The Blood Talisman

by Kim Culpepper

  “You do not know your own strength. It comes from within,” Hyperion told her.

  “Now you are back to riddles? I don’t even know why I try.”

  “A life for immortality is a powerful spell. It can go horribly awry if not handled correctly, and your brother will destroy this world if it means he gains the power of life and death. For the power to be properly transferred, it must be you. You must kill me. It can’t be any other way.”

  Selene ran over to her father and hugged him tightly. He responded with equal love. Selene’s power over Alex released and he stood up and asked, “What can I do?”

  He had forgiven her quickly for her betrayal. The emotional roller coaster the werewolf had put upon him had struck again. He knew her well enough to know she had only lied for the love of her father, whom now must die by her hand.

  They both stopped hugging and looked at him. Selene smiled and took his hand and brought him closer to them both.

  “There’s a balance that must be kept. Where there are good things that can come from killing me and saving people that we care about, there are also bad things that can come from it if the talisman gets into the wrong hands,” Hyperion told them both.

  A ruckus sounded from the stairwell and they all turned to look and see what the noises were. The head of one of the doorway’s suit of armor guards came rolling onto the stoned floor in the foyer. Behind it was a shirtless man walking with his hands pointed upward. Ram was behind him with a gun pointed at his head. John and the two vampires followed closely behind them.

  Hyperion strode over to the knight’s head and picked it up. He examined it closely and looked to Ram for unspoken answers.

  “Sol told me that you were quite resourceful,” Hyperion said calmly. “Let my wolf go.”

  “No. I’m tired of waiting. Do it, Selene. Kill him and take the talisman,” Ram ordered.

  “This is a peaceful resting place for me and my ancestors. You cannot order a witch of the trinity to kill anyone. This is her choice. She has a free will that can’t be forced.”

  “Really?” Ram said.

  He pulled the trigger and a bullet went speeding through the head of the wolf that he was holding hostage. He stepped over his body casually and pointed the gun at Alex’s head. Ram’s cronies followed him confidently. John kicked the dead man lying on the floor as he walked past him.

  Alex knocked the gun out of Ram’s hand with one swift backhand. John and the two vampires pulled their weapons on him from behind Ram. He grabbed Alex up by the throat, leaving his feet dangling above the ground.

  “We had a deal Selene. Kill Hyperion and take the talisman or Alex will die,” Ram yelled out at her.

  Hyperion raised his hand at them and they all froze in time. He walked over to Selene and took her face his hands. “This is your choice.”

  “I don’t want to do this, Father,” Selene said.

  “Then you do not have to.”

  “But I do. I can’t let them kill Alex and allow Amalia to die. Sol will kill you and take the talisman for himself.”

  “I think he will soon find that his wife is no longer the person he once knew. I have seen the future with me still here, my child. It is not all bad. The immortal future that vampires crave is ruled by death. Your lover will suffer greatly. As far as Sol goes, I can handle him.”

  “Save him then,” she said, pointing at Alex dangling from Ram’s hands.

  “I cannot interfere,” he said gently.

  His body turned to grey and he was gone again.

  Alex was unfrozen and struggling. Selene grabbed Ram’s hand and boiled it. He dropped Alex like a hot potato. Alex fell to the ground, clutching his throat.

  “He’s gone again,” Ram growled, as he looked around the room. He slapped Selene across the face and said, “You should have killed him while you had the chance.”

  Alex kicked Ram in the shin and the vampire fell to his knees. John and the two vampires cocked their guns at Alex.

  “You should be as angry at her as I am. She is preventing your wife from living,” Ram yelled at Alex.

  Alex didn’t want to admit it, but Ram was right.

  “This is difficult for her. How do you not see that?” Alex asked.

  “How can you feel more sorry for her than got your own wife? She’s dying. Amalia’s dying. Do you not care?”

  “I do care… for both of them… equally.”

  Three shirtless guys interrupted their conversation. They stood at one of the doorways looking at all of them. They changed over to wolves simultaneously and charged towards Ram and his crew. Bullets began to fly and Alex pounced over onto Selene to protect her from being hit.

