Bloodliner

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  "Well you won't get it!" said Thomas. "I'll kill you!"

  "Maybe someday." Genghis laughed and shook Mavis, drawing more screams. "But not today."

  "You won't get Jonah!" said Thomas.

  "And you won't get..." Genghis lurched forward as something hit him from behind—someone hit him. The blow knocked the breath out of him and made him relax his grip on Mavis.

  As Mavis slipped from his hand, another hand grabbed at her...and missed. The hand of the one who'd attacked Genghis.

  Mavis saw his face as she fell—the face of Jonah and Thomas' brother, James. His expression as he lost her was twisted with shock and dismay—then pain as Genghis spun and pummeled him.

  But Mavis didn't really care what happened to James at that moment. As she fell toward her certain death, she cried out a name, but it wasn't James'. It was the name of her true love, the man she might see one last time when she reached the floor, if only for an instant. The wind of her passage carried it up and away as she plunged. Little more than a fluttering sigh of breath, like life itself.

  "Arthur..."

  *****

  Chapter 98

  "Mavis!" Just as Jonah called her name, Thomas swung him around and slammed him against the pillar.

  "Hang on!" said Thomas. "I'll be right back!"

  As Jonah wrapped his arms and legs around the pillar, Thomas pushed off and leaped away. In one tremendous jump, he covered the fifty feet to the ring of pillars where Genghis and James were fighting.

  Thomas landed on the pillar next to the one Genghis clung to and immediately lashed out with a brutal kick to Genghis' head. Surprised, Genghis whipped around, just in time to catch the next kick square in the face. James followed up with a clawed slash across Genghis' side and belly, opening up four gashes bubbling over with black blood.

  "You son of a bitch!" Thomas hauled back a leg and plowed a punishing kick into Genghis' wounds. "I told you I'd kill you!"

  As Thomas and James kept up the attack, Jonah struggled to keep his aching arms and legs locked around his pillar. He also did the one thing Mavis had told him not to...though he did it for her. He did it to look for her.

  He looked down. The second he did, a wave of intense vertigo rushed through him. Everything seemed to spin, turning in dizzying circles.

  But in the middle of it all, far below, he saw her. He saw Mavis falling, looking back at him as she dropped, arms and legs scrambling for purchase. His heart went out to her.

  So this is it. We've failed. Without her, without both of us, they can't open Empyrea.

  Defeated, Jonah gazed out at the battlefield in the chamber and realized it was all for nothing. Stanza with machine gun blazing, mowing down a tide of monsters. Alexander the Great, a fighting machine all his own, leaving a trail of limbs and organs. Hercules guarding the door, repelling assaults from all quarters at once. Everyone fighting with furious purpose, unaware they had already lost.

  But then, as Jonah looked down, dizzy and nauseous and discouraged, he had one last flash of hope. Saw one more chance for victory.

  A lone figure, vaulting from below, reaching out for Mavis.

  *****

  Chapter 99

  I'm going to die. That was what Mavis was thinking. Any second now, I'll be gone.

  Her tears were stripped away by the wind as she fell. She called his name again, sobbing with regret.

  Almost there. I'm dead already. The impact will just be a punctuation mark.

  Just as she had the thought, she slammed down...and for an instant, thought she'd hit bottom. Thought she'd made the final impact. Closed her eyes in anticipation of oblivion.

  But then, she quickly realized she hadn't crashed down at all. She'd hit hard, but she hadn't splattered. Wonder of wonders, she was still breathing and thinking and moving.

  Her eyes shot open, and her heart nearly burst with joy when she saw what had happened. Against all hope, she'd been rescued—caught in mid-air. Someone leaping up from below had intercepted her.

  He held her in his arms as he continued to rise. His glittering emerald eyes were fixed on a distant point, his square jaw was set, his muscles and tendons straining upward.

  She called his name again, and this time, she knew he heard it. "Arthur!"

