A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga
Page 21
The horde stood in silence, afraid to disturb their queen’s concentration. For the first time since their gathering, many of them felt truly afraid. Not for the coming battle, but for the vampire queen that commanded them, surely touched by the Devil’s hand and guided towards otherworldly pursuits.
Not all of them wanted to rule the world, with interests that went towards survival instead of bloodshed. The summoner was a threat, none of them questioned that, but now they stood witness to the true powers behind Lady Amata’s sudden rise to prominence.
Still, they would stay and fight for their vampire queen. What other choice did those already within her grasp have? They would fight, or be dragged down into the afterlife that had surrounded them all.
A few minutes later, the entire castle began to unravel, each stone coming down in an eerily similar fashion to what had happened not a few days before. To the many creatures and monsters within the courtyard, and those still clogged into the massive pile at the gates, the entire castle was beginning to crumble.
For the vampire queen, it meant that the castle already had crumbled. Well played, she thought to herself, refusing to admit this to even her most trusted generals, but she was surprised by the deception. She had underestimated the traitor, Xander, if even just slightly. He could have this victory, for she would soon have hers.
As the castle’s mirage vanished, and the horde slowly regained composure, the smell that had once been so intoxicating had now turned sour and forced itself down their throats. They were standing on a graveyard of their enemies, days removed from the living and rotting amongst the remains of the devastated courtyard.
Many threw up on the spot; others wish they had of, and some even contemplated throwing themselves off the edge of the cliff— anything to get away from that awful smell that was choking off the entire area.
“We’ve been made fools of!” a voice in the crowd growled.
“I’ll piss of the summoner’s bones!” another shouted.
“I want silence!” Lady Amata fired back, her eyes burning with hellfire. “You sheep have little faith in the power that I wield. Fear not, my faithful flock... there’s always a contingency plan.”
The crowd once again settled down, but not because of their queen’s command, but by the sight of a mysterious individual floating high into the sky, covered in the red mist that had spewed from Amata’s lips only a few minutes earlier.
“The dark prince speaks from within her!”
“All hail the vampire queen!”
The shadowy man within the blood-red aura dropped to the ground with a thud in front of the bloodthirsty crowd. They could all hear the sound of his bones snapping as the man collided to the ground. Blood splattered, which only drove them further into a frenzy from which not even the vampire queen might be able to hold off.
The man slowly lifted his head in defiance, and crawled towards Amata. His legs were useless, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting around for death’s embrace. If his time was coming to an end, then he would face it head on— like a true man, regardless of the blood that coursed through his veins.
“I do believe your name’s Horace,” Lady Amata said with a confused look, “We’ve met once before, at Simeon’s palace in Costa Rica… before your master stabbed his in the back.”
“Spew your venom,” Horace said, still scraping and crawling towards his inevitable doom, “Your serpent tongue will find no home within my head … I’ll listen to none of it.”
“Oh, you most certainly will,” Lady Amata answered, “My, my… no matter how much some things chance, even more things will stay just the same. You’re so young… so insolent and shortsighted… you make me wonder how our children ever survived in this dying world.”
Horace collapsed, unable to keep his battered body from moving any further. He was only a few paces from the vampire queen, but even his quest for justice had its limits and he found himself no longer able to keep the fight from fleeing his body. So he did the only remaining thing he could think of, and spat a combined mixture of blood and saliva on the vampire queen’s feet.
“I never took you for a practitioner of the forbidden arts,” said Lady Amata as she brushed off the ghoul’s insult with nothing more than a passing thought, “A little rough around the edges, maybe, but you could’ve been… much, much more.”
“You never asked.”
“No, no, I guess I didn’t,” Lady Amata replied, “However, perhaps you’re the one who should’ve asked. I could’ve shown you much, ghoul… now you’ve gone and thrown it all away.”
“Screw you.”
“Screw me?” Lady Amata asked, “No, you’re the one that’s going to get screwed.”
“You’re threatening to kill me? Please do. I couldn’t imagine a better way of going out than to die knowing that I’ve spared the lives of those I travel with.”
“Is that what you care about?” Lady Amata asked, “Don’t allow me to interrupt your pitiful little speech. Please, do go on.”
“You’re right… that’s not all it’s about. No, it’s the satisfaction that I’ll get to die knowing that you’re eternally fucked, sister— ‘cause you’ll never find out where the goddamn temple is now.”
“Foolish whelp,” Lady Amata fired back, “You’ve no victory here. Get up!”
“Go to Hell.”
The horde cried out for his head, but they were quickly quieted by their queen’s hand, raised high into the sky and calling for their silence. When they finally quieted down, she knelt down to the wounded ghoul, and looked him right in the eyes.
