Soul Taker's Redemption

by A. S. Hamilton

  If I thought the hugali were scary, then the massive head that next poked through the treetops was down-right terrifying. The only thing I could liken it to was an avian-like dragon with tusks. I let my reloaded gun fall to my side— it would be about as effective poking the beast with a teaspoon. Thomas ran up to within a few meters of it, a blur to my eyes, and threw something in its face. Whatever it was exploded, driving it back.

  'Grenade,' Javiera explained at my bewildered expression.

  'Mum could use that thing to cut back the branches near the house,' I quipped, trying to ease my tension.

  'Oh, I think Therion is far handier with those swords of his,' Bastien yelled back over his shoulder.

  Good point. And he had wings, too.

  Several equine-like dragons now emerged and surrounded Thomas who had not returned to the veranda. They bore the same proportions as a horse but had horns where the mane would be and a long, reptilian tail. They carried riders wearing black armour with a dragon outlined in a glowing blue on the chest and shoulders. Spikes protruded from the top of the shoulders and the helm was shaped like a dragon's head. But for all I knew, that armour might well be empty, I couldn't even see their eyes, just a black space behind the eye slits.

  Thomas drew a sword and brought two of the dragon-horses down, but his movements were so fast, I just saw a blur, only when he slowed for a moment could I see him clearly. Other vampires moved in to support him. I lost track of injuries. When a vampire fell, at least one would break off to help them to the veranda if they couldn't get there themselves. One of the two vampires guarding me would then get them blood.

  A flicker of movement caught my attention and I saw a hugali using the veranda as cover so it could come up behind the main group of vampires in front of us. I fired, missing as it moved its head, but my second shot got it in the shoulder. My blood ran cold as the violet-silver eyes flashed and it changed direction— coming towards me.

  It had been stalking, but when I got its attention, it moved into a swift charge. I opened my mouth to warn my guards, fumbling to bring my gun back up and tuck it properly into my shoulder. I didn't think I was going to complete either action in time. I don't know where he went or where he came from, but Bastien suddenly appeared out of the darkness, dropping in from above. He must have seen me in trouble and then taken a run off before preforming one of those high leaps the vampires had shown themselves to be so very good at. As he landed on the hugali, he plunged his sword hilt-deep into its body, saying something in a language I couldn't identify as he shoved himself away from it in an elegant backflip, withdrawing his sword as he did. He changed his grip on the sword and it started to descend in what seemed like a move meant to decapitate, but I looked away, squeezing my eyes closed as I did.

  Suddenly all the vampires pulled in again, but this time they came up onto the veranda, surrounding me. Thomas grabbed my upper arm in a firm grip. Before I could figure out why, Bastien drew his second blade as he strode forward. I could see now that he had Japanese-style swords and one was shorter than the other. I saw that he had holstered his gun at some point in the holster that hung down the middle of his back between the two swords.

  It didn't make sense, but the creatures seemed to be retreating. Then, I saw a figure appear amongst the trees. As it came closer, I could see it was a dragon-like woman. She glided gracefully forth, the misting rain seeming to halo her, but she wasn't bothered by the weather. She had blazing gold eyes with no pupils and a deep sense of dread filled me as those eyes met mine for a brief moment before settling on Bastien. I could almost hear her think: I will come for you, but I will just deal with this nuisance first.

  Bastien

  Quite often I find I can't remember the names of the soul takers I've fought. When you've faced as many foes as I have, many don't make enough of an impression to stand out.

  Uea, I remembered.

  Uea is actually beautiful. It is a terrible beauty, the kind that fascinates, but gives one a thrill of fear. She looks like a gold dragon that walks upright, except there are aspects of her that appear human. Her arms and hands, for instance, though partly scaled, are human in form and elegance with the exception of the long, curving claws on the end of her long, graceful fingers. Despite the pearlescent, armoured ridge that comes down over her forehead, ending at the bridge of her nose, that nose, her cheeks, her lips, all very human-like, presenting soft, flawless skin— and then she will open her mouth to reveal sharp teeth and fangs. Her wide-set eyes are the same gold as her scales and without pupils. She often tracks movement by moving her head, and I have a feeling her peripheral vision isn't very good. It probably isn't helped by the fact that the armour that comes down over her forehead fans out to create a bony crest that wraps over her horns. The horns remind me of a ram, starting thick behind her ears and curling down to end in points on either side of her head below her chin.

  Tonight, she wore an armoured chest piece and a kilt, made to accommodate her tail and the spikes protecting her spine. Thankfully she didn't have wings, but between the tail and the taloned feet, she was challenging enough. She could move fast, but that wasn't my greatest worry— those legs are designed to make long and high jumps. I'd seen her disembowel her opponents in a single, flowing move. Even now, the talons of her feet dug slightly into the ground, indicating her weight was forward, her muscles ready to launch her into the air.

  'Vampire,' she sneered, her sharp teeth showing behind the delicateness of her pale, pink lips. 'I cannot see why you bother.'

  I gave her a smug look. 'Last I checked, I was up five una-sterath, four therilgalen, several lesser soul takers that I can recall, and…' I pretended to think about it, 'how many now? Eighteen, no, nineteen yulari I've snatched out of your filthy talons.'

