by Shayn Bloom
“Too late,” says the wizard, grinning back at the werewolf as he points to a shadowy structure in the distance.
Chapter Thirteen
I’m squinting through the trees. I see the outline of the place from here. It’s tall and blocky, but all else is lost in the shrouding rain of the forest around us. The wetness seems to engulf my senses, dulling them. Not what I need right now. In any case, there can be no denying the path forward.
Gabriel seems to agree. “Looks like this was the right direction,” he says, speaking to Merrifeather but loud enough so everyone can hear. “Fine work, Merri. You remember this place. Don’t you? Don’t you?” he coos at his owl, stroking her magnificent white plumage. “We’ve been here before!”
Excitement is building in me like a tidal wave. So far I haven’t allowed myself to acknowledge my nerves. Strategically, I only do so now, when my excitement and adrenaline is such that my nerves are dashed. Eclipsed. Annexed. The structure in the distance is putting a thump in my heart.
“Let’s get closer,” Wolf says. “Not too quickly or too loudly. They’ll know we’re coming now their tracker has run ahead, but we should be careful anyway. We’re going to need a fool proof plan.”
Swiping my hair over my ear, I gaze into turquoise eyes. “This is where you’ve been coming to do reconnaissance work?”
“Yes,” answers the wizard, still petting his owl. “You see the trouble? It’s hard to get a reading on whose inside let alone whether the Newborn is among them. Not surprisingly, I have yet to be certain who the Newborn is,” he says, dislodging his eyes from mine. “You know I have a hunch.”
“You think you know?” Wolf asks curiously. “Who is it?”
Gabriel is staring at the building in the distance. “There’s a vampire named Jack,” he says ominously, “I think it’s him.”
Wolf frowns in confusion. “Why?”
“Because,” Gabriel answers the werewolf, “he is both manic and uncontrolled. Sure signs – as I’m sure you know – of a newborn vampire. Also, there’s something else intriguing me,” he muses, trailing off.
“Well?” I coax him. “What intrigues you?”
“He – Jack, I mean – is Mortimer’s second in command. I can’t begin to reason why – it’s so puzzling. It’s unusual in a coven for a veteran like Mortimer to have a newborn as second in command,” he explains.
My head is spinning around his words, confusion mounting. “I don’t understand,” I tell him. “Who’s Mortimer?”
“Mortimer is the leader of this coven,” the wizard answers. “There is almost always a single leader. Vampires are by nature primitive and tribal creatures. They haven’t the intellectual strength or mental capacity to construct sophisticated governments. Their intelligence – once human and considerable – is leveled by a mad desire for flesh. They become consumed by it.”
Wolf cracks his knuckles. “Don’t underestimate vampires, Nora. I never do,” he says, flashing me his dazzling, crooked smile. “Pretending your enemies are halfwits doesn’t save you from them.”
“This Jack,” I start hastily before they begin arguing again, “do you notice anything else about him, Gabriel?” My tone is enormously hinting. I mean, how can he not notice? They’re practically twins!
He shakes his head. “Nothing beyond him being the Newborn, which in my opinion is damning enough! Why should we need more reasons to attack him?” he asks, clearly misunderstanding me.
The werewolf speaks before I can. “Come on – we’re wasting time here,” he says to Gabriel and me. “We can’t be sure the Newborn is in there. If not, we’ll have to track him down tonight. Let’s go!”
So slowly and quietly, we begin moving through the forest. The building draws closer, its outline becoming clearer. When we’re only a short distance away, we find some undergrowth to hide behind. I’m not sure why, considering we’ve almost certainly been seen by now. Gabriel is leading. Not me.
Thank heaven, too, my alter ego remarks. Or you would all be dead!
I hope you die, bitch, is my response.
The building is a stockade. Made entirely of wood, the walls rise ten feet into the air, their palisades rolling away to the back of its construction. Sentinel towers are positioned on both sides of the double front gate. The whole place looks poorly kept and derelict, as though neglected for a long time.
And that’s not all…
The double wooden gates are wide open, swung outward and revealing what’s inside. Fire pits are here and there on the gravely ground and a longhouse type structure is set against the back palisade wall. That must be where the vampires live. Or lived.
