The Vampire Flame (Vampire Sorceress Book 3)

by T. L. Cerepaka

  As for magical spells, I didn’t know spells that could protect me from lava. All I could do was try to form a magical barrier that might protect me from the initial impact, but whether it would last longer than that, I couldn’t say. All I knew was that it was the only realistic option still left to me, so I had no choice but to do it.

  But before I could activate my barrier spell, the lava crashed into me.

  I expected to feel my skin get burned away, to feel my whole body be immersed in molten lava and my bones to melt away into nothingness. I thought that the initial impact would instantly kill me, and that if it didn’t, I would be dead in less than two seconds. I wasn’t an expert on lava, but I knew that nothing could stand against lava for very long. My last thought was a prayer to God to protect Lucius and guide him to the moon to save Jane if I couldn’t do it.

  Just as the lava struck me, however, it abruptly vanished. The temperature in the room fell back down to its normal temperature and the floor was no longer soft and melted. I sat against the wall, breathing in and out heavily, looking at the Heart of the Maze, which no longer looked like the heart of a volcano anymore. Everything was eerily quiet, save for the constant heartbeats of the Maze somewhere in the background.

  “What … what was that?” I said, my voice low and shaky.

  “An illusion,” said Blake’s voice. “You didn’t honestly believe that I would actually fill the Heart of the Maze itself with molten lava, did you? If I did that, I would destroy the Maze itself, which is not something I have any interest in doing. But I understand if you believed you were about to be covered in molten lava. My illusions are the most realistic illusions around, mostly because I’m very gifted in that way, as you can no doubt tell.”

  I panted heavily. “That was all just an illusion? But it seemed so real …”

  “Yes, because as I just said, I’m talented,” said Blake’s voice, which seemed to be entirely disembodied right now. “If I wanted, I could have covered you in lava and made your mind think you were dying, but that would just be needlessly cruel. It was a lot more fun to pretend like I was going to cover you in lava, only to stop at the last second. The look on your face was priceless.”

  I felt really silly now. I knew that Blake specialized in illusions, which was the only way he could have possibly altered the environment so quickly and drastically. I should have realized that before the lava vanished, but the illusion really seemed real. I couldn’t argue with Blake when he described himself as ‘talented,’ because it required real talent to be able to pull off an illusion that convincing.

  I slowly rose to my feet, clutching Domination, casting my eyes about the room. “That was a neat illusion, Blake, I’ll admit, but if you noticed, it didn’t actually kill me. Unless you were planning to kill me via heart attack, that is.”

  “Oh, I didn’t expect the illusion to actually kill you,” said Blake. “But it will be interesting to see how long you will be able to stand against my illusions before they shatter your pretty little mind.”

  Abruptly, I found myself sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking a ravine so deep that I couldn’t even see the bottom. I yelped and jumped, causing me to slide down toward the ravine below, but I reached out and grabbed a branch sticking out of the side of the cliff at the last second. The branch creaked under my weight, but managed to hold, though it felt like it was about to break any minute.

  I told myself that this was just another one of Blake’s illusions, but it was so real that my body reacted just like I was literally hanging above a ravine about to fall to my doom. I even found myself wishing that I had wings so I could fly if I fell. It was an irrational thought, but I couldn’t stop thinking it.

  I heard footsteps above me and looked up in time to see Blake standing on the cliff above me. He was smirking as much as ever and looked down upon me with obvious condescension.

  “Just hanging in there, Tara?” said Blake with amusement. “Perhaps I should give you a hand.”

  I bit my lower lip. “If you try to touch me, I’ll cut your hand straight off with Domination.”

  Blake chuckled. “Tough talk for a woman who is just a few inches of wood away from falling to her doom.”

  “It’s just an illusion,” I said. “I’m not actually in any danger of falling to my death.”

  “Then why are you sweating?” said Blake. “But very well. This may be an illusion, but the body and mind are notorious for being easily fooled. The fall, perhaps, won’t kill you, but the thought of falling to the ground below and being crushed against the rocks will.”

