Lost Heir

by brett hicks

  “It’s here, but I can’t get to it.”

  Seri grunted and she clenched her teeth and growled at me through glowing green eyes.

  “Cut the fucking thing out! If you haven’t noticed, I can handle a little pan!”

  The queen vampire bitch was making an appearance. I loved her, but she had her moments and I could hardly fault her for this slip considering I was digging into a gut wound.

  “Fine, but I’m not going to let you get away with that shit under any other circumstances.”

  I chided her and leveled her with a steely amber glare and her green eyes softened and she dipped her head slightly and I saw her features soften. She winced again and I suddenly remembered that I had my finger lodged against the edge of a bullet.

  I held the scalpel over the wound and pulled my finger out and I hesitated for a split-second, knowing she was going to feel everything was not making this job any easier. Then I cut in with the razor-sharp surgical tool and she grunted and began to hiss out rapid breaths.

  I cut away the tissue that was trying to regenerate and I sliced the circle wider on the left side. Once I had another inch or so of an open wound, I grabbed the medical tweezers and I dug in and she hissed loudly as I narrowly missed and hit tissue.

  “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to do that!”

  I told her and I felt myself begin to doubt my abilities. I was not a surgeon and I was clearly just going off of stuff I had seen on TV or modified versions of field dressing that I had learned in my short career as a police officer.

  I reluctantly went back in and I felt the tips brush against something hard—too hard to be anything but the slug. I widened the distance and I slid the slender metal tweezers around the circumference of the slug. I then tightened my grip and I felt the metal bite into the slug and I yanked it fast and rough, ensuring that the slug cleared the wound. Seri took several ragged breaths and then her pulse and her breathing seemed to finally even out.

  “Blood, now!”

  She said and I spun to her medical kit and I found a full pint of type-O in a chilled section. I really didn’t know where she got this type of gear! She snatched the blood like the starving and injured vampire that she was and gulped it greedily.

  “We could use some help over here Thea.”

  Bix said and I swore and looked over to the blasts of magic beginning to pierce the barriers. Golden blasts of pure magical force slammed against the barrier and the blue barrier began to crack like a glass dome under the pressure.

  I dashed over to Bix and narrowly missed being hit by stray gunfire coming up at us in a renewed vigor.

  “We need a diversion, Shemron; can you make one more pass down there?”

  He looked amused from above and he inclined his massive head.

  “Yes, I can little Old-Blood, but what are you hoping to achieve?”

  Smiling like the undisputed lunatic that I was currently, I said, “I’m just planning to raise the dead.”

  Bix swore and shook her head and then she huffed.

  “I’m not going to stop you, but you’re bat-shit, know that Princess.”

  I snorted and I juked up the stones to Shemron and he lowered his head and allowed me to climb on his back.

  “You know, it’s moments like these that I wonder how Nox’s line lasted this long. The whole lot of you is crazy and I’m a dragon that should scare you little Old-Blood.”

  “I’ll take that as dragon high-praise and not as an insult.”

  Shemron made a throaty cracking sound and smoke plumed from his nostrils.

  “Let us get this suicide pass underway before your kin is well enough to raise the heavens and earth to stop you from this folly.”

  I leaned tightly against Shemron’s warm scales and I felt the rush of a mighty gust as he shot up like a bullet.

  Twenty:

  The crystal blue of the artificial sky rushed to greet us as we soared high. The winds whipped through my hair. I felt my magic unfold as two massive wings and power sizzled through my bones. Blue and green light glared the beings below. Magic radiated off in wafts and massive tidal-force of metaphysical power.

  “We’re going down.”

  Shemron announced and his voice was like the lightning in the sky. The blue and green of the dragon seemed to become infused with the colors of my twin magic signatures. He let loose a full roar that staggered the beings in our path.

  I felt my death magic spreading, seeking out hosts. I sent with it only the base commands, kill enemies and protect allies. As we raced through the air bullets and spells zinged and zipped past us. His speeds were so excessive that nothing seemed to find purchase. I felt the pull of many G-forces against my body. While it was discomforting, it was not debilitating. The air was much harder to pull in properly and my head became light and slightly fuzzy. This speed would unquestionably kill a human.

  I felt the dead coming back to life with the senseless hunger of the beyond consuming their simple minds. Screams rolled like the roars of the dragon in a shattering cacophony of madness and new death. I felt my power caressing the newly dead, converting them to my cause.

  Shemron belched and a fiery pillar engulfed a section of the compact forest-land around the crag of his dragon’s den. Magic rushed up at us like an angry hive of bees seeking out invaders. Blasts of witch fire and many other flavors of power slammed into his hard scales. Shemron seemed to be immune to them all, at least until something slashing to his large leathery left wing and he roared in sudden agony.

  Inertia sent me flying through the air at a speed I had barely ever moved at while running. My eyes could perceive the world around me, but I was half in shock. A concussive force slammed into me like a brick wall and I screamed in a feverish pain.

  I felt power pooling all around me. Magical assaults of many flavors and types rushed towards me. I plunged hand forth as I landed and I called my sword and I pulled at the threat connecting me to the whispers of the darkness.

  ***

  I tumbled end-over-end to a stop on a deep-purple and midnight road. My bones ached and my body felt like it had been run through a trash compactor.

  “Shit!”

  I was on the shadow road and I had no idea how to get out. I didn’t have time for more thought, something lashed out at me and I ducked in time to miss a spear of gilded material. A golden-skinned elf growled a feral sound of aggression as he spun his lance. I did a hand-spring and flipped forward and landed on my feet, already parrying his next thrust.

  Green sparks shot off my katana and my magic seemed to fortify the blade. Green embers rose from the tip of my sword and I pushed his blade off mine with all my might. The elf staggered back a few steps and I lashed out leaving streaks of green in my wake.

  I arched my back and his right leg barely missed my torso. I pushed on his pole-arm and kicked his foot grounding him and I rode him to the shadowy ground. I pressed his pole against his throat with the magnum force of my power. I was not simply a Necrovamp; I am an Old-Blood. My muscles were far denser than anything he would be used to dealing with. I pressed hard on the pole with my blade and I lifted my right hand and plumes of fire danced on my fingers. I thrust my hand into his face and I almost hurled at the searing stench of his flesh.

  His gargled shrieks raised all the hairs on my body. I could live ten thousand years and never forget this moment.

  “Atlantis!”

  A bellowing thunderous voice roared in abject horror. Atlas, how the hell had he found me so quickly?

  “Here, I’m fine, big guy.”

  I called out into the dark and it took a few moments for him to come into view with his party. There were dozens—no hundreds. Mina rushed past him and she looked at me wide-eyed as the green flames finished consuming the skull of the fallen light-elf.

  “Remind me not to piss you off anytime soon!”

  She exclaimed and her youth shown in her horrified reaction to the visceral nature of inhuman combat. I grinned at her and I felt her co
nnection to me like a cold comforter. Atlas’ presence provided a similar feeling, but it was stronger around the beings I had turned or resurrected personally.

  “How did you find me?”

  He humphed and strode forward.

  “I could sense your distress suddenly in the shadow road and I knew you had to have breached it for some reason. We were about to immerge at the original entry point to the city, but I decided to push our journey a little further.”

  I nodded and said, “Well, that’s good. I’m stuck down here since I have zero clues as to how the hell I managed to open the road the first time!”

  Now that my adrenaline was settling, I could hear the whispers nagging and gnawing at me. The dark void seemed intent on embracing me or consuming me, one could never be sure!

  “Well, we were coming for you, either way, my Lady.”

  I licked my lips and I hitched my thumb towards the way I had fallen.

  “Any chance you can open a large rift in this road behind the enemy lines? I think between the zombies I just raised and the rangers on the crag, we might just be able to break the center of their column.”

  “How many?”

  I shrugged and said, ‘Maybe fourteen-hundred now? I’m not sure how many we have picked off, but Shemron—a dragon I accidentally resurrected—burned up several hundred alone. Remind me to send him a care package of livestock or whatever dragons like to eat.”

  Atlas didn’t even blink, but Mina was a wide-eyed early-twenties fairy, who was now a revenant daywalker. She went from being a nature magic user of only slight power to being one of the strongest young beings physically. She was still very new to her role and being so high up on the food-chain.

  “Um, how are we supposed to beat that many people?!”

  I grinned darkly at her and my mischief must have at least matched the levels I always saw in Liam because Mina looked a little weary now.

  “Simple, we hit them from two sides in an all-out attack, while ghouls and zombies keep rising to join in on the fun from right in the middle of their ranks. No way in hell are they going to be able to handle such a chaotic assault, besides if I know Bix, she is going to rain literal hell down on them once she sees us attacking.”

  Mina bit her lip and nodded.

  “It’s war Mina, so don’t hold back—that’s an order!”

  I didn’t make a habit of ordering my fledglings around so the thundering power of my commanding tone hit like a whip. Her face hardened and her resolve was firm once more.

  Twenty-One:

  Metallic alloy barred most the twists and turns along the buildings where one would expect fencing. Taking short-cuts through the many random buildings had proved equally perilous for Skylar’s party. Most, if not all, the buildings were rigged with seemingly endless arrays of traps and even pit-falls into spike-filled holes.

  More than once, Skylar had rounded a turn to find it occupied by large lizard-like beings with a nearly humanoid shape and bipedal legs. These things that Reyline referred to as “drake-kin” had belched flames at them and chased them relentlessly. Reyline utterly refused to let them engage the drake-kin. Her ominous warnings were all about some mysterious force that would come to pursue them if they struck out at the drakes.

  The guards were more an after-thought now. Skylar was more focused on keeping his party ahead of the red-skinned drakes. His muscles had yet to lock up on him, despite the fact that he had been running for several hours with very little rest. Vivian looked like she could double her pace and keep it indefinitely. Skylar wondered what type of training the dark rangers had endured becoming so ruthlessly efficient, but he decided he was not ready to know that answer.

  Ariel was bringing up the rear, huffing slightly and trying her best not to show her flagging state. She was burning beyond her normal limits to keep pace for such an extended period. Witches were closer to humans physically speaking and not as strong as other immortals. While she had been the largest reason for their current lead on the drake-kin, she was beginning to feel as if she was the weakest link in their party.

  Vivi had prodded her a few times and Ariel had dug deeper and found more steam. She refused to give the damned elf the satisfaction of seeing her crumple in a ball of mush. Though, she feared she might by the time they did reach the bridge—if not long before!

  Roars sounded from behind them.

  “Is it just me or do they sound closer now?”

  Skylar asked and Vivi hummed in agreement.

  “I’m pretty sure those little bastards are cheating! The damned maze is letting them take short-cuts.”

  Reyline cackled in a very wicked-witch sounding laugh.

  “What did you expect?”

  “Not this, not something like a damn dragon-kin.”

  “It’s drake-kin; don’t insult the damned scaly bastards by comparing them to these little runts!”

  “You do realize you just insulted them just now, right?”

  Skylar pointed out sarcastically and Reyline snorted and didn’t break stride as the first red-skinned drake-kin came around the corner.

  “I’m beginning to like spending time amongst my niece’s fledglings. You’re all too ignorant to fear me. Most beings would tremble and soil themselves if I caught them talking to me like that.”

  Skylar cut a side-long gaze at the creepy old darkness goddess. Should he be speaking to her as if they were equals, hell no, but he wasn’t going to stop to care right now? He could worry about what she might or might not take offense at later, assuming they were alive later.

  Clawed feet clanked on the stone road behind them. Without warning, several dozen bolts flew at them from either side of the nearby buildings. Skylar swore and he rolled hitting hard on the stone and his back ached in protest at the rough treatment.

  One of their friends took a shot to the leg and Ariel was already flinging several spells behind them with she kneeled and bolts flew over her head.

  “It’s times like these I am grateful to be the shortest girl in the class!”

  She exclaimed loudly and then she shot out white blasts of bright pulsing energy. She smashed the three visible threats with a powerful kinetic energy blast.

  “Well, just a little more zing to that mojo and we would have been in deep shit kids.”

  Reyline said conversationally.

  “You’re like a goddess of darkness, right? You could just zap them or something, right?”

  Skylar asked her and she looked at him with deep amusement.

  “Just keep crawling through this section and don’t step on any more triggers for the love of Nox!”

  Skylar grumbled to himself in frustration but obeyed her instructions. He was annoyed and frankly tired of dodging traps that could have come out of one of the Indiana Jones movies!

  “I swear to god, next time I pick our vacation destination! Thea is like a walking apocalyptic omen!”

  Skylar swore in a string to himself and Reyline and Vivi snorted.

  “Hate to interrupt the party up there, but do you think we could get some more flash-bangs?”

  Ariel asked with an impatient tone. Her spells seemed to be effective, but the damn red beasts were beginning to shrug off her potent stunning spells. As Reyline had previously stated, any more juice and Ariel would kill them.

  “My kingdom for a damn mesh wire net!”

  Ariel said in annoyance and Reyline spun and threw out a hand and the shadows engulfed the three beasts. They made loud high-pitched shrieking sounds of distress. It was almost like they were being glued to the road with tar.

  “There, can you stop your bitching for five minutes?! That’s also about how long that will hold them down.”

  “We could have used that earlier.”

  Vivian muttered to herself in annoyance and Reyline shook her head and tsked.

  “No, as you can see, they become immune to anything used against them repeatedly. I have no desire to allow these beasts to grow immune to my magic, any of it!”
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  She huffed indignantly at the thought of such a possibility.

  “We’re almost clear; I can feel Nox’s spells ahead. There should be an access terminal down this stretch of the maze. If we can just reach it, then I can have transport take us straight to Henry’s doorstep.”

  Ariel looked suddenly very relieved, more so than she would ever be willing to admit aloud to any of them! She got to her feet as they cleared the metal bolts being fired. Ahead of her Skylar halted suddenly and the road opened just as he stopped. Blades shot up and another blade cleaved across the road and Ariel hit the floor just in time to feel the air brush against her back where the thick monstrous blade passed narrowly overhead.

  One of the rangers screamed and Ariel was splattered with blood. The ranger’s left arm was gushing crimson and her hand was severed almost to the elbow. She had reacted a fraction too slowly and had suffered for it. Vivi crawled back to her and she pulled free a large medical kit. She quickly tied off the injured arm and began to pack the wound.

  “Come on, we will have to get this treated quickly, but we have to clear the maze first.”

  She spoke in a firm tone and the woman leaned against Vivian and Vivi took two quick steps and she vanished into the shadows before the blades came back for another pass. Everyone stayed close to the ground and the blades missed adding another victim to its tally.

  Roars were booming from behind them and Ariel looked back, but the beasts had yet to untangle themselves from the shadows.

  “We need to hurry; I don’t want to be in here when they finally break free!”

  She said and the others all grumbled affirmative sounds of agreement. Skylar hit his feet in a dead run so fast he was a blur to Ariel’s eyes. He moved so fast that it was like he was going to shatter the sound barrier! She rose to her feet and she dashed and she threw several charms at her feet and she muttered in Gaelic.

  She felt energy like a harnessed storm rush through her body. She dashed and nearly caught up to the others who were now moving at the full inhuman speeds their bodies were capable of. With no need to conserve stamina, they were burning the candle at both ends now.