by J. C. Diem
There were no mystical etchings drawn in blood instructing us where to go next. The members of the Court had fled and only God and possibly Luc knew where they’d gone. Luc and Igor moved aside to discuss our next move.
Geordie sidled up to me, meat cleaver at the ready. I thought he was going to make a pass at me again but he surprised me with his seriousness. “I do not like this, chérie,” he whispered, eyeing the shadows skittishly. We were in trouble if he was looking to me for comfort. Unfortunately, his instincts were true. Soft, stealthy footsteps sounded below then began making their way upstairs towards us.
Luc and Igor moved to join us. We stood four in a row like gunslingers of old, minus guns or the skills to use them. All three men brandished their weapons. I slipped my hands into my back pockets, hiding the holy marks. If anyone caught a glimpse of them, the handy ruse that I was merely Luc’s servant would be shattered and the element of surprise would be lost. With my lack of fighting skills, I needed an edge and that was the only one I had.
Ten vampires entered the room one by one. They were dressed in jeans, slacks, jackets or jumpers. At a glance they could pass for human. Only their unnaturally dark eyes gave them away. That and the fact that they weren’t breathing. All carried weapons ranging from crossbows to knives and swords.
Their leader, a squat, wide shouldered vamp with a shaved head, stepped forward. “Lord Lucentio,” he said and inclined his head in respect. His weapon of choice was a curved scimitar.
“Martin,” Luc responded with a distant nod.
“May I ask which side you are on, my Lord?”
Igor, Geordie and I exchanged frowns. None of us had any idea which side these guys were on or who the sides even belonged to. Luc didn’t seem surprised, he had already figured it out. My belated guess was that they might belong to the faction that supported my imposter. Luc cut his eyes to me and gave me a slight nod. It was spooky how he seemed to be able to read my thoughts.
My attention was drawn to a vampire who stood next to the window where a shaft of silvery moonlight filtered inside. The boards had been smashed and the curtain had been ripped down. The vamp stood with his hands clasped on his weapon. Contrary to its master, his bored shadow was slumped against the wall, picking its nose.
So far, my interaction with vampires whose shadows acted independently of their owners had not been friendly. In fact, you could say they had been decidedly unfriendly since they had all ended up trying to kill me. Silvius had succeeded, hence my new identity as the scourge of vampirekind.
Two more vampires entered, carrying crudely made torches. All twelve men’s shadows suddenly loomed against the wall or floor. Some twitched uneasily, turning their heads to take us in. A couple sank onto their haunches and held a soundless conversation with each other. One was using the shaft of light to made animal shapes on the ground with its hands. None were acting like normal shadows and that told me they were the bad guys. Aren’t we all the bad guys? Worse guys than us guys, then, I corrected myself absently.
Luc was stalling, weighing up how badly we were outnumbered. Leaning backwards a bit, he caught my eye again. We had a choice to make. If we wanted them, we could have twelve supporters on our side. Or my side anyway. I thought about it for a second then shrugged and stepped forward.
“Hi. You don’t know me but I have something to show you that you might find-,” my words were cut off when a crossbow bolt thudded into my chest, “interesting,” I finished lamely before I could raise my hands and show them the holy marks. Getting speared through the chest is really starting to get old.
With a roar, Igor and Luc leaped forward to do battle. Geordie danced on the spot like a frightened poodle then scampered forward to help. He was screaming as shrilly as a hysterical teenage girl at her favourite rock star’s concert.
As for me, I tugged vainly at the bolt lodged in my chest for a few moments before deciding it wasn’t going anywhere. Sidling around the edges of the melee, I picked up a machete that had been knocked to the ground and waded into the fray. It didn’t surprise me that I was screaming just as shrilly as Geordie.
·~·
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lunging, slicing and chopping with precision, it was clear Luc had far more skill with a weapon than the rest of us did. Geordie stayed low, dodging in to hamstring anyone who came too close. Igor grimly swung his dagger with enthusiasm if not skill.
