by E. R. Willis
Mr. Pixy is dual wielding some wicked looking daggers, Rose is smashing with her two handed warhammer, and Dar is hacking with his two handed battle-axe. The warlock didn’t expect another vampire to attack him when Blaze joined. Blaze is doing great. He’s fast, and he’s a huge target now. Blaze’s skill with the sword is worrying the warlock. The warlock in now concentrating on Blaze more than the other three, which is good. The others must’ve been fighting the warlock since the city, and must be tired. This will give them time to gather up their strength and energy.
The warlock has a magic barrier around him. The barrier is so strong, that all the hits aren’t hurting him. Sometimes the shield would disappear, but he’d summon it right back. The warlock has a book, and is casting different spells at the vampires fighting him. The spells are of fire and ice. The vampires have to dodge, or hit every attack, including the attacks of the book. The book throws shards of sharpened silver at the vampire’s faces. How can that warlock do all that? He’s fighting, and at the same time, walking forward without being hit? He must be seeking out Lord Erebus? I’m sure he is! He plans on killing the vampire king, and thinks that we will panic, but that’s not going to happen. I know Lord Erebus can defeat him!
I turned, and began to attack at the soldiers. I fought with the hammer in one hand, and the other I’d use my sharp nails. I can’t believe I’m doing this? I would’ve been scared to fight in an army, but now I have to. We cannot let them kill our family. I have no more family members that I can rely on, except this loving one.
I fought with all my strength, and skills that Blaze taught me. I don’t know how to use my dark magic yet, so I have to solely rely on brute force. It’s been doing me good. I’ve done pretty well for my first time on an actual war. I’m proud of myself.
I kept up with my fights, but I couldn’t help but feel someone hiding behind some trees. I looked up and scanned the area. I saw him. It’s a hired gun, and he’s aiming a dart gun! I’m not too sure if he saw me? All I know is that he fired the dart, and missed me on purpose.
“Blaze!” I heard Rose yell.
What? I turned to see what happened. Blaze has fallen to his knees, and has a dart in his hand which he had pulled from his neck. That hired gun will pay! I rushed to him, and before he could aim a dart at me, I smacked his head in. Blood gushed from his injury, but he fell over dead. I searched the hired gun, but I found no cure. This can’t be happening!
Chapter 26
I ran to where Blaze is, and looked at the dart. The dart not only had been tipped with poison, but is programmed to inject more when fired. The dart is still oozing the poison from its tip as Blaze let it fall to the ground. “I killed the man that fired it at you, but he didn’t carry a cure,” I said to him.
“Starr, get him to the fortress. Let Lord Erebus know. He might know what to do?” Rose said, swinging her hammer at the warlock’s magic barrier.
I helped Blaze up, and walked him away from the battle. It was a long walk, but we made it. Lord Erebus is at the gates, waiting with other vampires at his side. “What happened?” Lord Erebus asked.
“I let my guard down…and got poisoned,” Blaze said, weak.
“Lord Obsidian, I can’t do anything for you. All my skills and abilities are set for damage, not curing. I’m sorry,” Lord Erebus said, sadden.
“We have to get the poison out! If we can do that, he’ll be okay!” I said, desperate.
Lord Erebus thought for a moment. “I think I have an idea, but it can be fatal,” Lord Erebus said, sighing.
“What is it?” I asked.
He explained it to us in a low voice so no one else could hear. I was horrified on what he told me, but if that’s the only way to get Blaze cured, so be it. I took Blaze inside the fortress and into his bedroom. I made him lie down, and to take off his upper armor to help lower the fever. “I’ll be right back. I have to go get some buckets,” I said, closing the door behind me.
I went to the back of the fortress where the garden was. I searched and grabbed two gallon buckets. I took them inside to Blaze’s room. I set them down and said, “Are you ready to do this? Are you sure you want me to do it?” I asked him.
“Yes, just do it. I’d rather have you bite me than anyone,” he said, closing his eyes. He’s never been bitten. He doesn’t allow anyone to bite him. This is an honor, and I should feel special, but at the moment, I’m worried.
