“Hello, Heather,” Dhane stepped forward from a far corner so she could see him. “Thank you for coming.”
“What? You were expecting me?”
“Of course. The vampires had very clear instructions.”
“The new guards? They’re helping you?”
“Yes. They are not royal vampires; they are part of the outcasts.”
Suddenly she caught the scent of werewolves nearby and she ran back down the passage. As she reached the stairs, Terrance and Tyler had arrived at the top of them. They headed down towards her, and she backed up and looked to the windows. All of them were barred and secured. She was trapped.
Hesitantly she went back down the passage and faced Dhane again. He gave a sad smile and walked over to a chair against the wall. Sitting down, he thought over his words carefully, knowing this was the last time he would ever speak to this woman.
“I’m disappointed with how things turned out between us, I really am. There’s a darkness inside you, threatening to consume you and everyone around you. You tried to play things out in the same way my mother did with my father.”
“No, I was just trying to make you see your potential,” she pleaded as she came over and kneeled in front of him. Her hands on his knees, she looked him in the eyes so innocently, as though she didn’t see the poison in her own words. “You could be something great, leader of all, second to no one.”
Dhane stood and stepped aside while moving Heather into the chair. Kneeling before her, the sad smile he had before faded away, leaving a look of pity behind.
“You don’t even see it, do you? I guess the darkness runs deeper than I imagined. You are a danger to everyone around you, so I can’t let you interfere with innocent lives in the future. Welcome to your new home.”
The snapping sound of latches echoed in the room as her wrists were confined to the chair by built-in restraints. The fear she felt before, of being led to her death by the vampires she arrived with, returned violently. She fought against the latches as the werewolves entered the room and helped Dhane secure her legs.
“You can’t do this! You can’t leave me locked up in here! There is no way your goodie little candy ass can go on knowing I’m here, left alone to die.”
“Normally, you would be right. But I know how much worse I would feel leaving you free to prey on the world. This is the lesser of two evils.”
He leaned in and kissed her, and then he turned and followed the werewolves to the door as Heather struggled against the restraints and called out to him. Begging, pleading, cursing, nothing surprised him, and nothing fazed him. Instead he blocked her out completely, and hoped today was the last he would ever see or hear from her.
The passage began to close and Heather knew this was it. He wasn’t coming back, and her best laid plans didn’t work. The son of Algernon learned from his father’s mistakes, even though he never met the man. Wasn’t that just her luck.
As the seal closed, one final scream of his name echoed through the house and gave Dhane pause. It was bloodcurdling, and gave him a chill. He looked back to see the passage seal and everything became silent. The workers would arrive in the morning to seal off the rest of the basement with cement, and that would be that.
“It’s time to go, Dhane.”
He nodded to Terrance as they headed for the stairs. “It is indeed.”
32
Charles arrived with the vampires at an old warehouse in the poor side of town. Once a storage area for a local auto plant, the place was rusting and threatening to collapse. It was a fine place to end the mage, he figured.
Signaling his soldiers to circle around the building, he sniffed at the air and found no signs of werewolves nearby. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. If the mage was indeed here, he would have assistance, right? Unless he was getting cocky after successfully killing off several vampire patrols that is.
The vampire prince strolled through the front door and glanced around the area. Darkness filled every corner, but towards the far wall was a chair, occupied by a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The hood was covering the man’s face as his head hung. The slow heaving of his chest showed he was alive.
“I didn’t really think you’d be here.”
The man didn’t respond, which made Charles uneasy. That was the man’s intent, however, as he waited for his foe to step further into the trap. The vampire’s troops began to file in through various doors and holes in the walls until nearly thirty vampires stood before the chair.
“Give up Dhane, and make this easier on yourself.”
Without a word, the man waved his hand in the air and other vampires began to flood into the room. These were not Charles’ vampires. These were rogues, violent and animalistic. Teeth were bared and snarls came from them as they surrounded Charles and his men. The prince just smiled.
“When it comes down to it, do you really think these vampires will follow you, a human, over me? You are their food, not their leader.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” the man replied, smiling as he stood. He pulled the hood back and flashed his own set of fangs. “But I do know this. You will die this day, die this day.”
Leaping forward, Demian swung his fist and knocked Charles backwards and he skidded across the floor. The signal was clear to the rogue vampires, and they began their attack. Blood began to fill the room as they tore through the ‘civilized’ vampire troops.
Charles knew he was in trouble and tried to flee with his opponent in pursuit. Every time he looked back, Demian was getting closer. Through a hole in the wall and into the streets, he wondered if there was anywhere for him to escape. Then he spotted an open manhole.
Demian stopped at the top and listened for the direction the prince had gone. Quickly figuring out the likely direction the sewers would lead, he pursued above ground, knowing where each stumbling block was, and each dead end, which would put him ahead of his prey.
Some twenty blocks down the road, he stopped and dropped into the sewers. Footsteps hurried towards him, and the soon Charles came into view and stopped. Clearly taking to the sewers had been a mistake, and his fate was likely sealed.
