The Vampire Flame (Vampire Sorceress Book 3)

by T. L. Cerepaka

  “How did you get to the surface?” I said.

  “I don’t know,” said Dad. “It was like one moment I was standing in front of the Vampire Flame, touching the basin’s exterior, and then the next I was back on the surface like I had fallen asleep before going into the cave. I tried to go back into the cave to see if I could find that fire again, but it was completely blocked off by thousands of pounds of rock and dust.”

  “A cave-in?” said Lucius. “What caused it?”

  “I don’t know,” said Dad again. “Upon reflection, it was probably the Vampire Flame protecting itself, but I can’t say for certain. All I know is that I immediately left the cave and the town, not even stopping to tell the townspeople that they would no longer have to worry about their friends and family suddenly disappearing in the night anymore. I did tell my friends in the Vampire Hunters Guild, however.”

  “Why did the Vampire Flame appear to you?” I said. “How did you find it just wandering in an empty cave on the Texas/Mexico border if the Vampire Flame is supposedly hidden?”

  “That’s the thing,” said Dad. “The Vampire Flame isn’t hidden. Unlike the Vampire Sword, the Flame moves on its own and goes where it pleases. That’s why it is so hard to track down, because it moves everywhere and goes where it pleases. Even if you do accidentally find it, like I did, you won’t be able to do much with it, as I discovered.”

  “But if that’s true, then Blake probably isn’t having any luck finding it,” I said. “Right? And maybe he never will, if the Flame doesn’t want to be found.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” said Lucius. “Blake must have somehow found out how to locate the Flame, otherwise the Council wouldn’t have sent me to find him. Therefore, it’s still important that we stop him, if nothing else.”

  “I’m not sure I would recommend that either of you search for it,” said Dad. “The Vampire Flame didn’t harm me, but I sensed that it could have if it deemed me a threat to its existence. I’m afraid of what it might do to you two if it considers you a threat.”

  “Thanks for the concern, Dad, but we don’t have any choice,” I said. “And anyway, Blake still has Jane. I can’t just leave her at his mercy. That’s not what friends do.”

  Dad sighed, but then said, “All right. Given how serious this situation is, I can’t stop you two from looking for it. The only clue I can give you is to go to that same border town where I first saw it, to the cave mouth that was blocked off. I don’t know how much luck you will have in finding it there—it’s been twenty-five years since then, after all—but it’s the last known location of the Vampire Flame, so it’s the best place to start.”

  “What do you think, Lucius?” I said, looking at Lucius. “Do you think we should go to that town and try searching for clues to the Vampire Flame’s current location there?”

  “Might as well,” said Lucius. “It’s not like we have any other leads at the moment.”

  “All right,” said Dad, nodding. “I’ll tell you the name of the town, as well as the location of the cave. Listen carefully, because Rachel is probably wondering where I am and why I haven’t returned yet.”

  Less than ten minutes and one trip back to my apartment to get Domination later, Lucius and I stepped out of the Shadow Way and into the shade of an overhanging rock on top of a cliff overlooking the small town of Oro, Texas. My phone’s GPS map said that Oro was a nearly six hour drive from South Side, where my Dad lived, by car, but we had made the entire trip in not even ten minutes. As creepy as the Shadow Way was, I had to admit that it was actually really convenient for traveling long distances in a short amount of time. It made me wonder if there was some way to use it as a transportation system, though given how the Shadow Way corrupted humans and was home to all kinds of strange creatures, I figured that it probably wasn’t going to be used for public transportation anytime soon.

  The sun was high in the sky at the moment, while below, the small town of Oro spread out like a blanket. It wasn’t very big—perhaps not much bigger than South Side—but I saw cars driving through the town, probably people traveling between Mexico and the United States. In the distance, I saw what might have been a border checkpoint, set in the wall that was still in the process of being built between the two countries. The wall didn’t look quite finished, from what I could see, but it was definitely coming along, which was amazing considering how construction just started earlier this year.

