by John Falin
He strikes blow after blow in a flurry of combinations that leave me panting from exertion. He slashes through my Achilles heel with a low cut and turns, slicing a line parallel to my spinal cord the entire length of my back. I arch in pain, fall forward to a modified shoulder roll, and fortuitously land on my feet, grimacing with pain. He feints, then lunges, lacerating my cheek with one move and slicing my neck with his hardened fingernails. I’m bleeding profusely from multiple injuries and fall to my knees. My defenses are unraveled, my arms are too heavy, and I just don’t have the time to generate my other gifts. He approaches slowly, savoring the moment, and raises his sword with unhurried pleasure.
I wince, readying myself for the last blow and to the left I see Quilici and Reuben bloodied and bruised from a hard-fought battle as two juggernauts collide. Reuben grabs his throat preparing to feast on Quilici’s neck when Quilici straightens his elongated fingers and shoves them, claw first, into Reuben directly under his ribcage. Wet and sticky sounds of fingers probing through intestines penetrate the silent air and Quilici’s eyes widen with jubilant discovery. I hear a snap and then a pull, and Reuben’s eyes fade from bright yellow to mocha as Quilici raises his hand, cupping a still-beating heart. He lets out a bellowing roar that sounds more animal than human while crushing the heart in his powerful jaws, letting the delicate tissue string through his sharp teeth. The blood squirts out both sides in a jet stream, spraying his wild hair with dark red and creating modern art on the gravel.
The scent hits all of us with such force that gulps and lip smacking are warning me of a feeding frenzy. The vampires don’t bother pulling their swords out because their hunger can only be satisfied with their teeth. Cassius yells a command. “Control yourselves!” It’s too late, as they begin stalking over to Quilici for their midnight meal.
I regain my composure, return to Seth, wondering why I’m not dead or unconscious, and discover that even one as old as he still falls victim to the alluring pull of blood. His face contorts, untamed with savage hunger, and I realize that I won’t survive this. He’s going to kill me. So I close my eyes and welcome death, knowing Percy will soon follow. I hear a swish as his sword cuts through the air and Cassius screaming a hapless “NO” in the background when the ring of metal striking metal stings my ears. In confusion, I open my eyes to find his sword an inch from my nose, blocked by another. Seth speedily jumps back to a safe distance and Bryn says, “You didn’t think I’d miss this party, did you, mate?” I grin and simply nod a thank you while he reaches out, grabbing my hand, and pulls me up while I stagger on one foot with the other dangling from a sliced tendon that is lethargically healing due to other wounds. There is no time wasted; he turns to face his opponent.
Seth says, “You should have kept out of this, Bryn. I was content to let you live until the burn took you naturally, but now you have forced my hand. And if I’m being honest, I’ll enjoy this.”
Bryn responds, “Let me live? I’m afraid that you may be delusional, my young student.” He slides away from me, intentionally giving me time to recover, and reaches into his long coat… surprise, surprise, another sword. Seth’s countenance shifts from confidence to apprehension as Bryn drags both swords centimeters from the gravel and suddenly raises them in a swirling blur of silver, launching a precision attack. With Seth occupied, I peer over to Quilici and my heart pounds with a shot of adrenaline as vampires are biting and tearing at him in a twist of irony as they play the part of wolves and he the prey. Quilici is shaking, his legs and arms trying to sling them loose. It’s total chaos and his screaming is a death rattle when he falls to one knee, depleted of the will to fight, but that’s when we hear it.
A high-pitched roar punctures the night immediately followed by a female waer that jumps out of the edge of darkness into the battle. It’s Stella! She tears at the vampires feeding on Quilici, pounding their heads with closed fists and clawing through skin with her clawed feet. She is a whirlwind of rage, kicking up dust mixed with fresh blood, making the scene even more confusing.
The sounds are horrific with snaps, crunches, sobs, and screams hovering over spilt blood. It’s total anarchy and no one can control it. I feel my wounds starting to heal, but there are too many for this night to handle. Yet I know my will is stronger and I have to save Percy, so I catch the gaze of Cassius as we swap the darkest strain of hatred. He imperceptibly gives a signal and my heart stresses from the pain. It’s the flu again and my body reacts violently with sweat and chills while a dull ache swells from within.
