By the time he reaches the edge of the swamp, Clyde’s hands have been flayed to the bone and his dripping blood has marked the weakening barrier. Sliding down to his knees without easing the pressure, he abruptly juts his head forward while plunging his skeletal fingers into the earth. Ignoring the pain coursing through his skull, the vampire grips the edge of the wall and roars at the top of his lungs. Rising to his feet, Clyde flips the invisible barrier into the air and watches as it crashes against the front gate of Miez Castle. The deadly spikes blossom out to impale the unseen projectile, the attack setting off the spell’s reflection magic. With a deafening boom, the entrance is sent rocketing into the courtyard along with large chunks of the surrounding stone. Those who try to rush out of the opening are knocked back into the wreckage by the barrier, which is plugged into the hole.
“I assumed you were a ruffian, but now I believe beast is a better term,” a cloaked vampire announces as she materializes at the edge of the swamp. Floating over to the walkway, she chuckles at the rising chaos. “In one act, you have decimated the rest of our ranks. Yet, now you lack the hands needed to continue fighting. Do you honestly think the council will be as easy as the rest of us?”
“People must really think I’m an idiot,” Clyde says, holding up his damaged hands. Muscles squirm out of his wrists and skin sprouts from the bones to heal the injuries. “I assume you’re the last line of defense. Well, you are now since I can’t see anybody else stupid enough to step in my way. Let’s make it quick because I have some friends coming and I don’t want them to think I had any trouble.”
“My name is Abigail Cex and I’m actually a fan,” the caster declares with a bow. Her arms become blurs as she gestures to create an illusionary owl above her head. “You’re supposed to be one of the best at this type of magic, so I want to test myself. This will be to the death since neither of us should hold back. Have you ever killed anyone with an illusion? I know of your tricks, but I don’t think you’ve ever created one so horrifying that it could make a mortal’s heart pop. Bet it would work on a Dawn Fang too.”
Rolling his eyes, Clyde sprouts a dragon’s head from his chest and destroys the owl with a burst of lightning. “Never had a reason to try, but I know the basics. You need to know the target’s greatest fear, which means you’re going to lose. I don’t really have anything that would scare me to death. So, I’m giving you one chance to back down and live. A kid as ambitious and tough as you shouldn’t be throwing her life away.”
“I am one hundred years old.”
“In that case, you’re very ambitious for a toddler.”
“Your arrogance will-”
“Be the death of me. I know and I politely disagree.”
“Take this!”
“Why do young casters always announce when they’re going to attack?”
Clyde throws a punch that goes through Abigail, her body vanishing in a puff of smoke that spreads across the ground. The city shakes when trees erupt from the earth and sprout the upside down bodies of his gang. All of them have been stripped naked and show signs of being tortured, their eyes wide as if locked in fear. Mab’s corpse has been sliced and beaten to the point where she is merely a head with bleeding pulp below the neck. The grotesque sight has no effect on Clyde as he walks towards the swamp and stomps the zombies back into their graves whenever they appear. He is finally stopped when a blade swings out of the tree holding Decker and leaves a gash on his arm. Glancing at the wound, the Dawn Fang leaps away at the sight of another attack, but still gets cut up his spine. A slight bend of his body causes the weapon to get stuck under the metal plate in his back, which is dislodged and sent flying. He rolls to avoid a scythe that looms out of the thickening mist and ends up with a dagger striking under his arm. Twisting violently, he wrenches the blade from Abigail’s unseen hands and yanks it out of his flesh.
Ripping off his shirt, Clyde growls at the caster’s games and creates doubles of himself that wander about the area. In response, hordes of demonic knights drop from the sky and shriek as they attack the fake vampires. Abigail can be heard chuckling to herself, but her voice changes location every second in an attempt to confuse her enemy. She stops when all of the decoys have been destroyed and the real one is nowhere to be found. The caster drops her invisibility as she searches around the swamp, all of her illusions shifting with her while remaining frozen in their last position. When the Dawn Fang emerges from the shadows to her right, Abigail summons all of her illusions to attack. They converge on Clyde and explode into a pillar of flames that rises to the clouds, which refuse to split at the touch of the fake fire. A shimmering mist gradually falls over the entire city, the sparks disappearing within seconds and leaving the scent of fresh rain behind. Unsure of what is going on, the caster erases all of her creations and pulls her night cloak tighter around her body.