  She patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m okay. I’ll live. Immortal, remember?”

  He let her go and started turning into wolf. He could feel his strength beginning to wane because he hadn’t fed since the beach in Mexico. The hunger was starting to irritate him but he pushed onward nonetheless. He didn’t understand how those other wolves could turn so quickly. He would give anything to not prolong changing and feeling every bone break and the fire-like blood running through every vein. He decided they must feed almost constantly to be able to change so effortlessly.

  One of the wolves had been shot down and was dead. He lay there in a pool of his own blood while one of the others had Ram down to the ground and was attempting to rip his throat out. Ram was too strong for him to make it that far. He pushed the wolf off of him and John hit it over the head with the butt of his gun. The wolf fell to the ground and changed back to human form before being shot dead.

  The other two vampires were battling another wolf. One vamp had been scratched and bitten badly. His blood was giving the white bear rug a nice coating of red. The furniture in the room had been smashed to bits. Alex jumped on the wolf and they wrestled around like dogs on the floor while everyone watched. Ram focused his gun back and forth on them as they scratched and bit each other. He couldn’t get a clear shot, and after moments of them fighting he closed one eye and took a chance, thinking he might even be able to kill two wolves with one bullet.

  The gun sounded loudly and made Selene just about jump out of her skin. She clasped her hands over her mouth in horror. She was afraid for Alex’s life. She couldn’t tell which wolf had been shot. They both laid there and silence befell the room.

  One of them started to move and rise up from the fight. It was Alex. Selene felt immediate relief. She sighed and patted her chest to calm her heart from racing. Alex, in wolf form, stood straight up and faced them all. He sniffed the air and then pounced onto the bleeding vampire.

  The unsuspecting vamp attempted to push him off but couldn’t manage.

  “Help!” he screamed out to Ram and the other vampire.

  John pulled his gun and pointed it at the wolf. Ram grabbed his arm and pulled it back, stopping him from shooting Alex.

  The vampire being attacked screamed and gurgled as he gasped for every last breath. The blood covered the ground beneath him as Alex ripped the flesh from his bones. He finished his meal and all that remained was a hollowed-out vampire carcass. The wolf quickly changed back to Alex’s human form. He stayed knelling beside the vampire’s body. Being able to view his leftovers that closely definitely wasn’t appetizing. Blood stained his chin, chest, and arms. Everyone was looking down at him, except Selene. She faced one of the many doorways with her hands over her ears. She peeked back at him to see him sitting there.

  She ran over to him as he sat there in a shocked state. She squatted down, holding her breath, and said, “C’mon let’s get you cleaned up.”

  “What did I do? What have I become?” he asked her.

  She pulled on him to get up off the floor. He reluctantly did so. They both almost tripped over Ram, who stood there with a smart-ass grin on his face. John watched in silence and backed away from the situation. He kept walking backwards towards one of the many doorways that led out of the main room. He stopped suddenly, feeli
ng a presence from behind.

  Hyperion and two more wolves stood there in silence.

  Chapter 29

  “Would one of you please kill that vampire and that human? It should not be that difficult,” Hyperion said to the two wolves that accompanied him in the doorway.

  They immediately changed over from human to wolf. Ram and John prepared for battle once again.

  “Don’t do this father. They have nothing to do with my decision,” Selene pleaded.

  “They have everything to do with your decision. They are the reason that you are here willing to murder your own father.”

  The two wolves charged at Ram and John. John shot one in the chest and it immediately fell dead to the floor. The other wolf slashed Ram across the face and arm with his claws, knocking the gun out of his hand before he could fire off a bullet.

  John stood there with his gun in hand as he watched the wolf slash and gnaw his way through Ram’s arms. He was fighting for a neck bite but Ram somehow kept him at bay. Alex ran over and grabbed the gun out of John’s hand. He shot the wolf that was ripping Ram’s arms up. The wolf fell dead onto the floor beside Ram, who lay there bleeding out.

