by Sean Stone
"Who the devil are you?" Anthony demanded.
"My name is Nickolas Blackwood, and I require something of you," Nick said, taking note of the alarmed look on Anthony's face when he said his name.
"Nickolas Blackwood?" he repeated dubiously.
"You've heard of me?"
"Your reputation proceeds you," Anthony said. He stood up from his desk but did not move towards Nick. "What do you want?"
"An item that you have in your possession. A compass to be specific. One that points to only one place." Nick stared at him intently.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Anthony replied.
"You have a compass that leads to Elysium. I want it. Now," Nick said firmly. Invoking a little fear usually sped things up a bit.
"Elysium? I've never heard of it. Nor do I have any such compass. I'm sorry, Nickolas, I can't help you." He lied with such nonchalance. It was almost convincing.
"Perhaps you need help remembering." Nick swept his arm to the side and Anthony's desk slid across the room and crashed into the wall. As Nick advanced Anthony put his hand up, palm forwards. Nick felt the magical barrier keeping him at bay. "A barrier. I do like it when the prey puts up resistance. The fight is often the best part." Nick grinned widely and Anthony screwed his face up in revulsion.
"My coven has infused this whole building with magic. I'm drawing on all of it right now. Even you won't be able to break it," Anthony warned him. He was a confident man but Nick could see the fear beneath his mask of braveness.
Nick stepped forward and put his hand on the shield. He could feel the abundance of power there and knew that Anthony was not lying. Nick probably could destroy the barrier but it would exhaust him and leave him vulnerable. Best to try a different tactic.
"Not to worry. I suppose I'll just have to find another way to convince you," he said slowly. "I have waited five centuries already. I can wait a little longer." Nick teleported from the office.
Nick went to Morgan's nightclub, the residence of the top people in the vampire clan. There was a secret manor under the club where the vampires lived but he decided to act respectfully. He told the barmaid that he was here to see Richie Morgan and then sat down in one of the booths to wait. He regretted not giving his name when Richie made him want over half an hour. People never made him wait when they knew who he was. They usually wanted to be rid of him as soon as possible. Eventually, Richie did join him in the booth. His eyes were bright red and it was clear that he'd been feeding.
"Sorry if I interrupted your dinner," Nick said.
Richie glanced at his watch. "More like lunch. You didn't, though, so no worries mate. What can I do for you?" he said in friendly enough way. Maybe he'd be easier to deal than Anthony.
"It's rather a long story. I'll trim it down. Anthony Winters has something I want. If you help me get it from him then I'll help you annihilate his coven," Nick offered. It wasn't an empty promise, Nick always made good on his word.
Richie sat back, a small smirk on his lips. He wasn't taking Nick seriously. "Who are you? I've not seen your face about before," he said.
"Nickolas Blackwood. You might have heard of me."
Richie tipped his head back and laughed raucously.
"Is something amusing you?" Nick asked, no sharing Richie's joviality.
"Yeah, you are. You walk in here and tell me you're the boogeyman and expect me to believe you? Ha! Where's Satan? I suppose he's knocking around with you too is he?" Richie mocked.
Nick narrowed his eyes at the vampire. "Perhaps it would be easier if I just kill you and deal with your replacement," he said.
Richie stopped laughing. "I don't take kindly to threats."
"I don't take kindly to be laughed at. I am Nickolas Blackwood. If you would like an example I would be more than happy to give you one."
The booth fell silently as Richie regarded him. He looked him up and down, trying to assess whether he was telling the truth or just plain crazy. Then finally, Richie spoke again.
"With all due respect, Nick, you're not the kind of person I want to get into bed with," he said.
"I'm not asking you to get into bed with me. I'm offering to destroy your enemies for you."
"I know, but, it looks a bit weak hiding behind you. Don't you think? Besides, I've got my own plans for the coven. I'll be ruling this town soon enough." He grinned widely. Fool.
