“That thing is going to get demolished by the time you’re done!” The therion named Isaac mused as he paused from his sparring with the vampire named Zoey long enough to watch her assault on the sandbag. Nikki had noticed the two had been really close since she had gotten there.
She shrugged and drove her fist into it once more, “Better it than me, right?” She grinned.
Turning back to the sandbag, she narrowed her eyes at it, imagining Zane’s face for a moment before driving her fists into the center of the bag repeatedly.
“Nikki, we need your help with the plans,” Zane called out as he stepped into the room.
“What plans? I thought we’d decided against too much planning!” She shook her head and sighed, sending another powerful punch into the center of the training bag.
“Please refrain from destroying our equipment. It’s not made for your type of magic.” Zane sighed.
She smiled, noticing that a few of the supporting rails above her had begun to warp, “Didn’t know I was that strong! You should probably invest in stronger equipment.” She rolled her eyes and turned to Zane. She could certainly see the appeal that the Serena girl saw in him, he wasn’t a total loss in the looks department; though it didn’t change the fact that he was a grade-A asshole. Still, she could get used to the face and body.
Besides, it wasn’t him she liked.
“So what do you need?” She asked.
“It’s this whole Keith mess.” He said simply.
As if it was ever that simple, she sighed. “Oh? You sound like you have something in mind.”
“Not particularly, but if you’re going to be leading us then I’d like to know what you had in mind.”
Nikki smiled and looked at the punching bag and shrugged, “Well, one of the benefits of being what I am is knowing that very few understand what they’re dealing with. A human would think I was a monster and a Mythos would think I was nothing more than a human,” she grinned over at him knowingly, “So, at any point in a battle, I’m either against somebody who’s either already afraid of me, or underestimating me.”
Zane frowned, “Is there a point to this? I’d like to get back to Serena soon.”
“Oh I won’t be long,” Nikki chuckled, throwing a gentle punch into the sandbag, “Anyway, what I’ve come to learn from this is that—afraid or unafraid—it’s never hard to get the enemy to get sloppy. Either their nerves get to them and you get them desperate not to die,” she drove several more punches—growing in tempo with each strike—into the sandbag, “or they shift their focus because they’re certain they’ve already won.” Zane frowned as she continued to throw her magic-laced punches and began to mix some kicks into her approach and the sandbag continued to shift and pitch under the impacts, “Either way, when the opposition gets sloppy, their hold on the situation gets weaker and weaker until…” she drove her fist into the sandbag, letting it swing out before driving her leg into the side and tearing it from the ceiling and sending it crashing to the floor and spilling sand all over the gymnasium.
Zane sighed, staring at the mess and looking up at her, “You know you’re paying for that, right?”
Nikki smirked, “I’ll make you a deal, Maledictus; if I succeed in leading you and the others in tomorrow’s battle, then consider me settled up. Otherwise, I’ll pay ten times the damages!”
“If you fail,” Zane frowned, “we’ll be dead.”
Nikki smiled and patted his shoulder, “Like I said; consider me settled up.”
Zane sighed as he stepped through the door to his and Serena’s room, grumbling as he locked up.
Serena smiled and looked up at him from the bed, her purple eyes meeting his mismatched bright gaze, “That didn’t take you long.”
“She broke a sandbag and told me to bill her…”
Serena giggled, “Well, at least she’s taking responsibility, right?”
Zane sighed and shook his head, “Yea… if we die!”
Serena cackled.
“Yea, it’s hilarious.” Zane sighed, “You and her are clearly made for each other!”
“Well, as true as that might be,” she grinned, “she’s missing a few things that I’m looking for in a lover.”
“Oh?” His eyes sparked and he studied her shape under the sheets with refreshed interest.
Serena smirked, seeing him stare and she shifted to give him a better view of her, “Oh my, Zane. Are you ready for another go, again?”
“What? Is five times too many?” Zane gave a phony pout as he walked towards the bed.
Serena smiled and started to peel her shirt off, “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll tell you when you’ve had enough.”
“And if you can’t stop me after that?” He beamed and leaned closer, kissing her neck causing her to gasp.
