Loyalty

by Charles E Yallowitz

  *****

  “I don’t like spicy food.”

  “You’ve already been cooked on the outside, so this shouldn’t make a difference.”

  “Go get me something else.”

  “The selection is rather limited at this restaurant.”

  “Fine, but you owe me a chaos elf caster later.”

  Clyde pats Mab on the head as she curls up with the dead priest and begins drinking from the man’s neck. She whimpers and hisses as the holy blood sends twinges of pain through her body, which remains badly burned. It takes a few minutes for the healing to begin, her charred skin flaking off to reveal raw pink below. The sensitive layer causes Mab to shiver beneath her night cloak and the slightest contact with anything even remotely coarse threatens to break her concentration. She is faintly aware of Clyde leaving her side, but her eyes are still fused shut from the magical assault. Attempting to open them, the burglar can hear the lids crinkle like dry leaves that eventually fall off. The sudden burst of light causes Mab to scream and curl into a ball around her meal. Her feet kick out to snap the leg of an old piano, which falls on top of her with a loud crash. Not wanting to make another noise, she digs her fangs deep into the priest and mumbles apologies as the heavy weight is removed.

  “Don’t worry about it. Figured it was time I got some groceries anyway,” Clyde whispers with a wicked smile. Checking his injured partner, he tries to wrap her in the soft cloak and pulls down her hood to block the light. “We’re on the top floor of a tower and I boarded up all the upper doors. They’ll probably come from below while squads wait on the battlements for us to escape to the left or right. Keep eating and heal as much as you can. Start with the eyes because you’re going to be useless if you can’t see. I’ll hold them off until you give me the signal to come back.”

  “This isn’t enough,” Mab hisses as the burns return. She manages to regrow her eyelids and pushes the corpse away instead of finishing the meal. “The Duragians have enchanted their blood, so the healing is temporary. Get me a hunter or two and we’ll see how that works. I don’t even need the whole body if you want me to eat on the run. Pick me up and I can help you choose the easy ones then we can drag them into the forest. Don’t think I’m out of the fight yet, Clyde. Been doing these miraculous escapes for longer than you now. It’s what you get for taking a vacation, you lazy bastard.”

  “I can see your leg bones, so you stay under this,” he says while creating an illusion around his friend. Heading for the door, he puts on his night cloak and listens to the sounds of people downstairs. “I’m not going to use my weapon considering it keeps making me go berserk or whatever those episodes are. If I don’t come back then make yourself invisible and wait for night. Even injured, you should be able to escape in total darkness. Oh, and I think there are a few mice around here. Try to catch them for a little clean blood. Now, I’m off to face what I hope isn’t as big an army as I think it is.”

  Slipping out the door, Clyde hides the entrance with the illusion of a tapestry that matches the style of one on the opposite wall. Hearing shuffling feet nearby, he peeks out an archer slit to see that there are at least thirty warriors on the nearby wall. All of them are carrying spears with glowing tips and shields that are shaped like bladed suns. Two paladins stand at the back of the group with their massive weapons strapped to their backs instead of drawn. Sounds of movement from the other side tells him that there is a second force waiting for action, so he stays low while walking towards the bottom floor. Leaving a few fake doors on both sides of the stairwell, Clyde has every fourth footstep echo to draw attention away from the top of the tower. As an afterthought, he creates fainter steps in the hopes of making those on the battlements believe Mab is trying to escape on their level. The noises cause those waiting below to whisper, their voices barely audible even for the vampire’s keen hearing.

  With a low growl, Clyde comes to the last turn in the stairs and sends an illusion scrambling across the ceiling. The stones are charred and ringed with yellow light as an array of holy spells eradicate the decoy. Darting around the corner, the real vampire fights a slight urge to skid to a stop in the face of eighty well-armed enemies. The close quarters make it more difficult to dodge the beams and orbs that go through the other Duragians without causing damage. Many times, Clyde is forced to leap over or roll away from an attack that comes from the other side of a target. The only advantage that the vampire has is being alone and not having to worry about aiming in the thick crowd. Every strike creates a corpse or leaves a severely injured mortal gasping on the floor. Within minutes, he has whittled the holy forces down to thirty and they become more careful with their attacks.

