A Guide to Vampire Hunting: ...and other failures (Alchemy Inc. Book 1)

by Janus Alexander

  Amelia grunted at Gianni’s words and raised her blades bracing herself for the oncoming tide.

  The first vampire to reach her was one that looked like he couldn’t be past his early twenties and was dressed like an Italian supermodel. She wouldn’t have been surprised if his artfully distressed jeans and silk shirt weren’t Armani. He lashed out at her with a long foil, grinning as his longish brown-gold hair whipped around his face. The foil, being longer, and in the hands of someone taller, had better reach than Amelia’s short sword. He looked like he was going straight for her sword arm. Amelia jabbed out at the foil with her hunting blade, using the knife’s guard to push it away. With his sword pushed out and Amelia stabbed the oncoming vampire in the stomach. He simply hopped back, gave his foil a taunting stroke and grinned even larger.

  “Gianni is right, you’re quite diverting. But you do know this is a fight to the death, correct? Flesh wounds don’t count,” The vampire snickered. Amelia ground her teeth and snarled at him.

  From across the room, Kristoff’s aggravated voice yelled out, “Amelia, don’t play with them. To kill you must sever the spine or crush the heart. Anything else will just annoy them - or entertain them.”

  Amelia grimaced, she had forgotten that important fact, this being her first real battle with experienced enemies. The vampire’s foil lashed out again in a graceful arc as he went for Amelia’s exposed side, but she parried the shot with her sword. With his blade flung from her body, Amelia darted in to stab the vampire in the chest. But at the last minute, he stepped back at lightening speed - still smiling like this was great fun. Amelia glared and with a grunt, dropped to her knees and swept her leg through the dust layered on the warehouse floor in a low kick. The vampire, not expecting her move, toppled. Amelia bounced back to her feet and once again went for the kill with him prone before her. Yet he rolled out of the way and leapt to his feet, striking out with the foil quickly. Amelia felt a sting on her cheek and raised her hand. Blood. He’d sliced her cheek. The asshole laughed. “It’s just a little mark, don’t worry, once you’re changed it will go away.”

  But his little pause, as Kristoff had always warned her, was his undoing. Amelia ducked beneath his long reach and stabbed up into his stomach, but rather than withdrawing as she had done earlier, she yanked the blade up through his sternum slicing his heart in two. For a moment the vampire seemed stunned that he had lost, but then crumbled into a small pile of dust.

  All around the floor there was a second of stillness as the vampires watched their compatriot fall to Amelia’s sword, and this seemed to galvanize them. From the larger group Kristoff had been fighting, several others broke off and moved for Amelia at a blur. Immediately Amelia was surrounded by flashing blades and livid fang-bared faces, forced to defend herself from all sides.

  A ways away, Kristoff had already taken out two of his opponents and was clashing with a woman with her own Japanese sword. But hers was a long katana. She was obviously well taught, and graceful in her movements. She was trying to force Kristoff back toward another vampire who waited behind him. Amelia, though swamped by her own opponents, saw this in her battle haze and her heart stuttered. Dodging behind her attackers in a swift roll under their feet, Amelia stood swiftly and threw Mona’s dagger into the waiting vampire’s chest. When originally Kristoff would have been ambushed from behind, he now only fought the woman.

  “Watch your own back Amelia! You just wasted your knife.”

  “You're welcome! How’s that for gratitude, asshole!” Amelia snapped back, swinging her sword in an arc around her body, to cut into the arm of the vampire thrusting his own blade for her back. The vampire immediately dropped his blade and went to draw back, but Amelia came up through his heart with a jab from below and he too fell to dust.

  Meanwhile, it seemed Kristoff had finally fought the woman with the katana to the ground, and her sword skittered from her hand into the darkness. Kristoff cleanly sliced off her head, and immediately moved to another opponent. Already, of the ten vampires, six were down, leaving only Gianni and three more. Of the final three, Kristoff fought two, leaving Amelia with only one before she could reach Gianni, his warning not to kill her obviously expiring a quick death. The battle had become kill or be killed.

