USHPC [1]: The Arrival

La Guaira International Airport

Standing on runway 8, shielding himself with his umbrella under the imposing Caribbean sun, Walfred, the Wellington family's butler, awaited the arrival of his employers' private jet. He had arrived a month earlier, along with his dog Wilfredo, to prepare the mansion on a hill on the outskirts of Chaotic City.



A few minutes later, the Wellington family's plane landed. Of course, it was piloted by Mr. Lyan Wellington himself, 33, heir to a third of the family fortune, following the tragic loss of his parents, who were killed by a herd of wild camels during a visit to the pyramids last year.



Lyan was deeply affected, but luckily, his grandmother, Clara Wellington, 81, who owned the remaining two-thirds of the family fortune, was still alive. She had survived because last year she chose to go on a casino cruise to the Caribbean rather than accompany her son and his wife to Egypt.



"Good afternoon, Walfred," Lyan said.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Wellington!" replied the butler.

"Please, Walfred, Piccolo, he seems a little slow and tired. Check him over before we get home!" said Mrs. Wellington.

"Don't worry, ma'am. Follow me to register your entry into the country, then to the limousine. The staff will take care of your luggage and pets."

From the plane descend: Piccolo, a small yellow hamster, and Edward, a handsome, slightly overweight gray cat, both Mrs. Wellington's pets, along with about 30 suitcases of all sizes.



Walfred, followed by Lyan and Clara Wellington, walk into the imposing terminal of La Guaira International Airport to have their passports stamped at immigration. But at that moment, the alarm was raised. Drug-sniffing dogs detected something on a man from Jamaica, and he fled desperately, evading both the dogs and the police.



But when cornered by the police, the Jamaican man takes a little girl hostage. The wealthy heir reacts faster than his security team. Lyan Wellington can't bear the man's affront and rushes to the little girl's rescue. A high-level athlete in track and field, sailing, scuba diving, skydiving, and dominoes, Lyan runs through the terminal and leaps onto some suitcases, leaving the police officers stunned!



Face to face with the Jamaican man, Lyan takes him down in a flash, without endangering the little girl, as the Englishman is also an expert in boxing, wrestling, and various mixed martial arts, in addition to having advanced training in street mime. The hero of the day rescues the girl!



The audience and the police applaud Wellington's feat and courage, as he begins his journey in Chaotic City on the right foot.

Hours later at the Wellington mansion…



Ready to leave, Lyan was adjusting his tuxedo tie in front of the mirror when his grandmother entered his room, looking a little worried.

"Lyan, Lyan, I think something's wrong with my little Piccolo. I don't know if it's time zone difference or this tropical heat, but he hasn't turned on his wheel since we arrived. Even when I told him we'd watch a rerun of his favorite show on Catflix, the third season of those darn cats from the galaxy, the one with the warrior space hamsters, he didn't seem to want to!"



"Calm down, Grandma. I'll tell Walfred to check him out. If it's anything serious, he'll take him to the vet right away. He probably ate too much on the flight!"

"Thanks, Lyan. Are you going to visit your friend from college, Roderick Klausman? His mansion is several kilometers up this hill, Walfred told me."

"

"No, Grandma, and I've told you that Roderick and I only had a few classes together at Oxford. Klausman was rarely seen on campus and interacted even less with his classmates, but I suppose a courtesy visit would be nice, or maybe I'll invite him for tea here with us."

"Well, have fun! I suppose you're going out to experience Chaotic City's nightlife!"

"Not just the nightlife, you know I always have to be prepared. Take care, Grandma, don't wait up for me."



Lyan Wellington kissed his Grandma Clara and went downstairs to the first floor. On his way to the garage, he ran into Walfred, who told him his car was ready, and Lyan informed him of his Grandma's concern for her hamster. As the butler went upstairs to take charge of the situation, the English playboy started his car, drove off, and sped away from the mansion, tearing across the black asphalt!



A minute after the roar of the Lamborghini Veneno's engine, with its "W" license plate, ceased echoing near the mansion, a cry of pain was heard from Mrs. Clara Wellington's room when her butler informed her that her hamster had died! Upon hearing the news, Walfred's dog, Wilfredo, came running down the stairs, reached the ground floor, and continued down to the basement. There, he looked behind him before opening a secret door that led to a staircase. He continued descending into the depths of the mansion, finally arriving at a cave.



Edward, Mrs. Wellington's pet gray cat, was already there getting dressed when he saw Wilfredo and stopped.

"Where's Piccolo? We have to go."

"I'm afraid, sir, that Piccolo has passed away!"

"Damn it!" the cat meowed angrily. "That makes six with this one."

"Sorry, sir, Piccolo was the 7th Wonder Hamster!" the dog corrected him.

The cat and the dog took a moment to remember the brave sidekick who accompanied them to fight crime in the dark and dangerous alleys of London.



"We'll have to find a replacement, and soon!" Edward meowed.

"Sir, don't you think it would be wise for Mrs. Wellington, when she goes to the pet store to choose her new companion, to influence her to pick a slightly stronger and tougher animal?"

"It could be Wilfredo, but the choice is Clara's!"

The butler dog lowers his head, suspecting that his boss's stubbornness—the feline superhero's insistence on choosing a smaller, stubbier sidekick—is simply motivated by the desire to prevent his assistant from looking better in his suit than he does.

"Good heavens, Wilfredo, the suit shrank during my vacation!" meowed BatCat!



To be continued…

#OriginalStory #BigVerso #BCH

LMLB[11]: Dolores and the Jewel of the Amazon

Morgan Jones gulped down his rum to clear his throat before continuing his story, staring directly at death personified by the cold barrel of his son's revolver, which remained pointed menacingly at his head.



He set sail from the port of Belém, but didn't venture out onto the ocean. He skirted the northern coast of Brazil, then that of Guyana; his destination was the island of Trinidad and Tobago. His ship, "La Sultana," was too small to cross the Atlantic.



