by David Page
“I do not know the why of it. I know only that without her in my life, I would gladly accept death.”
“Accept it?” Percival scoffed. “No man remains noble in the face of Death.”
“I have faced death before, on the battlefield.” Richard forced himself to breathe slowly. His heart thundered against his ribcage and sweat broke out on his forehead as panic sought to take him.
“I am Death, Richard. You have never faced me. Do you feel my power? Do you sense how insignificant you are next to it?” The pressure on Richard’s arms increased as Percival squeezed with inhuman force. He had to clench his teeth to avoid crying out.
“I could crush your bones to dust with a flick of my wrists. You are weak and undeserving of her love.”
A weight pressed down on Richard’s mind. His eyes fluttered against the force and blackness closed in on him from all sides. “You…. must…” he cried out now as Percival squeezed tighter.
“I must? Your impudence is scandalous, Sir Knight. There is but one thing I MUST do and that is to feed on the blood of the living.” Fangs brushed against the skin on Richard’s neck, but did not pierce him.
Richard closed his eyes. “Kill…me…then, but please help Colette.”
The teeth drew away. “You would sacrifice yourself for her?”
The pressure eased. Richard gulped a lungful of air and found the breath to speak. “Without hesitation.”
The hands released him. Richard spun about but found only empty space where the demon had stood an instant before. He looked around the clearing but saw nothing but the ring of stones. Percival could be behind any one of them or somewhere in the woods beyond. Richard knew how fast these creatures could move.
“Percival?”
A robed figure detached from a stone to his right, its face hidden from sight in the cowl of his hood. It stopped halfway between Richard and the light. “This demon who has so filled you with love and desire is known to me. She is young and powerful, but foolish for taking tainted blood. She deserves death for her mistake. Only the strongest of us can survive.”
“It is true that she erred, but that does not make her undeserving of life.” Richard gripped his cross again and held it before him. It flared to life with a bright light. “You must help her!”
Percival brought his hands up to protect his face. “Your devotion to the God who has so cursed my existence is pathetic. He will abandon you when you most need him!” He bared his fangs at Richard and hissed.
“You will help her!” Richard raised the cross higher.
He felt the pressure on his mind again and heard Percival’s voice in his head. “That pitiful holy symbol can only hold me at bay for a short time and if you move I shall be upon you. I will tear out your throat and your God will not care!” Two red coals ignited in the hood where the creature’s eyes should have been.
The light from Richard’s cross dimmed as despair swept through him. Percival was right. There was no way he could escape; no way he could force such a creature to help Colette. She would die, and he would die for his foolishness. His arm wavered, the cross dipped and the light winked out. He released it, allowing it to crash against the chain links of his mail shirt.
Percival lowered his arms to his sides, but remained where he was. “You have strength, questing knight. Because I was a noble warrior once, long ago, I give you this one chance to save yourself and the demon you love.”
Richard winced at his choice of words. “What must I do?”
“We shall put you to the test and see if God will give you the strength to overcome an ordeal of my choosing.” He paused for a moment and the forest went deadly silent. His cowl shook. “All you need do is walk to the light in the center of the circle. If you do so, I will accompany you back to Colette’s hovel.” He held up one hand. “Be warned, however. There is a price.”
“Name your price.” Richard swallowed.
“Whether you pass my test or not, your life is forfeit.”
A cool wind blew through the clearing, chilling him. He forced himself not to shiver and nodded grimly. “So be it.” There was no turning back, not now, not ever.
“Begin.” Percival lowered his arm.
Richard reached for his sword, but stopped before he touched its hilt. The blade would be useless. In combat, Percival would crush him. And then it occurred to him, this ancient creature had given him a chance to save Colette; he had given him an Ordeal to determine whether or not he was worthy of aid. ‘Walk to the light,’ that was what he had told him to do. He peered into Percival’s dark hood, but saw only the unblinking twin coals staring back at him. He steeled himself for the pain that was sure to come and took a step forward.
Before his foot touched the ground Percival shimmered and vanished. Burning pain exploded in Richard’s abdomen as the demon’s fist struck him. His lowest rib cracked and his breath fled from his lungs as the screaming pain ripped through him. He staggered and dropped to his knees, gasping for air. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Percival standing on the far side of the clearing. He had moved even faster than Colette.
Richard blinked back tears and managed to breathe finally. He forced himself to his feet, desperate to ignore the pain, and glared at Percival. He would not fail. This demon would not break him. He advanced another pace. Again, Percival vanished only to reappear in front of him. Richard caught a glimpse of the fiery eyes directly in front of him. The demon backhanded him across the face. Stars fluttered at the edge of his vision as he spun with the blow. His cheek throbbed as he hit the ground and spikes of pain shot from his injured rib.
He blinked, trying to fight off the dizziness and the waves of nausea that crashed over him, but could not see the demon. He managed to regain his footing, conscious now that he was farther away from the light than he had been at the start of his ordeal. He needed an advantage. Percival was toying with him and clearly had no intention of allowing him to make it. The cross dangling from his neck grew heavy as if it were trying to draw attention to itself.
