Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires

by Jeff Gunhus

  Warm air that smelled of candles and incense flowed out from the brightly lit interior. I saw rows of empty pews facing the main altar in the center of the cathedral. Only a few people sat in them, lost deep in prayer or simply seeking refuge from the bad weather. No one seemed to have heard the breaking glass. We were still safe.

  A flash of lightning followed by nearly simultaneous thunder reminded me that safe was a relative term.

  I steadied myself and pressed the winch button. Nothing.

  “Uhh…Xavier,” I said into my radio. “I’m trying all the right buttons. It’s not working. Any ideas?”

  There was a long pause with nothing but static on the open line. Finally, Xavier came on. “Did you try hitting it?”

  “Hitting it?” I asked. “I was hoping for something a little more…scientific.”

  Another long pause. “Sorry, Jack. That’s all I’ve got.”

  “Great,” I muttered to myself. I clenched my fist and hit the small box that housed the winch attached to my harness. It didn’t do much more than hurt my hand. I pulled out my sword and placed the hilt on top of the box. I raised it up and gave to two quick strikes. On the second hit, the winch came to life. Going about five times as fast as before!

  I flew through the air as the winch wound up the wire. Faster and faster. The top came before I was ready, and I smashed into the stone face where the projectile had embedded into the stone. The winch kept whirring, straining against itself. I smelled smoke and felt heat around my stomach. I hit the winch with my sword again, now trying to get it to turn off. It took three hits this time, and the winch stopped. Then it released all tension, and I fell again.

  On impulse, I let go of my sword and grabbed onto the slippery stone wall.

  A small ledge gave me a handhold, and I stopped my fall after only a couple of feet. Grunting from the effort, I pulled myself up and over the top of the wall to where the column supporting the flying buttress started.

  “You know,” Daniel crackled over my radio, “that was the easy part.”

  “Good,” I replied. “I was getting worried this was going to be boring.”

  Hugging the column, I looked up at the steep, narrow flying buttress. It sloped up at about a sixty-degree angle, was only two feet wide with a trough carved into the stone as a gutter, making footing even more treacherous. On a sunny day with a safety net beneath me, I would have been scared. In the middle of the night with a storm raging around me, I was terrified.

  “We have your sword, Jack,” T-Rex said over the radio. “Missed Will by a couple of inches, but he’s okay.”

  I felt guilty that I hadn’t even thought about their safety after I dropped my sword. Of course, they were right under us, so the sword would have headed right toward them. “Sorry about that, guys.”

  “We shouldn’t need swords up here anyway,” Daniel said.

  I was about to agree with him, but my voice caught in my throat. I looked to the far wall where I was heading. I couldn’t see very far into the gloomy night, but what little I could see filled me with terror.

  The gargoyles were gone. All of them. There were just empty gashes in the stonework where they had crawled out. They were somewhere on the roof. Now I really wished I hadn’t dropped my sword.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Everything okay?” Daniel blurted over the radio. The sudden sound made me jump. I reached up and lowered the volume control, aware that we were no longer alone on the roof.

  “Daniel,” I whispered into the mic. “Look at the gargoyles around you. Tell me what you see.”

  A long pause, then, “There aren’t any. Just holes in the rock. You don’t think…” His voice trailed off as he reached the only possible conclusion. Somehow, the gargoyles had pulled themselves out of the stone and were now on the prowl.

  “Just keep an eye out for them, okay?” I replied. I looked at the narrow stone buttress rising above me. “Let’s get this over with.”

  It only took me two steps onto the buttress to realize it was hopeless to try to walk up. Even without water gushing through the trough down its center, the steep angle alone would have made that a challenge. But there were two more factors working against me. The most obvious was the gale-force wind ripping through the area, pelting me with rain and doing everything it could to knock me off the roof. The second was the surface of the stone itself. I’d expected it to be a little slippery from the rain, but nothing prepared me for what I found. The entire surface had a thin layer of moss on it. Between the moss and the torrent of water in the trough, the stone was so slippery that it might as well be covered in butter.

