As she turned off the lights and crawled into the bed, no solution presented itself. Naya lay looking towards the ceiling, the dim glow of the rising sun creeping around the window’s heavy curtains.
“I’ll have to trust you, Elisha,” she told her absent love. “I have to have faith you’ll destroy the monster and free us all somehow, because I simply can’t find the way.”
His dark earth aroma was all around her, as if to say it would all be all right. With the scent of their earlier lovemaking soothing her worries, Naya drifted off to sleep.
* * * *
Naya woke mid-afternoon. She sighed to see her dress stained with dirt and shook leaves and twigs off it as best she could before dressing. She put on her coat, and after several minutes of internal arguments, she picked up the pocketknife in one sweating hand. She unfolded the blade from the handle and hid it in a pocket. Clutching it out of sight in her fist, she ventured outside. No human slave waited to spring on her, and she made her way to a nearby truck stop. As she walked alongside the road, she looked all around, convinced she would be attacked at any moment.
Naya relaxed when she stepped into the warmth of the truck stop’s main building. The convenience store part of the establishment had souvenir tee shirts and even sweatpants emblazoned with ‘Savannah, GA’. With the leftover money Elisha had glamoured from his victim on River Street, Naya purchased the clothing as well as a sandwich and potato chips.
She returned to the motel room, shuddering with relief to lock the door behind her. It was a delight to shed the filthy dress and change into the cheap but clean clothes. Naya munched on her meal, drank water from the tap, and overall felt restored and halfway optimistic. Then she settled in to watch television. Still exhausted from her days on the run, she dozed off two hours later watching a show about humpback whales.
When Naya awoke, the room was dark but for the flickering blue of the television depicting lionesses stalking gazelle. Naya sat up in the bed with a gasp and ran to the window, pushing the heavy curtains aside.
The sun was almost down, only a sliver of its baleful red left over the horizon. Elisha would rise within minutes. So would Heriolf.
Naya jammed her feet into her slippers, snatched on her coat, and clutched Elisha’s knife within her pocket, the flashlight in her other hand. Forcing herself to take deep breaths to steady her suddenly galloping heart, she stepped out of the room.
Again, no one confronted her. Moving quickly, Naya crossed the parking lot and walked fast down the road that would take her to the playground equipment dealership where Elisha said he would be.
Streetlights and headlights of passing cars illuminated her. Even as the sun gave up its claim on the world, Naya began to feel more exposed than ever as she walked the shoulder of the road. The woods lining the opposite side beckoned, their dark shelter inviting her to take cover there. Naya crossed the road after an old truck blatted by and stepped into the trees.
Naya had always loved the woods. She felt at home among the trees, away from the trappings of civilization. Her parents had been the same, she thought. Her father had worked for the Department of Natural Resources and her mother had been a wilderness guide. It made her wonder if the love for nature was part of being of elfin blood. The old man in the swamp had lived a pretty wild existence too, it had seemed. This environment certainly seemed more like home than the wild garishness of River Street.
The scent of exhaust from the nearby road poisoned the rich scents of pine and earth. The nearby interstate traffic hummed, an irritant of noise trying to drown out the call of frogs and crickets. Through the trees, Naya spotted the off ramp, a tributary feeding vehicles from the mighty river of the expressway to the smaller stream of the exit. Busy people rushed here and there, only worried about getting somewhere faster. Precious few ever noticed the stand of trees that harbored the natural bits of the world not yet buried under asphalt and concrete. Such blindness was a curse, but the typical human’s oblivion contained a blessing as well. The majority were blissfully ignorant of the unseen dangers that night brought. Now that the sun was down, killers had begun flying the skies overhead, seeking victims.
Seeking her.
Naya walked easily within the pines and palmettos, the rolling ground underfoot unfurling in a ribbon of path for her. Between the silent sentinels of the trees she saw the distant glow of businesses about a quarter of a mile away. Illuminated signs flaunted themselves, unabashedly showing their wares to draw the needy into their clutches. Richard Clint’s RV World shouted one over a herd of shining motorhomes. Playtime Recreational Supplies invited the next, displaying fortresses of swings and slides and climbing gear in its bald light. Naya’s pulse quickened to see how close she was to Elisha’s resting place. Was he coming out of the ground now, looking for her?
