* * *
Flaviu had laid the two barrels near the center of what Lina marked out as the outline of the Great Hall. When they exploded a cloud of dirt rose into the air like a great, spiky dome, sending debris into the air in all directions and leveling all things around it beneath its sudden shockwave. His soldiers hid beneath their shields while a rain of rocks and dirt fell upon them.
Then Flaviu ordered the charge. Men armed with arrows, crossbows and firearms ran up to the edge of the great crater in two lines and aimed down into it. Beneath them they saw the remains of the Great Hall exposed to the sunlight. Many of the tall columns that had supported the roof were now toppled and the ground, decorated by the dragon mosaic, was littered with rocks and boulders. The beautiful decorations of the Great Hall were cracked and scattered, and the throne was toppled.
Between all the debris lay many vampires, knocked down and crushed by the explosions. Mostly sparsely clothed, their white skin transformed into red. Some lay on the ground, unconscious and motionless, whereas others were pinned beneath rocks or columns, and still yet others remained standing, though dazed and surprised. With their skin being burned by the unbearable sun, they screamed in agony, those that could, trying to flee from the light. Flaviu ordered the men, “Fire at anything standing,” and the first volley of shots sniped some of those standing who were slow to flee.
After this first volley, the forward line of shooters stepped backwards, and the second line, armed and ready, moved forward and launched a second volley as Flaviu ordered, “Kill anything that still moves.” They captured some other still alive and some that had tried to escape, and silenced some of the agonized screams of those being burnt.
Simultaneously the cannons were rolled forward. They were loaded and two cannonballs were launched at the hallway down which they’d seen some of the remaining vampires run. The cannonballs rolled down the halls knocking down a few vampires in their way and lodging themselves deep into the walls of the cave.
After seeing the course of the cannonballs Flaviu shouted at the cannoneers, “Damnit! No more of that! There’re people down there somewhere.”
A succession of volleys blanketed the Great Hall with arrows and bullets, as the two lines, in successive turns, would fire, step back and reload, then step forward and fire again. The projectiles from these many volleys rendered all life in the Great Hall still and silent. More than twenty vampires now lay dead upon its floor.
At this point, Lina stepped forward and volunteered to enter. “I’ll go in,” she announced, “There must be some ten or so still left. Including Asha. I’ll try to get to the humans before you set off that last barrel of gunpowder.”
Without waiting to be given permission, Lina ran towards the large boulder and opened it. Since the hinge of this door had been damaged, she rolled the boulder aside, leaving the door now permanently open. She walked forward tentatively into the shadow, not sure where some of the remaining vampires might be waiting for her.
With her heart beating in anticipation, Lina progressed forward, descending down the sloped cave. She walked with silent steps, suspecting that more than a few vampires lay in wait.
She encountered her first vampires in this section of the cave. Two vampires of medium age cowered in a shaded corner, terrified of venturing out into the light where the bullets and arrows would surely drown them if the sun didn’t burn them first. They didn’t notice Lina’s approach until she was near upon them. By the time they turned at the sound, Lina’s form already completely overwhelmed their vision. In a flash, she leaped upon one, tearing open his throat, then attacked the other, drinking away the last of his blood until his sight faded from blurriness into black.
Lina stepped out into the light of Great Hall next. The place only vaguely resembled its former splendor. The tiled floor was littered with rubble, collapsed columns and a great many vampire corpses, arrows and crossbow bolts sticking out of their bodies like porcupine needles. When she looked up, she saw the sky instead of the columns and ceiling, and up there, standing at the edge of the crater looking down at her, were the armed troops, with Flaviu standing besides them nodding in her direction.
She entered the hallway, and before her stood a long row of doors, most of them closed. The whole hallway was enveloped in silence. The odor of vampires was palpable, but omnipresent. She had no sense where any living creature was. As she moved closer to the kitchen, she heard the growing sound of a murmuring crowd.
Of a sudden two shadows approached her from behind and touched her on the arm. She was so frightened that she almost jumped on them immediately, but in the split second before she turned and would’ve had her teeth upon their necks, she recognized the face of Anton. Beside him was Vasile. Both of them carried two loaded crossbows, weapons that seemed more appropriate to the cramped space of the coven than their longbows.
“We’ve come to help you get the humans out,” Anton said.
“And you need a weapon,” Vasile said, handing her a dagger, which he’d kept sheathed on his belt.
“I’ll lead you to the pen,” Lina said, “Stay behind me.”
They followed as she cautiously walked them towards the kitchen. The room they found was a mess: many pots had been knocked over, red liquid spilled onto the ground, some broken, their shattered pieces littering the floor. A layer of dust covered everything and considerable debris was spread throughout the room. But there was Ada, as if oblivious to everything that was going on around her, cleaning up. She’d picked up all the spilled pots and made sure as much of the red brew was salvaged as was possible.
When Ada saw Lina, clothed in black and with two armed men, standing at the entrance to the kitchen, she cowered in fear, hiding in the corner. Lina was about to ask her for the keys to the pen, when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Lina pointed through the door, and Vasile and Anton entered. Lina remained behind, watching Ada to make sure she didn’t attack.
