In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  Jesse flicked her eyes toward the spot where the explosion had taken place. Strangely, there was nothing on the floor at all. There were no traces of debris, no fragments of the explosion. It was as though the explosion had never happened at all. Jesse was amazed at sight of the barren floor in front of her. Kalista’s powerful Urukan blood must have completely destroyed the urn, melting it completely without even leaving a single trace.

  “You did it!” Jesse pumped her fist in the air, edging closer to the spot where the urn was before, giving it a double take to ensure that her eyes were not playing any tricks on her. “You have …,” Jesse said in a breathy tone, turning to look at Kalista with a smile on her face, “destroyed the urn! Destroyed Catan’s source of powers! We all did it!”

  “I hope so,” Kalista responded, managing a weak smile on her face. Then, both the women swiveled their heads to look at Lipton, who was still thrashing around the floor like a fish on land.

  “Lipton!” Jesse cried, rushing to his side, worried lines streaked across her forehead. “Are you alright? We did it, Lipton! We destroyed the urn! We wouldn’t have done it without Kalista’s blood.”

  But Lipton was still wriggling on the floor, grunting against the pain that was reverberating through his body.

  “Something is not right!” Kalista noticed, her lips curved into a frown. “Why is Lipton still in pain? I thought that we have destroyed Catan for good when we destroyed the urn? It looks as though Lipton is trying hard to suppress Catan, who is fighting to manifest at any moment!”

  “But that’s impossible!” Jesse tried to reason. “By destroying the urn, we would have destroyed Catan’s source of dark powers, leaving him weakened, so weakened that he is even powerless to manifest at this point. Have we done something wrong? I thought we did!”

  Kalista was perplexed by what was happening. Logically, Catan wouldn’t even have the enough strength to fight his way into manifestation, after what they had done to the urn. Jesse was right. They had probably done something wrong. Something was just not right here.

  Before Kalista could form any words on her mouth, Lipton shrieked in such a sickening sound that both women were so startled that they collapsed onto the cold ground in sudden fright.

  “Oh, no!” Jesse observed in sheer terror. “Catan’s manifesting!”

  Jesse was right. Lipton’s body warped and twisted in such sickening angles, morphing into the body of someone whom both Jesse and Kalista despised to the core of their hearts. Catan’s features materialized, drawing gasps of horror from both women, and Lipton’s majestic wings had shriveled and disappeared. Eventually, the transformation was complete, and Lipton was gone, replaced by the frightening sight of Catan, who appeared slightly fatigued from the transformation. Catan grunted as he got up to his feet, his body slightly trembling as though he was mustering all the strength to get up.

  And when he finally caught sight of both Kalista and Jesse, his features became hardened and cold, so cold that it literally sent shiver down the women’s spines.

  “Aaarghhhhh!” Catan screamed, hatred and anger suffusing his eyes. “How come I feel frail and vulnerable … all of a sudden? It feels as though I’ve partially lost my strength, my powers …”

  Both Kalista and Jesse exchanged panicked glances, and then returned their stares at Catan. Kalista had to admit that she’d never seen Catan looking so frail like this before. Did it mean that destroying the urn earlier had caused Catan to be in such a pathetic state? But Kalista thought that by destroying the urn, it would automatically destroy Catan, sending him away for good. So why was he still alive?

  “Did you guys do something to weaken me?” Catan growled, still grunting with slight pain. His chest heaved, as though he was gasping for air. “Go to hell!” Catan waved his hand at the two women, and both of them were sent tumbling to the floor, as if my magic.

  Kalista groaned in pain as her head hit the floor. “Why does Catan still have powers? I thought we have destroyed his source of powers! By right, he wouldn’t even be able to lift a finger to use his powers to make us fall to the floor like this! Why does he still have powers? Didn’t we just destroy the urn?”