  “Do it, Selene,” Alex ordered. He walked over to her and handed her the gun. She reluctantly took it. She looked down at the gun then back up to Alex. She had an ‘I can’t do it’ look on her face. “Let this be over. No more death. Your father is the last one who has to die tonight.”

  Hyperion wrapped his arm around Alex’s throat. “What an ungrateful wolf. You are this creature because I created all supernatural creatures. Now you force my own daughter to take my life?” He threw Alex across the room. He landed hard against the wall.

  Selene pointed the gun at her father. He looked curiously at her. He questioned in his mind if she would really do it. He settled on her not being able to make the decision. She was the youngest of the trinity of children he had fathered. He knew that she had many powers but her weak mind kept her from ever realizing her true greatness. He knew she’d been constantly bullied by her older siblings. Even her peers could never respect her because of her weak mind. He did not feel scared of her.

  “Do you really expect to be able to pull that trigger, my daughter?” he taunted her as he paced slowly in circles around her. She followed his every move with the gun in her hand.

  “Alex?” she hollered out. “Alex!”

  “He can’t help you. This is a decision that you must make for yourself. I have already warned you of this. You and your brother never listen.”

  He continued to circle her. Selene became slightly dizzy. Her arm started shaking and Hyperion stopped moving. He appeared as if he were preparing to reach for the gun as he inched closer to the barrel.

  “The dead will rise, Selene, if you kill me. You mustn’t be foolish,” he whispered to her.

  She jumped as she felt Alex’s two strong, bloody hands touch her shoulders. His hands slid down her arms to her hands. He helped her hold the gun up straight and kept her from shaking.

  “I can’t do it,” she whispered to him.

  “Just close your eyes.”

  She closed her eyes and thought about what she was doing. Her whole childhood flashed before her closed eyes. The memories of all of the stories her father would tell her before bed and the sweet kisses that she would give him every time he had to leave home seemed so vivid. Then she remembered what he had said when Rose died: he couldn’t see the decision that Selene would make. She wondered if that was why he was making it so difficult, or maybe, he did want to die after all, having lived so long.

  She remembered that he had disowned Sol for attempting to kill him and she wondered why he hadn’t done the same with her. He could stop time so she wondered why he wasn’t stopping Alex from helping her.

  She breathed in a deep breath and exhaled with her finger on the trigger. She wanted to squeeze the trigger but couldn’t. Her heart was stopping her. At that point she didn’t understand how Alex lived with himself after killing the people that he had killed. But then again, he didn’t have to kill someone he loved.

  She resigned herself to not being able to do it and so she waited for everyone to realize that she was the weak person that her dad had claimed she always was. In that thought, her finger squeezed. A bright light flashed and then a loud bang sounded. She had done it. She had killed her father. Or so she thought.

  She peeked her eyes open to see her father on his knees, falling dead to the floor. Alex released his comforting grip from her and ran over to him. He closed Hyperion’s eyes with his hand and searched in his shirt for the blood talisman.

  Selene dropped the gun and ran over to help in the search, but it was too late. The blood talisman was gone.

  “What happened? I shot him, right?” Selene asked Alex.

  “No. You didn’t pull the trigger. It was your brother Sol. He showed up, shot Hyperion, and yanked the blood talisman from round his neck before he hit the floor,” Alex responded.

  Selene sat on the floor beside her father and cried. She held his strong hand and wept aloud. Alex attempted to comfort her but, it offered little help. She wailed out in great distress as her tears fell onto his body.

  Her cries were disrupted by a man screaming. They both turned to see Ram leaning over John’s body. John’s arms were flailing, knocking everything around him over. He grabbed a piece of couch and knocked Ram over the head with it. It broke into pieces over his head but Ram didn’t budge. John’s flailing hands grew weaker and weaker until the movement stopped.

