“Please,” he hissed, slamming his body against the cell door. “Let me out! I beg of you!”
An angry snarl sounded from the other side, but the cell door remained firmly closed and locked. Bastian pounded harder against it, rattled the door in its frame. Escape, he needed to get out before he lost all reason. He had killed too many and they burdened his mind, their last few moments of terror and pain etched forever in his memory. His angry banging turned into mindless slaps of his palms against the door, until the noise was the only thing keeping him from diving off the cliff into the pit of darkness. He knew Antony wanted him there, wanted him to sink into the shadows and become nothing more than a monster.
Bastian was not certain how much time passed as he leaned against the door, straining to hear anything on the other side. Voices sounded, but they moved past his cell without stopping. The fort swarmed with vampires and he tried to stay focused, counting all the varying strains of emotions drifting in his reach. When he reached nearly fifty, his body sagged in despair, and yet more appeared every hour.
And all of them bent to Antony’s will.
It should have been impossible, but he controlled an army, completely at his beck and call. What hope did Bastian have of fighting against him? What hope could he possibly have of ever seeing Catherine again?
He knew she lived, but for how long? If she came here, if she tried to find him…Bastian snarled and beat against the cell door with renewed fury. He would not watch her be killed, not by that bastard. As he pounded on the door, he focused on the vampire standing in the corridor. He sensed his annoyance, but there was a tinge of fear beneath it, his fear of Bastian being loose.
“You should be afraid,” Bastian whispered.
Since he was turned, he never thought of himself as dark and twisted. He held onto his humanity even in his darkest moments. No more. If Antony wanted him to be a monster, he would be a monster.
And he would kill the one who turned him. Bastian was only as weak as he let himself be.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the strongest emotion inside himself, his love for Catherine, for what he had found with her. He thought of her strength and her fire. She rekindled the flames within his soul and he pulled on them now.
Heat coursed through his body, white hot and searing as Bastian turned his attention to the vampire in the corridor. He tugged at that sliver of fear and twisted it, growing it until he heard a shuffling sound on the other side of the door. Bastian opened his eyes and he stood before the vampire standing guard there. He had used his mind to travel, in the same way he had done to reach Catherine before. The vampire’s eyes glowed dark crimson and he glanced over his shoulder at the cell door. His hand fidgeted with the sword at his hip and he hissed quietly as fear grew in his mind.
“You fear me,” Bastian whispered and the vampire whipped his head around. He drew his sword in a blur of speed and spun in a circle. “You fear what will happen if that cell door opens.”
“Where are you?” the vampire hissed loudly, eyes wide in terror.
“You know what Antony has done to me,” Bastian went on, circling the vampire.
He swung his sword, but it passed through Bastian’s phantom form.
“You fear what I will do if I escape. The cell door, are you certain it is secure? Do you truly believe you locked it?”
The vampire glanced over his shoulder at the lock and fiddled with the key at his belt.
“Perhaps it is unlocked and I am simply biding my time,” Bastian hissed in his ear, and leered when the vampire lifted the key, holding it tightly in his grasp. “Go on, check it.
The vampire lowered his sword arm and the moment he slid the key into the lock, Bastian vanished from the man’s mind and waited behind the cell door. The key grated against the metal, twisted the bolt free, and the moment it was clear he rammed his body against it, sending the door swinging open wide and the vampire on the other side soaring across the corridor. His body smacked with a loud crack into the stone and slid to the floor.
Bastian fell into a crouch, glaring down the corridor left and right before deciding which way to go. He blurred past more cell doors, voices echoing inside for aid, but he could not stop for them.
Catherine, I have to get to Catherine.
He rushed down another corridor and another until he reached an arched gateway leading into a courtyard lit by torches. There was no one about, no vampires walking, no humans. The fort was utterly silent and Bastian slid to a stop. Lightning cracked the sky overhead and thunder rumbled far in the distance, out over the crashing waves. He tentatively took a step, but no one sounded an alarm. Antony did not appear before him. He was alone.
