by Peter Dawes
Lifting one hand, I stared at my fingers, remembering the way the wood splintered when that blast of energy had hit it. I latched onto the thought of Monica again and felt nervousness flow from me and dissipate into the air. The stars yet held my destiny and hurtled me headlong into it.
“They moved faster than I’ve ever seen a vampire move. Had to have been ages old.”
They would have to move faster than me.
***
My stride remained confident, lacking any manner of fatigue as I ascended the steep hill. The change in elevation brought with it a drop in temperature, and a harsh wind that blew through my hair, knocking the strands haphazard. While the hike to the summit had taken longer than I would have liked, I still had three hours of twilight left with which to conduct a search of the ruins. Three hours before I would have to retreat indoors.
I had also managed to acquire a heady amount of anticipation in the process.
Every force of energy I could contain seemed ready to burst through my skin. A strained form of composure kept it at bay, which seemed liable to teeter the moment I gave it a push. The light had not taken over my fingertips just yet, but I felt a rush surging through me, from top of my head to the soles of my shoes. By the time I spied the goal again, I felt as ready as I would ever for what was about to transpire.
Drawing the katana, I clutched it in one hand while pausing several yards shy of my destination. What had been apparent even from the base of the hill became that much more so; magic filled the air around me, making it electric. Dilapidated stone littered the outskirts, lining a path that led to a large, stone door which bore a strange engraving on its face. I recognized the icon as being religious in nature, one of the gods native to this area, which caused me a moment’s pause to ensure I was not violating something sacred. Turning, I thought to path around the perimeter before attempting to open the door.
Sudden movement flickered in the corner of my eye.
No sooner had I spun back around than a figure pounced at me. Raising my sword on instinct, I slashed through the first thing the blade came in contact with, marveling when an arm fell limp on the ground and flaked to ash. Lifting my gaze, I watched a vampire stagger backward, eyes widening when I took in the sight of him. His skin a ghastly pallor, his clothing looked tattered and dirty and his expression twisted in the repose of agony. Fangs elongated, I could see what had once been an immortal like me screeching, blood dribbling onto the ground from where his arm had been. He stopped and narrowed his eyes at me, rearing back as though to make another attempt.
Swinging the sword, I timed the motion just right. The moment he leaped, I cut through his throat, severing his head from his body.
Ash descended, kicked into the wind, and leaving the night still once more. But where there was one, more had to be lurking, forcing me into a ready position. I let go of the hilt of my sword with one hand, stalking forward and gathering energy from that arcane hum surrounding me. Focus took over, charging through me, until I felt that tickle in my fingers again, saw the slight illumination I was becoming more and more used to seeing in my periphery. I approached the stone door and felt the greatest surge of magic when I touched it as though to pull it open.
It did not budge.
“Well then, here goes nothing,” I said, lifting my glowing hand and staring intently at the barrier.
While I held no delusion that I might shatter the stone with one mere light trick, I placed my faith in my telekinetic abilities, remembering what had been said to me by Monica. The limit was my imagination. As such, staring at the door, I envisioned pulling it open, and felt the first budge on the other end of my pull. The radiant glow engulfing my hand grew in intensity, teeth gritted while the stone slid against the dirt beneath it. With one last tug, it jerked fully open and as it did, the sound of what had to be an army charging up a flight of stairs commenced.
I inhaled deeply, hearing the cacophonous drumbeat of footfalls.
The noise ceased abruptly.
And a series of blurs hurtled though the air.
With a yell, I released the light energy, seeing it strike the first wave of creatures and incinerate them on impact. The vampires standing behind them were pushed back, a blast wave tossing them through the air and down the stairs where they had appeared. A few remained topside, stunned and knocked prone, and these I determined to focus on, swiftly, before the others could mount any resurgence.
Both hands took hold of my sword. I stepped forward as the first vampire clamored to his feet.