I see no one. Anywhere.
“It’s abandoned,” I breathe, disappointment etching my every pore. “It’s abandoned, Gabriel! We’ll never find the Newborn now!”
Wolf is beside me, his hand squeezing my shoulder. Black eyes gazing at the stockade, his maroon lips are parting in thought. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he says finally, looking at me. “This may be a trap! An ambush. I wouldn’t put it past vampires. We need to be careful whatever we do.”
“I would,” Gabriel says from my other side, his hand finding my free shoulder. “I would put it past them, Wolf. I’ve made this point! Vampires are primitive, non-intelligent beings. They do not have the mental fortitude to construct a scheme of this magnitude. They prefer charging you with teeth!”
Now both their hands are on my shoulders I feel pressured. Why do I have to decide who’s right? This is a lose-lose for me. If I had to decide, I think I’d be with Wolf on this one. Caution is a good default position. Except when having sex. Or dating wizards. Or hunting vampires. Or… never mind.
The werewolf shakes his head. “Your arrogance will be your downfall,” he says to the wizard. “Perhaps it’s narcissism. I can’t tell. Keep in mind, Gabriel, there’s a human with us. She’s far more vulnerable than you and me. Would you risk her life on your own bigoted, condescending hunch?”
Wolf’s black eyes widen in surprise when Gabriel smiles back, unperturbed. “Absolutely,” the wizard answers him, “because the fact is it’s not a hunch. It’s the truth. Vampires are physiologically, chemically, biologically, psychologically, and intellectually inferior to wizards. This is not bigotry, Wolf, but undisputed scientific fact. I invite you to research the topic.”
“Yeah?” Wolf growls. “I invite you to stuff your head up your –”
“Enough!” I exclaim, pushing them both away from me. “Enough of this buffoonery! There is one way to decide what to do. I will decide whether we go in or not. Can we all agree to that?”
Gabriel swipes his blond hair to the side of his forehead, then nods.
“It’s your choice,” Wolf tells me. “But I think it’s a trap!”
“I think,” Gabriel begins menacingly, staring into black eyes, “the lair is empty and we’ll have to continue looking for the Newborn. In which case we don’t have all day! So please, Nora, do us the honor.”
Merri hoots her approval of her master’s words, amber eyes wide. “See?” Gabriel adds. “Even Merri agrees.”
“Of course she agrees with you,” Wolf steams, his tone lilting and obvious. “She’s your owl, Gabriel! Merrifeather should peep in there for us. That way we don’t have to worry about being ambushed.”
“Brilliant!” I exclaim.
But the wizard isn’t having it. “That’s not how we roll,” he says, looking into huge amber eyes. “We face dangers together, Merri and me. Always have. She’s not a lesser-than. Not a mannequin to throw curses at.”
“Go figure,” Wolf exhales. “The owl is his equal.”
Gabriel responds, “She isn’t just an owl, Wolf. Merrifeather is a trained Releaser’s owl. She’s a vampire hunter herself. Merri – like me – has endured serious and intensive training. Most owls can’t do it. But Merri can and did. She’s frightful when she wants to be – she finds the bright of their eyes and the odor they shed. Two biggest giveaways of a vampire –
their scent and their eyes. Merri always finds them. Better than the best, most expensive Vampass ever,” he adds lovingly, stroking her feathers.
They’re so right together! I can’t help the thought.
An idea! “Gabriel, can’t you translocate in there to look around? If there are vampires, you can translocate right out!”
Wolf scowls. “He could what?”
“That’s a fantastic idea,” remarks the wizard. “I’m happy to, Nora – I’m happy to journey alone into their compound. Seeing as how our werewolf here is frightened, it appears to be the only option!”
“I’m not frightened!” Wolf exclaims. “I’ll go by myself! Unlike him,” he adds to me furiously, “I don’t need magic to keep me company!”
Beseechingly, I gaze into black eyes. “Wolf, please let Gabriel go in alone. He can translocate, Wolf!”
“Impossible,” says the werewolf. “I’m going.”
“Then I’m going, too!” I inform them. “We’re all in?”
The wizard and the werewolf nod in unison.
It’s time.
