Natalia

Chapter 12 - Life's Journey

"There must be something we miss, Fred," Chandler sighs when there's not even one information about some kind of a ritual among the vampire's research book that is in their possession.

"My base was destroyed, my men are all dead. There must be a way to stop all this," Fred takes off his glasses before looks up to his troubled old friend.

"I've spent countless hours trying to investigate the supernatural and paranormal. My wife left me for some uneducated goon. My kids. Well, they followed their mom's stupid path. But nevertheless, I still pay for their education fee." Chandler doesn't know where his friend's words heading to.

"My point is, there's something out there that could lead us to what we've been looking for," They both heard someone knocking at the door.

"Come in," Chandler said and it was Chandler's daughter, Olympia.

"My God. Is that you Olympia?" Fred said, speechless. Olympia smiles and offers her hand to her father's friend.

"Indeed I am. Good to see you again Mr. Bolt," Frederick shakes her hand. Olympia was about to say something when her eyes caught on the crime scene photo on her father's desk.

"May I?" Olympia asks for permission. Chandler gave her daughter his permission. Olympia examines every photo thoroughly.

"The head is gone, correct?" Chandler nods.

"I’ve read somewhere before. About a case written by a police officer, several similar cases like this happened about a couple of hundred years ago. The police found seven headless bodies in several different locations. But mostly the crime scene seems significant with the victim. For example, like their home or workplace where they spent most of their time at," Olympia said while looking at the photo.

"You have your second victim killed in cold-blooded. My guess, there's a connection with the case I was telling you about with the case you currently investigating," Fred was surprised by how knowledgable Olympia was. Despite her looks, she's a genius like her old man.

"I studied criminology," Olympia smile. 

"I can lend a hand if you like. I'm on semester break. Plus I study that particular case for my assignment," Chandler was happy when his daughter shed some light onto their investigation.

"Why were you coming here in the first place?" Her father asks.

"Oh! Mommy said dinner is ready." 

After dinner, Olympia went to his father's study with her laptop and files from her last assignment. She knocks before entering. She turns the knob when she heard her father's voice letting her coming in. Fred watches as the female version of his old friend working tediously in front of him. She remind him of his old friend's younger self that he knew from the university a long time ago.

"Here. Because the olden day has no camera to show you the picture, I ask my friend who majors in arts to draw the crime scene for me," Olympia spread the seven different picture to her father and Frederick.

"See. Headless. And no trace of their head anywhere in the crime scene. Plus, no weapon whatsoever even though the body has stabbing wounds as such. And there's only one thing they all have in common, they all came from the same village. They grew up together."

"How did your friend drew with such insight like this. It is magnificent!" Chandler asks his daughter. Olympia opens up her files and shows her father a full report from the detective that investigate the crime hundreds of years ago.

"Say thanks to sir Arthur James." Olympia smiles. 

"Wait. Where did this all originate from?" Frederick ask. Olympia shows the other file to her father's friend.

"Odrium," That name suspiciously familiar in Chandler's ear.

"Odrium? This name. Sounds familiar somehow. But how? Any ideas Fred?" Olympia watches as the two middle-aged men thinking about their past research.

"Videric! King Videric!" they both said in unison.

Frederick rummaging through all the books and papers on top of Chandler's desk. He stops when he found the very article he's searching for.

"Here! Princess Arika, the daughter of King Videric, finally found her one true love, in the ruined city of Odrium. The princess married the only female that survived the terrible attack from the great beyond!" Fred looks up to the Dixon duo. 

"I bet a million-dollar stating that princess Arika's married the culprit of this crime!" Fred slams his hand on the desk and slowly stands up.

"Of course. Why am I so clueless before. Princess Arika turn the only human from that village to a vampire and do these horrible things to those seven innocent souls." 

"If this is true, why do they need seven female head?" Chandler asks. 

"It's for the task," They both turns to Olympia.

"What task?" Chandler asks.

"Sacrificial task for the devil. Once they fulfill it, the devil himself will honor you with his many precious power. Some say it's to prevent prophecy to happen. But it's just wife's tale,” Olympia explained.

