by Chase Erwin
The next thing I felt was a tremendous impact against this polymorphed form. I could feel the ripples of energy across my mass… it tickled, and in any other circumstance I might have laughed.
But there was more to focus on – primarily, struggling to hear the sounds of Ricken’s and Remi’s voices; I couldn’t understand a thing they said. And I had totally lost sight of the vampire at this point. I spent so long trying to “see” the intruder that I lost all focus on keeping my form, and I sank into myself. One deep breath… the feeling of a hot wave across my body… and I saw my own flesh once more upon opening my eyes. I was sprawled out on the floor, my arms and legs outstretched.
Ricken was no longer in the room with us.
“Where’s Ricken?!” Startled at his absence, I sat upright on the floor and looked around.
“He bolted out the window after that thing,” called Remi. I couldn’t see her.
“Where are you?”
“Under the bed,” came the reply. “Ricken said to shut the window, quick as you can!”
I scrambled to my feet, ran to the window, slammed it shut, and threw the iron latch between the plates of glass, locking them tight. I then hurried to the bed and lifted up the duvet cover just as Beltrin shot back into the room.
“What the buggery hell happened?!” he cried. “Remi?!”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Remi said, her face peeking out from under the bedframe. “It’s all fine – it’s gone; Abel got rid of it. It was a vampire.”
“Hell, Abel, did you let her open that window after I specifically told her not to?”
“Back down, Beltrin,” Remi shot back in between panting breaths. She was still under the bed. “I got to it before he had a chance to stop me.”
“You’re sure you’re okay? Why don’t you come on out?” I offered her my hand.
“Can’t,” she said sharply. “Busy!”
“Busy? Busy with what?” Beltrin knelt down.
“Givin’ birth!” Remi screeched loudly, so loudly that it echoed down the halls of the keep.
As soon as she said the word birth, there was a cacophony of rapping sounds at the window – one, two, three vampires, eyes coal red and bright as sunlight, hovering at the window, fangs bared and dripping with blood.
17. For Kith and Kin
“You’ve got to stop pushing!” Beltrin cried, straining to be heard under the sound of his wife’s labor.
“I can’t!” Remi screamed. “This thing’s got a mind of its own, Beltrin, and it wants out now!”
The hisses from the trio of vampires outside the chamber windows were getting louder. They were getting angrier and hungrier. One of them struck at the window. It stayed fast, but there was a small crack beginning to form along the sill.
Peering out beyond the vampires, I could see a group of four, maybe five of our keep guardsmen, bows and arrows drawn. I knew the arrows wouldn’t do any good if they were the normal bronzed ones I assumed they were.
“It won’t hold much longer,” I warned.
“Neither will I!” Remi hollered.
“We’ve gotta figure out why they’re here and how to get rid of them,” Beltrin said. He was hovering over Remi protectively.
“Abel, can you do that thing you did before?” Remi asked in between panted gasps. By this point, Beltrin had pulled her by her legs out from under the bed and knelt by her side.
“Think so!” I replied. Knowing she wanted me to repeat my performance as a living rubber band if needed, I took up position by the window, trying hard not to stare at the vampires hissing and drooling on the other side.
“What thing?” Beltrin asked.
“Never you mind,” Remi hissed, agitated. “You get ready to catch this thing when it comes out!”
“Can I help anyone?” Taryn called from the doorway. They had a concerned look on their face.
“We’ve got vampires outside,” I called, moving closer to the window and gesturing toward the ceiling. “Get up there and see what you can do!”
“Right.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Taryn tilted their wheelchair back and gave its wheels a hefty spin. Electricity crackled from the spokes, enveloping Taryn’s form, and with a flash of light, they teleported away.
A nervous Dragonkin looked at me in between his wife’s howls and yells. “Whatever you’re gonna do, Abel, do it fast!”
I nodded and spun on my heels to look at the vampires lurking out the window. One of them slammed into the window again. Another, larger crack formed.
I visualized a flowing stream, and within seconds I was in my liquid form. I oozed up the wall and onto the windowsill.
Seeing that the crack in the glass was worsening, I reckoned my best bet was to spread myself across the span of the window in the hopes I could repel the three of them once the window broke.
And break it did. The glass splintered into millions of small bits, and the vampire that had just hit the window tried barreling through. I pictured myself as a large rubber ball, big enough to withstand the heaviest of bounces.
I bulged as the vampire tried unsuccessfully to sail through my vulcanized form. With an enraged hiss, it tried again. Once more, it bounced off me.
There was the sound of a shot ringing out from the ground below. It was hard to tell whose scream I heard afterward - that of Remi or that of the unfortunate vampire who caught a bullet through the heart.
Through a hazy, liquid view, I saw Ricken down below, holding a smoking firearm.
