by R. A. Miller
Contents
Cold Open
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Cold Open
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Cold Open
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
To Be Continued...
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Alessi sat at the helm of his wagon and stared at the dark street in front of him. The horse kept fidgeting and trying to back up and it took Alessi some effort to keep her under control. The two lights that normally adorned the archway at the end of the street were out. The oak sign depicting the town name was as dark as the rest of the street. Normally, at any given time on any given day, Main Street was crawling with drinkers, shoppers, and merchants. It was a hub of commerce and debauchery. Alessi loathed the two-day wagon ride to Hillside Glenn to retrieve the king's favorite ale. He always managed to leave Hillside Glenn with a smile on his face, courtesy of the ladies of the Broken Lace, but tonight even the Lace was dark.
Alessi parked his horse and wagon in front of the Broken Lace and moved cautiously to the front doors. It was tough to see in; the only light was the moon, and even that was partially blocked by clouds. He tried to look through the glass but only saw darkness. Alessi was just about to turn around and walk away when movement inside caught his eye. A moment later he saw it again. Someone was inside. He walked back to his wagon and retrieved the sword from under the seat. His horse gave a loud snort at the sight of the blade. Alessi patted the horse on the snout to let the animal know everything was all right, then moved back to the door and tried the handle. It opened easily so Alessi stepped inside, making sure to leave the door open. Just in case.
Alessi had been here enough times that he could navigate his way around in the dark. Several steps in front of him was a table. From there he moved northwest until he found the bar. Sword in his right hand, Alessi used his left to follow along the bar until he reached its end. This was where he thought the movement came from. Too dark to see anything, Alessi tried feeling around with his foot. Still nothing.
He did, however, catch the smell of rotten meat wafting past his nose. He turned to his right to begin searching the rest of the room.
“Hello?” he called.
No answer.
“Hello?” he cried, louder this time.
Still there was no answer.
He was sure he saw something moving, but if it was a person why did they not answer? Alessi's search of the room turned up nothing except the stench of decay. He made his way back to the bar and pulled up a stool, dropping his sword onto the bar. The clang of the steel on wood was followed by a low moan. Alessi straightened.
"Hello?" he said, his voice shaking.
The moan came again.
He grabbed his sword.
The moan came a third time. The sound had come from behind the bar.
As Alessi stood, a head appeared from behind the bar. The head rose slowly and a little shaky, like this person had had too much to drink. Alessi watched as the figure stood up straight and turned to face him. He noted clumps of something hanging from the person's face and chest.
“What happened here?” Alessi asked.
The dark figure moaned.
The newcomer tried to walk towards Alessi as if he had forgotten the bar was there. The man, Alessi had decided it was a man, continued to try and move towards him. It was odd behavior, even for a drunk. Alessi stepped away from the bar as the man pulled himself atop it. Dragging himself across the bar, the dark figure fell to the floor with a thud. Alessi started to move towards the man but then thought better of it and took another step back.
The man moaned again.
Moonlight crept into the Broken Lace, illuminating the figure.
Alessi's face was stricken with horror at what he saw. It wasn't food or garbage hanging from the man's face. The man's skin was pealed back, revealing what Alessi thought to be muscle. His right eyeball was hanging from its socket, which Alessi noticed just as a large bug crawled out of the socket. This made him sick to his stomach.
Alessi did not know what had happened to this man but he did know that he wanted no part of it. The one-eyed man grabbed for Alessi. He backed away until he hit a chair and went down on his back. The man fell on top of him. The odor of decayed meat accosted his senses.
The one-eyed man let out another moan and attempted to bite Alessi. Still holding his sword Alessi swiped at his attacker but the smacks and cuts did not seem to bother him. Finally he was able to get his blade under his attacker and embed it in the man's ribs. Alessi used this for leverage and pushed the man off.
He got to his feet as quick as he could and made for the door, pausing in the doorway to catch his breath. His knees suddenly felt weak. The street was full of people.
"By the Gods..."
Hundreds of bodies filled the street, dead bodies that were up and shambling towards the Broken Lace. Most of them were moving towards Alessi but a few were knelt down in front of his wagon, where his horse should have been.
Alessi braced himself in the doorway. His first thought was to pray to the gods. His second thought was of the king. He had to get back to Raven’s Hold and warn the king. Whatever was happening here was evil and wrong, as if the gods were messing with the way of things. Messing with life and death. He had to warn King Markus.
Alessi looked on in horror as several of the abominations tore chunks of his horse apart with their teeth. His stomach churned. He couldn't think of them as people, normal people wouldn't do this. He had to get away from here but the mass of things in front of him were closing in and blocking off his means of escape.