“For a moment, I felt bad about killing you,” Clyde declares, his voice coming from a nearby pool. Bubbles pop on the surface and release a foul stench that is reminiscent of bodies left out in the summer sun. “Then, I realized you have to be put out of your misery. If it makes you feel better, I agree that you have talent. Yet, your arrogance has been your downfall. Nice to be on the other end of that phrase. What is the one flaw with illusions?”
“They aren’t really there,” Abigail answers while backing away. She randomly spins in a circle in the hopes of spotting the other vampire, a thin sheen of blood-tinted sweat appearing on her face. “No matter what you do, an illusion can never do physical harm. The worst you can do is cause a heart attack or drive someone insane. I’ve done both, which is why I thought it would work on you. A confident enemy would be immune, but nobody lives without some level of fear or doubt.”
“Yes, but not the answer I was looking for,” the Dawn Fang says before bursting from the ground behind his target. Holding the confused Eusu in his hands, he plunges the large alligator’s snout completely through the vampire’s back. “Don’t yawn just yet, big guy, I still need to tell her where she went wrong. People can see through illusions if their willpower and focus are stronger than the spells. It’s even easier if they know you’re coming. I’ve been erasing your magic all this time, expect for the invisibility spell. Didn’t feel like wasting my time and I wanted you to feel like you were winning.”
A curse is on Abigail’s tongue before Clyde taps the Eusu on the head and causes the predator to open its powerful jaws. The x-shaped mouth struggles to tear through the flesh and bones that surround it, the muscles for closing stronger than those for opening. Pulling herself along the snout, the vampire nearly escapes before the beast unleashes a burst of strength that splits her into four pieces. The zombies scramble out of the graves to claim the rotten meat, but they find it difficult to contend with the starving Eusu when it sprouts fangs and snaps at the undead. Clyde cannot stop himself from laughing at his new pet’s aggression, his voice echoing off the castle walls as he vanishes from sight.
*****
“The door was unlocked,” Lady Azurefawn says as the keep’s entrance is sent crashing against the wall. Standing in front of the other nobles, the scarred elf peeks over her large fan to look down on the approaching Dawn Fang. “Forgive us for staying on the balcony, but you seem to be highly agitated and violent. We feel it would be safer up here. Is there something we can help you with? Though, we assume this is about our desire to devour you and claim your power for our own.”
“Great, more talking idiots,” Clyde angrily growls. Stepping into the middle of the room, he is immediately knocked back by a swarm of lightning bolts. “Fine, I’ll voice my opinion if you insist. Can’t really blame me for taking the whole eating thing personally. Good job on the synchronized casting there. I feel so honored to be taken seriously. Now, come on down here and try your best to get a-”
Clyde pauses when he takes a step and his legs lock, the muscles twitching in response to his thoughts. He barely notices Lady Azurefawn disappear before he is struck across th
e face by her fan and spun into a nearby statue. Another noble comes at him from the right, the multiple paralysis spells preventing him from doing more than flick his finger. He takes the punch to his shoulder and crashes through the wall, his stiff legs sticking out of the debris. With big smiles, two halfling vampires eagerly rush to grab him by the ankles and drag him back to the middle of the room. Remaining on the wide balcony, the council watches as Clyde gradually gets to his knees and tucks his hands into his pockets. He fights against the lingering spell and nearly rises to his feet, but falls back down with enough force to crack the floor. They chant in unison to create an orb of emerald light above the Dawn Fang, the spell repeatedly striking him with bolts that maintain the paralysis.
“Impressive that you can still talk and move at all,” a man wearing a ruffled cape says while leaning on the railing. Pulling a knife from his pocket, he throws it at the prisoner and calls it back before it can strike. “It would be easy to cut you to pieces and eat our fill, but we have a few questions. After breaking contact with Lord Tempest, the council has been in the dark as to his activities. Perhaps you can share his plans with us and earn a less painful death. I know it’s a promise that has been made many times before, but we genuinely don’t want you to suffer any more than you have to.”