  Giving in to his more primal temptations, Clyde tears off limbs and uses them as blunt weapons. The show of savagery is enough to drive those with weaker wills out of the tower, but they are swiftly replaced by paladins. At the same time, two deafening blasts can be heard from above and the forces from the battlements enter the tower. They rush towards the bottom floor, none of the mortals considering that there is an injured vampire hidden nearby. Facing enemies with better armor than the first wave, Clyde drops his latest weapons and rushes the nearest paladin. He punches the holy warrior in the chest and sends him flying through the wall, but the man gets up with only a crack in his breastplate. All of the Duragians rush the lone fighter, who grabs a priestess and bites deep into her neck. Clyde ignores the burning in his throat and tosses her aside before she dies, which leaves the woman confused. A few of the mortals stop at the sight of a vampire feeding without killing, their hesitation making them easy targets for a renewed assault. Blood splatters the walls and ceilings as the cornered monster unleashes more of his strength on the ever-growing army.

  A paladin’s maul finally makes contact with Clyde’s side, the giant hammer sending him through the front door. He can feel his night cloak catch on the broken frame and he twists to avoid getting tangled. The fabric tears and he frees himself before skidding on his knees into the middle of the Duragian forces. Getting to his feet, Clyde can barely make out the dark garment waving from the jagged opening in the tower. Feeling a gentle warmth on his bare arms, he looks up to see the sun beaming down on his exposed body. Baring his fangs in defiance, the vampire turns in a circle while mortals pour out of every doorway. The thick stench of burning bodies makes him wonder if he is about to join them, but he refuses to let the sliver of doubt appear on his face. Clenching his fists, he waits to see what will happen and searches for a weak point in the mob.

  Seeing Clyde exposed to the sun, the holy army converges on the vampire with chants to the Sun God. Their voices are cut off when he rushes a paladin and violently kicks the armored man over the wall. Unaware of the true danger, those in the back continue to push forward while the front-line struggles to gain some distance. Cracking his knuckles, Clyde charges into the startled army and hurls bodies in every direction. Warriors are torn in half while priests fire light beams that are batted away by the invigorated vampire. The spells leave burns on the man’s skin, but the injuries heal as his surging bloodlust makes his heart pump harder and harder. Giving in to a blossoming hunger, he takes savage bites out of anyone wearing a robe instead of armor. Those he does not kill with his fangs are ripped to shreds before he moves on to his next target. Leaping over a knife-fighter, Clyde catches two armored orcs by their helmets and throws them at the castle. The pair smash through the wall and continue going until they slam against the distant battlements. Feeling a sharp pain in his knee, he whirls around to stomp on a halfling priestess with enough force to drive her completely into the earth. After an hour, the mortal army has been cut to a quarter of its original size and a thick layer of fresh bodies now cover the previously slain vampires.

  Refusing to retreat like the surviving hunters, many of the Duragians move to surround Clyde and tackle him as their bodies glow with magic that will burst on impact. They are nearly on top of the vampire when he splits into ten versions of himself th
at run slavering toward the front line. Spells go off against the illusions, which pass through the holy forces and repeatedly bare their fangs. The decoys disappear when a paladin slams her sword against the ground and casts a dispelling aura. No longer seeing Clyde, the warriors and priests remain quiet and wait for the next attack. They jump when the fortification tower explodes into a rain of stones and the bodies of those who remained inside. Only those furthest away catch sight of the vampire leaping into the nearby trees and knocking over a gigantic oak as he escapes with a cloaked bundle in his arms.

  *****

  “You have to go back and kill them all,” Mab says in a weak voice. She stretches a burn-covered arm to grab a tree, but her limb snaps off at the shoulder. “We don’t need rumors flying about a vampire who stays strong in the sunlight. Even if it comes from the Duragians, some of our people will believe it. At the very least, Kai will investigate what happened and it won’t take him long to uncover the truth. No telling what Xavier will do if he finds out. Put me in that patch of thorn bushes and go back to finish the job.”