The old pirate knew that wealthy European aristocrats often escaped the cold winter and sailed their luxury yachts to the warm waters of the Caribbean—Cuba, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Margarita Island—where they could enjoy themselves with a beautiful mulatto woman, while their wives indulged their desires with a mixed-race man in their hotel rooms. Everyone wins!



By May, these millionaires were beginning their return journey in their luxurious vessels. Morgan was in time to catch a few stragglers. Sailing alongside them ensured not only a less dangerous voyage but also the occasional invitation to eat and drink and hear the stories of an old pirate—free food and drink, plus the gold in their pockets won in a poker game!



"We win!" Francis shouted.

"We win!" "A good plan!" Colt said, smiling.

But in Trinidad and Tobago, Morgan met Captain Brito by chance. He was Brazilian, and his cargo ship, "La Noche Oscura" (The Dark Night), made the round trip from the port of Belém to the port of La Guaira every year, stopping on the island to see his young, pregnant lover and their only child, a boy whose skin color Morgan knew made it impossible for him to be the offspring of the blond Captain and his young wife.



Captain Brito and Morgan struck up a friendship. The captain, returning from La Guaira, gave the old pirate some newspapers. Morgan was stunned to see a photograph of the Jewel of the Amazon on the front page of the newspaper El Contador. It was the star of the pre-Columbian exhibit at the Chaotic City Art Museum!



"Son, even though I only had the fake copy you tricked me with aboard the Aria Amazon in my hands, I recognized it right away and wanted to see the real one!"

"Wouldn't it be better to steal it, Dad?"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Morgan and Francis laughed.

Morgan abandoned his plans to sail to Europe and set sail with Francis aboard La Sultana with a new destination: the port of La Guaira and the chaotic city. But his sailboat was slow, and the newspaper was old. By the time he arrived at the Museum, the exhibition of pre-Columbian art by the German philanthropist Luther Klausman had ended a week earlier.




But that wasn't going to make the old pirate give up. Morgan returned, using his disguise and his Midwestern accent, along with the shouts of his feathered companion. Morgan posed as an eccentric American art collector, and his con artist skills did the rest. By the end of the afternoon, he had extracted all the information he could from the director of the Chaotic City Art Museum. Luther Klausman, in addition to being a philanthropist and highly regarded art collector, was a banker and the richest man in the Caribbean country, a man with companies and businesses in Europe and the rest of the world. Morgan knew immediately that this was the real German banker to whom his son had sold the jewel of the Amazon.




The problem would be how to steal her away! For the first two days, he slept in La Sultana, but that meant he had to go down to the port of La Guaira every night and up to Ciudad Caótica every morning to investigate his target. So, he looked for a cheap guesthouse in the city to avoid the daily commute. A talkative taxi driver who worked for Taxis Torrealba recommended a good one, "La Casa de Dolores." The rooms weren't just cheap; the food was delicious!



The guesthouse was run by its owner, who was also the cook. A curvy woman of about 50, she wasn't very friendly, the taxi driver warned him, but she was fair and honest. Perhaps it was the exotic, talking macaw on her shoulder or her good bearing despite her advanced age, but Dolores Zuleta welcomed Morgan Jones to her guesthouse with a big smile.



Dolores was a widow with no children, but she wasn't alone. Her younger brother, a tall, strapping Black man in his forties named Ulysses, and his son, a little smaller but as black as coal, named Odysseus, were also there. Morgan sized them up the first night. Ulysses was haughty and had delusions of grandeur, while his son was submissive and well-behaved. If the old pirate played his cards right, he could use them both in the heist.



The boarding house was located in the west of the city, in a very poor neighborhood. He used it as a base of operations to investigate the German banker and his businesses. After a week of surveillance, he decided against robbing the bank's vault. He had three branches in the city, and unlike all the small-town banks he knew, which had one or two security guards, each of the German banker's banks was guarded by a small troop of armed men.



This didn't discourage Morgan either. A piece as valuable as the Jewel of the Amazon wouldn't be at risk in one of his bank vaults; it would be well hidden somewhere less obvious. The old pirate thought of Luther Klausman's residence, but when he visited it, he was not only impressed by its beauty and size, but also by how much better protected it was than any of his banks. Undoubtedly, the jewel was safely stored in an underground vault in the basement of that mansion, alongside other treasures!




That got Morgan thinking. Even if he recruited Ulysses and Odysseus, their combined strength wouldn't be enough to pull off a heist at that mansion. The best option was to wait for the German millionaire's next exhibition of pre-Columbian art. He returned to his new friend, Carlos Suárez, the director of the Chaotic City Art Museum, invited him to dinner, and loosened his tongue with two bottles of whiskey.



He found out that the museum normally had only four security guards during the day and two at night, but when Luther Klausman loaned them pieces for an exhibition, he sent his own security team—eight men day and night. But with Carlos's help, he could get in and take them out from the inside without having to fight. He would also know where the guards were stationed and the times they made their rounds, which would make things easier. There was just one problem: the next exhibition of pre-Columbian pieces from Luther Klausman's collection wouldn't be for another two years. Morgan smiled. The Amazonian jewel, plus other exhibited pieces he would steal, would be worth 30 million, maybe more, in Europe. And if Dolores continued bringing his plate of food to his room every night and staying with him, those two years would be sweeter than honey!



To be continued…

#OriginalStory #BigVerso #BCH

LMLB[10]: The End of the Rats

After the impromptu dinner aboard the schooner Esperanza, the three women left the ship. Back at the house, Tayna Jones kept a watchful eye on the porch. Upstairs in her room, Jane Bentley was helping her daughter Lucia into her pajamas. Everything pointed to it being a very long night, the red-haired archaeologist predicted, as she tried to reassure her perceptive daughter that everything was alright.



"Mom, what are Dad and Grandpa talking about?"

"About important things, my daughter. They hadn't seen each other for several years, and your father thought Morgan was dead. It's not easy."

"I don't see why there's so much fuss. If I found out that my dad, whom I thought was dead, was still alive, I'd jump for joy! But Dad's acting very strange."

