by Michael Dean
Burn
By: Michael Dean
Burn
Copyright © 2014 by Michael Dean. All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: July 2014
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
www.limitlesspublishing.com
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1499299441
ISBN-10: 1499299443
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
~Dedication~
Burn is dedicated to anyone who dares to act on a dream. It doesn't matter whether the dream is a failure or a success in someone else's eyes because you've already succeeded by pursuing it.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 1
AFTER
The vicious storm had long passed and the cool night air that followed settled into my cavern. I pondered all night about the vision of Scruffy and his discovery. These visions I was experiencing of late were becoming quite the burden. It was getting harder and harder to decipher whether or not they were accounts of actual events or just figments of my imagination. I was beginning to question my sanity. But deep within me I knew that it was something more. It had to be. For now, they meant nothing more than an added aggravation to an already troubled and highly stressed situation.
I looked back up through the hole and noticed a small hint of daylight beginning to caress the sky through broken clouds. Dawn was setting in, another day closer to All Hallows Eve and the potential end of my journey as a Drift Demon.
Right on cue, Murgit came barging into the room, shoving the steel double doors open. The sound of those doors was deafening when opened with force; it drove me nuts.
“How’s our guest doing on this delightful morning?” he said, chuckling with sarcasm.
I said nothing as usual. I was used to, and tired of, his constant badgering and learned just to let it go. It took too much energy to constantly get worked up and answer his persistent teasing. After all, it was just some hot wind from a buffalo.
“I take it you enjoyed the storm last night? I hope you didn’t get…wet.” He started to laugh uproariously as he shuffled behind the fountain at my back and pulled a lever that leveled the floor again outside of my pool. I had to give the vampires some credit. They really put in some effort and ingenuity when it came to my cell. They really had thought of everything.
I rolled my eyes. If I ever got the chance to get my hands on that little turd, I would choke him until his eyes flew out of their sockets, I swear. I was full to the brim with his half-witted shots. I mean, at least Shimmer did it with an air of confidence and strength. Murgit was just a minion and his jabs at me were just…insulting.
As the day settled in, my cell became slightly warmer. When it did, Murgit brought in yet another flock of vampires to view the ongoing spectacle of me. The same teasing went on, just as before, about my story and how Shade was going to become Shimmer’s next bride. Some questions were asked, some more insults were hurled in my direction from the blood blisters, and then they left, just like the days prior. At this point I was ready to get over this and move on with whatever show Shimmer had in store for me and Shade.
The constant pain from the holy water, my heartache from being separated from Shade, as well as the never ending feeling of hopelessness and depression that constantly accompanied me was more than I could bear; too much for even a demon like myself to handle. I just wanted this situation to conclude. It was time for the pain and antagonizing to stop. I couldn’t deal with it anymore.
Once again, the doors opened to my cavern and I thought, Here we go again. Murgit entered. He wasn’t alone. But he wasn’t ushering in Shimmer, his mistresses, or a crowd of vampires this time. The sound of a shrieking, very petrified girl drew my attention enough to raise my head to see what was going on. I hoped for a second that it was Shade, but I immediately recognized that the voice wasn’t hers.
I watched as he pulled this female into my cell by the arm and then slung her across the room. He grabbed the steel doors and slammed them shut. The girl sat on the ground, pleading for Murgit to let her go. All he did was ignore her and grin at me.
“Wha-wha-what are you up to, you idiot?” I managed to ask a little louder than a whisper.
“My master thought it would be a good idea for you to witness the transition in store for your beloved. He didn’t want to cheat you out of the experience since you’ll be forever dead by the time he takes her as his bride.” He snickered as the girl ran behind him as he approached me. She feverishly tried to pull open the massive steel doors to no avail.
“Y-you’re sick,” I commented. I knew what he was going to do. He was going to change her into a vampire right before my very eyes. Here was another twisted mind game, courtesy of Shimmer. He was playing with his food before devouring it; the food being me. My fury only grew larger, stoked even further by the fact that I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Murgit laughed in his high pitched, annoying way. “Yes, yes, I am!”
He turned his attention to the frightened girl banging her hands all over the doors trying to figure out a way to get free. He walked to her slowly, still off-balance and corky. When the girl turned and saw him, she pleaded again for Murgit to set her free, bargaining with him in any way she could think of, but of course he was having none of it.
“Don’t worry, my little dove. All of your worries will soon wash away,” he reassured her with a sadistic chuckle.
Tears fell upon her cheeks. Murgit only responded by grabbing the back of her neck. She became quiet and nearly motionless. He tugged her into position, directly in front of me and my pool. I lowered my head in disgust and refused to watch this spectacle any further.