One swift slice rid them of their head. I spun around on instinct, swinging the blade and slashing through the chest of another who sprang up behind me. Thrusting the sword forward, I impaled him through the heart, and when that failed to turn him to dust, I brought the sharpened edge down through his neck, satisfied when that caused him to perish.
“Resilient bastards,” I muttered. “I shall have to keep that in mind.”
Two more came to their feet. They advanced swiftly and I freed a hand to knock them back, barely having a chance to watch them fly to the ground before moving out of the way. I rid another one of its head. Turning again, I impaled one of the two I had just thrown back and decapitated his partner as he came running for me. The former lay bleeding at my feet, hand twitching while the rest of his body laid still.
Staring down at him, I thrust the blade through his neck, nodding once his dust joined the others.
The lull in action presented a moment for me to regroup. My posture remained tense and ready while my steps stalked forward, the absence of further contenders unsettling me the closer I came to the entrance. ‘You mean to trap me,’ I thought, ‘Do you?’ A grin curled the corners of my mouth, my eyes set on the dark abyss before me, waiting for one of them to get sloppy or impatient. My right hand charged for another blast, the tendrils of light wrapping around my fingers and crawling up toward my wrist.
Both feet touched the threshold.
This time, I did not wait for the blurs before attacking.
Aiming downward, I shot the charge of energy, seeing the expanse illuminate as it barreled into two vampires and charred them into ash. The same shockwave I had created before knocked the others behind them aback and provided as much opportunity as I was going to get to advance further in. Clutching the katana, I ran for the bottom and swung at the first sign of a challenger advancing. The slash cut him across his face and as he stumbled backward, he fell down the rest of the stairs, knocking another one down with him. Another surged forward, moving slow enough for me to see the primeval form of murder in his eyes as he started into a run.
I jumped down several of the stairs and landed in front of him. With one hand I thrust the blade through his torso. Grabbing his neck, I summoned another burst, which lit up his face and exposed a death scream while he burned in the palm of my hand. Even the hand holding my sword began to glow with ethereal energy, becoming one with the psychic force inside of me. This was a bloody orchestra. And this time, the seer had become its conductor.
His chest burned and the combination turned him fully into ash.
“Handy trick, that,” I said. “Perhaps we can do it again.”
The blurs resumed at once. As I swung my sword, I kept a steady stream of energy pouring through my hands and the joined forces of steel and self blended into a symphony of death. One slash burned through the next of my challengers and freeing my hand briefly threw back the next few vampires, singeing them. They screeched and clawed at their faces while I cut through to the bottom of the stairs. I decapitated one and impaled another in a swift, fluid series of movements. The area opened up and keeping my back to the stairs also kept my adversaries in front of me. Two met their end and the third retreated, hissing as he tried to speak.
I could not tell if the words he produced were intelligible. Whatever language he produced, it was not one I recognized and as such, I did him the mercy of cutting through his throat and plunging the blade through his chest. He incinera
ted in front of me, his eyes wide and fraught with fear while mine blazed fury at him. As his ash descended, another lull presented itself.
I ran through the hallway, the energy emanating from my hands providing enough light to mark the path forward. Stone lined the walls, reinforced and yet, roughly hewn so as to suggest this underground lair had been in existence for centuries. My shoes scuffed against the hard floor and a dank odor assaulted my senses, smelling of human decomposition. I passed a row of cells, hope springing like wildfire as I called to mind the dungeon housing Monica.
Unfortunately, room after room housed nothing more than piles of human remains.
Indulging a sigh, I pressed forward, not allowing myself to wallow in disappointment.
At the end of the corridor, another sharp left led me through the rest of the tunnel system, veering twice until it opened up in the form of a large room. Several sleeping bunks had been carved into the walls, bearing no luxury, resembling little more than catacombs in appearance. Tile laid out on the floor stopped it from lacking any aestheticism in its design, but something became apparent the farther into the room I progressed.