  Uea snarled, changing her stance. I recognised it as the one she adopted when she tried to take a soul. Usually, una-sterath have to kill before they can gather a spirit, but in confrontations like this, they also use the move to weaken their prey. Already, I'd made her lose her temper. When they take a soul, they generally make a killing strike, imbedding their talons into the prey's chest. When they did it to weaken, they adopted a slightly crouched position, their front talons ready to strike as soon as the prey was weak enough.

  'Oh, I see, it's the direct approach today.' I shook my head, feigning disappointment. 'You don't want to play first?' I asked lightly. 'Pity…' I growled, 'because I do.'

  I'd learned long ago that my advantage over Uea's kind was a combination of speed and change of direction. Uea can move fast enough, but I can move just a fraction faster, enough to almost maintain a perpetual position behind her. She hates that.

  And so I moved fast, dodging her tail as she pre-empted me and spun in the opposite direction catching one of my blades with her talons and turning it aside. My other blade caught her along the side of her thigh and she hissed as she followed through with a deadly kick, but I had moved by then. I closed in again. She turned aside both strikes with deft, graceful moves, catching the blades in her claws. I dodged a kick and a tail strike, but her claws glanced along my shoulder as I turned and crouched to sweep my blades across her leg. I ducked behind and around her. This time, I got her forearm. She snarled as the blade sliced through scales and then kicked at me. Again, I dodged.

  I wasted a brief moment checking on Jay. Thomas was holding her arm, ready to get her away if it came to it. The rest of his clan arrayed themselves about her. Further along the veranda, two were checking on the injured. If things went according to my previous experience, no other creatures would attack while Uea fought me. It was their way to let the soul takers do the hunting once they transitioned from directing an attack to participating. A wise move, I'd seen soul takers take the souls of their own side in the midst of battle.

  Uea was getting frustrated with my constant repositioning. I could tell from the way her eyes flashed when I succeeded in striking her, no matter how minor the injury. The strikes I was getting in wouldn't
kill her, nor weaken her. My specialised blades had been custom made; you couldn't slice through armoured scales like hers with a normal blade. The problem was that she could heal too fast for them to do much more than infuriate her, but the more frustrated she got, the more she let her anger rule her.

  My armour was protecting me for the most part, but I took minor injuries to cheek, forearm, shoulders and side. Just as I changed positions again, she leapt. The move took her far enough that she landed in a tree a few metres away. She was high enough to be out of my reach, both taloned feet digging into the trunk while she held on to a branch with one hand. Her tail whipped angrily. She stayed in her refuge only a moment, leaping again, twisting in the air so that she was coming down towards my shoulder. I tracked her, standing very still as the blazing, gold eyes promised me death while the outstretched talons that would deliver it plunged towards me.

  I didn't trust that she would make such an open, obvious move.

  She didn't.

  I anticipated that she would change her position and direction so her talons would rake through my throat instead of my shoulder. I let my instincts determine my movements and stepped back, turning to keep her in front of me at the last instant. Uea was not phased. Using her versatile tail, she twisted mid-air, burying her talons in my upper back as she landed behind me. Blood oath, but it hurt! I arched back until I freed the claws from my flesh and twisted, bringing both swords around. Both blades caught her across her exposed mid-riff. This time she shrieked in rage as only a creature with dragon heritage can— it resounded in my ears, making me wince.

  Her hands came out as if she meant to push me away, but it was quite the opposite and I felt the dreadful pull as she 'called' my soul. Thomas often feared that when he became a vampire he had lost his soul. If Uea's actions weren't proof enough that we weren't soulless, I'd never convince him. But I really didn't want to give him a demonstration. Uea's gold eyes were threaded with red, she was furious, which was why she could attempt a proper soul taking— now, before she had brought me anywhere near death.

  As I said earlier, it wasn't strictly true that soul takers can only take spirits from dead vessels. They can rip it out of you while you still lived, given the right circumstances. It just wasn't as efficient and often failed against strong opponents. That was why they usually sent in their pets, they would kill the vessel, and eat it if they were inclined, while the soul takers followed, collecting the spirits.

  Vampires are a little different, soul takers have to work a lot harder for our souls. Our spirits can keep our regenerative powers going after breathing and heartbeat have halted long enough for us to heal sufficiently to restart them. That is why if you want to kill a vampire, you destroy the vessel entirely. Although there is one kind of vampire where even that is no guarantee.

  The shock of her attacking my spirit so savagely brought me to my knees and I dropped my swords, but I was far from beaten. I had experienced this before and had recovered before. That was why I was the one facing the soul taker while Thomas and his clan held a defensive position.

  I cursed as I threw out a hand to stop myself from hitting the ground.

  I could feel Thomas's tension, but he held his place, and would continue to do so until I gave him the signal that I needed help. We were talking about a soul taker here; any who fought her and lost didn't just die, they were completely extinguished. No rebirth. No ascension. Gone. We didn't risk that unless things were really dire. That's why it took time getting all these vampires here, each was fully informed of what they risked. Not all who were asked agreed to come, and not one of us blamed them.

