by Dante Steel
“How?”
“It won’t be easy, but… we have to try.”
Olivia nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”
“When I open it, shove as many vampires inside as you can as quickly as you can.”
“Open what?”
“You’ll see.”
He flew her over to a spot that was hopefully far enough away from the iciness of the volcano. Then, he used his power to shove aside the sand, digging deeper, deeper, seeking out warmth, heat, lava.
There.
A geyser burst forth, and Olivia immediately start to fly the vampires through the air to the lava. Already, Gary was working on springing more geysers, and he threw some of the vampires onto the spewing lava before opening more and more.
Just then, a few other gamers came over, and they began to assist with the vampires. Fireballs flew through the air, reminding Gary of Nicoletta. He saw some flashes of metal. Weapons? Fists? He wasn’t sure, but it made him miss and worry for Elena that much more.
It took some time, probably too much time, but eventually, every one of the vampires they had lured off the mountain had been killed. Gary nodded to the pack of gamers on the ground. They nodded back and headed off, probably to find more vampires to kill.
“Don’t want to ask them to join us?” Olivia asked, flying over to him.
“No. We’re a team, and we’re going to go save them. You and me. You up for it?”
“You know it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gary was so amped up that he wanted to fly all the way to the castle. He was fairly certain that Smaug wouldn’t do anything to harm Nicoletta or Elena without Gary being there to witness it, but what if he was wrong? What if they were already dead?
But if they weren’t dead, then Gary needed to conserve some of his power. He might be considered a hero in the game, but he was only human. He couldn’t go on forever.
“Should we walk?” he asked.
“I don’t want to, but maybe we should,” Olivia said. She bit her lower lip. “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Why do you think I told you not to be? I’m scared enough for us both.”
“I can’t have anything happen to you,” she said.
“Nothing will.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I swear.”
A worried silence fell, and they reached the base of the mountain. Climbing wasn’t going to be easy, so they had to fly to the base of the castle. Up close, it was even more twisted and terrifying, all contorted black metal spiraled into points, almost resembling thorny vines.
Lights glowed from within the castle, making the place seem like it was alive, like a maw in the side of the blackness of the mountain. Night had fallen, but Gary couldn’t picture sunlight ever reaching this forsaken place.
He headed straight for the largest opening. It wasn’t a window or a door, just a space to enter from above.
Gary landed on his feet and glanced around. The place seemed like a cross between a ballroom and a throne room, and he felt as if he had transported back in time.
“Ah, welcome. I knew you would come,” Smaug said. He was perched on a golden throne. He swept to his feet and flung his cape back as he strolled down the three steps off his dais and toward them. “You’re late, though. I do hate when people aren’t punctual.”
“Oh, silly thing,” Gary said, quickly shoving points into strength and vitality. He had gone up another bunch of levels and was now level four hundred and fifty-two. “Killing vampires does take time. I’m getting rather proficient at killing your pets. Your dragon, your vampires… All in a day’s work for a hero, I suppose.”
“You think you’re a hero, do you?” Smaug laughed as he began to walk back toward the throne. “You don’t know anything about the world, how it works.”
“This world or the real world?” Gary asked, lifting his chin.
Olivia glowered at him, clearly wanting him to watch it, but he shrugged and gave a tiny wave of his hand. He knew what he was doing. At least he hoped he did.
Smaug snapped his fists, and vampires dressed like guards dragged in Elena and Nicoletta. The girls had bruised and bloodied faces but otherwise seemed relatively unharmed.
Gary took a step forward
“Stay,” Smaug snapped, commanding him as if he were a dog. “I did not tell you to move. You are my guest here, but if guests displease me, I kill them. Do you want to be killed?”
“It’s just a game,” Gary said. “There’s no point in killing any of the gamers here.”
“Oh, is that so?” Smaug asked. “You’re misguided and a fool at that.”
“You’re pompous and think you’re the top shit, but you’re wrong, so there’s that,” Olivia said.
Smaug smiled and turned to face her. “If you think copping an attitude will endear me to you, you are mistaken.”
“I do not make mistakes,” Olivia said. “A pity your mother made one with you.”
Gary winced at that. Between the two of them, they needed to make sure they didn’t give away too much of what they knew.
“Your mother would be so proud of the way you flaunt your body,” Smaug said.
“Actually, she would be,” Olivia said. “Shows what you know.”
Smaug smiled. “You can act all high and mighty, but you will cower before me, and then I will grant you a merciless death.”
“Do you taunt everyone before you kill them?” Gary asked. “Or, I mean, threaten to kill them?”
“Ah, but you four are special. We have faced a few times now, and now, you all will face your death at my hands.”
Gary settled into a fighting stance. First, he had to get the vampires away from the girls. Then, he—
Smaug opened his mouth, and a piercing high-shrill sound came out. Gary covered his ears.
Four bats flew into the room. They were massive, twenty times larger than a typical bat should be. Together, they circled above Smaug’s head.
The supervillain flicked his wrist, the vampires released the girls and backed away, bowing before leaving the room.
Because that’s not weird.