  He was too focused to answer. Following the direction of his gaze, Mavis realized why. He was aiming for one of the pillars, striving to reach it before he hit the peak of his leap and started to drop. He was almost there, barely ten feet away, but he was running out of momentum fast.

  Mavis watched the pillar come closer...and then she lost her view as Arthur slung her over his shoulder, freeing a hand to reach out. Grunting from the strain, he stretched, struggling to make contact.

  And Mavis felt it when he did. A jarring impact cut through them both, and then they spun in circles around the pillar, shedding momentum as Arthur held on with one mighty hand.

  When the spinning ended, Arthur tipped her away from his shoulder and smiled lovingly. "Hello again, my darling Mavis."

  "Hello again, my king." Mavis stroked his cheek with her fingers.

  "What say we open Empyrea, my love?" Arthur flicked his eyes upward. "In the mood to finish the job?"

  Mavis nodded. "Anything," she said. "As long as you're with me."

  "Then hold on." Arthur kissed her lips and tucked her against his shoulder. "This could be a bumpy ride."

  "I'm ready." Mavis looped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life as he scaled the pillar...held on because she never wanted to be apart from him again as much as because the climb would be perilous.

  *****

  Chapter 100

  Jonah watched from fifty feet away as Genghis battled James and Thomas. Even fighting two of them, both younger than he and just as vampirically enhanced, Genghis was still holding his own. He was still keeping the twins at bay, bashing and gashing them with alternating strikes, preventing either of them from landing a decisive blow.

  And then, he was winning. With a vicious piledriver to the chest, he knocked James off the bar and sent him flying. Whipping around, he grabbed Thomas by the throat and clubbed his head against the crystalline pillar.

  Somersaulting in midair, James managed to grab a passing bar and swing around it, then leap back to the center ring. He ended up a few bars from Genghis and had to work his way back, hopping from one to the next.

  Jonah wasn't sure if Thomas would still be alive by the time James reached him, though. Genghis kept crashing his skull against the pillar, hauling off and waling it against the rock-hard crystal. Black blood sprayed from cuts and cracks in Thomas' head, spattering the pillar and Genghis' grinning face.

  Jonah's heart jackhammered in his chest, his fear and vertigo forgotten as he watched his brothers in action. This was what it had come down to; an ending much like the beginning, with Jonah watching helplessly as his brothers suffered.

  He's going to kill them. He's going to tear them apart.

  If only I could do something to save them.

  Maybe he could. Swallowing hard, he gathered his courage...then shouted across the divide. "Stop it! Please stop it!"

  Genghis didn't pause or give any indication he'd even heard him. He just kept banging Thomas' head against the bar.

  "I'll help you find another way to open Empyrea!" said Jonah. "I'll help you get your power! Just please don't kill them!"

  "You'll help me anyway! Don't pretend you have a choice!" Laughing, Genghis swung Thomas at the bar with special force. "As your brother would say, screw you!"

  Then, with a roar, Genghis spun and flung Thomas headfirst at James. Their skulls collided with a crack, and James let go of the bar he was holding onto.

  No! Oh God, please no!

  At the last second before he could drop into freefall, James snagged another bar with one hand. He hooked his legs around Thomas and swung back, dangling by one hand from the pillar, looking dazed and ready to give way.

  "James!" said Jonah. "Hold on!"
/>
  "He's toast!" said Genghis. "Say bye-bye, and make it fast!" With that, he started across the bars toward the twins, clambering from one perch to the next.

  "Watch out, James!" Jonah wished he could fly across the gap to the inner circle of bars, wished he could fly to the aid of his brothers. He wished he could make up for failing to save them once before, when they'd needed him most. He wished he could undo the past five years and start over, as if this nightmare had never started.

  But he just hung there, and Genghis kept moving closer to the twins.

  Everything's lost. I can't help them. No one can help them.

  Tears blurred his eyes, and he wiped them away. When he could see again, he couldn't bear to watch his twin brothers being murdered, so he looked down.

  Which was when he realized he'd been wrong. He'd been wrong about no one being able to help James and Thomas.

