The Toldar Series Box Set

by Matt Mememaro

  “I’m still married,” Abner said.

  “Your wife would be dead and you’re also over four hundred fucking years old,” Valdmire said. He reached across and slapped Abner on the arm. “Don’t know how you’ve still got feeling left in your body after being trapped in a cage like that for so long. You’ve got to live and see a little.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve done with yourself, Valdmire, but I had travelled all across Taagras for my entire life hunting and kill Vampires. I’d seen it all, I killed a Councilor and broke free of the Lock. I’ve lived. And all I want right now is to return Taagras to it’s true owners that aren’t able to fight back,” Abner said.

  “We lost,” Valdmire said. “There’s nothing you can do to change that. Yes, you can cut the head off the snake, but another will grow back in its place.”

  “Then like we discussed with Gerard, we need to recruit more Hunters will to take up the mantle and join us,” Abner said.

  “And what? Start an all-out war between the humans and the Vampires? Because that’d end up going so well for the humans,” Valdmire said. “Yes you can live indefinitely until a Vampire rips your head off, but nobody else but I can. Whether you like it or not, Abner, you and I are tied to the Vampires more closely than you would like to admit.”

  “I chose my side long ago,” Abner said. “Since that very first day that I saw Barros kill that Vampire in the underbelly of the old Renori arena I was committed. You can pick whichever side you want but if you join the Vampires I promise you I will be the end of you.”

  Valdmire laughed. “Don’t get in my way, Abner. It’ll only end badly for you. I apologize but since I have been alive I have become a key part in this new world you’re no longer accustomed to. I’ve met with Tal’davin, I’ve seen some of his plans. For a world like ours that can tip out of balance on nothing more than a coin toss, I’d say he’s done a pretty reasonable job. For a start were you aware that there’s been no mass Vampire killings of humans for the last fifty years?”

  “Bull shit,” Abner said. “Vampires need to feed on humans to keep themselves alive. The only Vampires I’ve met are fans of self-preservation.”

  “Vampires from the dark ages,” Valdmire said. “Like I said Abner I took you out to show you the world. Those Blood Banks you saw on the way here are another of Tal’davin’s inventions. He’s created a market for human blood and that’s what they are. They donate blood at least three times a year and with the growing human population that is more than enough to sustain the Vampires. Yes, we had to ban feeding for quite some time until their numbers replenished. They ran amok without the Hunters to keep the numbers down.”

  Abner shook his head. “That’s not good enough and I’m going to call bull shit. What about those addicts, the ones that kill for the fun of it? I’d bet you still have those.”

  “Look around you Abner, can you smell them?” Valdmire asked. “Everyone here except for yourself, that couple in the corner over there and me are full blooded Vampires. Do you see anyone concerned or even out on the street worried by this?”

  Abner blinked twice and sniffed the air as he looked around. The café did reek of Vampires and his Vampire sight all but confirmed it. Whilst they lingered in their human forms, Abner could still see through their disguises. Their ring fingers longer than their middle fingers, and their breaths.

  “You brought me here and we’re outnumbered like this? Why?” Abner asked.

  “Not a problem for you though after your efforts only yesterday,” Valdmire said. “Relax. We’re all friends here.”

  “You and I are Hunters. These creatures are our enemies,” Abner said. “How can you sit here waiting for your soy latte and ignore that?”

  “Abner, the world has changed. I keep telling you that. That’s the reason why I brought you here,” Valdmire said. “I however, am no more a Hunter than any other Vampire in here. Four hundred years ago you wouldn’t have been able to sit in the same room with the Vampires, let alone talk about killing them openly when they’re all in earshot.”

  “I’ve always done that, Valdmire. I’ve never given a shit as to when a Vampire would attack me. I welcome it,” Abner said. “If they’re exposed and out in the open that just makes it easier for me to kill them. And if you’ve just told me everyone here but that couple over there is a Vampire. I’ve got an easy job ahead of me.”

