The Toldar Series Box Set

by Matt Mememaro

  Abner struck back with a blow of his own and caught the Vampire on the chin. It stumbled back letting out a yelp. The third had grabbed the sword and held it wearily in front of it before it struck out. Abner went to meet it and clasped the Vampire’s hands in his own. He twisted, reversing the blade into its stomach. It let go of the sword and crumpled to its knees.

  The two Vampires left standing looked at each other. One shrugged and swung overhand at Abner. He ducked under the blow and drove the sword up into the Vampire’s chest. Abner pulled the sword out straight away and stepped back, pushing it through the forehead of the final Vampire. He looked around at his handwork and flicked the sword clean. The rest of the plateau and surrounds were silent.

  Abner made his way up the rocky path to reach the plateau and the Citadel. No alarms had been raised and strangely no guards stood by on the door. He waited for the silence to be broken as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Still no Vampires or slaves could be seen. It was almost as if the Citadel had been abandoned.

  He turned away from Tal’davin’s room and headed for where he had stayed during his time at the Citadel. Abner ran down the corridors, his footsteps echoing off the walls and the tiles as he ran. He opened the door to his old room and looked across at the bed. Lois sat atop a slave who had his face buried in her chest. She turned as the door slammed shut and laughed.

  “Ah, Abner, you’ve come back at last. I believe our son was looking for you!” She held the slave’s head in her hands and keep him in between her breasts. “Don’t stop, dear.”

  “He wanted the amulets, yes, but he wanted nothing to do with me,” Abner said. “Where is my father?”

  “Here of course, we knew you’d be coming so we prepared a banquet for you,” Lois said. “I’m just enjoying my entrée.” She saw the disgusted look on Abner’s face. “Yes, I’ll eat him once I’m done with him.”

  “In my mind a few weeks ago we were married,” Abner said. “But now I don’t even recognize you.”

  “Time doesn’t heal all wounds, Abner. Over four hundred years have come and gone,” Lois said.

  “We could have spent those years hunting together, Lois! I would have spent every day with you! You were everything that I ever wanted!” Abner said. He started walking towards the bed. “Why did you give it all away?”

  “You know you were an idiot sometimes. I was never going to live as long as you. Even if you aged at a slower rate I wasn’t immortal! Tal’davin would only turn me if I delivered you to him. So, I did what I had to do to gain my immortality,” Lois said. She ignored Abner and grabbed the slave’s head and smothered his face with her breasts. “Now look at me, I have everything. I haven’t aged and I’m one of the most powerful beings in all of Taagras. I don’t know why you didn’t stay with Tal’davin, Abner. It’s really quite sad when you think about everything you could have had, including me.”

  Abner reached the bed and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He pulled her back away from the slave and with a roar tossed her off the bed. Lois went sliding along the tiles, her skin quickly changing into the familiar grey whilst her claws tried to save her from sliding.

  “You are a snake,” Abner said. He drew the sword and held it by his side.

  “Ah I remember that sword, I gave that to my daughter many years ago,” Lois said. “Thought I’d laugh at her attempts to become a Hunter from afar.”

  “You have a daughter?” Abner asked. “We had a son, Valdmire, there’s no way we could have had another child. You haven’t aged a day.”

  “I was turned shortly after having Valdmire, yes. But there was another man, a Hunter who managed to find a way to love me like you had done all those years ago. You’ve been across Taagras with her at your side,” Lois said.

  “Paige isn’t a half-Vampire. I would have known. She’s human,” Abner said.

  “When she wants to be, yes. You don’t display any vampiric qualities at all times, do you?” Lois asked. “Paige is my daughter and always has been. She ran off to join the Hunters three hundred years ago and swore never to use her better side. Guess she’s kept it under wraps.”

  Abner’s flashed back to the night he had spent with Paige. The marks on his back were too deep for normal human fingernails. Paige had shrugged it off.

  “Who was the father?” Abner asked.

  “Gareth of course. It seems that your father isn’t the only Hunter who could create a hybrid. You get a Hunter to past the point of a Bloodrush and the rest is history,” Lois said.

