by SK Benton
Max gazed at Jennie with utter astonishment - he thought that she was out of commission and helpless, but she had used the very last of her energies to help protect him. She had prolonged their lives - and their mortal embrace.
It was a matter of about twenty minutes more before the two were up and on their feet. Draagh quickly conjured a nutritional drink much like what Alea had given him during his phase 2 training (sans the force-feeding tube), which they both consumed. The two actually felt better than normal - they felt supercharged, like they were amped after drinking a super-powerful yerba mate.
Completely rejuvenated and ready to fight some more, they made for the main door while Draagh bid them good luck, the ancient one taking off to yet again assist Krynos and Donus in their castle cleanup. Knowing they were about to go into a battle zone, they entered the courtyard - but with caution, making sure they would not be cornered off, and giving themselves ample room for flight in the case they were again overwhelmed. Seeing numerous vampires on the walls, Max started to use low-energy unspoken cantuses to knock vampires down off, working in conjunction with the remaining normals, who were using palladium-tipped arrows to pick off the scattered vampire troops, turning them into little piles of ash.
Standing in the middle of the courtyard was a group of approximately twenty high-caste, shielded vampire soldiers, surrounding and protecting an aged and mildly decomposing man in their center - Vladros. The vampire king had arrogantly believed that his troops had taken the castle, and he certainly hadn't counted on the two alien lycans arriving at his location.
As soon as the rotting liege saw Max and Jennie he cried out, "Kill them! The ones who took Ladros from us!"
At once, half of Vladros' protective forces charged out at the two youngsters, who had again gone to phase 2, instantly doubling their strength. Jennie and Max split up, forcing the attacking vampires to do the same, which they unwittingly did in equal numbers. The lycans were going to spread the enemy out - not make the same mistake they had made inside the hall. Experience can be a cruel, yet effective teacher, and they had learned, nearly at the cost of their own lives.
As she approached an open area, Jennie performed a series of back flips, landing on her booted feet and crouching low. She feigned a jump, but instead shot forward, sliding on her knees over the rough stones of the courtyard floor, and leaning back used her katana to amputate the legs from four of her five attackers. As they fell to the ground screaming in blood-squirting agony, she popped up and gave them the not-so-sympathetic gift of instant death via decapitation.
Her remaining opponent charged at her, his mouth open in a silent scream as he slashed and hacked away at the young woman, who, although in her battle form, was still amazingly attractive, even though she was sporting a bit of hair on her jaws and chest, and the majority of her upper torso was covered in dried blood.
Her attacker hissed and screeched, "Lycan bitch! I shall rend you limb from limb," and surged forward with his sword pointed at her, which she quickly sidestepped, allowing her to comically slap him on his hindquarters with her sword as he passed by.
"Hey Max! I did the butt thing! I did it! Woohoo!"
The grotesque, rotting soldier then spun around with a confused look on his face, not understanding how the woman could have taken joy in such an ineffective counter-attack.
Again he surged forward, with Jennie performing a forward jumping flip over her attacker, severing one of his arms while flying through the air and upside-down. Landing softly, she turned and smiled.
"There! I've disarmed you!" paraphrasing a silly line from an ancient Earth movie.
The vampire wailed and attacked, his remaining arm waving his sword around wildly, as blood gushed out from where his severed arm used to be. Then, waiting until the very last second, Jennie did a backflip and landed low, swinging her katana out 180 degrees at her face-level, which happened to be about mid-thigh for the attacking ghoul, making him into nothing more than a one-armed living corpse, writhing and bleeding out all over the stones of the courtyard ground.
A few meters away, Max took on his attackers in a completely different fashion, 3D slipping behind them and cutting off one head, then slipping to the other side and cutting off another, while Vladros screamed in rage, his face nearly turning a very light shade of purple.
"He is a mage, you idiots!"
The three remaining vampires looked around, back to back, not seeing him anywhere.
"Above you! He's above you!" roared the vampire king.
Simultaneously looking up, they saw Max standing above their heads, as if on an invisible platform. Looking down, he gave them a cocky grin and waved, as he silently executed the same cantus that Jennie had used days before to give Ryder Johnson a most unwelcome sunburn.
"Undaincantatio ultravita."
###
Liliana continued to ramble about the castle's ventilation tunnels, against Jennie's instructions, wanting to monitor her friend's activities. As she navigated the small corridors, she noticed a grate from which light emanated. Quickly scrambling toward the opening, she was almost near it, and could even small both Jennie and Max. She had to constantly wipe dust out of her eyes, being probably the only lycan to have entered the shafts in decades. The little girl was excited, as if she were in the heat of battle herself, and only wished to help her friend, but right before she reached the path's end she felt a hand grab her by the collar.
"Gotcha, you little shit!"
###
Max's powerful ultraviolet blast caused his three attackers to immediately fall and start screaming while ripping at their faces, with their leader looking on in horror. The alien commander then gingerly dropped to the ground, lopped off each of their heads (along with their hands that were clenching their faces), and smiled at the rotting king. Max sauntered over to Vladros, with massive sprays of blood jettisoning into the air out of his victims' severed carotid arteries, creating a beautiful red fountain of liquid death as his own personal backdrop. He was developing his own style in the art of war, and it was pretty - unless one was on the dying end of his blade.
