Until Dawn

by brett hicks

  Seri could only focus on the blades and hands darting towards her. She couldn’t do much to interrupt Dean, the coward had an army, two technically, and they were only three. Dean had sprung his trap at the very first sign of cooperation from Lenard. She knew that he struck when he did, to stop Lenard from summoning even one ally to the island. Besides, if he had waited any longer, he would have been facing the Sky Lord’s full might and fury. Dean’s little ruse had worked well enough, getting the sylph out alone and acting as the “neutral” party, was all he needed to achieve his ends.

  Her thoughts cut short as the first of the fallen began to rise. The problem with powerful necromancers, is that they can reassemble the dead when they raise them. The quality of the revenant, ghoul, or zombie is directly proportionate to the necromancer’s power and their focus.

  Dean currently had both power and focus. Even though she had lopped off many heads, they were now firmly reattached, and the growling and groaning dead came rushing at her like wild things.

  Seri unclenched her magic and icy power pushed against the living in a torrent so potent, that she even spotted Dean kneeling to the ground in surprise. Seri tried to rush him, utilizing his loss of focus, but she was tackled by four ghouls.

  Teeth bit into her shoulder and her back. She grunted in pain and she thrashed, struggling to dislodge herself from their collective grip. The ghouls were mindless, ravenous dead that regenerated off the flesh they fed on. Well-fed ghouls can appear nearly human, but starved ones are little more than withered and dried out husks. These were new, fresh and they were made of powerful inhumans.

  Seri fought to free herself, her fear and adrenaline surging to a new height in her desperation.

  Twenty-Eight:

  We had killed the street lights and all electrical illumination for blocks. Granted, we knew humans would eventually be forced to come and inspect the nature of the electrical disturbance, I was certain we would either be dead, or hidden again by then. That was also assuming that someone didn’t call the cops on us for the bazar rendition of Braveheart we were about to unleash upon the world.

  Somehow, Bix had twelve of her dark elf rangers slip behind my border, since my wards did not register Brooklyn denizens as enemy. Her dark counterparts had darkly tanned skin, like Latinos, except they had long pointed ears and deep purple eyes hidden behind long manes of raven locks. They were beautiful, and deadly to behold. Her dark forest rangers were also quite as the grave, none spoke unless they were addressed. They had something beyond a normal level of military disciple. They made Bix appear positively sociable. She was a veritable chatterbox compared to others of her kind.

  We had moved the children and a few others unable to fight to the very tip of Northern Harlem. The rest of my numbers were now spread out across the four buildings in East Harlem that we now occupied. The feline shifters had contact the Cait Sith and some of the shadow-cats had arrived, willing to help us defend our domain. We had Phil to thank for that, because he went and spoke to them all on my behalf.

  Our plan was simple, but I had a feeling that it would be very unpopular with the humans once they were privy to tonight’s festivities. Still, we were not going to roll over and bare our throats to a ruthless foe, just to satisfy human perception. We would have much to answer for after this was through, but that was fine by me. I was their spokesman, the spokesman for all inhumans in Harlem—soon to be all of Manhattan, if my plan worked.

  Elisa was an unstable viper and all who died tonight would be the very end of the long list of deaths that can be laid at her feet. I had heard much of the butchery over the past three-hundred-years. Elisa was unwilling to co-exist next to the crown princess. She saw her presence as a slight and a never-ending threat to her own rule. She was convinced that the daughter of Cain would never be satisfied with just one domain. Even after three-centuries of lopsided aggression, Elisa sill believed she was heading off a future danger in Seri.

  Formations of black leather clad midgets marched in an endless procession. A sea of redcaps arrayed before my eyes, as I sat perched on the closest of the four buildings, waiting with a pair of silent rangers.

  “Where are her water fae? I heard to expect sea lion and horse shifters. I see only redcaps and some light elves in the rear of her ranks.”