Servants rather than soldiers, the impersonator’s supporters fought little better than Igor and Geordie. We’d have been overwhelmed fairly quickly if they’d had any training. I was being completely ignored so took the opportunity to step up and swing my machete at an exposed neck. My target caught the movement and ducked but not quite quickly enough. The machete thunked into his head and lodged there. Turning burning eyes on me, he started toward me, grinning evilly. He thought I was unarmed and hence vulnerable. Before I could reach for my secret weapon lodged in the back of my pants, Luc’s sword appeared through the vamp’s chest. Pulling it free, Luc whirled back around in time to block a sword blow. Their weapons clanged loudly then Luc spitted his opponent.
Geordie squealed and I turned to see him clutching at a bolt someone had shot at him. Luckily, it was lodged in his shoulder instead of his heart. Aw, we have matching accessories. Grimly searching for the crossbow wielding vampire, I discovered him crouching low near the wall. He was nearly hidden from me by his shadow. It was hunched forward, hiding all but his eyes and the wicked looking crossbow in his hands. Teeth gleamed in a bloodthirsty grin as the vampire quickly loaded another bolt.
Surreptitiously making sure I wasn’t being watched, I pulled my cross free and speared it across the room. The shadow saw it coming, stood and tried to bat the cross out of the air. It recoiled as the metal passed through it and wedged in the vampire’s forehead. Thrashing like a squashed cockroach with its guts hanging out that just wouldn’t die, the shadow snarled silently at me when I approached. It snapped at me more and more weakly with elongated teeth as its master kicked his feet then was still. The shadow shrank into nothingness as the vampire died. Pulling the cross free before it could sink into the quickly spreading pool of ooze, I wiped it clean on the dead vamp’s now empty jumper and searched for my next victim.
Five of the twelve vampires were down. The remaining seven were still ignoring me, concentrating mostly on Luc. Bloodied and wounded, my pretend maker stood with Igor at his back and Geordie crouching nearby. They were surrounded by the enemy and I didn’t like their chances of coming out of the fight unharmed. It was a miracle none of us had lost any limbs so far.
Picking up the discarded crossbow, I pointed it at one of the enemy and pulled the trigger. The bolt thumped into his back, missing his heart but doing a good job of distracting him. Jerking, he turned, spotted me and disengaged from the fight. He stomped toward me as I frantically searched for another bolt. In the flickering torchlight, his shadow hulked large and glared at me menacingly. Now only three feet away, he raised his sword over his head.
Instead of simply splitting my head open, he drew out the moment in evil pleasure, enjoying my terror. In desperation, I grabbed the bolt sticking out of my chest and yanked it free in a surge of fear. The shaft was slick, coated in my thickening blood. The vampire’s pleasure instantly turned to alarm now that I was armed. He ceased grandstanding and his sword swung downwards. I plunged the bolt into his chest then rolled to the side as his sword descended. With a loud clang that faded into the general cacophony, it hit the wooden floor. I slid a finger through a cut in the sleeve of my borrowed jumper. Man, that was close. I was pretty sure that even I wouldn’t survive a deep sword blow to the head.
My terror fled and terrible anger was replacing it. I was supposed to be their damned leader and they were trying to kill me. Snatching up the fallen sword, I decided it was time to teach them a lesson. I might be newly made but that didn’t mean I was entirely useless.
Choosing my target, I carefully aimed the sword, waited for h
im to pause then slammed the blade through his back where his heart should be. I had better luck this time and hit my target. Luc’s expression reflected his surprised when the vampire fell and he saw me standing there. I didn’t have time to bask in his shock that I wasn’t standing on the sidelines, fainting from terror. Two of the men on either side of me lunged forward. I dropped to my knees and they stabbed each other through the stomach. Idiots. Igor calmly pierced one through the heart as Geordie leaped to his feet to chop his cleaver into the other guy’s neck.
Luc bellowed a war cry that raised the hairs on my arms and lashed out at the remaining enemy. With eight of them now down, the last four broke and turned to flee. I tripped one as he tried to leap over me. Landing on his face, he skidded a few feet across the floor. I was on my feet and landing with my knees on his back before he had a chance to scramble up. A momentary view of the side of his face told me I’d nabbed Martin, the leader of the small group.