  I mentally thanked Xavier for modifying our climbing suits to provide for something like this happening. I dropped down on all fours and tested the small hooks strategically placed on my harness and clothes. The most important ones were attached to my shoes and looked like crampons used by ice climbers. In addition to these, I had extra hooks on my knees, elbows and wrists, basically all the points of contact. I dug each of these into the slick surface of the flying buttress and tested them. I slipped back a couple inches until the hooks caught hold but then held firm. Again, one of Xavier’s inventions saved my life. I just hoped I’d make it back to the ground to thank him in person.

  I looked over and saw Daniel already a quarter of the way across his buttress. I reached up with the hooks on my arm and pulled myself forward. It was slow progress, trying to keep my face above the water trough. The wind buffeted me more mercilessly the higher I got. While the cathedral looked impossibly solid from the ground, up here I could see the effects that centuries of weather had on even the toughest stone. A few times the rock on the edge of the buttress crumbled under my weight, making me scramble back to the middle through a spray of water. I was three quarters of the way across when my radio squawked to life.

  “Behind you, Jack,” Daniel shouted so loud that his voice distorted. “Watch out!”

  Reacting to the panic in his voice, I spun around faster than I should. I didn’t have enough anchor points, and I slid backward and off to the side. My legs went over the edge and dangled over empty space. I slammed my elbows painfully back into the rock and reattached myself, holding on for dear life. I looked to my right and saw what Daniel was talking about.

  A gargoyle was walking up the buttress toward me.

  It had a long, feline body and crouched low as it walked, giving it the appearance of a cat on the prowl. Its face was a grotesque combination of several animals, part human, part bird, part some long-dead sculptor’s idea of what the devil must look like. Large eyes dominated a narrow face that curved into a beak-like mouth. When the creature opened its mouth to hiss at me, there were thick, sharp teeth. Pointed ears like a cat’s lay flat against its head. Oversized feet covered with wicked looking claws gripped the stone. Most disturbing was that it appeared to be made out of rock. Now that it knew I’d seen it, the gargoyle gave up any attempt at stealth and roared at me. Even with the wind howling around me, it was loud and carried a very clear message. It didn’t like me messing with its cathedral. And it was going to make me pay.

  I wasn’t sure how to fight a stone gargoyle, especially without a sword, and I didn’t want to wait around to find out how either. I pulled myself back up onto the arch and scrambled up as fast as I could. Another roar erupted behind me and I knew the thing was right on my tail.

  “It’s coming!” Daniel yelled into the radio.

  As I climbed, I saw him running along the roofline from his buttress to mine. I didn’t dare look behind me. Without my sword, there wasn’t much I could do. I just crawled as fast as possible, swallowing water, my adrenaline overriding the painful knocks I took to my knees and elbows as I slammed them into the rock.

  The gargoyle slapped at my feet with its claws and smacked them to one side. Fortunately, I had a good grip with my other anchor points, so I was able to hang on. With a cry, I swung my legs back, kicking blindly behind me.

  I felt contact and a
roar behind me told me I’d hit the creature in the face. It felt like kicking a boulder, but a quick look over my shoulder made the pain in my foot worth it. The gargoyle had slid back about ten feet, shaking its head. The good news was that it could be hurt. The bad news was that it looked really mad.

  I climbed harder. The stone beneath me shook as the gargoyle bounded up after me, splashing through the water torrent. As I reached the top, Daniel grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the roof. He had his sword out, and together we faced the creature coming at us.

  I expected the gargoyle would pause when faced with two adversaries, but it never even broke step. It hit the top of the arch and jumped into the air, clawed feet stretched out in front of it. Daniel swung his sword, but it just clanged off the hard stone as the gargoyle barreled into him. They flew backward and smashed into the steeply sloped cathedral roof.

  I ran at them, jumped with both feet in front, and hit the creature in the ribs. This time, the creature didn’t even budge. I crumpled to the roof behind it like I’d just tried to kick down a brick wall. The gargoyle swatted at me. I rolled, and its claws tore into the roof right next to my head.