These vampires, either by their or someone else’s accord, had been trapped inside a tomb. Somehow, they stayed fed, but otherwise, they had been left to their own devices. I drifted closer to one of the walls, fingers skimming the surface, attempting to see whatever secrets they might divulge. Snippets of feedings and full out, animalistic behavior marked the mental vignettes assaulting me. I paused, however, when one in particular stood out, attempting to capture it in still frame.
Blinking twice, I focused on the room once more. “Stairs,” I murmured, sidestepping and backing away from the wall. My eyes skimmed down the stone, looking for a gap or lever – anything that might indicate passage to another set of stairs. I lifted one hand, peering around, closing in on the center of the room before halting my steps. My brow furrowed, one hand still clutching my sword while the one that had just been touched the wall remained raised, the light energy flickering to life again.
The hair on the back of my neck stood aloft. A chill surged up my spine.
I dove to the ground in the nick of time.
A creature speeding at me from behind sailed over my back, impacting with the wall and bouncing off it only to slide onto the floor. I charged the metal of my sword and plunged it through his back, withdrawing the blade in time to whip it around and slash another vampire across the cheek. He recoiled, hands covering his face while I turned my attention to two other blurs headed for me. Sharp steel found its way through one neck. The other immortal, I expended light energy on, ignoring his death wails in favor of taking hold of the vampire I had wounded and throwing him toward the wall.
His back hit the unforgiving stone, provoking a groan. Both of his hands lowered, but before he could move, I thrust the sword forward and pinned him to the wall through his stomach. He hissed and bucked, strong enough to crack the wall and jostle the blade, but I held it steady. “Stairs,” I said, meeting his gaze as much as his frantic eyes would allow. “Where are the bloody stairs?”
Loosening my hold on the sword’s hilt by one hand, I placed a palm on his forehead and brute forced my way into his thoughts. The image of the outside stairs projected from my mind into his, a forceful shove accompanying the message to underscore the point that I wanted an answer, and quickly.
He sneered at me through elongated fangs. I narrowed my eyes at him, throwing additional imagery into his head, in the effort to spur a helpful thought or two. A snapshot of Ian. My recollection of the scroll; the box in which it was housed. I gave him another shove, gaze boring into his like two daggers set to carve the truth from him piece by piece. A twist of the blade shot a surge of pain through his body, but as a grimace washed over his facial expression, I saw a brief flash in his mind and gripped tightly onto it.
The creature wriggled and struggled to get away from me. He fought me with all he was worth, but as I clutched that much tighter onto the image, it became clearer. The room a large one, much like the one in which I stood, it boasted two additional vampires, who looked much better kept than the one bucking against me. A flight of stairs ascended from the room, and a large door had been sealed shut, closing them off from the rest of the tomb, perhaps indefinitely. I furrowed my brow, wondering how long it had been since either had seen anything other than those walls caging them in.
A spiral staircase ascended upward from the area outside their prison door. The stairs climbed up to the ceiling, one of the tiles loose and able to be slid to the side. I recognized the next floor up, just in time to be jarred from the vampire’s thoughts, but I had been given more than enough information. If this crypt bore anything of importance, it undoubtedly would be found below.
My vision focused on the twisted visage of my captive anew. A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth.
“Consider this a mercy,” I said, the hand touching his head flooding with that ethereal glow again. Energy overtook him, burning at his skin and reducing him to ash within a matter of seconds. I drew a steadying breath inward, pulling the sword from the wall. As I turned away from the remnant of dust and debris, I focused on the floor. One of these tiles concealed a staircase. Now, I had to find which one.
My gaze lifted to survey the room, concentration directed toward the surrounding walls while I felt for any thought around me. When the search failed to provide any evidence of life, I pushed back the folds of my coat and slid my sword into its scabbard, attention falling to the floor as both hands illuminated with light. Several large tiles all bore chips and wear from centuries of existence, but when I summoned the memory imparted to me, I was able to narrow my search down to a section of six squares. Brow furrowed, I scanned each for signs of repeated use.
Extending a hand, I pointed my palm at the seam of one.