  “Stop talking like an idiot and let me think,” Clyde hisses, his ears catching the snap of a nearby twig. He leaps to the top of a tree and balances on the branches while a patrol of hunters run by. “All of the survivors are roaming the forest and I can’t sense any of our friends. They’re either dead or escaped while we were distracting the Duragians. Really strange that everyone came after us, but that’s a mystery I don’t really care about right now. We need to get out of here.”

  “But your secret-”

  “Will still be one if the two of us keep our stories straight.”

  “Killing them would be easier.”

  “You’re thinking with your stomach, crunchy.”

  “Oh, you’re going to pay for that one, Dawn Fang.”

  “Dawn Fang . . . I like the sound of that.”

  “Well, that insult backfired on me.”

  Clyde starts to climb down the tree and stops when he thinks one of the enemy patrols is getting close. Depending on his ears and nose, he pushes his senses until it feels like he can pinpoint every heartbeat in the forest. Due to the euphoric wave of sensations, the vampire is surprised when he drops to the ground and finds himself standing in front of a young hunter. The man is dressed in leather armor that is adorned with the glowing star of Zaria the Purity Goddess on his chest and the blazing sun of Durag on his back. Tucking a necklace with three sets of fangs into his shirt, the tan-skinned warrior grips a strange sword and shifts his feet. Clyde cannot put his finger on what is off about the weapon, which the flaxen-haired hunter holds to his side instead of pointing it at the vampire.

  “My name is Alan Stryker,” the mortal declares while taking a few steps back. With a flick of his wrist, the hunter’s sword separates into a segmented chain of blades that he whips against the ground. “I was hoping I’d get to fight a monster like you. For turning my sister and driving her insane, I will be the one to end your-”

  “I’d feed you this one, Mab, but I don’t want you to catch whatever disease has made him stupid,” Clyde says as he puts his injured friend on the ground. He smacks the incoming blade to the side and stares at the smoking wound on his forearm. “That’s going to sting for a while. Hate to ask a question that was recently aimed at me by a pompous jackass, but what kind of name is Alan Stryker? That has to be made up.”

  “It’s made to strike fear into the rotting hearts of-” the hunter begins to say before the vampire yawns. Taking the gesture as an insult, Alan unleashes a flurry of attacks that are easily avoided by his quick-moving target. “A blood-sucking abomination that retains his power in the sun is something that should be destroyed immediately. If not by me then a grand execution by the high priests of Durag.”

  “Like I’m going to go through that mess again?” the vampire casually retorts. With a snap of his fingers, a night cloak appears over him and dangles an inch from the ground. “My specialty is illusion magic. Well, that and leaving piles of bodies in my wake. This was a fun trick to make all of you holy morons think there’s a vampire out there who’s immune to sunlight. Bet that will get you guys to think twice about messing with my kind. No telling how many of us are out there, so you better be careful who you fight. I reveal my plan solely because I’m going to kill you and I doubt a priest will waste time talking to your spirit. By the way, that name wouldn’t even strike fear into the heart of an artichoke.”

  With a scream, Alan charges at Clyde while a patrol of five other hunters burst from the nearby bushes. The lone warrior skids to a stop at the sight of his allies, but tries to rush back into the fight when two of them are killed. His deadly sword comes close to hitting the other mortals, who begin yelling at the clumsy man. The flying insults cause him to draw back and attempt to hit the vampire with straight stabs that wobble when the weapon reaches the limit of its range. Grabbing the blade when it is fully extended, Clyde spins with Alan desperately clinging to the hilt. The segmented sword decapitates the remaining hunters before the young man is pulled into a solid punch. A loud boom scares every nearby bird into the sky and the mortal warrior bounces twice before landing upside down in the lower branches of a tree. Blood drips from his mouth and his face is a mangled mess, but he is still alive and exposed enough for anyone passing by to spot him if they investigate the area.