  “What?!” Catan cried in such a thunderous voice that Kalista could feel literally feel his voice stabbing against her flesh. “You guys destroyed my urn?!” Catan’s eyes flicked over to the empty spot where the urn used to be, and when he realized what had just happened to his urn, he let out a ferocious shriek. “No!!!!!!!! No wonder I feel slightly vulnerable now! You guys have destroyed part of my source of powers! That explains why I feel as though I’ve partially lost my powers!” Catan burst into a hysterical scream again. “You’ll all pay for this! I’ll make sure that you’ll regret the day you were even born!”

  Jesse gasped. There was something that Catan had said that pounded some sense into her. Did he just say something about destroying part of his source of powers?

  “I get it!” Jesse exclaimed, frantically turning to look at Kalista and edging closer toward her. “I get it now! Catan still has his powers because we didn’t completely destroy his source of powers! We only destroy half of his source of powers! Another part of his source of powers is kept stashed away … and we haven’t destroyed that yet! Destroy that … and we completely destroy him!”

  Kalista’s eyes widened, as everything started to make sense. “So it means by destroying the urn, we only partially destroy his source of powers. But where is the other source? We need to find it and destroy it!”

  All of a sudden, they heard a loud clap coming from Catan’s direction. Catan was clapping violently, almost fracturing the bones in his hands, and he let out a raucous laughter. “You guys are so smart! I give you that! You’ve figured out this so fast, and you know what? You’re right! I do have another source of power stashed away, and I won’t reveal where it is. You’ll never find it!”

  “We’re doomed,” Kalista whispered dejectedly as she glanced at Jesse. “This is not how I’ve envisioned it to be. I thought we were going to destroy Catan for good. And I don’t think we’ll be able to find the other source of powers in time. Everything seems so … hopeless now.”

  “I’ll kill the both of you so I don’t have to worry about the two of you figuring out where my other source of powers … You guys are so pathetically annoying to the point that I just want to crush you both under my feet!”

  Kalista had a huge lump go down her throat. She knew that Catan had some feelings for her, but seeing how suffused with anger he was, she was pretty sure that Catan would override those feelings and just finish off both Jesse and her.

  “You wouldn’t kill me, would you?” Kalista said tauntingly. “After all, you still have … feelings for me, right? And if you kill me, then I’d be gone for good.” Of course, given the choice, Kalista would rather die than spend an eternity with someone like Catan, but she couldn’t die at that moment, because she still had to find the other source of Catan’s dark powers, and destroy it for good. She needed to buy as much time as possible.

  “Aaaargghhhh!” Catan screamed furiously, tugging at his head with such an agonized expression on his face that his veins nearly popped out. “I hate you, Kalista! You’re not worthy of any love I have in my heart!”

  Kalista snorted. “Do you even have love in your heart in the first place?”

  That sentence drew a ferocious howl from Catan, who looked like he was going to pounce on Kalista and rip her head off. But he restrained with all the willpower he could muster, sweat dribbling down his neck.

  “Wait!” Jesse gasped, turning to look at Kalista. “I’ve been thinking and thinking … and I think I know where Catan’s other source of powers lies!”

  Kalista widened her eyes. “What? Where is it?”

  “It’s not about where it is. It’s about who is it.”

  “What are you talking about, Jesse?”

  Jesse hesitated for a moment, trying to take a deep breath. “It’s a person, Kalista. The other source of C
atan’s dark powers is actually a person, if I’m not wrong. It’s Rellie. Yes, Rellie is the other source of Catan’s dark powers.”

  “What?” Kalista gasped incredulously. “Rellie? How can it be Rellie? I don’t get it. She’s just a reporter. How could she even become a font of those dark powers? It’s incredibly insane, Jesse! I don’t believe a minute of it!”

  Kalista turned to study Catan’s expression, and for the first time, she could see terror in his eyes, as though what Jesse had said was true. Kalista shook her head, unable to digest the logic of it all. It couldn’t be true. How could Rellie be the other source of those dark powers? It just didn’t compute.