  Ram rose up from John’s lifeless body and took a deep breath. His werewolf bite and scratch marks were completely gone. He stood up and looked at Selene and Alex. John’s blood was dripping from his lips. He wiped the residual onto his sleeve and said, “Great job Selene. Didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “It wasn’t me,” Selene muffled out through her tears.

  She cradled her father’s head in her arms.

  Ram looked to Alex for answers. “Well, who the hell was it then?” he asked Alex.

  “Sol.”

  Ram just stood there, not knowing if he should be happy or worried.

  “I guess it worked. I’ve never felt better. Been waiting to kill off that useless blood bag for awhile,” Ram said as he kicked John’s boot. “Had to keep him around for emergencies.”

  “So you’re immortal now?” Alex asked him.

  “I feel immortal. I feel like I could eat the world,” Ram said.

  Alex glanced down at his feet. The gun that Selene tried to kill her father with was laying at his feet. He picked it up, pointed it at Ram, and said, “We could find out.”

  “No!” Selene screamed out. “I’ve seen enough death to last me my whole lifetime. I can’t take anymore.”

  “This guy’s one of the reasons your father had to be killed. He’s the reason why I’m a werewolf. How can you not want him dead?” Alex asked.

  Selene didn’t answer. She turned back to her father’s dead body and wept again.

  “I think we would all be better off with you dead,” Alex said to Ram.

  “I’m your meal ticket home, wolf. I don’t think you realize how handy an immortal vampire can be right now. You have a very powerful witch out there who is one sibling away from having complete power. If you think there isn’t a war coming then you are sadly mistaken.”

  “I have Amalia. Now that she’s alive, I don’t need you anymore,” Alex said.

  He fired the gun, again, and again, and again.

  Ram fell back at every shot but was only slowed down. He never fell. He unbuttoned his shirt and watched the bullets fall out of his chest onto the ground at his feet. He looked up at Alex and said, “That kinda tickled.” He chuckled and smiled at Alex.

  Alex dropped the gun and lunged for him. He turned in mid-launch and went straight for his throat. Ram punched him in his wolf mouth and dodged his lunge, sending Alex straight into the stone wall behind him. His head hit the wall hard, knocking
him unconscious.

  Selene laid her dad’s head down gently and raised her hand to Ram. His face began to burn from across the room. He grabbed his face with both hands and screamed out in pain.

  “Stop!” he yelled.

  Selene lowered her hand and said, “No fighting, no killing. Enough is enough.”

  She hovered her hand over her father’s body. Hyperion turned to ashes at her feet.

  “Get me something to put his ashes in,” she ordered.

  Ram reluctantly picked up a decorative metal canister that sat on the only shelf that remained hanging on the stone wall in the great room and took it over to Selene. He handed it to her graciously. The ashes swirled up into the canister with a wave of Selene’s hand. She put the lid on and turned back towards Ram and Alex.

  A groaning noise came from John’s lifeless body. They all silenced themselves and listened curiously. Ram looked over at Selene’s confused face and said, “It’s normal. Dead people still have air in their system that needs to come out.”

  “Are they supposed to sit up too?” she asked, pointing over at John’s body.

  All three watched as John rose to his feet. His eyes were a hazy grey, much different from the hazel brown they’d been before he died. He shuffled a few steps towards Ram and Selene. They watched him as he slowly paced towards them.

  “John?” Ram asked.

  John gave no response. He kept coming towards them. Ram unconsciously shielded Selene with one arm. She moved closer to him. John was within breathing distance. He reached out his arms and grabbed Ram’s shirt. John attempted to drag Ram closer to him but Ram resisted. John opened his mouth, ready to bite. Ram pushed him back, making him fall onto the floor. John got back up and came towards them again. Ram pulled his gun out and shot him four times in the chest. The bullets made a thud as they lodged into his body. No blood came from his wounds as Ram had drained him of every drop. Yet he kept coming.

  Alex, who had stood silently watching, broke off an antler from one of the hanging deer heads that had fallen from the wall during the struggle. He jammed it in the top of John’s head. It exited through his mouth and John fell to the floor.