"It's all in your head. Now get into bed. You'll sleep with me tonight."

Back on the schooner Esperanza…



Morgan Jones poured himself a third glass of rum, a digestif after devouring the delicious alligator gar his son had grilled. Colt still didn't trust him, so he kept the gun pointed at his head as a precaution.

"Aren't you going to put that gun down?"

"No, Morgan!!!"



"Suspicious!!!" Francis shouted.

"Now tell me, Morgan, and don't lie to me, how did you get here alone and without your rats?"

"It wasn't easy, my son!!!" Morgan continued his story.

After maintaining his leadership of his gang by killing Tulio and Rodrigo, Morgan Jones, the rat, knew it was only a matter of time before his cronies tried to kill him to seize control and go after his son and the gold from the sale of the Jewel of the Amazon!




So, to escape Porto Velho alive, he had to dismantle his own gang, and the only way to stop them from going after him was if he were dead! Therefore, he would plan and carry out his own death! First, he divided the conspirators into two groups and added some large, loyal rats to each, along with a small group of smaller rats. Under the pretext of expanding his gang's power in the Amazon and its tributaries, one group was sent to the city of Humaitá and the other to the city of Manaus. With the conspirators gone, he could prepare his escape plan. He waited until March, in the middle of the rainy season, and threw a huge party on the riverbank to celebrate the acquisition of several small loots in the three cities now controlled by his rats!



The party only lasted two days, but it was designed to last a week, as the old pirate needed nature's help. On the second night, the great storm Morgan had been waiting for broke out. Drunk and old, he fell into the river and was swept away by the raging waters. His rats threw him ropes, but the poor old man couldn't reach them. The strongest saw their chance to get rid of Morgan, and none of them jumped into the water to rescue him.



Three days later, several kilometers downstream, his rats found his decomposing body embracing his faithful macaw on the opposite bank. His clothes left no doubt it was him. But the corpse was just a decoy. The real Morgan had let himself be swept away by the current and saved himself by clinging to some logs he had prepared beforehand, just like his corpse. He hid for a few days in the jungle, and when the sun rose, he got into a small boat and fled with Francis to freedom!



-Damn it, Dad, who did you kill to put in your place?

"I found a poor devil who was dying in the Porto Velho hospital. He was about my size and had the same skin tone, a few years younger, but he had a beard. I left him wedged between some logs near the riverbank. After three or four days, eaten by animals and bloated with decomposition, they'd only notice his clothes. Francis himself killed the macaw he was hugging to make it more realistic; it was his idea."



"May he rest in peace!" Francis shouted.

"Damn it, Dad, you two are a perfect match!"

With Morgan's "fake" death as the trigger, the struggle for control of the gang would be the next step toward the total disintegration of the dangerous "Rats." Having previously split their core into three, sending two groups to the cities of Humaitá and Manaus, plus the group that remained under Morgan's command in Porto Velho, an internal power struggle began to unite and control the three fragments. But no one wanted to cede ground. The leaders of the two outer cities had already experienced what it was like to wield absolute power in their cities, with an old boss far away. Now, with Morgan dead, they would never again be subordinate to anyone else. Thus, after a series of murders in Porto Velho that led nowhere...




The powerful gang of thieves and murderers that operated for almost 40 years in the city of Porto Velho on the banks of the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon, known as "The Rats," was dismantled, separated into three weakened groups that lacked the numbers, resources, and intelligence to launch a search across the Atlantic Ocean in gray, cold England. Morgan Jones was out of danger because he was presumed dead, but his son Colt and his small family were also safe, well hidden, far beyond the operational reach of a criminal gang broken into three pieces!



Colt once again used his highly developed ability to read people and knew that his father wasn't lying. He had devised a plan to escape his gang unharmed, and in the process, he and his family were also out of danger—at least from the Rats!

"I believe you, Morgan. Now tell me, how the hell did it take you more than four years to find me?"

"Good question, my son. That story deserves another bottle of rum. This one's finished!"

Colt took a couple of minutes to replace the empty bottle without taking his eyes off or lowering his gun from his father. As soon as Morgan downed the first gulp in one go, he continued with his story.

Because of the rainy season and the small size of their boat, it took Morgan and Francis longer than expected to reach Manaus. They only stayed a few hours before boarding a train to the port city of Belém. In Porto Velho, he had prepared his loot for the journey: some gold jewelry and a small sack of gold coins, which he had buried safely. He had sold everything and bought diamonds, easier to hide and much lighter than gold to carry. Even Francis had carried a few bundles of them in a small leather pouch on his leg for a while.



Once in the port of Belém, the old pirate and his macaw bought a small sailboat, "La Sultana," and set sail. Their intention was to cross the Atlantic and try their luck in Europe!



"So, Morgan, you barely bought a boat, and your first move was to go after me! And the first place to look was London, where you knew you wouldn't find me, but it was a good place to find a clue to Jane's whereabouts!"

"Of course not, my son. The last thing on my mind at that moment was finding you. I just wanted to have one last adventure and, if possible, die of old age in bed, cared for by a good and loving woman! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"



"Dolores!" Francis shouted, and Morgan laughed again.

To be continued…

#OriginalStory #BigVetso

VW[18]: Princess Mirna Polietkova (VI)

Trapped in the underground coliseum, facing 10 hunter nuns and 60 soldiers, Vladic and his three vampires are out of luck—well, only two of them are. The vampire who carelessly drank the cup of wine laced with holy water falls to his knees and is dispatched by two nuns who pounce on him without even drawing their swords.



The former Romanian colonel knows he has forces surrounding the castle, ready to come to his aid. He simply needs to hold out. But to make matters worse, he doesn't have his sword. Crucio tries to go to his master's aid, but is stopped by a group of soldiers under Captain Vasily and three nuns. Romano, one of the first vampires Vladic transformed, fights them all to break through.