The silver and garlic bullets we made! They worked!
The wounded vampire’s howl was like nothing many had heard before… but I had. I instantly recalled a series of experiments I, as Dr. Kane, had performed creating lab-grown vampires.
That’s what the amulet that was discovered under the tree contained – a vampire. It was draining the life force from the tree – the only form of living energy that was nearby. When it broke open, it released the vampire.
As Kane, having killed a few shortly after making them to gauge their physical properties, I remembered what was coming next.
The human-like face of the vampire sluiced away, revealing a mass of black, viscous goo. Now nothing more than a heap of tar, the remains of the vampire fell to earth and splattered against the cobbles leading to the keep’s front door.
The two surviving vampires growled, only to have their rage interrupted by the whizz of an arrow, wrapped in blue electric fire, passing between them from above.
Taryn had taken position and was making their attack.
I heard Irek race past the door. “You must hide them both – now!” he commanded of Beltrin.
There was another scream coming from within the chamber… but it was much smaller, higher pitched. It reminded me of a kitten.
It was a kitten – Remi had given birth!
Hisses bolted my attention back to the window. The two vampires were salivating heavily, like trained dogs. With each holler from the newborn, their hissing loudened.
I had to think fast. “Get them to the basement and bar the door,” I told Beltrin. “I gotta get down there!”
My feet felt like they barely touched the floor. While I couldn’t travel at nearly the speed Ricken could achieve, I was still down on the ground floor in mere seconds. I burst through the front door of the keep, slamming it shut behind me.
There was an eerie orange mist a few feet above the ground. I knew what that orange mist meant.
“They’re on their way down,” I warned.
The five of us – myself, Rook, Irek, Caeden and Ricken – formed a semicircle behind the two vampires as they materialized before us.
Rook’s voice echoed in my mind as he began speaking to us telepathically. Now’s the time to tell us what you can, Abel. What do you know of these creatures?
Keeping my eye on them, I began to move cautiously to my left. One of the two vampires, the one with the longer fangs, locked eyes with me and began imitating my move, like a mirror image.
&
nbsp; They will match you movement for movement, I replied by thought. The only sure way of getting them is distraction. There’s five of us here and only two of them, so it shouldn’t be hard—
The sound of two rapports from beyond the treeline caught us all by surprise. Rook and I were facing that direction, and we saw two orange flashes, followed by bloodcurdling screams. Then a rush of air.
Two more, incoming! Rook warned.
Ricken and Irek turned on their heels, Irek brandishing his walking stick, Ricken cocking the hammer of his pistol.
Harp strings echoed through the chilly air, and another electrified arrow landed in the shoulder of the vampire with whom I was locked in a death stare.
It wasn’t a vital strike, though, so he was only momentarily hobbled.
Meanwhile, the shorter-fanged vampire struck at Rook, flying towards him and slamming his feet directly into Rook’s breastbone, knocking him backwards.
Caeden aimed his arms towards that vampire. As its feet landed back on the cobbles, brown vines matching the color of the stones began to encircle its legs. The speed with which they were growing, however, was slower than the dexterity of the vampire, who almost immediately turned to mist and materialized just a few yards away, in time to dodge yet another arrow fired by Taryn from above.
The door to the keep opened and Beltrin hurried out. He’d only uttered out “What’s going” before his question was interrupted by a new vampire that had sped course towards us. It buried its fangs deep into Beltrin’s neck.
I counterattacked with a bolt of electricity aimed at the vamp’s head. The bolt jerked its head out of Beltrin’s neck and allowed him enough leeway to wrench himself free.
The vampire geared up to attack Beltrin once more, but a shining light shimmering from its right side caught his attention. It turned its head toward the light, revealing its pallid, almost white leathery skin, and it retched and screamed.
It recoiled as Irek advanced, holding a medallion. I couldn’t see quite what it was, but I reckoned it was a holy symbol of some sort. With every step Irek took towards it, the vampire stepped backward. Beltrin ran back towards the door, holding his neck with one hand.
The vampire that had dodged Caeden’s vines suddenly crouched its legs and sprang upwards – heading to the roof to engage Taryn.
A flash of blue and white light temporarily blinded all of us, and when the light died down, Taryn and his chair were down on the ground with the rest of us.
Everybody crouch down, Taryn said telepathically.
We did as we were told. Taryn extended their wheels to the fullest breadth, turning them into the largest pair of harps they could manage. They leaned forward, placed their fingers on the far end of the harps, then yanked their arms back towards their chest.
A mighty zing! filled the night air, and then a rush of wind began siphoning past us, seemingly towards Taryn’s harp strings. They aimed their chair towards the direction of the vampire who they had just left on the roof.