Naya’s pace became a trot. She didn’t worry about exposed roots tripping her or palmettos slicing her exposed ankles. As always, the forest seemed to make way for her passage, its environs accepting her as its own.
The RV dealership was directly across the street from her when three dark shapes dripped down from the sky. One landed right in front of her, and Naya had an instant of recognizing the bronze face of Elisha’s co-conspirator Mariel before the flashlight was knocked out of her hand. It thudded to the ground, and its illumination winked off. The dry leaf odor of vampire was everywhere.
The female vampire’s voice was filled with satisfaction. “Heriolf’s blood whore. But no longer.”
A stinging slap landed on Naya’s cheek, and she was thrown to the ground by its force. The ground seemed to absorb her fall, allowing Naya to keep her breath despite falling heavily to its surface. Her head rang nevertheless, and the side of her face where Mariel had struck felt as if it had been seared.
A deep voice spoke above her. One of the other vampires, no doubt. “Let’s not toy with her. I’d hate her blood to go to waste.”
Mariel answered, her tone strident. “Her blood is a trap. We must not taste it.”
Naya peered up at the shapes standing over her, slowly coming into view as her vision adjusted to the dimly lit night. “Please! I’m on your side. Heriolf killed my parents. I want him dead too!”
As if she hadn’t spoken, a second male voice argued, “With her blood, we’ll have the strength to defeat Heriolf. We can’t waste this opportunity. Once she’s drained, she won’t be around to tempt anyone anyway.”
Mariel sounded furious. “No! Don’t you see? Already we are fighting over her. She must die without defiling another one of us as she has Elisha.”
The second male huffed, but it was a resigned sound. “Fine. If it will make you feel better, Mariel, we’ll kill her and not drink.”
The first male growled, but it was only token protest. “I still say it’s a damned waste.”
The three shapes bent towards Naya. There was no hope but to scream for help. “Elisha! Elisha!”
Chapter 11
Elisha took in his surroundings upon rising, concerned that Naya wasn’t waiting for him among the intricate maze of children’s playthings. He was forced to think past his hunger, which set his nerves on edge. It was too early still for Heriolf to have gotten to her, he was sure. But maybe his human slaves had found her. Or maybe she was simply too frightened to leave her motel room.
Or maybe he’d been a fool to trust her to not run back to the vampire king.
Trust her. She’d never go back to him, not after what he did to her family. She’s not going to turn her back on you.
Elisha rose into the air, the need for blood clamoring to be sated. He had to find Naya first. He followed the road from the playground equipment distributor just in case she’d gotten a late start and even now hurried to meet him. Streetlights lit the road in circular pools ahead of him, oases of illumination in which nothing else moved.
The wind moaned, setting the pines on the opposite side of the road to creak achingly as they swayed, like old men with arthritic joints. The monotonous drone
of the interstate traffic was a constant hum, nearly drowning out the piping cry of “…elisha … elisha…”
The vampire’s fangs erupted from his gums in an instant, and his stomach tumbled in a mixture of terror and fury. He shot through the sky in a blur of speed, heading towards his beloved’s screams.
* * * *
Excitement poured through Heriolf’s veins as he swooped down on the seedy little motel. He and his entourage landed on its roof. His ability to feel Naya’s pulse was fading rapidly, but here it still hummed with warmth. She’d only just left, and on foot he discovered. He could sense her passage across the parking lot. It continued down the side road that led away from the exit’s amenities for passing travelers.
The relief he felt to be so close again was almost womanish in its intensity. His ability to read his aide and guards’ thoughts had disappeared except for the occasional whisper of emotion, a word or two of thought. That was all. And though his physical strength was fading the least fast, Heriolf knew a head-on fight with her abductor might yield disastrous results. They had been evenly matched the night before, and no doubt this usurper Elisha Midyet continued to feed on his Font. The only choice Heriolf had now was to take Naya back like a common thief himself and feed hard from her before facing off with Elisha again.
