The Dhampir Dimension

by Viktoria Alukard

  “Thank you, Raluca. I will see Alucard there,” Sekhmet replied back.

  There, at the entrance to the mausoleum, whose architecture likened to that of the Roman temples with their white pillars, except with blackening verdigris, stood black-haired Alucard in an all-black velvet ensemble of a fitted jacket and slim pants that stopped at his ankles. He wore a top hat to finish off the rather gothic dapper look. Next to Alucard, stood Nicolae, wearing a dark green velvet cape over his white tunic and black pants, and besides him was a beautiful blonde woman with doll-like features. Her skin was pearlescent, and her lips were as red as cherries, which contrasted harmoniously with her cascading waves of blonde hair underneath her crimson veil piece. She smiled gently at Sekhmet, while halfway hiding behind Nicolae. It was Dayanara, Enttu’s mother.

  “Alucard. You know why I am here,” Sekhmet announced, in supremely regal posture that accentuated the way her gold sequined dress draped off her defined curves.

  “Let’s not prolong this, anymore shall we?” Alucard replied. He turned towards Dayanara and Nicolae.

  “I will leave you two as acting guardians of the realm of passing, as you are the former King and Queen of the Selenians. I think Alucardians sounds better, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. Your son needs us right now. Believe me if you were to see him appear on this turf, it wouldn’t be of worthy cause, and you may as well consider yourselves doomed,”

  “We understand. Best of luck Alucard, and your Majesty, Sekhmet,” Nicolae said, through a tired smile.

  As Alucard and Sekhmet disappeared into the halls of the mausoleum, Dayanara silently wept in sadness, wishing in her heart that she could see her son once again. Nicolae gently rapped her arm.

  “Daya, I miss Enttu just as much as you do. But we must believe in our son. If he dies again, that could very well mean the end to every realm in this universe as we know it,”

  “I hate to say this, but sometimes I wish our little boy was like every other vampire, so we could be together as one family. Our daughter, she’s a lost cause,”

  “Don’t you ever speak so ill of our children ever again, Dayanara,” Nicolae scolded her, “let me reiterate to you, that Enttu is hardly even a boy anymore. He was never meant for the ordinary. He has such an incredible strength that not even I could ever fathom, or even withstand the things he has seen and had to do. And Vibekka, she is a troubled woman, but she’s still my daughter and I love her. Let’s stand by our children, Dayanara. They are the scion of tomorrow. You need darkness to combat darkness. I admit that I am too cowardly to ever accomplish such feats, so let’s do what Alucard has tasked us with,”

  Swirls of bats with glowing neon green eyes swirled around the King and Queen, and they embraced each other, whilst looking out to the fields of the dead vampires they all knew. They were the stronghold now between Selene’s afterlife realm, and the physical plane, blessed with the power of Alucard and Sekhmet to guard this and the surrounding galaxies. Up above, in the temple of Selene, she sat in her lonesome throne, and two Greys were at each side, one of them was the familiar extraterrestrial, Kyorg, whom had sporadically appeared in Enttu’s dreams and visions when he was hallucinating or astral projecting. There was a fleet of silver ships that surrounded her temple, flanked out in a V formation above the courtyard. They resembled hovering pyramids, and they had their weapons pointed towards the mausoleum where the passing dead would come through, just in case Basilisk would emerge through here and the dead needed heavier artillery than just magic and swords. Even in the etheric planes, every soul was battle ready, for the fight of the ages.

  Physical, Present Plane

  The tremors intensified when they returned in a more powerful, dangerous second wave. Regina had to drink her dhampir lover’s blood from his wrist to regain strength back, and by the time they reached downtown, the streets were not passible. They were broken up into chunks of broken asphalt and steel beams, and the millions of voices of distressed victims flooded her head, impossible to block out. She stopped in her tracks, when she saw an old woman with a cane slowly walk across to another street, before the ground suddenly cracked and split her path between her adult daughter and herself. Enttu went and grabbed her out of the way of a falling power line that came crashing down with the jolt under the street.