"So, a human was behind all of this?" Fred ask. Olympia shakes her head.

"I didn't say that. Like I said before, for sacrificial. Sometimes these supernatural beings need unlimited power to bestow upon them," Chandler pinch the bridge of his nose.

"So what we're investigating now is not something we can handle? It is something cult-related or legion?" 

"No, dad. That's not what I meant either. We can't just rule out the possibility of supernatural beings in this case. All I'm saying as they're probably humans before being turned to the creature of darkness. Such as.. vampires. They are quite known to be the devil's henchmen you know," Olympia pointing the fact. 

"I read about king Videric from the history books from that Vampire Academy before," Chandler raises his eyebrows at his daughter.

"Where did you read that?" He asks.

"Oh from your office at the military..." Olympia realized that she talks too much.

"Base. I can explain myself, dad!" 

"Oh, I hope it's a good one." Olympia gave her father a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry but I need to. For research." Chandler shakes his head.

"Young lady! You’re trespassing a military base! A government area! By the way, how did you surpass the heavily guarded gates?" Olympia sighs.

"I use Cynthia's uniform. And card. We're twins. They didn't even use the fingerprint scanner even though they have it. I was lucky!" 

"OLYMPIA DIXON!" Olympia took the liberty to see herself out of the room before her father yells at her even more

***

Videric was just enjoying his dinner when he feels something out of the ordinary. He looks up to Natalia and Katarina who return his stares. He then turns to the demons and they too, just stop talking to each other. Well sighs heavily when all four of them stare something behind the king with wide eyes. The is only one thing that could do this and Videric knows his father is right behind him. 

"I like the new girl. Better than Arika and Ivy," Satan whispers in his son's ears. Videric sighs before taking a sip of blood from his champagne glass.

"Ahh. The Andromache. I never like them but they do their job right. Get up son," Videric stands up and lets his father sit on his chair.

"I have a job for you," Videric pour a fresh glass of blood on a clean cup and let his father drink it. 

"Your brother, Moloxar is trying to crossover to the human world. As you may know, he's not exactly the good kind of creature to be lurking in the darkness," Videric rolls his eyes.

"All of your demon kid has no right to be lurking in the human world," Satan keeps shooting dagger with his eyes.

"What do you want me to do?" Videric asks. Satan clears his throat before smiling eerily at Videric. 

"Drag him back to hell. I know what to do to him when he steps foot in my domain. Also, kill the half breed that has been helping him crossing over. I'll talk with Octavia myself," Videric sighs when he learned that he has to kill someone from his stepmother's world.

"Fine. What else?" He asks. Just making sure. 

"I want you to collect a soul for me. From the hospital. I want to do it myself but I don’t want to cause too much drama with the reapers. They, after all, hates me," Satan stands up and went to the wall.

"Her name is Summer, Hannah Summer. Oh. Do get to her before the grim reaper does. I hate to deal with them if I were you," Videric covers his nose from the sulfur when Satan disappears into thin air. 

"I want to be there," Natalia said behind Videric. 

"Sure. Follow me," Natalia nod. She follows the king to the car. Katarina looks at the demons before smiling at them awkwardly.

"So.. what should we do?" Katarina asks the demons.

"I do want to know what happened to Chanel Oberlin in the last episode of Scream Queen,” Juliet suggested and they all agreed on it. 

***

The ride was silent but it's not awkward. On their way to the designated destination, Natalia’s mind was showing her all the possible ways to how the king would drag this person's soul to hell. Will he be using a scythe to do so? Will, he transforms into a mysterious man in a dirty cloak and covering his head as a grim reaper would? Videric could hear Natalia's thoughts playing in his mind.

"For your information, the grim reapers don't use cloaks or scythe that was showed in all those Hollywood movies," That completely made Natalia wonder how did he know what she was thinking. 

"They wore a perfectly tailored suit and goes around barefoot. No shoes could withstand the scent of rotting flesh that their foot produces. It like toxic," Natalia was curious about something.