Vladic uses his claws to defend himself against the steel of the Russian soldiers; several fall. The problem is the nuns. Their sanctified weapons would cut through his claws like butter. He must finish off at least one of them quickly. -GRRRRR!!!- Barsik's roar gives him an idea. The fierce warrior charges at one of the nuns. When she swings her sword, he narrowly dodges it, but he's already beside her. Vladic strikes her violently and throws her straight to the sand. The nun barely has time to get to her feet. -GRRRRR!!!- The Siberian tiger attacks the house. The nun raises her sword to defend herself, but she won't succeed!



Outside the castle…

-Uuuuuuung, uuuuung, uuuuung!!!- From the top of a tower, the wail of a battle horn alerts all the soldiers in the castle, as well as the other nuns. Pale, the two vampires hiding in the car, and five mercenaries have to face five hunter nuns and about thirty Russian soldiers, but more keep arriving!!!



Behind the castle, a kilometer from the walls, hidden in the forest, Alexander also hears the battle horn and immediately launches an attack, followed by the four vampires he commands. Using their speed, they reach the walls in seconds and leap into combat. They were already killing Russian soldiers when the twenty human mercenaries, also under his command, were barely halfway to the walls.



-Uuuuuuung, uuuuung, uuuuung!!!- The sound of the horn takes a few more seconds to reach the forest, where vampires and more mercenaries have set up an ambush. As the alert is heard at the fort 5 kilometers from the castle, the soldiers stationed there rush out to reinforce it. Gretel and Hansel fall upon them; neither will reach the castle alive, the German brothers vow!



Back at the underground coliseum

The numbers have improved substantially for the Vampires, although the third has already fallen. Vladic got hold of a sword, Kuznetsov attacked him head-on, and the Romanian Vampire stopped the sword strike with his hand, kicked the Russian vassal, and sent him flying, leaving him unconscious against a wall and without his sword!



Crucio imitates his master and pushes another nun into the Colosseum pit. This time, Barsik doesn't intervene. The Siberian tiger leaps from body to body, as several soldiers have also fallen dead or badly wounded. So now it's the peasant woman's turn to repay the favor for the loan of the sword that kept her alive, and she launches an attack against the nun.



When the peasant woman finishes killing the nun, only six nuns remain standing, along with Princess Mirna Polietkova, Captain Vasily, and about 30 soldiers inside the enclosed area. All of them are gathered in the stands, surrounding and attacking the man who lent her his sword, and at the other end, the man dressed just like him. The peasant woman notices that no one is guarding the gate. She could climb up, open it, and escape, but she has already decided against it. "GRRRR!!!" Barsik roars behind her. The young woman had forgotten about the tiger, but at that moment, another soldier's body falls with a loud crash. The Siberian tiger turns. Without hesitation, the peasant woman moves toward him with astonishing speed, positions herself beside him, and kills him by plunging the fine Damascus steel sword into the back of his head!



"Barsik!!!" Princess Mirna screamed angrily when she saw her pet fall dead and launched herself at the Romanian vampire without hesitation, escorted by three nuns. Vladic struck the Princess and knocked her out of the fray; he needed her alive as he fought to the death against the sanctified steel of the hunter nuns!



Crucio took another nun on the journey of no return, along with Captain Vasily and a few more soldiers. The Roman vampire was unleashed. "Fissssst!!!" An arrow with a sanctified tip pierced his neck. "Fisssst, fissst, fissssst!!!" A hail of arrows rained down on him. He managed to dodge some, until one pierced his heart!



Vladic can't come to his aid; he has his own problems. Nearby, the peasant woman confronts Princess Mirna Polietkova, shouting furiously, "For my father!!!" and lunging at her neck.



The former Romanian colonel grimaces as the peasant woman exacts her revenge and kills the Russian Princess. "Cousin!!!" one of the three nuns who confront him shouts angrily as she goes after the peasant woman. On the other side of the coliseum, the two nuns who killed Crucio are unable to fire for fear of harming their sisters. The enraged nun goes after the peasant woman, and Vladic seizes an opening. He slashes with his sword, cutting her in half. The vampire flies into a frenzy and kills the other two nuns, losing a hand in the process. When no more nuns remain to protect him, the two huntresses on the other side of the coliseum fire. "Fissssst, Fissssst!!!" The arrows whistle, foretelling death.



The Romanian vampire is exhausted, bleeding profusely, badly wounded, but before the arrows can reach him, the peasant woman arrives to his rescue. She is swift and incredibly strong; she has fought all night and is still standing. With a single slash of her sword, she stops one of the arrows meant for the man who saved her life, cutting it in half. The other arrow pierces her chest, and she collapses at his feet.



Vladic watches her with admiration. The girl is dying, and he will soon follow if he doesn't wake up. On the other side, only two hunter nuns and a handful of soldiers remain. They have run out of holy arrows. The nuns raise their swords. "Charge! By our order and Princess Polietkova's!" they shout to inspire the soldiers and get them to join their assault. The former Romanian colonel ducks and retrieves his sword. He still has to fight, but at that moment, the wooden doors of the coliseum, which had been closed since the ambush began, swing wide open. Reinforcements have finally arrived. Alexander enters, leading his vampires like a whirlwind, and they fall upon the backs of the nuns and the Russian soldiers.



Vladic releases his fine Damascus steel and crouches down again. The peasant woman looks at him pleadingly, trying to speak, but the blood bubbling from her mouth prevents her. The vampire pulls the arrow from her chest, takes her in his arms, and whispers in her ear, "Thank you for saving my life. I don't have time to ask your permission or challenge you to a fight, but I can't let you die!" And while his vampires finish off the last nuns in the castle, the peasant woman receives the gift of eternal life!



To be continued…

#OriginalStory #BigVerso

LMLB[8]: Morgan Jones the Rat

Colt Jones hummed a river song he'd learned in his native Brazil on the banks of the majestic Amazon River, celebrating the capture of an enormous gar weighing at least 50 kilos, which he'd just caught in the equally majestic Mississippi River. After cleaning it, he set about grilling it for dinner in the backyard of his house.