Bastian breathed in deep, scenting the air, and when he caught a familiar lull of vanilla and tropical fauna, he stilled.
“Catherine,” he breathed. She was here and she was close.
His eyes searched wildly around the courtyard, trying to pinpoint where she was, when his eyes landed on a post he swore had not been there a moment ago. It was erected in the very center of the space and tied to it was a small frame, with black hair blowing gently in the wind.
“No,” he whispered and staggered forward. “Catherine!”
Without stopping to think, he rushed towards her form, tied to the post, head hanging. He reached her and lifted her face, needing to see her alive, but when he raised her head her eyes did not open and she coughed and sputtered. Blood spilled from her mouth and Bastian growled in anger to see the slashes on her neck and chest.
“You will live,” he hissed and dug frantically at the ropes. “You will not die on me, not yet.”
“Bastian?” she whispered weakly and he stopped to find her eyes open and staring at him, fully alert. He froze and stepped away. This was not Catherine, not with a murderous glint in her eyes. “Bastian, my love, save me.”
“No,” he hissed and staggered away from her. “No, you are not Catherine. What have you done to her? Where is she?”
The ropes holding her fell away and Catherine stepped away from the post, reaching out for Bastian. Her hands drenched in blood, she tilted her head and flashed her fangs. “Bastian, my love, come to me. Be with me.”
He backed farther away as blood spilled from her eyes and nose, covering her face. “You cannot be her, I will not believe it.”
“I am here, love, I came for you,” she insisted. “Be with me. Take my hand.”
His feet stopped and with his eyes frozen on her outstretched hand, Bastian watched her move closer until she reached for his fingers and entwined them with her bloody ones. Chest tight in agony, he realized what must have happened. She came for him, came to rescue him, but Antony had caught her, tortured her. She was like the rest of them.
And there was no saving her.
“Bastian, be with me,” Catherine said calmly, raising her other bloodied hand to cup his cheek. His gaze found hers and a sharp chill shot down his spine. “Join me, forever.”
“He destroyed you,” he whispered, clutching tightly to her hand as pain overwhelmed him.
“No, he saved me,” she argued gently. “He will save you, too. All you have to do is come with me. Please, my love, do you not care for me still? Does your heart shrivel in your chest?”
He shook his head and leaned into her hand. She was still in there, she had to be.
“Please my love,” she begged. “Please come with me.”
“How? He has you now,” Bastian argued. “I’ve failed you.”
“You will only have failed me if you turn away from me now,” she soothed and pulled him closer. “All you have to do is kiss me.” She lifted his chin so their faces were so close that their lips almost touched. “Kiss me and say you want to be with me no matter where we are, or who we are with.”
Bastian’s gaze lifted to hers once more. He nodded and moved closer, when an intense flare of rage struck him hard; Catherine’s fiery rage as he had felt a few nights past. And it did not come from the woman in his arms.
“Catherine?” he whispered and the one before him nodded, her eyes narrowing. “No, this is not you. Get away from me!” He shoved hard and she staggered backward through the dirt as the first drops of rain began to fall. Bastian expected not to feel them, turning this way and that. He was trapped in his mind, had to be, but when the coldness hit his skin, he paused.
“What are you doing?” Catherine asked, voice edged in anger. “Bastian look at me.”
“No! You are not her!” He held up his hand as the rain fell harder. “This cannot be real, you are not real!”
Catherine moved towards him once more, then paused and hung her head. When she lifted it again it was not her eyes glaring back at him, but another’s with a voice to match. “I told you he would not fall for such an illusion so easily.”
Bastian heard a heavy sigh close by and whipped his head around. “What is this?” he whispered in disbelief. The courtyard swarmed with vampires and humans. Many stood along the edges, faces reflected in the torchlight as they stood and watched, while others continued about their duties, bustling around the fort. “Where did you all come from? We were alone just a moment ago.”
