Invisible Dawn

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Invisible Dawn Page 31

by Weston Kincade


  “Au revoir my darling, Adelaide,” he whispered.

  With a fleeting glance, he launched himself through the shattered dining room window, twisting as he fell. He unleashed two rounds onto the cluttered desk. A well aimed bullet tore into the remaining explosives. Shrapnel launched in all directions. The house flexed as the large blast tore through Juno’s possessions, destroying everything he held dear. The vampires that infiltrated the home were ripped to pieces as metal shards tore through their bodies.

  A graveyard silence settled on the ravaged house after the massive explosion. Acrid smoke flowed out the open windows. Juno landed in the midst of the group and sprung up from the ground. They cast around the yard for opponents, but the explosion and their swift escape delayed the marauding vampires from charging. For the first time since the knock on the door, all they could hear was their heartbeats.

  “Lead the way, Jedd,” commanded Juno.

  They leapt over the garden wall and made their exit, jumping from one rock ledge to another. Jedd watched pale eyes scan the devastation at the tree line, but none of the remaining Vampires seemed to realize who they were. Some noticed them at last and began their pursuit.

  Juno and the others raced headlong into the trees. A final look at the cottage showed the Vampire Lord with a small contingent of relatives. When Jedd turned back to the forest, he found Leodenin’s aura closing fast, leaving them little time.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 27: Brotherly Devotion

  Tuesday, June 27th

  Seeing what has happened to the people I love tears me apart. I wish I could do more, but I just don’t know how…

  ~Excerpt from the Journal of Madelin Boatweit~

  The group sped through the shadowed trees, attempting to outrun Leodenin’s aura. The screams of murderous vampires grew louder with each footfall. Pale faces darted in and out of the patchy moon light. Alain’s fiends were gaining on them. Gunfire rippled through the trees as the veterans peppered their followers. They peeled away, one after another, but three appeared for every vampire they felled. Before they knew it, Roger tripped and was swept behind in the arms of their pursuers.

  “Stop!” Juno yelled.

  The Cajun’s cries echoed over the tumult and the group turned to see his sad eyes disappear into the crowd. Daniel let out a vengeful roar and followed, swinging the searing rod like a baseball bat. Juno rushed after him and they were soon lost in the onslaught of salivating vampires.

  Jedd and Madelin attempted to follow, but found themselves cut off from their friends. Juno’s relatives encircled them, forcing Jedd and Madelin apart from the others. They backed up to each other and waited for the assault to come, but it was as though the group was toying with them. Daniel and Juno were only yards away, but might as well have been miles. They could no longer see their friends, but bodies flew into the crowd as they fought on. The screams of others told them of Daniel’s success, but as the vampires closed around them, Madelin drew Adelaide’s sword and thrust it at Jedd. He swung it back and forth to keep the dogs at bay. Drawing her rapier, Madelin lunged at the closest vampire. He leapt back as the tip drew near. The rapier lashed out as another leapt toward her, scoring the side of his cheek. Others slunk by, fingers aching to rake their human flesh. Jedd and Madelin fended them off, dropping them one at a time. Then, a familiar voice carried through the chaos.

  “Move away from them. They’re mine!” shouted Leodenin, but the vampires were caught up in blood lust and circled like vultures.

  “Dammit!” cried the dark shifter. “Get ’em, Marlin, before those things tear ’em apart.”

  As Marlin gave the order to fire, bullets flew into the crowd and tore at exposed limbs. The closest vampires to the back crumpled under the barrage of bullets, and those remaining turned their attention to the new arrivals. The two groups clashed like waves against shore cliffs, leaving Jedd and Madelin to fend for themselves.

  They watched as more vampires streamed past, but Jedd’s sweeping gaze stopped when he found Leodenin. Recognition flashed as Leodenin strode to meet him. The false father’s eyes blazed and his duster rippled like a flag.

  “Stay there. I’ll take care of this guy,” ordered Jedd. He shoved Madelin behind a tree, but never took his eyes from the pale shifter.

  “Oh look! I see they decided to let their dog off his leash. How cute,” Jedd sneered.

  The comment did little for the man’s humor and stoked his anger like gasoline on a bonfire. “I know you,” replied Leodenin as he stepped closer. “You’re the bastard that threw me down the stairwell.”