“What’s the matter, hero? You don’t like to watch?” He giggled again.
But the morbid, evil, demonic side of me couldn’t fully turn a blind eye to what was about to unfold in front of me. Indirectly, I saw Murgit shove the girl down to her knees in front of him. He chuckled some more and fumbled his way to his knees beside her and then sat back. The only thing the girl could do was pivot her eyes in his direction in horror as she watched him get into position beside her.
Never taking his eyes off me, smiling the whole time, he began to pull the girl over to him very slowly. He placed her so that her back was laying upon his lap. She looked up at him. All she could do was breathe in a panic, unable to speak. Her chest rose up and down intensely.
Murgit’s black pupils expanded wider as he prepared to feast on the helpless girl’s neck. He turned her head slightly, exposing a pulsating vein beneath her skin. He licked his lips aggressively in anticipation.
I lifted my head, as my morbid curiosity had gotten the better of
me. I saw the young girl was facing me. Her eyes pleaded with me for help, but I could do nothing. I felt ashamed. But when our eyes met, it suddenly occurred to me that I had seen this girl before. Her eyebrows rose slightly. A look came over her face like she recognized me too, although I couldn’t be sure.
Then it came to me. I’d seen this girl many times back in Mountainside at school. I passed by her in school hallways as we hurried to class. I also remembered seeing her at the party just before Jonas and the hordes of vampires attacked. She was one of the missing kids from Mountainside. Those cells I had passed on my way to this room were potentially filled with my schoolmates, as well as others coming from anywhere on earth.
As soon as that realization hit, I watched as Murgit dove into her neck with his eternal bite. She gasped one last time and looked away from me in shock. I watched as her skin turned pale. Blue veins became visible, only to turn black from the poison he injected into her. Murgit wasn’t feasting on her blood. He was filling her with venom to change her into one.
Then, Murgit dropped her to the floor. Some kind of black liquid dripped from his fangs. He stared at her in glee as she began to writhe around in pain. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She screamed and wiggled as the torment from the transformation of her human death to her vampire birth took place. The process took at least five or ten minutes. Murgit never moved from her, just glared at her with a sinister look of fascination. I admit that I couldn’t turn away, either. I’d never seen a human turn vampire right in front of me before and the demon in me kind of liked it while the conscience in me hated it with a passion.
I knew the process was coming to an end when she quieted. I watched her eyes change from brown to blood-red. When her pupils turned solid black, she gasped for one last bit of air and then looked to her maker in confusion.
“Stand up, my child. You are made anew.” Murgit struggled to his feet as he grabbed the young lady by her hand, helping her to her feet.
“I shall call you…Colleen.”
The girl smiled and thanked Murgit. Then, they both turned to me and looked at me suspiciously.
“You see, child, it’s not so bad, is it? You are a newborn and are already better off than him.” He pointed to me and smiled as Colleen looked at me curiously. “Let’s take you to meet our Lord.”
With a friendly hand on the small of her back, he guided his new child of the damned out of my cavern, snickering as only Murgit can. When I was left on my own again, I wondered when the mind games were going to stop. I hoped that my love wasn’t getting treated to the same kind of mental torture that I was forced to endure. I also couldn’t imagine Shade having to go through that kind of a physical death, only to become an eternal slave to a maniacal killer. But the worst part was, it was all happening because of me. That’s why revenge or pressing on with my call of Diccittidel didn’t seem to matter anymore. Only the thought of saving Shade from any more pain than I had already caused kept a small flame burning alive inside me.
I love Shade, and in my soul, she is the flickering candle standing alone in a room of blackness, guiding me to her, giving me hope. And her spark, hidden deep within the darkness, may hold the key to my salvation. All I have left now is to live for her, and because of that, I am holding on, faintly.
While wallowing around in my daily dose of self pity and depression, I noticed some strange noises coming from outside of the hole atop my cavern. At first I heard what sounded like someone pacing around the edge of the hole; I even thought I heard some voices, but I couldn’t be sure. But when I heard the distinct sound of a branch breaking and then the sound of a hard thud, I knew that someone or something had to be up there. I didn’t get the sense that it was evil. It sounded more…clumsy than anything. But I was too weak to call out.
I kept my head raised, trying to do what I could to get a peek at whatever was going on up there. Then, I saw some dirt and a rock get kicked into the opening, as if someone was standing right near the hole’s edge. It almost landed on me.
Finally, I gathered what strength I had together to call out. “Hello?”
A shadowy figure leaned over the opening. Because of the water constantly bombarding my face and my weakness due to its holy potency, I struggled to see through blurry sight.
