by Sean Stone
I tucked the Dagger into my back pocket. “Since you liked it so much,” I said and then released another burst of magic at him. This time he was ready and managed to shield himself from it. I didn’t relent. I kept the magical beam flowing at his shield. Green sparks of magic flew off in every direction. I could see that he was exerting some effort in deflecting my spell, but I was never going to break his shield and I could feel my own strength ebbing. So I drew on his own power. He would regret binding us together. My magic darkened as it channelled his into it. His eyes widened.
“You little shit!” he shouted, although he sounded more impressed than annoyed. Then he cut me off. The extra power vanished before I could really use it. He capitalised on my surprise and sent a small spell but powerful enough to knock me off my feet. “No more battery for you,” he said.
My wrist tingled, and I watched as the looping scar gradually vanished. I wouldn’t be able to draw on him anymore. It also meant he’d accepted that I was not going to do the transfer for him. That meant I was no longer indispensable. I had to end him before he ended me. I jumped up, whipping out the Dagger and pointing it right at him. He stood stock still and stared at the weapon in my hand.
“I don’t want to fight you, Eddie. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, still trying to calm me.
“Well I really want to hurt you,” I spat back at him.
“That’s hardly likely,” he replied. “Calm down and let’s talk.”
“I’ll calm down when you’re dead,” I snarled.
Nick held out his hand and I felt his pull on the Dagger. I tightened my grip. His pull was so strong that the Dagger began to pull me across the floor, my shoes sliding across the tiles easily. Then with an increased burst of strength it flew out of my hand and shot across the room. As it reached Nick it turned so the blade was no longer facing him and the handle rested neatly in his hand. “You would actually use this against me?” he said in disgust. “And I was foolish enough to treat you like family.” He returned the Dagger to his boot.
“You murdered my girlfriend!” I screamed. I ran at him holding nothing back. I launched spell after spell all of which he batted aside with barely any effort. I jumped the last few feet and barrelled into him taking us both down. He thudded onto his back, me on top of him. I delivered punch after punch to his stupidly perfect face. His skin cut and bruised beneath my anger. Blood squirted over the pristine tiles. I have no idea how many punches I slammed into his faces. I felt his bones break beneath my magically enhanced attacks. Then when I’d exhausted myself I fell forwards over him breathing heavily. I watched in frustration as his face healed back to perfection.
“Feel better?” he asked. The only sign of my attacks was the dried blood on his face.
“Not by a long shot.” I pulled my fist back once more. He swiped me off him with the back of his hand. I rolled across the lobby and skidded into the reception desk with a thud that sent a shockwave through my spine.
“I grow tired of this, Eddie,” said Nick as he came towards me. “Do you know how many sorcerers I am going to have to kill because of you? All I wanted was once little transfer.” His calmness was slipping. His teeth were bared like an angry animal. He twisted his wrist and my stomach filled with burning pain like he’d set my insides on fire. I screamed louder than I knew I could. The sound reverberated around the room endlessly.
“Did you really think you had any hope of defeating me? Stupid boy.” He dropped the spell and stopped in front of me, squatting down to meet me. “I will give you one last chance to see reason. Refuse me now and I will deliver the death you’ve been promised by that pathetic excuse for a seer. Stand with me, Eddie. I’m your family.”
I looked up into his pretty blue eyes. I softened my own expression as I reached out and rested my hand on his shoulder, pulling myself into a sitting position. “She was my family,” I said quietly. “And you murdered her.” I slammed my free hand into his chest blasting my magic full force into his undefended body. He let out a shocked sound and then flew up into the air. I’d hit him harder than I realised and he collided with the glass walls, shattering them and flew outside. Giant shards of glass came crashing down. I got my shield up just in time to save me from being slashed to pieces. I pushed the shards aside and stood up. I teleported outside and found him. He was brushing glass out of his hair in the middle of the road. Once again, he looked hardly damaged at all.