The crowd was getting larger. In every direction the mob was growing and filling in the street. They were not going to let him leave. Then he remembered that the Broken Lace had a back door. He had used it plenty of times when he drank there and hooked up with one of the dancers in the dressing room. Alessi turned around and was met face to face by the man that had tried to bite him.
The man with the hanging eyeball grabbed Alessi's head on both sides and bit into his face. Alessi's nose and part of his upper lip came away with a meaty rip.
Alessi screamed.
He fought loose of the monster and tried to go back the other way but was met by dozens more. They crowded around him, grabbing at him and pulling at his clothes.
The one-eyed thing grabbed at him from behind and sunk his teeth into Alessi's neck. Another one bit into his left arm and another his left ear. The mob dragged Alessi to the ground and continued to tear at his flesh. He silently begged to die as his vision blurred and he began to lose consciousness.
As quick as the biting and tearing of his flesh had begun, it stopped. The mob stood and backed away, forming a circle around Alessi. Through blurred vision, Alessi could make out a woman with long dark hair approaching him.
Unlike the other creatures tearing at his flesh, this one was beautiful. Her silken robes swayed with her hips as she walked, reminding Alessi of the Broken Lace dancers. The beautiful woman knelt in front of him; her robes barely covered her breasts that threatened to fall out of the fabric as she laughed at him.
“Poor little bastard.” the woman said.
She was kneeling now and talking in a soothing, yet
jovial voice. It was clear that she was excited by what was happening.
“You were unlucky enough to stumble on my children,” the woman said. Alessi's mind was swimming. He thought this woman was here to save him. Instead, she was confessing to having caused it.
“You will feed my undead children tonight, human. Devouring your Hillside Glenn was merely the beginning for them. Their hunger for flesh is insatiable. Tomorrow they make for Raven’s Hold. Tomorrow it begins.”
As the undead mob resumed feasting on Alessi, he once again prayed for death and forgiveness. His only regret now was that he could not warn his king.
Death came soon enough. As he lay lifeless at the dark haired woman's feet, she said a few words and Alessi crawled back to his own feet, or what was left of them. This time, however, Alessi had no thoughts or prayers. He only had one thing running through his diminished mind. He only wanted human flesh.
CHAPTER 1
“Father?” Cora called, her voice echoing through the hollow worship hall.
No one answered.
Cora pushed open the hall’s wooden doors a little more and called again.
“Father? Are you there?”
Nothing.
Worry began to creep into Cora’s mind. Father Jessop was always here. He certainly never made her call him a second time. She had known the kind man for almost forty years and in all that time he had always answered on the first knock. He had been a father and a mentor to her when she had no one else to turn to.
Having no memories of where she came from or how she came to arrive on the church steps, a man named Father Stephen took in that confused eighteen year old and gave her a home.
He watched over her and protected her for more than forty years and never cared that she wasn’t human. There were times even she herself would forget that she was a vampyre. That was almost a hundred years ago. It was the last forty years in the care of Father Jessop that she cherished most.
This was her home, her sanctuary. She knew this place better than anywhere else in the known world.
No, something wasn’t right.
“Father,” her voice was commanding and loud. This time she heard voices, neither of them Father Jessop.
“Come on, man, let’s get outta here.” The first voice said.
“Not until we find that amulet. The dwarf ain’t gonna pay us if we ain’t got that amulet.”
The second voice was confident and sure of himself, but Cora could smell just as much fear on him as his partner.
“But what if we run into a troll or something?” asked the first voice, “Didn’t you hear that?”
“Don’t be stupid, Thomas. Everyone knows that trolls only live in the forests and mountains,” the second voice paused for a moment before continuing, “So don’t worry. It’s just yer nerves playing tricks on yer hearing.”
“You mean like in the stories my dad used to tell us when we were kids?” Thomas asked.
“Whatever,” The second man said, “Come on…”
The talking came to an abrupt stop. Now she could make out a female voice, but it was quieter than the men. Cora strained to hear the newcomer.
“Hand me the amulet and I’ll let you live,” the female voice said.
“We ain’t got it,” Thomas said, “Right James?”
“That’s right,” James said, “We ain’t got it. Not like we’d give it to ya anyways.”
Cora heard James scream for a moment, followed by what sounded to her like raw meat being ripped from the bone. She stepped away from the door as a man shoved it open and ran out of, and away from, the church. This, she assumed from the scream, was Thomas.
As slow and quiet as she could, Cora crept through the doors and into the worship hall. To her left was Father Jessop’s office. The broken in door told her this was where the two men and the woman had been. As she crept closer she could hear someone rummaging inside. The smell of fresh blood caught her attention as she approached, causing her mouth to involuntarily water. Blood spattered what was left of the door and covered the floor. Placing herself against the wall next to the entrance, Cora carefully peaked her head around the corner.
Before she had time to even think about reacting a hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. The woman holding her was not what she expected to find. Slim, long dark hair, and no taller than Cora herself the woman seemed to expend no effort in holding her.