  But I had to look away, because the bright sun made it hard to see even with my sunglasses. It wasn’t that bad in the shade of the overhanging rock, but I still wished we had decided to wait until evening to go out and do this, because it would have been darker then and it would have been easier for us to move around without fear of being harmed by the sun.

  “Is this the place?” said Lucius, who was clinging to the overhanging rock even more than me to avoid standing in the sun.

  I pulled out my phone and checked out current location. “Yep. That’s Oro, Texas, population two thousand three hundred and nine, founded in eighteen-ninety-five by a guy who thought there was gold out here but it just turned out to be the way the light reflected off the dirt and rocks.”

  Lucius raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew so much about this place.”

  “I don’t, but my phone does,” I said as I put my phone back into my pocket. “One of the wonders of the Internet. I’m surprised you vampires haven’t discovered it yet.”

  “Why would we?” said Lucius. “Your Internet has no real interest to most of us, though now that I think about it, I think I’ve heard of vampires using the Internet to trick humans into meeting them in secret locations to eat them. I’ve never used it myself, though, so I can’t say whether or not those rumors are true.”

  I grimaced. I knew that there were predators on the Internet, but the idea that there were literal vampires was almost too much for me to believe. Then again, I was half-vampire myself, after all, so why couldn’t some particularly intelligent vampires use the Internet to get victims?

  “But where’s the cave mouth Richard told us about?” said Lucius, looking up and down the mountain upon which we stood. “The one that will take us to the cave network where he saw the Vampire Flame twenty-five years ago.”

  I also looked around, trying to spot it, until I noticed something further up the mountain. Squinting my eyes and leaning forward, I noticed that it was a cave mouth that was partially blocked off by rubble. I said ‘partially’ because it looked like someone had dug their way through it recently, with half of it torn away, leaving a narrow gap that a person could slip through into the cave on the other side.

  “There,” I said, pointing up the mountain, “though it looks like we’re not the first to find it.”

  Lucius looked up the mountain and shook his head. “How much do you want to bet that Blake somehow also learned about Oro and has already beaten us to the cave?”

  “I don’t even want to think about it,” I said. “The only way to find out is to go up there and check it out for ourselves. Come on.”

  I tried to step out of the shadow of the rock, but then Lucius grabbed my arm and said, “Wait.”

  I looked over my shoulder at Lucius in confusion. “What’s the problem? We’ve found the cave. Are you waiting for something to happen?”

  “No,” said Lucius, shaking his head. He gestured at the sun. “It’s the sun. You know we vampires can’t walk around during the day. The light of the sun will probably kill me if I step out underneath it.”

  “Oh, right,” I said, nodding. “I almost forgot about your weakness. Did you bring your sunglasses?”

  Lucius pulled a pair of shades out of his pocket and put them on his face, hiding his handsome red eyes from me. “Yes, I did, but these are not going to be enough to protect the rest of my skin from the sun.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Well, I’m not going up there alone. If Blake is in there, I want you to be by my side, because I’m pretty sure I can’t beat him o
n my own, especially if he has any silver weapons.”

  Lucius bit his lower lip. “I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t walk around in the sun. My clothing will protect my body somewhat, but I would still rather not risk it.”

  As much as I loved Lucius, I couldn’t help but feel that he was being a bit whiny. The cave mouth wasn’t that far away. It wasn’t like he was going to have to walk under the full blast of the sun for six miles, after all. If we ran together, we could get up there before the sun hurt us.

  Still, I knew Lucius wouldn’t listen to that argument from me, so I said instead, “Then we need something to protect you with.”

  “Do you have a spell that you can use to cover us?” said Lucius.

  I paused and thought about what he said. “Sort of. I can bend the shadows around me to make me invisible to anyone watching, but I don’t think it can protect me from the sun. I don’t even know if I can extend that ability to other people around me, like you.”