“Alright then, Eddie. Have it your way,” he said sadly. Then he ran at me. I returned to action and hurtled down the road at him. I threw spells at him but once again he batted them aside. He did not return fire and I wondered why. As we collided he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up off the ground. He took me higher and higher and it was only when the floor was a distant memory that I realised we were flying. “Now I will show you true pain,” he hissed into my ear. Then his eyes turned to fire and black forks of lightning shot out of his fingers. They jolted all over my body creating a vortex of pain so powerful I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. The suffering was so bad it paralysed me. My mouth was open but only a silent scream emerged. I had no idea how I wasn’t dying from it but somehow I lived on, feeling the endless torture. It was like every nerve was being stabbed with needles. The pain went right through me. My heart was struggling to beat, the sensation of having a belt wrapped tightly around it was all too much. Tears streamed from my eyes blurring the vision of his demonic and sadistic face. The lightning wasn’t just coming from him, it was flying from the quickly darkening clouds around us. The spell stopped and he looked into my eyes. “This pain will go on and on!” he shouted above the roaring wind around us, jolt after jolt bursting through the sky and pummelling my poor defenceless body. “You will live in agony until you’ve had enough. Only when you beg me to end it will I take your life.” Then the lightning flew out once more and the pain resumed.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Gabe saw the last moments of the fight in the lobby. Eddie needed help, there was no way he was going to be able to beat Nick alone and Gabe wouldn’t be able to lend much support. He needed more assistance. He took out his phone and sent a text calling for the others to join him. He only hoped they’d arrive in time. Even the wouldn’t be much use against Nick.
He shot back to the conference room where Annabelle was still standing looking terrified. “Is he…”
“What?” Gabe shot back, distractedly. He grabbed the chain and began releasing the dynasts from it. The enchanted chain fought back, sapping his strength from him in an effort to resume its duty. Luckily Gabe was no ordinary vampire. He managed to pull it free from the dynasts before it stole his energy completely and as soon as the metal was out of his grip his strength began to return.
“Is Eddie dead?” she said in a hushed tone.
“No. And I’m going to make sure he stays that way,” he said assertively. Eddie would not be dying on his watch.
“There’s nothing you can do now. Eddie is going to die. All you can do is save yourself. Stay away from Cedarstone High Street. Anybody there when this fight finishes will die,” she said sombrely. Then she headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Gabe snapped. They needed all the help they could get.
“As far away from here as possible.”
“You’re not going to help?”
“There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing anyone can do.” She hurried out sheepishly and what was left of the door closed behind her.
“She’s an optimistic girl,” Shirley said as she lifted her head from the table. “Okay, vampire boy. Fill us in then.”
Gabe looked at the five dynasts who were all looking at him in perplexed annoyance. Gabe told them everything that had happened since he’d arrived with Annabelle. As soon as he finished Arthur was on his feet.
“We need to go after them. I may not be Eddie’s biggest fan but for the moment our goals are aligned. This is our chance to defeat Nick,” he said, a look of solid determination on
his face. “After all, it was Nick who killed Clara.”
“Agreed.” Shirley stood with him. “Let’s lend the boy our magic.”
“Oh no. No, no, no,” said the overweight woman. “Let them kill each other. I’ll not risk my life or my coven for any more of this stupid fighting.” She pushed herself away from the table and stood up. “I’m sorry, Arthur. I tried to make this alliance system work, but it clearly isn’t going to. I followed Clara and she’s dead now. I know you mean well, but you’re not her. You’re not a leader like she was. I’m out.” She paused as if waiting for somebody to convince her to stay but nobody did. Arthur simply stared at her with cold admonition.
“Go on then. Sod off,” Shirley said, shooing her out of the room. Strangely she chose to exit through the shattered wall rather than taking the door. Not that anybody cared, they all just wanted her gone.
“Forget what she said,” said Sam, standing up too. “I’ll follow you, Arthur.”