My borrowed sword sliced through Martin’s back, piercing his heart. Suddenly, his shadow burst up and twisted around to face me. Black arms snaked out and wrapped around me firmly. They should have been insubstantial yet pinned me in place as if they were manacles made of iron. My strength began to seep away as cold filled me. Martin continued to struggle despite the sword through his heart. My life was being drained by the shadow to keep its owner alive. How, I didn’t know. Shadows weren’t supposed to be sentient yet these ones were. Somehow, they had gained a form of life.
Luc, Igor and Geordie moved to surround me. They stared at the vampire twitching between my knees. “Why is he still alive?” Geordie asked. “It should not be possible.” His tone and expression were disturbed yet reluctantly curious.
“That is a good question,” Luc replied and knelt beside me. Still wrapped in the shadow’s arms, I could barely turn my head. “What is wrong, Natalie?”
“His shadow,” I whispered, cold to my very bones.
“Shadow?” Geordie asked, looking around. “What shadow?”
“You can see his shadow?” Luc asked me quietly.
“It’s...draining me,” I gasped out and my vision began to go dark.
Standing, Luc twirled his sword overhead then brought it down across the pinned vampire’s neck. As Martin’s severed head rolled across the floor, the shadow released me, wailing soundlessly in dismay before fading. I couldn’t remember reading anything about this in the journal. Whoever or whatever gave the prophet his visions had missed a few important details.
Free from the icy embrace, I fell gracelessly onto my side, shivering in cold and reaction. Geordie knelt beside me, reaching for my hands. I clenched them into fists before he could see the marks. Uselessly trying to warm my hands with his room temperature ones, at least he didn’t try to cop a feel. Maybe not all vampires were all bad. At least not all the time.
Drawing Luc aside, Igor spoke to him quietly in French. “What just happened?”
Through my peripheral vision, I watched Luc hesitate then shrug. “She was hallucinating. This is not the first time she claims to have seen strange shadows. Natalie is new to our world. What seems normal to us is abnormal to her. Perhaps this is her mind’s way of coping with the stress.” Unbeknownst to him, my usual way of dealing with stress was to go shopping. I’d end up taking most of the items back because I couldn’t afford them but it was the actual buying of frivolous things that made me feel better. I’d never hallucinated in my life. Why would I begin to hallucinate now that I was undead? I hoped he was making this up and that he didn’t truly believe what he was saying. If he did, then that meant he thought I had a few screws loose.
Igor didn’t look convinced. Unable to come up with any other explanation, he had to let it go.
“We should get out of here,” Geordie said quietly, looking over his shoulder to make sure no more of the imposter’s army were creeping up on us. I had warmed back up to room temperature again and climbed to my feet. At Luc’s enquiring look, I nodded that I was good to go.
·~·
Chapter Twenty-Three
We headed back to the safe house in morose silence. All of us were filthy, stained by the ooze of the fallen and from wounds we’d received. My first order of business was to take a shower. My wounds had healed by now so at least the water didn’t sting when it hit my skin.
Clean again, I dressed in my old clothes, having depleted the safe house of anything else that would even remotely fit me. There didn’t seem to be a washing machine on the premises. Not that I had much to wash.
It occurred to me that Luc might have a change of clothes that I could borrow. They would be far too large but I’d be able to live with that until I could find something more suitable. I could hear him moving around in the room next to mine. No time like the present.
Knocking lightly, I entered at Luc’s quiet, “It’s open.”
“I was wondering if,” my words trailed off at the sight of Luc wearing a pair of pants and nothing else. A knowing grin slid into place when he saw my attention wander to his chest. “Do you have any spare clothes?” I finished up, forcing my eyes back to his face.
“Check the dresser,” he indicated a chest of drawers then slid his thumbs into his waistband. I turned away after a flash of white flesh, glad my face couldn’t flame red anymore. Luc’s pants dropped to the floor then he entered the bathroom. Trust him to have his own bathroom.