"Do you always do what your father said? Videric nods.

"I do. I'm cleaning up his mess while Rose, my half-sister, will deal with his other major problems. Believe it or not, he's not that bad of a father. He just won't show that he cares for his offsprings. He didn't let me kill Moloxar because he doesn’t want me to kill someone who related to me by blood. You will know why he should be killed," Natalia noticed the car stops in front of a busy hospital building. 

"Why is this Hannah Summer is special? Why does the king of the underworld himself want her soul?" Videric got out of the car and went inside. Natalia jog to his side.

"Because Hannah's contract nearly to its end. Once she gave birth to this unborn child, she has to go back to hell and serve him," The vampires walk in the hospital with eyes on them. Natalia could feel something is not right with all the stares.

"Don't worry about them. Their clocks are ticking as we speak," Videric said and ignores the stares.

"Hospitals, corporate offices, the governments, we infiltrated them all. For our gain and also for some of the good and bad reason for the humans," 

They both enter an elevator and went up to the labor ward. A man ran towards them but Natalia was weirded out when he ignores them both.

"We're invisible to the human eyes except for those that can see us," Videric mentioned a little info. The guy earlier was shocked when the lift stops at the labor ward. 

Natalia chuckles and went past a busy hallway, fill with nurses and doctors saving and welcoming life. The fresh blood inside the whole room made Natalia hungry again.

"The blood from those woman birthing babies were said to have a special kind of mixture that could strengthen the powers we possessed. But of course, it's just a baseless rumor,”

Videric went into a wardroom and asks Natalia to close the door behind them. He went to the foot of the bed and looks at the sleeping woman on the bed. Natalia went next to Videric with a gasp.

"Surprise?" Videric smiles.

"She looks like Arika am I right? This is my half-sister. Satan's baby girl," The woman rubs her belly before opening her eyes slowly. She thought that it was the doctors but it's her brother.

"Oh my.. Videric... I'll hug you but you see, I'm not capable of it," Videric smiles.

"Hi, Hannah. Father asks me to come. It's almost time,” Natalia noticed the woman nodding her head. 

"I know brother. It's time for me to leave my loving husband," Hannah said while grabbing her brother's hand.

"These contractions are killing me,” Videric chuckles.

"Oh, I know. It's just like yesterday Demetria gave birth to Arika," Hannah smiled.

"Is that her? Your new newborn?" Videric nod. 

"Hi. I'm Hannah," the woman smile through the pain.

"Natalia," 

The vampires turn to the door and saw a handsome man walks in with a bag.

"My family is outside. Hannah, how are you?" Videric releases his hand and motions for Natalia to wait beside him at the corner of the room.

"That's Luther. Hannah's human husband. He's a lawyer. A damn bad one but still, a lawyer," Natalia chuckles. 

"If only your brother were still here. He will be excited as well huh," Hannah turns to the side and smiles.

"Oh I know he's here. Right here," Hannah patted her chest and gasps when another contraction washes over her.

"I'll call the doctor." Hannah nods. 

Videric waited for Luther to walk out of the room before speaking to his sister. 

"I'll be waiting in the labor room," Videric said and leaves the ward.

"Videric. Promise me. Be gentle on the baby. You know how crazy father's gene can be," Videric smiles.

"I know. I will be careful," Hannah nod and watch her brother walks out from the ward.

***

Ivy woke up with the worst headache she ever felt after being dead for hundreds of years. She slowly opens her eyelid and looks around the familiar bedroom. She saw her wife's back next to her. It was at that moment she felt the worse pain ever on her neck. 

She is confused. She wondered about something but she seems to have a problem remembering it. Then she realizes what had happened a few nights ago.

"Arika! What have you done?!" Ivy yells before kicks her wife off the bed. Arika was confused but her eyes widen when she looks up to Ivy.

"You're awake!" Arika was about to hug her when Ivy shoves her body off of her. 

"What happened to the mark! Where is Natalia’s mark!" Ivy asks. Arika's grimaces.

