Wardbreaker: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles)

by J. A. Cipriano

  I glanced down at it. He was right. Well, that was neat…

  Chapter 5

  “So how was your burger?” Luc asked, tossing a sidelong glance at me as I swallowed the last bite of my cheeseburger and crumpled the wrapper into a ball.

  “I’m lovin’ it,” I said, tossing the wrapper at him and hitting him on the side of the head.

  “I told you to stop doing that three burgers ago,” he growled, turning his eyes back toward the road. “Hang on!” he screamed, slamming on the brakes and jerking the wheel to the side. The car went into a skid as its tires squealed along the pavement. I was thrown against the seatbelt so hard, my breath whooshed out of me as a shadow filled the sky above us.

  The blue Civic slammed into our hood like a metal comet. The back end of our Mercedes lifted from the street in a shriek of twisted metal as the wheels left the pavement before smacking back down. Our car fishtailed as the vampires inside the upside down vehicle punched out the windows and began crawling out of the vehicle, their fingers gouging into the metal like it was tinfoil.

  Luc’s hands were a blur of motion as he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Our tires skidded, fighting the weight of the vehicle lying across the completely smashed front of our car, and I marveled how it still worked even as the smell of gasoline filled my nostrils. My chest hurt from where the seatbelt had stopped me with a jerk, but it probably didn’t hurt as much as it would have if we’d had, say, a head on collision.

  I concentrated on letting my power fuel my strength as the monsters came closer. Luc was still trying to reverse away, but the only thing that seemed to produce was the acrid smell of burning rubber. If the vampires caught us in close confines, it’d be hard for me to fight them all off, there wasn’t enough room to dodge and maneuver. Besides, for all I knew, one of the cars was about to explode.

  “We need to get out of here!” I screamed, tearing my seatbelt free and throwing my shoulder against the door. It budged, but not enough. Pain shot through my shoulder as the closest vampire reared back and put his fist through our windshield. The glass didn’t shatter so much as it spider webbed outward, radiating from the hold, but still held in place somehow.

  Luc let off the gas, throwing his own seatbelt off as the creature swiped across the entirety of the windshield, sweeping away most of the safety glass. His partner reached in, grabbing Luc by his collar and hauling him out while the first one threw a look at me.

  He grinned, his pale face distorted by his extended fangs. As he reached for me, I grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. My spell-enhanced strength was enough to pull him bodily into the car. He shrieked as I drove my elbow into his chest hard enough to snap his ribs. The sound was so loud it rang in my ears even after it faded. He clutched at his chest as I got my feet under me on the seat and launched myself out of the windshield.

  The vampire holding Luc tossed him to a couple other vampires. They were sitting by one of those vans used to move prisoners. Only this one was filled with heavy bars instead of screen. I was guessing it was made to house incredibly strong people, which I supposed made sense if the vampires were using it. Maybe they used it on each other? The vampire standing on the flattened remains of our hood turned just as my front kick caught him full on, launching him off the car and onto the pavement below. His back collided with enough force to make the others turn toward me and take notice.

  I jerked my wakazashi free from its sheath and glared at the creatures before a screech of steel made me go cold and afraid in the core of my being. The Civic that had landed on our hood lifted into the air.

  An enormous vampire with muscles that would make the Hulk jealous hefted the vehicle like it was as light as a kitten. His red eyes glinted as he reared back and hurled it straight at me. I flung myself to the side as the vehicle hit the Mercedes with a sound that made me think horrible car accident. Which, I guess it sort of was.

  My shoulder smashed into the concrete, but even as agony electrified my senses, I rolled to my feet. I whirled, pointing my sword at the vampire and muttering under my breath. Red lightning flashed through the air, striking the musclebound behemoth in the center of his black Gold’s Gym tank top and tossing him backward into the street.

  I spun, looking for Jean Luc as two vampires struggled to wrestle him into the back of the van. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I ran toward them, gathering my power up inside me. Normally when I called upon my power, it was in controlled burst to make it last longer, but this time I threw the spigot wide open for extra oomph because I didn’t want him getting back up afterward.