  Blake waved a hand. The branch I held tightly onto suddenly vanished and I immediately fell to the ground below. Despite knowing this was all fake, I could not help but scream in horror, desperately clutching at the air for anything that could stop my fall, but it was no use. I was falling, falling fast, and Blake grew smaller and smaller the farther I fell. Despite that, I could still see his smirk quite well, which was probably another part of his illusion, but I was in so much terror that I couldn’t think straight long enough to do anything about it.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw the ground below, covered in spikes and boulders that would kill me upon impact. And even if I didn’t die, I would probably be crippled for life. Again, I tried to remind myself that it was just an illusion, but my body was panicking so much that all I could do was scream my head off, unable to do anything to slow down or stop my fall.

  Right before I landed on top of the tallest spike, I heard Blake scream in pain and I suddenly found myself lying on the floor of the Heart of the Maze again. My heart was beating fast and I was covered in sweat, but I was definitely back in the Maze again. The floor was solid beneath me and I could hear the familiar thump, thump of the Heart itself below the floor, which was oddly reassuring, maybe because I knew that that wasn’t one of Blake’s illusions.

  Panting, I looked up to find out why the illusion had ended. I immediately spotted the answer.

  Blake stood several feet away from me, clutching his chest, which was bleeding horribly, but he wasn’t alone. Standing between me and Blake was none other than Lucius, whose claws were fully extended from his fingers as he slightly crouched in a battle pose that made him look really deadly.

  “Lucius?” I said in surprise. “You’re here! Wait, you’re not another one of Blake’s illusions, are you?”

  “If I was an illusion, I wouldn’t have been able to hurt Blake,” said Lucius without looking over his shoulder at me. “I just entered the Heart from another entrance and saw Blake standing over you while you were screaming. He was holding a silver knife, which I figured he was going to stab you with, so I jumped him when he least expected it. Almost killed him, too, but he’s a bit faster than he looks.”

  I could believe that Lucius almost killed Blake. From what I could see of Blake’s chest wound, it was horrible. The front of his robes were soaked with crimson blood, while Blake clutched his wound tightly with one hand to staunch the flow of blood. Rather than standing straight and tall, he stood somewhat crooked, no doubt due to the pain in his chest making it impossible for him to stand normally. In his other hand was a shiny silver knife, though at the moment I doubted it would be of much help to him.

  “Lucius Red,” said Blake. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s unfortunate that the Maze didn’t kill you.”

  Lucius shrugged. “I had a few close calls here and there, but nothing I’ve never handled before. The Maze could do better.”

  Blake scowled. “Typical vamp, talking as if you could take on the whole world without breaking a sweat. It’s what I’ve always hated the most about your kind. You’re disgusting.”

  “I don’t think the guy with the bleeding chest can call anyone else ‘disgusting,’” I said as I slowly rose to my feet. “Seems kind of hypocritical.”

  Blake’s scowl just deepened. “I wouldn’t even have a bleeding chest if it wasn’t for your boyfriend.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend
,” Lucius said. “She’s just a friend.”

  I had to admit, it kind of hurt to hear those words coming from Lucius’ mouth, even if I knew they were true already. But I kept my mouth shut right now, because now wasn’t the time to be angsting about my relationship woes.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Blake. He took a step back. “I don’t need to waste my time fighting both of you. The Mistress gave me orders to kill you only if I can, not just let myself get killed for no reason.”

  “We won’t kill you if you tell us how to get to your Mistress,” I said. “How does that sound?”

  Blake shook his head violently. “I will never let you catch me. The Mistress’ plans must succeed, no matter what.”

  Blake turned and ran away toward the door at the end of the chamber. Lucius and I took after him, but Blake waved his knife behind him and a blinding flash of bright light exploded from his blade, hitting both of us and forcing us to stop and close our eyes to avoid being blinded permanently. Even when we covered our eyes, however, the light burned our skin, making Lucius and I grunt in pain under our breath in response.