  He stopped a few yards away and spat between them. “That’s what I think of your pitiful attempts to save your little girl.”

  “No, tell me what you really think,” he goaded with a laugh.

  Leodenin stood tall and commanding before him. His eyes seemed to radiate blue flames and his duster whipped around him like a tethered animal. He thrust one arm under its flailing tail and revealed his side to the oncoming wind. Flicking the latch on his belt with his thumb, a malevolent grin split his face. The end of a coarse whip trailed out from under the duster and hit the ground. It fluttered to life in the dark shifter’s hands, snapping left and right with a slight jerk of his wrist. Before Altran knew what was happening, the frayed end wound around his good wrist and tightened as Leodenin applied the subtlest of pressure.

  His grip on the sword loosened under the pressure. He gritted his teeth and pulled back on the braided leather, but Leodenin’s smile widened as Jedd’s strength gave way. Jedd wrapped his blackened hand in the length of whip and pulled with all his might. Leodenin lurched forward and his smile vanished as the whip flew from his hand.

  “What the hell happened to you?” scoffed Leodenin.

  “I have no idea,” Jedd replied as he unwound the length of braided leather from his arm. He flexed his arm and swung the blade in a circle, testing his wrist’s mobility.

  “What happened to you?” he retorted.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” replied Leodenin, with a hint of egotism.

  “It’s simple. Why do you work for those dogs?”

  “I work for no one,” the shifter spat with a hearty laugh. As he spoke, he rounded on Madelin’s godfather. “I’m on my side, the side with power.”

  “We’ll see how powerful you really are,” Jedd threatened and lunged for the man.

  Leodenin stopped and positioned himself for Jedd’s charge. “Hurling yourself at me twice in one lifetime?” he asked with feigned concern. “That isn’t smart.”

  Jedd flew forward and brought the sword down on Leodenin’s head, but before they met, the man vanished. He appeared a hand’s breadth away and brought a fist down on the back of Jedd’s neck. Jedd crumpled under the impact.

  “There seems to be a bit more to this than you’ve learned.” Leodenin stepped over to an abandoned short sword and lifted it from the ground.

  Jedd flipped over, only to find the shifter advancing on him, sword in hand. Fear filled the pit of his stomach as the lanky man closed the distance, his duster flapping in the wind. A nauseous dizziness enveloped Jedd’s mind and threatened to overwhelm him, but he drove his Grosse Messer into the ground and pulled himself up, leaning on its hilt for balance.

  As Leodenin drew near, he shoved the short sword at Jedd’s forehead, as though selecting him for punishment. He brought the sword up and down, as though he were swinging an axe. Madelin’s godfather threw his blackened arm over his head to absorb the blow. He expected pain to infuse his arm, but the blade failed to break the skin. Jedd smiled from beneath his blackened limb. Daniel was right. He brought up his own sword and Leodenin leapt back, avoiding his extended, razor-sharp reach.

  Jedd advanced on the shifter and swung with the hatred of a solitary man who has everything to lose. Leodenin met Jedd’s sword blow for blow. They circled one another, locked in a ritual dance and poised for an end to their feud. But before either could attack, Marlin stepped out from
behind a tree with an arm draped over Madelin from behind. A bloodied knife hung centimeters from her throat. His hand was still and unwavering, waiting for the next move.

  “Stop right there!” demanded the Commander.

  Each of them backed away, swords held low, mirroring one another. Madelin stiffened under the knife blade. She was putty in his hands, but as Jedd looked in her eyes, he saw childlike mischief blaze to life.

  Leodenin watched, rapt with pleasure as Marlin took hold of the long sought after woman, but the smile fell away as Madelin put her thoughts into action. Flipping her rapier with the subtle twist of her wrist, she reversed its direction and plunged it behind her. Then, she lifted her hands to the bladed arm and forced it aside.

  Before Leodenin could warn Marlin, Jedd charged forward and forced him onto the defensive. His sword flew forward as though tasting blood. Leodenin parried each blow as he was forced back into a tree. Their swords clashed and Jedd thrust himself into the man’s face, attempting to bring the sword’s edge up against the shifter’s neck. His teeth clenched with the intensity of the struggle. But, with a chuckle and a wave of his hand, Leodenin vanished.

