Shackles of Sunlight

by J. Daniel Layfield

  “Come forward, young Jonas, and report,” came a voice from the darkness. Master. Jonas had never seen him before, not even when he was sired, but he could feel the power Master held over him even in his voice. He crossed the room quickly, but stopped before straying into the shadow, and bowed to one knee.

  “Master,” he said.

  “Rise and report, faithful servant.” Jonas stood as commanded, but kept his head bowed.

  “It was as you suspected. Malock was planning to overthrow not only the Council, but you as well. He obtained the missing rib of Helsig from the monastery and attempted to complete the summoning. He sought to gain sole command over Helsig, and wield the creature as a weapon against his own kind. He announced his plans openly in front of the others, and none seemed eager to stop him.”

  “Not even you, Jonas?”

  Damn. He’d been warned about speaking with the Elders. Every word must be measured and weighed before it leaves the mouth, or it may just be used against you. He swallowed hard, and licked his lips before continuing.

  “Allow me to rephrase, Master,” he said. “Once the one who grumbled loudest was put down by Malock’s dog, Samuel, I thought it best to keep my mouth shut.”

  Silence. A bead of sweat rolled down his face. Had it gotten warmer in here?

  “Proceed,” Master finally said, and Jonas exhaled.

  “Braughton managed to free himself, then he and his slave killed the rest of the men. I thought it best to withdraw and observe, lest no one be left alive to report back.”

  “Not much of a report so far,” Master noted. “I do hope you have more.”

  “Of course, Master,” Jonas stuttered. “The summoning ritual, I can only assume, didn’t go as planned. Braughton survived, but I found no signs of the beast’s remains.”

  “And Malock?”

  “Dead.”

  “You’re sure? Being dead already, we’ve become very adept at cheating it.”

  Jonas nodded his head as he recalled the scene. “I’m sure. Malock, or what was left of him, was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was as though every last drop of fluid had been drained from him. Like he was …”

  “Devoured.”

  “I suppose,” Jonas said. “His body looked like a dried husk, and when I touched it, the whole thing crumbled to a pile of dust. Wait.” He paused, staring into the unblinking darkness. “Did you say ‘devoured’? As in ‘The Devourer’?” Silence. “Are you saying Helsig is-”

  “Right where I want him.”

  “Guess the summoning worked after all,” Jonas mumbled.

  “What of his slave? The girl. Did she survive?”

  Jonas absently rubbed his hand as he spoke. “She was a surprise. I’ve heard about his other slaves, but she was stronger than I expected. A good fighter, too. Fierce.”

  “You admire her.”

  “I admire her strength, her determination. She was outnumbered, and her fear was almost palpable in the air, but so was her anger. She used both to overcome. If not for her, I’m not sure Braughton would have fared the same.”

  “So, it was her humanity which made her such a formidable opponent?”

  Jonas was still rubbing his hand, scratching at the wound that still hadn’t healed completely. “Maybe,” he admitted, just now considering it for the first time.

  The response was a single, low laugh, almost a grunt. “You are young, but already you have learned more than Malock. He could never see that which he perceived as weakness to be a strength. Yet, it is her humanity which makes her so valuable to us.”

  “I don’t understand, Master.”

  “Of course you don’t, but you will soon enough. They all will.” Jonas opened his mouth, a question ready, but Master didn’t pause long enough. “There is a war coming, Jonas. A war the likes of which almost no vampire alive today has ever seen. Are you ready to fight for me?”

  “I’m ready to die for you, Master,” he answered without hesitation.

  “Excellent. Leave me now, but don’t stray far. I have plans for you, my faithful servant.” Jonas bowed, and quickly left the room, relieved but also anxious to know what Master had planned for him. Being Master’s right hand appeared to be a hazardous position.

  The boom of the heavy door closing behind Jonas echoed in the chamber. Alone again, Master sat back in his chair and tried not to smile. Smiling hurt, pulling the dry, cracked skin on his face. Then again, sometimes it was worth the pain. For instance, when things have gone just as planned.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Lightning is unwieldy, but an effective weapon.

  Testicles, while ineffective for procreation, do still provide significant pain when used as targets.

  Wooden stakes are not lethal by themselves, but can pin vampires down, and temporarily immobilize them. They get bonus points for being highly annoying to the undead. Further tests needed to determine if type of wood matters.