“No, you were not,” Haddie told him, and Bastian turned back again to see her, standing exactly where Catherine had just been.
“If you had simply given in, this would all go much smoother,” Antony growled, separating himself from the line of vampires. “Bastian please. The pain will stop, it will all stop if you will simply join me.”
Bastian’s hands held his head as he scrunched his eyes closed, struggling to hold onto his sanity. Haddie called out to Antony, saying they had pushed too hard, but Antony snarled in reply. Haddie hung her head and stepped away. As Bastian glared at the ground fiercely, Antony circled him, boots sloshing through the mud as the rain poured down harder.
“What am I to do with you?” he asked. “You suffer needlessly.”
“Is it too much to want to be free?” he hissed angrily. “Too much to be my own person?”
“If you do not join me now, when the Order attacks, what do you think they will do with you?” Antony argued, slashing his hand through the air with his words. “They will know of what you can do and they will take you! They will try to purge the darkness from your very soul and then they will use you.”
Bastian sensed the rising fear behind Antony’s words and it brought him a strange sense of calm. Antony was different to all the others on the outside, and he may be the oldest there, but deep down, his soul trembled. He was terrified of returning to the Order and being tortured again, of being purged of his darkness and paying for all the innocents he had killed. His motives were driven purely out of fear of dying at their hands. He was weak, a traitor to those he swore to save once he had turned them and had them under his control.
For the past few days, Antony had ensured Bastian was well fed. He wanted him to turn into a monster and be haunted by those lives he took. Though Bastian heard the cries of those poor women and men, another voice was stronger, whispering in his mind. Whether it was truly her or simply the memory of her, it didn’t matter. Catherine was with him, always would be, and in that moment Bastian drew on every ounce of strength in his body.
With a snarl, he lunged for Antony and tackled the vampire to the ground. Those around moved to take Bastian, but Antony growled for them to remain. “I’ll deal with this tonight and by the end, you will be mine!”
Antony drew the sword at his hip and Bastian glared at the blade. It shimmered as lightning cracked open the sky and thunder shook the ground beneath his feet. A sword landed with a dull smack in the mud and Bastian glanced around, searching for who had thrust it there, only to find Haddie staring at him intently. Antony snarled at her as Bastian picked it up and hefted it in his hand.
“I will deal with you later,” Antony swore, but Haddie seemed unfazed.
A light appeared in her eyes that Bastian had not seen in many days and his heart lifted…there was hope to save her. Antony swung his sword before him and Bastian barely had a second to block the hit that was aimed for his torso. The metal clanged loudly in the courtyard and everyone came to a standstill to watch, but Bastian already had the advantage. Antony would not kill him, only wound. Their feet blurred as they moved, each ducking under the other’s blows before Antony landed a punch to Bastian’s face. This propelled Bastian into the line of vampires, who quickly threw him back towards their Master.
The vampires hissed and jeered as Antony grinned wickedly, fangs hanging over his bottom lip as the pair circled again. Bastian wiped the blood from his nose and spat a mouthful onto the ground. “Is that all you have, Master?” he taunted.
Antony roared and charged forward, sword slashing towards Bastian who was too slow to move. The blade sliced through his calf and he snarled in pain, whirling to block the second blow aimed for his thigh. He staggered to his feet, cursing his wounded leg, but already the skin had stitched back together. Antony did not wait for it to heal and was on him again. The blades moved quickly, not discernible by the human eye, and Bastian elbowed Antony hard in the ribs, cracking several before turning and kicking him forcefully in the stomach, breaking the others. Antony fell backwards, barely staying on his feet and needing his sword to hold himself up.
“Bone takes quite a while to heal,” Bastian whispered, swinging his sword casually before him.
“You will not kill me,” Antony sputtered, but his fear grew and Bastian grinned at the harsh taste of it in his mouth. “I am your Master! I created you!” Antony spat the words in disgust.