  Marlin was stunned by the ferocity with which this timid flower had changed and bellowed as the sword plunged through his side. He spun out of reach, but Madelin hammered at the sword handle with a solid kick. The squad commander grunted and tumbled to the ground. He attempted to roll, but was hindered by the sword protruding from his back. He teetered, but succeeded in pushing himself up off the ground. Taking a large breath, he grasped the handle and pulled. The final edge of the sword sprung free with a torturous cry. Marlin turned haunting eyes on her, and a gaze that promised a gruesome, excruciating death.

  He dropped the sword and shouted, “You, bitch!” Blood trickled from his mouth. “That’s it, you little whore. I ain’t playin' no more stupid games with you.” He spat a glob of blood onto the forest floor and stared her down.

  Moonlight flittered over his face and familiarity set in. Madelin flashed back to that grisly, fire-lit night. She watched as a much younger version of this man flicked a lighter to life and set her family’s house on fire. The accelerant caught within seconds.

  “You, bastard. You killed my parents,” Madelin shouted. Her voice took on a harsh, guttural tone and echoed through the trees like a scent on the wind. “I’m gonna send you to hell!”

  Enraged and seeing her chance at revenge, Madelin sprang into action. She raced forward and threw herself at the stout man, hands outstretched and fists extended. But he was waiting.

  Raising a curled fist the size of a small bowling ball, he side stepped her flying assault and brought his fist down on her tender midsection. Madelin fell to the ground like a lead balloon, crumpling under the blow.

  Marlin stepped up to the prone woman and smiled with relish. The blood coating his glistening lips accentuated his hellish appearance. “Ain’t you a sight? You had everything given to you on a silver platter, with nothing to worry about. And now, you’ve got nothing to look forward to. Boy, am I gonna love what comes next,” he finished with a maddening grin.

  He encircled her neck with a ham-sized fist and clenched down. The pressure forced her deeper into the spongy soil and mud bubbled up around her head. Unable to breathe, panic set in. She flailed at her assailant and clawed at his hands and face, but he ignored her probing fingers. Marlin squeezed tighter, his own fingertips sinking deeper into the sides of her neck as she struggled.

  “No, no, no,” she pleaded. “This isn’t how it ends you annoying slab of meat. You stupid asshole!” The words came to her. She tried to scream with all the energy she possessed, but her throat protested under the pressure and the only thing that escaped was a weak croak.

  A black veil slipped over her eyes as the bud of a dark rose blossomed from Marlin’s shirt pocket. Its petals glistened in the moonlit night. With the last of her strength ebbing away, Madelin reached out to the familiar flower and grasped the nearest petal. Her hand fell to the ground as consciousness left her with a petal clutched between two fingers.

  The pressure on her neck disappeared and the PASTOR Commander fell to his knees. The darkness faded and Madelin opened her eyes, blinking away the bright stars that pierced her mind. The world came into focus, but she stared through yet another rift hovering in the air above her. A starlit sky like this one lingered above, but just one moon shone overhead, the blood red one of this world.

  Marlin lay inches away, his face and eyes covered in a glazed expression of shock and anguish. The look startled her at first, but did not change. It was the painted look of death. Madelin rolled out from under the rift and backed up to the tree. From her new vantage, she saw that his body had been sliced in two up to his chest. She struggled to force down the nausea that erupted in her stomach.

  “I did that,” she whispered through a bruised trachea. “I killed him and Juno’s sister, but they would have done worse to me.” The reminder was of little consolation, but she hardened herself to the reality, assuring herself of what she would have to do in the future. Madelin gathered her bearings and glanced back at the mutilated body. “He deserved it. One down, hundreds more to go.”

  Suddenly, Jedd came to mind and Madelin circled the tree. Leodenin stood behind her godfather, a pistol leveled inches away from Jedd’s head while his maniacal laugh echoed through the night.