  Just as Genghis reached the bar next to theirs, a hand lashed up from below and grabbed his ankle. Someone had been scaling the pillar the whole time he'd been fighting the twins, and Genghis, in his bloodlust, hadn't seen him.

  King Arthur!

  Arthur had climbed fast and stealthily, gliding hand over hand up the bar. Even carrying a passenger—Mavis, who clung to his neck—he'd zipped quickly and effortlessly to the heights.

  And now, with just one hand, Arthur brought down Genghis. He yanked Genghis' ankle hard, jolting his foot free and breaking his hold on the pillar. Genghis was caught by surprise, and his panicked scrambling did no good; he fell back and away from the pillar, howling with rage as he plummeted toward the floor.

  Arthur hoisted himself up and helped Mavis find a hold on the pillar, then leaped over to help James and Thomas. As he lifted Thomas, taking the strain off James, he called out across the way.

  "Jonah!" said Arthur. "I'll be right with you!"

  A feeling of great relief washed over Jonah at the sound of that voice. He knew he was far from safe, far from finished with his struggles, but at least he knew there was hope. At least he knew, with King Arthur in action, that he had a fighting chance of making things work out.

  *****

  Chapter 101

  Arthur helped Mavis get into position beneath the third and final set of locks, then kissed her and went off to get Jonah. As Mavis watched him go, her heart ached at even that brief separation.

  I never want to be apart from him again. I'd rather die.

  On nearby pillars, James and Thomas rested and recovered from their ordeal. Thomas was in the worst shape by far, his face ruptured and blackened with bruises and blood.

  "Look who I found!" Arthur helped Jonah mount the pillar next to Mavis, directly under the final set of locks. "The second key has returned to finish the job!"

  Jonah blew out his breath and shook his head. "What a day, huh?"

  "You can say that again." Mavis smiled. "How about we get this over with?"

  As the two of them reached for the overhead lock panels, Arthur stopped them. "Wait! Your hands aren't bleeding anymore."

  Mavis lowered her hand and stared at the palm. "It's scabbed over."

  "I'll bet mine's okay," said Jonah. "It still looks wet."

  "Better to be certain." Holding on to his pillar with one hand, Arthur drew Excalibur from its scabbard with the other. "Hold your hands out, please. Palms up."

  Mavis and Jonah did as he said. Arthur reopened the cuts on their palms with one swift stroke of Excalibur, slicing just deep enough to draw fresh blood.

  "All's well, milady." Arthur replaced Excalibur in its scabbard. "Whenever you're ready..."

  Mavis nodded and reached up, and so did Jonah. "Three...," she said. "Two. One."

  She and Jonah simultaneously pressed their bloody hands against the smooth panels of the lock. After a long moment, Mavis felt the usual tingling in her arm...and a moment after that, glittering sparks swirled under the panels. This time, the sparks were bright green.

  "What happens next?" Jonah lowered his hand from the lock and looked around.

  Mavis watched as the panels above her swirled and sparkled. "Not much so far."

  Thomas laughed through the cracked walnut of his beaten face. "Maybe nothing happens. Maybe it's all a big joke."

  At that instant, the panels above Mavis and Jonah suddenly flared with green light. Squinting through the sudden blaze, Mavis saw the other locks flare, too—one burning bright red, the other bright yellow.

  They held like that for a moment, casting down shafts of blinding radiance. Then, the lights began to rotate and pulsate, fanning out over the throngs of vampires on the floor far below. When the lights cruised over them, the vampires stopped fighting and looked up toward the source, toward Mavis and Jonah and Arthur.

  Soon, the whole chamber was still except for the pulsing, swooping lights. Mavis glimpsed hundreds of vampires standing and watching, friends and enemies side by side. She glimpsed Hercules watching at the door, Alexander from the heart of a mob, Stanza from the base of the pillars far below, all frozen.

  Then, Mavis heard sounds rising in the distance, low and discordant. They built fast, growing louder and louder—cacophonous notes of every pitch, timbre, and texture, clashing and swirling, like an out-of-control orchestra tuning up with aggressive purpose, conducted by a madman. Like the notes of a symphony caught in a hurricane, tumbling wild 'round the eye, chaos from genius.