“I said, get up,” Lady Amata commanded as she stirred him to her will through charmed words.
The unwilling participant had little choice in the matter and Horace was once again put into motion— now nothing more than a puppet of his new mistress. He screamed out in agony as his many cuts dug even deeper and bones snapped from unsupported foundation.
First it was his left leg, with shin bone protruding from the skin, and then the right leg, no longer pouring blood from the deep cuts along his thigh; but as soon as his body allowed, he was standing upright and awaiting his charmer’s next command.
“You’ll burn for this.”
“I’ve been burned several times,” Lady Amata said, “Never seems to stick, though. Now, tell me where the Temple of Prometheus is.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
Horace laughed, muted and awkwardly at first, but after several moment’s he was able to break free of the vampire queen’s hold, if even just a small fraction of his own control. His strength of will soon broke through and he bellowed a deep and coarse laughter that held its own against the entire horde surrounding him.
“I already told you, ghoul,” Lady Amata said as she toyed playfully at Horace’s chest, “You’ve no victory here.”
Horace screamed out to the gods above as Amata drove her fist into his chest, her hands wrapped around his beating heart.
“And you’re no use to me dead, either,” Lady Amata said with a sadistic smile as she continued to hold onto the ghoul’s very essence, “I’m not just reading you… I’m reading those that share your blood… and those that allow you to share in theirs.”
“What’s your point?”
“That I already know more than you could ever hope to comprehend,” Lady Amata said, her hands just itching to squeeze, “You’ve failed your master, Horace, just like you failed to save your closest friends.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Go to Hell”
“Very well,” Lady Amata said, “I think I’ve made my point.”
“If that’s what you want to believe.”
“Good, then it’s settled,” Lady Amata happily agreed, “And to show you that I’m not the cold-hearted ruler, like you so spiritedly proclaimed… I’ll even grant your dying wish. I have my victory, Horace… and you… well, you can have your victory, too. Congratulations, you’re the hero you always wanted to be.”
The vampire queen ripped the ghoul’s heart out with such ferocity that Horace had time to stare upon it with his own eyes before finally giving into the darkness he’s avoided for so long.
He might’ve looked no older than a middle-aged man, but he had lived much longer than that. The vampire blood kept him young and strong, but the price he paid unleashed the floodgates of the netherworld into his mind and stole his very sanity out from under him. It was the blood he craved now. He’d do just about anything for another drop of blood and another year of life. It never once scared him— until now. He died, but before he did so, he regained a small piece of the life that was stolen away from him.
The horde went crazy as Horace’s screams came to a sudden stop and his lifeless body dropped to the ground. Amata still held his heart in the air, above the ghoul’s mangled corpse. She pulled it back towards her and let her fangs sink deep into the organ.
After she took her fill of the vampire-infused blood, as tossed the heart into the crowd and let the dogs fight for the scraps. They went wild for the queen’s offering, and it passed hands several times before being devoured by a ravenous werewolf.
“My brethren,” Lady Amata began with Horace’s blood still streaming down her chin, “I would like to make a very special announcement to you all. Our enemies have fled… no doubt they were in awe of our power and feared for their lives. Who can blame them? Not I… no, if I was in the traitor’s shoes, I would’ve done the same thing.”
“We’ll never meet them in open combat, I’m afraid,” Lady Amata continued, “No… they plan to continue running until they reach their precious little temple. They believe to have the upper hand, their temple kept a secret and forever out of our reach. At that point… it’s the end of the road for us. We can’t follow them and their free to carry out their blasphemous ritual. They believe that they’ve won… and Horace bet his life on it.”
Each monster in the horde looked to one another for support, but found nothing but the same terror-stricken look, stretched across every face in the crowd.
“Fear not, my loyal subjects,” Lady Amata said, “Your queen doesn’t disappoint. My poor friend, Horace, has unknowingly divulged the location of the temple to me through the blood passed onto him from his traitorous master. Now, there’s nowhere upon this earth that they can hide!”
The horde chanted for their vampire queen and beat on their chests in union to show proper respect. They wanted blood. They needed destruction. Soon, they would find cravings satisfied and have both within their grasp.
“Get angry, my legion,” Lady Amata said with eyes afire, “Let that hatred you’re feeling right now burn deep in your chest… let it permeate and build in pressure… until we finally reach the temple’s walls and unleash all our aggression in one fiery blaze of unstoppable destruction. Soon, we’ll be at the cradle of our civilization… and then, my children… then… we’ll kill them all.”
The End
Temple of Prometheus
Chapter One
Far across the Atlantic, traveling back towards the Americas they had left behind only a few short months ago, the summoner and her companions traveled the open seas on their way towards the illusive Temple of Prometheus.