  Abner’s eyes swelled and the red washed through them, bringing his rage to the forefront of his mind. He pulled a pistol from the insides of his jacket, one of the weapons Gerard had shown him inside the new den. Its longer barrel affected the bullet drop and was perfect for close quarters.

  Abner stood up and he pulled back on the trigger twice, sending two bullets into the air of the café. Both found their mark Vampires sitting in the next booth over. Their friends gathered with them didn’t even have time to realize what had happened. Valdmire leapt to his feet, his arm trying to drive Abner’s arm up.

  “Stop!”

  Abner ignored his command and pointed the gun at Valdmire’s head. “I haven’t had one of these buried in my brain before, but you’ll be sure to let me know if it tickles, won’t you?”

  Valdmire put his hands up. “Abner, stop, take a look around. Hunters need to act with more tact now. You can’t do this.” He spoke softly.

  Abner paused. All of the Vampires in the café had stood up and were now glaring intently at Abner. Even in their human forms he could see their eyes glistening with a lust for his blood. Abner felt his own coming back to him. The human couple who sat in the corner were now on the floor, their faces buried in their hands.

  “I can’t do this?” Abner asked. “Watch me.”

  His claws sprung out and he struck at Valdmire across the table, catching the other half-Vampire in the throat. Valdmire clutched his throat, choking on strength of the blow. Abner fired the gun again, sending two more Vampires to the ground. Valdmire reached out again, now recovered and grabbed Abner’s gun arm, twisting it forcing him to drop the weapon.

  Abner spun, breaking Valdmire’s iron grip, trying for a backhand as he spun. Valdmire was too fast, catching the other half-Vampire and with a single shove slammed him down onto the table. Before Abner could react he saw claws at his throat, poised to strike.

  “Stop,” Valdmire said. “Come with me now and we’ll get out of here.” He looked up at the gathered Vampires. “You all know who I am. I apologize for the death of your friends, but my associate and I will be leaving now.”

  “I apologize for nothing!” Abner said.

  “What’s going on in here!” Two guards, much like the ones from the laboratory walked through the door.

  “Nothing officers,” Valdmire said. “Just a misunderstanding.”

  “Who’s that on the table?” one asked. “Is that-”

  His companion was faster to a device strapped to his chest. He pressed it and held the button down. “Toldar sighted at Tel-”

  Abner had already caught him off mid-sentence his own claws slashing through the Vampire’s throat. He used Valdmire’s momentum to roll off the table onto the floor before jumping to his feet. The other Vampires looked to attack and Abner once again obliged them. He tore through the first, wearing a waiter’s outfit sending its head across the room. He turned to charge the second officer but ran into Valdmire. A burning sensation pierced his stomach and he looked down to see a Dreyth dagger much like the one that Lois had stabbed him with all those years ago.

  “What the fuck?”

  “I didn’t want to do it, but you didn’t listen to reason,” Valdmire said. He picked up the device the dead Vampire had cradled in his hand. “Yes, this is Valdmire, I have Subject One sedated and here for extraction at the Telrose Café. Send a squad to come and pick him up.”

  “Should we inform Tal’davin?” someone on the other end of the line asked.

  “No, this is off the books,” Valdmire said. “Tal’davin doesn’t need to know.” He turned back to Abner and r
an his hand over his face. “Sleep.”

  9

  The Past

  Abner awoke to find himself in darkness and his mind flashed back to the time he had found himself inside the Lock. This time it was only his hands that were restrained, a rough set of handcuffs clasped over each of his wrists. Abner sat himself up and focused on his Vampire sight, bringing his surroundings into the dull red color he was growing accustomed to again.

  He found himself in a cell. Not one as small as the Lock, this had enough space for him to walk around and a bed rested in the corner. There was no window and a small chair stood outside his cell. There were no guards present and the cell didn’t even all the way through to the roof. A small gap that would easily allow someone to crawl through separated the top of the cell and the roof.