  The click-clack of fingers dancing across a laptop keyboard halted as the door opened. Liz looked up and saw Braughton coming towards her with a box. They’d been at the monastery for nearly two weeks, but she’d barely been inside. There were just too many memories and too many stains in those halls. She’d even taken to sleeping on the enclosed back porch, but she was currently enjoying the day from the front porch. The sun made the memories duller, easier to bear. She had no idea how anything survived without being able to see the sun.

  “That’s the last of them,” Braughton said, setting the box next to a pile of similar sized boxes.

  “From both libraries?”

  Braughton nodded his answer.

  She snapped closed the laptop. “They may not have lived in the middle ages,” she said with a smile, remembering the conversation with Monk, “but these books will be a lot more useful when we get them into digital form.”

  Braughton answered with a non-committed grunt.

  He’d barely spoken since they arrived. He spent almost an entire week pouring over the book Malock had used for the summoning. Then, one day, he had simply started bringing boxes of books to the front door. She’d found Malock’s book in the first box. It lay beside her now.

  Braughton stood in the shadows of the porch, silent, staring out into the bright woods. Liz considered reaching out, trying to feel what he was thinking, but truthfully, she wasn’t sure what she’d find. She decided on a different approach.

  “What’s wrong, Braughton?”

  He looked at her for a moment, then returned to staring at the woods. “What do I do now?”

  “Well, you could start with loading those boxes onto the truck.”

  He cut his eyes at her. He was not amused.

  “Oh!” she said, feigning innocence. “You mean what do we do now.” She thought a moment, then shrugged. “What’s wrong with what you’ve always done? I seem to remember Malock mentioned a Council and a Master who both have plans that probably need thwarting. We could start there.”

  “But aren’t we just doing what Malock wanted then?”

  “Technically, I suppose you’re right,” she conceded, “but I think it’s very small of you to dismiss his entire plan just because the end goal was using you to destroy any vampire standing between him and domination over the entire population. We’ll obviously skip that last bit, but I see nothing wrong with the first part of his plan.”

  “Is it really safe for me to be doing that? Am I safe to be around you?”

  Now they were getting to the real problem. And who could blame him? She remembered her own fears waking up after he bit her, wondering what it was she had become. She still didn’t know the answer to that, but it didn’t bother her anymore, because inside, she still felt the same, it hadn’t changed who she was.

  “We’ve been here over two weeks,” she said. “Have you felt the urge to ‘devour’ me?”

  Braughton slowly shook his head.

  “Do you feel any different than you did
before? Any thoughts or desires you can’t explain?”

  Again, he indicated negative.

  “So what are you worried about?! Helsig has always been a part of you. Why do you think you’re suddenly going to be someone different?”

  Braughton was quiet for a few minutes, then nodded towards the book beside her. “You read it?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you know it says almost nothing of what Helsig is. There’s the ritual, and a history of what he did, but nothing of his origins. Is he an angel? A demon? Some poor bastard whose soul is trapped for all eternity?”

  “He eats vampires. How bad can he be?”

  “How good can something be that requires a human sacrifice to summon it?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The ritual,” Braughton said, pointing at the book. “If you didn’t see it in the cave, then surely you read it. The summoning requires the presence of a human brain, heart, and blood. I’m not sure how you place those within the remains without killing the human.”

  “First of all, it doesn’t say anything about placing them in the remains. If that’s what Malock did, he came to that conclusion on his own. Second of all, it doesn’t say ‘brain’, it says ‘mind’. Since I heard Helsig tell Malock there was no way he would accept a vampire as his master, I’m pretty sure the presence of a live human is required to take that role. You need someone with a human heart, blood, and mind.”

  He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “So, does that make me my own boss, or are you in charge?”

  “I have no idea,” she admitted. “All I know is whether Helsig is a demon, an angel, or something else, it doesn’t matter, because he’s also you now. You’re not less than half-human and half-vampire because of that, you’re more than all three. You’re not going to find what you are in any book, and I think it’s high time they learn to fear a new name.”

  “That’s pretty good,” he said with a smile. “You should write that down.”

  THE END

  A Note from the Author

  Thanks to my beta readers Cort, Deb, Jim, and Katie-bree for helping me create the best version of this book. You guys get even less glory than writers, but your input is invaluable.

  Thank you for the support and advice I found in the Support Indie Authors group at www.supportindieauthors.com. You guys are like family.

  A big THANK YOU to you, the reader. You guys are awesome and I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to drop me an email at jdl@jdaniellayfield.com, connect with me on Twitter @jdaniellayfield or Facebook www.facebook.com/jdaniellayfield.

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