  “I refuse to believe I’m the byproduct of some drunken lust,” Abner said.

  “Sophia, your mother showed you her memories. I can show you mine if you don’t believe me,” Lois said.

  “Don’t,” Abner said.

  Lois rose to her feet and walked forwards with her arms outstretched. “I can show you the truth, Abner.”

  “Don’t!”

  Abner ran at her raising his knee into her stomach. Lois fell backwards again. Abner stabbed down with his sword, catching her robe on the blade. It tore as she rolled away and Abner chased her, stabbing with the sword, finally bringing it down on her leg. The blade pierced her flesh and Lois let out a shriek of pain.

  Abner ran the sword all the way through her leg and started to slide it up along the shin bone. She continued to shriek, and the slave sprinted from the room, screaming. Lois tried to fight back against Abner, but he was sure to stay out of reach. The runes flushed red as he pressed deeper.

  “Hurting you will only hurt him,” Abner said. “Is he here?”

  “Tal’davin? Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you!” Lois said. “I have no reason to!”

  “Where?”

  “He’s in the great hall! I told you we were having a feast, just let me live!” Lois screamed.

  Abner pulled his sword free of her and slammed it back down into her stomach. Lois screamed again as the Fyndfire took hold of her body, the wound around the blade coming orange.

  “You don’t have long left,” Abner said. “Soon the Fyndfire will take over and work its magic. I hope you’ve enjoyed immortality, Lois.”

  “I hope he kills you! I felt sorry for you when you woke up, but now I remember the hatred I felt for you all those years ago,” Lois said. She spat the last words at him. “I hope you burn in a deep pit of fiery hell, Abner Toldar.”

  “My immortality wasn’t bought,” Abner said. “I’ve had all those years taken from me, I intend to reclaim them. This is how I felt when you stabbed me in the back.”

  He knelt beside her. Lois had transformed back to her human body and tears ran down her face. She shook violently as if she was suffering from a virus. The orange glow of the Fyndfire continued to spread across her stomach up towards her head.

  “It was worth it,” Lois said. “I can’t deny that. I’ve seen more than I ever thought I’d see as a child. Have a good life, Abner.”

  Abner sighed and raised the sword once more. He looked at her for a moment before thrusting it down into her navel once again. Lois let out a final shriek before she fell silent, the Fyndfire quickly burning through her body, leaving her as nothing but ash. Abner looked down and shook his head before collecting the sword and moved to exit the room.

  30

  Closure

  The hallways were still silent as Abner shut the door to his old room behind him. He held his head high and allowed a single tear to leave his eye. Abner took a deep breath, composing himself before moving again. The great hall was at the opposite end of the floor, a view that overlooked the volcano crater and the ocean.

  Before long, the doors stood before him, with no guards on duty. However, if Tal’davin was waiting for him, it could easily be a trap. Regardless he raised his hand to the door and it began to slide open before he’d even knocked on it. Abner looked above him and saw a camera staring back at him.

  He kept his sword by his side and watched as the doors were pulled back to reveal Tal’davin sitting at the head of the long table that s
tretched from one end of the hall to another. A dozen Vampires sat on either side, food on the plates in front of them, watching and waiting for either Abner or Tal’davin to make a move.

  “Ah my son, at last, you’ve come to join us,” Tal’davin said. “Please take a seat.”

  Tal’davin gestured towards the only remaining empty chair opposite him. Abner stepped into the hall and looked up into the rafters and saw more Vampires waiting. They sat across the beams all looking down at him with a hunger in their eyes.

  “Excellent, I’ve walked into a trap,” Abner said.

  “Not quite, my son. Eat with us, enjoy your time here. I don’t wish to kill you just yet,” Tal’davin said.

  “That’s a shame,” Abner said. “This is what I was born to do. I’ve come to take your head.”

  Tal’davin took a sip from his chalice and scoffed. “You take my amulets and think that you can now kill me? Abner, I told you, I am immortal. Nothing can touch me, not even my own creations.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Abner said.