  The vampire Amelia fought was easily mistakable for a short teenage girl, but she wielded sword and dagger like a seasoned warrior, feinting and driving Amelia with the knife and cutting at her with the sword. Amelia was now with only her sword after saving Kristoff, leaving her at a disadvantage to the two handed fighter. The girl seemed to dodge and move faster than the others, and Amelia wondered if this meant she was older. She had Amelia backing away into the darkness swinging her blade constantly in strained defense.

  A lucky jab, brought the vampire’s knife arcing for Amelia’s sword arm, and Amelia cringed and waited for the pain, pulling her arm out of the way what she knew was only seconds too late. The jab went through her leather jacket and pierced her arm, but rather than letting the pain distract her, Amelia shot her fist out and clocked the vampire in the face. Though the punch would do nothing to truly damage the girl, it forced her back several steps so that Amelia could dart forward.

  Off kilter, Amelia was able to catch the girl disoriented and plunge her sword into the her chest. Like the first vampire, the girl paused between dust and angry disbelief. Amelia waited for the vampire to crumble, but in the last moments of her life she threw the knife she had held directly at Amelia’s own chest. For a moment Amelia felt the world stand still, the girl smiling though slipping to dust as she fell from Amelia’s blade. The realization that she’d failed Mona echoed through Amelia’s frame. Details were exclamation points in her final moments, the point of the blade a flash of silver passing through the red sodium light.

  Then there was a sharp clang, and the girl’s knife flew wide into the warehouse’s furthest reaches. Amelia looked up and saw that Kristoff, just as he finished his last opponent, had thrown one of his own blades to intercept the one that would have killed her.

  Amelia smiled across the distance at him, and she realized right then, that leaving or not, she loved Kristoff. Light touched his eyes, and she knew he could read her gaze.

  Suddenly, like a nightmare, a burst of harsh popping noise broke out. Kristoff's body jerked repeatedly, from a spray automatic gun fire, and he fell to the ground.

  One of the guards, in a last act of foolish loyalty, had killed him.

  Amelia gasped in panic for air and she felt her stomach drop sickeningly into a hollow pit.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him,” came Gianni’s voice. “It’s you I’d worry about.”

  Amelia balled her rage and devastation into a bright fire and grasp both hands around her sword’s hilt, then ran full tilt toward Gianni with her blade raised above her head. She was going to kill him once and for all. For Mona and, now, for Kristoff.

  And for the life she could have had with him that was now forever out of her reach.

  The distance between them seemed to telegraph and Amelia brought the blade into the beginnings of a silver arc to end with Gianni’s chopped off head. He looked unimpressed, and swiftly drew his own dagger.

  But just as she was about to reach him a hand punched through Gianni’s chest from behind. Bloody clawed fingers held Gianni’s still beating heart out in front of him. And Gianni cried out in true fear and pain. Amelia, shocked, skidded to a stop to take in the strange macabre tableau.

  In that moment Amelia finally saw the others, a semicircle of vampires who must have come in late, creeping from the shadows. And the clawed hand, which had burst through Gianni’s chest, she followed to its body.

  And saw Kolya.

  Kolya, who seemed lit from above like a halo, his hair sleek and restless about his ethereal face, the strands unbound for the first time she’d ever seen. He bent his head down sensuously to whisper in Gianni’s ear, lips curved in a sexy half smile as if murmuring sensual delights. All the while, Gianni p
leaded with him not to crush his still beating heart, precariously still partially attached.

  “I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it!” Gianni gasped out, and Amelia could see Kolya’s lips quirk and move against Gianni’s ear like a lover’s. His sharp teeth flashed through his twisted smile as he spoke. Gianni gasped something out that Amelia couldn’t hear and then, with a decisive clinch Kolya crushed Gianni’s heart, leaving nothing behind but a breeze of dust.

  Finally, Kolya looked up and into Amelia’s eyes.

  As the scene unraveled before her, Amelia was transfixed. She couldn’t bring herself to comprehend the vision. Kolya, in his usual black skinny jeans and his white buttoned down silk shirt - now smattered with bright crimson blood. Was a vampire. Amelia fought the need to scream, as the vampires with Kolya came silently forward to flank his sides. His blazing violet eyes bored into her with preternatural light. Amelia gripped her sword madly, grit her teeth in anger and readied herself to fight what had become one of her closest friends.

