Doorways (A Book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic) (The Doorways Trilogy - Book One)

by Tim O'Rourke

  ‘They’ve breached the walls!’ Marshal Goth roared as scores of the Demonic Guardians scrambled through the hole.

  Gnashing her teeth and clawing at the air, Neanna sliced her way through the Demonic Guardians. Their bodies tore in two, their crimson innards flying through the night. They threw their swordsticks at her, but she blinked about them, dodging their fire. One moment she was there, but before taking their aim, she was gone again in a spray of black shadows. Captain Bom looked at the sword in his hands and raised it above his head. Surprised by its weight, he toppled over and landed on his back. Shaking his head from side to side, Bom looked up to see several of the Demonic Guardians racing towards him. Playing dead, Bom lay still until they had drawn level with him. Then swinging his sword, he took their legs from beneath them, sending them flying forwards in a gush of red. Pleased with himself, he smiled, lay back down and waited for the next wave to run past him.

  Zach charged along the length of the wall, and pointing his crossbows before him, fired over and over again at the Demonic Guardians that were now flowing into the prison. He knew that once the Guardians and Radan were within the prison walls, their battle would be lost.

  Taking aim, Zach fired off another volley, sending Radan and Guardians cart-wheeling through the air.

  ‘Gotchya!’ he yelled, releasing another wave of everlasting stakes.

  Seeing that they were being fired upon from above, the Guardians unleashed a shower of fireballs in his direction. They crashed into the walls all around him, sending Zach flying into the wooden staircase. Hitting the stairs, he tumbled to the bottom. Lying on his back, Zach looked up to see one of the Radan charging towards him.

  The skeletal looking-ape leapt through the air, releasing a thunderous roar from his bony throat. Closing his eyes, Zach fired off several shots. He waited for the beast and its rider to come clattering down on him in a shower of bone. When it didn’t come, he snapped open his eyes to see the ape and the Radan hurtling back through the air under the force of the stakes he’d hit them with.

  Scrambling to his feet, Zach inched backwards, away from the relentless stream of Demonic Guardians and Radan that spilled into the prison. Looking to his right, he could see Neanna blinking around the exercise yard as she launched herself at one Guardian after another. But as soon as one of them crumpled to the ground, another appeared to take its place. Zach watched her, and momentarily felt shocked at the ferocity of her attacks. He watched numbly as Neanna, the girl that awoken such strong feelings within him, as she bit and tore her way through the approaching Guardians. Smearing blood from her lips with back of her hand, she glanced around to see Zach staring at her. Looking quickly away, Zach saw William bounding towards him.

  ‘We can’t win!’ William barked. ‘There are too many of them!’

  ‘What about your catapult?’ Zach yelled over the sound of clashing swords and exploding fireballs.

  ‘I can’t use the berries within the prison walls without killing all of us!’ he howled, driving his claws through an approaching Radan.

  ‘We’re trapped then!’ Zach roared. ‘We’re outnumbered!’

  Neanna blinked beside him., and pointing into the sky, she cried, ‘look!’

  Over the edge of the prison walls poured a river of grey smoke.

  ‘What’s that?’ Zach said.

  The smoke crawled down the inside of the prison walls like dry-ice and it began to take shape. Not just into one but hundreds of different shapes.

  ‘What is it?’ William asked.

  ‘Our friends!’ Neanna said, as the smoke took the form of hundreds of Cathedral Knights.

  A pillar of smoke swept around them as Henry appeared just above their heads. With his beard twinkling like glitter beneath his ghostlike face, Henry winked and said, ‘good to see you again, Zach Black!’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Zach asked, releasing another hail of stakes into the Demonic Guardians.

  ‘I want that curse lifted, remember?’ the Knight bellowed. ‘I’m going to hold you to that promise and you won’t keep it from your coffin. Now stop staring at me and fight!’

  Still playing dead, Captain Bom opened his eyes a fraction, and seeing the Cathedral Knights arrival, looked up into the sky, laced his fingers together as if in prayer and cried, ‘thank God! The back-up’s arrived!’

  Chapter 38

  Van Demon, Leader of the Dammed Bandits, came towards Anna and gripped her chin with a decomposing hand. He bought his face within inches of hers and Anna could see that just like his hand, his face was also decaying. The right-hand side of his head had been ripped open as if it had been mauled by a shark.