To his left Hanz walks through the opened door, dragging Percy by the hair with no struggle from her bruised and broken body. Her expression is mute, her face swollen from beatings, but she meets my glare in spite of the pain and I shudder in sympathy. I can feel the drumbeat in my chest quicken, its beat pushing blood torridly through weary muscles, giving them life. I can’t hold the demon much longer; he’s gnawing and scratching to escape.
Cassius says, as she is thrown to his feet, “You will suffer for this, Adriel!” He darts his eyes to Hanz and he responds with urgency, kneeling down on bended knee. While she is lying on her stomach, motionless and barely alive, he grabs a fist full of her hair and raises her head so that we can lock eyes. She sees me, through agony and brokenness, for what I am and we know that our bond is more than the Vinculum. She mouths I love you with dried blood cracking on the side of her mouth. Before I can shed one tear, Cassius says, “Kill her,” and with no hesitation, Hanz takes my Spyderco G-10 knife and slits her throat.
Blood gushes from her, and in that moment, I lose it. I hide a cry in a scream and lash out with all the air that’s left in my lungs. The world leaves me and I’m in the darkness, face-to-face with my demon; he’s a distorted mirrored image snarled by rage, staring blankly with apathy. I want him to take over, I want to leave and crawl into hiding never to return, and I beg him for help. He doesn’t answer or move and I realize that he doesn’t really exist. He’s a phantom, just an image of my darkest and most powerful feelings without actual substance. I am the demon—he is me.
I surrender to my own blood lust and let the part of me that I’ve contained my entire life break free from the prison of my own construction. I release all the pent up anger, hatred, and every strong feeling or emotion that existed within me. I even reach for my Percy and the love I feel for her, allowing the hurt to grow and fester unabated until the pressure is so immense it erupts. I open my eyes and arcs of electricity shoot through them as I look to the sky and feel the moisture call out to me. I pull on it, bending it to my will as it gathers and seams together, forming dark grey clouds that move swiftly with the wind. In seconds, the rain plummets. At first with a mild sprinkle and then hastily, a torrential outpour comes down, forcing me to squint.
I raise my hands and tense up so tightly they shake in response while reaching for the pocket of air that’s the size of the neighborhood. I boil the molecules, then throw it with all my might and the wind answers, howling in furious wrath and tossing the rain in all directions. It whips around with such speed that a gigantic hurricane funnel is created around me, battering the others. They stop their fighting and stagger from the tornadic winds. In the distance, the angry rumbling of thunder breaks through, hurling lightning from one cloud to the next, and I look to Cassius, emanating revenge.
He doesn’t move, calculating my strength for some sick plan that most likely involves using me for his benefit. It makes my temper rise to insane! I pull the current from my heart and release it into my body. It races to every edge and fills me completely. When there is no room left, it pounds the inside of my skin in frustration. Instinctually, I tear away from Cassius and look once more to the clouds gathering the pressured energy, collecting it, and releasing it as lightning crackles and flashes to the ground. The vampires lose their appetites as hunger shifts abruptly to fear. Lightning strikes erratically and hits a lone vamp, vaporizing him immediately with no evidence left due to the swirling wind. Vampires and waers all l
ean into the mighty gale with great effort to stay balanced, their hair blown straight back and eyes semi-closed, watering from the blast. One of the vampires tries to find refuge inside a car, but the car slides sideways on the gravel and rolls over from the gusts, crushing the roof and pinning the vamp in a cage of metal.
The energy flows through me and in me from the deepest wells of sorrow when I look at Percy choking on her last remnant of blood. I point Angeion directly at Hanz to yell a threat when the sword transitions from a soft glow to a blue sun and begs me for use. I don’t know what it wants, but I release it. The blue shines so brightly that everyone in the vicinity is bathed in its light. When the vampires raise their hands to shield their tender eyes, Angeion shoots a thick, solid bolt of lightning straight at Hanz, leaving a hole large enough to dive through in his chest. He looks down, stunned from the assault. As the remaining blood leaves his brain, his eyes go dark and his body incinerates, covering Cassius with his ashes.