Opening a drawer at random, I pulled out a black t-shirt and jumper as the shower started. Resisting the urge to join Luc, my eyes happened on the keys to his rental car. They sat on the bedside table, unused and possibly feeling lonely. Maybe I should pop downstairs and warm the car up. Maybe I should even take it for a short drive, just to make sure the engine doesn’t seize up from lack of use.
Convinced by my own desperate logic, I snatched up the keys and tiptoed back to my room. I didn’t really need to take the prophet’s journal on my short journey but it seemed safer to take it with me than to leave it lying around. Igor or Geordie might stumble across it and then explanations would have to be given.
Moving quickly but quietly, I made my way downstairs. I held the borrowed handbag stuffed with Luc’s fresh clothes to my side tightly so it wouldn’t make a noise and betray my presence. Igor and Geordie’s voices were a low murmur coming from the dining room. The front door was in their line of sight so I sidled over to a window, not wanting to interrupt their urgent conversation. The window slid up silently and I slipped outside.
Luc’s rental car was sitting where we’d left it in the garage. Taking a seat behind the wheel, I put the key in the ignition then just sat for a few seconds. During the fight with the imposter’s minions, one thought kept coming back to me; I was going to die. With Martin’s shadowy arms wrapped around me, sucking my energy away, it had finally hit home. There was no way for me to survive after I took down the imposter then ‘decimated the damned’.
Or was there? A crazy new thought had been plaguing me. One that I hadn’t allowed to surface until a couple of minutes ago. What if I didn’t face the imposter at all? What if I just...ran away? Luc hadn’t seen the last page of the journal. He had no idea it would be his hands that took my life. What he doesn’t know can’t hurt me. It seemed like sound reasoning to me. Running away might not be the noblest thing to do but self-preservation was far more important to me right now. The key turned, the engine caught and I put my foot down. Dirt spurted from beneath the tyres, hitting the underside of the car as I reversed out of the garage. Cowardly fleeing for my life, I almost hit the door on the way out.
Peeking in the rear view mirror, I saw a face appear in one of the unshuttered downstairs windows as I took off. It looked like Geordie but the image dwindled too rapidly for me to be certain. Luc would be sure to follow me and I had to get far away as quickly as possible. I kept my foot to the floor and I also kept the lights off to make it harder for him to tail me. My night vision was good enough that I didn’t need headlights anyway.
Finding a high
way that led north, I swung onto it and started passing traffic. Startled stares followed me when my fellow motorists spotted my lightless car zooming past. If any cops started chasing me, I’d just keep driving. I could take an exit and evade them fairly easily without any lights blazing to give away my position. I’d never been an overly confident driver before but necessity had turned me into a speed demon.
I drove until I felt the pull of dawn tugging at my mind, making me drowsy. Picking an exit, I wove a random path until I found an underground parking area. Taking the ticket that popped out when I pushed the button at the gate, I wondered how I was going to pay to get out when I didn’t have any money. Worry about that later, I instructed myself. Dawn was coming and I had to take steps to ensure my safety.
Driving two levels down to where the sun’s rays shouldn’t be able to reach me, I picked a spot at the back of the lot and reversed the car into the slot. My much sharper senses told me that no one was around when I exited the car. Opening the boot, I boosted myself inside then pulled the lid down, enclosing myself inside a handy metal coffin.
It was possible the car would be discovered and towed away while I fell into the temporary daylight death of a night dwelling monster. My chances of remaining undiscovered were higher if I hid in the boot. It seemed safer than sleeping on the back seat.
Lying in the stuffy confines, I wriggled into a more comfortable position and tried to come up with a plan. I had no money, only one change of clothes and nowhere to go. In effect, I was in the same position I’d been left in after dispatching Silvius. Except this time I was in a foreign country where English wasn’t the national language. I might not have trouble understanding foreign languages now but I still wouldn’t be able to communicate with most of the population.
That decided me, I’d have to go someplace where English was the national language. Australia was too far away. I had zero confidence I’d be able to make it all the way home without either burning to death from the sun or being discovered as a non-human entity. What about England? It was close and they definitely spoke English there.