  I turned looking to the closest ranger. She was a very detached woman that maybe looked my age on her very worst day, mainly she looked like she belonged in a cheerleading uniform, not in black and green battle leathers with weapons in every conceivable hiding spot and then some.

  She looked at me in a positively affronted manner.

  “Those are Sidhe Fairies, not elves! Light or dark, my kind would never follow some psychotic ice elemental Sidhe bitch!”

  Ok, I think I might have found their one tender subject!

  I raised a hand placatingly.

  “Ok, sorry, three-day-old inhuman, remember? The learning curve is steep as shit!”

  The young woman didn’t change her expression much, but her eyes softened a shade.

  “Forgive me Princess, I forget your age considering your bold actions.”

  I grinned at her like the seven shades of crazy I was. I had to be crazy to do any of what I was doing. Hell, a smart chick would have hit the fucking road and found a place to hold-up and rock back and forth muttering to herself for a few dozen years!

  However, I was not a smart chick! No, I was a loco Latina girl with an unhealthy affinity for dangerous redheads!

  You would start a damn war over a piece of ass! Thea, you are going to end up dead or committed after this! Assuming the humans do not lock us all up to study!

  My dark musings were cut short as the throng of axe and claymore wielding psycho-midgets closed in on our building. Boots thundered off the pavement like drumbeats and metal clashed and rumbled in very distinctive sounds of savage aggression. Battle-cries rang out as the filthy odor began to make itself known to us. The carrion scent assaulted our senses as the brigade of battle-hardened dark dwarves approached our buildings.

  “Ok, open fire, everyone!”

  My shout rang out in the heavy and icy air of the autumn night. Dwarves roared, and some made sounds of surprise and pain, as arrows loosed from the rooftops. I would have been fine using guns, even if immortals didn’t traditionally use human weapons, but I knew that would only bring the cops here sooner, rather than much later. I didn’t want to get into a firefight with NYPD officers trying to protect and serve. Not when I wished to be one, or at least I had before all of this. Now, they would consider me a threat, not an asset. I knew far too well about human prejudice.

  There would be blood soon, blood just because knowing the truth would cause the fearful to spill blood. Not unlike this crazy white-blonde bitch sitting atop a horse at the very rear of the ranks wearing a long flowing deep-purple cloak. I knew enough about history to understand that purple was a royal color, and that she was proclaiming her “majesty” by wearing a large cloak of purple. This would also be a slight to someone in Seri’s position, that much I knew.

  Politics of any kind are damn confusing!

  “Fire keep firing and no one let them climb up the sides! Keep them ducking into the buildings people!”

  I spoke a lot lower this time, only those on my rooftop could hear me. Across the street, I caught a flash of Patty shooting down several dwarves in rapid succession. Her aim was true, and her deft ease spoke of her long history in the world.

  A volley of arrows began to rain upon our location from below. These were not long-bows, so they lacked the ability to curve the short upward enough to be of any real threat. Unless we made ourselves to prime a target.

  “Keep them coming!”

  Redcaps rushed into the buildings and I could feel their pounding foot-falls on the decrepit wooden floors. My heart was jackhammering in my chest now, knowing my enemy was upon me, was in the heart of my domain!

  “Let me know when they reach the twelfth floor. We need as many insid
e as possible for this to stand a prayer of a chance of working!”

  I told the elf to my left and she nodded in understanding. She might not be a linguist, but her arrows rained down two at a time, each hitting their marks. She fired more kill-shots in the span of a handful of seconds, than most of us could in several minutes of well-aimed shots.

  Arrows buried into the wood and cement near my head and I swore to myself. I spun back around, and I aimed, lining up a shot, I missed my target and winged another on accident. The only good point of having so many enemies beneath you, is your lousy archery need not be up to par, just alive to point and shoot.

  Elisa screamed something incomprehensible and ice slammed into the brick in front of me.

  “She really doesn’t like you!”

  The dark elf smirked at me and humor lit her eyes. Come to think of it, she had begun to speak more since the fighting started.

  “Yeah, I tend to have that effect on bitches, or so I’m told.”