  Tal’davin nodded to the Vampires sitting at the table with them. As one they rose, their flesh peeling away to reveal the Vampire underneath. Abner held his sword by his side and waited for the first to strike. He darted back and cut it down, leaving a wound from its shoulder through to its hip.

  “Come on Tal’davin, you’ve got to do better than this,” Abner said. He cut a second Vampire down on his next step through. “Don’t you have any Purestrains left?”

  “I was wondering when you’d ask me that,” Tal’davin said. He raised his hand again and a Purestrain Vampire dropped down from the roof, crashing onto the table. “Don’t fuck with me, Abner.”

  Abner laughed and took two steps back and beckoned for the Purestrain Vampire to charge at him. The Vampire looked back at Tal’davin who nodded his consent. The Purestrain roared and threw itself at Abner. He ran forward and ducked underneath the flying monster, holding his sword in the air. It split in two and fell to the floor silent.

  “Do you wish to speak with me yet?” Tal’davin asked.

  Abner shook his head. “I’m not even close to being done yet. Why would you think I’m going to stop?”

  “You want closure. That’s why you’ll stop. You want to find out why I did what I did. Stop the killing and come talk to me,” Tal’davin said.

  Abner paused and stared down the Vampires around him. They took a step back at Tal’davin’s order. Abner slowly slid the sword back into its sheath and held it again at his side.

  “Tell me everything, then I might not kill you,” Abner said.

  “Leave us,” Tal’davin said. He ushered the Vampires towards the doors. He waited before opening his mouth again. “Come, sit closer my son, I will tell you everything.”

  Abner curled his lip and sat down in the seat beside Tal’davin throwing his sword onto the table, leaving it as a clear message in front of the Vampire. “Speak.”

  “I’m glad you stole the amulets from me,” Tal’davin said. “It’s returned me to my normal self.”

  “What do you mean,” Abner asked.

  “The Vampire you see before you isn’t actually Tal’davin. I am still Barros,” Tal’davin said.

  “What?” Abner asked. “You look exactly the same! Who are you?”

  “I am Barros Toldar, brother to Malvrok Toldar, father of you. I assumed the mantle of Tal’davin to control the population. For years as Barros, even though I had the amulets, I only had a limited control over the Vampires. The legends told us as Hunters that Tal’davin could control entire hordes.”

  “So, what’s this got to do with me?” Abner asked. “You stormed the Huntries with an army, how can you say you didn’t have control.”

  “I worked for years gathering support. During my time at West Anacore I met with Counts and in turn offered them positions in my new world for their support. But as I gathered more amulets their hold took over me,” Barros said. “I was a Vampire, yet the amulets cloaked my identity from the Hunters and other Vampires. I slowly started to become Tal’davin.”

  “Yeah, whatever, this is great and all, but yet again, I’m missing what this had to do with me. Get explaining quickly or I’ll cut your head off,” Abner said.

  “Let me finish!” He fell silent for a moment and gathered himself. “Apologies, sometimes I let my Vampiric nature get the better of me. Now where you come in, my son is you’ve had contact with one of the amulets for years. When I discovered Tal’davin invading my mind, I gave you an amulet to see if his corruption would take hold. From what happened over the same time frame, the two you had did not affect you. It was either as if Tal’davin had ignored you completely or wanted to continue corrupting me. I thought you could be a cure. Continue giving me the power of the amulets, minus his mind games. I only keep the amulets close because I know I’m missing one. If someone was to add the last to them and complete the set he’d be unleashed on Taagras again.”

  “So, you betrayed me so you could cling onto your newly found power and to keep Tal’davin at bay?” Abner asked. “That’s sounding like a rubbish excuse.”

  “You could say that,” Barros said. “But what we found inside you was incredible. We experimented on you while you slept. You are truly a unique gift to the world, Abner. I tried to replicate it but couldn’t. The closest I got to discovering your secret was a Purestrain Vampire. I wanted to create a master race in the shadows, a perfect mix of human and Vampire that would push Taagras into a new age of prosperity and technology, neither species relying on blood or a fear of the dominate species. Hunters that had your gifts as a natural ability. You are as pure a Vampire as any other, but also at the same time remain a human. Only the Graytooths have what you have. Valdmire was not your equal by any stretch of the imagination. Nobody knew it but they all became a pawn in my game. I wanted another you.”