Nick darted forwards over the table and punched his hand through the vampire's chest. He located his heart and wrapped his hand around it. He applied a small amount of pressure, just enough to let Richie know how close he was to death. "Why are the people in this town so bloody infuriating? I am asking for something very simple. I did not want to come here and kill everyone but rest assured I will if I need to."
"You can kill me if you want," Richie gasped. He stayed perfectly still, too frightened to move in case Nick crushed this heart. "It won't help you. My number two will wage war on you for killing me. And how is that going to help you get whatever you want from the sorcerer?"
"I could end the lives of every vampire in this building and I'd suffer little more than a scratch."
Richie chuckled weakly. "There'll be no vampires left to help you in that case." It was amazing. Nick had known the man for less than five minutes and already he despised him.
"No!" some woman shrieked from the bar. Nick saw the blur of a vampire shooting towards him and held up his other hand. The blur hit his barrier and crashed to the floor. The few other patrons of the club all turned to see the commotion. Nobody moved. The vampire who had tried to attack was a girl in her twenties. She had long blonde hair and a beautiful face.
"Rosie go downstairs. Get Victor," Richie hissed.
"I"m not going anywhere, Dad," Rosie said and Richie closed his eyes at her mistake.
"Your daughter?" Nick said. He released Richie's heart and stood up. He approached Rosie and looked her over. "Not biological clearly." Vampires often adopted the ones they sired.
"This building is full of vampires. If you touch her they'll be on you. You can't outrun us," Richie warned. His chest had healed and he was on his feet.
"There's a wager I'd like to take." Nick stood next to Rosie, too close for her comfort judging by the look on her face. "Here's what's going to happen. Rosie is going to come with me."
"No, she isn't," Richie said.
Nick carried on regardless. "Once you have done whatever you need to do to convince Anthony to hand over the compass I want, I will return her to you. Do you understand?"
"We will kill you if you lay one finger on her."
Now it was Nick's turn to laugh. "That is simply not possible." He grabbed Rosie by the arm. Richie and the others all ran for him but he was gone with Rosie before they'd even started moving.
Two nights later Nick heard from Richie. Anthony had changed his mind and was willing to hand over the compass. He told Nick to meet the sorcerer in some old bunker in the woods and gave him directions to find it. Nick sent Rosie home and then headed out to the bunker. The meeting place seemed suspicious. Nick thought that he might be walking into a trap but he reminded himself that he had followed Set's instructions. The future should be secure. And besides, Richie wouldn't risk his daughter's life. Unless he didn't know it was a trap. Either way, what could they do to him? He was immortal.
Anthony was waiting outside the bunker with his loyal follower, Maggie. She was his number 2, above even his wife. Nick found that odd and suspected an affair. As he approached Maggie flinched but Anthony held firm.
"An odd place for a meeting," Nick said.
"This is where I keep my most prized items," Anthony said sourly. "It's inside."
"Lead the way."
Anthony led him into the bunker and Maggie followed behind. It was a small and damp stone room with nothing in it. Almost nothing. Nick noticed as he reached the centre of the room that there were chains fixed to the wall and ceiling as if the room had once been used to imprison a great beast. Seven
swords had been leaned against the wall. There was nothing else in the room. No boxes, no items, and certainly no compass. Something was wrong. He looked back at the chains. No rust. They were new as were the swords. And seven was a rather convenient number. A number of power. The door slammed shut.
"Are you really going to try this?" Nick asked menacingly as he turned to Anthony who was standing behind him now, with Maggie at his side.
"What choice have you given us?" Anthony asked.
"I gave you the choice of helping me willingly," Nick said.
"You sent vampires to ravage my coven," Anthony spat angrily.
"I was trying to persuade you to help me," Nick said innocently.
"Well, you failed. I should thank you, though. You did manage to arrange a peace between us and the vampires. Kidnapping Rosie Morgan was a foolish thing to do. Richie is not the forgiving sort," Anthony said, confirming Richie's involvement.
"Neither am I," warned Nick. Punishments would be handed out for this. "But I can see that you are intent on doing this so shall we get on with it?" Nick asked, spreading this arms wide.