  ‘What a pretty senorita,’ he said.

  Anna flinched back from the zombie, as when he spoke, she could see his tongue beating up and down inside his mouth through the open wound in his cheek. She recoiled at the sight of his broken jawbone and eye socket.

  Running his ringed fingers through Anna’s hair, he sniffed it and said, ‘such a pretty girl will sell for an even prettier price!’

  The sound of cheers and whistles came from behind him. Anna peeked over Van Demon’s shoulder to see his motley crew of men. All of them appeared to have missing body parts. Anna squirmed when she noticed that one of the bandits had a gaping hole in his midriff. As this bandit strode forward to get a better look at her, his intestines spilt from the wound. As if nothing more than a mild irritation to him, the bandit coiled his innards around his fist and stuffed them back into the cavity.

  ‘At least fifty pieces of crown!’ the zombie-bandit roared, as he finished repairing himself.

  ‘I wan’ at least a hundred, Julio!’ Van Demon smirked.

  Then from the door of the Inn someone said, ‘I’ll pay you two-hundred for the girl!’

  Again the room fell into silence, as everyone turned to see Fandel Black standing in the doorway with the Delf, who farted.

  ‘Keep him away from me!’ Anna screamed at the sight of her uncle. She would rather take her chances with these zombies then him.

  Sensing her distress, Van Demon wrapped one of his arms about her and held her in front of him. Laughing he said, ‘the young lady don’ seem to like you much, senor. Now. Lemme see. As this is the case.......she will cost you more amigo.’

  ‘Three-hundred!’ Fandel said, moving away from the door and leaning against the bar.

  Now Van Demon had been a cunning bandit for as long as he could remember, way before him and his team of outlaws had been fed to the sharks, but he had never seen anyone so desperate for something in all the years he had spent on and beneath the Dusty-bogs of Endra. This meant one thing to Van Demon; a perfect money making opportunity.

  Again, Van Demon nestled his wounded cheek next to Anna’s and sighed as he sniffed her hair. ‘More’ he whispered, ‘she smells too good to sell for such a cheap price. I mean come on senor; I’d be robbing myself!’ and the other bandits laughed at their dead-leaders sarcasm.

  ‘A thousand!’ Fandel bargained.

  Van Demon’s outlaws stopped laughing and gasped, and then he knew he could get rich quick from this deal.

  ‘Amigo, you must wan’ this little lady very badly. Very badly indeed. That being the case; more!’ he sneered.

  ‘How about you give me the girl and I spare all your lives?’ a voice said from the doorway. Spinning round, everyone looked to see a man standing at the entrance to the Inn. His voice was soft, yet cold like steel.

  Pulling the girl closer to him, Van Demon chuckled and said, ‘so, another bidder has entered the auction. Welcome amigo, welcome!’

  Dec Tanner strode into the bar. Fandel recognised his unmistakable voice from their telephone conversation and groaned. ‘what are you doing here superintendent? Haven’t you got any missing person’s enquiries to keep you busy?’

  Without taking his eyes from Van Demon, Tanner said, ‘I’ll deal with you later Fandel’.

  ‘How? What, are you going to arrest me?’ Fandel said.

>   Van Demon and his team of bandits spied the gleaming crossbows that swung against Tanner’s hips and knew straight away that he was a peacekeeper.

  ‘I like your outfit senor, though it looks a little out of place,’ Julio sniggered.

  ‘Si Julio, Si. It used to be quite a popular look. Now, it’s old fashioned and, how you say, out of style. It’s the look of the past. Of a relic. Of a dead species,’ Van Demon grinned.

  Tanner’s black eyebrows pointed into a ‘V’ shape at the bridge of his nose as he glared at Van Demon with his piecing blue eyes. Holding out his hand he said, ‘give me the girl.’

  ‘She’s not yours to take,’ Fandel sniped from the bar.

  As quick as Neanna would blink Tanner had drawn one of his crossbows and fired a warning shot into the wooden floorboards at Fandel’s feet. Jumping backwards, Fandel released an ear-piercing scream from the back of his throat. Turning, Tanner trained the crossbow on Van Demon and aimed straight for the bandits head.