“We are near her,” he told his followers, now only numbering four. “Concentrate your attack on the kidnapping traitor. He must fall before all others.”
They nodded, the fools. Heriolf was signing their death warrants most likely, sending them against Elisha with his enhanced strength. He didn’t care. All that mattered was getting Naya back, getting his powers back, and ruling for eternity.
He led them after her, drifting soundlessly through the night, away from the garish display of the exit’s businesses fighting to lure tired, hungry travelers. His fists squeezed shut and opened as he readied to feel the Font’s soft flesh. He would take her blood and her body tonight. He would make her his for eternity, even if it meant keeping her tied to her bed, always prepared for his hungers. Perhaps he would bind her that way even if she swore neverending devotion to him. Heriolf grinned as her path brightened with her nearness. He could almost smell her, so recent was her beaming passage. Naya was as good as his again.
* * * *
Somehow Naya managed to evade her attackers long enough to get her flashlight back. It wasn’t truly a weapon, but it was better than nothing. She swung it wildly at the trio gathering around her. She’d lost the little pocketknife at some point, probably when Mariel had knocked her to the ground.
The three vampires easily evaded her flailing lunges, looking amused as the light illuminated their faces in a nightmare of fanged expressions. Naya knew they toyed with her as one of the males and then the other darted close enough to poke her before jumping back again. She stood her ground and swung at them, hoping against hope that Elisha would appear and talk them out of killing her.
She would have been better off to run she realized as Mariel grabbed her. Fleeing through the woods might have delayed her death by a few seconds. Naya screamed as the vampire knocked the flashlight away once again and pulled her close. Mariel cupped one hand under her chin, the other around the back of her head, preparing to snap her neck. Naya pounded at her, punching the taller Mariel in the belly, kicking, battling for all she was worth. Her enemy acknowledged none of this, simply grinning down at Naya.
Mariel’s expression took all hope away. Nothing she did would keep the vampire from killing her. Looking into the merciless eyes of her murderer, Naya stopped struggling and waited to die.
A dark shadow suddenly swooped through the group, knocking everyone down like a wrecking ball. Though she wasn’t hit as hard as the three vampires who threatened her, Naya fell too. While the others thumped hard against the ground, again she felt almost embraced by the earth beneath her.
Someone stood over her, his long legs straddling her body. Elisha’s voice rang out. “Get away from her!”
Mariel and her cohorts rose, their mouths opened wide to display their fangs in challenge. The dark woman was furious with her desperation. “She has to die, Elisha. There is no other way!”
From her prone position, Naya saw how Elisha’s attitude remained conciliatory. His fangs were still sheathed though his body thrummed with a slight tremble. “No, Mariel. You will have to kill me too, and you can’t. I have her blood and am too strong for you.”
Mariel hissed. “She corrupts even the incorruptible. You were our champion, Elisha! The one who we were sure would resist her siren song.”
He spread his hands. “I have not betrayed you. I still believe in the good of the council. I do not wish to be supreme leader.”
“Pretty words, just like the ones Heriolf spoke until he seized control.”
“I could kill you all right now, with little effort, if I really wanted to take Heriolf’s place. That I don’t should prove to you I only want the council reinstated. I am and will always be for vampires to go back to the old ways where we lived without fear of each other.”
Mariel scowled. “Not everyone has your ethics, Elisha. Surely you cannot be blind to the threat the Font represents!”
Elisha bent to offer Naya his hand. She took it, allowing him to help her to her feet. His skin was so cold. He hadn’t fed yet.
He must have been hanging onto control by the slenderest of threads. More than ever, Naya thought Elisha remarkable. She stood at his side, and they both faced the other vampires. Only Mariel still looked certain of herself, Naya saw.