  “So long, vamps!” Blake’s voice cried out in the light. “Soon, the Mistress’ plan will succeed and there’s not a thing either of you can do—”

  Blake was interrupted by the sound of shifting stone, the sound the Maze usually made whenever it was changing its shape. This time, however, it sounded much closer than before, and faster, too, as if the Maze was in a hurry. I didn’t understand what was happening, however, until I heard Blake cry out in pain. It was a horrified cry, so terrified that I opened my eyes just to see what was making him scream like that.

  Blake was caught in the doorway. He had tripped over a stone protruding out of the floor and dropped his knife on the ground, but he was having a hard time getting up, probably due to the fact that he had fallen directly on his bloody chest.

  “He’s down!” I said. “Lucius, let’s get him before he gets away!”

  I ran toward Blake, but Lucius grabbed my shoulder and stopped me cold. “Tara, stop.”

  “Wait, why?” I said, looking at Lucius in surprise. “He’s defenseless.”

  “Look,” said Lucius, gesturing at Blake.

  Frowning, I looked over at Blake again. At first, I didn’t get what Lucius was trying to bring to my attention, until I noticed the ceiling rapidly descending down upon Blake. It looked just like how the ceiling had descended on us when we failed to answer the Questioning Rock’s questions, only this time there was no way that Blake would be able to survive it.

  And before my horrified eyes, the ceiling fell on Blake with a disgusting splat.

  Blood squirted out from underneath the ceiling onto the floor of the Heart, but we didn’t get to see much more than that, because the doorway closed off just then. It became just another wall that looked no different from any of the other stone walls in the room. And if I hadn’t just seen Blake get crushed like an insect, I would have thought it was just another ordinary wall as well.

  I clutched my stomach. “That’s … disgusting. I don’t like Blake that much, but I wouldn’t wish that fate upon even my worst enemies. How did you know it was going to happen?”

  “Observation,” said Lucius. “I just noticed the ceiling was starting to descend, so I held you back so you wouldn’t get caught underneath there with Blake. I was also curious to find out if the Maze would push Blake out of the way or crush him like an insect. It looks like my former guess was correct.”

  “You mean we just got lucky earlier when we were separated by that wall?” I said. “If either of us had been standing on it at the time, we would have been crushed against the ceiling, right?”

  “Yes,” said Lucius. “But I’m not quite so sure it was luck. I think the Maze may have intentionally separated us, even though I’m not sure the Maze is even sentient. If it wanted us dead, I think we would be dead already.”

  I wanted to disagree with that, but then I remembered what Blake said about the Maze being a living creature and I realized that there was likely more truth to Lucius’ idea than I wanted to believe. “Why would it spare us, though? Aren’t we intruders?”

  Lucius looked at the ceiling above us. “Or saviors. Perhaps the Maze didn’t like Blake and wanted us to get rid of him. It let us enter it in order to deal with him, but I guess it decided to step in personally and deal with Blake when it looked like he was going to escape. That wouldn’t really surprise me, given everything else we’ve been through down here.”

  “So the Maze is good?” I said.

  “The Maze probably looks out for its own self-interest,” said Lucius. “Clearly, having Blake here was negatively affecting it, though I’m not sure how.”

  “The Vampire Flame,” I said. “Blake’s Mistress stole the Vampire Flame and took it to her base on the moon. I bet the Maze wants us to bring back the Vampire Flame to ensure its own survival.”

  Lucius looked at me like I was crazy. “Did you just say that the Mistress’ base is on the moon? As in, the satellite orbiting Earth?”

  “That’s the one,” I said. “And it’s not as crazy as it sounds. Blake told me that the Shadow Way connects Earth to the moon, which is how the Mistress was able to take the Vampire Flame up there. Her base is protected by magic, too, which is how she’s able to exist in space.”

  Lucius scratched the back of his head. “I have to admit, that is one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. I’ve never heard of any being, sorcerer, witch, or vampire, building their headquarters on the moon, of all places. Are you sure Blake wasn’t just lying to you?’