  She snorted and turned, taking a shot with two more arrows notched, hitting two marks, one in the heart, the other in the eye.

  Damn, how the fuck does a girl learn to shoot that good?!

  As if she read my mind, she turned back and nodded to my bow.

  “I’ll teach you how to shoot properly, if we survive this.”

  I licked my lips and nodded.

  “Sure, but I think Bix wants to beat the crap out of me in her training yard, or wherever it is she takes people to beat some martial-arts into them.”

  Several redcaps begun to climb up the side like chubby spider monkeys. I shot at one and missed narrowly, he halted, having felt the arrow whiz past him. His smirk of self-satisfaction was short-lived as another silver arrow embedded itself into his skull.

  The rangers picked off the climbers with ease.

  “We just had to have an entire army of bloody redcaps in Manhattan. It couldn’t have been fluffy bunnies!”

  The ranger girl ducked, and several well-placed arrows swished past her head, parting her hair they came so close to hitting their marks!

  “The Sidhe are in range now. They might not be rangers of the dark forest, but they are excellent marksman.”

  She said this grudgingly, like it pained her to admit this to me, but had no choice, since I knew nothing about the inhuman world.

  “What’s your name?”

  She looked at me like I was crazy.

  “What?!”

  “Your name, if we’re likely to die here together, I’d prefer to know who I’m dying with.”

  I said it in a very casual tone and ducked avoiding a zipping arrow that cut a thin ribbon of red from my right shoulder. I swore to myself as I crouched down.

  Crack shots indeed!

  She shrugged and said, “Names Vivian, everyone calls me Vivi.”

  I nodded, and I gave her a friendly smile.

  “That’s nice, I’m sure you’re the life of the party.”

  Vivi smirked at me and her knowing eyes twinkled in amusement. The elves were not incapable of emotion, or humor, they just had different temperaments and personality quirks than some of the species closer to human relation.

  “My ward fired on the twelfth floor.”

  I nodded, and I roared using my power to carry my voice.

  “Now!”

  Twenty-Nine:

  Large cats ranging from four-nine, to over six-foot-tall all leapt from the shadows and fringes of the still advancing army. Phil was the massive six-five bulky lion. His savage roar quaked the ground and stumbled many archers.

  “Quick, get to the ground, before they recover and regroup! Our shifters will die if we don’t assist.”

  All of us were sprinting to the back end of our apartment building and we picked up massive lengths of rope we had already tied off and tested multiple times. I slung my bow into the leathery strap and clasped it to my back. I picked up a huge coiled line and tossed it over the side.

  The ground was fifteen stories down, but I didn’t have time for vertigo. We had incoming, three stories and the redcaps inside would be on us. Elves tossed lines over, as did the other vampires and various species whom had agreed to dangle themselves as bait for this insane plan.

  I gripped the rope tightly, the first few stories were slow going, but I heard the roar of the recaps above, they were breaching the roof!

  Loosening up my grip on the thick mass of rope, I began to free-fall, and my hands burned with the intense pain of the friction of the rope. Several times, I nearly let go, nearly lost my conscious will to survive, my body’s instinctive need to release, would have gotten me killed, or at least badly injured enough for Elisa to slowly torture me to death—which I had zero doubts she would do.

  As I flew past the fourth floor, I spotted the first of the redcaps peeking down at me, and I slammed my magic into the wards on the buildings, each connected to me since I was still touching the very edge of the farthest point of the farthest building.

  Praying that everyone had managed to clear themselves, that my newb ass was the slowest to descend, I fed my power into the wards locking the redcaps into the four buildings. I felt zaps and pulsations of power as they began to hammer against the new barriers. Their surprise was short lived, because I had rigged a magical charge—thanks to one of the dark elves.

  The explosion sent me flying down the last two stories, and out away from the old apartment building. My feet hit the ground with a light thump and my knees surprisingly, absorbed the impact of the two-story drop.

