Tiberius was taking it too far. Rillan could feel the anger edging him closer to attack. He didn’t care about the cost at this point. He knew that he couldn’t be defeated. The Fates will never bless me with an easy or honorable death.
“As I understand it,” Tiberius continued, as he exhausted the possible hiding places on the ground and turned his eyes toward the ceiling. “You were given the choice between joining our cause or seeing the death of your wife and child. You chose to watch them die. How does it feel to hold your ideals so high as to make that kind of sacrifice?”
Tiberius’ words summoned up images in Rillan’s mind of his wife and daughter consumed in the fire that destroyed his home and life. He could still hear the screams, as he was forced to watch them burned alive. Their horrified cries failing to the crackling of the blaze, the executioners held him there long enough to see the flesh charred and fall ashen from their bones. Anguish and misery hazed his senses, and Rillan fell upon Tiberius.
Drawing his falcata, Rillan lunged haphazardly at his target, anger blurring his reason. Tiberius crouched back, as he whirled to face the vampire. He was in no way prepared for what he saw coming at him. Translucent skin pulled taught against his skull, sunken black eyeless sockets stared into him, and lips drawn back in a sneer revealed dozens of dagger like teeth protruding manically from a mouth too large for his face. Tiberius lost all ability to speak or think, as he stared entranced at the monster descending upon him.
Lifting his curved blade, Rillan aimed for Tiberius’ skull. At the last minute Tiberius recovered enough sense to thrust his spatha up into Rillan’s stomach. The falcata slashed through flesh and bone from Tiberius’ shoulder, through his chest and across his stomach. Rillan released his weapon and staggered back. Blood sprayed from the sliced artery in Tiberius’ neck and dribbled from his mouth, down his chin. Looking down, Tiberius saw his intestines spill out of his opened stomach, and he collapsed on the floor.
Rillan held the sword lodged in his own stomach. Thick, dark, brown-red blood oozed out around the blade. Taking hold of the hilt, he pulled the sword out, only barely stifling a painful moan. Rillan stared at the gaping wound in his stomach, knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to heal without fresh blood. The vampire looked to Tiberius momentarily, before turning away in disgust. I’ll lie down and turn to dust first.
Rillan managed to force the demon under control. He knew that it would be easier to blend in and escape as a human. Still, the compulsion was already taking hold of him. Blood lust. His mind raged. Mira. The thought of her forced the vampire down. He had just enough sense left to know that it was nearing dawn, and he couldn’t travel during the day like this.
Warm copper tainted the air Rillan breathed. Heat seeped through the sole of his soft leather boots. Looking down Rillan watched red pooling around his feet. Without another thought, he walked out of the room, as if he was walking down a hallway in his own home. A small child emerged from the latrine as Rillan passed, wordlessly down the hall. The little boy followed him a few feet, before looking down and seeing the bloody footprints Rillan was leaving behind. Rillan could hear the child’s cries echoing through the peristyle, as he swung himself up onto the roof and clumsily dragged himself over the apex and down the other side.
The inn seemed to be days away. Rillan stumbled through the streets. Coming to the front door of the inn, he found it bolted. Arial was the one who answered his pounding.
“Are you insane? You’ll wake the whole inn. An accomplishment, considering most of them are passed out.” Arial stood aside to let him in, and then bolted the door behind him.
Cloak wrapped around himself, Rillan lurched across the main room without stopping for pleasantries.
Arial rushed up beside him and pulled his arm over her shoulders to help him. “By the Fates, what have you done,” she hissed under her breath. Her eyes never leaving his blood stained boots. Fear spurred, Arial virtually dragged Rillan across the main room, out the back door, through the courtyard and into his room. Helping him onto the bed, she stood wringing her hands and staring at him. “You’ll get us all disemboweled. You can’t stay here.”
Rillan sat hunched over on the bed, holding his stomach. Only barely hearing Arial through the ringing in his ears, it took all his willpower to remain in control and not take what he needed from her. “No one knows I’m here save you and your friend. Assuming you both keep it to yourselves, there should be no trouble. I’ll leave come nightfall. Now get out of here.” He lay back on the bed, and his cloak fell open.