When Vasile stepped inside, he heard the nearing sound of a massive crowd of murmurers, and he walked towards them. As he came in sight of the crowd, the sound faded into silence. He saw there, in the faint shadows, several hundred human faces turning at once to look at him.
Vasile was difficult to see in the dark, but it was clear at first glance that he was not a vampire. Vasile announced, in a hushed voice, “We’ve come here to free you. We need to get out of here, now.”
A wave of cheering started to roll through the crowd, but Vasile strenuously tried to stop it, indicating that they should be quiet.
The crowd quieted once again, and Vasile was ready to lead them out. A small shape started pushing through the crowd to get to the front of it. After a few moments, the face of Constanta pushed through and, looking in Anton’s directions, asked, “Anton is that you?”
When Anton saw her, he ran forward and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her as tightly as he could and kissing her all over. “I knew it,” she said to him over and over again as she smiled with joy, “I told them you’d come.”
Anton had to force himself to hand over Constanta to Vasile, since Vasile would be leading the humans out through the kitchen and Anton would be guarding the tail. He didn’t want to part from her, but he wanted her out of the coven into the daylight as soon as possible.
Vasile insisted that they move as quietly as possible since some vampires were still unaccounted for. The front of the crowd, with Constanta in the lead, followed him, without giving a second look back at their former home. Many others were still gathering together their possessions, wanting to bring the many things they had acquired while living there. For some, their possessions had accumulated into a cumbersome collection, and they struggled to carry it all.
As Vasile passed Lina, who still watched over Ada in the kitchen, he asked her, “Are you going to kill that one already?”
Lina nodded her head, and Vasile continued through the halls with a long chain of humans crowding behind him.
Anton
, who had stayed behind to guard the rear, implored the stragglers, “Don’t worry about your damn stuff. We have to get you out of here.” The last few were carrying armfuls of things, and they rushed to catch up with the rest of the group while Anton anxiously urged them on. When Anton finally stepped into the kitchen and saw Lina still watching over Ada, he couldn’t restrain his joy and he leapt towards her, hugging her tightly. She pushed him away and said, “Careful.” But Anton hadn’t a concern in the world, and he grabbed Lina’s face and kissed her full on the lips. Lina froze with shock and let him continue to kiss until he pulled away, smiling and staring at her.
“If only you weren’t a vampire,” he said to her.
“You’ll get infected if you do things like that,” she reprimanded.
“I don’t care,” he said in response, “You’ve done the most wonderful thing. How can I ever repay you?” As he spoke, he backed away out of the room, not forgetting his responsibility to guard the humans who were disappearing out of the pen. Lina gave him a faint smile as he left and waved goodbye.
Lina turned to Ada and asked her, “Where is Vad? Is he still alive?”
“I think so,” Ada replied, “He was last being detained in his own room. Last I heard that is.”
Lina leaned in close to Ada, who trembled and covered herself in anticipation of what she expected to be a blood-draining bite. Instead Lina whispered in her ear, “You’re going to live. Take all this food into the pen. Deep into the pen. We’ll hide there. I’ll bring Vad. They’ll never find us. Please hurry.”
Then Lina quickly darted out of the kitchen to head in the direction of Vad’s room, hoping, even praying that Vad was there and still alive.
Just as she was leaving the kitchen, a muffled shout drew her attention to the barred room. She stepped into the barred room from outside the pen, and saw Mir, inside the pen, tied to the bars. He was seated on the ground with his hands tied behind his back by several rags pieced together by a nest of knots. A great number of separate pieces of cloth had been used to tie him, with several knotted loops running down either arm to secure him to the bars, along with a chain of loops down his legs to hold them together.
Lina walked towards him. His mouth was gagged and he was only able to moan and scream in inarticulate words. He could just see Lina behind his back and called out to her in the hope that she might help him, but as she approached, he realized that this vampire was not friendly. Lina sauntered towards him, smelling his pungent odor. Mir kicked his legs and shouted through the gag, pushing with all his might to free himself. Lina meanwhile squeezed her head through the bars and touched her lips to his neck. Her teeth followed behind, opening up a large hole in his neck, through which cupfuls of rich, fortifying blood flowed down her throat.
As Vasile and Constanta and a train of humans behind them burst out into the Great Hall, the soldiers looked down and saw them from above. A cheer emerged from all of them at once. For most of them, not until that very moment were they quite sure that there really were any humans to be found in this coven. As they looked on them with their own eyes and saw the endless numbers that continued to pour out, their joy and excitement only grew until it burst out into riotous celebration.
In the rooms, though, the last remaining vampires still hid, just hearing the faint sound of the pattering of many feet escaping. It was the sound of their great, accumulated wealth slipping out of their fingers, like a river of gold flowing down into the gutters. They couldn’t just let it slip away. So, out from their rooms, they sprang and attacked.
Elixir of Flesh Page 65