“Too bad I don’t share your compassion,” Clyde states through gritted teeth. Seeing the knife coming at him again, he lunges forward to catch the hilt with his teeth and drives it into the floor. “I had some questions too, but felt I only needed to keep one of you alive to get my answers. Since you’re determined to play with your food, I’ll join in. Why did you turn on Xavier and Nyte? All of you had the same enemies and he had the stronger military. Is it because he wasn’t stupid enough to join you on that suicide mission? More importantly, somebody here made a deal with the Duragians and their hunters. My information tells me there was never an alliance, but one of you could have easily gone through a mortal to hide your influence. First one to tell me the truth will get that whole painless death thing that Lord Fluffy Frock over there promised me.”
“Amazing how he acts like he is the one in control,” Lady Azurefawn whispers, earning a laugh from her cohorts. The elf takes a seat on the railing, her dress tightening around her ankles in an effort to remain proper. “Your questions are not as amusing as the fact that you still have no idea what is going on. We were angry that Lord Tempest refused to help during our initial assault, but we continued working with him in order to survive. Our alliance fell apart when we learned that he was the one who allied with the Duragians. Although, calling it an alliance might be a stretch since they had no idea what they were doing. Even those stationed around your grave were there to make his story more believable. It took us some time to learn that Stephanie Talon and Lady Sylvan have been the ones using a ritual to command the mortals. That’s why the Order of the Sun has no knowledge of the alliance. There never was one.”
A loud snort from an armored orc causes the council to part and let the towering noble move up from the back. “Lord Tempest seeks to rule over all vampires and his manipulations brought him close to that goal. Many have left our ranks to join his army, especially after we began losing leaders to your gang. People were becoming suspicious, but that Duragian assault on Nyte erased all thoughts of Lord Tempest being the real traitor. He became untouchable and had you as his best weapon. That is why we scryed on Gregorio Roman. It was our hope that you would reveal Xavier’s plans, but instead we learned your secret. After that, we only had to leak that we wanted to devour you like in the olden days. Chastity Sullivan would hear of that and report to you eventually, which would bring you to our doorstep. Did you ever question why we wanted to execute you, but never tried to capture you? If you are considering an oath of allegiance to us then do not waste your breath. Our goal is to devour you and prevent any other Dawn Fangs from being made by your blood. It is bad enough that Lord Tempest has captured the females and will probably turn them to his side. At least if we are the only other ones with your power, we can combat this new threat.”
“Captured the females,” Clyde repeats as he gradually stands. Feeling the gauntlet needles sink into his skin, he uses all of his strength to unleash his weapon and shatter the orb. “All I got from your blubbering is that my gang and I have been manipulated from all sides. If Xavier has really betrayed me then he’s my next piece of business. That doesn’t help the council since you still want to eat me. Seems I have enemies everywhere . . . and I kind of like it. Let’s see if any of you pampered relics can claim my blood.”
“But we have more questions,” Lady Azurefawn states while folding her fan.
“Yes, you are as hideous as a troll’s crotch.”
“Oh, now you’re just being insolent and crude.”
“All part of my charm.”
“Do you truly want to die right now?”
“Save that one for somebody who actually fears you.”
Stepping off the railing, Lady Azurefawn transforms her dress into a suit of leather armor and lands without a sound. Her ebony hair rears up like a nest of vipers that stretches towards the balcony, which forces the other nobles to back away. The younger vampires leap onto the chandeliers to watch the fight, but those who have seen the woman in action remain at what they hope is a safe distance. Clyde races forward with his sword held in front of him, the blade vibrating enough to make his entire arm a blur. With a dainty smirk, Lady Azurefawn takes one step back to brace her leg and lunges with her collapsed fan. Coils of yellow magic wrap around her body as the two weapons meet and an explosion rocks Miez Castle. Smoking pieces of Clyde’s sword fly in every direction while he is sent skidding to the center of the room. His right arm is mutilated and twisted around the cracked gauntlet, but he grins at the sight of his opponent missing her entire limb. The noble casually glances at the damage before her hair wraps around her body and shapes itself into a replacement. She flexes the false fingers before whispering a spell that turns them into a replica of her fan, the edges dotted with nail-like spikes.
