“Run for your lives!” Titus screams as he charges by the tavern.
“Demons coming!” Luther shouts, passing by a second later.
The dining vampires ignore the screaming mortals and casually walk into the street to see what is causing the disturbance. On the far side of town, shadows dart through the faint moonlight and lay waste to every structure in their path. Elemental blasts sail through the air, their arcing flight giving off enough light to reveal the enraged womb-born army. Buildings that are too difficult for single vampires to force their way into are swarmed by large packs of the invaders. Digging their hands under the foundation, the powerful Dawn Fangs lift the homes and stores to let their smaller allies crawl underneath. Unleashing snarls and hisses, they burrow and bash through the wooden floors to slaughter all those hiding within and tear the buildings down from the inside. The terrified mortals are defenseless against the ravenous army, which washes over them and leaves a trail of desiccated remains in their wake.
“In my defense, I didn’t say we had our act together now,” Clyde says before the two vampires sprint away from the burning town.
*****
Wandering out of the back room, Bob goes behind the bar and grabs a jar of blood along with a half full bottle of Masterson whiskey. He stops when he hears a few of the nearby patrons gasp and fall off their stools, their eyes wide with shock. It takes the vampire a few seconds to realize that he is invisible, so he drops the spell and bows in apologize. More people stare at him, the drunkest of the crowd pointing and mumbling incoherently. Fearing that he still has a gaping hole in his chest, Bob looks down and is relieved to find that he is only naked. Grabbing four aprons from under the bar, he ties all their straps around his waist to make a barely functional skirt. Seeing that people are still watching him, the vampire grabs an inked quill and writes a price listing on his chest for those who want to keep staring. The obscene costs cause even the most inebriated to turn away and continue averting their gaze as the whistling elf gallops over to the booth where Chastity is going over a pile of letters.
“So, what’s going on with Lost?” Bob asks as he takes a seat. Scanning the room, he finally notices the silver-haired girl hiding under a table covered in stacks of cakes. “She looks pretty scared. Did Clyde or Mab spook her? What about Titus? I’m not really sure what’s going on since I was out for so long. Getting hit by Clyde isn’t something you shrug off. We’re not going to give her back to Xavier, are we?”
“She’s my daughter and that bastard is not the father,” Chastity replies, her attention more on the letters. She telekinetically catches the spray of blood and alcohol from her friend, the droplets flowing into an empty glass. “Forgot that you were in the room, but not entirely conscious. Please don’t ruin my fan and hate mail. I’m hoping to get through this before Clyde and the boys come back. Mab is gone too since we nearly ran into Xavier’s people. I’m assuming that’s what has Lost so spooked. Can’t say I entirely blame her. It’s unnerving to see Stephanie Talon out of Nyte. Although, I’m sure it was the mysterious fourth member who caused the trouble.”
“Wow, a lot happens when you’re nursing a punctured chest,” the elf says before raising his glass. Shifting in his chair, he notices most of the people in front of him quickly turn away. “I probably should have gone back to get underwear. At least I have my boots on. Can you tell me what’s going on? It’s strange that Clyde went out with Titus and Luther instead of taking Mab or leaving them to do it themselves. I mean, I know he keeps wanting to get more involved, but I thought he was staying behind to avoid an incident. If it’s a secret, then I should know because it isn’t nice to keep friends in the dark. Please tell me and I’ll work here for a month.”
“Pretty sure that’s a threat,” the hostess wryly jokes. She glances at Lost, who is reaching up to steal a cake and growls back at a defensive goblin. “Not sure where to start considering everything that’s happened. The basics are that she is my daughter who I thought was a stillbirth and buried near Vorgabog. Obviously, she’s alive and is now back after possibly unleashing an army of immature Dawn Fangs on the world. Clyde said he would figure out what’s going on with that situation soon. This last day, which feels like a week, has been so emotionally draining that I can barely think straight.”
“Then think crooked.”