  As I reached the closer of the two vampires, I smacked him in the side with my free hand. He tossed a confused look at me and reached toward me. I released everything I had in one titanic burst of energy, crying the name of the spell I used most often in training. “White sparrow!”

  A white cylinder of light exploded from the sky, slamming down around the creature. Flames roiled inside the death tube, charring the vampire into ash in the space of a heartbeat, but I was already moving past the spell I’d unleashed.

  The remaining vampire dropped Luc and came at me, hands twisted into horrific claws. He hit me with all his weight, knocking me from my feet, but as we fell, I used our momentum to fling him behind myself. It was a good thing too because he hit the muscled vampire with a heavy thwack.

  I scrambled to my feet, but I barely made it two steps before 'Muscles' tossed his friend at me, which I guess wasn’t that surprising since he’d thrown a car at me. I took a step forward, planting my feet as I swung my wakazashi in an upward arc with all the strength I could muster. The razor sharp edge of Set caught the flying vampire dead center and sliced through his thrashing body with ease. Blood splattered across my face and clothing as the creature hit the ground behind me in two distinct pieces.

  “Don’t see that every day, do you?” I called as the blood on my face turned to crimson smoke.

  The vampire shrugged at me. “You obviously have not seen my founder in a fight.” He cracked his neck. “Every single time he swings his famous blades, someone dies.” I barely had time to contemplate what he’d said when the vampire charged at me, bringing his head down in a way that reminded me of a bull. I tried to sidestep, but he was surprisingly fast for a big man. His arm broadsided me. My breath whooshed from my body as I hit the ground hard and little stars flashed across my eyes.

  Thankfully, he kept going, moving past me in a rush like a locomotive, and I was glad for the moment to recover. I got slowly to my feet, wishing I hadn’t hidden my katana because it’d been too large to keep on my person. If I had the weapon, I’d have access to even more power. My wakazashi was strong, but what’s that saying, two is better than one?

  The big vampire skidded to a halt, his boots throwing up a spray of gravel as I held my sword in front of me with both hands. The symbols along its edge flared, shrouding me in crimson light as he spun and took an angry step toward me, cracking his knuckles in one big hand.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to suck the blood from a Dioscuri,” he said, gesturing at my weapon. The knowing grin that split across his face made my blood run cold. Had this vampire killed Dioscuri before? From his strength and speed, it sort of didn’t surprise me, but still, he seemed too young… unless… no, it couldn’t be.

  My eyes widened in shock as I noticed the tattoo of a bear on his right forearm. He saw me looking at it and nodded like it explained everything. Because it did. That meant… that meant when he talked about his founder, he was talking about Bob, the founder of the Bear caste. That wasn’t the millennia old vampire’s actual name, but that’s what my teacher had called him because no one knew his real name. He was that old. Besides, Bob was his name in the song we’d learned about him.

  “Bob the Bear

  With strength like a beast

  The swords Frost and Melt glinting in his fists,

  Gifts from the dragons he defeated in contest.

  Wh
en he steps onto the field all must run,

  For this vampire’s strength can blot out the sun.”

  “You’re a Bear?” I asked, trying to stop the fear from making my voice squeak. I almost succeeded.

  “Yeah,” he said, grinning and revealing a mouth of shark-like teeth. “Didn’t the muscles tip you off? You think this is natural?”

  “To be honest, you’re a little small,” I replied, gripping my wakazashi harder as I tried to keep the fear inside me from rising up. Even the weakest vampires in the Bear caste were strong enough to punch a hole in me. If I’d realized what he was earlier, I’d have pressed my advantage and killed him before he could ready himself for a fight. By aligning himself with Bob the Bear, this vampire had gained a small fraction of the founder’s strength. It was why vampires joined castes after all. “And you guys usually don’t leave Europe, what gives?”