  Another jolt rocked the city side to side, and it sounded as if somebody way underground had rolled a giant bowling ball into a pin rack. High rise buildings swayed and bent with each sway as if the steel support beams had been made of elastic. The streets deformed as they cracked open into wide chasms that swallowed entire cars and buildings, and civilians. Many of these buildings that weren’t built to withstand an earthquake collapsed sideways onto one another like dominoes and stirred up massive clouds of dust that intoxicated the air and made visibility next to nothing with particles of rubble and smog. Car alarms went off with the powerful vibrations under the Earth, and many victims had taken to the streets.

  Trees were torn out of their roots, and cars that were still driving had soon driven over broken freeways, drivers plummeting to their deaths. Inside of stores, broken and shattered merchandise had fallen off shelves, and shelves had fallen to the ground, even through walls. The rattle also caused spontaneous combustions by busted gas lines in neighborhoods.

  Soon witnessed from behind a collapsing building was a tall black, dagger-like obelisk about the height of the monument in D.C. break through and emerge from the crust, a block from the one near the cathedral. The obelisk had stopped when it towered almost 300 feet above the skyline, making it easily detectable via satellite. Military planes flew towards the obelisk but when they came too close in proximity, they exploded into millions of pieces of shrapnel and metal. It gave off another deafening screech that had civilians running in the direction opposite from it. The sky over Bucharest had turned into a deep crimson over all the city, almost as if an octopus had exploded ink and blood over the firmament. Enttu, Regina, and Vittorio kept moving forward, against the running frenzy of people headed their way.

  They jumped in fluid movements from car to car, and then leaped high onto a rooftop, where they kept ascending in jumps and flight. Three black-clad figures seemingly danced their way until they were on the steepled stucco roof of the Magalesti Cathedral, where they faced their archnemeses. It sickened Enttu to the point of blind rage when he witnessed his own daughter, Vanya, stare at him nonchalantly, as she shoved an innocent older woman into the black hole surrounding the obelisk right behind the building. When it engulfed the woman, the obelisk made that deafening screech again that made everyone fall to their knees and clutch their heads as they let the excruciating migraine subside.

  From nowhere, suddenly two full-sized sedans were flung towards Vanya, and Narciso standing at the opposite spire, from the very hands of a super-charged Vittorio Celentano. Some frequency, or just simply being in the presence of vampires had hyper-charged his warlock abilities, and he awakened his gift of telekinesis when the first series of earthquakes had begun, right after the radioactive emissions from those black monoliths that seemed to affect everyone but him. As superlative as his newfound power was, Vanya still dodged the attack, and in retaliation, she charged straight toward him. In temporary distraction by her own rage, she ended up dropping the black piece of onyx to the ground, and Enttu had gone right for it, before Narciso could get it.

  “You will pay with your life, you stupid half-breed!” Narciso growled.

  He seemed like he could handle the vampire on his own. Vittorio was in trouble, and Regina rushed to his aide, against the blonde female vampire who came back at him with claw slashes. She had Vittorio on his back and had commenced to drink his blood, until she was frazzled from behind with a lightning bolt from her female archnemesis.

  Narciso had grabbed Enttu by his long blonde hair when the other tried to fly away, and he crashed face first against the wall of the church bell spire.
A sharp, racking pain coursed from his face from a scraped cheekbone, and he spat out blood from biting down on his tongue. He moved out of the way, before a wooden stake was driven through his heart from behind, and he spun around quickly to kick Narciso in the chest. The other vampire crashed into another building and went through the wall of a high-rise apartment. The tall blonde followed him, with the onyx crystal in his pockets, and fire forming in his fists. His eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed tightly when he saw Narciso behind a destroyed sofa.

  “You are long overdue for an ass-whooping, Dracula,” Enttu hissed, through growing fangs that were cutting into his lower lip.

  The dhampir gave out an inhuman growl that was beastly in nature, as the inner monster within him began to take over. He sent blue flames of immolation toward the vampire, which consequently, engulfed everything else as well. Narciso was able to shield himself from the flames with a cape, and when they disappeared, he advanced forward with his own magical attack.