“I don’t even know how to take that.”
“That’s a shame because I don’t know what I meant either.”
“Thanks for putting a smile on my face, old friend.”
A crash from the other side of the dance floor causes Chastity to sigh and slide out of the booth. She waves for a broom to come to her hand when another mug shatters against the floor near the stage. Noticing that the music has stopped, the hostess looks up at the bard to find that the woman is frozen in mid-step. The mortal’s eyes dart from side to side and she releases the occasional whimper, which is steadily drowned out by people starting to cry. Half of the patrons scramble under tables and chairs, which nearly becomes a brawl when the first to hide are violently yanked into the open. The rest of the customers growl and hunker down like cornered beasts, the affected vampires baring their fangs. With a clap of his hands, Bob strains his powers to make the pointed teeth invisible, but the intense concentration makes his head swim. Chastity uses her telekinesis to pour her friend’s drink into his mouth, which gives him a boost that she hopes will last until they figure out what is going on.
Wailing and screaming erupt from below before the people in the private rooms begin to climb up the poles. The mortals are bleeding from getting bitten by the Dawn Fangs, who foam at the mouth and flop to the floor as if their muscles no longer work. One of the vampires tries to pounce on a crawling woman, but immediately binds his own body with barbed coils that erupt from his spine. In contrast to the horrific scene, the bartender and two of the waitresses strip naked and leap onto the bar to begin dancing. The bard is freed from her paralysis to play music for the performers, but she is forced to play her lyre at a dizzying speed. Blood drips from her fingers as they are sliced on the strings, but she is unable to stop. With a chorus of snarls, the goblins join the chaos and jump high enough to touch the ceiling with their ivory horns. The bakers land on the tables and smash their wares with enough force to send the pieces splattering in all directions. One chuckling creature scrambles into a hot stove to get at a tray of chocolate tarts and stays inside even as it burns. It is only when two other goblins yank their friend out that it starts squealing in agony and examining its burnt body.
“What is going on here?” Chastity asks, her voice barely audible in the rising din. She desperately tries to use her powers to separate brawlers and prevent dishes from crashing to the floor. “Whoever is causing this mess better stop. I have strict rules and you’re breaking all of them. Come out here now!”
“No, because the scary man will get me!” Lost shouts from under her table. The girl yelps when she is telekinetically hoisted into the air by the back of her pants and dangled over the dance floor. “Put me down and let me go! You don’t know what that scary man is going to do if he finds me. I don’t either, but I know he’s going to do something bad. He has weird eyes and a shiny tongue, which I don’t trust. Let me keep hiding!”
“But you’re causing everyone to lose their minds,” Bob says, as he struggles to restrain a snarling goblin. The creature eventually bites him in the arm and escapes to continue its rolling pin duel with a terrified woman. “I don’t think she realizes what she’s doing, Chastity. This guy must be really mean to scare her so badly. We have to calm everyone down before this gets even more out of hand or one of the others comes back. Imagine if she takes over Titus or Clyde with this madness going on.”
The thought of any of her friends getting caught up in the chaos sends a chill down Chastity’s spine and makes her fear that she only has seconds to react. Stripping off her clothes, the Dawn Fang hurries to the center of the Scrumptious Siren and closes her eyes. The windows s
lam shut and the ceiling vent is covered by the hostess’s clothing to make sure it is completely blocked. She takes a slow breath to help her concentrate before unleashing the pink charm mist from every pore of her body. The billowing clouds roll across the room to engulf those on the floor and steadily grows to reach the ceiling. With her heart pounding hard in her chest, Chastity creates more of the pheromones and sends them flowing down to the lower levels. Only Bob is shielded from the fog, the vampiric elf standing stiff within a bubble of clean air. Even with her superhuman endurance, she struggles to remain conscious and continue pumping out more of the charm mist. A shiver runs up her spine as Chastity feels her skin tighten to the point where she is beginning to resemble a mummified corpse. Sensing that Lost is fighting against her influence, the wheezing Dawn Fang collects all of the unabsorbed pheromones and forces the massive cloud into her daughter’s body. She ignores that girl’s thrashing and crying, which is mimicked by all of her entranced victims.