Disentangling ourselves from the undergrowth, we walk out into plain sight of the stockade’s sentinel towers. Nothing appears in them. No cry of warning or shout to shut the gates. We are left approaching unscathed and possibly unnoticed. Hopefully unnoticed. We can’t know. Not yet.
Not till it’s too late.
Together, we walk through the open gates and into the compound.
* * *
Nobody greets our eyes. The gravely dirt ground here is sodden and soaked, a victim of the rain. Various kinds of debris fill the courtyard of the stockade. Especially in corners. Everything from wood piles to sawn branches to rock piles surround our steps. The wooden gates remain open behind us. A good sign. The single door into the longhouse ahead remains closed.
Gabriel’s wand is aloft, his turquoise eyes narrowed.
Wolf’s fists are balled, his expression tight.
Merri’s enormous amber eyes are swiveling around with frightening speed.
I survey the sky. The rain is dying away, the somber drizzle subsiding. Finally! The rain hasn’t bothered us – of course – but I’m tired of the ground being squishy. Searching the compound, I attempt to miss nothing.
Nothing happens. No one comes. Not a sound issues from anywhere in the stockade. It’s like a ghost town. A wreck left for thieves and plunderers. Abandoned. Why did they leave so fast? If somebody tracked us, how come they ran ahead? To tell the compound dwellers to flee? Perhaps…
I can’t tell what’s happening, but I’m beginning to not like it.
Merri hoots gently.
This appears to be Gabriel’s signal. Pocketing his wand, he says, “Well, I suppose I was right after all. The place is deserted.”
And then…
They’re everywhere.
Vampires!
Flinging themselves from behind wood piles and debris they charge for our throats. The longhouse door flies open and vampires pour out of it. Heading for us. Running with inhuman speed to bite! To kill!
Wolf leaps into the air as a vampire throws himself at me. Gabriel draws his wand, but Wolf is already the snarling dog, black eyes narrowed. The vampire careens into the werewolf and they fight.
“Decimate!” Gabriel roars, pointing his wand at another vampire. Red light and a sounding explosion as the vampire is thrown into the air, clear over the stockade wall. “Annihilate!” The white light misses another. “Nullify! Decimate!”
I’m huddled to the ground. Defenseless. I don’t know what to do! But I have to do something! Sprinting to a rock pile, I throw myself to the ground as a vampire leaps for my throat. She sails clean over my head and smashes to the ground. Grabbing a rock from the pile, I aim at her head.
“You’re feisty, aren’t you?” Amoretta breathes, bright red eyes burning in their sockets. “Kill me! Nothing can bring me more pleasure!”
I throw the rock at her head, missing. Cackling wildly, her painted face glistening in the flotsam of the rain, Amoretta jumps for my throat, teeth bared. “Nullify!” She smashes into my neck as the purple light strikes, her teeth dragging against my skin. Pushing her away, I see stupefied eyes. She splashes to the mud.
“Get them under control!” A voice is screaming from one of the sentinel towers. “They’re outnumbered four to one! Jack!”
Ivory robes swirling around him majestically, Gabriel is sending curse after curse after curse. Red! Purple! White! “Decimate! Nullify! Annihilate!” Struck by the kill curse, a vampire falls to the ground at Gabriel’s feet.
“Stop him!” screams the voice from the tower. “Stop the wizard!”
I can’t keep the smile off my face. Gabriel is so effortlessly taking them down. I see why he takes so much pride in being a Releaser. To witness him in his element is confirmatory, making me realize he’s everything he says he is – an undeniably fantastic, truly above and beyond average wizard.
But then I see something that makes my heart burst.
There’s a reason Gabriel’s having an easy time of it. The vampires are attacking Wolf. His teeth wrapped around the throat of one vampire and his claws sunk in the chest of another, Wolf is thrashing madly. At first I think he’s thrashing to kill his victims, but then I realize he’s thrashing in agony.
Four more vampires have grabbed him around the middle and sunk their teeth into fur. Oh my god! No! No! No! Wolf said he could survive a vampire bite. But four? A volcano of fury erupts inside me. Grabbing a rock in each hand from the pile, I charge at the vampires without a second thought.