  The gun cocked next to his ear with the sound of an iron-worker’s hammer on anvil. Jedd reached around his head and encompassed the gun’s muzzle in his deadened hand. Leodenin pulled the trigger and the gun exploded, but the bullet vanished in his palm and collapsed. With a squeeze of Jedd’s fist, the pistol became a crumpled lump of metal. He threw the gun aside and spun to meet the shifter. Leodenin’s mouth hung open and gave Jedd the second he needed. Madelin’s godfather reared back and pistoned his altered hand into Leodenin’s stomach with vengeance. The false father doubled over and wheezed for air. In one final blow, Jedd slammed his blackened hand into the man’s upturned chin. Leodenin’s head whipped back with a crack as he sailed into the forest, fifty feet away.

  Jedd looked down at his fist in shock, but Madelin’s eyes were still on the dreaded shifter. She waited for his moaning form to rise. Leodenin shook his head, forcing the stars to return to the heavens, but before he could find his feet, two vampires tackled him. Their mouths hung open in eager anticipation. They fought to find exposed skin until their elongated canines sunk into his neck and body. The metallic smell of human blood permeated the air, drawing other vampires into the fray. Jedd and Madelin huddled together for fear of attack, but the smell was too strong. It overcame the foul creature’s ability to reason and they rushed in for a taste. Jedd and his goddaughter watched in horror as the feast began.

  The vampires circled Daniel and Juno, but the two fought with the ferocity of demons. Bloodthirsty howls echoed around them, and Daniel continued to plunge the iron rod deep into his victims. Hungry for flesh, the vampires forced the others forward and Daniel skewered two and three at a time. He lunged at anything that came near without a care whether they lived or died. He never looked back. His one concern was Roger, and inflicting enough pain to force those between them into submission or death. The fierce glow christening the end of his wrought iron extension had dimmed, but still it flew, severing limbs from those around him. He followed the screams and gunfire of Roger’s .44 Magnum.

  Daniel glimpsed his prone body fighting from the ground as oncoming vampires flew past him. A few of Juno’s relatives dragged him away by his feet, while others tried to grapple the pistol from his hands.

  At least Lady Luck left him to fend for himself, thought Daniel. He never really knew when to fold a bad hand and give in. The muscular veteran smiled and fought on.

  Juno took a different tact. He rushed after Roger like a man with a destiny. He flung anyone into the air, clearing the path ahead. Some flew into vampires like clustered bowling pins, while others were impaled on tree limbs.


  They will not take one of my friends, Juno shouted at the inferno of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He made a promise and would never break it. Juno forced his way through the waves of vampires, ignoring some altogether as the distance between him and the Cajun doubled. Even with his speed and strength, Roger disappeared into the chaotic blood-frenzy.

  Frustration set in as the gamblers cries echoed through the milieu. Juno again gave in to the necessity for slaughter and drew his agile sword. The distance between them lessened and his friend’s cries grew closer as he cut swaths through the crowd. Juno caught sight of the gambler once more and his arm swung wide, criss-crossing his shoulders with the fluidity of a martial arts master. Back and forth it flew like a pendulum, dropping any who came near. Roger’s shredded form appeared ahead, at the feet of many Traditorian attackers.

  Daniel and Juno advanced together, their weapons flitting through the air without mercy. The two of them broke through the endless crowd and entered a shadowed clearing. Their close friend lay at its center, his gun aimed up at a confident lord they all knew.

  “Alain,” spat Roger through the pain. He looked as though he had been run through a meat grinder. “I’ll have your ass.” He pulled the trigger, but was greeted with a subtle and hollow click. He pulled it again and again, unable to believe his luck, but each time produced another metallic click as the hammer dropped on air. “Damn you! You bastard,” he shouted from the ground.

  Alain stared down at the gambler. As his two friends appeared at the circle’s edge, Alain granted him a cruel smile. He grasped Roger’s coat collar in a single fist and lifted him to his eyes. The Cajun’s feet dangled above the ground, immobile. Alain spat in the gambler’s face. Instinct forced his head back and Alain’s teeth sank into the Roger’s throat.

  Juno and Daniel rushed into the circle, but the imposing guardians grabbed the veteran’s arms and thrust them to his sides. Their lips threatened with a kiss and hot putrid breath danced along the hairs of his neck. A shiver ran down his spine. I prepared myself for death long ago, but not a life cursed by the touch of a devil’s tongue, he thought as fear gripped his stomach.

 

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