  “It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” said Lucius. “As a half-vampire, you can probably do all sorts of things that I can’t. Give it a shot and let’s see what happens.”

  “I’m not sure.” I looked down at the dried up patch of grass near my feet. “It’s a vampiric ability, and I don’t like using my vampire powers.”

  “Why not?” said Lucius. “They’re quite useful.”

  I looked up at Lucius in annoyance. “Because I don’t want to lose more of my humanity. I’m afraid that if I use my vampire powers too much that I might end up losing my humanity. I don’t want to end up like Ambrus. And there’s the little fact that I also don’t want to put my salvation at risk.”

  “I thought that you Christians couldn’t lose your salvation.”

  “That’s just it,” I said. “I don’t know if I’ve lost my salvation or not, but I figure that God probably wouldn’t be happy if I indulged in my vampire side. I’m not doing it.”

  Lucius leaned back against the overhanging rock, a look of annoyance on his features. “Come, now. You don’t seriously think that using one of your vampire abilities just once, and for a very short period of time, will threaten the salvation of your eternal soul, do you?”

  “I do,” I said. “And I know you aren’t a Christian and all, but that’s just the way it is. Take it or leave it.”

  Lucius sighed. “Then I don’t suppose you happen to know of some other way we can go to the cave mouth without being exposed to the sun?”

  I folded my arms across my chest and gave the matter some thought. “We could stand under my jacket. Use it like an umbrella. It’s big enough that it should be able to cover both of us, though we’ll have to move slowly to make sure we don’t accidentally walk out from underneath it.”

  I tried not to show it, but I found the idea of being close to Lucius under my jacket exciting. True, we would be too busy focusing on reaching the cave mouth to do anything romantic, but anything that brought me closer to Lucius was a good thing in my book. I wondered if Lucius was as excited at the thought as I was. It was hard to tell how he felt about me, aside from liking me in a fairly general way.

  “That sounds less practical than just using your magic,” said Lucius. “I understand why, of course, but still.”

  “Well, either we do it that way or we don’t do it at all,” I said. “And you know that we can’t afford to go home, especially if Blake has already beaten us there.”

  Lucius sighed again, but then said, “All right. You win. But this is the last time we’re doing something like this. Next time we need to cross a sunny mountain, we’re going to bring an umbrella, at the very least.”

  I nodded and quickly took off my jacket, which I handed to Lucius. Lucius carried it above his head, spreading it out as widely as he could in order to protect as much of his body as possible. He looked a little silly that way, but I didn’t care, because Lucius was the kind of man who could make even silly look sexy.

  “There,” said Lucius. “How do I look?”

  “Great,” I said, trying to hide a smile. “Now move over and let me get close to you so we’ll both be safe.”

  I walked over to Lucius, who leaned slightly toward me to cover me under my jacket. The two of us stood so close together that our bodies were practically touching. This was probably the closest I had ever been to Lucius in a long time and I was determined to enjoy every minute of it even if Lucius didn’t.

  “Now,” I said, pointing toward the cave mouth. “Let’s go. The faster we get there, the faster we can find—and stop—Blake.”

  I estimated that the cave mouth was about twenty feet away from us, which would have taken only a couple of seconds of walking to reach under normal circumstances. But because Lucius and I had to walk together underneath my jacket, our progress was much slower, turning what should have been a second or two of quick walking into a couple of minutes of slow walking. Luckily, the ground wasn’t very rocky or uneven, but we still had to watch out feet carefully to make sure that we didn’t step outside of the jacket and expose ourselves to the sun accidentally.

  The two of us didn’t say much as we walked, mostly because we were too busy trying to keep pace with each other to risk speaking and distracting each other. Still, I took advantage of our closeness to enjoy Lucius’ presence. He was bigger and taller than me, which was just how I liked my guys. He even smelled good, even though he was still a vampire who smelled like death. I wondered if he was using some kind of deodorant to hide his stink or if he just showered regularly. Maybe that’s why vampires didn’t smell very good, because they didn’t shower or use soap.