  “I will never understand why Sekhmet favors you over a thoroughbred! Vampires and humans will never coexist! There can only be one ruler, and it will never be a filthy half-breed as long as I’m alive!” he yelled.

  Black clouds formed around Narciso, and then they lashed toward Enttu, who waited for him, in a come-hither pose, expecting a challenge worth dying for. He laughed mockingly at the vampire, as the black clouds all but tickled his nose. He brushed the dust off his lapels off and shook his head.

  “It’s going to take a lot more than your activated charcoal puffs to kill me. You thoroughbreds simply bark, without bite,” Enttu sniped, with crossed arms, and hovering in the air.

  “I wouldn’t be so pompous right now, for your healing powers have just been rendered all but obsolete, meaning I can kill you off faster,”

  “I’d like to see you try,”

  Vanya retaliated against Regina by hitting her with two throwing knives, which all but scratched her, but Regina countered her by shooting plasma back at her, and Vanya seized up mid-air, convulsing violently from the electric jolt that frazzled her hair. Vittorio had felt another surge of energy in his forearms, and with solely his thought, he was able to lift a beam and hurl it toward Vanya suspended in the air. The blunt force of the metal colliding with her body sent her flying into the obelisk, and she seemed to have fried to death when she met it. She was set ablaze in different changing colors of red, blue, and black sparks of light that consumed her frame entirely and kept her glued to the monolith while the evil energy killed her off. Blood fountained out of her mouth in copious quantities and repainted her outfit. Regina and Vittorio were in temporary elation of victory and patted each other on the back. All was good for a minute or so, till Vanya unpeeled herself from the structure, burned and frazzled, with her irises completely white except for the points of her pupils.

  An otherworldly growl escaped her throat, and with bared claws and pointed teeth, she came back for them, moving so fast that their own movements seemed to be in slow motion through her eyes. She was pelted with shrapnel, pieces of steel beams, car parts, and electricity, but she moved too fast to be attacked. She jumped across to another rooftop that was in front of the cathedral, where her nemeses followed her, and she also witnessed the flame and blood-fueled battle between Enttu and Narciso, both vampires bloodied and clothes in rags. They weren’t stopping, and the violence continued, even catching the attention of some spectators far below, who only saw flashes of black, red, and white.

  Another rib fractured under the torque from the bottom of Enttu’s combat boots curb-stomping Narciso to a pulp. The other vampire thought he had the upper hand with his spell of mortality he used against the dhampir, unaware that he had already died once before. He was a true immortal who was next to impossible to kill, lest by daylight. The jagged piece of bone puncture Narciso’s right lung, and he coughed out viscid strings of blood as Enttu rained down on him, kicking him repeatedly. His internal organs were well beyond bruised and swollen from internal damage of the impact. The dhampir was powerful, even against another vampire, and with one hit, he could have fatally injured any mortal. He was then planting the soles of both feet onto Narciso’s chest, balancing his weight by tensing his calves, and he had the tip of his katana puncturing the skin of the vampire’s left pectoral, where his heart was. For being so tall and slim, Enttu was quite heavy, and all his weight pressing down was asphyxiating Narciso, and he found it almost impossible to breathe, without labor.

  “Any famous last words, Dracula? Before you kiss your immortality goodbye?”

  Narciso budged out a wicked smile, through the burning pain in his chest that was beginning to spread to the rest of his body, and he licked the blood off his lips. The air around them smelled like charcoal and iron of their spilt blood. Enttu cocked his head sideways and scowled, digging his katana in deeper.

  “What could you find so amusing in your impending demise, that I have to witness that grotesque beam before I do away with you?” the dhampir spat out in discontent.

  Narciso replied through a grinning silence of blood-stained fangs, before sharp claws suddenly dug into the calves of the dhampir, and he lost his balance as he screamed out sharply in pain and got tossed to the side.