Anthony swiped his hand through the air and the first sword flew at Nick, whistling through the air. Nick batted it away as if it were no more than a fly.
"I'm impressed by your plan. You can't kill me so you intend to keep the swords in me so I cannot heal. You've clearly put a lot of thought into this, but I've been building my powers for over five hundred years. Do you really think you can beat me?" Nick flicked his wrist and Anthony flew into the nearby wall, his skin broke on the brick and blood poured down his face. Maggie came at Nick but he deflected her attack back at her and she fell down, gasping for air. Nick held out his hand and one of the swords flew into it. He pointed the sword at Maggie. "I'll behead you first, so Anthony can see and realise the error of his ways. Then I think I'll chain you up, Anthony, and drive each of these swords into you, avoiding the heart, of course, you deserve as long a death as possible for this diabolical plot." Nick advanced on Maggie, but she did not move to fight back or escape. Then when Nick was almost upon her she pulled a large white crystal from her pocket and laid it on the floor before him. Nick stopped.
"What's that supposed to do?" he laughed.
"On its own nothing," Anthony replied, "but with the others, it renders you powerless."
Nick looked around and saw that whilst he'd been focused on Maggie, Anthony had positioned more white crystals all around him. Nick tried to conjure some magic, but nothing came to him, he was powerless as Anthony had said.
"Do you know the weirdest thing about all of this?" Anthony asked. "I honestly don't have a clue what you're talking about. I don't know where Elysium is and I don't own a compass that can lead you there."
He should never have come here alone. It was clear now that the whole thing had been a setup. Not by Anthony, obviously, he had nothing to do with it. This was the work of Set. He should have known not to trust him. He had to get out of here and return to his disciples. With them around him, he'd be untouchable once more.
Nick looked at Anthony with loathing and for the first time, he saw fear in the wizard's eyes. He'd heard of Nick and he knew what he was capable of. Nick might not have magic right now, but he did have a sword. He charged at Anthony, sword stretched out before him, but Anthony held up his palm and Nick crashed down to the floor.
"You might have spent five hundred years gathering power but I was born with it. I'm a natural. And right now these crystals have rendered you obsolete. I, however, am not," Anthony said smugly.
Anthony and Maggie started working together and the swords rose into the air and came at him. Using the sword in his hand he fought them all off, but as soon as he knocked one down it simply rose up again and he couldn't fight them all at once. He put all the skills Set had taught him to use but they weren't enough. They cut at him, slashing open the skin on his face and body, ripping his clothing to shreds. Finally, one found its mark and penetrated his leg, bringing him to one knee. The pain was not so terrible, he was still immortal and the pain was dulled to him, but he felt something. He dropped the sword in his hand to pull the one from his leg, but before he could another sword stabbed into his stomach, this one hurt considerably more than the first. The remaining five swords floated around him, their blades pointing at him, ready to do their work. He had lost. He couldn't believe it, but he had. He had never anticipated that Richie and Anthony might align against him.
"Go on. Do it," Nick said with loathing. "But know that when I get free from this crude prison you've built for me I will come for you and make you regret the very day you heard my name. I'll kill you and everyone you've ever met. I will hunt your children and end your family names."
"You'll never get free," Anthony promised. The swords rushed forward and then stopped, frozen in the air.
"Anthony?" Maggie asked nervously.
"It's not me," he said, shaking his head. The crystals on the floor shone brightly, humming loudly and then they exploded. The swords dropped to the floor noisily. Nick looked at Anthony and now that flicker of fear he'd seen before had been replaced by pure terror.
"Oh, how delicious." Nick smiled. With just a thought he removed the swords from his body and they clattered down to the ground. His wounds healed instantly. Then he raised his hand to attack. The door crashed open and he froze. He looked over and saw her. The one person he never expected to see in England. Kayla. She was here. She'd sensed that he was in trouble and come to save him.
Anthony and Maggie were rooted to the spot, neither one of them knowing who the woman was or why she was here.