  After what seemed like forever, we reached the cave mouth. I slipped in first, being smaller than Lucius and not holding my jacket, but Lucius joined me a second later and handed me my jacket back, which we didn’t need to hold over our heads anymore due to the darkness of the cave.

  “We did it,” I said as I slipped my jacket back on. “And without having to use any of my vampire powers, too. It didn’t even take us that long.”

  “Perhaps,” said Lucius, though he still looked grumpy. “It still would have been more convenient to go with your powers, you know.”

  “Maybe, but I’m also not interested in risking my salvation anymore than I already have,” I replied. I looked around the cave. “Anyway, we’re here.”

  The cave was surprisingly spacious, even though it hadn’t looked like that on the outside. There was enough room for Lucius and I to stand side by side without taking up even half of the cave’s space. The air in here was also a lot cooler than the air outside. Not quite freezing, but definitely colder, probably due to the fact that the sun couldn’t get in here thanks to the rocks partially blocking the entrance.

  Aside from the entrance, however, the cave looked as if it hadn’t been disturbed for years. Then again, given how the cave’s entrance had been partially opened, we clearly were not alone, though we still didn’t know who had gotten here ahead of us. We had our theories, but we wouldn’t know for sure until we ventured deeper into the cave.

  “I don’t see anyone,” I said, looking around the cave. “Do you think that the person who got here before us is long gone?”

  “They’re probably deeper in the cave,” said Lucius, nodding toward the back of the cave, which seemed to stretch on forever, well beyond my eyesight. “Remember, Richard said that this cave is actually part of a network of underground tunnels, meaning that the person who got here before us is probably deeper within. I doubt they’ve even gotten to the Vampire Flame yet.”

  “You mean Blake,” I said. “Right?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Lucius. He pointed at the floor. “Look.”

  I looked at where Lucius pointed and nearly started when I saw what he was pointing at. Several large clawed footprints stood out against the dirt floor, looking kind of like chicken feet, except much bigger and deadlier. The footprints extended deep into the cave, going further and further until they were out of sight completely.


  “What is that?” I said, trying—and failing—to hide the fear in my voice.

  “I don’t know,” said Lucius, “but if I had to guess, I would say that Blake, if he’s here, didn’t come alone.”

  I didn’t like how Lucius didn’t specify how many ‘allies,’ plural, he thought Blake had. I suddenly wondered if maybe Lucius and I should turn around and go home. I knew that would mean leaving Jane at Blake’s mercy, but I was sure that the Lord would save Jane, if it was his will, and that I was probably getting in the way of whatever rescue plans God had made.

  But Lucius started walking deeper into the cave, snapping me out of my thoughts and making me walk after him as quickly as I could. “Hey, why are you just going deeper into the cave like this? Don’t you think we should be a bit more, ah, cautious?”

  “Caution is a luxury for those who aren’t in a hurry to save their people,” Lucius replied without looking at me. “Given what Blake is trying to do, we have no time to be cautious about anything. You can stay behind me, however, if you’re afraid of being jumped by whatever lurks down here.”

  I said nothing to that, partly because I knew I couldn’t argue with Lucius, but also partly because I didn’t want to say anything which might be heard by Blake and his allies somewhere down the tunnel. I had no idea how far down Blake and his allies had gone, but I didn’t want to risk alerting them to our presence just because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

  Still, I couldn’t stay silent forever, so I said, in a softer voice, “All right. But be careful anyway. Don’t know what is down here, after all.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Lucius. “I’m rarely cautious, but I’m always careful.”

  I didn’t quite see the difference between the two, but Lucius spoke so confidently that I decided not to argue against it. I checked Domination to make sure it was in working condition, resting my hand on the hilt for quick access in case we were ambushed. I also removed my sunglasses, because they weren’t needed in this dark place.