The Toldar Series Box Set

by Matt Mememaro

  “It’s stronger than last time,” Abner said.

  “The Red Sky needs to be refreshed every one hundred years or so,” Tal’davin said. “I still have not found a way to keep the amulets power from fading. I have all of them yet something is missing. It’s almost as if they don’t respond to me how they should. But never mind that, this is an excellent new breeding ground for Purestrains. Thank you for cleansing this holy ground, my son.”

  “You’re welcome,” Abner said. He glared into the back of Tal’davin’s head, longing for the day he could remove it from his shoulders.

  24

  Golden Treasure

  With their field trip a success, the Vampires returned to Tal’davin’s citadel. Little was said between the two after the Red Sky was brought forward again, mainly due to Abner not replying during their conversations. When they landed both went their separate ways, Abner grunting at his father, ignoring him. Tal’davin mainly left Abner to his own devices, rarely crossing paths with his son.

  For the most part Abner kept to his room, waiting for an opportune moment to steal the amulets from Tal’davin. His slaves kept Abner company, coming in and out of his room as they were requested or called away to other parts of the Citadel to help with whatever tasks they were required for.

  He lay across his bed with a tennis ball in hand. When the slaves refused to talk it was all he had to keep him company. Abner tossed it into the air at irregular intervals or at the wall when he was bored. It had been three days since they had returned and Tal’davin had not sent for him.

  “I’m sick of this,” he muttered.

  He bounced the ball against the wall again and caught it. A slave stood in the corner of the room and Abner hurled the ball in her direction; it burst just above her head and the girl let out a squeal of fright. Abner smirked and got up from the bed.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “Don’t know my own strength.”

  “That’s fine sir, I shouldn’t have been frightened. But I am curious as to why you’ve sat in here all day since you returned with your father.”

  “He knows I want the amulets and I’ve decided to keep away. I need him to think I’m not interested in them,” Abner said.

  “If you want them, go and take them!” Her voice sounded different. The girl shifted and her body began to change. Her brown hair began to brighten and became blonde, her face shifted slightly and Lois was revealed to be in her place.

  “Lois, how long have you been here?”

  “Long enough to know what you’re going to do,” she said. “Maybe I should go and tell your father.”

  “Or I could split your brain open right here and see where you decided it would be a good idea to betray me,” Abner said.

  “So I’ll go tell him!” She laughed again and raced out the door.

  Abner was a second behind her, her long blonde hair now flowing out behind her. He was faster and caught her within strides, grabbing her hair and flinging her backwards. Lois slid along the tiles and struggled to regain her feet, by then Abner had disappeared.

  He continued to run through the citadel, knocking over anyone that came into his path. Moments later he was in front of Tal’davin’s door. He collected himself and pushed on the latch to enter to find Tal’davin sitting at his desk.

  “Ah Abner, I had a feeling you’d want to see me. What brings you here? Do you want another assignment?”

  “No father, I feel like I have been distant the past few days. I didn’t want you to think that I had left your service over something so small,” Abner said.

  “Of course,” Tal’davin said. “It appears it was a mistake to give you part of the amulet in the first place then. I thought since you were accustomed to wearing the amulets that it would be wise to give you back one of them, to see what you could do. It appears that was a mistake.”

  “I understand father. The connection I have to the amulets is unique for having carried them for so long, it was odd not having one with me,” Abner said. “I would like another assignment to prove myself to you.” He reached the desk and sat down.

  Tal’davin looked down at his empty desk and shrugged. “I have nothing to give you. Although one matter does spring to mind. Your friends. The Sauriaan Hunters if I am not mistaken. They are still alive, yes?”

  “Yes father, they escaped me on the bridge,” Abner said. “You saw the damage my car had to it when I returned.”

  “The small scrape on the front? Come on Abner did you expect me to think they got away without you letting them go?” Tal’davin asked. “Don’t worry it’s fine. You’ll correct your mistake soon. I am patient. Two Huntries remain but by this time next week there will be nobody left to oppose us.”

  “Your son will oppose you!” Lois said from the doorway.

  Tal’davin looked up and rolled his eyes. “After four hundred years have you not learnt to knock?”

  “Are you not listening to me?” Lois asked. “Your son will betray you, he wants revenge!”

  Tal’davin shook his head. “Lois you’ve become more erratic these past few years, but now you’ve hit breaking point. What’s gotten into you?”

  “I was in his room, posing as a slave when I heard him mutter something along the lines of ‘oh I need to make him think I’m not interested in the amulets’. Come on Abner, why else would you all of a sudden change sides?”

  “Because it was the right thing to do,” Abner said.

  “Then why didn’t you do the right thing with me!” Lois asked.

  Her skin began to change colour and she lunged forwards. She crossed the room in a heartbeat, Abner barely having time to rise from his chair. He kicked it out at her and she leapt over it, tackling him whilst she was still in the air. They smashed into Tal’davin’s desk, her claws trying to tear at his face.

  He pushed her away, and leapt up, crawling over the desk. Abner made a swipe for Tal’davin’s chest and found the chain of the amulets under his shirt. Abner pulled away and the chain came free. Tal’davin shrieked as the amulets were torn away from his flesh and lashed out at Abner but was too slow.

