World of Azglen (Full Moon Series Book 1)

by P. Mattern

  Adrastos waved his hand in front of him in an ‘S’ pattern several times and several shadowy shapes appeared, moving to surround him, finally revealing enough definition to be identified as “shadow warriors” - beings that were able to strike blows at Charley with their phantom swords but whose vaporous beings resisted any attempt for retaliation. After the first fully materialized warrior struck a blow at Charley, which he was able to deflect, Charley pulled a golden disc out of his clothing that had pronounced sawtoothed edges, and whispering an incantation, threw it into the air between himself and Adrastos. Immediately and swiftly the whirling disc began decapitating the shadow warriors, moving swiftly around the semicircle of them until their shadowy images vaporized into the air.

  Adrastos countered by flying upward until he was several feet above Charley. Sheathing his sword he began to create fireballs at the tips of his fingers by rubbing them together and reciting Old Magick. As each fireball appeared he flung it downward toward Charley, who was kept busy dodging and deflecting them with his shield. One deflected fireball bounced back upward to graze Adrastos’ beard and chin at an angle, causing him to scream briefly in rage and pain, and go off on a tirade.

  “HOW DARE YOU!” Adrastos screamed. ”You son of a Whore that I own!! Even now your mother wears the chains I have placed on her. You will not win this battle, you will take nothing away with you you idiot! This battle was lost before you ever arrived! Every blow that you strike, every injury you cause me I PROMISE will be exacted on her after your defeat and execution. I WILL BURN HER JUST AS YOU HAVE BURNED ME, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND YOU STRIPLING SON OF A WHORE?”

  Charley seemingly lost his concentration after Adrastos’ soliloquy and floated to the stone floor, Adrastos following him down.

  For a few seconds the two battle weary men faced each other. And Charley began to shake, the shield he had in his right hand, slipping out of it and clattering to the floor. Behind Cass and Lux, standing on the periphery of the battle area, Fress murmured, fervently, ”Oh no, Charley, not now, PLEASE not now!” For Charley Rabbit was having a seizure

  As he stood, drooling out of one side of his mouth, shaking and suddenly immobile and helpless, Adrastos’ face took on a delighted aspect, and he began to laugh out loud. As Charley continued to seizure and he abruptly dropped to his knees, Adrastos, rubbing his chin, began a slow 360 degree walk around him.

  “Well, well”, he said, ”What have we here? It seems as though our young warrior has become a blithering idiot, a victim of his own physiology. Look at him now - he is as helpless as a baby.” Moving forward he pulled Charley’s chin up and spat full into Charley’s face.

  Fress broke through Cass and Lux before they could stop her, but Adrastos put up a warning finger.

  “Uh Uh Uh, my angel. You come ONE step closer and I will END HIM NOW!”

  Her chest heaving, Fress stopped in her tracks. She knew that Charley could hear everything that was going on, and that there was a possibility that his seizures could end at any moment. She prayed that they would - that Charley would spring up, attack Adrastos and land a mortal blow. Reluctantly she walked backward to where she’d been standing, her accusing eyes locked into Adrastos’ own.

  As the tension built in the room, Celeste moved quietly to whisper in Lux’s ear. The message was passed through the group within seconds: Celeste had discerned that Mitzi was being rescued by Byron in another part of the castle, it was important they stay where they were, for Charley’s sake.

  “I have it!” Adrastos shouted.

  “As I am not without honor, I will not destroy a man that is ill, or in such a debilitated condition that he is unable to defend himself.”

  “But I am Adrastos, the unyielding one, and I cannot permit this would be usurper to carry on.” Therefore, because I am also known by another name, I will exercise a prerogative to resolve this situation in an equitable and satisfying way - satisfying to me, that is.

  “I am Adrastos, the Unyielding. I am also Adrastos “Animavorus”, The Soul Sucker. I have determined that I will draw the soul and essence of this Immortal Being into myself to further increase my power. So, without further ado, I will begin.”