  “He might have been, but I don’t think so,” I said. “Remember, you yourself told me that the Shadow Way can extend beyond Earth. It seems logical to me that a witch as powerful as the Mistress might have managed to find a way to reach the moon from the Shadow Way.”

  Lucius folded his arms in front of his chest. “I suppose we don’t really have any other leads, so that’s what we should investigate. But even if that’s true, how are we going to get to the moon? I’ve traveled the Shadow Way thousands of times over my life, but there is still much about it I don’t know. And I don’t want to explore the Shadow Way’s darkest regions, where a path to the moon might be. There are some places even vampires don’t go and that’s one of them.”

  “Need some help?” said a familiar high-pitched voice behind us.

  Lucius and I turned around to see a six-year-old boy in tattered white clothes standing there, looking up at us with big eyes that displayed a rather un-childlike intelligence. He smiled up at us when we looked at him, but there was nothing cute or precocious about that small child’s smile. It was mostly creepy, making me wish that he would stop doing it and go away.

  “Timmy,” said Lucius in a sharp voice. “What are you doing here? This isn’t the Shadow Way.”

  “I know,” said Timmy in a matter-of-fact voice, “but we Strangers can leave the Shadow Way every now and then, you know. We don’t do it most of the time because the Shadow Way is our home, but occasionally circumstances force us to leave our comfort zones and venture out into the wider world. This is one such circumstance.”

  “What do you mean?” I said. “Are you going to help us reach the moon?”

  “Of course,” said Timmy promptly. “Remember when I offered to help you earlier? That offer is still open. I can take you two to the part of the Shadow Way that connects to the moon, even to the Mistress’ base. It won’t take long, because I know a shortcut that will let us get there quickly.”

  I was about to say yes, but then Lucius leaned toward Timmy and said, “How did you even know we were here? Have you been watching us?”

  “The Maze told me,” said Timmy, not looking even remotely intimidated by Lucius’ size. “Unlike the rest of Earth, the Maze isn’t connected to the Shadow Way, but every now and then, the Maze allows us Strangers to enter. The Maze asked me to help you two track down the Mistress and retrieve the Vampire Flame.”

&n
bsp; “So the Maze is an intelligent, living creature after all?” I said. “But why would it ask you, a Stranger of all things, to help?”

  “The Maze and my people have a long history together, stretching back to the start of time itself,” said Timmy. “The similarities between the Maze and the Shadow Way mean that it is easy for us to traverse both, though the Shadow Way, of course, is considerably larger than the Maze by every metric.”

  “How can we know if we can actually trust you, though?” said Lucius. “Strangers are never to be trusted. Especially if one offers to ‘guide’ you through the Shadow Way. People who take the ‘guidance’ of the Strangers usually end up disappearing rather mysteriously.”

  “Distrusting my people is usually a good idea for mortals like you,” said Timmy. His smile vanished, replaced by a serious frown. “But this time, I have zero intention of doing anything bad to either of you. The safety of the Vampire Flame is every bit as important to my people as it is to the sorcerers and vampires. Should the Mistress continue to hold the Vampire Flame, the very existence of my people will always remain at risk.”

  I found that an interesting revelation from Timmy. It seemed to imply that the Strangers were just as dependent on the Vampire Flame as sorcerers and vampires, maybe even more so. Of course, Timmy might just be exaggerating how dangerous it was, but somehow I doubted that. For once, Timmy seemed too sincere to be lying about something this important.

  “If retrieving the Vampire Flame is so important to the Strangers, why don’t you do it yourself?” said Lucius. “Surely your people have the ability to do that and don’t need to rely on us ‘mortals’ to get the job done, right?”

  Timmy shook his head. “Sadly, this time my people can’t handle this on our own. The Mistress is a powerful witch and has cast spells around her base keeping us from entering. There’s no way we can enter. Besides, it doesn’t make sense for us to risk our lives when we already have two mortals who are willing to do it for us.”