But when a very familiar voice answered me, “Well, well, well, if all you needed was a vacation and a nice shower away from me, all you had to do was ask, man.”
“I have never been so glad to see your ugly face…well, I can kind of see it,” I responded.
I was right. Clumsy was here. Hope had indeed arrived…well, kind of.
Chapter 2
RELEASE
“How in the world did you get here? How did you know?” Seeing my old friend Scruffy must have really energized me because this was the first time in a long time that I was able to string this many sentences together in one go.
“Don’t ask. I’ll fill you in shortly. But right now, we need to figure out how to get you out of there. First of all, how do I get down there without shattering my ankles from a fall?”
“Cli-climb down the waterfall…it-it’s the only way.”
Scruffy scooted around the top of the hole so he was directly over the rock waterfall I was chained to. He looked reluctant to take my advice because the top of the waterfall was still a few feet below the top of the cavern. It would require Scruff to hang down from the opening and hopefully grab onto the waterfall with his legs somehow so he could climb down. I had the distinct feeling this was going to end up a disaster.
“Are you sure this is the only way in?”
“Yes…please—hurry.”
With a fearful groan, Scruffy began to cautiously slide his body down through the hole while hanging onto the edge of the opening. His legs dangled aimlessly as he tried to seek out the top of the waterfall with his feet. After a few tries, he managed to get his feet locked onto the top. He was still hanging onto the opening with his fingertips as he cussed and complained the whole time.
I winced as I heard him say, “Here goes nothing,” and he released his hold on the edge of the hole. He slid down a bit as his body weight came to rest upon the waterfall. He bear-hugged the structure in a panic and I thought he had safely made the transition. Apparently, so did he.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad.” His voice trembled in relief as he let out a nervous laugh.
Just as we both thought the coast was clear and he felt confident enough to climb down to me, I saw his legs come loose. He let out a yell and started sliding down the rock formation. Every time he hit a rock his voice vibrated. The next thing I knew, he landed on my head, which jarred him off the waterfall, landing him into the pool right in front of me with a big splash.
Scruffy immediately stood, looking completely stunned as he wiped the water from his face. He hunched over in pain.
“Oh man, that was bad, that was very bad. Owww, owww.” He placed his hands between his legs and remained bent over.
That was an entrance that only Scruffy could make.
“How-how did you ever manage to learn to walk upright?” I mumbled, taking a cheap shot at my friend. My head sank back down.
“Shut up.” He tried to straighten back up and smiled. “It’s good to see you, Leo.”
I raised my head back up and mustered a smile in return.
“What do I need to do to get you out of here?”
“Go…go…behind the waterfall…levers or something…pull them to stop the water…hurry.”
Scruff nodded, limped out of the pool, and went behind the waterfall. I heard him fumble around for a second.
“There are two levers. Which one do I pull?”
Annoyed, I managed to scream at him. “Just pull them, hurry!”
Of course the first lever he pulled activated the drainage system that surrounded my pool. The floors beat and banged, then angled like they did when the storm was in full effect, in order to drain when the room filled with water. I was worried that all the noise
might attract the attention of Murgit. As frequently as the watchman came into my cell, I knew we were on borrowed time before he came in to check on me. I watched as the floor leveled back out again. Then, for the first time since I had been chained in this living hell, the water falling upon me slowed to a mere drizzle.
Scruffy came around the side of the waterfall. “Did I get it?”
I nodded and immediately started to feel some of my strength come back; enough so I could speak with a little more authority.
“Take your shirt off. Wipe some of this water off me…hurry.”
Scruffy did just that and patted me down with his shirt before putting it back on. “Now what do we do?”
“I’ve gotta get out of this pool.”
I could feel my power beginning to return to me in a rush. Even though I was still ankle deep in a pool of holy water, it wasn’t enough to hold me any longer. I started to pull my arms together in an attempt to break the gigantic chains that had held me for months. Creaks and cracks began to sound around the cavern as the chains ripped apart. Finally, with a thrust, I felt them bust and I could place my arms together once again. The rest of the links that were attached to the cavern walls swung and banged into the rock walls. I knew we were making too much noise.
“We’ve gotta move fast, man,” I urged him as I ripped the chain link cuffs from around my wrists and ankles.
“So, it’s true then—that stuff in Shade’s little book?” Scruffy looked at me inquisitively.
We stumbled to get out of the pool. “All the answers are coming, bro. I’ll fill you in later. But for now, we’ve gotta get you out of here before Murgit comes back.”
“Murgit? Who’s Murgit?”
“One of the many hundreds, more like thousands, of tyrannical vampires that are crawling all over this place.”