  “As long as they find him before he dies, his story will spread in an attempt to undo a prank I never pulled,” Clyde says with a grin. A jolt of pain runs down his spine when Mab leaps on his back and bites into his shoulder. “What in all of Windemere are you doing? Vampires don’t bite other vampires! Get off, you overcooked crazy woman. Dammit, I don’t want to hurt you. Why . . . won’t . . . punches . . . to the . . . face . . . work?”

  “You taste so good,” Mab mutters after she forces herself to stop drinking. She is about to bite him again when she is grabbed by the ears and flipped onto the ground. “The pain was too much and I was so hungry. I remembered you made blood. Then I heard your pulse and smelled the delicious meat juice. Want another bite. Give me one more taste and I can become whole again. I still feel like I’m on fire.”

  Fighting against violent body spasms, Mab digs her fingernails into her scalp and scratches at her skull. With a shriek of agony, she tears off her burnt flesh and most of her clothes to reveal a layer of unblemished porcelain skin beneath. Fully healed in an instant, her senses are bombarded by the world around her and she stumbles away from Clyde. The breeze rips across her sensitive skin like thousands of tiny knives, the pain making her slap at her naked body. Mab covers her ears when she hears a deafening thud and bright blood oozes down the sides of her head. The world spins around the confused vampire and she pitches forward, her muscles starting to stretch and stiffen. Expecting to land on the ground, she yelps when she falls into Clyde’s shadow and disappears leaving only her jacket behind.

  *****

  Endless black surrounds Mab as she floats, her naked body feeling like it is being caressed by cold and welcoming hands. A constant thumping causes her to remain still until she realizes that the sound is a heartbeat. Moving like she is swimming, the vampire rights herself and hungrily looks around for the delicious noise’s source. As her eyes adjust to the strange void, pinpricks of light appear in every direction and create a wave of vertigo since Mab cannot discern up from down. Flailing wildly, she spins in place and gradually moves away from where she woke up. Not wanting to get lost in the darkness, she awkwardly swims back in what she hopes is the right direction and curls into a ball. The tight position makes the thudding in her ears even louder, so she gingerly touches her chest. Gentle quivers against her ribs cause her to remove her hand and stare at her wrist, which abruptly comes into view. Placing her lips against her flesh, she shivers at the sensation of a pulse she never thought she would feel again. With a slight tug on her cuticles, four-inch-long claws burst from her fingers even though she never cast the spell.

  A large creature that
almost blends into the darkness passes a few inches from Mab’s feet, the moist skin giving off a cool mist that tickles her toes. Looking down, she can barely make out the form of a whale-like beast that vanishes into the gloom. Faint roars and hisses waft through the shadows, those responsible nothing more than flickering shadows. Bursts of clarity strike the vampire’s mind to give her an idea of the endless void, which is filled with hundreds of monsters that have yet to notice the intruder. Some of them are massive behemoths while others are the size of songbirds and travel in swarms. None of them are close enough for Mab to get a clear look even when she starts to regain control of her senses. Gradually, she begins to recognize some of the creatures from old pictures and considers approaching one for help. Before she can move, a stone-winged demon with four arms soars by, his crimson eyes taking in the woman’s presence. The brief distraction is enough for a larger beast that resembles a furry squid with bladed tentacles to catch the Spurge and tear the shrieking prey to pieces.

  Driven by instinct, Mab soars through the darkness and comes dangerously close to colliding with another winged monstrosity. Veering to the side, she dodges its beak and flies near its foul-smelling underbelly. Rolling onto her back, the vampire jams her claws into the predator and eviscerates it as she escapes. The dark green blood pools around the thrashing beast like a liquid cloud, which attracts boney scavengers. Unable to stop, Mab struggles to head back to what she hopes is the entrance to this strange world. A chill running up her spine causes her to make a wide turn and she narrowly avoids crashing into a rocky orb that is releasing streams of acid. The bizarre obstacle spins in place and shows no sign of leaving, its fumes driving the vampire far from where she wants to be.