  “The Owls offered some of us lucrative contracts as enforcers.” He shrugged his shoulder as if to say, “Everyone has to get paid.” Which, I supposed, was a fair point. “Besides, the vampires run this city. Why would I want to leave? More of us show up by the day, Dioscuri. In another couple years, we’ll own the humans.”

  “And it doesn’t scare you that the Dioscuri are here?” I asked, stalling for time as I tried to gather more power. Unfortunately, I’d used so much during the fight already what with the fire and super strength, I didn’t have much left. If I over exerted myself, I’d run the risk of fainting or worse. It probably goes without saying, but things tend to get really bad when you fall unconscious fighting a vampire.

  “I’ll tell you what I told the last guy before I broke him over my knee and sucked out his juices.” The vampire’s grin widened obscenely. “For a vampire, Dioscuri blood is like the breakfast of champions.”

  “The last guy?” I asked, worry filling me as I tried to think back to who this guy could have killed. Then it hit me. We’d lost a Dioscuri named Calvin in Bakersfield a few weeks ago. Had it been to this guy?

  “Yeah. Asian fellow, about this high?” he said, putting his hand at about the five foot six mark.

  That was Calvin alright. This bastard had killed Calvin. Well, I’d make him pay for that! Without thinking, I charged, calling on everything in me as I crossed the distance between us. My sword flashed through the air, and the vampire blocked it with his wrist. The force of it reverberated down my arm. It felt like I’d just struck solid iron. His flesh had been split open and where there should have been bone, there was a metal rod. Had he replaced his bones with steel somehow? The thought made my blood run cold. The amount of pain involved for something like that would be insane. If this guy had done that, he would probably just keep coming at me until one of us was dead.

  Before I got the chance to ask him about his steel bones, Muscles grabbed me by the throat. He exhaled even though he didn’t need to breathe, and the smell of decay nearly made me gag as he hauled me up into the air and flung me into the side of the Mercedes. I hit the car so hard I was pretty sure everything inside me broke. That was the problem with the vampires of the Bear caste. Even the babies were ridiculously strong. This guy seemed to be no exception.

  My body slumped to the ground as the vampire laughed and took a step forward. My world went hazy and dark around the edges as I forced myself to stand. The taste of blood filled my mouth as I tried to grip my wakazashi, but I found I could barely make a fist. That seemed bad. Very bad. So what did I do? I lied.

  “Come on,” I snapped, raising my empty hand and curling my fingers toward my body. “I’ve had pixies hit me harder than that.”

  The vampire smirked at me and took a step forward. His boots crunched on the gravel as he moved toward me. It’d take him a moment to get here, which bought me time. To do what? I wasn’t sure. Then, from the corner of my vision, I saw a halo of blue light.

  The vampire must have seen it too because he turned his head in time to catch Luc’s glowing fist with his face. The creature cartwheeled backward across the pavement like he’d been hit by a wrecking ball. Luc stood there, covered in vampire blood and shining like a goddamned star.

  As the vampire got to his feet, Luc pulled what looked like a piece of paper from his pocket and drew a symbol on it with one bloody finger. The sheet began to glow violently, throwing off color in every shade of the rainbow. He balled his fist around the sheet as the vampire charged him, fangs bared.

  Luc ducked the first swing, but the second one caught him in the stomach, actually lifting him from the air. Spittle exploded from his mouth as he careened backward, the paper slipping from his hands. It fluttered slowly toward the ground as the vampire turned back toward me and licked his lips.

  “Ready to die, Dioscuri?” he asked, running his tongue over his oversized fangs. I was about to reply with something snappy like “not really” or “come over here and find out jackass” when the vamp stepped on the crumpled, bloody note.

  Silver fire exploded up his leg, reducing it to ash in the space of a second. He screamed, reaching down toward his leg, but as he touched it, the limb actually crumbled to the ground as his fingers swept through it. The motion sent him toppling to the ground, howling.