“After all that happened with the great wizard, after all the things you went through, why do you now side with his son?”
“Dhane is not Algernon. He is his own man and has always done right by me. Besides, when his father took power, where were the royal vampires? They abandoned the rest of us, you abandoned us, in our hour of need.”
Anger rose inside of Demian as he thought about all the horrors that came from that situation. Perhaps, if the royal vampires had interfered, they would have discovered why Algernon was doing his deeds, and they could have stopped Marissa and her evil tricks. Maybe they could have held off the madness that came to consume his friend, the great wizard. Just maybe many people wouldn’t have suffered as they did. His rage was beginning to boil over.
“No, listen, it was out of my hands,” Charles sniveled desperately, “The king wanted us to stay out of it. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You are the prince, you had a choice. Your decision was to not act. For all who suffered because of it, because you wouldn’t help your own kind, you will not leave this sewer.”
With a roar, Demian lunged at Charles and knocked him to the ground. The prince kicked his opponent between the legs, but it only angered him. Whatever civilized part was left inside Demian disappeared, and the animal inside of him took over.
Precise and swift, he beat down the prince and finally broke the number one rule among all vampires: he bit him. The screams from Charles did nothing to slow down the sucking at his wound, and eventually they faded away. Limp, unresponsive, Demian stood and looked down at his fellow vampire.
“Good night prince. Save a spot for me in Hell.”
33
When Dhane arrived at the Grand with Terrance and Tyler, his friends were eagerly waiting to hear how things were going. There wasn’t time for a long, drawn out exp
lanation. They needed to make their move on Elisabeth and the others before they realized what was going on, so he had to be brief.
“Heather is taken care of. I also heard from Demian; Charles and the vampires are finished. We’re all clear for the final assault. Is everyone clear on their job?”
Each person nodded that they understood their responsibility and Dhane turned to face the Grand. With a deep breath, he started walking; the sound of his steps seemed loud on the quiet street. Other steps began, as Cassandra headed towards the front of the hotel to cast the enclosure spell. Amber was close behind to provide physical protection as needed.
Heading towards the back was Samantha, with Tyler providing her cover. She would cast the same enclosure spell and hopefully, between the two of them, it would be enough to keep everyone trapped inside.
Xander had changed to werewolf form, and he and Nichole were close behind Dhane. They were to clear out the first floor of any threats, then head to the basement and wait. Finally, Terrance would head into the lobby and keep it clear until the mage was ready.
They entered the back door of the Grand and immediately Xander, Nichole, and Terrance headed down the hallway. Terrance made his way straight towards the lobby while the other two went room by room checking for enemies, and subduing them when they were found. Between Nichole’s magic to blind their foes, and Xander’s pure strength, the pair outmatched most enemies before a fight could even get started.
The sound of heavy footsteps from above suddenly caught the couple’s attention. They glanced around in the hallway and a realization quickly came to them. Looking towards the back door, Dhane was watching out the window to make sure the spell was cast by Samantha without issue.
“Dhane, the monster is coming,” Xander growled. “Any thoughts on how to stop it?”
“Don’t worry about him,” the mage said without looking. “He won’t impede your progress.”
Xander and Nichole exchanged looks, before shrugging and continuing their sweep. Soon they were out of the hallway, out of sight, and Dhane was alone. Samantha completed the spell and stared at her watch. Every ten minutes she was supposed to redo the spell to ensure it held up.
As the mage looked at her, her beautiful face trying to hold in the sadness of recent losses, her long blond hair flowing in the wind, he wondered what might have been between them in a different life.
After a deep breath, he turned and started down the hall. Everything was in place; it was all about execution now. He reached the council room and glanced inside. As expected, the table which blocked all magic was now gone. The monster had finished his first task.
With a smile, he turned to walk out into the lobby, when he suddenly became aware that he was not alone. Xander and Nichole had missed one of the residents.
34
“It’s the end of the line for you, mage.”
Sebastian stood at the end of the hallway behind Dhane, voice filled with anger. It was the most serious the werewolf had ever been about anything. His enemy had to die, and he planned to be the one to take care of it.
Dhane stopped and looked over his shoulder. After what happened with Rachel, he knew this moment was coming. At least he didn’t have to wait too long. With Elisabeth somewhere in the hotel, he really didn’t have the time to waste. The power to the hotel was mostly out, and he knew the werewolf thought it was just the two of them. He was wrong.
“I don’t have time to play around with you right now, mutt. Perhaps you’d care to fight with someone else.”
From the shadows near Dhane came a glint of light off the dead eyes of the monster. It stepped forward into the faint light cast out from one of the room. There was no expression on its face and nobody knew for sure if it was a living thing or not. Nobody but his master.
“That’s fine. I’ll tear him limb from limb if it gets me to you.”