A stray arc must have licked Franz; he’s writhing from the shock, impotent for what’s left of the fight. As he convulses, Cassius mentally withdraws, devising a new strategy to accommodate this unstable situation. He fights against the onslaught of wind in an attempt to close the distance between us, but a lightning bolt crashes to the ground ten feet from his position, splintered shards bouncing off the gravel in search of a victim. He stops, blinking away the residual retina burn and sneering in disappointment.
Lightning strikes everywhere and three more vamps are fried from strays, making the scenario even more chaotic. Stella is perched over Quilici in mother-bear-protection mode, salivating like a rabid animal that’ll attack anything that comes near it. She wrenches her neck back and releases a primal roar that mutes the ubiquitous thunder. Over to my left, Bryn and Seth are still locked in deadly swordplay, a haze of silver slicing through sheets of rain. The wind is powerful, but their wills are omnipotent and I know that they will not stop until the other is dead.
Cassius screams over the wind. “Get in the vehicles and grab… Franz!” HA! I guess it’s time to cut the losses.
They obey without hesitation, and two of the four remaining nameless vampires make a mad dash to Franz, taking each side and dragging him to the pickup truck. They lift him up and toss him in the back while Franz suffers from the groggy effects of shock treatment. The other two pull the doors open apprehensively, half expecting them to blow away in the unstable maelstrom. Cassius walks erratically with feet stressed, keeping balance with the same problem. He finds his luxury car and calls Seth with a nonverbal summons.
Seth and Bryn are dripping red with a myriad of lacerations, struggling to find a natural moment to break from the fight, but the moment isn’t presenting itself as Bryn relentlessly attacks. Realizing the urgency, Seth springs back with his entire might, landing on the passenger side of the car opposite Cassius, leaving Bryn to stand between us in sentry fashion.
The pickup truck wobbles through the hurricane and down the road while Cassius captures one final gaze from me. I smell the enmity when he yells, “This is far from over, Adriel! Run if you like, but I will hunt you down.”
I return his loathing with some of my own and reply, “Fuck you!” Thunder quickly follows my parting words, giving it emphasis, and he slams the car door, following his tribe down a dark road and disappearing into the grey night. I collapse to my knees, thoroughly exhausted with nothing left but my thoughts of Percy.
The clouds thin in response, taking the rain with them, and I hear the last crackle of electricity scurry back into my heart. My panting is light and I think I’m going to faint from the physical and emotional expenditure when I hear Percy struggling for her last breath. I fall to my stomach and start an elbow crawl, drawing on what’s left of my depleted reserves. The pain becomes unbearable, but I have to save her. I open my eyes wearily several times with no memory of them closing as I fade in and out of consciousness. Blood is trailing along with pieces of clothing as gravel churns and shreds my shirt, but I disregard all of it and focus on her.
She’s desperate for air. Her eyes vacantly open, staring into the empty sky, and I can sense her resignation, but I refuse it. I will not let her die! My will strengthens and my body joins in the mission as I push away the overwhelming desire to sleep and reach her. Her mind is nearly departed, her body a broken shell, and with her thoughts, she asks me to let her go. I cry and plead, saying, “I can’t… I can’t do this without you! If you die, I die too.”
My arm weighs a ton, but I lift it with what remains of my strength and savagely bite into it, tearing through tendons and veins. The blood spreads over my forearm then begins a fast tempo, splashing on the ground. I don’t know if my blood will kill her or save her when, with one last effort, I swing my wrist and let it rest on her face, my blood seeping into her mouth. I give her one last tear and fall into the blackness.
Chapter 17
A misty river gently laps the rocky shoreline with Spanish moss-covered trees leaning over the banks. The night is young, about an hour after dusk as residual light filters through the leaves. I hear a beautifully strange language spoken softly with no bite of panic or stress to sharpen the tones. It’s a conversation. The words flow and transform into comprehension as I hear, “Did you feel it?”
