by H. D. Gordon
The Lamia smiled, lips pulling back grotesquely to reveal the multiple rows of razor sharp teeth in her mouth. Come out and play, little Warrior, she hissed, and taking Akira with her, she dashed off in the opposite direction from me.
I launched myself out of the window at the same time Kayden entered the bathroom. I hit the ground hard, but landed on my feet. Kayden called out to me, but I wouldn't have been able to reply if I had to. I just put my head down and raced after them. The rain continued to fall.
Nelly
Daniel stayed with me a little longer, but not for too long. Students of the opposite sex were allowed to visit each other's dorm rooms as long as they were out by curfew. These rules weren't heavily enforced as far as I knew, but nobody wanted the old dorm matron to come and kick them out, so I think most of the students obeyed.
He kissed me lightly on the forehead before he left. Don't worry, Nell, he said, and the nickname my sister gave me made my heart feel tight in my chest again. Alexa needs you too. You're her strength just as much as she's yours. She'll be back, he added. And then he left.
Those words comforted me as I brushed my teeth and hopped into bed. That's part of the reason I liked Daniel so much; he always seemed to know the right thing to say. I went to sleep feeling better than I had all day, and even though it was just marginally, it was enough to allow sleep to pull me under. I wished it hadn t, though.
I don't dream very often, or at least I don't remember my dreams very often. The dream I fell into that night would haunt me for a very long time.
The world in my dream was a dull gray. I was standing over it, on some elevated surface, looking down. At first, nothing much was distinguishable, and I strained my eyes to clear the fog and get a better view of the land I was surveying. But, I wasn't just standing over land, I was standing over what seemed like thousands of people.
Well, not people, but Searchers, Brockens, Wolf-borns, and upon closer examination, I could see that Lamias were there as well. They were all staring up at me. Most of them were bloodied, and injured in some way. They wore rags and robes and dresses and suits. And, they all had the same expression on their faces. It was a mixture of relief and sadness. But, their faces weren't what I was paying attention to.
Each one of their souls was tangibly visible to me; rainbows of colors shining around them. I should have known then that this was a dream, because I've never seen anything like it in real life. So many souls, and I knew all of them; all the way to the core. Not personally, but in the way that can only be known when a deep Search was being performed. I could feel every one of the thousands of souls standing below me; like I could reach out my hand and grab them. It was almost like they belonged to me, rather than just the people who stood below me.
I stood there for what seemed like a long time, captivated by the sight and feel of all the souls beneath me. But, I couldn't ignore the emotions they all carried with them. There was an overwhelming sense of relief, but also so much hurt, and pain, and loss. I felt warm tears trickle down my cheeks, and it took a moment to realize that the emotions weren't coming from just the souls. They were coming from me too.
When I recognized this, the most awful, potent feeling I've ever known settled over me, and my eyes were pulled from the sight below me, and fell on the worst nightmare at my feet.
You would think that because this was a dream, only the worst of it would hit me, and then mercifully allow me to wake. But, this dream pulled no punches. It worked its way up from my feet, slamming me in the gut and stabbing me through the heart before it let me go. And, even then, I found no comfort.
Denial hit me first. My mind wouldn't accept what my eyes were seeing. My heart refused to accept it. Then, horror, guilt, and anger. Finally, ugly truth found its way into me.
Alexa lay dead at my side.
A gut-wrenching scream ripped up my throat, and the souls below me followed suit; crying out in unison, as if they all shared and felt and knew my pain. I stared down at my sister, beautiful even in death. Her big brown eyes stood open, staring at nothing, and the relaxed expression on her usually serious face gave the impression of someone else altogether. It pained me so to see it, but it was the first time I'd ever seen her look so entirely &. peaceful. The silver on her arm was the only color in this world; standing out like a star in an undiluted night sky. The still warm fingers of her right hand were wrapped tightly around the handle of her Gladius, which was dripping blood; gray blood. When the wind whispered, in a voice I knew to belong only to my sister, It's okay, Nell. Everything is how it should be, I knew exactly what had happened here.