“Okay, I’m nervous. I’ve never bitten anyone before. I’ve always drank from a glass. What if I do it wrong?” I said, unsure. All the vampires here drink from a glass, and not from people. Unless you’re married, than you can use each other. Or if you trust someone you can ask them for blood. I don’t know where they get the blood that we drink from the glasses, but I don’t want to ask, or know.
“You won’t. It’s a natural instinct. Believe me, you can do it. Now hurry before the poison spreads any farther,” he said, trying to relax his body.
I sighed, and neared his neck. My breathing became rapid, and I felt the urge of biting. He’s right. I can do this! I bit him, and began sucking his blood, but I didn’t drink it. Instead, I have to spit out his blood into the buckets. If I drink the blood, I’ll be poisoned as well. The process took a while, but I filled one bucket full, and a little bit of the other. I neared him, and allowed him to bit me. Now that all the toxic blood is out of his veins, he needs the energy so his body will recuperate new blood. I took the buckets, and flushed the blood down the toilet. I rinsed them out in the sink, and let them dry in the bathtub for now.
“Blaze, try to stay up for a couple of hours, and then you can rest up,” I said.
“Normally a human would be going into shock, but I’m a lord vampire, so I have a stronger body. Watch over me just in case. If that happens, chances are high that my organs will fail,” he said.
“I understand. That is why Lord Erebus said that it will be fatal. He said it to us in a whisper so that no one would hear, and worry about you. I bet everyone would panic if they knew that you are in this situation,” I said.
Blaze and I kept talking so it’ll help him stay up. I didn’t want him to fall asleep after the majority of his blood was taken out. At least a few hours of staying awake will help his body recover some of his blood. “I shouldn’t have gotten shot. I can’t believe that I didn’t notice the dart flying right at me? I failed. I’m not worth being a king vampire, and the future vampire king. Not after this. Look at me,” he said, feeling depressed. “I’ll have to make it up once I get better. That’s the only way I’ll feel worthy again.”
Blaze closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 27
Blaze and I spent about two hours talking, and then he slept for six hours. It is now 9 a.m., and the war is right outside. You can hear the machine guns, the bombs exploding above and around us, and the painful screams echoing. “I’ve got to get out there,” Blaze said, sitting up.
“Are you sure you are feeling up to it?” I asked.
“No, but I can’t stay here and lie all day in bed. I have to redeem myself after this. You understand what I’m saying, right?” he said, managing a weak smile.
“Yes. I guess?” I said.
Blaze got out of bed, and put on his upper armor. He turned to me and said, “Thanks. I owe you. You saved my life.”
“You don’t owe me? You saved my life once. When I got stabbed remember? We are even,” I said, smiling.
“Ah, yes I forgot. In that case, I’ll be going,” he said.
“Blaze, be careful,” I said.
Blaze caressed my face and kissed me. “I will. I’ve been saved by you, so I must keep that promise,” he said.
I smiled. Blaze bowed at me before leaving his bedroom. I went into his restroom and took the buckets. I went outside, and put them back in the garden after I gave them another quick wash.
The fortress is being attacked. There is a shield protecting the fortress, and vampires everywhere fighting off soldiers. Tanks ar
e in the front, firing right at us, but we are defending as best as we can with the vampires making the dark magic shields. Blaze and Lord Erebus are in the front, giving commands, and fighting as they are targeted. The tanks are firing without stopping, and there are a lot out there.
“Lord Obsidian, deal with the tanks!” Lord Erebus shouted.
Blaze knelt down, and touched the ground. He stayed there for a long time, concentrating on something. “Lord Obsidian!” Lord Erebus yelled in desperation.
The tanks are getting closer to the walls, and the dark magic shields are weakening. “I’m trying!” Blaze yelled back.
Blaze stayed there for a few seconds more, and then multiple dark masses rose from the ground. The dark masses entered every tank out in the field. A few seconds later, all the tanks came to a full halt. Blaze sighed with relief. He must’ve had to pinpoint every tank out there. That’s why he took longer than usual.