"Kayla," Nick said in wonder.
Kayla looked at Anthony, focused her considerable power and knocked him out cold. She turned to Maggie and gave her the same treatment.
"They were trying to trap me. They stabbed me," Nick said, pointing at the swords.
Kayla looked at him with a compassion that he had not seen since before he left Elysium. "Nickolas, my child, I would never let them hurt you. But I cannot let you continue with your plans." Nick was too slow to realise what she meant. The chains snatched his wrists, coiling around them and stretching his arms wide. The ones from the ceiling came down and looped around his shoulders, lifting him off the floor, his feet brushed the concrete as he struggled. He tried to fight but his magic was nothing in comparison to hers. If his disciples had been closer he could've drawn on theirs, but he had been a fool and left them behind. He'd been a fool to trust Set.
"Kayla, please," Nick screamed as the swords started to rise again.
"I have heard of every evil deed you have committed. Every bit of magic you have stolen. Every life you have extinguished. Every soul you have corrupted. I have abstained from getting involved. But now, what you have planned is too much. You cannot meddle with life and death, Nickolas," she said sternly. Like a mother scolding her son.
"I just want Olivia," he said, choked.
"You killed her, you robbed yourself of her companionship. You must learn to live with that." The first sword tore through Nick's gut. He grunted in pain but did not scream.
"I never meant—" The second sword came through his back, cutting him off and making him shudder.
"What you meant is irrelevant. Only what you did matters." The third sword came. Then the fourth. Nick could feel his energy draining. Whilst the swords remained in his flesh he would not be able to heal.
"You're killing me," Nick said weakly. Blood poured from his mouth. He could barely hold his head up. The fifth sword found its mark, straight through his right pectoral.
"I'm not killing you. I'm putting you to sleep. Hopefully one day you can wake and be the child I met in the Black Wood again." The sixth sword drove its way in and Nick screamed for the first time. The pain had been increasing with each stab and now it was unbearable. He had died before several times and always come back but whilst he waited to return he waited in darkness. He hated that darkness. So empty of everything but his own thoughts.
This time, there would be no return.
"You're supposed… to be my… mother," he said, trying to appeal to her compassion. No mother would do this to her son.
"I am, my child. But a mother must know when her child is a plague on the earth. And she must take steps to fix it." The final sword came through his front, piercing his heart straight through the middle. He didn't scream, he could not. He gasped one strangled gasp and then his head flopped forward, no longer able to hold it up. All he could see was the stone floor and Kayla's feet upon it. There was no sound, or there was and he couldn't hear it. Kayla had nothing more to say to him. He saw his blood drip heavily onto the floor and the room began to fade away and as it did his fear rose as the darkness came to claim him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Present Day
Nick pulled himself to his feet and looked about at the devastated high street. Nick's pain had gone and his wounds had healed but he was still weak. Killing Osiris had drained his power and claiming Osiris' had not revitalised him. Osiris had spent a good deal of his power fighting Nick so needed it to replenish. He needed to get back to the house. Not just to rest and recuperate but also to see what had come of his disciples. He couldn't make contact with them at all. Something had severed the connection. He tried to teleport but he didn't have the power to achieve it. He couldn't steal a car because all the cars around him had been destroyed in the fight. He began walking down the now deserted high street. Those pedestrians who hadn't been killed had scarpered. Nick knew that there were still some cowering in the shops and flats around him, but they wouldn't dare come out.
Nick's walk was agonisingly slow, but with each step, he took he felt his energy returning to him. It wouldn't take long to regenerate his power. He stepped off the high street and into Cedar Park. It was as he passed the great cedar tree which attributed to the town's name that he felt her presence. He stopped walking and listened intently for any sound of her approach. He stayed as still as stone for minutes on end, waiting for an attack but none come and he quickly realised he'd imagined it. Paranoia had worked its way into his mind; it had been there since Arden had visited him in his house. He put the thought from his mind and continued to walk. As soon as he took his first step he heard her voice from behind him.