The light energy hurtled to the tile, smashing in the corner not of the one I had aimed at, but another adjacent to it. Tendrils skimmed across another, but the hidden passage had been revealed and now, I had one last push to the finish. Crouching low to the ground, I lifted the broken piece of floor, straining and gritting my teeth as I used my telekinesis to aid in the effort. It shattered into pieces when I hurtled it off and to the side. But, open before me, was a spiral staircase headed downward.
I descended the stairs as swiftly as possible, vaulting the last expanse and bending at my knees when my feet hit the ground. One hand settled on the hilt of my sword as I strolled forward. The narrow hallway ended at the stone door I had seen in the other vampire’s thoughts, but instead of fresh, chiseled stone, it bore the same wear and decay as everything else. I drew my weapon, the sound echoing with eerie cacophony, pausing several feet shy of the one barrier standing between the scroll and me.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my unoccupied hand and concentrated on the obstruction.
That same glow engulfed my hand, but I knew no mere parlor trick would move the immovable. Even when the wisps circled my wrist and lit the area around me, I fought harder, dug deeper, and worked on channeling the energy rather than releasing it in one spectacular burst. My lungs filled as I inhaled deeply. The wisps filled the air and settled around the large, stone barrier, embedding into every corner and lining as much of the door as I could concentrate on. A bead of blood sweat rose to the surface, running along my face and trickling to the collar of my shirt.
With calm composure, I let go of the charge.
The resulting explosion threw me back against the staircase with its concussive force.
My ears rung and head hurt while I struggled to orient myself. Dust filled the air, a giant cloud that permitted me enough opportunity to rise to my feet and stumble my first few steps forward. Through the haze, a gaping chasm opened up before me, and while I had failed to blow the entire door, the explosion knocked it askew enough for me to slide into the adjoining room and pause by the entryway. Blackness enveloped the entirety of the room, an ill omen washing over me as I scann
ed the darkness for the two guardians. I failed to see either, even when summoning the light once more.
What I did see, though, stopped my progress only a few feet past the rubble. Before me laid a platform, poised directly in the center of the room, with dust and cobwebs draped over the jewel-encrusted lid of a box. Its size and shape were unmistakable – an exact copy of the one we had taken from Zachary’s coven – with what I could imagine would be another scroll inside. I resumed a cautious stride toward it, scanning the darkness for interlopers while still feeling the chill of impending doom. The readings persisted all the way to the pillar and even when I extended a hand to touch the box
The box did not budge when I attempted to lift it. Yet again, the signature of some deep spell emanated from the artifact, locking it into a prison from which I could not free it. Frowning, I turned my head, staring into the darkness at my right as though the answer to my riddle laid somewhere in the distance.
That was when I caught the gleam of metal in the corner of my eye.
I arched my back, narrowly avoiding the sword’s blade. The swordsman bore a striking resemblance to the vampires I saw in the other’s memories, except he bore paler skin and fangs extended as though he had forgotten how to retract them eons ago. I swung to intersect another blow and pushed him backward, parrying and cutting at his clothing, but not piercing the skin.
A rush of wind displaced the air behind me.
I sidestepped, but not before having the skin below my ear nicked by a sword’s tip.
Sharp pain radiated from the wound, but I ignored it and placed the two men in front of me. By now, the duo could have been twins, with the same weather of time evident on both of them. What they lacked in attractiveness, however, they made up in speed as their next onslaught set me back and forced me to move as quickly as possible to dodge and counterstrike. Both hissed in unison, and for a short moment I began to wonder if I was a threat to them or prey.
I turned to intersect one blow while diving out of the way of another. Using the resulting momentum, I lifted to my knees and spun to take theirs out, but both leaped out of the way, landing on their feet while I clamored to mine. I exchanged blows with one while bobbing and weaving away from the movements of the other, struggling to find a way to make the fight a little more even. As it was, I would be bested if things persisted in this tenor. The time had come for me to get creative.
