“Your father reached into the small pack he kept with him and took out the flint and small knife he always kept on hand, He reached out to a mummified corpse and tore a small strip from the bodies dried clothes. He then set it down and quickly struck the flint and almost instantly set the strip of cloth on fire, it seemed to be hungry for the flame, as if its burning purity could cleanse it of its sins.”
“The small fire blazed into life and the light made us squint as our eyes had grown accustomed to the dim light. The vampire’s reaction was immediate. It hissed and the flow if its ichor sped up hopping to escape the threat the flames presented.”
“I watched as your father dropped the burning cloth onto the vampire’s body and we both stepped back as it flared to life in a hot and quick flame. The fire ate at the vampire quickly almost relishing in doing its job of burning this poison from the earth. I reached out and took another strip and set it aflame. I went over and set the things head on fire, again watching as the flames hungrily consumed the combustible flesh. We made sure the severed arm met the same fate.”
“When the body, arm and head were all ash the vampire emitted a moan of release that washed over us and almost brought me to my knees. After, the feeling of perversion this thing exuded was gone. It vanished with the vampire’s death.”
“How did my dad know to use fire?” I stood staring at Abaddon.
He had given me a small glimpse at my dad before I knew him and I wanted to know more.
“He said later that it was on instinct. He had a moment of clarity and it just came to him.”
“Your father realized how dangerous these things were and set about finding a way to track them. He always had a gift for the finer aspects of control and soon worked out how to do it. He tried to teach me, but I never could quite grasp it.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked.
Katrina pulled up in a dark sedan. She and Abaddon had a short conversation and she looked over at Max with worry. She went over to him and they quickly got into the car and left. Abaddon watched them leave for a few seconds then came over to me.
“I should have told you about them sooner, prepared you for an encounter. I never believed you would have to deal with them until later. I made a mistake. I should have told you and prepared you better.”
I didn’t know what to say, Abaddon was never very talkative and this apology was totally unexpected. Before the silence became completely unbearable Abaddon continued.
“Those things pick a target then basically tag it, psychically. They then find the one they tagged and feed from them, from the mind at first, then the spirit and lastly the body, leaving their victim an empty shell. It has targeted Max and will not stop coming for him until one of them is dead. We don’t have much time before it gets too far away. If you can track it, maybe we can get to it before it goes to ground, sunrise is coming soon but it was hurt and will need to feed, which will slow it down.” He said.
“Those things have the ability to remove any trace of themselves, giving us nothing to follow. Your father was the only one I have ever known that could track them. If you want to save your friend we need to find this thing and kill it. I want you to try and track it, see if you can find its trail.” He finished.
“What? My father had centuries of experience. I haven’t even passed the Rite of Ascension and you want me to try something that no one else can do?” I asked.
“Yes.” Abaddon said.
My first instinct was to lash out at him, he was infuriating, but that wouldn’t help anything, especially Max. I had absolutely no idea how to do what he asked of me, but I knew I had to try.
I reached out with my enhanced senses, using my sense of smell to try and find the things trail. I picked out hundreds of different scents, all normal, all of this earth. I listened for what, I don’t know, but only heard what I should have. I decided to reach inside and see if I could tap into the same state I had earlier, when I sent my awareness out. Nothing happened.
“This form is limited in its ability.” I heard my father’s legacy say.
I understood what he meant, and almost slapped myself on my forehead for not thinking about it myself.
I once again willed myself to change forms, taking the form of the Beast. My hearing, eyesight and sense of smell all increased. My limbs filled with more pent up energy and a desire to quit thinking about all the complexities of life came over me, urging me to hunt and feed. I pushed them away as I once again used my senses to find any trail the vampire may have left behind, nothing.
I tried to send out my awareness again like I did last time and was somewhat successful. I could feel everything within ten feet, but it didn’t help. I still sensed nothing. I started getting frustrated. It was unfair, asking me to do this. I wasn’t ready. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I even had the ability.
“You have to search without searching.” My father’s legacy said inside my head.
“Search without searching? Are you sure you’re from my father? He would never be so vague.” I thought back.
“You have to find the way yourself, it is not something that can be taught like swinging a sword, it is a feeling, not an act.” He added.
“Search without searching.” I thought sarcastically.
I took a deep breath, allowing my inner turmoil to calm. My thoughts a jumbled mess as the pressure of what was asked of me built. I took another deep breath and another, using the calming techniques Abaddon taught me. Slowly, I started to gain a serene focus to my mind, a tranquility that settled over my thoughts and stilled my troubled imaginings. I began to search inward for some answer to the question, some thread of thought that would help me find the way. Slowly a memory began to grow; it started vague, like something seen in your peripheral vision. It came into focus and I was drawn to it as water is inevitably pulled down the drain when the plug is removed.
The memory was of a time when I got a book full of those 3-d pictures made by computers.
It was a rainy day and I had just watched a show on magic and illusion. I went to the library looking for something new to read, something different.