"Do NOT approach me, murderer!" screamed the obviously alarmed and cowardly vampire king, as his remaining troops backed up with him. "Before the sun rises I shall see your corpse lying in the dirt."
"Oh, shut up, asshole. I mean - why do you have to be such a dick? And what's with this Ooo, we're going to defeat the lycans and rule the universe thing anyway?"
Focusing in on his meter, he saw that his yellow line was half depleted, giving him enough juice for one really epic skill, so he used a powerful gravity push cantus to lift up and violently slam Vladros and the remaining enemy forces to the ground. The vampire protectors got the message, immediately scrambled up to their feet and made for the main gate, running out into the open plains and leaving their liege at the mercy of the young, but powerful lycan mage.
Jennie had defeated her remaining opponent in a gruesome, yet stylish fashion, so she cautiously circled around the courtyard, but didn't approach Max. She knew he wanted to handle Vladros on his own.
The young lycan male rushed forward in a blur, and grasping Vladros' leather jacket, pulled him up to face level.
"Dude, you really are a sick puke. You are mean, you sent your son to kill me, and worst of all - you kidnapped and harmed the most important person in the world to me."
Jennie watched with rapt attention, but upon hearing Max's statement regarding her she felt a bit stunned - and a bit guilty for having been so unkind to him for such a long time.
"You murdered my son," hissed Vladros, his rancid breath nearly causing Max's eyes to water up.
"I didn't murder your son. He attacked us when we were minding our own business, relaxing under the waxing moon. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?"
"You… you mounted his head on a stake! You challenged my kingdom with that perversion," he said, still maintaining a defiant look on his rotting, malformed face.
&n
bsp; "Well, I can explain that. You see, there's this hottie who I was trying to impress, and, well you understand how it is with girls. They just love that kind of stuff."
"You challenged me! You killed my son! I am the Alpha and the Omega!"
"Uh, no - that title belongs to someone else, but I'll give you an Omega… let's take a walk, bro."
Max moved to drag the vampire king away, but was caught off-guard when Vladros desperately thrust a clawed glove up into the young lycan's handsome visage - the glove having a deadly rhodium coating on the palms and metal fingernails.
"Die, lycan scum! Die!" howled the terrified vampire.
Max dropped to his knees and screamed, blood spurting out from behind the gloved hand that perversely covered his face.
###
Back in his private offices, Draagh attended to his own wounds, which he had kept conveniently hidden from his grandson and Jennie. Although incredibly powerful, the Primulus had gone up against one of his own - his brother - and had suffered dearly. He had used up nearly his last remaining bits of strength to heal Max and Jennie, and did so gladly. However, this didn't bode well for the eons-old First One, as he tried a number of incredibly complex cantuses to force his aged body to heal itself.
As the massive diagonal gash across his chest (which would have been deadly to any mortal) slowly healed, he knew he was draining himself of valuable energies. It was a meticulous game of dying while healing, and he knew for Max and Jennie's sake (and for the entire human race) that he must heal.
This body cannot take much more. Soon I shall take a nice, long vacation.
###
In the courtyard, Max thrashed about in Vladros' powerful grip, apparently unable to release himself from the deadly gauntlet made of rhodium, the most toxic element known to both lycans and vampires. A mere three rhodium-tipped arrows would be enough to kill even the most powerful of phase 3 lycans, and Max had four fingers and a thumb, all coated in the deadly metal, penetrating the skin of his face. His arms started to flail around, prompting Jennie to prepare to assist her comrade.
"Max, hold on! I'm coming!" she yelled from across the courtyard, as she went to charge the rotting vampire. She got within four meters and hit an invisible wall - Max had created a force field with the last vestiges of his energy.
Jennie screamed and beat on the shield, tears streaming down her face. "Max! You idiot! Don't do this! Let me help!"
Vladros grew a maniacal smile and looked at the attractive (even by vampire standards) female, reveling in her inability to save her compatriot. Jennie dropped to the ground, sobbing, as Max's body twitched and jerked while under Vladros' grasp.
But something was wrong… or right.
Max suddenly stopped thrashing, and struggled to move his arms. Vladros looked down, a quizzical expression lining his face, as he demanded, "What are you doing, lycan scum? Die!"
With what appeared to be massive effort, Max thrust one arm out forward, followed by the other, both palms down. Then, he turned his palms up, one by one. It appeared it was all he could do to move - as if some unseen force held him back. Vladros increased his grip, his arm shaking, but Max continued.
He then crossed his right arm over to his left shoulder, followed by crossing his left arm over to his right, and appeared to be moving his hips side to side.
"What are you doing, dog? You should be dead by now!" screamed the ghoul.
Vladros desperately held onto Max's face, as blood seeped out and spilled over the young lycan's neck, but the young lycan/mage continued with his odd movements. This time, Max moved his right arm up behind his head, followed by his left arm doing the same.
It was at that moment that he effortlessly burst up and out of Vladros' grip, while singing, "Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena - Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa Buena - Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena - Hey Macarena!"