“Thank you, Sam.” Arthur turned to the final seated dynast. “Ron?”
He nodded, the sagging skin on his neck quivered. “I’ve followed you this far,” he said and stood up.
“Where did they go, Gabe?” said Arthur.
“My guess is Cedarstone High Street.” Gabe led the remains of the Alliance of Covens out of the room and after Eddie and Nick.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Nick carried me through the air pumping me with pain-filled lightning. I saw the tops of roofs flicker by. Birds flapped about to avoid us as we shot past. The blue sky was now totally hidden by dark grey clouds and the first drops of rain were starting to fall. I had to do something to stop this. I narrowed my eyes and tried to focus through the pain. I needed to call on some magic, but I just couldn’t. I forced my eyes closed to black out the vision of his sadistic face leering over mine. I couldn’t summon my magic but maybe I could fight physically. I focused all my will on breaking the paralysis just long enough to make one move. It worked. My right leg jerked up fast and my knee collided with Nick’s balls. He made an ooff sound and his face wrinkled in pain, the lightning vanishing. My body was trembling from shock and torment, but I had no time to recover. His hands were still on my throat, gripping tightly. I pushed both of my hands to his chest and blasted him with as much magic as I could summon. His hands felt off me and he jolted away into the storm. Without Nick holding me I dropped rapidly. I didn’t have time to try and save myself. I crashed onto a roof and went tumbling down it. Tiles came loose and fell with me. I reached out and tried to grab hold of anything to stop me from falling further but my fingers slid off everything. I rolled over the side of the roof and I felt my leg crack as I landed on the cobbled stone floor below. The pain of a broken leg was nothing compared to what I’d experienced up in the air. That was something I never wanted to feel again.
I lay face down on the floor, panting heavily. Agonising pulses were still afflicting my body causing me to spasm and shake. My face was soaked with tears. Every inch of me ached, it was like a migraine covering my entire body. I closed my eyes and tried to heal myself. The pain did decrease but not by much. Nick’s magic was too strong and mine was diminished. I opened my eyes and pushed up off the floor. My hands were still shaking as I pushed up off the cobbles. Cobbles. Cobbles were bad, but I couldn’t remember why. I looked up and there was the answer. My heart jolted in my chest and I fought back the urge to vomit. I was outside an old building that now served as a shop. A large window dominated its small front and on display were little colourful baby grows and a fancy modern pram. I let out a resigned sigh as my eyes found their way to the sign. COTTON SOCKS.
So this was it. This was where I was going to die. Well I’d be damned if I was going down without a fight. I pushed up to my feet and looked around. I was on Cedarstone High Street. The whole place was deserted. Rain fell heavily, soaking eye through and giving me a small amount of hope. I was going to die on a sunny day, not in the midst of a horrific storm. As if to punctuate my point, a burst of lightning flashed overhead and a deafening roll of thunder followed it. A strange whirring noise broke the silence and I glanced up expecting an attack but instead I saw a helicopter hovering overhead, a bright spotlight glaring down on me. Strange. On its side it said ITV NEWS. Then I remembered that the area had been evacuated. That coupled with the strange flying fight that people must have just witnessed had attracted the news crew. I doubted they were the only ones coming. As if to answer my question I heard footsteps and saw a small camera crew hiding in a nearby alleyway. They weren’t focusing on me though. I followed their line of sight and saw Nick. He was covered in deep gashes across his face but even as he strode my way they were healing. I had no hope of beating him, but running wasn’t going to get me far and I couldn’t run away from a fight, not in front of a news crew. I tried to force my fear down and limped toward him.
“I’m embarrassed to call you my blood!” he shouted down the street at me. “I thought we’d work together. Side by side. Like family. But you’re too weak.”
“I’m still standing, aren’t I?” I bellowed back at him.
“Barely.”