Arial’s eyes widened and panic turned her stomach. “You’re hurt!” She went to his bedside and untucked his shirt from his breeches to get a closer look at the gaping wound in his stomach.
Her heart raced, and Rillan could hear each beat as if a drum was pounding in his head. “Stop.” Rillan grabbed her wrists and pushed her away from himself. “Get out!”
“I can’t,” Arial cried in a trembling voice. “If you die here, I don’t know what I’ll do with the body.”
Rillan smiled and coughed out a low demonic laugh. “And here I thought you cared,” he said sarcastically. He could feel his control slipping. Laying back on the flea infested pillow, he closed his eyes, knowing that they were already shifting. “You need to leave now. I’ll not tell you again.”
“Fucking fool,” she spat at him, as she walked to his bedside again. “Take my help. Who cares why I give it.” Arial finished pulling his shirt from his breeches. Looking at the wound she thought she may be losing her mind. It wasn’t actually bleeding. There was a vicious gaping hole in his stomach. His shirt was stained with thick, red-brown ooze that obviously came from the wound. She would never expect any man to be able to walk around with an injury like this, and she had never seen a wound like this before. Suddenly, Arial felt incredibly uneasy. He should be dead, she thought. That doesn’t even really look like blood. Slowly, gently she placed the shirt back over Rillan’s wound. “Maybe you’re right. I should go,” she said nervously. Something in her was screaming, turn and run!
The vampire watched the girl finally start to understand. A wicked smile pulled thin pale lips back from dozens of protruding dagger-like fangs. “I suppose,” Rillan started in a guttural, low voice, “it’s just as well you stayed. You’ll make my walk home much easier.”
Reluctantly Arial raised her eyes to the face of the creature speaking to her. Her chest immediately constricted on her lungs. She had no breath to scream. Terror held her in one spot, as he approached her. Rillan stood, his face inches from hers. “You smell tainted whore. Too many nights in the beds of scum for a pretty silver coin.” Leaning even closer, his nose in her hair, he drew in a deep tormenting breath. “Still you’ll do.”
Whimpering, Arial stood still, while the monster taunted her. Tears formed in her unblinking eyes and overflowed down her cheek. A snake-like tongue slid out of Rillan’s mouth and licked the salty drop from her face.
“You should have left when I gave you the chance,” Rillan whispered, in a regretful tone that only confused Arial. I don’t need to feed this badly, his mind warred with his instinct, but his drive for self preservation was too strong.
A clawed hand grasped Arial’s sarong and ripped it off her body, spilling coins across the floor and revealing her naked pale flesh. He ran claws along her soft white skin, along her side and across her breast. Tears streamed down her face, dripping off her jaw and splashing on her chest and breasts. Take her or let her go, he told himself. Torture is not necessary. He took a deep breath trying to control his inner beast. She knows what I did and what I am. I can’t let her go.
With that resolution firm in his mind, Rillan grabbed her arms, pulled her body against his and bit down on her neck. Fangs tore into flesh, thick warm blood rushed into his mouth with each heartbeat, and he listened with satisfaction as her breathing slowed. To some extent, he didn’t realize how hungry he was. Her body drained in moments.
High on the adrenalin rush from bl
ood saturated in fear, Rillan tossed her body aside. Rest. I need rest. Compulsively turning back to the bed, he crawled across it. The vampire retreated to the recesses of his mind, and Rillan felt the guilt begin. He closed his eyes, letting his exhaustion take him. His body began knitting itself together, while images of terror filled eyes stared accusingly at him from the inside of his eyelids.
Chapter 9
Rillan woke to the distinct odor of rotting flesh. It wasn’t quite strong enough that a human would catch it, but it was more than enough to turn his stomach. Scowling and holding his breath, he sat up on his bed. Did some animal fall down the shaft and die on my floor?
