He didn’t take his eyes off the Monster, who looked smaller somehow and slightly off-kilter, and was favoring one leg. Terrill didn’t have to look down at his own body to know that he was even worse off. He couldn’t even feel his left side, and it was as if his left arm was missing. He felt tremendous pain in his right leg, which was preferable to the numbness in his left leg. Blood was flowing into his eyes from wounds on his head.
As he watched, the inky blackness that surrounded his enemy continued to swirl into the other vampire’s wounds, and when it finally stopped, the giant black cloud that had first confronted him resembled a small tapestry of blackness. That gave Terrill one last surge of hope.
But the instant the Shadow Vampire started moving toward him, his heart quailed, for there was a speed and strength in those movements that he knew he couldn’t match.
He stood waiting, no longer hoping to win, but determined not to lose.
#
Butler’s camera gave out in the middle of the fight as his phone ran out of power. He cursed for a few seconds, but he knew it didn’t matter. He had the footage of a lifetime. Put this battle up on YouTube, and he’d be the all-time hit leader. Hell, he could probably sell it to some network news station and make a bundle.
He was in awe. He’d never known that vampires could be so fast, or that they could sustain such damage. After watching this display, Butler had decided his vampire hunting days were over. Too damn dangerous.
He wasn’t sure which side he was rooting for: probably the Golden Vampires, since they were obviously the underdogs. But it was pretty clear this wasn’t going to be some inspirational come-from-behind victory. The Golden Vampires were getting creamed. The great Terrill was being worn down, little by little, by the huge Shadow Vampire, though it was admirable how much resistance he was putting up while being torn to pieces.
Butler tried to turn his phone back on, just in case, and was surprised to see that it suddenly had a lot more juice.
He raised the camera just as the golden light began to shine within the motor home.
It started off as a flash, as if someone had turned a light on, but it quickly grew brighter. It was as if the white metal sides of the motor home were glowing. The door flew open, and standing on the steps in the center of the almost-blinding glow, Butler could barely make out the figure of a female vampire.
She walked calmly down the steps and into the middle of the battle. For a second, the fighting stopped. While Butler had been distracted, Terrill had been sent to the ground, and he wasn’t getting up. The giant vampire was leaning over him, his arm raised to inflict the killing blow.
The Shadow Vampire hesitated as he saw the glowing golden figure coming toward him. He straightened up and grew darker, drawing on all the blackness around him. The other Shadow Vampires staggered, suddenly stripped of their essence by their Master.
The glowing figure stood over Terrill, but didn’t look down. It appeared she was beckoning the darkness toward her.
Butler glared at the flashing red power indicator on his phone. “Stay with me, damn you!” he cried.
He’d only glanced down briefly, but during that instant, the Shadow Vampire had covered the distance between himself and his foe and was wrapping himself around the glowing figure. He was so much bigger than the female. Butler could see his giant fangs as they sank into her shining neck. Her glow dimmed for a moment, and even from a distance, Butler could hear the Golden Vampires crying out in pain.
#
Terrill didn’t see or hear her coming. He looked up at the Master of Shadow, at what he knew would be his deathblow.
Then he was blinded. Sylvie was standing between him and the enemy.
He knew it was Sylvie, though he couldn’t see her features through the brilliant light. He felt at peace. He might die, but he somehow understood at that moment that Sylvie would live, an angel of light.
Then the Monster was there, smothering her in a cloak of emptiness, ripping into her neck.
“Sylvie, no!” Terrill cried.
She didn’t even try to defend herself. Her golden light began to dim. He could see the shape of her body outlined in black, could see her bones as if in an x-ray. The contours of her face suddenly became clear, and she had a serene expression as the light was drained from her body.
She flickered. He heard her sigh.
The Shadow Vampire released her. She looked like an ordinary woman again: beautiful, her black hair flowing like ink across her shoulders, her porcelain skin as white as the moon. She stood swaying. Terrill struggled to rise and catch her, but she stayed on her feet. Then it was the Master of Shadow who was staggering.
A roar emerged from his throat, and his physical boundaries shredded in a rush of otherworldly anguish and horror. His cries strangled to a stop, and he fell to his knees. The blackness was streaming off him, flowing out into the night. The army of Shadow Vampires cried out as one. Most of them fell to the ground and writhed, while a few managed to stumble away.
The darkness that had fallen over them was growing less defined, lit around the edges by the lights of cars and streetlights and other human things. The soft light of the moon and the stars filtered through the blackness, and the darkness felt comforting again, instead of threatening.
The Master of Shadow was now an ordinary vampire, struggling to maintain his shape. He staggered to his feet, no longer looking like a powerful supernatural being, but like a beat-up and degenerate monster of a man.