Alexa had somehow given her life. To save me.
I woke up fighting for air; the dream-induced emotions still possessing me with full force. And the tears that trickled down my flushed cheeks were very much real.
Alexa
Oh God oh God oh no all my fault all my fault Oh God
I smashed through backyards, leapt over fences and destroyed flower gardens in my passing. The sun had completed its descent, and the illusion of night that the cloud covered day had presented was made a mockery. The real night was darker than any day could have managed.
My palms were stinging and tingling a little from where I'd cut them on the bathroom window. Sweat was pushing its way through my pores, only to be met with thin bullets of rain that hammered down from the troubled heavens. My heart felt worthless and shriveled and lodged in my throat. My mind seemed to be on a looping track.
All my fault Oh God Akira All my fault She has Akira Oh God
Houses blurred by, dirt and grass and rocks kicked up around my feet. Street lights illuminated wide circles of light, around the edges of which the darkness crept. No stars could be seen, and the slice of a moon that became visible when the clouds shifted offered very poor light. Even though the air was humid and there was no wind, I felt cold. Well, maybe numb is a better word for it. I was numb with something worse than fear.
Please God Please God Please let me catch them in time PLEASE
I bolted my way onto another residential street. The Lamia had come this way with Akira. I could still smell their scents on the air. My senses were on hyper-alert. I didn't slow my pace. I wasn't nearly winded. Panic induced adrenaline kept me running full-out. The bottom of my jeans clung to my ankles, soaked through with rain. The slick surface of my jacket caught the downfall with small, rapidthunks, and the material swished when my elbows rubbed the sides of it. A few cars lined each side of the street. Most of the lights were still on in the houses, but the possibility of any witnesses to my mad dash made no matter. I ran on. I couldn't seem to move fast enough to catch up to them. So I kept going, but my brain seemed stalled.
Catch up Come On catch them save her get there in time Please Akira Oh God
The whispered thought bubbled up from the cellar of my mind, where the dark part of me lived: Not fast enough.
Shut up!
I ran harder, stumbling a little over a rock in my haste. A mocking chuckle sounded off in my head. My teeth clenched and my fingertips dug into the cuts on the palms of my hands. I ran on; down a slight hill, leaving behind the modest neighborhood, an eight-foot tall chain link fence directly ahead, a small line of trees beyond that. I jumped up on the fence and began to scale, my hands slipping from the dripping metal and aching from the cuts I'd sustained earlier. The pain was irrelevant.
Not fast enough.
Shut up! I cried out, like a madman in an empty white room.
She'll die.
I stumbled and righted myself just before falling to the ground. I was past the line of trees on the other side of the fence. A large meadow lay ahead of me, wildflowers and weeds all kneeling to the thrusts of the rain. Another line of trees beyond that. No shine from above, just angry thunder clouds. Bursts of lightening scraped across the sky. Akira and her captor were further still and out of sight. She'll die. That thought got stuck on its tracks. Unfriendly chills ran over my body. I could not let that happen. I wou
ld not.
I knew what had to be done. I dreaded it. I was terrified, really. I wasn't sure what it would cost me. The last time I didn't restrain myself I ended up killing a man. But, that situation had been different. I could have walked away after I'd shattered his leg and incapacitated him, and I hadn't because I'd lost myself to the dark side; the primal side of me. Right now, however, there could be no walking away. For the second time now this stupid bitch of a Lamia had stolen someone important from me. I had to make her see the error in her ways. So, I would let the beast in me free to do what it pleased. This night would certainly end in death anyhow. I would very much prefer it if I got to be the one doing the killing, rather than being killed. Most importantly, Akira could not be harmed. Could not.