  Tilting charleys’ trembling face upwards toward his own, Adrastos squeezed Charley’s cheeks until Charley’s mouth hung open a bit more. Drool ran from the corners of Charley’s mouth, while his hands twitched, helplessly and uselessly at his sides. “There,” Adrastos breathed, ”Like taking candy from a baby, an infant - that is how I will end you, Charley Rabbit. I will swallow your soul. Don’t worry, I will be as gentle as I am able, although I am told the transition is the most painful experience an Immortal can experience. Rest assured that all your gifts will be put to good use.”

  Bending down more closely towards Charley’s open mouth, as if he were about to bestow a paternal kiss, Adrastos opened his own mouth and began to draw Charley’s soul up toward him. Adrastos’ eyes were half closed and he appeared to be experiencing a sort of bliss, making long drawing in sounds. A thin but visible gold colored curling vapor began to emerge from between Charley’s lips and enter Adrastos’ open mouth. Every few seconds Adrastos would make a swallowing sound, once murmuring, ”Ah, so sweet, so sweet.” As he greedily drank in the essence of Charley Rabbit.

  Fress sobbed against Lux’s cloak. Silent tears ran out of almost everyone’s eyes as they watched helplessly as Charley Rabbit became part of the Dark.

  Yaya’s voice was silent. The vampires were kept in place by Yaya’s admonition that they must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the interactions between Charley and Adrastos once the battle had begun, even if it meant Charley’s death. They had all agreed. But now they felt tortured by their promise.

  As they watched raptly, Charley suddenly drew in an audible breath, sucking back into him curling strands of golden vapor that had been exiting his mouth. Grabbing his sword that was still on the floor beside him, he lept up to a standing position.

  Curiously Adrastos, his eyes still half closed in the ecstasy of removing Charley’s soul, remained bent over in the same position. Suddenly he collapsed to his knees, his hands shaking at his sides, his head shaking, his eyes drooping at the corners.

  “Adrastos!!” Patraeus called over to him “Get Up! Your sword!” But to everyone present’s amazement, Adrastos remained on his knees, making an occasional guttural sound.

  Charley looked stunned. He called out into the air above his head ”Yaya! Are you still with us? What is happening?”

  Yaya gave a low, almost imperceptible chuckle.

  “Adrastos is having a seizure Charley - he only was able to entice out of you your current neurological ‘storm’ that you were going through as he soul - sucked you for those three and a half minutes. This may affect him for some time to come. It’s certainly affecting him now.”

  Giving a scream of rage Patraeus charged at Charley, but before he was able to reach him, both the enchanted snakes that had been intertwined around Charley’s waist like a belt went flying off. One met Patraeus in midair and bit him in the throat, instantly paralyzing him. The other snake made a blind beeline to the still kneeling and seizuring Adrastos pausing for a moment in midair in front of Adrastos’ still trembling and shaking face, and then opening its jaws impossibly wide spreading its mouth across the span of his cheeks, sinking its fangs deeply into both sides at once. Adrastos immediately fell over, inert.

  Charley’s friends instantly surrounded him.

  “He’s not dead, right?” Cass, the first vamp to find his voice asked.

  “No”, Charley replied, “its paralyzing venom, but it takes quite a while to wear off.”

  The group became aware that the chamber guards were starting to recover and running toward the vamps.

  Cass looked over at Lux.

  “Feel like a rumble, brother?”

  Lux grinned back, ”DYING for one, brother!”

  Orry ran up and began fighting along with the other vamps in their entourage
. Charley started to join them but Fress yanked him back.

  “Oh NO - not YOU, Charley Rabbit!! Mitzi has been rescued and is waiting in the clearing for you! I’m to take you there IMMEDIATELY! No more fighting for you, tu comprends? LET’S GO!”

  Somewhat reluctantly, though he was ebullient at the prospect of seeing his mother, Charley allowed Fress to drag him out to the parapet, where they both took off toward the clearing in the forest. Behind them continued a boisterous battle that would not last very long due to the superior skills of the vampires, who were not really endangered and actually welcomed the skirmish as a training exercise.