Inside in the kitchen, his beautiful wife, Jane Bentley, and her sister Tayna were having some coffee while they chatted. That night, the young aunt would be babysitting Lucia, since it was Colt's turn to work at his clandestine casino aboard the steamship "Felicity," and he was taking Jane along for some fun.



The sun was setting, and thanks to the rain, it was a bit chilly. Jane checked the time and felt a little worried about her young, independent daughter, so she got up and went outside to see if Lucia was already on her way. If not, she would go looking for her. When she saw who was holding her little girl's hand, her blood ran cold.

"Tayna, go quickly to the back and get your brother!" she said calmly, while her hand checked that her revolver was hidden in her dress. But she didn't take it out, so as not to frighten her daughter; she forced a smile.



"Mommy, Mommy, look who I ran into on the way! Call my dad quickly so he can say hello to Grandpa!" Lucia said, smiling, unaware of the danger she was in.

"Good afternoon, almost evening, Mrs. Jones!" Morgan said, flashing a wide smile.

"Grandpa Bentley, Bentley, my mom and dad got married, but she kept her maiden name, just like me!" the little girl explained.



"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Morgan and his macaw, Francis, laughed uproariously. "I bet my son wasn't very happy about that."

A few seconds later, Tayna and Colt arrived, and a bead of cold sweat trickled down their backs when they saw Morgan Jones.



"Dad, Dad, Aunt Tayna, I ran into Grandpa on the road and invited him over."

"Hi, Morgan!" the Jones siblings said in unison.

"Hi, kids!" their father replied.

"Family reunion!" Francis shouted.

"Family reunion!" Immediately, little Lucia recounted the story her grandfather had just made up to perfectly match the story of his death, which Colt and Tayna had told her: that stormy night he fell overboard from his boat, and the powerful waters of the Amazon River swept him away for hundreds of kilometers.



Badly injured and weak, accompanied only by his faithful macaw Francis, who flew alongside him the entire way as he struggled to stay afloat, he awoke the next day on a riverbank where he was rescued by the Piripkura tribe! "Did I say that right, Grandpa?" Morgan nodded. "It's a good thing the Piticaguas didn't find him, because otherwise they would have eaten them both," the girl explained.



-That's right, my children. I was very lucky to get out of that jungle alive. It took me several weeks to fully recover from my injuries, and just as many to convince the Piripkuras that it was safe for them to let me return. They provided me with a dugout canoe, food, and water, but I was too old to travel upriver alone. By the time I arrived in Porto Velho, several months had passed since my accident. I looked for both of you and the redhead, but you had already left Brazil, so I understand why you assumed I drowned in the river!



"Lucky you, Dad!" Colt said, gripping his gun behind his back so his daughter wouldn't see it, but ready to draw if necessary. "Thanks, Lucia. Now go inside with your mom and get ready for dinner!"

Jane didn't hesitate for a second before scooping her daughter up and rushing inside, running upstairs to safety. The moment the two redheads disappeared, Colt Jones drew his weapon and pointed it at his father's head!



Tayna ran into the kitchen as fast as she could, grabbed her Winchester rifle, checked that it was loaded, and also the revolver she had concealed on her back. She hurried out the back of the house, where the enormous alligator gar was roasting over the coals. The sun had already completely set; night had fallen. Tayna looked up and took a good look in the gloom before setting off to check the surroundings. If Morgan Jones was there, his rats wouldn't be far away!



In front of the house, Morgan Jones was showing his son, with his arms raised, that they weren't carrying any firearms. Colt didn't trust him. He turned him around and searched him with his free hand, while still pointing his gun at him. Upstairs in her room, Jane was helping her little daughter change her clothes, trying to appear calm. But Lucía, who wasn't stupid, noticed her mother's nervousness and tried to reassure her:



"It's okay, Mom. I already checked and my grandfather is alive. He's not a ghost. You don't have to be scared."

"Thanks, Lucía, but I'm not scared. Where did your grandfather find you?"

"After school, I went to Justino and Herminia's house to play for a while. I waited for the rain to stop before heading back, and on the way, a huge black dog attacked me out of nowhere. I ran as fast as I could back home!"



"Didn't it bite you?" Jane asked, checking her daughter's legs and arms.

"It didn't bite you." "No, Mom!!! Thank goodness my grandfather sent Francis flying to throw the dog into the river. That macaw is very brave!!!"



"Good heavens!!! I'm sure Lucia is."

Jane, a little calmer, peeks out the window and sees her husband talking downstairs with Morgan Jones. At that moment, Tayna returns from inspecting the property's surroundings.

"I didn't see a single rat!!!" she announces.

"You heard Tayna, my son. I told you I came alone. I don't have anyone!!!"

"What about me!!!" Francis protests.

"Just because Tayna didn't find any of your rats hiding around doesn't mean they aren't around here!!!!"

"I don't see any rats!" "Mmm, I can smell that delicious grilled fish from here. What did you catch? Let's talk, and I'll tell you everything. Now, invite me to dinner at your house, and you'll know everything I've been through to get here, Colt."

"Of course we'll talk, Dad, but first, Tayna, do me a favor. Go back and take the fish off the grill. It's ready. You're in charge of protecting my family."



"You can count on it, Colt!"

"Damn it! Don't you trust your old father, my sons?"

"Nooooo!" the Jones brothers answered in unison.

"Now walk to the pier, Morgan, and don't try anything funny, or I'll shoot you!" Colt said.

"Are you going to deny your father entry to your house and a plate of food?" Morgan asked indignantly.

"Bad son!" Francis complained.

"Damn it!" "I don't want you in my house, or anywhere near my family! You lied to Lucia!"

"You should be grateful. I only made up the story about the 'Piripkura tribe' to cover up their previous lie about my death!"

"Thank you so much, Morgan," Tayna said.

"Dad, you're the worst Rat I know!"

"That Morgan Jones rat!" Francis yelled.