  ‘I won’t ask again’ Tanner warned, stroking his huge white moustache with his free hand.

  Van Demon’s team were at his side in an instant and the sound of axes, knives, rifles and crossbows being drawn filled the air.

  Hooking his arm around Anna’s neck, Van Demon roared with laughter and his tongue snaked from the hole in the side of his face and brushed against Anna’s cheek.

  ‘Ha ha. No senor. Thank you for your kind offer, but I must regretfully decline. Instead, how about I keep the senorita and....... you die like a good peacekeeper?’ he grinned.

  As promised, Tanner didn’t say another word. His crossbow thundered in his fist and then all hell broke loose.

  Standing back to back, Marshal Goth and Zach fought off the approaching Demonic Guardians and Radan. Neanna blinked, appearing long enough to rip out the throat an un-expecting Guardian and then disappear again. Snarling, William charged in a blaze of burning eyes and flowing hair at the Radan.

  Captain Bom had at last got to his feet and was fighting alongside Henry the Cathedral Knight as they dismembered anything that got too close. But it didn’t matter how many of the Guardians and Radan they destroyed as more of them appeared through the wall and charged at them. Even with the hundreds of Cathedral Knights swooping about like phantoms, they were fighting a battle that they couldn’t win.

  William bounded towards Zach and Marshal Goth, clawing to pieces several more of the Guardians as he raced across the exercise yard that was now strewn with the dead.

  ‘We have to get the key away from here!’ he barked at Zach.

  Looking back at Goth, Zach shouted, ‘is there another way outta here?’

  ‘There’s the tunnel!’ he roared, releasing a volley of arrows from his bow.

  ‘What? In the prison block?’

  ‘No. The tunnel!’

  ‘What tunnel!?’ William howled, his voice full of urgency.

  ‘The tunnel that our families hide in!’ Marshal Goth yelled.

  ‘We’ll you better evacuate them!’ Zach told him.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Cos, I’m gonna destroy this prison and anyone left within it!’ Zach said.

  The stake ricocheted off the dagger Julio thrust in front of Van Demon’s face. Leaping through the air, the bandits opened fire. Tanner darted for cover behind the bar. Armed with both crossbows, he popped his hands over the top of the counter and fired.

  Several of the zombies spun through the air, clattering into tables and chairs as they were struck down by Tanner’s barrage of stakes. But as they were already dead, the bandits were on their feet again and arming themselves with daggers and crossbows.

  Seeing this, Fandel and the Delf raced behind the bar for cover.

  ‘They can’t die unless you shoot them in the head you idiot!’ The Delf belched.

  ‘Call yourself a peacekeeper?’ Fandel whined.

  Turning to look at them with his cool stare, both Fandel and the Delf knew that they shouldn’t say another word.

  Popping his head over the top of the bar, Tanner released another torrent of stakes from his crossbows. The bandits retaliated and the rows of bottles stacked on the shelves above the bar exploded, showering Tanner in glass.

  ‘Some rescue!’ Fandel screeched. ‘Do you have a plan on how to get out of here?’

  Glancing at the Delf, Tanner shouted, ‘shut him up!’

  Looking at Fandel, the Delf belched. She then stood, and throwing open her fists, released a shockwave of energy that rippled out across the Inn and sent a horde of the bandits through the air. Seizing her chance, she turned to Tanner and Fandel and said, ‘I don’t know about you two, but I’m off!’

  Gathering her Bloat bag to her chest, she shuffled from behind the bar and headed for the door. Jumping to his spidery legs, Fandel started to follow her, when Tanner gripped him by the arm and said, ‘and where do you think you’re going?’ In one swift movement, Tanner had yanked Fandel back onto the floor behind the bar.

  Peering round the edge of the counter, Tanner could see that Van Demon had let go of his prisoner. Anna was now cowering in the corner, away from the flying stakes, daggers and axes.

  Standing, Tanner locked both of his arms and unleashed another burst of stakes at the bandits. He hit several of them between the eyes, sending them spinning through the air. This time they didn’t get up.

  ‘Give the girl to me!’ he said.

  ‘You want her amigo?’ Van Demon roared, ‘then you come and get her!’