"Don't even mention her name in front of me! She is the reason why you’re like this! I've searched for many witch doctor and none can even cure your illness! Now that you're awake, you're asking for that b***h!" Ivy can't believe what she's hearing. 

"What the hell Arika?! You know how hard her life was even when she was alive. Now you do the same thing as those humans did to her! What has gotten into you?!" Ivy yells. Arika has never been scolded this bad before. This all so new to her.

"Don't yell at me," Arika warned. "Don't yell? You f*****g deserve it! What were you thinking?!" Ivy tried to get up but she's too weak. Arika offers to help but she slaps her hands away from touching her.

"Look! She shouldn't be in our life okay. Besides the father has found her a new mate. That Oasis girl, Katarina. Let's just get a move on to our undead life and let that b***h decided her future," Arika felt her cheeks turn hot. Ivy had just slapped her wife's on the face.

"We promised her to take care of her. You destroyed that trust she has to us. You, Arika. You destroyed it," Ivy was upset. Arika sighs and got up from the bed and went outside the balcony. She takes a few deep breaths of fresh air before admiring the shining moonlight above her. 

For whatever reason, she will never let Jac waltzes into their life again. It's too much of a risk to do so.

"I will never let that bastard harm, my family, again," Arika mutters. Ivy tried to get up but she couldn’t. Without she's even realizing it, her bloody tears flow out from her eyes onto her cheek. 

"I'm sorry Nat... I'm sorry.." Ivy turns sideways and cries herself to sleep. She feels so tired and helpless. She feels like her body aches but she doesn't remember from what. What is causing her this unbearable pain inside her veins? When Arika walks into her room again, she notices her wife's cheek stained with dried blood. She sighs and gently wipes it off with a wet cloth.

"It’s for our good. We should never agree to be part of this prophecy. You're the one who insists. Now, look at what happened to you. Injured yet again," Arika whispers.

"Tomorrow, whether you like it or not, we're going to Budapest. Even if I have to carry you forcefully to the plane, you will come with me to Budapest," Arika gave her wife a kiss goodnight and crawl to bed next to Ivy. It's been such an exhausting day for her. She needs some rest before tomorrow. 

Back at the hospital in London, Videric and Natalia watch as doctors been attaching wires and needles into Hannah's hands.

"Does electric shock helps with the birthing process?" Videric wonders. Natalia chuckles.

"Its procedure," Hannah looks at her brother and nod. 

"You close to your half-sisters huh?" Natalia asked.

"Living in hell, you only have several people to look up to. Hannah and Rose are one of them. They have my back even when no one does," Videric walks forward and stands behind the doctor who will be delivering his newborn niece or nephew. 

Videric turns away when he saw how in pain his sisters are. A couple of pushes later, Videric slowly reaching on to his niece’s tiny body and extracts the little newborn soul out of its tiny body. Natalia watches as the little newborn cry in Videric's arms but not in the doctor's hands. 

A nurse quickly carried the lifeless child to another room while the doctor starts to clean Hannah's body. Videric turns to Natalia and places the little newborn on her arms.

"Take care of her for me," Natalia nods at the king and watch as he went to Hannah's side. 

"Say goodbye to your husband," Videric whispers. 

Hannah consults her crying husband who has just face the loss of his first child. Natalia watches as the sad husband hugs his dying wife and just like that, Videric begins to extract Hannah's soul from her human body. 

"Time of death, 8:45 pm," the doctor announces. The husband can't believe what just happened to him. Natalia turns to Hannah who cried next to the king.

"Shhhh. Let's go home," Natalia went to the king and his sister. She places the baby onto Hannah's arms with a smile. 

"This is not fair," Jac suddenly said when they walk out from the labor room.

"Your husband loves you and this baby very much. Why did you decide to leave him like that?” Natalia asks. Videric let them both walk in the elevator first and follow them shortly.

"Because it's in her contract. You have to admit, life is not fair from the very beginning," That's all Videric said when he forbid the newborn to say anything else.