  “I know it’s hard to believe, Kalista,” Jesse began calmly, edging closer toward Kalista and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t believe it at first, but after some deep contemplation, I’ve come to realize that could be the possibility. It’s a long story, but I’ll try to cut it short.” Jesse started to explain to Kalista about the Revival Spell Maggie had performed in an attempt to revive Rellie from the dead. But what they didn’t know at that point of time was that Rellie had died with Catan’s dark blood in her system. The spell was meant to revive dead humans, and it backfired on Rellie because she was carrying Catan’s dark blood in her veins. The spell revived Rellie and turned her into a vampire, slowly stripping away the human side of her. Due to the magnitude of powers used in the Revival Spell, the colossal magical energy magnified the darkness within Rellie, spurred by Catan’s blood inside her body. As the powers used to do the Revival Spell were derived from the Universe, those powers were contaminated with darkness, and turned Rellie into the font of Catan’s dark powers. Because of this, Rellie became the Key of Catan’s darkness. Due to the abnormal interference caused in the spell, part of Catan’s power source was transferred from the urn to Rellie, who carried the other half of those dark powers. In other words, it meant that Catan’s source of powers had been split into two parts, one kept inside the urn and the other was sealed inside of Rellie. All of this had happened due to the spell glitch that was caused when Rellie was revived with Catan’s blood inside her system.

  When Jesse finished explaining the last part, Kalista nodded slowly, her eyes twinkled with comprehension. “Now I get it why when we destroyed the urn, Catan wasn’t destroyed at all … because the other source of powers lie within … Rellie.”

  “Yes,” Jesse said with a shaky voice. “Rellie is now the Key … and in order to destroy Catan …” Jesse couldn’t bear to finish those words.

  “We have to destroy the Key,” Kalista finished the sentence for her, “which means that we have to kill Rellie.” Kalista was seared with emotional pain, and she felt like collapsing on the floor, wishing that it would open and swallow her up. Why did things have to turn out to be so complicated? She didn’t have the heart to kill her friend, Rellie. But in order to finish Catan off for good, she knew that the Key had to be destroyed. Rellie was now Catan’s personal Key, who safeguarded the other half of his dark powers.

  Suddenly, Catan’s eerily high-pitched laughter ripped through the air, and he was clapping once more, as if he was giving a standing ovation. “Brilliant, I must say. Brilliant. You guys have figured this out so fast. Yes, you’re right. Rellie is my Key. And it you want to render me completely powerless, you’d have to destroy Rellie. Would you even dare to do that? Would you kill your own friend?” Catan’s voice was dripping with mockery, and Kalista had the urge to spring forward and punch him in the face.

  “But the question is … where is Rellie?” Jesse asked, wondering if Catan had kept Rellie prisoner somewhere inside the Maze of Doom.

  “Oh, don’t look at me,” Catan said with a look of mock fear on his face. “Rellie’s not here … for sure. I didn’t have the chance to capture her and make her my prisoner. That’s because someone else did before I had the chance. And how could I even have the chance to capture her when I was suppressed, and Lipton was out there? While Lipton was in his manifested form, that cunning Enchantress took her away for her own personal agenda.”

  “Enchantress?” Jesse was mystified. “You mean an Enchantress abducted her? You mean Maggie?”

  “No, it wasn’t Maggie. At first, I wasn’t sure who she was until I did a bit of investigation. Of course, I did it with some dark magic … and eventually I found out her identity. She’s none other than Dove Havens. She’s the other person who is vying for the title of the Supreme Leader. In other words, she’s competing with me, and hoping that she would be powerful enough to pulverize me once she have the means to do so. That is why she’s using Rellie to spread the Great Darkness … so once the circle of the Great Darkness is complete, Dove will be immune to the destructive effects of being killed when she tries to tap onto the dark powers of the Dark Pole. Her goal is to steal all the dark energies from the Dark Pole so she would eventually be able to destroy me for good, and that would make her the Supreme Ruler. But that wouldn’t be a good thing, would it? Her heart has turned cold and evil, and I’m sure that all who live on this earth will suffer under her rule. If you kill me, she’ll win this battle, and the Great Apocalypse would be triggered.”

  Jesse’s face was fixed in a rictus of rage. “And if you were to rule, the Great Apocalypse would also be triggered. So it means that both you and Dove would have to be destroyed for the greater good. Simple as that!”