He spied Percival crouching atop one of the stones across the clearing. The demon’s eyes glowed with hatred as he watched. Richard gripped the cross in front of him and thrust it towards him. The cross flared to life again, its pure light not quite reaching Percival. He hissed and the coals in his eyes glowed brighter, but he did not move.
“I command you to step aside and allow me to enter the light! You must help me save the woman I love!” Richard yelled, but the dark forest absorbed the sound of his voice making him sound small and meek. Still, he stepped forward.
Percival winked out. Richard felt a strong grip on his shoulder and then the chain was yanked backwards from behind, tearing the cross from his grasp. It slammed into his throat as Percival pulled. He tried to spin, but Percival held him in place with the mighty strength of his free hand. The links on the chain broke as the silver drew a shallow gash across the front of his throat, but Richard was ready. He managed to catch the cross in his right hand, pull it from the destroyed chain and press it to Percival’s hand.
There was a sound of searing flesh followed by the acrid smell of charred skin. Percival roared in pain. He pushed him back and knocked him a horse-length away. Richard hit the ground hard, tried to roll, but managed only to prevent himself from landing directly on his injured rib. He came up on one knee, the cross still in his hand, but before he could raise it, Percival appeared in front of him yet again. He reached down, tore the cross from his grasp and tossed it into the woods. The demon threw back his hood and bellowed in pain from the second contact, but the deed was done. Richard’s only defense was lost.
Richard stared. A tangle of dark curls flowed around a boyish face of surprising beauty for a man. Tears of blood dripped from the corners of his now brown eyes as the he cradled his burned hand. An oozing wound in the shape of a cross marred his palm.
“He rejects me, still.” Percival spoke softly, his voice tinged with bitterness and sorrow.
Richar
d suddenly felt pity for the creature who had once been a man. “If you help me, perhaps God will take you back into his gentle embrace. God forgives all who truly repent the evil of their ways. Resist the nature of your curse!” For Colette’s sake, Richard had to believe that redemption was possible for their kind.
Percival’s lip curled into a sneer as his anger returned. His eyes glowed red again. “God does not reject me. I reject him!” The demon shook, his hands opening and closing. “You will die for your naiveté, Richard Saxon!”
“And what of your honor? You must allow me to complete this Ordeal!” Richard pulled himself to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain in his jaw and the fiery jab of his cracked rib.
Percival laughed. “Foolish mortal. There is no honor at stake here. I have made you no promises!” He stepped closer and Richard could smell the fetid stink of his breath.
“There is always honor at stake!” Richard shot back desperately.
Fangs sprouted from Percival’s mouth. “Your blood will heal my palm.”
“A knight’s spoken word is a promise! I demand that you allow me to complete what I have begun!” Richard was aware that the light was very close now. He might be able to leap back and make it.
Percival smiled but it did not touch his eyes. “Go ahead then, Richard. Try to reach the light. You are but a step away.”
Richard’s hope deflated. Percival would never allow him to get there. Without his cross, he was powerless. He dropped his hand to his sword hilt reflexively and then it came to him.
“You never had any intention of allowing me to reach the light, did you?”
Percival tilted his head back and laughed. “I meant what I said. If you can reach the light I will aid you, but no human has ever been able to do so. You are standing closer to salvation than any who have come before and yet, you too will die.”
“Where is the honor in that?” Richard slowly drew his sword, hoping that Percival would not see it as a threat.
“Defeating an opponent of greater strength is always the greatest test and bestows the highest honor on a knight. It is not my fault that you are not good enough.” Percival looked at the sword and shrugged, an oddly slow movement when compared to the speed at which he had moved before.
“Then I must die fighting you.” Richard held the sword in front of him and spread his feet apart in a ready stance.
“As you wish, Richard. I grant you one swing, but if you kill me, who then will help you save your demon lover?” His smile twisted. His eyes glowed brighter and he opened his mouth to reveal his fangs.
“Very well.” Richard raised the sword, turned it over, and slid his hands down the blade. He squeezed it tight enough to draw blood from his palms. Ignoring the self-inflicted wounds, he raised the upside-down pommel, so it formed a large cross, and thrust it towards Percival.
“What?” Percival took a step back.
“I call upon the power of God to bind you!” The blade flared with a light so brilliant it made the patch of sunlight seem pale and weak. It pushed back the darkness revealing every stone, every tree, every leaf in the clearing as if the sun were directly overhead and there were no branches to block its energies from above. Out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw arcane symbols carved into the giant stones. He had to resist his curiosity to remain focused on his enemy.
“Curse you!” Percival raised his arms and shrank away from him.
Gentle warmth spread into Richard from the glowing blade, filling him with joy and love. His pulse slowed and a sense of peace filled him at the certainty of his victory over the demon. Without taking his eyes from Percival, he stepped backwards into the beam of sunlight. “I have passed your test, Percival. Will you who was once a Knight of God turn away from your honor as well as from Him? Or will you keep your word and grant me aid?”
“Damn you!” Percival sank to his knees. He tried to look past his own hands, but recoiled against the light. “I will honor my word to you. You have beaten me, Richard Saxon, but you too must honor our agreement. When this is over, your life will be forfeit.”