  Peeking through her fingers at the peacekeeper, Anna watched him dodge this way and that with the precision of a rattlesnake, evading the daggers and knives being hurled at him.

  Who is this guy? He must either be insane or the bravest man I’ve ever seen! She thought to herself.

  Anna settled on the notion that he was insane, as one of the many weapons that were being thrown at him sliced into his right shoulder, sending his crossbow flying from his hand.

  ‘Get up! Get Up!’ Fandel screeched as Tanner collapsed beside him. Gripping the lapels of Tanner’s long dark coat, Fandel whined, ‘please get up. You’re meant to be protecting us!’

  Before Tanner could think of a suitable reply, darkness took him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 39

  ‘To the tunnel!’ Marshal Goth roared over the sound of battle. ‘Make for the tunnel!’

  Zach motioned for his friends to follow Goth as he headed for an iron door set into the wall. Goth pulled a ring of keys from beneath his tunic and began to fumble with them.

  ‘Hurry!’ Captain Bom shouted.

  Marshal Goth separated a key from the rest and opened the door. A set of stairs led down beneath the ground, and like the stairwell that led to the cells, it was lined with torches that flickered like ghosts. Following Goth, they all raced to the lower levels of the prison, followed by the surviving Norsori Guards.

  At the bottom of the stone stairs, Goth reached up and began to yank on a bell that hung from the wall. Its deep melodious clang, vibrated as it echoed down the tunnel they now stood in.

  ‘Evacuate the Prison!’ he roared. ‘Head for the rendezvous point!’

  On his command, wooden doors were thrown open as the Norsori and their children fled the prison. Some left with a few personal belongings clutched to their chests and others with the clothes they wore.

  A female Norsori raced passed Zach, a baby wrapped in swaddling across her back. Unlike the male guards, her face was unmasked and she looked striking in a feline sort-of-a-way. Her face was covered with fine silky-white hair and although her mouth was the same shape and design as any human, her eyes were shaped like that of a large cat, and they shone bright green in the dimness of the tunnel. Like the other Norsori, Zach had seen, her arms were long but not muscular like the males, slender and sleek – somehow beautiful. She used these to propelle herself down the tunnel.

  As the Norsori evacuated, the sound of the booted feet of the Demonic Guardians could be heard descending the
stairs.

  ‘We’ve got company!’ Zach shouted as the fleeing Norsori brushed past him.

  Turning to look at the others, William barked, ‘get to safety. Me and Zach will try and hold them for as long as possible.’

  Without any further prompting, Captain Bom was huffing and puffing away with the rest of them as he fled the tunnel.

  ‘He didn’t need much persuading,’ Zach said.

  ‘If you stay, I stay!’ Neanna said.

  ‘These are my people. It is my job to protect them. I’m staying!’ Goth insisted.

  ‘And I!’ hollered Henry the Cathedral Knight.

  Zach looked at them gathered at the foot of the stairwell. He then bellowed above the sound of the approaching Guardians, ‘ready?’

  ‘READY!’ the others roared, drawing their weapons.

  Dec Tanner opened his eyes and shut them again. The pain that seeped from his right shoulder was excruciating. It felt as if someone had hacked out his shoulder blade and replaced it with a series of timed explosives that were going off every few seconds.

  Gritting his teeth, he forced his eyes open again to find himself slumped against the bar. His hands were bound in his lap with rope, and his blue shirt was smothered black with his own blood. He glanced to his right and could see the girl and Fandel slumped next to him. Two of the bandits were wrapping rope about their wrists as Van Demon stood to one side and watched.

  ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ Fandel said as Julio pulled on the rope.

  ‘Stop snivelling you worm!’ Van Demon snapped, his tongue sneaking from the hole in his cheek.

  ‘You’re not going to kill me are you?’ Fandel said.

  Striding towards him, Van Demon pulled his pistol from his belt. He held it above Fandel’s head and began to squeeze the trigger.

  ‘And why not? Especially when I enjoy it so much,’ Van Demon grinned.

  ‘You can keep the girl, but just let me go!’ Fandel cried.

  ‘What a wonderful uncle you’ve turned out to be!’ Anna said. ‘If my father were here he would…’