His eyes took longer than usual to adjust to the pitch black around him. Where am I? Lifting his hands from the bug infested mattress he was sitting on, Rillan slowly took in his unfamiliar surroundings. I must be on assignment, he thought calmly. It wasn’t the first time he had been wounded and lost some of his recent memory. It would all come back to him. That small reassurance wasn’t much consolation to his conscience, when he saw the crumpled form in the corner. Horror, like nothing he had ever felt before, crept beneath his skin and crawled through his body, as he stared at the form.
“Mira?” The whisper sounded like a scream in his mind. In a flash, Rillan was next to the dead girl on the floor and lifting her to see her face. “Arial,” Rillan breathed in relief, then dropped the cold desiccated corpse to the filthy floor.
Painfully, memories flooded Rillan’s mind. He knew they would. Closing his eyes, Rillan slumped against the wall and let the torrent overcome him. He remembered assassinating his target, the boy in the woods, and killing Arial. “You should have listened to me girl,” he said to the air.
It was taking more effort than usual for him to turn the guilt off. This is what I am.
Rillan heard the shuffling footsteps coming before the heavy knock on the door echoed off the walls. It could have been the inn keeper looking for money or the girl. Rillan didn’t stick around to find out. Before the door opened, he was out the window and vanishing into the darkness of an overcast moonless night. Whether it was the missing moon or his mood, the shadows seemed deeper than usual.
With the sounds, smells, and lights of Noviodunum far behind him, Rillan slowed his pace. He took his time finding a shelter for the day. The events surrounding this assignment weighed on him more than he was willing to consciously think about. He found himself finding ways to delay his journey home. Visions of a lifeless form lying in his arms plagued Rillan’s thoughts and dreams, staring up at him with Mira’s eyes.
* * * *
Destructive crashing and the sound of splintering wood echoed down the hallway and stopped Mira from opening the library door. Holding the lantern high in the air and staring off down the endless hallway, she called out weakly, “Hello?”
Uncertain fear balled in the pit of her stomach. Logically, Mira knew that no one else dared venture into the catacombs which she now called home. Even so, Rillan’s absence caused her mind to run wild with every odd sound. At least she knew what the monster in the shadows was when Rillan was home. Now, with Rillan away on his assignment, the unknown was somehow more frightening than he ever was. Not to mention the possibility of his return and what that might bring.
I never realized how scary this place could be, she thought. An amused grin split her face, momentarily defeating her fears. I wouldn’t have thought I could come to be this comfortable here. Just then the destructive sounds returned, and her grin faded. Maybe Rillan’s back, she reassured herself, knowing that the noises couldn’t possibly be him.
Mira tiptoed down the hall toward the noise. Just go see that it’s nothing so that you’ll be able to sleep tonight, she told herself. She wasn’t positive where the sound came from. Walking down the hall, she shortly found herself at an unfamiliar t-section. I guess I didn’t realize how much of the cavern there is, beyond the small area that I tend to stay in. I suppose there have to be quite a few things going on in this place that I really don’t know much about. It’s not as if Rillan and I ever talk about anything important.
Letting her mind wander a bit, so that she would stop thinking so hard about what could have made the sound Mira peered down one dark hallway and then the other, trying to decide which way she should go. Suddenly another crash, nearby and off to her right, made her jump out of her skin.
Dropping the lantern, Mira nearly ran back. Light spilled across the floor and down the hallway. “Hello,” she whispered into the black and was answered with another crash. Gathering all her courage, Mira strode in mock determination toward the sound.
When a gentle breeze lifted her hair, Mira stopped dead. The only way a breeze can get in here is through another shaft or maybe the cave entrance. That’s back the other way, I think. Suddenly more curious than frightened, Mira followed the breeze. As she reached the perimeter of the fading lantern light, another crashing sound assaulted her senses, and she fell back a couple steps.
She could barely make out the shape of a door along the cave wall. She stood mesmerized, frozen in place and watching for any sign of movement. Soft yellow light began to peek around the edges of the door. Shifting and faltering as if someone was moving it, the light slowly became brighter. Mira unconsciously stepped back into the protective shadows, awestruck by the prospect that someone was breaking in to a vampire’s lair. Who could possibly be that foolish?
Gradually the door began to creak open, and Mira stared wide eyed at the figure appearing, poking his head out into the hallway. All of Mira’s fear and anxiety melted and was quickly replaced by pleased bewilderment. “Liam?”