  * * *

  Chapter 29: Byron’s End

  Byron Chance could hear commotion that sounded like feet running down the stone halls in his and Mitzi’s direction. Apparently his skirmish with the demons had caused some of Adrastos’ soldiers to be alerted. He could see the fear in Mitzi’s eyes and realized that there wasn’t much time.

  Picking her up in his arms he ran for all he was worth to the opposite end of the castle and the West chamber - twin to the chamber in which Adrastos received visitors and held court. The room was largely empty and his footfalls echoed in the stone hall as if they were made by a giant.

  Emerging out onto the terrace he ran to the parapet, seemingly ignoring the dozen or so guards running at full speed towards them, Byron paused on the precipice of the terrace, Mitzi still in his arms.

  Deftly he bent his head down and kissed her forcefully on the lips, then flung her away into the open air shouting, ”FLY, BABY, FLY!!!”

  Mitzi’s last glimpse of Byron was seeing the look of triumph on his handsome face as he watched her to make sure she was, in fact, airborne. Seconds later the guards surrounded him and pulled him down and out of sight.

  Byron’s eyes were still following Mitzi’s flight even as the guards laid hands on him - she looked to him like a tiny white and golden dove - as the guards pulled him to his feet and hurried to put shackles on him. Byron managed to unsheathe his sword and decapitated the heads of the guards on either side of him, yelling for the rest to stand back unless they wanted to experience the same fate. As he stood, outnumbered and defiant, the captain of the guards, Royal Chavez, sauntered up to him, showing no fear.

  “Looks like the damn Dhampir wants to play swords!” He shouted, ”Well I’m of a mind to mount his head on my wall tonight!”

  The man drew his own sword and struck at Byron - a blow that Byron easily fended off. The clanging of metal upon metal reverberated through the great hall behind them. Each man possessed knowledge of the other that he felt would assure his victory. Byron knew the Captain was no more than twice - bitten because Adrastos would allow no soldier that was even as powerful as he himself was to be in his employ. Even Adrastos’ brother Patraeus was not allowed to be greater than a twice - bitten, to assure that Patraeus’ powers would remain inferior to Adrastos’. The captain knew Byron was a dhampir and couldn’t fly. His blows were designed to force Byron up to the edge of the terrace and off the edge of the balustrade down to the jagged rocks below.

  And so the swordfight raged. Twice Byron was forced toward the edge of the balustrade, and twice he escaped with a decisive maneuver.

  Two unfortunate events occurred simultaneously just into the second half hour of the swordplay. The first was that Adrastos appeared suddenly on the Terrace. His form, however, was not that of a man - he seemed a ghost, or a vapor.

  The second unfortunate occurrence was that the appearance of Adrastos caused Byron to become distracted and his opponent was able to knock Byron’s sword out of his hand, where it went flying and skidding across the stone parquet floor of the terrace, leaving gouges in the stonework as it bounced to a stop some distance away.

  Byron’s eyes were on Adrastos. ”Are you a spirit?” He asked, puzzled.

  Adrastos shook his head slowly back and forth.

  “Nooooooo Byron. I am only able to operate in the soul realm. My corporeal body is in the East wing, paralyzed. In my “tethered“ state I can only move away a certain distance from my body while it is… incapacitated. So I must stay at Faquier Hall - but nothing prevents me from wandering around and taking care of what business I can. Business that includes unruly employees.”

  Standing in front and about three feet above Byron, Adrastos gazed down upon him.

  “You, Byron Chance, have been disloyal.” Adrastos stated flatly in a mirthless voice.

  “A man can change his mind,” Byron answered, still breathing heavily from the swordplay.

  Adrastos nodded, ”That is true - a man may change his mind. But a dhampir, especially a dhampir in my employ, as is the case in this instance - cannot. Are you familiar with the penalty for disloyalty according to the terms of our contract?”

  “No”. Byron answered sullenly, still breathing heavily.