Peeling the hot shards of metal from his healing flesh, Clyde is about to advance when all of the other nobles leap into the air. They come down on the edge of a circular vine design in the floor and the impact sets off a series of clicks. Before he can escape, the ground beneath the Dawn Fang’s feet gives way and he falls into a large bowl. The chandeliers stretch and swing to stop him from leaping out, the wax from their candles landing in the basin to make the sides too slick for him to climb. Rearing back to punch his way through the floor, Clyde is stopped by the nobles impaling him with all of their nails. Frozen in place by an unfamiliar spell, he feels all of his blood begin to bubble and churn within his veins. The crimson liquid spews from the wounds and he falls to his knees as the bowl is filled, the pool covering him completely in a matter of minutes.
“Fascinating that his body could hold so much without changing shape,” Lady Azurefawn says as she approaches the basin. Dipping her real arm into the blood, she shivers at the warm sensation that runs along her skin. “This is what we need to destroy our enemies. Clyde was content to be a beast instead of accepting his new role. We won’t make that mistake. Yet, we should probably thank him for being such a blessing. Please drink up and the one to come across the Dawn Fang progenitor can claim his head as a trophy.”
A deafening roar shatters the windows as the blood turns into a whirlpool that moves with enough force to crack the floor. Tendrils of red mist rise from the center of the bowl, but the black abyss is too thick for them to see Clyde. Sensing danger, the nobles attempt to escape, but are stopped when pillars of white flame block all of the exits. Only Lady Azurefawn remains by the bowl, her eyes locked on how the pool is gradually shrinking. The blood on her arm stretches for the rest of the ichor and she tries to pull back with all of her strength. Her skin starts to tear at the shoulder, but the layer of blood grows hooks to keep the limb in one piece. Using her hair, the panicking elf tries to saw her other
arm off, the attempt failing as her tresses bounce harmlessly off the hardening gore. With an echoing shriek, the noblewoman is yanked into the bowl and an explosion scatters her parts about the room.
The rest of the council can only watch as the blood surges back into Clyde’s body, which is emitting a red mist that makes them both hungry and terrified. As the Dawn Fang leaves the basin, every step crunches into the wax-covered floor. A predatory growl slips from his mouth and his fangs grow long enough to scratch his chin, their color turning from a pure ivory to a beautiful silver. Examining his hands, Clyde is momentarily hypnotized by the rising mist that smells of his own blood. All of the vampires can hear his heart beating so quickly that it is nearly an incessant drone, the organ working hard to power whatever transformation has befallen its owner. Picking up a part of the broken gauntlet, he taps his finger on one of the needles and watches as the entire piece burst into dust.
Thinking he sees an opening, the armored orc summons a pair of axes to his hands and charges. Clyde vanishes before the blades can touch him, his enhanced speed making it look like he teleported above the vampire. A single stomp to the head splatters the noble into paste and leaves a dent in the floor. Turning towards the rest of the council, the Dawn Fang grins and succumbs to the festering rage he has felt since emerging from the earth. Unable to see his rapid approach, only a few of his enemies manage to move before the two halflings are smashed into the wall. Their pulverized corpses slough to the carpeted floor as Clyde continues his casual slaughter. Torsos are exploded by single punches and heads are ripped off to be thrown through those attempting to retreat. A female calico screeches in terror and tries to take her chances with the flames, her body igniting on contact. She is almost through the agonizing barrier when her tail is grabbed and she is swung back into the room. The woman fires her claws at Clyde, but the projectiles are immediately rejected by his flesh. She hits the floor with enough force that her body bursts like a gore-filled bubble. Cowering on the balcony, the remaining council members pray that the Dawn Fang has had his fill of violence and is about to leave. They have no time to scream as he appears behind them and finishes each one off with a strike that leaves the railing dripping with blood and shredded entrails.
Loyalty Page 28
