a chord in me, but a good one.

“If we bring him back and he’s worse than before, can we remove his head again?” I asked, catching a puzzled look from Mylicous.

He was silent for a minute, I could tell he was thinking, “Only if he’s worse than before, he will be angry, so we will have to calm him down.”

“Of course!” I said, I expected Derium to be angry with me, I took his head and left him dormant for a long time, what was he going to be happy about?

We continued our journey with hesitance as the atmosphere gave off a feeling the bothered us all.  As we got closer, I noticed there were abandoned hut and wagons.  The horses started to get nervous and tried to turn around on us, so we all got down and walked the rest of the way, Mylicous made sure he grabbed Derium’s head.

Soon, the Carpathian Mountains were hovering over us, covered by a fog so thick that I could only see a quarter of the way up the mountain.  We were all looking up when I heard a shuffling noise behind me. I turned around, through the fog, I could see a looming figure moving back and forth. Mylicous and Yura turned around as well and watched as the figure came into view.  It was the old, Gypsy lady I met when If first arrived.  How she was still alive, was a mystery to me.

She had twice as my wrinkles on her tanned face.  Her eyes were covered in film and the fact she had a walking stick, solidified my belief she was blind.  She sniffed the air and anger took over her face, she said a few words before I was able to translate, “I had a feeling it was you,” her voice cracked, “You said you took the curse away, but you only made it worse. I’ve watched everyone I love die or move away, forgetting about me.  I’ve waited a long time for this.”

I heard a small rumble in her throat, that grew louder.  She forced something up in her throat and before I could even speak, she launched a liquid attack on me.  Whatever nasty, phlegmy, rotten, lung booger she worked up, shot through the air and landed on my face.  It stretched from the top right of my eyebrow, across my nose, to the backside of my bottom, left jaw. She then, fell over, she wasn’t breathing, her eyes stared off into fog, she had died right there on the spot.

“I don’t know what’s more amazing, that fact she just died or the size of the lung worm she spit on your face,” Mylicous and Yura both laughed as I peeled the lung snot off my face and flung it on the gypsy.

“What did