He let out a grunt, fell flat on his face and lay there, unmoving.
#
Butler looked down at his phone and saw that by some miracle, it had kept recording. Almost as if compelled, he got out of his battered pickup and walked toward the surviving vampires, keeping his phone camera up in front of him, capturing every moment. He started to be able to hear them talking, and then he was in their midst, a human among vampires, totally at their mercy. But he wasn’t frightened, and the vampires appeared to be paying no attention to him.
As if in response to the presence of the camera, the girl started glowing again, still standing in the middle of them all, gazing at Terrill with an affectionate smile. She turned toward Butler and spoke. “I have not destroyed the Darkness. The Shadow still exists. It will always exist. Just as the Shadow cannot ever completely defeat the Light, nor can the Light completely defeat the Shadow.
“Everyone must choose which direction they wish to go. It is not for us to compel them. This is the meaning of life, for both humans and vampires: choose your own path, whether it be in the direction of Light or whether you chose the side of Darkness.”
She stopped speaking for a moment. The whole world was quiet. The traffic had stopped; no one spoke. Then she said, “No one but you can decide.”
She fell silent and helped Terrill to his feet.
#
Terrill looked around. The surviving Shadow Vampires were disappearing into the darkness. As he had hoped, the demise of their leader had demoralized them. Now was the time to finish the job.
“They’re getting away,” he said, motioning for his followers to fan out after them. ”Let’s end this once and for all.”
“No,” Sylvie said. She spoke quietly, but somehow everyone could hear her. They stopped in their tracks. “It will never be over,” she said.
“But we can diminish the threat,” Terrill insisted. ”We can give ourselves some breathing room.”
“No, Terrill,” she said. There was a reproachful tone in her voice that froze him in place. ”You have heard my words, but you have not understood them. You can kill all the Shadow Vampires, but more will take their place.”
“Then I’ll deal with them,” Terrill said stubbornly.
Sylvie sighed. “The more you kill, the more hate you display, the more you humiliate them, the more Shadow Vampires will arise. Through vengeance and anger, the Shadow will feed and grow stronger. You must defend yourself, you must set a good example, but you must not become as they are.
”
Terrill opened his mouth, saw the earnestness in her eyes and stayed quiet.
#
The power indicator on Butler’s phone blinked off.
Got it! he thought triumphantly. I’ve got the best recording ever made by anyone, anywhere!
The phone was snatched from his hands. A nerdish-looking vampire with black glasses was glaring at him. “Give me that, you jerk! Get the hell out of here before one of the less enlightened vampires decides to have a human snack.”
Butler suddenly became aware that everyone was staring at him. He backed away, turned and ran for his life.
Epilogue
Marc posted the recording that night.
It became a sensation.
Terrill and Sylvie retreated into the wilderness of the Strawberry Mountains outside John Day.
They went back to living in the motor home, but their followers began building them a cabin in the nearby meadow.
One evening, while Sylvie was busy helping them and Terrill was sitting at the tiny dining table with his laptop, catching up on the latest news from the Internet, there was a soft knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called over his shoulder.
Jamie came in, shaking her head. ”More vampires showing up every hour. Most of them aren’t ready.”
“Is Hoss still here?” Terrill asked.
“Yeah,” Jamie replied, wincing. ”He’s hanging around the periphery. That little girl, Charlotte, follows him around like a kitten. I’m telling you, Terrill, he isn’t even close to being ready for the blood of gold.”
Terrill laughed. ”He may not be ready for a hundred years. But something tells me he’ll get there.”
#
Over time, the cabin grew into a sprawling house, and Terrill and Sylvie took up cattle ranching so they wouldn’t have to buy raw meat every week. The neighbors didn’t understand why they never sold any of their stock.
Pilgrims, seekers for the blood of gold, vampires in search of redemption, continued to come and go. The other Golden Vampires spread the message, and Marc continued to refine The Testament of Michael.
Somewhere on the other side of the world, someone wrote The Jeremiad of Kelton.
Marc showed it to Sylvie on one of his visits.
She just smiled and ruffled his hair.
About the Author:
Duncan McGeary is the owner of the bookstore Pegasus Books of Bend, located in downtown Bend, Oregon. He is the author of the fantasy novels Star Axe, Snowcastles, and Icetowers, and the author of several horror novels, including Led to the Slaughter and the Vampire Evolution Trilogy. His wife Linda is also a writer; together they attend a writer’s group in Oregon. Duncan has two children: Todd, an artist, and Toby, a chef.
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The Vampire Evolution Trilogy (Book 3): Blood of Gold Page 24