  It felt like she was literally trying to rip my heart from my chest with her mind. The first time I experienced it, I had screamed. This time I pushed my fangs fully forward, gathered my muscles in, and launched myself at her knees. She whacked me aside with her tail, breaking several ribs. The impact when I hit the ground drove the wind out of my lungs. Already, she was coming for me. In one leap, she was able to slam one foot onto my chest, flexing her talons and driving them in through my armoured clothing. The expression on her face revealed a deep satisfaction.

  Rather than respond with fear, I grinned, showing my fangs. Grabbing her ankle, I hurled her into a tree behind me.

  She wasn't down for long, I barely had time to get to my feet and meet her attack, ducking under her talons and behind her. Using her tail, I leapt up to her back, drawing one of my throwing knives and driving it into her upper back between the armoured scales. I found myself flying through the air, which really wasn't all that surprising.

  I tried to turn mid-air in order to land on my feet, and would have, if the tree hadn't been there. I managed to take the impact on my feet and used it to relaunch myself at her, drawing two more throwing knives. She deflected one and the other bounced off her armoured scales. She dodged, whipping her tail towards me as I hurtled by. I shifted so that I landed in a rolling movement, Uea's tail sailing overhead as my shoulder hit the ground. Fluidly rolling to my feet, my body changed direction, but I still slid, my momentum carrying me back across the wet grass. It was fortunate because Uea followed through with another kick and she only missed me because I was still sliding backwards.

  Uea spun with the kick and came back around to face me. I caught her gaze; more than just threads of blood-red coloured those gold eyes now, she was not only furious, but hungry because of the injuries I'd inflicted and only a soul would satiate her. The knife still sticking out of her back probably contributed to that. As she came about, her hands were already out and I felt a fresh, strong pull as Uea tried again to take my spirit. I kicked her hands aside and risked close hand-to-hand combat, which was never wise with a being that has claws longer than her fingers. I took one slicing swipe across my chest that split my already-damaged armour, but the garment still prevented deep cuts. Grabbing one wrist, I drew another throwing knife, pulled her towards me, and drove the knife viciously up under her ribs.

  She grunted, her wrath consuming her scream, but I didn't get the shot in for free. While I made my move, she used the longest talon on her foot to slice open my thigh. The armoured fabric was practically useless and I found myself hissing involuntarily.

  Her free hand shot out and went for my throat, but I bent so my shoulder blocked her. Then she went for my striking hand in an attempt to get me to release the knife I still held embedded in her abdomen. Her claws dug in deep.

  The fight had picked up tension, we both didn't want the other to gain any more successful hits. Still hanging on to Uea's other wrist, I twisted the short blade and pushed it in deeper. I could feel her heart pulse with the blood streaming over my hand and arm. We were almost nose to nose. At first, she had merely looked irritated when I drove the knife in, it really was too short to do her much damage, but she wasn't counting on me driving it in deeper, nor had she thought that her strike to my leg would have so little effect. In truth, my leg hurt like the wrath of gods and I was losing about as much blood as she was.

  We both knew as our eyes met and held that we were so close to killing each other, to dying, that it had to be finished and it had to be finished now.

  Jay

  I've never seen such brutal violence before. There was no doubt the fight would only end when one of the opponents delivered a killing blow. At times I was thankful they moved so fast, it diminished some of the realness of it. The creature attacking Bastien was more frightening than the therilgalen in that she was so obviously built for killing. There was no disguising it, not with the raptor-like claws, the pointed horns, or the sharp teeth. Her scales were an incredible combination of gold and pearl and she moved with such grace I was surprised to recognise beauty there.

  A number of times I was certain Bastien was going to lose, she moved so quickly. Yet when he stopped moving long enough, I realised his injuries weren't as bad as I thought. Twice she tried to do what Therion had done— that is, take his soul. Her technique was different and I could see it was harder for he
r to pull the dots of light together. When Therion did it, the little lights immediately grouped together and flowed into him, but they weren't as co-operative for this creature. Bastien's spirit was also different, the dots of light seeming to come from deeper within him and instead of being a warm white-gold, they were a white-blue colour.

  Now they stood no more than a few metres from me, so close together they could be dancing, except for the blood running down Bastien's leg from a deep, long laceration. There was also blood running down his arm, but I'd seen him draw a knife, so I was fairly sure that it wasn't his. They stood frozen for an endless moment, locked in each other's grip and then suddenly, and very viciously, the dragon being drew her head back on her elegantly long neck and rammed it into Bastien's head. Bastien crumpled with the blow. One of the horns cut the side of his neck. The dragon being rolled him over with her foot. As she did, Bastien's hand shot out and grabbed her ankle. He yanked her off balance, using the move to pull himself up. She recovered, spun, and whacked him with her tail. Or tried to, Bastien dropped and rolled under it, swiftly shifting to his feet and moving behind her. In a repeat of the move he'd made earlier, he got up onto her back to put another knife in. The blow never fell though. With a shriek, she twisted, and grabbing him, threw him off her. The velocity of the throw was such that, when he hit the tree, the trunk shattered. Bastien rolled to a stop face down on the ground.