“Everyone sleep!” Chastity shouts with a snap of her fingers. All of the patrons, goblins, and waitstaff collapse into a deep slumber while Lost curls into a whimpering ball. “Even with all of that, she’s only in a light sleep. That’s far too much power for someone so young and immature to wield. What is Clyde going to do with you now, little one?”
11
Clyde pauses in the doorway when he sees that all of the patrons and waitstaff have left the Scrumptious Siren. The only sounds are of the goblins cleaning the bakery, which is still covered in a layer of smashed food and broken utensils. Back in his leather armor, Bob does his best to gather the trash and toss it out a window to where five of his horses are waiting. The scar-covered creatures crunch the garbage with their metal teeth and burp to bring their potent stomach acid into their throats. They try their best to devour the feast of trampled food and broken dishware, but two of the mounts have already groggily wandered back to the small stables that is a little ways from the road. Brooms and mops are moving about the room, their movements stiff and constantly stopping while Chastity drinks from a punch bowl that has been turned into a makeshift goblet. The hostess is leaning against a large casket, which has a vent on the top and thick wax still dripping from the sealed seams. She keeps her hand over the thin slits and continues pouring charm mist inside, the stream getting stronger whenever Lost starts to struggle. Glancing up at her friends, she slowly swings her arm to bring their attention to the condition of her precious business.
“My daughter needed a time out,” Chastity states with an edge to her voice. She stops Titus from getting behind the bar by shaking the remaining bottles. “Sorry, big guy, but I need to preserve my supplies for when I can open again. The Dawn Fang customers understand what happened, but I’m going to have trouble coaxing the mortals back. Not unless this brat wipes their memory, which she refuses to do out of childish spite. Even if she does fix this disaster, I don’t think I can keep her here.”
“And where are we going to send her?” Clyde asks before ripping the casket in half. He looks inside to find Lost curled up within the shredded padding. “Sorry, Chastity, but we need to either keep her here or bring her to Nytefall. I’m cautious about taking her to our home considering what I saw out there. Those womb-born are dangerous and finally crossed a line that I can’t ignore. If Lost leaves here and joins them, I can’t guarantee her survival. In fact, I’m making sure she hears a different conversation because I don’t want her knowing what happened until I get all the details.”
“Stop playing games with everyone like you’re a noble,” the hostess snaps as she throws her goblet through the front door. Not wanting to hurt her hand, she breaks a barstool over her scowling friend’s head, the blow having no effect on him. “Go kiss a troll because that made me feel better. Lost went wild because she saw or heard a man who scares her. Her outburst injured a lot of my clients, nearly killed one of my bakers, traumatized a bard, and destroyed all of my dessert stock. I’ll be lucky if I can open again tomorrow, but that isn’t as important as me being afraid that she’s going to do it again.”
Mab quickly gets between her friends and tries to push Chastity away, but her hands are repeatedly wrenched behind her back. “I’ll kick you if I have to. Both of you, so let’s talk before one of us loses their temper. I’m with Clyde that we can’t send Lost away, but I also agree that she can’t stay around here. At least in this area of the Scrumptious Siren. Not only for your patrons’ safety, but her own. I couldn’t find Decker or his friends, which means they could still be nearby. That’s not even taking into account what the boys ran into out there. You know it has to be bad if they’re this nervous.”