“I agree.”
“Then put the sword away. God is with you. Of that I have no doubt, though I find it not without irony that he has decided to grant you his power to save the life of someone like me.”
“Love transcends all boundaries.” Richard lowered the sword and the light faded away until it was gone. Richard felt a momentary emptiness as the peace and tranquility fled. His fears filled the void, but he stood his ground and sheathed the blade. He became aware of the warmth of the sunlight streaming through the hole in the branches above him.
“You are indeed worthy, Sir Knight.” Percival stood and regarded him with a furrowed brow. “Would that I could have found such strength.”
“What do we do to aid Colette?” Richard asked. He stepped from the light and walked towards him.
Percival nodded to himself. “You are brave, Richard Saxon, to take my word despite the fear I sense from you.” He paused. “So be it. Tonight, I will join you at this hovel. I know the way. You must go ahead of me and make sure she is kept safe until I arrive.”
“Do you know how to save her?”
“Perhaps being far older than she, a drink from my veins will cure her.” Percival shrugged again. “I do not know for certain, but I will do everything in my power to save her.”
“I believe you.”
“Go then. I have opened the road to you.”
The path appeared at the edge of the clearing. A small point of light was visible at the far end. Richard paused, walked over to the woods where Percival had hurled the cross, and after several moments of searching, found it. It was blackened slightly, but undamaged. He shoved it into his belt pouch and set off down the path. He did not look back, though he could feel the creature’s burning gaze on his back.
28
Richard blinked and found himself sitting in the van across from Beth. His heart pounded as adrenalin surged through him. The answer lay in his past, a past he had forgotten. It was so simple he wondered why he had not seen it earlier. He realized his hands were still interlocked with Beth’s around the cross and yet it had not burned him.
“I saw it, Richard, I saw your dream, vision, whatever you want to call it! I saw my cross…” Her eyes widened. “…a thousand years ago.”
He withdrew his hand and stared at it. The cross had not even seared him. It was as if the purity of the memory, or Beth herself, had protected him from the sleeping demon within. He no longer believed that God had any power over vampires, or people for that matter, but he had yet to find an explanation for the glowing power certain people had called through the cross against him. Some had theorized that the vampire’s themselves created the phenomenon through some form of projected self-hatred and loathing. Either way, it mattered little.
“What the hell happened to you two? You zoned out for three entire minutes!” Ray demanded. “Are you all right?” Behind him, the wipers swished back and forth in a failed attempt to clear the water from the van’s windshield.
“We are quite all right,” Richard answered.
“An explanation would be nice,” Ray demanded. “I’ve put my badge on the line for you.”
Beth frowned. “Richard has been remembering things that happened when he was human, things he had no memory of until now. They’ve been coming in the form of visions since around the time he and I met. Apparently, my cross is the catalyst. When we both touched it, I experienced what he was seeing as if I were there watching.”
“Do you have any idea how nuts that sounds?” Ray groaned.
“Yes, and it’s all true.”
“Okay, so how does this help us?”
“I’m not sure.” Beth let the cross dangle freely over her chest and then reached out and grabbed Richard’s hand. She turned it over and her eyes widened.
“Not a burn, not even a scratch.”
“No.” He squeezed her hand and then released it.
S
he frowned. “There’s something that I don’t get about your memories. I’ve never seen a cross ignite like that. It’s in a lot of movies and even mentioned in some of the old vampire lore, but I always assumed that it was like vampires flying or turning into mist.”
“You saw a cross light up?” Ray asked.
Richard ignored him. “Yes, it is a rare thing, especially in these times, however I have seen it. I never knew that I myself had been able to call upon such power.”
Beth chewed on her lower lip for a moment. “Maybe there’s something else unusual about you, besides being a vampire.”
Richard shrugged. “Or perhaps it had something to do with the depth of Percival’s fall from grace.”
The van jarred as they hit another pothole. Richard pushed against the roof to keep himself in place. His knife wound sent a jolt of pain through him and he winced.
“Sorry, friends,” Dan called from behind the wheel.
Beth nodded. “Just keep driving.” She turned back to Richard. “That vision, whatever it was, showed you a cure. All we have to do is find a vampire who’s older than you and isn’t infected by the Department’s virus. If you can take their blood….” She let it hang as she tucked the cross back into her tank top.
Richard nodded grimly. “It just so happens that I know where one is.”
“How? Where?” Beth’s eyebrows rose.
“Do you remember the discomfort I experienced in the old storefront near the Lab?”
“Yes.” Her smile slipped into a frown.
“It was not caused by dead vampire dogs as Doctor Nash suggested. There is a vampire there, bricked up over a century ago by his enemies. I sensed his mind during each of my power flashes. He is old and strong, but I believe he is chained up and should be easy to drink from.”
“This cure… it won’t just help you with this poison, right?” Ray asked. “It will cure you completely.”
“I believe that is correct,” Richard agreed.
“You want to go back to a place crawling with agents, find a vampire who’s been walled up like some guy from an Edgar Allen Poe story, take some of his blood before he can kill us and then voila, you’ll be good as new?”