  “Now Amelia,” Kolya said beguilingly, smiling lightly at her as if being completely reasonable. “You don’t need that,” he said gesturing gracefully with his long artist’s fingers, now capped in claws and dipped in crimson at her sword. “Anymore.”

  “You’re a vampire.” Amelia rasped out in shock. Behind her she could hear rustling and a groan, she fought not to look back when the majority of her opponents faced her.

  “I would think that that was obvious by now,” he replied, a lip curling drolly, looking down in vague contemplation at the blood on his fingers.

  “But Kristoff? Does he know?” she quavered out. Kolya grinned, shrugged, then nodded behind her. Without thought, Amelia looked back, and saw Kristoff struggling up to sit, from where he’d fallen. He clutched his stomach and groaned. This time the truth was even more upsetting. “He’s one too.” Amelia whispered hoarsely. “But, he’s a hunter, and he comes out in daylight…he can’t be…”

  Kolya shook his head and frowned, “Don’t be so provincial Amelia, he can be and he is.”

  “No!” Amelia denied desperately. “It’s impossible!”

  “What is it you Americans call us? A tainted line?” Kolya tsked, rolling his beautiful eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest impatiently, where the red blood so startlingly marred his usual black and white couture. “Europe is over it, as you young people say. We came to a peace hundreds of years ago. Hunters only hunt those vampires who get out of line, and vampires to a great extent police themselves. We even have a council of mixed mages and vampires. And if the two races, out of a similar position of having such alienating super human powers, become entwined, you have the current fallen clans. Clans of mixed blood. In each family there is a subtle blend of witch blood and vampire, allowing that clan special powers and abilities, and assuring that from each generation a hunter will be born. A vampire who can walk in daylight to fulfill the clan’s calling. And siblings that, though full vampire, may have a few extras.”

  Amelia had not let go of her sword, and trembled at his words. “You’re an abomination, you both are.” She rasped, then in a quieter voice, she came to a sickening realization. “And I’ve been sleeping with one of you…”

  Kolya’s face twisted in revulsion. “Do you think you’re so special? The only Dagda to fall for one of ours? Who do you think the painting is of that you so admire in my studio? You could say it was a romance born of adversarial tension, which only made it more …fiery.”

  “Mona would never…”

  “Wouldn’t she?” He narrowed his eyes dangerously. “After she spent all that time stalking me…”

  It finally all fell in place. “Nikolais.” Amelia choked. “You’re The Nikolais.”

  “Guilty, as they say, as charged. You Dagda girls seem to have a thing with the Kuryakin clan. Every night, for all those years, sitting outside my home listlessly tracking me down. When I knew you were there. Smoking and spying and sleeping in the cold. I let you stay there, in honor of Mona’s memory. Besides, what would I fear from the Dagda failure. If my brother hadn’t been helping me that night, you may never have met.” Amelia was frozen, sweat dripping from her palms where she still clutched the sword. “I had hoped, that you would be as open minded as your sister. You were given every opportunity to see both Kristoff and myself as we are. But I can see you are too consumed by your mother’s hatred.”

  It was then that Amelia realized that Nikolais’s vampires had fanned around the room, and she was surrounded. “Face me then,” Amelia cried out. “For my sister’s honor.”

  “Useless,” Nikolais grunted shook his head then gestured out dismissively, as if not only did she pose no threat, but she had grown tiring. “Anya, go fetch Kristoff. Dimitri, please detain our guest.”

  Anya smirked at Amelia as she went by to help Kristoff up, and a large blond giant of a man started moving towards Amelia. Taking a step back, Amelia cried out. “No! Just go, leave me.” She straightened her spine, cocked her blade and glared at Kolya. “I’ll fight each and every one of you before I go anywhere with you.”

  Nikolais pursed his lips impatiently. “I would happily leave your bigoted little ass here in a heartbeat, but I’m afraid that isn’t possible. Kristoff, you see, wasted much blood saving your little life and avenging your sister’s, and he’ll need to feed.”

  “Get someone else.”

  “I would, gladly, but I’m afraid that my brother is enough of a sap to feel that feeding from someone other than you, would be cheating. Isn’t love grand.” He hissed venomously. “So for his sake, you’d better come along quietly.”