“What’s this,” the woman asked, “Are you looking for the amulet, too?”
“Who are you?” Cora struggled with her attacker but could not free herself. The woman was abnormally strong. Cora lashed out at the woman with one hand but the mystery woman swatted it away easily. Her attacker pressed her against the wall, putting pressure on her throat. The woman leaned in close and sniffed her. Still only inches from Cora’s face, the dark haired woman smiled.
“Well, well. This is surprising. I don’t believe I know you, and I know every vampyre. Who are you?”
“Where is Father Jessop?” Cora was having a hard time breathing. The woman was crushing her throat.
“The old man?” the woman asked, “I left his body in the back room. He wasn’t juicy enough for me.”
The dark haired woman opened her mouth and a set of fangs popped into view. Cora had met another vampyre only once and it did not end well, for either of them. Try as she might, however, she could not break the hold on her throat. The woman sniffed Cora again.
“You’re not one of us, are you?”
“No.”
“Shame really,” the woman said, “I like your spunk.”
The strange new vampyre continued applying pressure until Cora passed out and hit the floor with a hollow thud. By the time Cora woke, the vampyre was gone.
****
There would be no doubt come morning what had happened here. Father Jessop, the man who had loved her and protected her for the past forty years, did not deserve to die this way. Adrenaline and rage still hot in her veins, Cora surveyed the carnage within the church.
The sight of her mentor lying in a pool of his own blood made her lower lip quiver with sadness. She truly felt love for him and all that he had done for her over the years.
The memory of it all came rushing back to her like the tide coming in. Only instead of washing away sand it washed away the rage. A single tear formed at the edge of her left eye and she quickly wiped it away.
She needed to get Father Jessop out of the hall, clean him up, and lay him in his bed. Cora knew she could not stay, but owed it to him, and herself, to make him look respectable for when he would be found. No one should see him that way.
The young vampyre had thoughts of Father Stephen, the first Father of this church to take her in. She also remembered her birth father, though with less clarity. Both men she had lost in the past one hundred years. The latter she could barely recall at all.
It had been so long since the day she lost her father that she no longer knew his name. She could barely picture his face. Brushing the memories and more tears aside, she set upon her work of cleaning up the Father and putting him to bed.
The next several hours she spent knelt at his side, crying. Cora trembled so hard at times she shook the entire bed. She had moments so bad she found herself unable to move, save for wiping away large deposits of tears from her eyes.
Cora pulled the sheet over Father Jessop until he was covered from neck to toe. She noted how peaceful he looked right then and in that moment wondered if this was how she looked before she turned. After a moment of reflection Cora moved to the small closet in the corner.
The closet housed a hidden trap door that led to the sewers, a means of travel she had become quite familiar with over the years. Father Jessop had installed it for her, providing a means of concealment as well as allowing her travel throughout the city undetected.
Cora walked west through the sewer tunnel, trying hard to ignore the smell of human waste as she went. There was nothing else Cora could do now. If she
went back into the city she would be blamed for the attack and hunted down like a wild animal. No, she must move on.
Father Jessop left a small wooden box at the bottom of the trap door’s ladder. This was to keep it from the thieves. She knew that it was meant for her. Folded into a neat square was a note from Father Jessop to Cora. Wrapped in silk beneath the note was a brilliant red amulet in the shape of a dragon with a rich black gem set in its mouth.
Cora had to walk for several blocks before finding another entrance to the street. She needed the light to read the note. A dwarf told her once that vampyres were supposed to have excellent night vision. She often wondered why she did not. When the tunnel she was traveling came to an end, Cora looked up and saw beams of sunlight peaking through the sewer exit.
She had been here many times and knew it to be the old bridge at the south end of town. She had come here often to sit under the trees across the bridge and be alone with her thoughts. It was a safe place.
Cora listened for voices above, but heard none. A sniff of the air only produced the usual stench of waste and decay. No signs of the other vampyre. With a bit more caution than usual, she peeked up out of the hole. Seeing no one, she pulled herself easily out of the hole and made her way across the bridge. She found her usual spot under an old oak tree and sat cross-legged with the wooden box in her lap.
Cora took a deep breath and opened the box, retrieving the note once more. She studied the note carefully and read aloud to herself:
My Dearest Cora,
If you are reading this it’s because I am dead.
Even though you are a vampyre, I still loved you as my own daughter. I was privileged to have known you.
I know you will take up the quest to unlock the secrets of this amulet and to fulfill your destiny.
I know these things because the Gods have told me so.
Cora wept as she read Father Jessop's words. All of the compassion and respect she had for the priest came flooding back in a torrent of tears that dotted the letter in front of her. She wiped away the tears with the back of her hands and tried to compose herself and continue: