The Grim Legion

by Kindred Ult

  "Hello… Nasoren was it? Such a unique name, that one. They tell me that you have been with Brand for all of the time he has been away from us. I would first like to thank you, and then I would ask you to relate those times to me."

  She shook her head adamantly. "Thank you sir, but Brand sent me here on a very important mission. I have vital information, which must be acted on immediately. The vampires have discovered the werewolves' lair, and so the werewolves have decided to wage an all-out war with the vampires. Brand believes that the vampires also have the same view in mind, and that both of them will meet in one final battle very soon."

  E leaned back in his chair, taking his feet off of the desk and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. At length he looked up again. "Thank you Nasoren. We knew something about this, but not to the extent you are reporting. This could truly be vital."

  Nasoren cocked her head to the side. "You knew, sir?"

  He smiled. "Yes, you see, long ago, when both races lived in peace, they had fountains built at their capitols, which allowed them to converse with each other over long distances. You learned about this, right?"

  "Yes sir, but now that they are enemies, aren't they not using them any more?"

  "Close. Long ago, we discovered how to intercept messages between the two fountains using one of our own design and since then we have always had at least one of our men monitoring the fountain in case they speak to one another."

  Nasoren was still confused. "But who would be communicating?"

  "At first, there was a large amount between the two, but once they began to fight once more they cut off communication altogether. That is, until very recently, when a male vampire and a female werewolf began to converse at length between the two sides. Well, that's not completely true. Through their conversations, we've been able to quite accurately deduce that they are both Werepyres disguised as them. We've also been able to discover that they have been pulling the strings of both races in an attempt to exterminate both of them ever since their race's supposed 'extermination.'"

  "But how could that be possible? Wasn't the werewolf queen able to sense the presence of Werepyres?"

  E sighed. "Yes, but apparently only when they are in their Werepyre forms. No one knew that they could change their shape until now, and I'm sure that none of them suspected it. It seems they must have changed their shape, infiltrated both armies, and then killed the queen. Her death freed them to continue to build their forces in their original forms, and so they have been growing in strength and numbers since then."

  It all seemed so unreal to her. "So you think that they are the ones who're provoking the war?"

  "Exactly," he snapped his fingers. "Their goal is to weaken both sides until they are so decimated that they can attack in the last moment and destroy them both."

  "So what are we going to do?" Nasoren felt herself filled with excitement, while at the same time she felt fear for Brand's safety flow over her.

  E's face was blank. "Nothing."

  For a moment, what he said did not register with her, but then her face changed from incomprehension to shock to rage in quick succession. "Nothing? These monsters are stronger than either the vampires or the werewolves. If they defeat the two others then they won't stop until they've killed all of us! How can you be so blind?" She could have continued her tirade, but E's smile gave her pause. When she stopped, he laughed.

  "I was just joking, Nasoren. Of course we are going to the battle, wherever it is. It is our duty as vampire slayers to battle not only vampires or werewolves, but also all evil beings. In addition, we notified the paladins of the problem and requested their aid. They agreed and will be reaching here very soon. We will join this fight, even if it costs us our lives because this is what we are here for. This is what we've been training for. This is what we were born for."

  Clapping from behind Nasoren startled her, and she spun around to see several vampire slayers escorting two humans into the room. The first one immediately drew her attention, as he was at least ten feet tall, had a shaved head, no shirt, and muscles that looked too large to be real. A large hammer was strapped to his back, and he wore baggy pants kept up with a belt around his waist. The other human, who was still clapping, looked short in comparison, but was still taller than the vampire slayers around him. He was dressed entirely in black and had knives in every conceivable place. A saber was sheathed on his belt.

  "Very eloquent, sir. I find myself inspired beyond reason, and I am sure that my companion's feelings have been identically transfigured. Is that not correct, Triplecorpse?"

  "Yep." Triplecorpse cared not to be quite as outspoken as his friend.

  "And… Who might you two be?" E did not sound annoyed or angry, simply curious.

  The shorter one perked up. "Ah, forgive my rudeness, I am Jacque Du Fromage, pirate and assassin extraordinaire! And my obtuse and monosyllabic friend here is Triplecorpse Hammerblow. Not only has he killed more men than he can count (which is no great feat) but he has also killed more than I can count. We are here to join your army in this battle you speak of and to avenge our dead friend."

  E chuckled to himself. "Very well, we can use all of the help we can get. If you two are half as good as you say, we should be able to find some use for you."

  At that moment, another vampire slayer turned the corner and ran straight into Triplecorpse's back. The barbarian did not move, while the vampire slayer fell to the ground, shook his head, and got back to his feet. Cautiously, he moved around the crowd until he was in eye contact with E.

  "Sir, the fountain is being used again."

  "By our Werepyre friends?" E asked.

  "No sir, the vampire speaking says that he is an emissary of Vladimir, and he is asking for the werewolf King."

  E stood up from his chair swiftly and beckoned to all of the others to follow him as he hurried out of the room. After looking at each other for a moment, they swiftly followed.

  ________________________________________________________________________

  When they entered the room with the fountain in it, four vampire slayers were already in it, with pieces of paper and pens. No sound was coming from the fountain, and no image could be seen in it. When E came in he asked for a report. The vampire slayer on the left lifted his pen up from the paper and looked up.

  "A male vampire came up and began calling into the fountain, eventually a male werewolf came to it, and the male vampire said that he had Vladimir with him, who wished to speak to the werewolf King. The male werewolf left, and has been gone for several minutes now."

  "Have you recorded the conversation so far?" E looked over their notes.

  "Yes sir, they have not said much. We think that they might not even respond."

  As if to disprove what he was saying, a gruff male werewolf voice split through the fountain, which rippled with the noise. Instantly, all four of the vampire slayers began scribbling onto their papers. "This is the King, who speaks?"

  A male vampire was on the other hand. "This is Vladimir, King, and I have a challenge and a proposition for you."

  "A challenge?" The King sounded interested.

  "Yes. The vampire nation has decided to go to war with you and your people. We want to have one final battle between our two nations, rather than the prolonged conflict that has been going on for a century."

  "You have my interest. I feel the same about one final battle, but where do you propose we have this battle? Blood Canyon?" The sarcasm was evident in the King's voice. Blood Canyon was a narrow rift of a valley between two huge, vertical cliffs. Such an environment would clearly favor the vampires.

  Vladimir forced a chuckle. "No, we propose that the battle be held in the Great Plain."

  The werewolf King paused before speaking, and the shock was evident when he did speak. "Really?"

  "Really." Vladimir's mirth was barely concealed.

  "I accept your challenge, Vladimir, but I must say that I am surprised by your choice. I had thought that you wo
uld choose a small battlefield, where your forces could try to bottleneck my own. I see that you are far more honorable than I ever gave you credit for, and I respect you for that. The Great Plain it is."

  "Very well," Vladimir seemed marginally happy at the acceptance. "Shall we set the battle for three nights from tonight?"

  "Very well, I look forward to finding you on the battlefield."

  "As do I."

  Both sides terminated their connection, and the vampire slayers kept scribbling for another moment before placing down their pens.

  Nasoren looked around and, since no one else was talking, figured that she would speak up. "Well, at least now we know where and when it is." She would have said more, but the look on E's face gave her pause. He stared forward before turning to the other vampire slayers.

  "This is true, but this also means that what we have is far worse than we thought. Did you all recognize that voice?"

  They all did, and he lowered his head before turning around and walking out. "This is very troubling."

  Nasoren looked at Jacque and Triplecorpse as if for an explanation, but none was forthcoming. After a moment she stuck out her hand and shook hands with both of them. "Well, I'm Nasoren, nice to meet you."

  - 26 -

  Reunions

  Oh, I don't get to do this very often. In fact, I think it's been like… Well, a long time, since last I spoke on one of these. I would first like to thank all of you peoples for reading this, even though it's really long, and I'm sure you have better things to do. I would also like to thank those of you who are commenting and favorite-ing it. It allows me to think that people actually like what I'm doing, so thanks. Also, I would just like to point out that, now, my story is a total of 222 pages in 12 font without double spaces. I'm so happy ^^. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

  20

  ReunionsDamian did not know why he still walked the halls of the vampire castle even after the council session was over and his talk with N'colto was finished as well. He wanted to think. So much had been happening that required his thoughts on, but he found that he could not focus on any of them, and so felt like he was randomly traversing the hallways looking at large pieces of art and ancient armor from an age not his own. However, once he heard a voice behind him, he felt like he had known why he was there all along.

  "Demenn?" Varus walked up behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

  Demenn turned around and smiled in welcome. "Hello again Varus. I-I am glad that you are still alive."

  "More or less." Varus smiled back.

  "More or less," Demenn returned. "How did you escape them? I felt that I had sent you to your death when Blood went after you."

  A small chuckle escaped Varus. "So had I, when they caught me, but these two weird humans helped me and fought them off, Blood turned out okay, but at least I lived."

  "Two humans?" Demenn raised an eyebrow. "Are they with us now?"

  Varus shook his head. "No, they said that they didn't want to join our side, just that they were avenging Lidian."

  "Ah," Demenn nodded knowingly. "That would be Jacque and Triplecorpse Hammerblow then."

  "You know them?" Varus asked incredulously.

  "I only met them once, when Lidian went to visit them. Strange fellows, but they were all very good companions. Lidian always did seem happiest with them…" Demenn lapsed into a strange silence.

  Varus felt strange about the silence, so he decided to change the subject. "How did you escape?"

  Demenn snapped back into attention and smiled briefly. "It is a long story, but I was able to use my eyes on one of the humans who I had met before and we escaped. We captured the werewolf Queen, but eventually a werewolf caught up to us, killed… Killed Leon and Raphael, and let me live."

  "He let you live?" Varus felt something for the two brothers, as they had fought together, and the bond made in battle is strong. 'Almost half of us are dead now.' He though morosely.

  "Yes, it was the one I allowed to live, so he was returning the favor." Demenn sounded bitter, and he could not exactly tell how he felt.

  "What about Sophella and Niethel?" Varus just thought about them.

  "They are alive, and managed to get the Necromancers to help us." This brought another genuine smile to Demenn's eyes.

  Varus thought that was very good news, but then his attention was drawn back to what Demenn had said before. "What do you mean, you 'used your eyes'?"

  "Well, one of the vampires' basic abilities is to sort of hypnotize our prey and render them incapable of fighting back. The use of it is rather limited, though, as the target must be either completely unaware of what we are, or have been in very close contact with us before. It will work on any human, but the effect is different if the object is of the separate sex."

  "How so?" Varus asked, wondering how to use a power in your eyes.

  "Well, it will confuse anyone and render them pliable, but if the object is of the opposite sex, it will make them consider the bite as the greatest ecstasy possible and desire it so much as to make them do whatever you wish them to do to get it." Demenn's tone was different than before, but Varus did not care to find out why.

  "So… you made the girl want your bite so much she'd do anything for it?"

  "Basically."

  "So, did you bite her in the end?" Varus smiled mischievously and leaned against the wall.

  "No." Demenn said simply.

  "Oh? And what happens when you deny them the ecstasy they wanted so much?"

  "Nothing good, I can tell you that. Not for the human, or for the vampire." Now Demenn's tone made perfect sense to Varus. He sensed that he was treading around something he should not, so he changed the subject to something else he had been wondering about for a while now.

  "Demenn, what happens if we lose this battle that is being planned?"

  Demenn chuckled. "Then one of two great evils will be destroyed. If you are looking for the traditional answer, and not my own cynical one, then I will say that, if the werewolves defeat and destroy us, they will eventually take over all of our forest. When that is no longer enough and they need food, they will begin to invade the outside world, and take their battle past simple revenge. Every soul they kill will come back as another of their kin, and every battle will make their ranks grow, no matter the outcome. It will take many years, hundreds, probably, but eventually they will take over the continent, and then, as strange as it sounds, the entire world.

  "When all beings above water have been turned into one of them, they will revel and coexist until they realize that they still need food, and so will begin to cannibalize each other. They will battle long and hard, but eventually, even with their ability to breed with one another, they will wheedle their numbers down to only two, and those will fight to the death. The last werewolf, which will surely be an enormous beast, will celebrate its victory before it dies of hunger. Or at least, that is what the vampire historians predict to happen."

  "Wow." Varus had not thought it through to that extent, but it made sense in a way. "So is that our race's manifesto? Are we the saviors of mankind?" He smiled sarcastically. It did not matter whether the speaker was a carpenter, politician, or evil being; everyone was in the right.

  "Ironic, is it not?" Demenn smiled wryly. "Although it does have a bit of truth to it. If we defeat the werewolves, we will continue life as we used to, by sparingly sampling off of humans and animals so as never to extinct them. We can control ourselves, unlike most of them, and so, even though we are undeniably evil, we are the lesser of two evils."

  "Everyone feels the need to be in the right." Varus smiled bitterly.

  "Well, to be honest, most of us do not care enough to justify our actions. Most of us simply fight to kill and become stronger. The werewolves to them are just the best way to become strong, and so they stay here and fight them. If there were a stronger enemy elsewhere, rest assured they would be there. It is sad, actually."

  Varus found himself staring at Demenn as he wa
s talking, wondering how he could be the way he was. "You know Demenn, you're…Different than the rest of them. It's almost like they are all blind to something that just comes naturally to you. You are a good man." Once he said that, he had to stop himself once more, just as he had when he gave his report to the council. Demenn had killed his sister! He knew that, and yet he was constantly saved by Demenn, who brought him from the life of a bandit to that of a vampire, who fought beside him, and who would have given up his own life to save him. He had to avenge his sister, but he could not bring himself to hate Demenn? He could not reconcile the two thoughts inside his head.