The blonde man jumped, as though he had been ambushed by a ghost. He drew a short blade from his belt, jerked the lantern up over his head, throwing light across the hall and brandished the weapon.
“Liam,” Mira insisted accusingly. “What are you doing here?” Without another thought, she rushed across the hall and threw her arms around the man’s neck, hugging him warmly. “How did you get in here?”
Breathing a long sigh of obvious relief Liam hugged her back, burying his head in her hair briefly, before pushing her away. “There really isn’t time. I should have gotten here sooner. It took too much work to arrange things, and then it was a lot harder to find a connecting tunnel than I thought I would be.” Liam seemed to be talking more to himself than Mira and glancing nervously one way, then the other around the tunnels. “Come on, he could be back any time now.” Liam grabbed Mira’s hand and started to pull her into the room he emerged from.
Shock and confusion allowed Liam to guide Mira into the room and up to the debris he had created, before she gripped his hand more tightly and stopped him. “Liam, what’s going on?”
Mira gazed around the room in astonishment. It looked as though it was some kind of store room. The stone wall at the back of the room had a heavy wooden door. Carved symbols of the dead had been splintered and mutilated during Liam’s forced entry. “Liam? What is this?”
He was staring at her face and neck with an apprehensive grimace. “I’ve come to take you out of here.”
“You can’t.” Mira pulled her hand out of his and started to back away from Liam.
“Mira, they know. Tiberius found out about us, about what the elders have been doing, about the vampire. It shouldn’t be coming back. If it does come back, do you really want to still be here?” Liam couldn’t believe how pale she was, even in lantern light, or how thin. It certainly doesn’t take him long to destroy them, he thought in disgust. “I’ll take care of you Mira. Come with me.” He held out his hand to her.
Mira shied away and shook her head. “Liam I can’t. You know I can’t. How did you get in here? Where does that lead?” She pointed to the hole in the wall.
Liam looked back over his shoulder at the hole in the wall, a guilty and pained expression contorting his face. “The tombs,” he almost whispered.
Mira’s eyes opened wide in horror. “You disturb the dead. What will the
elders think of that?”
“They don’t need to know,” he snapped. “No one ever ventures that deeply into the tombs.” Liam stared fearfully into the darkness of a nearby shadow that seemed to be moving.
Then no one should ever discover your body, Rillan thought. He wasn’t entirely sure why he hadn’t attacked the fool already. Somewhere in the back of his mind, tearing him apart, a voice was saying, Just go with him Mira. Rillan held himself to the shadows, waiting to see how the situation would play out, indecision virtually splitting him in two.
“Mira, please,” Liam begged, never taking his eyes from the darkness surrounding them. He half expected the black to come to life and swallow him whole. “If you could see how you look,” he whispered.
A tear formed in Mira’s eye. “I know how I look. I’ve buried enough of my predecessors. You don’t need to remind me of it. Go home Liam. I have my duty here.” Mira turned away from him and started to walk back down the tunnel.
“I’m sorry,” Liam called after her, as he followed. “Mira I can’t go without you. Please understand. This era is over. I—“ Liam swallowed hard. “Please Mira, I love you.”
She stopped in the hall and turned to face him. “Liam, you never said.”
“We always knew what you were destined for. There was never a point before now.”
Mira shook her head. “You can’t love me. It’s impossible. This is how my life was meant to be.”
“No,” Liam insisted, “it isn’t. No one has to die for this. We can resolve our wars with words. We don’t need assassins. At least that’s what the elders are deliberating.”
There was a long moment, as Mira considered everything she had just learned. “We’ll see. I can’t leave here. Not now. I’ll wait for my orders from the elders. Go home Liam. I’m sorry you love me.”
Liam felt as though his entire world was collapsing around his feet. Mira took a couple steps away from him and then turned to run down the hall and return to her rooms. Liam watched her go as long as he could still see her form moving in the darkness. Then she was gone. From somewhere in the moving black Liam could have sworn he heard raspy breathing, or maybe a growl.
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