"Let's talk on my boat, Esperanza!" Colt said, pointing the schooner anchored at the end of the pier at his father's side.



To be continued…

#OriginalStory #Bigverso

LMLB[7]: The Ghost of Morgan Jones

Several months had passed since the Bentley women's double refusal to take the Jones surname. Yes, because in addition to the little redhead, the older sister, Jane, Lucia's mother, had echoed her daughter's stance and also decided to keep her maiden name, Bentley, and not adopt her husband's, Jones, as was customary in the great country to the north. Obviously, Colt Jones was in a bad mood for some time.



Spring 1939 began with torrential downpours that swelled the already mighty Mississippi River and turned the roads of the small town of Adelaide into a mud pit. With her sixth birthday just around the corner, the small and charismatic Lucía Bentley didn't hesitate to start inviting her school friends to a big party at her house. Although the long-awaited day was still more than three weeks away, the twins Justino and Herminia were among those invited (along with her entire class).



After school, the Richardson-Quintales twins invited Lucía to play at their house, which was beautiful and large, located on the riverbank. Her little friends had many siblings, and Lucía always felt a bit overwhelmed since she was an only child.



The twins had younger and slightly older brothers and sisters, but the brother of their classmates who most caught the little redhead's attention was the oldest, James III Richardson Quintales, 17 years old, blond and handsome like his father. James was in his final year of high school, so he was a student of her mother, Jane. When she tried to talk to him, James III acted somewhat pedantic and conceited toward the redhead girl, so Lucia sometimes got angry and stuck her tongue out at him to show her displeasure! Little did little Lucia Bentley have no idea at that time that in about 20 years, that arrogant boy would become her first husband.



It was after 5 p.m. when a persistent rain stopped, and Lucía took the opportunity to say goodbye to her friends and family before heading home. She refused to be accompanied by James III, as she was old enough to go alone. Perhaps she should have accepted his company, because as she walked away from the Richardson-Quintales house along the muddy path, her intuition told her that someone or something was following her!



She quickened her pace because every time she turned to look behind her, she saw no one. A few minutes later, her intuition was confirmed when she heard a dog barking. The little redhead wasn't a coward, but the black dog was very large and seemed quite angry. With nothing to defend herself with, her only option was to run home!



Lucía didn't look back, she just ran as fast as she could, until a loud shout made her turn around: "Francis, quick, the dog!!!" The girl didn't recognize the voice, but she did recognize the distinct foreign accent, the same one her father, Colt, and her aunt, Tayna, used, very different from the perfect English accent of her mother, Jane, her late grandfather, Samuel, and herself. The scene that greeted her took her by surprise: a huge macaw flew up to the black dog, attacking it relentlessly until it fell into the river!



The little girl stopped and watched the unequal air-sea battle until the poor dog managed to swim back to shore. She ran away after another shout, "Francis's had enough!" made the macaw fly back to her owner's shoulder. He was a tall, burly old man with a white beard and hair, who looked like a very old pirate captain. For some reason she couldn't understand at the time, the little girl didn't back away or feel afraid of the old pirate despite his fearsome appearance. The old man approached the girl, knelt down, and asked her:



"What's your name, little one?"

"Lucía Bentley!"

"The little redhead is just as pretty as her mother!" shouted the macaw.

"Shut up, Francis! My granddaughter is going to think you're half-crazy!" ordered the old man.

"Which granddaughter?" asked Lucía, confused.

"What granddaughter?" "My little one, I know you don't know me, but I'm Morgan Jones, your grandfather. Your father, Colt Jones, is my son!"

"But my grandfather Morgan is dead!" the girl replied, quite confused. She had visited the cemetery numerous times since the death of her great-grandfather Samuel, and next to his grave was that of her grandfather Morgan, who had died years ago in Brazil.



The girl tried to process who the old man in front of her was. It couldn't be her grandfather; he was dead. But now she understood why she hadn't been afraid of him. Although she had never seen him, she already knew him. Her great-aunt Berenice had told her several times that her brother Morgan had left Adelaide very young to become a pirate!



When Lucia questioned her father, Colt, about her grandfather Morgan, he avoided mentioning the crimes, the murders, or the rats, and whitewashed his story as much as possible. He told his young daughter that her grandfather Morgan had indeed become a pirate and sailed for many years, eventually becoming a grumpy old man with white hair and beard, navigating the waters of the Amazon River aboard his ship, always accompanied by his faithful macaw, Francis!



And the fictional story Lucia knew about her deceased grandfather was completed by her beloved Aunt Tayna, who was responsible for Morgan giving up his pirate life to take care of her. Lucía didn't know what to think. This old man perfectly matched the description her entire family had given her of her grandfather, Morgan Jones. To add to the confusion, the old man in front of her also had a macaw with the same name, Francis, as her late grandfather's macaw. All of this couldn't be just a mere coincidence.



Morgan Jones looked at his doubtful granddaughter, gave her a couple of minutes, and finally asked:

"Tell me, little one, who told you that story about me being dead?"

But little Lucía didn't answer directly. Instead, she countered with another question, assuming, given the many coincidences, that the old man and the bird in front of her could be none other than her grandfather Morgan and his macaw, Francis.

"Grandpa, are you and your macaw dead? Are you ghosts? Did you get here on a ghost ship?"



"We're dead, we're dead!!!" Francis shouted.

"Shut up, you birdbrain! You're going to scare my granddaughter!!!"

Morgan Jones leaned closer, and without saying a word, Lucia reached out and touched him. The little girl also stroked Francis's feathers, confirming that they were both real and not a figment of her imagination or a ghostly apparition. Then the old man sat up, took his granddaughter's hand, and started walking toward his son Colt's house.



"Now, Lucia, since you've confirmed that Francis and I aren't ghosts, tell me the whole story of how I died?"

To be continued…

#OriginalStory #Bigverso

LMLB[6]: Lucia Bentley

"This treasure isn't ours to steal, it's ours to honor," Colt said.

Jane pulled him close, and they sealed their vow as the new guardians with a passionate kiss, while outside, Niagara Falls roared like an eternal, complicit applause.