  It wasn’t high and Abner stood, looking to escape his imprisonment sooner rather than later. He positioned his hands, ready to grab onto the edge of the cell. He leapt up, his hands grabbing the steel, but as soon as he was secure he felt an explosion, surging through his fingertips, all the way up his arms which sent him flying back against the far wall.

  He let out a cry as his hands burned, stinging from the blue energy that now acted as the roof of the cell. Abner sat against the back wall, patting his hands together trying to ease the pain. As he did he heard footsteps, timed with the clapping of his hands, masking their sound. As they neared the sound of tapping on the floorboards grew louder.

  “Hello Abner,” a familiar voice said.

  Abner looked up and saw Lois Behan standing outside the cell. Her face was the same but everything else about her was different. She looked as if she hadn’t aged a day past twenty-five and she wore her long hair in two pigtails, one on either side of her head. She wore a blue shade around her eyes and her face seemed more pointed an angelic it had done before, a slightly different tone from the rest of her skin that showed under a top that revealed her belly, and the shorts that barely covered her thighs. She pressed herself up against the bars, a sly smile on her face.

  “You look different,” Abner said.

  “And you look exactly the same,” Lois said. “It’s a new world my dear, why shouldn’t I be able to change how I look to pretend that I am still as youthful as I was when I left you.”

  “You didn’t leave me,” Abner said. He got to his feet and began to walk to the edge of the cell. “You stabbed me in the back and left me to fucking Tal’davin!”

  “I did what I had to do,” Lois said. “Imagine you were in my position, trying to eliminate the one person that you had loved your entire life and he held that much power over you! I was torn to pieces, Abner! Torn!”

  “What did he have over you, Lois? Don’t give me that shit. He had money, position and power and that’s what you betrayed me for wasn’t it?”

  “At the time he held my mother. He kept her alive for me. It was only after you had been restrained that all the rest followed,” Lois said. “Like I said, I did what I had to do! We’ve built this new world together with me by his side.”

  “You’ve laid with my father?” Abner asked. His face wrinkled with disgust.

  “Your father is a considered a god among us here,” Lois said. “But no, after he put you to sleep, the man I knew in Barros faded all together in all but name. For the last four hundred and sixty two years he’s become more Tal’davin than Barros, so much so that only his face is familiar.”

  “You laid with him,” Abner said again. He spat on the floor. “I thought that the knife in the back might have been a mistake, something you were forced to do, but you wanted to do it didn’t you?”

  “I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t,” Lois said. “Up until our wedding you acted as if I was a tool for you to use, not your best friend or your lover. What happened to you?”

  “What happened to me? Lois I was out there fighting each and every day with you against our enemy. What happened to you? You conspired behind my back!”

  He tried to thrust his hands through the bars, forgetting the handcuffs were still strapped to his wrists. His hands fell short, the clanging of steel on steel ringing in his ears. Lois laughed and reached out to hold both his hands in hers.

  “You can’t touch me,” she said. “The last four hundred years have seen me become a Countess, Abner. Now that Tal’davin is back I cannot possibly rise any higher. I know how you fight, and I’ve trained for the day you were unleashed upon the world once again. I am one of them now and have been for almost my entire time I have been on this rock. I won’t apologize for what I’ve done to you or to anyone else. I have a better life now, I have power and I’m not being chased or chasing something every day.”

  Abner looked down at her hands. “You still have our wedding band on your finger. Why?”

  Lois giggled. “We never got divorced. Why would I get rid of such a pretty thing?”

  Abner stretched out his claws and clamped down on her hand. He pressed his face into the bars and flashed his fangs. “We’re done. You are my enemy now and I will kill you.”

  Lois laughed again. She flicked her wrist and escaped his grasp. “From in here? Any time you try to climb over, you’ll be shocked, like you were before and any time you try to pull the bars apart to escape, again good luck. I can’t bend them, I don’t think you’d be able to either.”

  “People doubted me in the past and I put them into the ground,” Abner said. “I’ll do the same to you without a second’s thought.”