They continued to fight without the stress of the tanks. I joined in too. I was doing well, until I saw something rushing towards me. I jumped out of the way in time. It was an ice attack from the warlock. The warlock’s stare is locked on me. Yikes! What did I do to make him mad? Perhaps that I helped out Blaze to get better? That’s probably it, but Blaze isn’t fighting him this time. Rose, Mr. Pixy, and Dar are still fighting him off. How can that be possible! The warlock has no scratches on him, and he’s still going!
“Starr, stand back. Stay in the safety under the shield that is protecting the fortress,” Lord Erebus said, standing beside me, eyes on the warlock.
I did what he told me to do. I watched Blaze attack the soldiers. He’s in the middle of it all. The soldiers fired their guns at him, but he’s too fast. Another group of soldiers appeared with flame throwers, and tried attacking Blaze with them. Not even those worked. More soldiers kept appearing, and Blaze saw how many he still has to fight. He took a deep breath, gripped his sword, and continued on.
Lord Erebus and the others are taking care of the warlock. Lord Erebus is using his dark magic from afar. He began by casting a spell that threw multiple dark orbs at the warlock from his staff. The dark orbs took out the barrier the warlock had around him, and when that happened, Lord Erebus threw another orb, but from his hand this time. The orb hit the warlock in the chest, and made him fall down to the ground. The other vampires took advantage and attacked. The warlock disappeared in a white mist, and when the weapons of the vampires struck, it hit nothing.
“He escaped!” Dar yelled.
“That’s fine. I don’t sense him, so help out the others. I’ll keep an eye out if he ever comes back,” Lord Erebus said.
Dar, Rose, and Mr. Pixy joined everyone else. We began to have the upper hand, but that didn’t last long. A huge wave of robots and…strange creatures began to assault us. “Everyone! Be careful with those minions! They come from the very depths of hell! Don’t underestimate them!” Lord Erebus yelled so everyone could hear.
The minions are small, like maybe four feet tall? They have horns on their heads and on their backs outlining their spines. Their skin is red, they have yellow eyes, and have an appearance of a devil. The minions are fighting with tridents and fire magic, and there are thousands of them! Not to mention the robots on their side. The robots are five feet tall. They are menacing looking, and are firing lasers from their eyes, and launching missiles from their fingertips. Oh, that’s not all. A huge number of aircrafts swarmed above us now. They are attacking the shield, and it’s weakening rapidly.
I saw Rose rush to help the other vampires with the shield, but it’s not enough. Rose must still be exhausted from fighting off the warlock. She doesn’t have the energy that she needs to at least strengthen the shield. “Mrs. Pixy! Do an all-out attack on the aircrafts!” Lord Erebus yelled.
“Yes, Lord Erebus!” Mrs. Pixy yelled.
Mrs. Pixy turned her attention to the sky. She aimed, and readied her bow. She has no arrows, but when she pulled back on the bow’s string, an arrow of darkness appeared. All around her, a black mist appears and began to wrap around her body and weapon. A dark ring of fire appeared on the tip of the arrow, and a huge demonic shadow rose from the ground behind Mrs. Pixy. She fired the arrow into the sky with the shadow demon following close behind. The shadow demon entered the single arrow, and then the arrow exploded into thousands of darkness arrows. All the arrows found, and hit the aircrafts. What happened next surprised me. The aircrafts started to dissolve when the arrows touched them! Nothing survived. No aircrafts or people. Mrs. Pixy smiled with relief, and resumed attacking from afar into the battlefield.
“Dar! Do an all-out attack on the minions!” Lord Erebus yelled. Dar? How could he have learned so quickly to do an all-out attack? Perhaps its instinct?
“Understood!” Dar yelled.
Dar raised up his huge menacing battle axe. A huge ball of darkness and fire encased the head of the battle axe. He attacked the ground in front of him with one hard blow. The battle axe is stuck in the ground, and the darkness and fire crept out of the battle axe, and into the whole battlefield. The darkness and fire is only focusing on the minions as it is circling around them. The fire and darkness disappeared, but where the darkness and fire was, deep crevices and cracks appeared on the ground, and a mass number of demonic hands came out of the cracks and crevices. The hands grabbed the minions, and dragged them all into the cracks and crevices. All the minions disappeared into the ground with the hands, and when there was no minions left, the ground closed up back to normal. Dar laughed and continued on fighting.