"Good heavens, Mrs. Lucia, your family's stories never cease to amaze me. I would have sworn your father pulled out his knife to steal the diamond and the other jewels from the grotto."

"You're not wrong. My father had a very peculiar moral compass because of the way he was raised. When my grandfather Morgan asked him to kill, he drew a line and abandoned his father and the rats, but he remained a rogue, a swindler, a common thief until he met my mother aboard the Aria Amazon, and his life changed forever. He had a purpose, and my mother's love transformed him into a treasure hunter—a kind-hearted one at that!"



"Colt with all my heart, Colt with all my heart!!!" Morgan shouted, and the two women smiled again.

"Fabiana, I hope you paid close attention to how to get to the grotto." The girl nodded. "Now you inherit not only the secret of its location, but also the duty of being its guardian. I myself visited it many years after my parents, during my honeymoon with my first husband!"



The old woman paused for a few seconds, her eyes moistening slightly as she recalled the moment.

"That time we only left our hearts carved on the rock. I returned years later, alone, to leave my engagement ring and our wedding bands, after James died."

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Lucia."

"It's alright. Let's go to sleep. We have to visit the cemetery tomorrow."



-Wait a minute, Mrs. Lucia, something's not clear to me. If your parents ended up getting married, why don't you have the last name Jones?

-My answer might surprise you, but a couple of days after returning from their honeymoon, my parents told me they were going to the town's civil registry the next day to officially change my last name, since they were now officially married.



-I congratulated them on their marriage, but I absolutely refused to change my last name. I was only five years old at the time, but I was very independent and very self-assured!



"I told my father, 'Thank you very much for his last name, but I was Lucia Bentley. That was the name I was given at birth, and all my friends at school and in the town of Adelaide knew me by that name back then.' My father wasn't too happy about my decision, but he had no choice but to accept it!" The laughter of Fabiana, Morgan, and Lucia herself echoed through the hotel for quite some time!



The next morning…

Lucia Bentley solemnly carried bouquets of white chrysanthemums to the Adelaide cemetery to place on the aged graves of her great-grandfather, Samuel Bentley, and her grandfather, Morgan Jones. After a few moments of silence, the elderly woman with white hair spoke:



"Fabiana, beneath my grandfather Morgan's grave lies the bulk of my family's fortune in heavy gold ingots that my parents obtained after selling the Amazonian jewel, and which my father buried as soon as they arrived in Adelaide."



"And if my memory serves me right—and it hasn't lately—there should be exactly 42 ingots, each weighing 12 kilograms, of 24-karat gold. What remains after my mother's donations and my own—since I also made some withdrawals throughout my life—is more than 70 million dollars at the current price of gold, a fortune you will have to manage with prudence and wisdom when I am no longer with you."

"Whew, I never imagined it would be so much money, Mrs. Lucia."

"Fabiana millionaire, Fabiana millionaire!!!" Morgan sang softly, just loud enough for the two women in his life to hear.



"Don't look so worried, Fabiana. You're a young woman, very intelligent, and you're studying and preparing yourself. With my improved health, I might be with you for a few more years than I originally thought before we started our trip to Paris!" Lucía hadn't mentioned a single word to the girl that her improved health was due to the elixir her friend Lucía Etraud had given her during their Parisian get-together.




A few hours later, back at the hotel…

Taking advantage of her travel companion taking a shower, Lucía Bentley had ordered a teapot of tea and added a couple of drops of the magical elixir to share with Fabiana and Morgan. Morgan, the parrot, watched her with intrigue.



"Don't say a word, Morgan. If this elixir has worked wonders for my health, it'll help you two even more than it's helped me. It's a secret!"

"Secret, secret!" the bird repeated.

"Secret, secret!" Fabiana steps out of the shower, and Lucía offers her a cup of hot tea to warm her up from the cold. The young woman takes it and sips it before asking:



"Mrs. Lucía, what really happened to your grandfather Morgan? I know that the beautiful story your father, Colt Jones, told your aunt Berenice was just a lie. He didn't die in the Amazon River, a good man. The last I heard of him, from his stories, was that he sailed to the city of Porto, tricked by his son Colt, who, along with Jane, stole the Amazonian jewel and sold it in Chaotic City on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean!"



-If it's true, one of my father's best cons. I'll tell you, I didn't know what had happened in Brazil, or who my grandfather really was, until many years later, when I was old enough to process everything. That's when my father told me the whole story, about the man who raised him. For my father, his grandfather was a vile, ruthless man, a bandit, a swindler, and a dangerous killer, who recruited and trained starving children in the streets of Porto Velho, promising them a plate of food in exchange for selling their souls and turning them into rats like himself!



"When I heard his whole story, I was very shocked, because the Morgan Jones I knew when I was just a little girl wasn't him. My grandfather Morgan was struggling to reconcile himself with life; he was tired of his life of crime. He just wanted to go home and die in peace! For that reason, and because he also saved my life, I was able to forgive his life of crime and remember him fondly forever. That's why I named my beloved parrot after him, Morgan! Now I'll tell you about the day I met him." Fabiana asked the old woman for a moment, finished her cup of tea, and put on her pajamas before sitting back down on the bed across from her wise travel companion, ready to listen with... Check out another one of Lucía Bentley's memoirs!



To be continued…

#OriginalStory #DigitalArt #OwndesignImage #BigVerso

☀️GoodMorning☀️ #BCHNosteeers☀️

#goodmorning #digital_art #owndesignimage #Bch

Vampire Wars [17]: Princess Mirna Polietkova (V)

Vladic draws his fine Damascus steel sword from its scabbard, the finest weapon a vampire can wield, and throws it into the sand, which buries itself in front of the peasant woman's feet. She raises the sword with a flourish and smiles at the Romanian knight's generosity. Now she had a chance to escape with her life!



"Release the dogs!" shouts Captain Vasily!

Three small, barred gates open simultaneously, and three enormous Siberian Molossus dogs leap onto the sand. Fierce canines, primarily used for herding, one of which could face and defeat a small pack of wolves to protect the shepherd and his flock. But today, on this sand, their enemy was not a wolf—skin, fangs, and muscle—but a poor peasant woman accused of witchcraft!

The former Romanian colonel watches the young woman with delight, her rhythmic movements wielding her sword, almost millimeter-perfect, facing three fierce enemies at once. They don't have a blade as sharp as hers, but the girl isn't preoccupied with the steel; she economizes each stroke, keeping the dogs at bay. She knows she can kill any one of the three dogs in an instant, but if she makes a mistake, if the cut isn't clean and the sword gets stuck in the animal's body, the other two dogs will devour her alive, attacking from behind.



Princess Mirna Polietkova, her vassal Kuznetsov, and their soldiers shout in a frenzy, waiting for the peasant girl to slip up. They truly want her dead! Vladic silences the ambient noise for a few seconds, smiling slightly as he enjoys the movements and beauty of the young peasant girl. He realizes it's not the first time she's held a sword; someone trained her, and did it well, many years ago. The vampire knows he's already won the bet.



-Zaaaaaast!!!- In a lightning-fast movement, the Damascus steel hissed through the air as it severed the head of one of the dogs. The slash was so swift that in the stands of the small coliseum, the Russian Princess's soldiers continued shouting out of sheer inertia.



Three seconds later—Zaaaaaast!!!—the black steel forged in a Damascus forge cracked once more, as the second head fell. The Russian soldiers and their Princess fell silent at the bloody spectacle. Now it was the young peasant girl who hunted and cornered the last molosser dog standing on the sand. It wasn't as aggressive without its companions, but it hadn't given up. The peasant girl offered it an opening, lowering her bloodied steel. The dog fell into the trap and launched a ferocious attack—Zaaaaaast!!!—the sword sang for the third time, and its head rolled, falling alongside those of its companions! "Damn Romanian!!!" Kuznetsov shouted.



"Auuuuuuh, auuuuuh, auuuuuh!!!" a lone wolf howled three times in the forest near the castle, as if bidding farewell to the three fallen enemies.

It had been snowing in the forest for over an hour; the cold was biting. For the human mercenaries, it was bitter, but not for the aristocratic German brothers. The cold didn't bother the vampires; they were already dead, though their hearts still beat, their blood flowing through their bodies. They were cold, icy. Gretel and Hansel, who heard the wolf's three howls, remained unmoved. They had no idea what was happening inside the castle; they were still too inexperienced to interpret the signs.



In the castle's main courtyard, on the other hand, the African giant Pale, with nearly 90 years of experience under his belt and trained for war by his grandparents practically from the cradle, senses danger without needing to hear the wolf's three howls in the forest. With a silent signal, he alerts his mercenaries, who take up their guard around him. Something is going to happen, and it's going to happen soon.



Back inside the castle…

At a signal from the Princess, a servant hands Kuznetsov a heavy bag full of gold coins. He reluctantly pays the agreed-upon bet: 300 gold coins to Crucio, Stonian's lackey.



"Release the young woman so she can give me back my sword!" Vladic demands.

"I don't think you were paying much attention at first, Lord Stonian," Princess Mirna Polietkova says calmly. "This wasn't a trial by combat; it's an execution. She will die tonight, no matter how, but don't worry, you'll get your sword back when they drag her body out!"



"GRRRRR!!!" The roar of a huge feline locked in one of the coliseum's cages once again rouses the soldiers in the stands.

"Release Barsik!!!" Captain Vasily shouts.



"GRRRRR!!!" The thunderous roar repeats, and a heavy iron gate containing the feline creaks open, releasing a beast that leaps onto the sand—an enormous Siberian tiger, a great killer cat. The peasant woman instinctively takes a few steps back. Vladic makes a signal imperceptible to the human eye, but not to Crucio, the Roman vampire. He feigns a slip and strikes a soldier's helmet at great speed. "Ding, ding, ding, ding!!!" echoes as it strikes the rock wall until it falls silent on the sand, next to the bodies of the three Molosser dogs. In their eagerness to execute the peasant woman, they released Barsik prematurely, and those in charge of cleaning the arena fled, abandoning the dogs. The enormous Siberian tiger momentarily forgot about the girl as he went straight for the molosser feast!



While Barsik ate, the peasant woman put meters of distance between herself and the tiger, unsure if it would attack now or later! The Russian princess applauded, and ten maids dressed in ragged, old hoods that covered them from head to toe appeared, distributing glasses of wine to those present. -GRRRRR!!!- Another roar from the tiger drew everyone's attention. The peasant woman had attacked and wounded the beast, which turned on her to kill her. Vladic took a glass of wine to toast with the Princess and Kuznetsov, keeping a watchful eye on the peasant woman.



But when the vampire brings the cup to his lips, he knows something is wrong with its contents and clumsily spills it. Crucio, who was watching his master, also notices what's happening and spills his cup without even tasting it. He turns away and signals. The third vampire notices and imitates him, dropping his cup. The fourth vampire, however, is too engrossed in watching the fight between the peasant woman and Barsik!



The vampire takes the cup offered by the nearest servant without caution, opens his mouth, and drinks the wine. By the time his nose detects what the drink contains, it's too late: very recently aged wine mixed with strong spices, meant to conceal the secret ingredient, "holy water." As soon as the liquid enters his throat, he clutches his neck and literally breathes fire!



Princess Mirna Polietkova stands, draws her sword, and shouts:

"Kill Stonian and his men!!!"

Vladic and his vampires have fallen into a deadly trap. The Russian soldiers react by raising their swords and spears, but they are not alone. The ten maids remove their ragged, shabby cloaks, revealing the true colors they concealed beneath: black habits, wooden crucifixes, and swords. They are Catholic nuns, but not just any nuns—they are hunter nuns!



To be continued…



#OriginalStory #DigitalArt #OwndesignImage #Bigverso