“Decimate!” Gabriel yells, pointing his wand at one of the vampires attacking Wolf. “Nora, no! Run! I’ll get them! Run for the gates!”
I barely hear him. All I hear is the yowling whine of the werewolf being tortured. The venom must be fusing with his blood. “Take that!” I scream, lobbing a rock at one of the vampires’ heads. It hits spot on, knocking him off the werewolf with a satisfyingly loud bonk. “And that!” I throw my other rock. It misses.
Its intended target – a middle aged male vampire – releases his teeth from Wolf’s fur. The werewolf is prone on the ground. Unmoving. The vampire is coming for me, picking up speed. I’ve run out of rocks! Searching, I see Gabriel defending himself from a vampire attacking from behind.
He won’t find out in time!
Fucking fuck! I’m dead.
The vampire coming for me breaks into a run. “You’re mine, juicy!”
Nearly upon me. I close my eyes. Goodbye sweet life!
A roaring screech. My eyes fly open. I can’t see the vampire! I can’t see him because white wings have spread in front of my face, blocking his from view. Merri hovers there. Then I hear two horrible, horrible popping sounds.
Holy bejesus fuck…
Screaming in agony the vampire falls to the ground, his legs kicking wildly. His hands covering his eyes. Then – flapping over his body – Merri drops his shredded eyeballs on him. My scream is unheard as I see the vampire remove his hands from his face. Empty sockets stare back at me.
“Kill the owl!”
A vampire leaps for Merri, but she flies higher into the air – out of reach. Settling on the palisade wall, she gazes down on the proceedings, her huge amber eyes bright. Ten feet above the rest of us.
“Nora!” Gabriel roars. “Duck!”
I manage in the nick of time. A vampire flies over my head, his teeth bared and his evil eyes wild. Sprinting back to the rock pile, I pick up two more as a familiar sight falls upon me. A vampire nearly identical to Gabriel except bright eyed, filthy, and dressed in shabby Immag clothes. Jack.
He’s coming for me across the compound at a fast, determined stride. I see Gabriel barely restraining the onslaught of vampires with his curses. “Nullify! Decimate!” But the vampires that were preoccupied with Wolf before are now attacking the wizard. The werewolf is lifeless on the ground.
Gabriel could be, too.
Not my wizard! Not my werew
olf! I have to do something!
Jack is almost here, his bloody smile unrestrained. “No!” I scream at him, throwing a rock at his head. It misses completely. “Get back!” I throw the other and he dodges it easily. “I’m warning you!” I exclaim, gesturing crazily at him as I’m backed up to the palisade wall. “Get back! Leave me alone!”
Jack laughs in my face.
Screeching madly, Merri launches from the palisade wall above me. Heading for Jack’s sockets. But as she’s coming in for the landing, he throws himself to the ground and jumps up beyond her. Merrifeather is forced to right a near crash landing. Flapping ungainly, she flies off to help Gabriel.
“Abandoned!” Jack taunts, his dirty face wreathed in glee. “Alone! How could they? It’s almost like they don’t care!”
I’m panicking. I can’t deny it. My body is shaking. Gabriel and Merri are attempting to take on eight vampires single handedly. I can’t count on their help now. The rock pile is out of reach and I have no other weapons. Wolf remains passed out on the ground while the wooden gates to the compound remain open. Damn it! I should have run when Gabriel told me to. Too late. No turning back.
Jack advances on me. My back hits the palisade wall. He’s a foot from me. A dirty hand reaches out for my face. Touches it. I’m shuddering against him as he drags his thumb down my cheek, eyes glinting. “Look at you,” he breathes, “alone! The things I can do to you,” he moans in my ear.
Reaching in the pocket of his dirty coat, he brings forth a short hunting knife. The kind used for skinning deer. “I’ll keep it simple,” he says, touching the knife to my throat. I gulp against the blade. It hurts to do so. Bringing the knife back into view, Jack reveals a trickle of blood running down it. “Taste it, Nora,” he sighs, forcing the blade against my mouth. “Taste your blood!”
I hesitate. “Do it!” Jack roars. Shaking in terror, I let my tongue slip through my teeth. And taste the blood on his blade. Taste my own blood. “Well,” he asks me, grinning wickedly. “Do you like it?”