  “How dare you!”

  Abner rolled away off the desk, as Lois smashed down on it behind him. He sprinted for the newly repaired window and smashed through it, glass exploding around him. Abner fell through the air and landed in the gravel below. Lois was only meters behind him. She grabbed at his feet as he scrambled up and began to run across the plateau towards the mouth of the volcano.

  The bridge and the cars that Tal’davin kept were on the other side of the Citadel, and out of reach, due to Lois blocking his path. As he ran Abner wrapped the amulets around his neck, leaving Lois behind. He ran towards the cliff edge and looked over. Fear filled him and he thought back to the Renori arena when he was still a child. He looked over his shoulder and saw Lois smile. The water looked deep enough and he carried the amulets.

  Abner turned around and smiled at Lois, his back to the edge. He smirked and raised his hand to shoulder height, folding it over twice in a slow and deliberate wave.

  “Don’t!”

  Abner began to laugh as he pushed off, leaping backwards high into the air. Lois swiped at him and missed before he plummeted towards the ocean. He fell and streamlined into a dive, narrowly avoiding the sharp rocks that stuck out at random points from the side of the volcano. Seconds later he hit the water, breaking with his hands, followed by his head as streamlined as possible.

  His head broke the water and he shot down into the black rocks of the depths. He kept his breath held, and moved away, using each rock he passed as a kick pad. Abner had left the volcano behind before he came up for air a minute later. He looked up at the sky and back at the volcano to see Lois storming around the plateau. The waves crashed over his head and kept him concealed.

  Abner swam around so he was concealed by the volcano, moving back towards where he could steal a car, which would take him across the bridge back to the mainland. The currents pushed him along making the s
wim much shorter than it should have been. Abner washed into the rocks around the southern edge of the island a short time later and pulled himself out of the water.

  Seagulls flew overhead and dived infrequently into the waves to pick up the small fish that swam underneath them. Water laden, Abner crawled along the beach, checking up at the bridge overhead. Helicopters hovered above it, helping to lower pieces of cement and other building materials into place, to help rebuild the bunkers. He needed to hurry and use the bridges lack of security to his advantage.

  Minutes later Abner had climbed the side of the volcano and now stood atop the plateau again. It was a swarm of activity. Armed guards dressed in their black armor patrolled the plateau whilst others were climbing into transports to search for him. Abner ducked behind a van and waited as a group of a dozen guards walked past. Each of them carried a rifle, and sidearm looking ready to kill.

  “Have you found him yet?” a sharp voice asked. Abner peaked over the bonnet of the van and saw Valdmire standing with his hands on his hips waiting for an answer. “He could be anywhere by now.”

  “No sir, we have drones in the air and the currents should be taking him out into the open water by now.”

  “Not good enough, we need boats in the water, he’d be heading for land. You seem to underestimate how strong we are. I want every single body to lock down this entire part of Taagras!”

  “Understood, sir!”

  Abner froze, thinking. Valdmire was here, unencumbered issuing orders to Tal’davin’s guards. What side was he really on? Abner waited until their footsteps had faded and he looked around to find most of the area empty. A handful of guards stood on the far side of the line of cars studying a map.

  Abner darted across the open space and caught the eye of no guards. He slipped into the closet car, a lowered orange sports, and gently shut the door behind him. The keys were in the ignition, and Abner fired the engine. The guards turned as he sped onto the bridge and now realized who was behind the wheel. A moment later the plateau was becoming nothing more than a distance speck on the horizon. Abner smiled as he touched the amulets around his neck, leaving his father behind.

  25

  In Too Deep

  Days later and Abner had found himself outside the old Sauriaan Huntrey. He’d driven through the night, the amulets repelling his need for sleep and food. Strangely enough no thoughts had come from Tal’davin during his escape. The guards on the bridge had been too slow to react, allowing him to slip past, and nobody had tried to stop him once he was in the clear. Abner had travelled south into the deep of Sauria and had stayed away from any major settlements.

  Drones occasionally had buzzed overhead at times not stopping to scan him or investigate as the car zoomed past. Abner had continued on and used the positioning system to find his way back to the Huntrey. He now stood outside the building, looking for an entrance but found none. Reluctantly he knocked on the door and waited. He spotted a camera above the door.

  “If you’re in there, I know you can see me,” he said. “I meant what I said on the bridge, I just want to talk.”

  The door snapped open to reveal Paige. She carried a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. Her hair was frizzed up and she wore a grimace.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  “I came to talk,” Abner said. He raised his hands around behind his head. “No tricks, no lies. I got what I finally wanted.”

  “What, the amulets. Bull shit,” Paige said. “Nobody’s been able to ever take them away from Tal’davin.”

  Abner raised an eyebrow and smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong, kiddo.” He lifted the amulet from underneath his shirt and held them in his hand. “Does that look fake to you?”

  “How many?” Paige asked.

  “As far as I know Tal’davin had all seven. So that’d be all of them. I had to run to mobilize you. With the amulets we can finally beat him. Then we can go about retaking Taagras, back for the humans,” Abner said.

  “You better come inside,” Paige said. “He’s probably looking for you.”