  I wasn’t quite sure what Luc had done to the paper, but I was going to have to find out after this was over. He had way too many secrets for it to be good. I gripped my wakazashi and moved toward the creature, but I’d barely taken a step when Luc waved me off. He was kneeling on the street a little ways away, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

  “No,” he wheezed, getting to his feet and wincing as he spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground. The blue glow had mostly faded from his body, but being that he’d just blown the leg off a vampire with paper, I was inclined to listen to him, for now.

  “Why?” I asked, sucking in one wheezing breath. Everything hurt. That wasn’t good. If I was injured badly enough, my body would try and repair itself, and since I didn’t have any energy left, it would start cannibalizing itself to make the needed repairs. The only way I could stop that from happening was by eating, soon.

  “If you touch him, it might spread to you,” he replied, leaning against the prison van for support. My gaze swung back to the vampire, and sure enough, the silver flame had spread to the hand that had touched the ash and was traveling down the screaming creature’s arm. I watched in amazement as the vampire was consumed inch by inch until nothing but dust remained. It was the single most horrible thing I’d seen in quite a while. Calvin would be proud.

  Chapter 6

  “Don’t take another step,” I screamed, pointing my sword at Luc and wishing I had something more long range like a shotgun or a rocket launcher. He was still leaning against the vampires’ modified prison van, but he’d looked like he was going to start walking toward me at any second. The blue light had faded from his body, but I didn’t much care. He’d just burned a vampire to death with a piece of paper. I wasn’t sure what the hell he was, but it wasn’t normal.

  “Lillim, it’s okay. I’m one of the good guys,” he said, trying to smile at me but wound up wincing. No doubt, the Bear’s punch had hurt something inside of him.

  “News flash, bad guys think they’re the good guys too,” I snarled, wishing I hadn’t come to this town at all. I’d just wanted somewhere with nice weather and no monsters. Was that too much to ask for?

  Luc chuckled, shaking his head. “You make an excellent point, but I did just save you from him.” He gestured vaguely at the pile of ash that had been the vampire.

  “Maybe that’s just part of your plan?” I said as a horrible realization came over me. Where had the vampire I’d kicked from the car gone? I looked around, frantically, confident I could ignore Luc for a moment.

  “I got him. He’s the one I used to power the spell,” Luc said as my eyes swept over the surroundings. He nodded toward the back of the prison van.

  “Okay, you stay there. Just give me a second.” I stumbled toward the spot he’d indicated, walking on
limbs that didn’t work quite right. I’d heal from the damage soon enough, especially if I got some food in my stomach, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Even the pain didn’t bother me that much. You don’t become a Hyas Tyee in the Dioscuri without getting the crap kicked out of you once or twice.

  Luc moved like he was going to show me something, but I slashed through the air in front of him so the tip of my blade passed within an inch of his throat. “I said don’t move,” I repeated, and the heat in my words sort of scared me. It was the same sort of voice my mother often used around me, and I hadn’t known I could make it.

  He nodded, eyes wide at the sight of the wakazashi gripped in my hand which was a little strange since he’d just blown a vampire to ash, but then again, he’d said the spell wore off. I guess that made sense. Most spells used to augment a person’s strength or speed didn’t last terribly long. Still, I didn’t want him near me.

  The dismembered vampire, if you could still call it that, was lying in a puddle of blood at the back of the van, mostly hidden by the open doors, which was probably why I hadn’t seen him earlier. He must have tried to get Luc in the back when the others had come at me, but evidently, things had gone wrong.

  For one thing, he looked flayed open and his heart had been torn out of his chest. Blood covered the inside of the van’s doors. Was that where all the blood covering Luc had come from? Wait a second...

  I spun back around and stared at Luc wide-eyed. “Why aren’t you still covered in blood?” I gestured from him to the corpse and back again.

  “I told you already, Lillim. I used up his blood to power the spells.” Luc sighed and began to unbutton the cuff on his black dress shirt.

  “Don’t,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him and moving away from the heartless vampire. For all I knew, it was rigged to explode. “I don’t know what you are, and I sure as hell don’t want you undressing in front of me.”