“You did not make me who I am,” he snapped. “All you did was give me fangs and immortality. I never properly thanked you for it though.” He lunged forward again.
Antony barely managed to block the next few swings of Bastian’s blade, but the agony of his broken ribs struggling to heal as he moved, forced him back to his knees and he faltered. Several vampires moved in, but he snarled at them again and they paused. Bastian was curious to know what would happen to them once their Master was dead. Either they would be free of him, or they would all turn and come for Bastian instead. He could die this night, never seeing Catherine again.
Forgive me, my love, he thought, wondering if she would hear his words before the end came.
Antony growled as he pushed himself to his feet and stared him down. “Let us finish this, my son.”
Bastian’s blood ran cold and his eyes narrowed as a deep growl erupted from his chest. “I am not your son!”
Bastian barely felt the sword in his hand anymore as he went after Antony, swinging wildly. All he wanted was this man, this monster dead and buried. He was the one to blame for all that had passed. Bastian had lost his family, his wife, he’d lost all he had hoped for because this man could not stand to leave an innocent alone. He aimed to ruin another man’s life because of what he, himself had lost. Antony hissed as he struggled to remain standing, but Bastian roared and swung hard. Antony’s sword flew from his hand and he was left facing Bastian’s blade, the metal pressed hard against the skin at his throat. Bastian pressed down, cutting the skin enough to draw blood, and Antony’s eyes froze in fear.
“You won’t kill me,” he hissed. “You would not dare kill your master.”
Bastian leered as he leaned closer. “I have no master,” he whispered. His arm swung out wide, ready to destroy Antony and end this once and for all, but when the blade swung down, it was not Antony’s neck he sliced through, or Antony’s head that hit the mud with a wet splash.
Haddie’s body crumpled between Bastian and Antony, who both stared at it wide eyed in surprise. Bastian had not even seen her move from behind him. The sword fell from his numb hand and he stumbled away from her face, smiling up at him, eyes wide open and staring at the rain falling down in heavy sheets.
“No,” he hissed, holding his trembling hands to his face. “No…why…why would she do that?”
Antony pushed himself to his feet as several vampires closed in arou
nd Bastian, holding him tightly when he tried to lunge after the Master.
“You did this! You forced her to!”
“I would never sacrifice one of my own, not for my life,” Antony replied stiffly, eyes fixed on Haddie’s body.
Bastian tugged and strained against the vampires holding him, snapping his jaws at them. Haddie was dead, he had killed her. Was she so far gone she would let herself die for that monster? Antony ordered him back to his cell and Bastian fought as hard as he could to get free, but they did not let up and soon he was chained once again, alone in the darkness. They manacled his wrists and his ankles before slamming the heavy door shut on his screams.
He leaned against the far wall after yanking at the door until his hands bled from the effort. He slid hard to the floor, holding his hands together as his last bits of sanity slipped slowly out of reach. Haddie, he had killed the one person who might be his ally in this; removed her head from her shoulders. Their time together fighting against Antony had brought them closer, and he feared for himself more than ever without her. Eyes closed, he replayed the moment over in his mind, looking for any chance he might have had to stop himself from swinging the sword.
The moment just before the blade made contact, a sense of peace had overcome him.
Bastian’s eyes shot open and he glared at the far wall. She did not do it to save Antony.
She killed herself, he thought and sank even deeper into his despair. She killed herself to end her pain.
Bastian did not know what Antony would think of Haddie’s death. He tugged at the chains on his wrists and ankles, desperately struggling to keep his thoughts as far away from Haddie’s lifeless eyes as he could, and wanting to forget the relief he felt pass through him the moment before her death.
He would escape and find Catherine and together they would leave this all behind. Start over where not even the Order or Antony could find them.
Boston 1682
SV02-06. Slave to a Vampire Page 35