  “What Graytooth? Gareth? They were nothing. I’d like to see you take on an opponent who’s had more training and knows exactly how you fight,” Lois said. “Maybe if you get let out Tal’davin will let me separate your head from your body.” An alarm went off in the room, a loud buzzing sound assaulted Abner’s ears. Lois looked around at the room. “Friends of yours?”

  Abner shrugged. “Probably. Don’t know who to call a friend anymore.”

  “Well it was good catching up with you husband. Hopefully Tal’davin will have some direction for you once I inform him of your arrival here,” Lois said. “Ta ta and farewell.” She blew him a kiss through the bars before walking out of the room.

  Once she had left Abner behind, Lois raced through her building, looking for the source of the alarm. She entered the security room just outside the prison and look over the guard’s shoulder who had been watching the camera. His helmet sat to the side on the desk as he punched numbers into the phone beside him.

  “Do we have a visual on any intruders yet?” she asked.

  “Yes ma’am. They entered on the thirty second floor and are heading this way,” the guard said. “We have all tactical teams on call, but they aren’t going to be enough.”

  Lois stormed out of the room. “I will be enough.”

  “But they’re Hunters, you will need support!” the guard said. He scrambled back to his radio. “Teams be advised the Empress is going after the Hunters, do not fire on her. I repeat do not fire!”

  “Pathetic,” Lois said to nobody but herself.

  She continued to walk down the corridor and began to hear gunshots. She looked over the railing out onto the floor below her and saw the Hunters, clad in their black masks and jackets shooting at every Vampire in sight. Lois smiled not seeing Valdmire among them and leapt over the railing to meet them.

  Their bullets flew past her and she attacked the first Hunter with her claws extended. From her build and the way she moved it was a young girl, no older than Lois had been when Tal’davin had given her the gift. She carried a Dreyth sword and Lois stayed away from the blade, ducking around and under it.

  “Where’s Abner!” the girl asked.

  “In holding,” Lois said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find him.”

  She ducked under the sword and struck at the girl’s belly. Paige brought the sword back and made Lois roll to the side at the last second to avoid the burning blade. She was immune to most but had seen what the blade had done to thousands of Vampires throughout the years
and did not want to be at the Hunter’s mercy. They continued to fight leaving the other Hunters free to run rampart throughout the building.

  “Paige, finish it off and let’s go!” Gerard said. He held his rifle up not wanting to hit her.

  “Go I’ll be fine! I’ll hold her as long as I can!”

  Lois snarled at the girl’s insolence. She was fast enough to keep up with the Empress and any attempt that Lois made to reach the retreating Hunters was cut off. The men made their way up the staircase to the above floor and saw the first holding cell. They started towards it. Lois backed away from the young Hunter and launched herself back up to the railing.

  “Shit!” Paige swore. She raced around under the railing and began to climb the stairs.

  Lois had forgotten about her, her focus that was on the Hunters attempting to break Abner out of the cell. Dale turned and saw her coming. He dropped to one knee and began to open fire.

  “Gerard! Hurry up we need to get out of here!”

  Gerard pulled a small round device from his pocket and set it at the door of the cell. It emitted three high pitched beeps before exploding. Lois took cover behind a wall, avoiding the fire from Dale’s rifle. The door to Abner’s cell swung open and she knew she had lost. Paige had now reached the floor and charged with her sword afloat.

  Lois darted out from her cover and underneath Paige’s sword, not even bothering to strike. Paige turned and tried to chase her but she was long gone.

  “Get after her!” she heard Abner scream as she approached the lifts to the ground floor.

  Lois ducked into the lift just as the girl rounded the corner, slamming into the door. Paige let out a scream as her quarrel slipped away and return to the Hunters and Abner. Abner was now free of his restraints and looked furious.

  “Where the fuck is that cunt, Valdmire?”

  “He told us what happened this was all part of the plan!” Gerard said.

  “What fucking plan?” Abner exploded. First face was red, his claws still out and his fangs were exposed. “What fucking plan could have had me been taken into custody, treated like some common fucking criminal to only be mind fucked by that wench!”