  “Never let your guard down, you arrogant son of a bitch. That will be the death of you!” Narciso roared as he came towards Enttu who was trying to heal himself before he was counter-attacked.

  Blood stained his dress socks that were torn to shreds of black fabric by now, and the warm fluid soaked into the memory foam of his combat boots, creating a red marsh around his feet. He was increasingly pale from the loss of blood, and he did feel his powers drain, and the pain was much stronger than he ever had felt before. His wounds were deep enough to render it almost impossible to walk without excruciating pain. The spell had worked, and human weakness was beginning to take over him if he didn’t fight back.

  “You love your humans so much, well then, you shall join the ranks of their cemeteries!” Narciso continued, seizing him by his neck and holding him down against his will, to bite and drain him dry.

  Down below, on the street behind the cathedral, Vittorio was pinned between a car and a wall and if he moved, he would die. Vanya had subdued Regina by flinging her against the spire where the church bell was, and she lay in an unconscious slump who still heard everything happening around her. Vittorio’s vision darkened, and he felt a bloody lump of disintegrating organs and tissue rise through his digestive tract, and he vomited blood and guts on top of the roof of a black BMW X5. He was left for dead as Vanya abandoned him after she was done with him, and she floated towards the church bell spire. His face went from feeling very hot from blood running down his neck, to increasingly cold as warmth and life fleeted out of his body, and he convulsed as he went into shock, and more blood poured out onto the roof of the vehicle. The sickening smell of iron was overwhelming, and he spilt out the rest of the contents in his body through bloody heaves of saliva and red sticky tissue. Exhaustion crept its way into his eyelids and began to weigh them down in the spell of coming death, and his arms and legs became number with each passing second.

  Before he closed his eyes for the last time, the brightest light appeared in front of him, and amidst the white glowing orb, there was a sagely woman, aged and yet glamorous, with completely white hair and she wore a white brocade skirt suit, and two black cats were by each of her feet, adorned with white designer pumps. She bent down carefully and gently took his hand. Her hand was pleasingly warm as she gently tugged him out between the BMW and the wall. He slipped out so effortlessly and felt not an ounce of pain anymore as she helped him unpin himself. He was surprised to see the empty shell of his body still bleeding itself out, and yet at the same time, he was watching himself. That is when he knew his time had come. He turned to the old woman and he embraced her with unconditional love and gratitude.

  “Ophelia, you died?”

 
“Died not, Vittorio. Our souls live on forever. Come on, we have no time to waste. Selene has a direct access pass exclusively just for us,”

  Vittorio turned towards the battle scene, where he could see his two friends struggling against the enemies, and it did not look good.

  “What about Enttu and Regina?”

  “Those two are karmically bound, by destiny. Worry not. Let’s go,”

  Ophelia held onto Vittorio’s hand as they left the Earth’s atmosphere, and then passed through a wormhole that made them land on none other place than the moon, where from here, they entered a splendid golden temple hovering just above the moon through the back. Here, Selene in her blue skin and lavender dress was already awaiting them. There was a rose and lavender petaled bath awaiting Vittorio. He slipped off all his garments and then dipped his toe in the hot water first, before the rest of his body sunk into the aquatic spa.

  Vanya was struck again by lightning as Regina let out a bolt from her hand, while lying on her side and recovering. With just that much time to spare, she lunged out of the way and then she tackled Narciso from behind, who was halfway done with drinking Enttu’s blood. The weakened dhampir was being held by the hair on the nape of his neck, and his back was pressed against the chest of the vampire, who relished in the metallic salty taste of his life rolling down his tongue, and filling his insides with vigor, with the side effect of the stigmata of plaguing memories. He hadn’t expected Regina to attack him from behind, as he was too lost in pleasant euphoria and hallucination.

  Narciso landed face first onto stucco, and then Regina grabbed his head and slammed it repeatedly on the chimney that led down into the confessionary of the cathedral. Empowered from dhampir blood however, he spun around, and he seized Regina by her throat, carrying her up in the air. She kicked and flailed, struggling to break free from his grip. He was resisting even against the surges of electricity she sent through him.