I saw a book with a strange picture on the front. It was clearly a computer-generated image, but it drew me in. The book had instructions in the inside cover telling me how to see the images. You had to look without focusing and wait for the image to appear. It was weird, staring at a bunch of shapes until my eyes lost focus and I started to see the statue of Liberty from the page. Once I found that spot and my eyes had adjusted I could easily see the picture and even look around the page at all the cool details.
On instinct, I drew from this memory and tried to apply the same principle.
I cleared my mind, pushing all the doubts and worries out of it. I didn’t focus on any of my heightened senses; rather, I focused on all of them and at the same time. It was hard, I constantly wanted to single out one, concentrating on my sight or sound, but I fought it. I willed myself to allow all my senses to merge into one. Then I opened myself up and sent my awareness out, letting my focus of the surrounding environment come into greater clarity.
Immediately I felt a wrongness, a faint, but distinct disturbance. It came near the same area that the vampire had fled. I brought my extended awareness back into myself and turned towards the place I had sensed the vampires trail. There at the edges of my senses I saw, felt, heard and smelled the trace leftovers from the vampire’s passing.
I was in that zone of focusing without focusing and was afraid that any analysis of what was happening would disrupt the spell, so I followed it, without a second thought. On instinct, I raced into the woods following the trail of the most vile and evil thing I had ever come across.
Chapter 21
Abaddon easily kept pace. We ran through the woods, me leading, him following close behind. I followed the unnatural trail for hours, traversing miles of forested land. Deep into the night the trail led us to a gas station on the edge of a highway. Behind the pump area, jus
t inside the tree line I stopped. In my current state it took me a while to figure out what I was looking at.
The body was a shriveled husk. Its bipedal frame was one of the only things that told me it was human. I slowly refocused myself into normal and was horrified at what lay before me. The person’s skin was wrinkled and clung to its skeleton. Its eyes were gone, leaving only black pits of emptiness. The corpse was drained of all fluids, as I touched it with my toe the whole thing moved together as if it was one solid mummified piece.
“It has fed.” Abaddon said.
It was all he needed to say. My determination redoubled. I wanted to find this thing now and stop it from doing this to anyone else. I started to draw myself into the focused/unfocused state again when Abaddon reached out and grabbed my forearm.
“That will not be necessary. I have its scent now.” He said.
“I thought no one else could track these things?” I asked, confused.
“It has fed; I can track the scent from this body that has been left on the creature. It is faint, but this was done very recently, the trail is still here.” He answered.
“Alright.” I said, relieved that I didn’t have to follow the putrescence of the vampire’s trail.
Abaddon turned and headed off in the same direction we had been heading, deeper into the forest, deeper into the dark recesses of the empty night.
I took a second to lock onto the scent that the vampire had left from feeding. There, faint, but there. This was much different than what I had been following. The scent was from a man, that was clear. There was an almost sweetness to it that tugged at my Beast. I turned my snout around zeroing in on the trail and wasn’t surprised to find it leading me after Abaddon. I knew it was going to be there, but I wanted to get a lock on the scent for myself.
I raced after Abaddon, leaving the shriveled corpse behind, hoping that he had no loved ones that would morn his passing.
This time he led and I followed. Just as the sky started showing the barest glimpse of brightening, we came upon the entrance to the vampire’s refuge.
Abaddon abruptly stopped, standing at the top of a small hill. The trees all around the opening were thick with growth and bushes filled in most of the open area. If a fire broke out here during a dry summer this area would go up quickly.
The opening was hard to see and if it wasn’t for the trail the vampire had left behind, we probably would never have found it even with our heightened senses.
We both stood looking into a small hole in the ground. It was almost entirely covered in growth and if left alone would be in a few years.
“What is it, a sinkhole?” I asked.
“I think it’s a vent to a mine shaft. There are old abandoned coal mines all throughout this area.” He answered.
Made sense, the coal industry was vibrant in these areas for years. After a series of cave-ins, the coal companies abandoned this area to concentrate on safer, more prosperous land in Ohio and other regions.
“Now what?” I asked.
“I’m thinking.” Abaddon said.
After a moment, Abaddon turned to me saying, “Going into a vampire’s lair is dangerous. Most vampires are loners. They find an area and hunt when necessary and generally keep to the deep darkness of their holes. Sometimes a Lord rises. One who gathers others to its will. The last one I remember doing this was Count Vlad Drakul.” He said.
“Dracula? He was real?” I asked.
“Is it so hard to believe? You are a werewolf are you not?” He asked with a smirk.
“Touché.” I said.
“I don’t know what is waiting for us down there, but the objective is clear. Find the bastard that got to Max and kill it, quickly.” Abaddon said.
“Got it.” I said.
I didn’t know much about vampire lords or hell vampires for that matter, but I did know one thing. One of them had targeted my friend and it was going to die.
We looked at each other for a moment, letting the seriousness of the situation settle in. I took a step forward and dropped down into the hole. Roots and vegetation scratched and clawed at me on the way down, it was a small thing. With my preternatural senses I easily saw the bottom rush up at me and landed with quiet stealth. Abaddon dropped next to me and following the faint traces of the vampire’s victims lingering scent, we went deeper into the darkness.