  It roared and raised its massive paw in the air over me. I was wedged into a water trough on the roof and couldn’t move. Even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good, I put my hands in front of my face. I braced for impact.

  Just then, I heard a hiss through the air. Peeking through my fingers, I saw where an arrow had pierced through the creature’s paw. The gargoyle mewled in anger as it tried to shake the arrow off. But it was attached to something. I realized it was one of Xavier’s projectiles. Daniel had shot it, and the wire was keeping the gargoyle from swatting me. It bit at its own paw, shaking it violently, trying to break free. It was off-balance now, positioned awkwardly. I waited until the right moment, then lunged forward with all my might, hitting the creature with my lowered shoulder. The gargoyle screamed in surprise. It tried to catch itself, but the paw held back by the wire threw it more off-balance. With a cry, I hit it again. The creature slipped backward, scrambling. Then with a roar, it fell over the edge and off the roof.

  “Detach the wire!” I shouted, afraid Daniel would be pulled down with the creature. But I didn’t have to worry. Daniel had tied off the wire to part of the cathedral, which explained why the gargoyle hadn’t been able to fight it. The wire snapped tight and a chunk of stone tore out from the building. The creature fell all the way to the ground and smashed into hundreds of pieces.

  “Watch out,” T-Rex cried over the radio. “You’re sending an avalanche of rocks down here. Try to be careful, will you?”

  Daniel and I shared a smile. I toggled my radio. “Sorry guys. We’re on the roof. Making our way over to the spire now. Out.”

  Daniel and I got to our feet and surveyed the roof. The best way was to go straight up the incline section above us to the ridge that ran the length of the cathedral. Once there, it was a straight, level shot to the spire.

  “Keep an eye out for more of those gargoyles,” I said. “I saw at least three other holes where they crawled out.”

  “Same here,” said Daniel. “If all the gargoyles on this place have come to life, this is going to get interesting real fast.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “Do you think we should turn around?”

  Daniel shook his head. We both knew that wasn’t really an option. The clock was ticking for Eva. The truth was it might already be too late. She might have already been killed by the Romani vampires. Part of me knew this was more than a possibility. It was likely. Still, I clung to the hope that she was still somehow alive. Either way, I still needed to get the weapon inside the rooster on top of the spire. If not to save her life, then to avenge her death.

  Using our specially rigged climbing gear, Daniel and I started the climb up the steep incline to the center of the roof. This was every bit as slippery as the flying buttresses. The surface was a smooth grey slate covered with a mix of slick moss and presents left over from the thousands of birds who called the cathedral home. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried walking on a wet layer of bird poop, but it’s as slick as ice.

  Good thing the roof was in bad shape, showing wear and tear from the weather. Small pockmarks covered the surface, giving us something to hold onto with our hooks attached to our harnesses. But it was slow, painstaking work, like climbing the world’s most rickety ladder when you knew the price of miscalculation meant falling to a violent and sudden death. I had hoped the storm would dissipate as we climbed, but it actually got worse. It almost seemed like the storm was trying to keep us from the spire too.

  After an arduous ten-minute climb, we both reached the top. I stared at an ornate spiked ridge that would make our walk worse than a high-wire balancing act. It would be like walking on a single row of nails the whole length of the back half of the cathedral all the way to the base of the spire in the center. The roof plunged downward on either side of us. As I looked down, lightning flashed and lit up the entire roof for a few seconds as if we were standing in the noonday sun. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  Dozens of stone gargoyles climbed up toward us from both sides of the roof!

  They came in various sizes. Some as small as squirrels but with oversized claws nearly as long as their bodies. Others so large that the slate roof cracked under each step. A few flapped wings behind them to help balance and push them up the roof. Thankfully, being made of stone, it didn’t look like they could actually fly. But all of them had one thing in common. Their mouths pulled back into viscous snarls as they climbed up toward the intruders on their cathedral. There were too many of them. There was no way we could fight them.