  “Well, I’m not going to let you do that while I still have the chance. I’d need to kill you in order to unlock the Good Pole. I need all the powers I can get from the Good Pole to fight against Dove. Time is of the essence now, and killing you is my top priority!”

  Kalista gasped upon hearing that, and turned to face Jesse. “What is he talking about? Why does he need you to unlock the Good Pole?”

  Jesse sighed. “I’m the Key that unlocks the Good Pole. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been assigned as the Key for the Good Pole by the Universe. And in order for Catan to access the Good Pole, he’d have to kill me. But I won’t let him do that. Over my dead body!”

  Catan’s laughter ripped through the air once more. “Well, even though I’ve lost part of my powers when you guys destroyed the urn, I still have some left, and I think it’s enough to kill both of you!”

  Catan raised his arms, about to conjure up some dark energy to kill both Jesse and Kalista.

  “No!” Jesse cried, fear etched on her face at the thought that both Kalista and her would officially die in Catan’s hands. It was just too easy for him, and both of the women were standing there like sitting ducks, ready to be slaughtered for Catan’s pleasure and purpose.

  “What are we going to do?” Kalista clasped Jesse’s shoulder, her body slightly trembling. She knew that both Jesse and her were now powerless against Catan. Jesse was practically like a mere mortal now, losing all her vampire abilities which could have helped her hold off Catan’s attacks. And Kalista’s body was weakened by the fact that she had drained her blood a few times to rip through walls earlier. Both of them were frail, and they didn’t stand any chance against Catan, who still had some shred of power left inside of him.

  Jesse didn’t respond, but instead, her eyes were trained in Catan’s direction.She watched as dark swirls of smoke materialized from Catan’s hands, and she knew that those deathly swirls would advance toward them and kill them.

  “Let’s run!” Kalista suggested, retreating slowly toward one of the passageways behind her. She didn’t want to break into a run yet in case it angered Catan and made him chase after her and do unimaginable things to her. She was sure that Catan would easily catch up to her, and she didn’t want to do anything that might compromise her safety.

  “Nobody escapes from me!” Catan roared, and gesticulated wildly in the air. The swirls of smoke zoomed across the air toward the edges, sealing the passageways to prevent any escape.

  “He’s blocked the passageways!” Jesse observed. “We’re doomed, trapped inside this foyer!”

  Catan roared with laughter, ple
ased with the barricades which he had just created with dark magic. But he mustn’t keep using his powers like that as it would weaken him, considering that a substantial amount of his powers had been destroyed when the urn was pulverized.

  Catan flicked his gaze toward Jesse. “Just to let you know, the formation of the Filter has been completed. This whole Maze of Doom now acts as the Filter. So when I kill you, Jesse, all the good magical energies from the Good Pole would be sucked into the Filter, and all traces of goodness from them would be turned dark and evil, and the eventual output would be absorbed by me, giving me tremendous amounts of dark powers, so tremendous that I would be able to use them to clobber Dove once and for all, and become the Supreme Leader, as I’ve always desired to be.”

  “Jesse!” Kalista cried, tears forming around her eyes. “Oh, no! He’s going to kill you! What shall we do? Wh-what are our options now?”

  Jesse stared numbly at Catan, her mind whirling with panic and anxiety. She knew that there was no way around this, and she had to face imminent death in Catan’s hands. She watched in horror as Catan raised his arms higher, foams of black swirls bubbling around his hands, looking like slithering snakes, so sinister and deadly.

  “Any last words?” Catan asked in a mocking tone, stretching his hands outward in Jesse’s direction. “Once the black swirls reach you, you’ll be killed instantly. No doubt about that.”

  Jesse closed her eyes, her heart pounding in every direction within her ribcage. She had no last words, and she knew that Catan would win this round. She wasn’t prepared to die for his cause, but she had no other means of defeating this notoriously evil vampire. She felt so frail like a human being, and if she still had her vampire abilities, she would no doubt use them against Catan, but the thing was … she didn't have any of those anymore. Jesse took a deep breath, her eyes closed tight, and the last thing on her mind was none other than the man who could melt the very core of her heart … Lipton.