  She held open the door for him and he stepped inside. The Huntrey had been stripped bare. The only furniture that remained was a mattress in the center of the main room and the fridge. Everything else looked like it had been ripped out of its place and removed.

  “Where is everyone?” Abner asked. “Did they finally make it to the new Huntrey?”

  “Yep, everything was shipped out two days ago, I’ve been here waiting for you to return. Gerard had a feeling after what happened on the bridge you wouldn’t be long,” Paige said. “But why not kill Tal’davin straight away?”

  “I’ve got to work out how they work,” Abner said. “It’d be no good to me if I fought him and he still overpowered me and took them all. If I can have only one with me when I face him then if he wins he won’t be all powerful again.”

  “Sounds like an excuse,” Paige said. She rolled her eyes. “But if you insist.”

  Abner sat down on the floor and placed the amulet in front of him. He pressed against it and the middle began to glow red. He heard a loud vacuum fill the room and red began to swirl into the room and into the amulet.

  “This isn’t normal,” Abner said. “But I think it’s the Red Sky.”

  “What do you mean? How can it be?” Paige asked.

  “Tal’davin said that the amulets are closely tied to his will, now he doesn’t have them, they must be tied to mine. All I want is for the sky to return to normal and take away his power,” Abner said.

  The vacuum began to slow, and the red began to disperse. Paige knelt down and tapped the amulet with her nail. It did nothing and the red faded from the metal as well.

  “What now? How do you break it?” she asked.

  Abner shrugged and picked it up. He pressed his claw into the metal and turned. The metal started to creak and as he turned his finger more the amulet began to shatter into two pieces. He pulled them apart to reveal carbon copies of each other. Paige was speechless. Abner repeated the process with both amulets until he had seven separate amulets in front of him on the floor.

  “They used to go together a lot easier,” he said.

  “Are they all real?” Paige asked.

  “They’d have to be, Tal’davin wouldn’t be as powerful as he was otherwise,” Abner said. “But if we can keep them together and hide them from him, then we’ll eventually win.”

  “Where are you going to hide them? Tal’davin controls Taagras completely,” Paige said. “The only way we survived is was because we blended in. They can’t.”

  “We didn’t know how many amulets we had until I pulled them apart,” Abner said. “They don’t attract each other so he shouldn’t be able to find them at least for a very long time. I’ll take one and see if I can kill him. If I can’t, you need to hide the other six. Go across the seas and hide them further away than Lars Hunter did!”

  “You’re going on a suicide mission?” Paige asked. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard, and you’ve said a lot of stupid shit since you escaped from him the first time. We can’t lose you in this fight!”

  “I have nothing to lose, Paige! This world is foreign to me and everyone I’ve ever loved has betrayed me or died,” Abner said.

  “I’m still here,” Paige said.

  “What?”

  The girl looked down at him, and a single tear dripped from her eye onto his face. “We’ve waited more than four hundred years for you to come back, and we’re not going to lose you again so soon. I don’t want to lose you.”

  He pulled her close, pressing his lips against hers. Paige submitted instantly, not even bothering to question him. She pulled him down onto the cold hard floor, tearing at his jacket, sliding it off his chest. Abner responded, holding her down, his hand on her throat, kissing her neck side to side, gently biting her shoulders.

  Paige tugged impatiently at Abner’s pants, ripping them clean past his hips, even with the leather belt securing them aro
und his waist. They were around his ankles a moment later and he paused to kick off his boots. His shift to the side was all that Paige needed to regain control over him. Abner fell to the side and Paige’s black hair was dangling in his face. He grabbed a handful and pulled it to the side, kissing her neck again and pulled her down to his level. She bit his lip and pushed him down. She stood up and in one smooth motion her pants had slid off her long legs, giving Abner a view. She removed her jacket and undershirt as well before lowering herself back down onto him.

  Abner was inside her and she raked her fingernails down along his chest. Abner let out a gasp of pain and looked down seeing ten identical scratches running from his neck down to his belly. Blood started to seep from the wounds. He tried to push Paige off, but she had him pressed down. She continued to ride him making sure all his attention was on her. He had to ignore the blood coming from his chest as she grabbed his hands and pulled them up to her breasts. She continued to grind down on him, moaning as he thrust up into her, their rhythm mirroring each other.

  Seconds later, Abner felt Paige tighten around him and he gasped. He finished inside her and tried to escape, but her weight was all on him. Paige continued to ride him, until she scratched his chest again, this time further opening the wounds. The amulets now reacted, and their golden light spread into the wounds, sealing them shut before the Hunter’s eyes. Empowered by them, Abner flipped Paige on her back, rolling over on top of her and began thrusting deep inside her again. She dug her nails into his back, forcing a groan from his lips as tightened more around him finishing moments before he did for the second time.

  The pair were panting from their brief few minutes together and they laid down beside each other. Paige moved to snuggle her head into his chest to which he shuffled around on the floor to a more comfortable position. He wrapped his arms around her and waited until she fell asleep before he moved his arms from around her to rest by his side. Abner stared up at the ceiling in the dark and before long closed his eyes, only to hear a gentle knock on the door.