  “Down,” I cried. “This way.”

  I sat on the roof and slid down toward the spot with the fewest gargoyles. Daniel followed my lead and we barreled back downward together, slamming into a handful of them and knocking them back like bowling pins.

  We hit the low wall that ran along the roof edge and scrambled to our feet.

  “To the spire,” I yelled.

  Daniel led the way, running on top of the flat wall. The gargoyles reached out for us as we ran. A couple made a lunge for us and we handled them with a kick to the head. But for each one we sent sprawling, two more took its place.

  “Faster!” I yelled. “They’re coming!”

  The spire rose up in front of us where the four cathedral wings met, the roofs forming a horizontal cross with steep valleys between the arms. The spire’s wide octagonal base was covered with ornate stonework. A perfect climbing surface.

  “Who’re they?” Daniel shouted.

  Looking past him, I saw three men standing one above another in the valley next to the spire. My first thought was that we’d been caught, and somehow the authorities were here to take us to jail. Frankly, I would have taken jail at that point to get away from the dozens of gargoyles chasing behind us. But I remembered from Xavier’s pictures that each corner of the spire had four bronze statues. Three men and one animal per side, symbolizing the twelve apostles and four saints. I realized they weren’t going to be any help. It never occurred to me that they would be the next threat.

  As we ran toward the spire, the Templar Ring on my finger suddenly burned bright. I felt the intense heat fill me, the now-familiar sensation as heat poured into every part of my body. I hoped this meant I would have extra strength for the fight ahead because I was going to need it.

  As I watched in horror, all four statues at the base of the spire came to life!

  First was the animal, a bronze eagle that stretched its wings out stiffly and flexed its talons. The men were slower, moving like rusted automatons forcing old gears back into action. But that only lasted a few seconds. With a sudden fluidity, the men each spun around, reached out, and tore off a decorative spike of metal from the base of the spire. They whipped the air with these in elaborate flourishes like master swordsmen and then took fighting positions facing us. The eagle cried out, its wings flapping,
ready to spring.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

  Stone gargoyles behind us. Bronze statue assassins in front of us. I was starting to think this wasn’t the best idea.

  “Forward,” Daniel shouted. “At least there are fewer of them.”

  I agreed but also realized he still had his sword. I was running toward a fight with nothing more than my bare hands.

  The bronze statues let out a battle cry and charged down at us. Daniel and I yelled back. Daniel raised his sword over his head. I slid my right hand into my sleeve so the climbing hook faced out, bracing for impact.

  We swung hard at the bronze statues, then flailed for balance. They twisted and ducked, moving with the grace of gymnasts. One jumped high into the air, executed a somersault over me, and then landed on his feet behind me without missing a step. One second they were charging at us, the next both apostles and the eagle had passed us and were charging toward the gargoyles.

  With a huge crash of metal on stone, they smashed into each other in an eruption of screams and snarls. Daniel and I grabbed onto the spire and stopped, too stunned to do anything else except stare.

  The four bronze statues smashed through the gargoyles, the men brandishing their metal spikes wildly, the creatures biting and clawing, all breaking off limbs and heads wherever they made contact. Even the eagle was tearing through stone with its metal talons and razor-sharp beak.

  The Creach never slowed. They swarmed our protectors, clawing at them. A few tried to outflank them and swerve around this new defense to get to us, but it didn’t work.

  With ornate spins and flying leaps, the apostles and eagle put themselves in front of these sneaky ones and made quick work of them.

  I thought for a second that the bronze statues might be invincible, but then I saw one of the apostles fighting three large gargoyles at a time. He turned with his metal spike raised in both hands to drive it home into the body of one of the stone creatures when a fourth gargoyle leapt through the air. It fell on the apostle, its mouth wrapped entirely around the bronze statue’s head. With a violent twist, the gargoyle wrenched hard, shaking the statue back and forth like a dog shaking a toy. Even from where we stood, the sound of twisting metal filled the air. The gargoyle fell backward, taking the statue’s head with it.