With a wave of his hand, Smaug pointed lazily at Nicoletta. One of the bats let out a screech and zoomed toward her. It opened its mouth, and a blast of fire came out, the flames purple. Gary wasn’t anywhere near the blast, and he still felt like he was melting from the heat. Fuck. Nicoletta’s fear of fire wasn’t going to take that well at all. She had come a long way, but that bat was chasing her.
Gary reached out his hand, trying to reach for the bat, but Smaug had already unleashed another bat. This one headed straight for Elena, and it tried to yank on and bit her metal arm, the one Smaug had detached.
The fucker was going after them through the bats!
With two whistles, the last two bats were unleashed. One went after Olivia. She tried to take flight, but the bat opened its mouth. Some kind of waves came out, maybe a sonic blast, that pinned her to the floor.
As for the last bat, it went straight for Gary’s mouth. He tried to use his powers to force the bat back, to fling it away, but his powers weren’t working. The bat was coming closer and closer, its mouth opening impossibly wide, its hundreds of jagged teeth ready to pierce him…
Gary darted forward, almost using Smaug as a shield. The supervillain began to laugh as Gary glanced all around. Olivia was still pinned. Elena was trying to punch the bat with her other arm, but the bat would then fly over to that arm to try to detach it. Nicoletta was scrambling to keep from being charred to death.
His bat was somehow immune to his powers, but that didn’t mean the other bats were.
Gary reached out with his telekinesis and tapped into the fire bat. It fought against him but then gave in. Swiftly, he had it attack his bat while he also reclaimed the one from Elena and then the one attacking Olivia.
Swiftly now, Gary turned the three living bats against th
eir former master, but Smaug was already racing toward the window. He jumped out, spread out his cape like it was a giant wing and disappeared from view.
Damn it! Once again, they had failed to take out Smaug!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gary muttered curse after curse. He was furious.
“Do you want to go after him?” Elena asked.
“No,” he said. “It might be another trap.”
“He might have a trap waiting here for us,” Nicoletta said.
“Are you two all right?” he asked.
Nicoletta smiled wanly. “I’ve been better,” she said.
“I’m fine.” Elena tested out her arms. “I just couldn’t get ahold of that blasted thing no matter how hard I tried.”
“He knew all of our weaknesses, how to pin us down,” Olivia said.
“Yes, and now, he’ll know to make sure that there’s not another loophole,” Gary said darkly.
“We’ll just have to stay one step ahead of him.” Elena nodded.
“Which means we need to explore this place from top to bottom,” Nicoletta said.
“We’ll split up,” Gary said. “Olivia, no, Nicoletta, you with me.”
“Why not me after all?” Olivia asked.
“If something happens, you can fly Elena out of here and get to us.”
Elena shrugged. “You don’t want me with you?”
“I’m fine either way.” Gary smiled and then winced. “Wait. That didn’t come out quite right.”
Elena gave a tiny smile. “Olivia and I will check out here.”
Gary waved and rushed Nicoletta out of there.
“Hurry,” he said. He glanced into each room they passed.
“Shouldn’t we be looking more thoroughly?” she asked, running to keep up.
“We will. Later. First, we have to find those vampires.”
“Good point!”
Up and up and up they climbed, to the top of the tower.
No vampires.
All the way back down, checking every room on this side of the castle.
No vampires.
Down even farther below to what Gary assumed was the dungeon. All he saw were some bones and decaying bodies but no vampires.
“Look.” Nicoletta pointed to one of the bodies. “Bite marks.”
Sure enough, on the neck were bite marks.
“The vampires were here,” Gary said. “Be careful. They could be anywhere.”
He grabbed her hand.
“Really?” she asked, trying to pull away. “Is that necessary?”
“I’m not trying to be fresh,” he said, hurt. He let her go. “It’s just easier to protect you from sneak attacks while holding your hand.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throat.”
“It’s fine. You’re fine. Just keep an eye out.”
Sudden wind behind Gary was all the warning he had. He sent out a blast to shove everything away from him and Nicoletta, and a vampire was sent flying, pinned against the wall. Nicoletta’s fireball didn’t kill it, not until she engulfed him with fire from head to toe.
“That was intense,” she said, breathing heavy.
“You could say that again. There’s at least one more. Maybe others too.”
He started to move on further into the dungeon. When Nicoletta grabbed his hand, he smiled but didn’t say anything.
By the time they circled back around to the throne room, they had killed four more vampires. They passed the others. In the middle of the ballroom floor was a collection of books and small metal pieces that didn’t seem to belong in this post-apocalyptic world.
“For you to show to our friend Haru,” Elena said, a hint of biting snark to her tone.
“We’re only doing a sweep for vampires right now,” Gary said. “Once you’re done in here, you can check over there. It’s clear.”
“Sounds good,” Olivia said.
On the other side, they found twenty more vampires. The enemies were bastards to kill, and the vampires nearly could break through Gary’s telekinetic powers, but they managed to ash them one and all.
About a minute after the last one was reduced to rubble, white lettering appeared above them.
Congratulations! You are now megaheroes!
Gary glanced at her. “That was delayed.”
“I wonder if they killed the last one,” Nicoletta said.