Jennie stopped everything and dropped her sword, laughing hysterically, while crying at the same time. Nothing Max did surprised her anymore. Vladros didn’t know what to do - he just stood, confused and frozen in place, as Max finished the sequence to one of the most popular dego party dances since Earth times. His hand then shot out and grasped Vladros' glove, breaking the man's wrist and forcing him to the ground as he did so.
"Idiota! Boludo!" Jennie cried out.
"C'mon, Vlad, do the Macarena with me! By the way, that little trick doesn't work, o terrifying lord of the underworld. You see, I may be lycan, but my grandfather is a Primulus - kinda like God's right-hand, and that makes me immune to a lot of stuff. Stuff like platinum family metals. You, however, are shark bait, unless you're immune to dozens of razor-sharp teeth. So… let's test that theory!"
On his knees, and having been abandoned by his personal protection forces, while no longer being enhanced by Marnn's special amulet, Vladros looked around in vain for someone to save him, suddenly spying Ryder. Johnson had, up to that point, evaded any form of conflict, and was perched like a vulture on a balcony overlooking the courtyard.
"My son!" Vladros yelled, desperately thrusting his arm out toward the former lieutenant, supplicating to the alien he had despised just moments earlier, "Come save your king! I shall give you a place at my side!"
Johnson stood where he was, wearing a sinister smirk on his face, and displayed his middle finger to Vladros while he yelled, "Go screw yourself, Easy-Bake!"
The self-styled king of everything could do nothing but desperately claw at the ground, as Max dragged him in leisurely fashion along the courtyard toward the main gate, now whistling the tune to Macarena.
"There you go, you big dork. Now I'll never get that song out of my head! All your fault!"
Abject terror seared through Vladros' brain. He failed to understand how he had not defeated Gunnarsson with his rhodium glove, and then how the man was so easily - and casually - dragging him to his assured end. He had one option left. It pained him to do so, as it would mean his utter defeat and humiliation, but he had no choice. In what was probably the only sincere request he ever made in his life, he stated, "Stop, lycan. I strike a deal. Spare my life and I shall promise to never return! I shall give up all my lands and flee. Take me to Krynos. Please, just please, spare my life. Bring me to my king."
"Really?" asked Max as he continued dragging the rotting ghoul along.
"Yes, I swear! Krynos shall know my word is my bond. His troops can escort me out of his kingdom. All I own shall be his."
Max paused for a moment and looked back at Jennie. She was truly stunning, even covered in blood from the night of fighting. He wondered if mercy was a quality of the Prīmulī, but then he remembered Jennie in her cell, beaten, after she had been kidnapped.
Then, in his mind, he saw Alea being manipulated into kidnapping Jennie, all of the village normals who had lost their lives during the attack, as well as Kangor and Wilhelm.
That pissed him off even more.
"Nah! I'm done with you. Plus, no one wants your shitty castle anyway."
Exiting through the massive portal, Max picked the struggling, screaming and defeated vampire king up over his head, and loudly called out to Krynos' aquatic pets.
"Hey Jaws! Dinnertime!"
Mustering every ounce of strength in his body, Max threw the howling leader up high over the shark-filled moat, where two massive great whites breached and shared the ghoul's body in what appeared to be a quick, mid-air kiss, and then ripped the man in two, resulting in Vladros' purple, disentangled guts gruesomely hanging in mid-air for a brief moment. A thunderous crash sounded through the air as the two beasts disappeared into the murky depths below, the now-dead man's entrails slapping lazily onto the water as they fell to the opaque surface.
Running back into the courtyard, Max saw Jennie looking up at where Johnson was on his balcony, her sword at the ready. The former Azul Military lieutenant had a wicked grin on his face, and shouted so loudly that practically everyone in the castle could hear his voice.
"Hey, dega bitch
! I got a new friend!" he yelled, pulling Liliana up by the hair for them to see.
The little lycan girl had a look of utter panic on her dusty, tear-stained face, as Johnson dangled her over the balcony's edge. He had tracked her scent, and waited until she was in a nearby access tunnel from which he unceremoniously snatched her.
"Come and get her!" he crowed, and then ran into the blackness of a door well, taking Liliana with him.
"He wants us to follow him, Jennie."
"Duh. He's toast," she responded. "And don't ever trick me like that again."
"Huh? Jen, everyone loves the Macarena," Max said with a grin.
"Max, you're such a… errrrrgh!" she groaned in exasperation.
The two lycans sprinted to the entrance of the main hall and bounded up stairs to the mezzanine level, where they tracked Johnson's and Liliana's scents, finding them in a corner, a stairwell to his back, with his oversized, dull sword up to the girl's throat.
"Drop your weapons! Surrender and come with me, Escalante. Do that and I'll let the girl go free."
"You aren't gonna do that, Johnson. It's not your style," Jennie responded.
Max stared the lieutenant down and calmly said, "Johnson, let the girl go and let's work this out. I'm tired of fighting tonight. You've got some issues - a serious need for a dermatological appointment being one, but we have bigger things to deal with. There's an alien fleet heading toward--"