I launched a bolt of green lightning at him, but it collided with a shield rather than his chest. He continued walking, forcing my lighting to diminish as he drew closer. It was taking everything I had to keep the spell going and stay stranding. I had to use my power wisely, I couldn’t afford to blast it at his shields. Nick reached me and swiped my spell aside. He didn’t cast any spells in return. He delivered a nasty right hook to my face. The force of it sent me straight back down to the cobbles. I lie on the ground in shock. I hadn’t been expecting a punch. There was something horribly barbaric about it. As I tried to lift myself up, Nick hit me with the back of his hand across my other cheek and knocked me straight back down.
“You’re pathetic,” he spat. “Of all the warlocks I’ve apprenticed you are the biggest disappointment.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” I said, my words slurred.
He raised his hand and conjured a ball of pure darkness. Glowing black power hovered above his palm. As soon as that touched my heart I would be dead. I raised my chin in defiance. I would not beg. “And thus, plays the final note in the symphony of Eddie Lancaster. Go to your grave knowing that nobody will mourn you. Nobody will celebrate you. When you die it will simply be as though you never even existed. You are friendless and alone.”
The sad thing was it was true. My friends had left me. My girlfriend was dead. And I’d managed to turn everyone else against me. I was completely alone.
“He’s not alone and he’s not friendless.” We both turned to see Gabe standing across the street. Loyal Gabe. The sight of him warmed my heart and forced a smile onto my face. Throughout everything he’d been there with me. My rock. There was nothing he could do to save me now, but the fact that he’d comets stand by me meant everything.
Nick tipped back his head and let out a rich chuckle. “And what are you going to do to save him?”
Gabe shrugged. “Nothing. I’ll leave that to them.” He nodded to his left but Nick didn’t have time to turn. A massive blast of magic took him clean off his feet and sent him spiralling down the street. Arthur, Shirley and long-faced dynast were stomping forwards together, Gabe’s vampires at their backs. The cavalry was here.
Gabe shot over to me and pulled me to my feet. “Thanks for coming,” I said weakly.
“Don’t mention it. Come on, let’s get you out of here.” He tried to pull me away.
‘No,” I said, pulling away. “I’m not leaving until he’s down.”
“Then you won’t be leaving,” Gabe argued in desperation.
“Let the boy fight,” Shirley said as the dynasts reached us. “We need Clara’s magic on our side.”
Arthur looked at me disapprovingly but then nodded. “I don’t like that you’ve got her magic but at least you’re using it to help us. The moment this is over you give it up, though.”
I nodded. It was the las
t I could do and frankly I didn’t want it. It was like having dirt inside me.
“So how do we do this?” asked Sam.
“The Dagger is in his boot. We need to get it from him,” I told them.
“Well, I do like a challenge,” Shirley said with false enthusiasm. She rolled up the sleeves of her lilac jumper and began marching down the street after Nick. “Let’s show this ignoramus why he should never have come to our homes and picked a fight.”
We didn’t get far before several little cracks sounded and warlocks started appearing out of thin air. The street was soon filled with chaotic fighting. Screams and spells flew about wildly. I smiled when I saw that Shirley was grinning viciously as she flung lethal spells about at the warlocks who surrounded her. They’d bitten off far more than they could chew with that dynast. She was the kind of sorcerer I’d aspire to be when I was her age, if only I was going to make it there.
I fought off the warlocks as I searched around for Nick, hoping that he hadn’t left the fight. Extra sorcerers were turning up to aid their dynasts and I was truly seeing the good side of the Alliance now. What was left of it anyway.
More news crews were turning up, followed by police officers. Nobody came close to the fighting, not even the cops. They stood dumbfounded at the edge of the street trying to figure out if what they were seeing was really happening.
Gabe and his vampires fought their way to my side. I was proud of how well they were handling this. It was the first real battle they’d ever been in and they were holding their own like veteran fighter.
“What’s the plan then?” asked Alison.
“We need to get the Dagger from Nick’s boot,” Gabe told them.