It was the place where the solution to all their problems could be solved, only Emily had no reason to believe that had ever really been the case. She had been guided, coerced and threatened into the actions she’s undertaken. Whatever her reasons, it had become a matter of life and death, and when thrust together with the undead vampires that lent a hand in the war effort, she would choose life every time.
She hadn’t even known of the paranormal realm’s existence until that fateful night when two ghouls attacked her, but now she had been asked to commit the genocide of an entire race of people, no matter how bloodthirsty and cold-hearted they might’ve been. How could she really be asked to do such a thing? And if it was a choice between her family and those that threatened them, how could she not?
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Indeed,” Emily said as she turned from her perch and looked back to see the Celt, Fiona, who stood behind her, “I’ve never seen the moon so radiant… it’s like a completely new experience. I was starting to think that I was in another world… far removed from the problems that plague my existence.”
“It’s the pollution from the cities,” Fiona said as she joined Emily against the railing, “You don’t really get to appreciate the night sky until you get far, far away.”
“It’s breathtaking,” Emily replied, “I can’t believe that I’ve never stopped and taken notice before.”
“Every night used to be like this,” Fiona said, “A long time ago when things where a lot simpler. It was easy to believe, back then, that it was a gift from the gods, meant to light our path in the dark.”
“And now, what do you believe?” Emily asked.
“The gods abandoned us a long time ago,” Fiona said, “And we’re just scraping and clawing as hard as we can to stay above the water that threatens to drown us all.”
Emily’s heart went out to wounded vampire, who lost her sister a few days ago when the blood demon attacked the castle. Fiona had every right to hate her, and even voiced those intentions several times after the incident. Yet here she was, trying to offer what little consolation she could to the woman she so instinctually hated.
“You’re wondering what brought you here, aren’t you?” Fiona asked.
“Among other things,” Emily said coyly, “Things have been happening so fast lately. Less than a year ago, I was at home considering my options for university. Now, I’m running for my life, fleeing from an army based on creatures that I believed fictional up until the moment they had their hands around my neck.”
“Yes,” said Fiona, who knew all too well the feeling of being threatened, “Our gifts are a blessing and a curse. I am stronger than any human… faster, more agile, and even more intelligent. I shouldn’t have a care in the world… and most of the time, I don’t. That’s what scares me the most… the feeling of losing the humanity that you once held so dear.”
“At first, you don’t think it’s going to change you,” Fiona continued, “But it does… it always does. You think you’ve got control over your new abilities, your new cravings… but you don’t. You feel that if you can keep just a small piece of that humanity you still cling to, it will make it all better… but it won’t. No matter what you say or do… you’re not human anymore. Whether you’re a vampire in the dark, or a summoner in the light, you’re not one of them, and you’ll never be while you’re still one of us… a paranormal, cast from society and forced to live a life in secret.”
“What is it about vampires?” Emily asked with a smile, “That makes you all so dreary and macabre?”
The two laughed under the pale moon and let their animosity for one another go with the water that wrapped around the large vessel. It wasn’t friendship, but it was a start; and right now, Emily welcomed the company of anyone not trying to stab her in the back.
“How’s your brother?” Fiona asked, “I haven’t seen him much, and it’s not like there’s many places to hide on this boat. He’s avoiding me, isn’t he?”
“Humans tend to avoid those that wished them dead,” Emily quipped, “Don’t take it personally… it’s a people thing, although I’m not sure that I can relate as well as I used to.”
“I could start to like you, summoner,” Fiona said proudly, “But don’t go around thinking we’re friends.”
“Don’t worry,” Emily replied, “I wouldn’t dare be so bold.”
“Your brother’s lucky to be alive,” Fiona added, “Things could’ve turned out much, much worse.”
“I know,” Emily said with regret, “All too well, I’m afraid.”
“I know he thinks that I hate him,” Fiona continued, “And yes, yes… I know that I threatened to kill him a couple times, but I really do envy him.”
“Oh?” Emily asked with eyes wide open, “My brother’s always been quite the charmer, but he’s never gotten under the skin of an older woman before.”
“Nothing of the sort,” said Fiona, her expression deadly serious and filled with sorrow, “I miss life, and all the wonder it had to offer. I miss the warmth against my skin and the hot sand beneath my toes. I miss my humanity, Emily, and I’d do anything just to have it back… if even just for a brief moment in time.”
“You speak of it like it’s still within your grasp,” Emily noted, “Surely you’d go mad with such thoughts stirring around in your head for an eternity.”
“It’s what my sister wanted,” Fiona said as she leaned over the railing, “She wanted it so badly that she chased down a goddamn blood demon. The stupid girl… had to just go throw her life away… a life I would’ve surely followed had Xander not pulled me back. So I stay… fighting for what my sister believed enough to die for. I fight to be human.”