The wizard glanced up at the monster, whose dead eyes shifted over towards him. A smile crept across Dhane’s face and he turned just enough to look at Sebastian.
“He’s looking forward to it.”
Dhane turned back around and walked down the hallway without another word. The two were left to fight in private, and the werewolf wasn’t about to let the mage walk away. He stepped forward as his change happened, and turned his steps into a run as he charged. The monster started running directly at its target.
The sound of the freight trains colliding echoed through the hall and caused Dhane to pause. He started to look back, stopped, and proceeded, leaving the monsters to do battle. There was no time to spectate.
Left alone to battle, the monster and the werewolf returned to their feet. Sebastian was feeling the effects of their impact, his shoulder throbbing. It was dislocated, he figured, which meant it was still good enough to use.
Using his claws, he tore through the meat of the monster, but got no reaction in return. Instead a straight uppercut took the wolf off his feet, soaring up and away. With a thud he landed on his back inside one of the of hotel rooms. Pain all through his body told him he was hurt pretty badly, but at least he could still feel it.
As he struggled to get back to his feet, the monster walked in and stood over him. Having seen the monster in action before, Sebastian knew he had lost already. He also knew where his mistake had come. Fighting the monster head-on was a no-win idea. It was too strong, and didn’t get tired.
“Go ahead then, finish it,” he spouted, spitting blood as he spoke.
The monster leaned down and put its left hand on the werewolf’s chest. With the right, it punched down, making Sebastian close his eyes and flinched, but the fist didn’t hit him. Instead it hit the floor with such force that it crumbled all around the impact. Another, and another, then with the left on the other side, and suddenly it all gave way.
Collapsing into the basement below, the werewolf was able to take advantage and scramble to his feet before the monster could do the same. He hurried out of the storage room they had landed in and down the hallway as quickly as possible.
After looking over his shoulder and not yet seeing the monster, he slipped into a room and tried to close the door. The maintenance room was occupied by mops, brooms, and everything else the cleaning staff needed.
Waiting silently in the darkness, the footsteps finally came down the hall towards the room. If the monster found him, there was nothing left that he could do about it. He was beaten to the point of hiding like a coward. The anger made him want to fight the monster to the death, but his brain understood how illogical and impossible it would be.
The footsteps reached the room, but continued past and eventually faded away. The werewolf hunched over and wondered how he could get out of the hotel without being caught by his enemies. So engrossed in his own panic, he didn’t notice that he was not alone in the room.
“Hello, old friend,” the familiar voice said from the darkness.
With a slash of his claws, Xander cut through the chest of his surprised fellow wolf. Sebastian fell backwards and scrambled to get out the door. He reached the hallway, touching his chest and watching as blood ran through his fingers. Of all times to run into Xander, this couldn’t be worse. Only it was.
“You’ve earned this, you son of a bitch!”
A sharp pain shot into his back, and suddenly he turned to human form unintentionally. With a click, the make-shift dagger broke off inside his wound and he fell to the ground. Looking up at his unseen attacker, Nichole stood over him with a broken piece of black wood in her hand.
“What the hell have you done to me?”
“I’ve taken away your gift. Now I’m sentencing you to damnation.”
“Stay the fuck away from me.”
Scrambling away from the witch, he staggered and stumbled down the hallway, blood running down his front and back, bruised muscles and broken bones slowing him enormously. At the end of the hallway was a room with a large metal door. It had been a panic room or bomb shelter at some point, a secure room, perhaps the one pla
ce he might be safe.
Desperately he lunged for the door and hurried inside. Without a clue of how he made it without being killed by the monster, or Xander, or even the witch, he pulled the door shut and fumbled around for the lock. Once it clicked into place, he stopped to catch his breath. After fumbling around for a light switch, he gave up and dropped to the floor.
“You finally made it. We will stay here together, forever. Just you and me.”
The lights came on and Rachel was sitting in a chair across the room. The pain and anguish on Sebastian’s face was just what she wanted. He was trapped here with her, locked behind a door with no key, and far away from Elisabeth.
“I hate you,” he spouted at the witch, almost hoping she would end his misery.
Rachel walked over and kneeled down in front of him. With a smile, she stroked his face with her hand.
“I know you do. And I love you too.”
35
In the lobby, Terrance had his hands full with several fellow werewolves. Three had him cornered, though he clearly wasn’t going down without a fight. A fourth was in a heap at Terrance’s feet, while another was hunched over in a chair, clutching his arm as it bled profusely.
“Come get some,” Terrance spat as blood dripped from his chin.
“You should have joined our side when you had the chance,” one of them replied as he charged forward. Slashing and biting wildly was clearly the wrong approach to use. With violent precision Terrance struck back against the attacker, dodging the wild shots and countering efficiently and effectively.
The creature yelped and gasped at the blows and stumbled away. The remaining two didn’t look much like they wanted to fight him, but then two more werewolves came down the stairs and joined them.
Magestorm: The Reckoning Page 11