The wind became more and more violent, and the vampires on the ground scampered for cover. The one on the roof lost his footing, and with an inhuman squeal, fell from the keep’s roof and towards the harp.
It never had a chance. The force of the wind slammed it through the taut strings of the harp. It exploded over Taryn, covering them in black remains.
Ricken, I transmitted to him, you’re going to need to take me out to the woods.
What? Why?
I indicated with my head towards the forested area, which was now emitting the same strange orange glow from the amulet.
Right… Ricken thought. Make your way towards me, then grab onto my waist.
The Kaa always knew the quickest and most direct way to any destination. I just had to distract the one vampire tailing me to make it across to him.
I needn’t have worried, though. Beltrin had rejoined the fray, his neck still oozing blood, chopping at the vampires with a longsword.
I quickly sprinted the few yards towards Ricken and clasped my arms around his waist.
A moment later he leapt forwards in the direction of the forest, taking me side-saddle on a vision-blurring ride at impossible speeds.
18. Minefields
As quickly as our flight had begun, Ricken landed just a few seconds later. We were deep within the Heaviside Forest, so called because once upon a time, the trees grew so tall they seemed to scrape the heavens above.
In the last century or so, the treetops had been victim to one or two severe droughts and a lightning storm or two. Still, even with as much damage as they had seen over their lives, the trees still provided heavy cover for many woodland creatures… and just as many threatening beings.
Orange lights continued to bleed across the horizons around most of the trees… except the section where Ricken and I had stopped.
Underneath the trunk of the tree just to the right of us were two bodies. We crept slowly towards them, unsure of what dangers might pop out and try to surprise us.
“Ricken, wait!” I whispered. My eye had caught a miniscule flash of moonlight reflecting off something. I knelt down and saw a shard of broken, glass-like material. Picking it up and examining it, I could tell instantly what it was.
Another Cursed Amulet. There were another few pieces scattered about the forest floor. Something had set one off, and undoubtedly released another vampire into Galek.
“These two never had a chance,” Ricken said as he gently looked over the bodies. “The female victim looks like she died in the force of the explosion. She cracked the back of her head against this tree.”
Ricken could already tell it was an amulet, too.
“When the vampire came out, it took a swipe at the man here,” Ricken continued. He was speaking deliberate and methodical. “There’s an attempted bite on the left side of the neck” – he gently craned the dead man’s head to the side – “and a successful one here. And it was vicious.”
The word “vicious” triggered another memory:
“With every successful draining,” Kane told his students, “the pack will get stronger.”
“How so?” asked Khaz’Nashan.
“Bees,” I said. “Think about how a colony of bees interacts.”
“There are drones, workers and a queen,” Khaz’Nashan said.
“Correct. Now, we don’t need drones in this situation, because the Queen doesn’t spawn. Not ours, because in fact, it’s a King.”
“We have a vampire king?”
“We will, in the fullness of time,” Kane grinned. “Once our workers here break out into the wilderness. They will harvest the blood and bring it back for the vampire king to consume. And when the time is right, the vampire king will lay waste to this pathetic world.”
“Well,” Khaz’Nashan pressed. “Who will be the vampire king? You?”
“No,” I lied.
I picked myself up from my kneeling spot as the rest of my recovered memory fell into place.
“We have a problem,” I said.
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Ricken said. “We have at least one more vampire out in the world.”
“We have a lot more than that,” I replied.
“What?”
“Up to the treetops?” I pointed to the top of the giant pine behind me.
Ricken nodded, took me in his arms and then glided upwards to the tree.
“By the gods…” he muttered as he looked down at the forest floor.
Littering the ground were Cursed Amulets – each one housing a vampire ready to explode. Dozens. Maybe more than a hundred.
My lip quivered, knowing I was responsible for the threat we were all about to face.
“The Vampire King is ready to harvest.”
Rogue’s Cider
For each serving, mix 3 parts hot, mulled apple cider with 1 part hard cider (room temperature best) and one shot spiced rum. Serve in a stoneware mug with cinnamon stick and a curl of orange zest for garnish.
Virgin
option: Simply eliminate the rum!
Vampire Punch
For each serving, mix 2 parts tart cherry juice and 2 parts lemonade with one shot of orange-infused vodka (see below). Serve over ice with orange zest for garnish.
For the orange-infused vodka: Simply mix one 750ml bottle of vodka with 2 small, sliced navel oranges into a resealable jar. Store chilled for 4 days before use.
Virgin option: 2 parts cherry juice, 2 parts lemonade, ½ part orange juice.
Galekian Blood-and-Sand
For each serving, mix equal parts whiskey, vermouth, orange juice and cherry brandy over ice in a cocktail shaker, then strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry or orange zest.