My only hope, which I hardly spared a moment's thought at the time, was that I would be able to bring myself back after this was over. When I killed the man in the parking lot of that diner, I'd damn near gone insane. I'd been terrified afterward at the rest stop in the women's restroom. I'd felt myself slipping away. And, worse, I'd started addressing the beast inside of me. I've always known it was there, but I'd never spoken to it. I've felt its will possess me on many occasions, but it never had a voice. Kayden had managed to bring me back to semi-right mind when he showed up, but the monster inside of me had screamed in rage even then. I knew that the more I indulged in my deranged tendencies, the stronger the influence of my monster became; the stronger the voice. Somehow, I knew instinctively that if I ever surrendered myself to that rotten side of me, I would destroy all those around me. People I cared for would die. Killing was a super-drug for me. It always has been, before I even knew what I was. So, I knew there was a monstrous side of me long ago; planting and executing ideas, never voicing them, though. It was speaking to me now, however, and we agreed on two things: the child had to be saved, and the Lamia had to die. There was no time for inhibitions.
No matter what the price to my soul, this was the only way. I let my monster take the wheel.
I felt the power coil inside me, and I shot across the meadow, moving faster than deadly venom in a bloodstream, into the shadow-ridden trees, scraping my face and neck and snagging my hair in the branches. Then out, into open land again, with mud and gravel beneath my feet, staining the bottoms of my jeans and seeping into my sodden shoes; shoes that seemed to glide over the water-bloated earth. The world had slowed again. Well, actually, I'm sure that it was just I that had sped up, but the detail of it all was so clear that it seemed somehow decelerated to me.
Well, not to me exactly. My standard mind had stepped back. My monster held the reins. The hunt had begun.
Vibrant anticipation welled up in me. I was getting closer now and I could see my enemy up ahead. My eyes zeroed in on them as though with assisted vision. Akira's small body bobbed and flopped like a ragdoll on the shoulder of the ruthless vampire that held her over her shoulder. The girl's arms flailed furiously, tiny fists pounding into the parasite's pale back. An ugly growl found its way up my throat. The Lamia ran on, leading me into what surely was a trap. I grew closer with every wretched moment.
I reached them when they came to some old train tracks. Lamias can move extremely fast, but I guess a half-mad Sun Warrior can move faster. I stalked them like a true predator, and made my move perfect in time and execution. I yanked Akira from the grasp of the Lamia as she was still running. I held the girl tight in my arms and snapped my right leg out in a strong kick to the Lamia's lower back. She stumbled forward a little and spun around as fast as a coiled snake taken by surprise. I shoved Akira protectively behind me. The child was silent. The rain rambled on.
The vampire that I despised so fiercely, who haunted my nightmares, who had aided in stealing away my concept of normal, and tormented me at the expense of my loved ones stood across from me. Her blond hair hung in dripping chunks below her shoulders. Her black clothing clung and drooped from her red-veined skin in a way that had the effect of decomposition. But, even so, she was quite alluring for a beast. Her eyes were a solid lustrous black, and they gleamed as though they were wet marble. Sharp cheekbones and full lips that I knew hid a shark's mouth were set into a feminine jaw. She was horrifyingly appealing, as all Lamias are. The draw their prey feels toward them is in my opinion one of their most deadly weapons. In the same way that my harmless outside appearance and pleasing features are weapons of mine.
The Lamia titled her head back and screeched an ear-piercing sound into the air, her lips stretching all the way back to her earlobes, rows of teeth gleaming and dripping fat drops of rainwater. Behind me Akira reached up and covered her ears. In front of me, on the other side of the railroad tracks and about fifty yards back, where old abandon buildings stood and shadows loomed, the Lamia's call was answered by others. The multiple high-pitched screeches sliced through the night sky.
I counted them as they emerged, never truly taking my eyes off of the threat right in front of me. Seven more Lamias appeared from within the shadows of those old buildings.
The Lamia standing opposite me let out a short hiss of a laugh. You owe me blood, little Warrior. I'll have it now, she hissed.
As she said these words, the rest of her pack had made their way over to us already, gliding over the ground without ever seeming to really touch it. Eight to one. I cringed a little inside at the odds. But, I wasn't the one calling the shots, and my monster was not in the least troubled. I had to trust it. I decided to take comfort in its confidence. It thought our chances of survival were pretty good.