  “I owe him nothing,”Amelia spat, and leveled her blade at the incoming Dimitri. She darted toward him intent on fighting her way free to the warehouse doors.

  “Stop.” Came Nikolais’s voice. And to Amelia’s great dismay, she froze like a statue in her step. Nikolais ambled over and stood in front of Amelia’s still form as it held the blade she wielded poised to never fall. Amelia eyed him with hatred. Nikolais stared into her eyes in mocking triumph. “A gift of our tainted blood. I may be a vampire, but I still can wield the powers of a powerful mage. And you’re being a pest.” He said this with a bored look and slitted gaze. “Quit.” And with a strange movement and snap of his fingers, everything around Amelia went dark.

  Chapter 31

  Amelia woke with a start. She was on top of a sumptuous bed that she didn’t recognize as Kristoff’s, and was certainly not her own. Nervously she darted to her feet and looked around. Where was she? Her wounds were bandaged and her coat was off and set beside her on the bed.

  It took several moments for it all to come back. Nikolais, Kristoff, and their betrayal. She was most likely in Nikolais’s home. Funny to be seeing it from the wrong side this time. The room was opulent, as she had come to think of as Kolya's - Nikolais’s - style. Kolya, she turned over in her mind, it had been right in front of her all along, he must have been so entertained. Kolya was the Russian nickname for Nikolais. She’d posed nude for him for God’s sake… to say nothing of sleeping with his brother… Amelia circled the room and tried the door, knowing full well it would be locked, and then she wandered in and out of the bathroom and the closets looking for potential weapons and exits.

  Nikolais had surely removed her sword from her grasp, it was probably locked up somewhere. There came a knock at the door, and then the sound of a key scraping. Anya walked into her pretty cell proud as a peacock.

  “It is just at Nikolais’s whim that you live, so I wouldn’t try anything. Even if you could escape, we can find you. You really have nowhere you can hide.” The vampiress smirked, then set down a tray of food. “I can only assume he’s feeding you to keep you alive long enough to convince Kristoff he doesn’t need - or want - you. He’ll easily turn to me when he does. We have a history.”

  “You can have him, just let me leave he’ll be all yours.”

  “Oh no,” Anya bobbed her head. “I’m not stupid enough to let you out aga
inst Nikolais’s orders. You’ll stay here till he decides he’s through with you. He may get bored of you soon, or he may keep you as a pet, but make no mistake you’ll be here as long as he wishes.”

  “I demand to see him, now.”

  “Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn’t if I were you. He’s very protective of Kristoff and you’ve been so very callous to his favorite brother. I think he might be a little miffed. And Nikolais angry is never a good thing, particularly when he’s angry at you,” Anya shrugged. “I could be less than nice and grant your request, but such a rash decision could lead you to being Kristoff’s blood slave for the rest of eternity. Kolya would consider you a fitting present.”

  “Kristoff wouldn’t let him, he’d never keep me like that,” No matter how angry she was with Kristoff, Amelia knew he’d never keep her as a slave.

  “What is the saying?” Anya pretended to consider, tapping her French manicured finger on her lips. “There’s a fine line between love and hate?”

  “Kristoff’s not like that.”

  “Oh, but he’s a vampire dear. You’re mortal, replaceable. In the length of his lifespan you are nothing but the tick of a second in time. Or haven’t you learned that about all of his girls? I know you’ve seen him out at the clubs. Human playmates are fleeting to our kind, a momentary amusement. Even witches with their longer lifespans are just diversions of a few hundred years,” Anya bared her sharp teeth. “No, I should think you had better eat something, there’s nothing like blood loss on an empty stomach. I think I’ll go visit Kristoff and see if I can convince him to forget your weaker blood. Maybe I’ll even make him forget you just as quickly. It was lovely talking to you. I’ll tell Kristoff everything you said, it might hurry along his acceptance. Ta.”

  Amelia watched the prissy vampire leave her room, and she was angry, she couldn’t quite tell why. Kristoff was a vampire, she didn’t want him. What did it matter if another of his kind did? If Anya could distract Kristoff, then maybe they’d see no reason to keep her and just let her go. But the idea of Anya replacing her so easily made her sick at the stomach.