“Mmm! I don’t know. I don’t think I could say ‘no’ even if I wanted to,” she confessed, grinning.
He smirked and continued to kiss lower, “Then I guess I have nothing to worry about.”
“You know me,” she groaned as his lips traced her naval, “I… I aim to please.”
Zane grinned and reached down, “Oh? You too? Then maybe you can tell me how my aim is.” She moaned loudly as he found his mark and bit her lip, “Oh! Looks like I’m still an expert marksman.” He growled out.
Tired of the games, Serena pulled him down and wrapped herself around him.
15
A Game of “Stronghold”
The forest was cold and quiet in the throes of dusk, even more so than usual. With a low-hanging cloud of mist turning the landscape into a haunted haze, Zane and Serena and the rest of their small, lackluster army of surviving Vail warriors marched together in the clearing.
There was no question if Keith and his group were there—of that they were all certain—but the atmosphere and his auric shields made knowing his exact location and intentions impossible.
Serena frowned as she felt the first wave of doubt rift through their ranks and she looked over at Zane. “Do you think this will work, Zane?”
Zane nodded, his familiar warrior swagger throwing extra power behind each step he took, “No worries, babe! We got this one in the bag!” he sighed and looked forward “It’s like Nikki said; we’re covered for the worst.” He lingered on that thought a moment before he looked back and grinned at her, “Besides, you do have your one, unmistakable talent.”
Serena smirked, remembering her discussion earlier with Zane pertaining to the skill that had rapidly made her an iconic force—one that trumped Keith, Zane, Devon, and any other who dared to try their luck with her—and made her nothing short of legendary in her applications…
Her uncanny ability to piss anybody off!
She laughed again and flipped her hair proudly as Zane reminded her of just how skilled she had become at getting under the skin of anybody in her path, and while she thought—hell, she goddam knew!—that Zane hadn’t simply agreed to this revelation for her sake, she hoped that the “gift” wouldn’t fail her when it counted for something more than a petty argument.
“Damn-straight, it’s gonna work!” Nikki grinned as her tattoos began to shimmer with the promise of battle as she peered through the rows of trees and pulled out two Sais and rolled the forked swords in each palm to check their balance one last time.
At an unspoken cue, the group stopped their advance in the center of the clearing and prepared themselves for what was next. Isaac and the rest of the therions had already transformed and, as they saw the vampires give the signal and prepare their weapons their bestial forms shifted into view from the trees and surrounding landscape and they moved forward to join them.
“Well well well, Serena! This is quite an unconventional way to begin a negotiation, wouldn’t you say?” Keith snickered as he stepped out of the fog ahead of them, arms held out and palms empty as he stepped confidently towards them, “Guns? Swords? Therions?” he shook his head and clucked his tongue, “If I was a less-trusting type I might be worried tha
t I’d been tricked; maybe even go so far as to claim that I’d been deceived! This, however, would be beyond foolish and you—my dear, sweet, naïve bitch-of-a-sister—are certainly nobody’s fool.”
Zane bared his fangs and hissed angrily, “Watch your mouth, you bastard, or you can watch me rip it from you!”
“Oh my!” Keith held a hand to his chest in mock-horror, “Such brash words and barbaric threats! Perhaps I should reconsider my stance on how to deal with our father’s treachery and the blind support of the morons he kept company with!” He took another step forward and smirked at Zane, arching an eyebrow, “How well did you know him, Zane? What was it that Gregori told you that you’re so quick to accept at face value?” He snorted and shook his head, “Now, I’m willing to wager it’s something to the tune of: ‘Keith is mad with power’ and ‘he’s deceiving The Council’ and whatnot, am I right?” He leered at Serena, “Do you think that they’re stupid, Serena? Would you say—here and now and with all of these witnesses to hear it—that The Mythos Council are imbeciles?”
Serena glared, “You know I wouldn’t!”