The path before us was pitch black, but our sharp eyes easily saw the way. I followed Abaddon as we went further along the old tunnel and put more distance between us and the way out. The shaft I dropped down was part of a larger system. A dark tunnel ran off in front of me and behind. There was an old and rusted cart rail in the center of the tunnels. The walls were roughly carved earth with large wooden support beams positioned every ten feet or so. The darkness was slighter here at the bottom of the air vent. The moonlight came in from the opening and gave a small amount of illumination. As I looked off into the inky blackness of the tunnel, my heightened eyesight kicked in and shapes that were vague or hidden by the shadows came into focus.
I called on the Beast to add caution to my movements, willing myself to follow the trail in absolute silence. It was odd, moving without making any noise at all. It almost seemed like I was floating, gliding on a cloud as I traversed the dark tunnel with the predators skill.
The tunnel I followed went in a straight line; every once in a while another, smaller tunnel would bypass the one we were in, going off into the darkness of the underground maze.
Like two shadows amidst the darkness of the night, we made our way closer to the target. The tunnel made a slow and gradual turn ending in a small chamber. The area housed some old, leftover mining equipment. The tools and old carts sat in the darkness like a ghost town long forgotten. The nostalgia of their history lay thick around them like a shroud that embraces their lonely isolation.
The walls consisted of rough stone. Every ten feet or so I saw a set of old iron manacles attached to the rock by a large nail driven deep into the hard surface. Most of the shackles were empty except for a few mummified remains of the vampire’s previous victims.
I started to move towards one of the dried husks when Abaddon reached out and stopped me. Annoyed, I turned to him only to find his gazed locked onto something else. I looked up, searching for what he was seeing only to be hit by the same psychic inkiness that I felt when I had encountered the vampire earlier. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed it until now. The aura from the vampire filled the dark space and I instantly felt dirty and repulsed by its essence. It stood still against the wall across from one of the bodies. It stood there facing the hanging corpse, staring. Its perfect stillness allowed it to almost completely blend in with the wall behind it. If I hadn’t been able to sense its death aura I probably would have missed it myself.
The sheer unnatural presence of the thing grated on me and a low and primal rumble began to grow from the pit of my belly. It grew and flowed out of me in a wave of emotion and energy. I leaned forward towards the vampire and unleashed my fury in a bestial howl of challenge, daring this thing to answer.
It was startled out of its trance and turned to me, its gaze instantly trying to lock me into paralysis. My Beast countered its attempts and once again it turned its head slightly as if it had been confronted with a question it didn’t know the answer to. Without a second thought I rushed towards it. I absently noticed that my bracelets had once again grown into gauntlets and the small blade on the top of my hand had elongated again and extended out almost three feet.
I flew at it in a fury and swiped at its neck intent on beheading it quickly and efficiently. I had caught the thing unawares and was fueled by the power of my anger adding speed and strength to my movements. The vampire moved almost faster than I could follow and slid sideways avoiding most of my attack. I felt the tip of my gauntlets blade bite into the vampire’s neck and was pleased to see a large, deep gash open up on its throat.
The vampire never expressed pain or showed any lessening in movement a
s it bared its teeth, its mouth opening larger than normal and its mandible distending like a snake that unhinges its jaw to swallow something bigger than its mouth. It let out an inhuman and unnatural screech that assaulted my mind and senses. It came at me in a blur, its hands out in front of it; their pale smooth skin belied none of the strength that the vampire possessed.
I knew if the vampire was able to get its hands around my neck it would take no time in removing my head. I don’t know how much experience this thing had in hand to hand combat or if when it was alive if it ever did any sword fighting. It probably never had to deal with anything that didn’t wilt under its gaze and sure as hell didn’t have two gauntlets with three foot swords extending from them. I don’t think it expected its prey to fight back and to be able to do any damage to it so I think it came as a surprise when I called on the power of the Beast and used my own inhuman speed and strength to step out of its oncoming charge and sweep my blades at its stomach.
Vampires were powerful creatures of legend and nightmare. Yes they had ungodly powers, strength enough to pick up a car, speed enough to move unseen, ability to heal from even the most damaging attack and a freaky paralyzing stare used to drain the life energy from its victims, not to mention its fundamental oneness with death. Given all that it was still essentially made from flesh and it was susceptible to physical assault.
My blade cut into its stomach and the power of my strike drove the metal through its backbone, cutting the vampire in half. The vampire’s body fell in two pieces, never spilling a drop of blood. Its legs kept standing as its upper body scrambled towards me. The vampire’s arms scuttling its torso along at a frightening speed.
My shock at watching the vampire’s upper half advance towards me gave it just enough time for it to reach my legs. As it grabbed onto my ankle excruciating pain erupted as its powerful grip easily crushed the sensitive and multiple bones in my foot and ankle.
Gauntlet Rite of Ascension Page 15