“Mr. Pixy! An all-out attack on the robots!” Lord Erebus commanded.
“Very well!” Mr. Pixy replied.
Mr. Pixy threw both of his wicked looking daggers into the air. The daggers stopped in midair, and is encased in darkness and lightning. The lightning and darkness on the daggers started to shoot at the robots, and when every robot got hit, the daggers took off and struck every robot. The daggers are acting like heat seeking missiles! When all the robots got hit, the daggers came back to Mr. Pixy. He grabbed them as they rushed towards him. The robots are badly injured, and some fell over, but Mr. Pixy’s all-out attack is not finished. Mr. Pixy sighed, and crossed his daggers in front of him. When the daggers crossed, all the robots exploded with darkness and lightning, and evaporated into thin air. “Now that’s beautiful!” Mr. Pixy said, grinning.
All the vampires got ready to continue fighting the rest of the soldiers, but they all ran the other way. Are they retreating?
Chapter 28
“Let them go! Everyone, get inside the fortress. Nyx, can you and a few others stand guard just in case?” Lord Erebus said.
“Yes,” Nyx said, gathering some vampires. They stood around the fortress, watching all directions.
The rest of the vampires went inside and sat in the throne room. I didn’t though. I, and a few other vampires, helped out with the food. We might as well eat something now before another attack. We made a quick soup, cut up and heat up some bread, and brewed up some tea. We served everyone, and then served ourselves. I sat down with Blaze and Rose.
“So who was that warlock?” a vampire asked Lord Erebus.
“I don’t know? He must’ve been a pupil of the other warlock, Onyx?” Lord Erebus answered. “We have to plan an attack. Any suggestions?”
All the vampires started throwing random ideas, but none would sound like it would work. “I’ve got a plan,” Blaze said, standing up from the table.
“Speak,” Lord Erebus said, sipping his tea.
“It’s simple. We attack Ravine Katz. If we take him out, a lot of soldiers might surrender. It reduces their numbers, and we got rid of one problem,” Blaze said.
“It might work, but we don’t know where Ravine Katz is?” Lord Erebus said.
“I know, but one of us will find out by asking around the soldiers. We’ll threaten them, and let them confess on where he is. After we get the answer, we’ll track him down, and kill him. Then we’ll see what happ
ens,” Blaze explained.
“Great plan! Who’s going to be asking around though? I can’t see us all doing it?” Lord Erebus asked.
No one said anything. I’m not too sure whether they didn’t want to, or they didn’t know how to torture someone? It’s easy! “I’ll do it,” I said, volunteering.
“Starr? Are you sure?” Lord Erebus asked me.
“Yes. I have no problems doing it,” I said.
“All right. Be careful out there,” Lord Erebus said, nodding to me.
Blaze sat back down and continued eating. “Starr, I want to thank you. You’ve been a big help here. You help out in the kitchen, you cured Lord Erebus, you saved my life, Blaze’s life, and now you are going to get the location of Ravine Katz. I, and everyone here, appreciate everything you do,” Rose said.
“It’s a pleasure being here. I don’t mind doing the things I do. Everyone here is amazing,” I said. “By the way, you look beautiful! Why did you stay looking old before?”
“Thank you! You’re beautiful yourself. Well, when my husband died, I went into a deep depression. I guess all the depression hit me, and made me look like an old person. So I took the advantage and got in a wheelchair. I just felt worthless and weak without Flame. All the vampires would ask, but I’d make up something so they wouldn’t feel sorry for me. I’d tell them that I took the form of a feeble old lady to confuse my enemy,” Rose explained.
“I’m sorry for the loss. I know it hurts when you lose someone you loved. I still haven’t properly grieved for the loss of my parents. I was just too busy,” I said, feeling tugs at my heart.
“I’m sorry. We must learn how to deal with such losses. If we don’t, it’ll hold us back. I learned that the day I changed back into my young self. I know Flame wouldn’t want to see me suffering like I was before. Just like your parents. It is okay to grieve for them, but don’t do it to the point of where you’re suffering. They would not want to see you like that either,” Rose said, putting a hand on top of mine for comfort.