On the outside, I could feel the crooked smile form on my possessed lips. The dark side of my soul would feast tonight whether I met my end or not. My incisors elongated into fangs. Forbidden, merciless hunger began to eat away at me. Akira's little body trembled against my back. My monster was already calculating the attacks, the kills, the order and fashion in which it planned to execute the eight blood-thirsty creatures who had fanned out to form a tight circle around Akira and me.
The one it planned to save for last spoke again, confident ever more with her pack standing beside her. Her head tilted slightly at my insane, enthusiastic expression. You'll watch that child cowering at your back die firsssst. Your death will be long. Warrior blood is much too precious to ssssquander. she hissed.
My monster's smile grew wider still. A mental shiver ran through me. Cold tingling, like hospital drugs inserted intravenously, shot up my right arm. I'd tucked my Gladius up my sleeve before I'd exited the car with Kayden outside of Olivia's house. It seemed to understand that it was needed now, as it always did in times of trouble. I slid it down into the grip of my right hand. The feel of it between my fingers was delightful. The long, sharp silver blade slid out from the end of it. The creatures around me hissed and snarled. The sight of the Gladius was surely an unwelcome one to them, and for good reason. The sword was designed with the sole purpose of killing their kind. As was I. I raised the blade toward the one who had spoken. The voice that came out of my mouth was flat and cold; the voice of my monster. Maybe I'll drink from you tonight.
Yuck! Hell no we won t!
The only response I got was a chuckle.
The outside world absorbed me again as simultaneous high-pitched shrieks filled the air. Eight sets of hideous jaws stretched back across pale faces and bared row after row of pointed fangs. I watched the pack of Lamias begin to make small, calculated movements; examining me for weak points, and communicating with one another in some silent language I wasn't privy to. In less than a few heartbeats, they would make their move. My body became relaxed, still and ready. My heart acquired a slower, pleasant pace. I knew which one would try to reach me first, and my cold grip tightened around my Gladius. The rain fell and fell.
Through the eyes of my monster, it seemed to me that I had a 360 degree scope of all my surroundings. Or maybe it was just that my senses were increased to a super height. I could smell the irony rusted metal of the train tracks, the sweat of the little girl standing behind me, and the rotten,
rancid breath of the eight evil things surrounding us. I could hear a highway somewhere in the distance, the rapid heartbeat of Akira, and the sound of my own as well. I could feel the presence of threats, their exact locations and distance from me, where they would more than likely strike. My monster had our moves as well as theirs worked out like an advanced chess player.
So, I knew he was there before they did, and for one Kodak moment, they all stood stupefied as the head of the Lamia on my east side seemed to magically detach, tumble off and roll across the earth. The headless body of the thing slumped forward, down to its knees, and collapsed belly first to the ground. Kayden stood in its place.
In the tiny moment before all hell broke loose, I greeted him, but of course, the voice wasn't quite mine. Libra, I heard myself say.
He nodded once, and pinned me with those eagle-colored eyes. Warrior, he answered, and I knew undoubtedly that he wasn't addressing me. He was addressing my monster; my Warrior.
The Lamias regained their composure instantly, and my mind snapped back to battle mode. They came at me from every direction, moving in what had to seem like a blur to the poor innocent child at my back. But, if their movement was a blur, that of my blade must have been untraceable.
The first one to reach us made a grab for Akira. I cut her right hand clean off and sent a hard kick at her midsection. She was still flying backward when the second one rushed me from behind. My left arm reached back and secured Akira to me as I spun around and drove the point of my Gladius through her throat. She was just beginning to gurgle and spew black blood when the third Lamia moved in. Her body yielded to my sword as well, but I learned quickly that unless I removed the head from the body, they would just keep on coming. Shrieks and screams and curses filled the dark night. My monster spared no glances for Kayden, and neither did I. He could handle himself. Akira's safety was the priority here.