  The concussive blast of the stolen demolition explosives shattered the supports and I watched as the entire front section of this block of East Harlem crumbled into four neat piles with a mass of crimson flowing through the bricks, as if the walls themselves were bleeding out.

  I pulled my sword from my belt and I yelled, “Charge!”

  All around me vampires, elves and shifters were gaining their bearings. They seemed to collect themselves and recover from the blast with remarkable ease.

  I was not done, not yet. I might know next to nothing about being a necromancer, but I knew how to unleash my power and let it fuse with the dead. I knew how to reach their plea for a second chance.

  My power rolled out like a tsunami of untapped potential. All my life I had truly believed I was worthless and completely unremarkable. How else could I explain my mother’s abandonment?

  Now I pushed out my magic and I touched the dead calling to me. I pulled their groggy minds into my metaphysical mind and I held them next to what I could only describe as “myself.”

  Bloody, battered dwarves began to crawl free of the heaps and piles. My only command was simple, to kill my enemies. They would feel what I felt, so being able to sense the life-forces of all those around me, who shared my allegiance, was extremely helpful to avoid friendly fire.

  “Take the bitch down! She’s calling the dead, hurry!”

  I jumped behind an SUV, knowing something would have been pointed my way after such a shrill command

  Damn she sounds like a hag, considering she looks my age!

  “Princess, go, go, I’ll cover you!”

  Vivi thundered and she came up from behind and leapt over the SUV and fired three arrows at once and they all bit into chest, head, neck. She flipped and twisted, narrowly evading a well-placed shot.

  A massive were-lion rushed up and began to devour the front line of archers. The formation broke into complete disarray and many were fleeing for their lives or switching to melee combat weapons.

  Three Sidhe fairies rush at me and roared in fury. Their golden and silver blades more ornamental, than practical, until one of them slashed through the front of the SUV, and another through the passenger side tire, as I evaded the strikes.

  Ok, so pretty and practical at the same time!

  I pivoted, and I parried, while I twisted my body to the side and evaded a thrust. I couldn’t keep playing defense long, they would all rush me as one.

  As if I had conjured t
he thought in their minds, they all stopped and began to charge forward. I didn’t think, I just acted. I pushed with power so primal, so instinctive, that it defied words, or logic.

  A silver and white blade erupted from my hand consuming the physical blade that had been there a moment before. The thing moved through the two blades I was instinctively parrying as if they were hot butter. Skull and brains were incinerated, and two Sidhe fell with smoldering wounds where I had cleaved off the tops of their heads.

  I took a glancing blow to my left elbow and I weakened, but I thrust and the final Sidhe screamed in a visceral agony the likes of which I could never forget, even if I outlived the entire human race.

  I did not have time to think, just move. I cut smoking swaths through the remaining lines of loyal dark fae. My blade encountered nothing that it couldn’t burn its way through, as if I were holding a damn lightsaber!

  Motion from ahead caught my attention as the remaining formation scattered to the wind. Sirens were audible from the distance, clearly having noticed our impromptu demolitions.

  Shit, how the hell can I get my people to run and hide?!

  My mind wheeled, even as my body began to give chase after the silvery equine mount the carried the purple-clad figure of the ice queen. I leveled my powers at the horse with my left hand, holding my blade in my right hand now. The surge of raw energy burst into he beast, raining bloody bits all around me. That didn’t slow my pace, nor did the first of her massive lances of ice.

  Snow began to fall around us, and icy blades rushed to greet me. I grunted as one lodged into my side, but I kept moving, ignoring the pain. I used my blade of pure energy to sizzle out the incoming ice and I shot torrents of raw power, like kinetic waves at the queen. She screamed in pain and flew back fifteen-feet, before she landed on her ass.

  Elisa was a beautiful woman, and she looked as cold as her powers. Her skin pale as snow, and her hair as brilliant as lightly luminescent silver-gold blending together and pulsing with a life of vibrancy. She was barely an inch taller than me and she was wearing a single icy blade at her belt, which she was drawing.