Together, they raced back down to the throne room. Sure enough, a pile of ashes lay at Elena’s feet. She and Olivia were clutching each other and backing up as a dark swirling mass of black and purple smoke swirled by the throne room. With a sound like terrible thunder, the smoke vanished and in its place was a tall, emaciated scarecrow of a vampire. The darkness of the castle, that aura Gary felt? It all resonated from him. Fear unlike anything Gary had experienced before washed over him.
Wait. No. That shouldn’t be right. That couldn’t be right. His biggest fear was Smaug. No. This was an illusion, a trick. The game was trying to force him to feel scared.
It was working despite him knowing it to be a trick.
“This has to be it,” Elena said. “Kill him and we’ll be superheroes again.”
“We must have this,” Gary said. “Give him everything you’ve got.”
“Be careful,” Nicoletta called.
Olivia darted forward and leapt into the air. She grabbed Elena and zoomed forward.
The vampire boss dude decimated into a hundred bats that swarmed them. Gary tried to control a few of them, but that didn’t work, so he tried to pin them against the wall or floor for Nicoletta to blast with her fire or for Elena to stomp or punch, but they would not heed his control. Finally, all Gary could do was keep the bats away from him and the ladies long enough to keep them from being bitten. Important, yes, but it made him feel frustrated that he couldn’t do more.
Nicoletta zapped the bats with fire, but they were evading her. Even if the flames did touch the bats, they merely flew while covered in flames as if they were entirely fine being on fire.
Elena punched and kicked them, but the bats bounced back. Olivia tried to fling them into the walls, but she wasn’t having any more success than Gary had.
In short, they weren’t doing a damn thing to harm the bats.
Abruptly, the bats all morphed and congealed together again to form the vampire boss dude. He flew at them, literally flying. His teeth were even more hideous than the previous vampires’ and his cape flew out as if wings. He descended on them in a fury of fists and teeth. The clang of his teeth against Elena’s metal arm made Gary race forward. He grabbed the vampire boss dude around his arms by his armpits and clutched behind the vampire’s neck. Elena pummeled the vampire’s stomach, chest, and head. A few teeth came flying out.
Nicoletta pointed, and Olivia floated the teeth in the air. Nicoletta set them ablaze, and Olivia sent them through the vampire’s chest.
“Good idea,” Elena said.
With her fist, she punched through the vampire’s chest. She cracked open his ribs, which made the most terrible of sounds. Gary shuddered but managed to keep ahold of the vampire boss dude.
Then he realized Elena wasn’t doing anything else. Was the vampire dead?
Gary peered over the vampire’s shoulder. All of the girls were looking at the vampire boss dude in horror.
“What is it?” he asked.
“There’s no heart,” Elena said. “I know it sounds gross, but I was going to crush it, but…”
Abruptly, the vampire boss dude jerked in Gary’s arms. That terrible sound from the cracking ribs happened again, and the vampire reforged itself. He gnashed his teeth and let out a wicked sound that might have been a laugh.
“You think can defeat me? The likes of you? You are all beneath me! I will feast on your flesh and gnaw on your bones until the end of time!”
“End this!” Nicoletta said.
She glanced at Elena, who nodded. Nicoletta touched Elena’s fist, transferring
fire to it. Gary wasn’t so sure that was the best of ideas, but already, Elena was slamming the fiery fist through the vampire’s skull. She broke his jaw in one swift blow.
“That was impressive,” Gary said.
“Not enough, though,” Olivia said. “Look.”
Already, the jaw was realigning itself.
Nicoletta backed up a step. “This might not be so easy, huh?”
“Got any other ideas?” Elena asked.
Gary grinned. “I do.”
He gripped the vampire boss dude from behind in a tight bear hug. He secured a cable grip with his hands and twisted and dragged it over to the wide opening that Gary and Olivia had flown through, where Smaug had jumped out of.
And Gary did the same. He jumped while holding the vampire boss dude.
Down they tumbled, falling fast and hard. Gary wasn’t using his flying. He couldn’t get his arms to move. They were falling that fast. Originally, he had wanted to try to release the vampire boss dude right before falling onto the mountain rock below, but he wasn’t able to move at all other than his cheeks blubbering from the swift descent.
The only good part about this was that the vampire boss dude wasn’t about move either. He couldn’t shift into his bats.
Shit. Yes, he could, and yes, he was.
The bats all flew above Gary, and Gary, unburdened by the weight of the vampire boss dude, now kicked in his telekinesis so he could fly. He zoomed down and forward, away from the bats and then circled back around. Unsure what else to do, where else to go, he returned to the ladies in the castle.
“A fat lot of good that did,” Nicoletta said.
He grabbed her hand. “You can do a fat lot of good.”
And he jumped, dragging her along. She shrieked as he took flight, and once more, she tried to send fire at the bats. They dodged easily, shrilling, and Gary abruptly pulled up and then dashed back to the castle.
“You didn’t give me a chance,” Nicoletta wailed.
“No. New plan. It might work. It might not. Elena, Olivia, you two have to get out all of the equipment that you scavenged about Smaug. Get it to the base of the mountain as quickly as you can.”