  Mavis wished she could cover her ears, but she couldn't let go of the pillar. The cacophony quickly built to a deafening crescendo, swelling throughout the chamber...and then it held there.

  And the pillars began to descend.

  All at once, the crystalline pillars slid downward, gliding toward the floor. Surprised, Mavis hugged her pillar more tightly, and Arthur steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. She saw Jonah had more trouble and almost lost his grip...but Thomas leaped across to Jonah's pillar and wrapped around him, locking him in place.

  As the pillars dropped, the lights went out—not just the red, yellow, and green searchlights, but all the lights. The concentric circles of gray light in the ceiling switched off, and the entire chamber plunged into darkness.

  "Hang on, Mavis!" Arthur had to shout over the sustained cacophony for her to hear him. "I'm with you! Just hang on!"

  Mavis was disoriented by the feeling of sliding through blackness, being aware of motion but unable to see where she was headed. The touch of Arthur's hand on her shoulder kept her calm, though, kept her from being afraid.

  Even when his hand left her, she wasn't scared. She knew he was there beside her, watching over her, holding her together. She knew his touch would not be gone for long.

  Sure enough, it soon returned. Mavis felt the breeze from a flurry of motion, and then his hand squeezed her shoulder. She leaned her head to the side and nuzzled his fingers, relieved to feel them again.

  That was when she heard James shouting over the din. James, perched on one of the pillars facing in her direction.

  James the vampire, who could see in the dark.

  "That's not Arthur!" he said.

  Mavis' eyes flew wide. She jerked her head away from the hand on her shoulder.

  "That's Genghis!" said James.

  Mavis flinched away from the hand, but it dug more deeply into the meat of her shoulder. She tried to twist away again, and this time broke free—only to be struck hard by a blow across her face.

  "King Arthur can't help you now, bitch!" Genghis laughed and hit her again. "You're all mine!"

  Suddenly, his hand clamped around her throat and dragged her toward him. Mavis struggled, but his iron grip held her tight.

  She felt his icy breath against her ear. "I'm stealing you away from him," he said. "Forever. And trust me, you're going to like it."

  Mavis struggled again, and Genghis' grip tightened.

  "You'll thank me later." He hissed and pulled her closer.

  "No!" said James. "Don't do it!"

  Mavis' heart hammered in her chest. She remembered the visi
on she'd had of herself as a vampire, the vision that had followed her all the way from the waters off Lyonesse.

  "Think of this as the first day of your life," said Genghis. "And think of me as the doctor who delivers you."

  "No!" Mavis shook and tried in vain to pull away. "Please don't!"

  Just as the pillars began to slow, she felt Genghis' fangs penetrate her throat.

  *****

  Chapter 102

  As the blood flowed out of her, and Genghis' feratu poison flowed into her, Mavis completely relaxed. Her whole body went limp; she would have fallen from the pillar without Genghis' supporting arm around her shoulders.

  Closing her eyes, she floated on the edge of a dream, barely tethered to the waking world by the sound of his voice in her ear.

  "Easy now, little butterfly." The riot of noise in the chamber hadn't stopped, but Genghis' voice was the loudest, clearest thing she heard. "The first moments can be a shocking experience."

  Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in Mavis' chest. She writhed and clutched at her heart, crying out as the pain intensified.

  Genghis gripped her shoulder tightly. "You'll be fine. That's just your old life melting away."

  Oh my God.

  Through the muscle and rib of her chest, Mavis felt a wild thrashing unlike any kind of heartbeat. Something turned and kicked and jabbed inside her body, churning and poking between the ribs.

  "It's the feratu," said Genghis. "It's eating your heart."

  As if the pain had not been great enough already, it suddenly doubled. The thrashing in Mavis' chest intensified a hundredfold. She felt as if she were being torn apart from the inside, and she screamed at the top of her lungs.