“Oh ho? You would be right about that, too! Because they aren’t idiots!” he laughed and turned his back on them, his voice echoing around them as he continued to rant like a lawyer on his closing statement, “So, now that we’re in agreement as to the credibility of my employers, is it fair to assume that I am the monster that you so obviously appear to be convinced I am? Or, and bear with me here, does it seem more likely that, upon my leaving our father’s clan—upon seeing his corrupt and foolish use of The Council’s support—that he would lie to his mindless drones to maintain their trust?” he paused and glanced over his shoulder at Zane, “So, my bestial bastard half-brother, just how well did you know my and Serena’s father?”
Zane’s eyes had narrowed into angry slits as his jaw shifted and clenched, his tattoos beginning to glow. Seeing this, Nikki’s tattoos flared as she began to chant under her breath and Serena watched as wisps of her pale aura began to work their soothing magic on him.
Frowning, Serena looked back and Keith and shook her head, “You always did love to talk.” She sneered, “But do you expect me—one who grew up beside you and knew him better than anybody else here could hope to!—to abandon what I know just because you can weave a fancy sentence and”—she glared and threw her aura out in a pulsing wave throughout the clearing and shattering his auric shields and, with them, his psychic influences on their group—“fuck with peoples’ minds?” She glared at him as the group began to realize their minds had been tampered with, “Now, Keith—my ass-kissing, limp-dick, parasitic worm and shitty excuse for a brother—if you’ll be so kind as to repeat your speech without your eel-like aura slithering through my friends’ minds?”
Keith hissed at her, “Bitch!”
Serena scoffed, “I’ve been called far worse by far better, shit-stain!”
“How dare—” Keith stopped himself and breathed in, steadying his thrashing aura and calming himself before offering a solemn nod. “It can’t be said that I didn’t try with you, Serena.” He glared at her, “As much as I’m sure you’ll tell them otherwise when you’re suffering The Council’s wrath! I come here alone to peacefully negotia—”
“Oh, eat shit and rot, you lying cock-stain! I know you brought others!” Serena glared, stepping forward and swiftly drawing back and firing an auric bow in a fluid motion that caught Keith off guard. As the bright purple tendril cut through the clearing and slammed into Keith’s leg, knocking him to one knee, the blinding fog broke and revealed the waiting army that Keith had brought. She grinned, keeping her auric grip on her brother’s leg, “And now everyone else does, too.” She shook her head at him, “Are there any more lies you want to try to feed us before I wipe the woods with you?”
“Oh no, sis.” Keith laughed and wrapped a pair of red auric “arms” around Serena’s hold on him and easily crushed it. “I think it’s safe to assume that everything worth saying has been said!”
Serena cried out as the energy backlash hit and she fell to the ground.
Zane’s eyes flashed and he snarled and shot at Keith, his aura beginning to shift from blue-to-red. Seeing his advance, Keith’s aura surrendered its hold on Serena’s and he turned to face him, his face twisting into an angry roar.
“TAKE THEM!”
Isaac howled out a warning as Keith’s army flooded into the clearing.
Serena pulled herself to her feet and fired an auric arrow into the skull of one of Keith’s vampires as it hurled itself at her. “Nikki! You’re up!”
Nikki smiled, her tattoos glowing brightly as she ducked below an enemy therion’s swipe and drove the handle of one of her Sais into her attacker’s windpipe. As the therion gasped and whimpered, staggering back and clutching its throat, she shouted to Zane; “Let them meet Maledictus!” She grinned, driving the point of her other Sais through the bottom of the gasping therion’s jaw and let it spear through its skull before casting her magic and hurling its corpse into an oncoming group.
Zane bit his lip and glanced back at Serena as she fired two auric arrows through the chests of a pair of attackers and, using her hold on them, drove them into one another with bone-crushing force. As they collapsed in a broken heap she turned to Zane and nodded, “Do it!” she urged him, “Just leave Keith alive!”
Zane growled, “If I lose control of it and threaten the cause”—he grimaced and gasped as both of his arms twisted and shattered; stretching under their own weight until his fingers nearly met the frost-tinted turf—“you need to stop me, Serena!” His eyes bulged as another wave of agony hit him and he slammed into the ground as he began to pop and contort. “N-no ma-matterrrr… what!” he shrieked as the lower-half of his spine elongated with a wet crunch and left his upper torso sagging under the poor support, “You… must… s-s-STOP—” Zane’s eyes went wide from pain and the words caught in his throat as his body seized and froze in mid-writhe. The battle paused for a moment—friend and foe alike craning to see what had happened—as his body went limp and sagged under its own heft before exploding into the beast’s form and sneering. “YOU WON’T STOP US!”