Stepping to the side of the dance floor, Clyde creates a small illusion of the town that they had escaped. Going by what Titus and Luther told him, he replays events starting from when the captured womb-born was thrown out of the window. Black forms emerge at one end of the replica and steadily swarm over the village while gray figures try to retreat. Buildings are steadily replaced by burning wreckage and tiny grave markers sprout throughout the illusion as the swarm advances. One of the shadowy invaders grows a shock of blue hair and hurries to the far end of town with four silhouettes in tow. The small pack devours all of the shining people in their path and spread out to slaughter everyone who tries to escape into the forest. The trees come to life and smash mortals into the ground while others are grabbed by flying shadows and dropped into the burning buildings. Within minutes, the entire town has been leveled and transformed into a fiery graveyard.
“The womb-born wiped out an entire town,” Clyde explains as he lets the illusion fade away. He takes a seat on the broken casket and dangles his necklace in front of his face in the hopes of clearing his head. “There were no survivors, but there might have been a few people who were out of town when it happened. They’ll have questions and the neighboring villages will be scared. I don’t believe this will reveal us to the world, but the womb-born have proven to be a major threat to our safety. At least in this situation, I don’t think we can integrate any members of this army into our society, especially since their motivation is blind anger. Titus told me that all they want to do is destroy the world that abandoned them. That includes mortals, Dawn Fangs, and old-world vampires. Lost isn’t like that, which is why I think she should stay here. The last thing I want is for her to rejoin her friends and adopt their beliefs. For now, she’s still an innocent and can be taught our ways.”
“I understand that, but she can get into just as much trouble here,” Chastity argues, her temper making her head swim. Grabbing a bottle of blood from behind the bar, she chugs it and checks herself in the mirror. “While I hate to do it, I can close off the hot spring and claim that we have a snake fiend infestation. Lost can stay there as long as somebody helps me watch her. It feels like stashing an unwanted child in a barn, but it isn’t like the two of us don’t have a strained relationship anyway. Every time I think we’re getting closer, she pulls away and gets angry. It doesn’t sound like she’s that different from the other womb-born like you believe. Her rage and resentment are under the surface just waiting for a chance to explode.”
“Definitely looks like she blew up,” Mab mutters as she examines a railing that is dripping with pie filling. Scooping up some of the red goo onto her finger, she sniffs at it before tossing it into her shadow. “I have some odd questions here. First, are you two going to be okay because you’re both really tense? That’s not one that you really have to answer. I’m more curious about the timing. The womb-born haven’t been this violent before or we would have noticed them long ago. We assume it’s because Lost isn’t there to keep them in check, but what if she’s more responsible than we realize? She does have mental powers and not much control. Is it possible that the other womb-born were more agitated about you taking one of their own because it happened at the same time Lost was having a fit?”
“You’re suggesting she’s influencing them from miles away,” Clyde replies with a nervous l
augh.
“Not on purpose.”
“But how could she pull that off?”
“The womb-born must have been practicing their powers on each other.”
“And Lost left psychic hooks in her friends by accident.”
The pair jump when all of the windows slam shut and Chastity tries to demurely clear her throat. “You two are not blaming Lost for what her friends did. This is only a coincidence or maybe Xavier is behind it. Even if this was true, she wouldn’t have done it on purpose and the other womb-born could have easily resisted her influence from so far away. Psychic powers depend on the user’s concentration, their experience, and how far away they are from their targets. All three of those categories come up short in this situation. Lost is easily distracted, still learning how to control her powers, and she was here at the time. Please don’t punish her for this ridiculous theory.”
“Nobody is punishing anybody,” Clyde says, his head feeling heavy. Wandering over to the bar, he ignores the shaking bottles and grabs a cup of water. “I’m getting a headache, which could be the Lord’s Rage building up. Everything is poking at me and I can see a red haze forming, so this is a bad time for me to make any real decisions. To be clear, I’m not blaming Lost for this even if it was an accident. In fact, such a situation could help get the others out of trouble. Why blame them for something they did under psychic coercion? Right now, all I want are some clear answers, which nobody has. I’m itching for a fight too because talking and waiting doesn’t seem to be solving anything.”
Lost (War of Nytefall Book 2) Page 19