  “You could have stopped that before it happened,” Abner said. “You know as much as I do that Gareth was nothing more than a caged animal.”

  “Lois wanted him saved, so I did what I had to do to keep her onside. I wasn’t ready to lose such a valuable and loyal asset,” Barros said.

  “Was this before or after you fell in love with her?” Abner asked. “I saw the way you looked at her when I was here in the Citadel. You must have been seething with rage to see her affixed with him.”

  “He was nothing, like you said. I only converted him so she didn’t feel alone. I was away for months at a time bringing change to Taagras, and she couldn’t be with me all the time. Paige wasn’t the result I had hoped for,” Barros said. “I tried to teach her, but she rejected me, even from a young age.”

  Abner snorted. “How sad. But at least I know nobody meant anything to you, Barros. I’m glad I never knew you as a father.”

  “I put you on this path,” Barros said. “Without me none of this would have happened! I am the immortal!”

  His eyes flushed red and then rolled back in his head. Abner pushed his seat out and grabbed the sword. Barros’ head snapped back into position and he sat upright. He looked crazed and began frothing at the mouth.

  “I can sense the amulets! Give them to me!”

  “Who are you?” Abner asked. He held Barros back at sword point. “Barros or Tal’davin?”

  “I can sense the amulets! I need them to suppress Tal’davin!” Barros said. He grabbed his head and screamed, his claws making a mark against his flesh, the bloodied symbol the sign of Tal’davin scattered around the Citadel. “Hurry boy! All of the amulets are close together, Tal’davin is coming! This has never happened before!”

  “I only have one!” Abner said. “Paige must be here. I need to find her.”

  Barros fell silent and sniffed the air. He began to breathe slowly and returned to his previous state. His eyes opened slowly and it was as if a fire had lit underneath him. Barros looked refreshed and his face twisted into a sick smile.

  “It’s too late for that. All of the amulets are near and Barr
os will not keep me under here forever, regardless of how much he tries to suppress me,” Tal’davin said. “I will have contact with all eight of my amulets and I will be reborn again!”

  “But there’s only seven?” Abner asked.

  Tal’davin laughed and swung at Abner as Barros’ flesh disintegrated away to reveal the Vampire underneath. Abner jumped back, towards the glass windows behind him, heading out towards the plateau. Tal’davin chased him, his claws striking nothing but air. Abner was faster than the ancient Vampire but was still not taking any risks.

  “Barros fight back! Don’t surrender to the amulets!”

  He took another step back and his foot hit glass. Abner readied himself as Tal’davin attacked again, but instead of ducking, Abner grabbed the Vampire by its hair and flung it over his shoulder. Tal’davin flew amongst the glass shards and landed hard on the plateau behind them. He regained his feet and looked up at Abner, the twisted grin still on his face.

  “Come now, my son. Do not be afraid to face me on the field. Are you scared of hurting your father? He’s lost to you now! Soon I will have all of the amulets in my possession and I will be untouchable,” Tal’davin said.

  Abner laughed and followed Tal’davin, stepping out of the Citadel and dropping to the ground below. He stood erect and stared down the monster that had overtaken his father. Abner shrugged his sword off his shoulder and tossed it on the ground in front of him.

  “I don’t need this to kill you.”

  He pulled the amulet out from underneath his jacket and held it out in front of him, taunting Tal’davin. The Vampire snarled and waited for Abner to attack him with the amulet. Instead Abner let it fall to the ground. It only enraged the Vampire more, who now began to start shrieking in pain.

  “I also don’t need that to kill you.”

  Abner closed his eyes and let his blood takeover. He felt the claws slide out into their normal position, and his fangs pushed through his gums to their rightful resting place. He opened his eyes to the red world of a Vampire, which only enhanced the image of the smoldering volcano behind Tal’davin. The Vampire shrieked again and beckoned Abner forward.