Serena’s eyes went wide as Maledictus raised to his full height and grabbed two of Keith’s followers in his hands and scooped up another five in his aura. Dangling his captives high above him—forcing them to watch his activities—he began cackling as he crushed the first from the middle and then, tossing the still-dying vampire aside, twisting the other’s limbs free of his joints one-by-one until he finally grew tired with him, as well, and pulled his head off like a doll’s.
Serena watched this for a moment, chuckling at the child-like exuberance in the midst of his “play” before turning away and returning her focus to the battle.
Nikki grinned as she leapt over a towering therion, driving her Sais into its shoulders and cartwheeling over its head as her tattoos flashed and the pale-white magic crushed its skull; splattering a layer of gore across her face like war paint as she landed on the other side. “You think he’s having fun, Serena?”
Serena laughed, “I do! I was actually starting to get jealous!” She punctuated her last word by firing an auric bow into the chest of an approaching freak as she shook her head. A freak! Keith—Mister High and mighty Council-supporter—had been turning humans into raving, psychopathic, deranged third-generation vampires solely to build up his army. That was something, which, in and of itself, was at least three broken laws punishable by execution and multiplied by each and every ravenous Mythos mishap she saw thrashing about.
Shrieking at the auric arrow in its chest, the freak foamed at the mouth and began to charge at her still. Sighing, she shook her head and began expanding it inside him, causing his upper torso to burst and leaving his legs to kick about in momentary confusion.
Nikki laughed at Serena’s show and nodded her approval before shifting her focus to her left, “Isaac! Cover the flank!”
Nodding his fox-like head, Isa
ac barked and snarled, gesturing to the other therions from his pack and directing them into battle around the edge of the clearing before charging forward on all fours and jumping into a pod of enemies head-on. As the unsuspecting sang in the middle was speared by Isaac’s dive into them, the others spilled in either direction like bowling pins from the impact. Before they’d had a chance to hit the ground, Isaac had already torn his enemy’s throat out and, spitting the bloody wad from his mouth, stood to his full height and backhanded the nearest vampire before starting in on the others.
“Zoey, check his blind-side!” Nikki called as she threw a Sais into an enemy’s chest before drawing it back to her with her magic.
Darting and weaving like a dancer between enemy attacks and letting her bubbly blue aura do the dirty work as she put each of Keith’s followers behind her, Zoey closed-in on Isaac like a Hell-born ballerina—leaving a trail of headless foes behind her—and leaping gracefully into the air and pulling Isaac off the ground and out of the path of several enemy therions.
Isaac’s animal eyes widened for a moment as he floated over the battlefield before coming to rest and beamed over at Zoey, who nodded—blowing him a kiss—before letting him drop down onto the confused Mythos below for the slaughter.
Nikki continued to bob-and-weave like a glowing ninja while shouting commands to the others around her. As Serena watched, the efforts of their small band of fighters began to open a pocket in the middle of the clearing that left Serena, Maledictus, and Keith to handle their end.
“Why do you”—Maledictus sang in his multilayered, gravelly voice—“build us up, butter-cup baby,” he hurled one of the last four Mythos he’d been playing with nearly one-hundred feet into the air, as his aura lashed out behind him and began pulling another’s limbs off before dropping them—crippled and useless—to the ground to bleed to death, “Just to let us down?” He smirked as he threw out his hand and caught the still-shrieking airborne Mythos and holding them to his face as he sneered, “And mess us around! And worst of all…” the vampire let out one final cry only to have it cut short as Maledictus drove his forehead into his face and caved it in. Pouting playfully at the gory remnants of his enemy’s face, Maledictus shook his head, “… you never call, baby, when you say you will.”
Scarlet Night: The Complete Trilogy Page 20