Elisha also noted it, to judge the way he aimed his words at his adversary. “I am not blind, but I cannot see Naya killed. When Heriolf is dead I will take her away, where she will be no threat to anyone here. I will –”
His words were cut off as four vampires burst into the clearing, all simultaneously attacking him. Naya whirled away and screamed to see Elisha set upon by so many. She recognized the assailants right away: Heriolf’s new assistant Lyndon and members of his personal guards.
Elisha knocked them back, but they came at him again, harrying him and trying to overwhelm his superior strength with numbers. Naya wasn’t able to watch however, because Mariel took the opportunity to come after her.
“Now before Heriolf claims her again!” she screamed to her companions, and they lunged for Naya.
As if uttering his name had summoned him, Heriolf dropped from the sky like a god of doom between Mariel’s group and Naya. Sweeping his massive arms out, he sent them flying as Elisha had only moments before. He turned to Naya, his snarling face bestial in triumph. She turned to run, but his arms were already banding tight around her, pinning her arms to her body.
“No! Elisha!”
She had no idea if her lover heard her scream. The ground receded as Heriolf carried her into the sky, quickly flying away from the battle.
* * * *
Elisha’s world was red rage as Naya’s cries faded into the distance. Heriolf had her, had his Naya, but Elisha’s opponents kept coming at him.
With a roar he threw off two guards. They flew so hard through the air that the thin pine trees they fetched up on broke with earsplitting cracks. As another bodyguard jumped on Elisha’s back, he got hold of Lyndon and tore the vampire’s head off. Then Elisha grabbed the vampire pummeling him and flung him to the ground.
“Heriolf has the girl! Return to the mansion!” someone yelled. The three guards still living, looking more like car accident victims than the mighty creatures they were, fled into the night.
Elisha tensed to follow them. The next instant something wound tight around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. His shirt had been ruined the night before, leaving him bare from the waist up. Burning pain shrieked from his naked flesh and he screamed as he fell to the ground, the silver chain that lassoed him rendering him helpless.
Thrashing failed to loosen the loop of metal that held him prisoner. Elisha became aware of Mariel and her two helpers standing over him.
Her voice, sympathetic yet merciless, rose over his gasps. “I’m sorry, Elisha. You’ve left us no choice. If I live when this is over, I will grant you an easy death rather than leave you for the sun.”
One of her cronies, a thin British-born vampire named Clark, looked askance at her. “We can’t go after Heriolf now. He has the Font again!”
Mariel was determined. “He’s been deprived of her blood for days. This is the only chance we have, while he’s weakened. Call together our people. We attack now.”
Elisha knew his pleas fell on deaf ears, but he tried anyway. “Mariel, please! She’s an innocent!”
Mariel voice was colder than the night air. “Even innocents must die for the greater good sometimes.”
Without a backwards glance, Mariel and her comrades disappeared into the star embedded sky.
* * * *
As soon as they landed in front of Heriolf’s mansion, the vampire king slung Naya over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He carried her into the building and started up the stairs to the second floor. To her bedroom. All her struggles had no effect.
“Let me go, you monster! I know what you did! I know you killed my parents!” she screamed in terrified fury.
His chuckle was loathsome in its satisfaction. “Indeed I did. And while I drank your mother’s blood, I fucked her. After I have my fill of your blood, I’ll extend the same privilege to you. I’ll make you my eternal wife, to warm me in every way possible forever.”
“I’d rather die!”
He brought her into her bedroom and threw her down on the freshly made bed. The lovely scents she’d made with Elisha were all gone. Naya scrambled to get away, but Heriolf fell upon her, pinning her under his muscular bulk.
He leered. “Afraid not, my little Naya. As your guardian and husband, I will protect you from all harm. You will drink my blood and never die.”
Heriolf didn’t bother bespelling her. His fangs erupted from his gums, and he bit viciously into her neck. Naya screamed as the pain tore through her, radiating to her shoulder and jaw. Her tiny fists were ignored as she pounded on the beast feeding on her. She couldn’t do more than squirm the slightest bit under the weight of him. Heriolf sucked and swallowed against the flowing wounds made by his fangs. With horror, Naya felt his manhood growing hard, pressing against her thigh as he fed and fed and fed.
The Font Page 13