  Adrastos sighed and glanced over at the Captain of the Guard, throwing up his hands as if to say ”do you believe this guy?” Then he turned again to Byron.

  “You young people”, he intoned in a schoolmaster voice, ”Are not at all business savvy. Don’t you know that you should NEVER sign a contract without reading the fine print? Especially, and in particular, a contract that you, Byron Chance, signed in your own blood.”

  Byron answered stiffly. ”Sorry my business acumen is not up to your usual standard.”

  Suddenly Adrastos‘ vaporous ghost persona closed the space between himself and Byron until he was inches away, staring into Byron’s eyes with frightening intensity.

  “Byron Chance, you are in violation of your employment contract on a count of disloyalty and disregard of the contract terms.

  “You are hereby condemned to death - BY FIRE.”

  Instantly green and blue unearthly flames erupted at Byron’s feet. As he reached vainly to slap them out his sleeve also caught fire. And he began screaming.

  “I SWEAR YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS ADRASTOS!” he screamed, as with painful intensity the flames moved to engulf his torso nearly up to his hips. Too late, he took a step forward, only to have his nearly charred right leg collapse under him as he toppled over.

  “I’m surprised that I can still do that.” Adrastos commented, peering down at him as though dispassionately examining a species of bug being fried under a magnifying glass. Then with a snap of his fingers he called to his guards.

  “Throw him down to the rocks to finish burning. Burning humans AND dhampirs stink - and if you don’t do it quickly I’ll never get the smell off the terrace!”

  As he watched Byron in flames being thrown from the balustrade, Adrastos commented quietly to himself, ”I have heard that humans actually orgasm at the precise moment of death. You are half - human Byron Chance - I wish you an ECSTATIC death!”

  * * *

  Chapter 30: Reunion

  “I didn’t know if I would see you again!” Charley said, hugging Mitzi so hard that she could barely breathe. Fress was smiling with tears running down her cheeks, witnessing the mother and child reunion between Charley and his mother. Charley Rabbit, though near tears himself, was so overjoyed to have his parent in proximity again he picked her up and twirled her through the night air until she complained of dizziness. When he finally set her down he peered at her intently and asked.

  “Just to make SURE YOU DIDN’T ‘Go Dark’ - what’s my name again?”

  Mitzi laughed and mock slapped him on both cheeks.

  “Charles Maximillian Douglas Rabbit the third - as if I could forget a name like that!” She answered, laughing. Charley joined her for a few moments and then, his eyes focusing on the severe bite marks on Mitzi’s neck he ceased laughing abruptly.

  Fress knew what was coming. She shot Ariel, who had also been enjoying Mitzi’s return, a worried look.

  “NO CHARLEY!” She said loudly and firmly. “You are not returning to Faquier Hall to finish Adrastos off. I realize you must want to kill him, on behalf of Mitzi and what he put her through, but attacking a paralyzed being vio
lates all Global V-net Protocol… even Adrastos realized that, or you wouldn’t be standing here now. He could have ENDED you, Charley. But he didn’t.”

  Charley’s face was still flushed with anger. Mitzi took both his hands in hers

  “You forget I was CONSCIOUS during my seizure, like I always am. He may not have tried to kill me with a sword but he was ending me ANYWAY by that soul swallowing business - and he knew it.“ A strange look came into Charley’s eyes, a look that frightened Fress and Mitzi in its intensity.

  “He doesn’t deserve to live.” Charley made this pronouncement with a matter of fact tone that sounded sinister, businesslike, and remarkably un - Charleylike.

  Mitzi grabbed Charley’s arm.

  “Think Charley. We have everything we could ask for in this one moment. I love you for hating him, but don’t act on it - please. It was unfair and terrible and traumatic for all of us - but Adrastos is incapacitated - and you are alive and whole. One thing I have learned from this ordeal is that at some point you cut your losses and walk away… to walk away with all your energy invested in hatred is to allow the torture to continue - forever. It is a way of punishing YOURSELF for someone ELSE’S behavior. Do you understand, my wonderful son?”