A female replies, “Yes.”
“The impossible has happened. For the second time in our long history the vinculum is complete.”
Another, a male, says, “They must be executed before their powers mature. It is forbidden.”
The female responds, “Yes, but the queen had no other options and believed he was important enough to perform it. They are young and could learn control.” There is a silence. “They will seek us and must pass the trials in the process. If they live, we will…” She stops mid-step, turning her head to the side, trying to sense something beyond her reach. She pulls back the hooded cloak, lifts her darkened gaze to me, and says, “He is listening. He is more powerful than we thought.” And the dream fades away.
“Adriel, Adriel… Can you hear me?” My eyes blast open, panicked from the dream, searching for answers in the hazy moments after sleep. As my mind is about to enter freak-out mode, I feel a warm hand press on my shoulder and I’m quickly sedated by Bryn’s presence. His smile stretches and I see the crow’s feet crinkle in response. He says, “Must be nice to sleep for a week when the rest of us are working.” He gives me a wink.
I open my lips for a sardonic reply when the words are merely muted breaths scraping through a parched throat. I make a hard swallow, trying to wet the vocal chords, and lick my lips, feeling the cracked skin, when Quilici steps in, saying, “You have not fed for nights; your body is emaciated and weak from neglect. Can you understand me?”
I nod yes and gather what little strength I have to sit up. My muscles tremble at the effort and I lay back into the bed, realizing this is not a fight I can win. Quilici gives me a glass of water and I let it fill my mouth and dribble down my throat a little at a time. The water is cool and loosens the constriction, so I clear my throat, readying to exercise my atrophied voice. I say abrasively, “Where’s Percy?”
Bryn answers, “She is fine, although she has experienced some… permanent changes.”
“What do you mean?” As soon as the question escapes from my lips, I feel her presence. It’s warm and soothing and she’s flooding my emotions with concern for me. The connection is getting clearer and louder when the door crashes open and she swiftly comes to my side. Her speed is fast, not vampire fast, but my kind of fast.
She lets a lone tear spill onto my bare chest and wraps her delicate arms around me with crushing pressure. She says, “I was so worried!” I struggle to return the hug, but my body balks at the attempt, choosing to rest lifelessly in her grasp. Her presence is appreciated and I don’t want her to quit, but she slowly lifts from me and we meet eyes. I drown in them, not with the terror of someone who clings to life, but as someone who wants to sink in the ocean surrounded by the
quiet deep.
I transition from peering into her eyes to looking on them and let out, “Your eye. It’s changed.” She gives me a wicked smile and winks her remaining blue eye, giving her new translucent green one all the attention.
Quilici interrupts, “Apparently your blood has not only saved her life, but I think the vinculum…”
I interject. “Is complete. It’s complete, but will develop.”
“How do you know?” he asks.
“I dreamt it.”
Before another word is uttered Quilici jumps in. “I told you! I knew placing Angeion near him while he slept would give him insights!”
Bryn says, “You were right, old friend. You are a clever waer.” He turns to me and rolls his eyes with a grin.
I describe the dream in detail, leaving nothing on the table and I wrap it up saying, “As soon as I am able, I’m leaving to search for the fae.”
Percy replies, “And I will be joining him.”
“They want to kill us, Percy.”
“They may have some answers we need and perhaps we can learn to use this bond between us. Besides, you are not losing me that easily!” She cocks an eyebrow with a half-smile.
Quilici does his thinking-man pose and then says, “We need to adjust our plans, Bryn. Adriel, Stella is out recruiting waers to join our efforts. Although there are not many willing to rebel against the pack, there will be a few. Bryn was waiting until you awoke and will be leaving immediately to approach some of the disenfranchised vampires as well. I will join you two in the search for the fae.”
Bryn joins the conversation. “I understand that I am needed to recruit the vampires, but I do not feel right about leaving you misfits to your own devices.”
Percy says, “I think it would be wise to meet in person in three months. That should give us the time necessary to track the fae.”
