by Alex Dire
Norman’s vampire senses perceived the wooden missile and he jerked his body to his left. The projectile pierced his chest between his two bottom ribs. Norman screeched. The pointy wood tore into him and radiated pain throughout his chest. How could something so small cause so much pain?
The three soldiers broke into a run, leading the charge at Norman. He quickly grabbed the dart in his chest and yanked it out. It hurt more coming out than going in. He felt that many tiny splinters of wood still remained inside him: a cruel weapon of war. Grimacing, Norman planted his feet and crouched, bracing for the onslaught.
The three vampires screamed a rebel yell as they charged into Norman. A beam of light shone through a hole in the wall cutting across the vampires’ path. The soldiers sprinted through. The light burned them as they crossed it, searing black lines across their arms.
Helmut, in the lead, closed the distance between himself and Norman in an instant, drawing a long, ornate, wooden stake from a sheath on his back as he ran. The rest of the horde held back, watching.
The soldier raised his stake above his head, preparing for a savage blow that would end Norman forever. It seemed as if he would thrust the thing down through Norman’s skull and into his heart from above. He didn’t doubt the brute had the strength to do it.
In the next instant, the goliath began his savage thrust. The instant after that, it was over.
Rufus crashed down from above, landing on Helmut’s back. He clung with his left arm around the giant’s neck and with his other plunged his little, wooden knife into Helmut’s chest. Blood sprayed out and drenched Norman as the huge vampire roared his final scream.
The other two soldiers hesitated.
“You should have listened to the teacher,” said Rufus, almost smiling. He reached down to Helmut’s body and ripped off his head with a mighty heave. Blood trickled from the gristle that dangled from Helmut’s torn neck. Norman heard a collective gasp from the assembled horde of Corps. V.
Rufus leapt again, this time in a line-drive for one of the remaining Corps. V soldiers. He knocked him down, landing on his abdomen. Pinned by Rufus’ weight, the vampire struggled. His struggles ended almost instantly as Rufus smashed Helmut’s severed head down into the face of the prone enemy.
Norman cringed at the sound of bones crunching. Rufus raised the head once again. Another gasp emerged from the enemy crew as Rufus brought the head down one more time, turning his opponent’s face into unrecognizable goo.
Rufus then leapt up and flipped backward in the air, landing right in front of the last soldier who stood, stunned. Rufus slammed what was left of Helmut’s head into the side of this last soldier’s skull. Broken bits of bone pierced the soldier’s face as he reeled backward.
In a flash, Rufus had drawn his own long, ornate stake and heaved it through his enemy’s chest. The vampire screamed as he exhausted his last moments in this world. Rufus lifted the dead vampire’s feet off the ground with the stake and brought the point down into the other soldier’s chest, finishing off the last of the Corps. V vanguard.
Casting aside the ruined pulp of a head, Rufus reached down and picked up Helmut’s weapon. He placed a foot on the stack of dead Corps. V soldiers and yanked his stake from their kebabbed chests. He tossed Helmut’s stake to Norman and turned to address the horde. More shafts of light had cast beams around the cavernous warehouse. The silent reply of the horde was punctuated with small gasps of pain as individuals shuffled, trying to avoid the laser-like rays.
“Who’s next?” Rufus asked.
Apparently, Rufus had a flare for drama. His bravado, however, wouldn’t be enough to save them from the Corps. V. There were simply too many of them. To survive the next few minutes, Norman’s plan would have to work. He looked up to the ceiling and saw that the holes and caved-in portions had become larger since he was last hear with Richie. Decay had taken a further toll. He hoped that the roof still had enough integrity to support his students as they did their part, but not too much.
The main bulk of Corps. V began to blink back to their senses after Rufus’ vicious display. Avoiding the increasing shafts of light, they formed up for a charge at Rufus, Norman and his two vampire students.
Norman pre-empted them. “You had your chance.”
A laugh spread through the gathered horde. At that moment, hideous screams rang out from the back of the Corps. V formation and four vampires fell dead to the ground with long, spear-like stakes sticking out of their backs. The group turned toward the noise, peering into shadows for the source of the threat.
More shafts of light pierced the empty expanse inside the warehouse, burning black traces along the flesh of vampires who crossed the beams. Members of the horde leapt and snatched their arms away when they felt the sun’s sting. Norman looked up at the gaps in the roof of the structure and then down at his watch. This diversion might buy them a few extra seconds, but they’d need a few minutes.
Rufus looked over at Norman. They gave each other a nod. They’d have to buy those minutes with blood. Norman took in all the variables—how the Corps. V were distributed, where the shafts of light fell, the distance to obstacles. There was something else, something big. He was missing an important piece. He’d forgotten something. What was it?
Rufus’ voice boomed. “You and your friends are surrounded.
We warned you. Now, six of you are dead.”
As Rufus spoke, Norman focused in on the whole horde. A mass of blue orbs floated before him, slippery tendrils waving about.
“You saw what I did to your soldiers,” said Rufus. “They got off easy. That was a peaceful sendoff compared to what we’ve got planned for the rest of you.”
Norman sensed uncertainty, despite Rufus’ confident words.
“We’ve got you trapped. If you try to run, you’ll fry to ash in seconds. If you try to fight, you’ll be lucky if we only tear your heads off. Throw down your arms and we’ll guarantee safe passage out through the daylight.”
Rufus turned and stared into Norman’s eyes. Norman’s left hand dangled inconspicuously at his waist, three fingers extended. Rufus glanced down and took in the information. He pursed his lips, betraying a hint of disappointment. Norman raised an eyebrow in apology. He’d done his best. Rufus gripped his long stake, pointing it’s tip at the Corps. V.
The mob shuffled about, looking back and forth between each other, trying to derive a response with no words. Some looked around for escape routes. Of course, there were none. Any egress led directly into the morning sun and certain death.
Norman sensed the uncertainty Rufus’ words had sewn. Norman had come to respect the soldier’s combat prowess, but hadn’t realized that Rufus could be such a cunning deceiver and orator. Bury Caesar, indeed.
Then a voice rang out from behind them, and all at once, Norman remembered the variable he had tried to grasp moments before. Caesar wasn’t dead yet.
“He’s lying,” said Skeete.
Norman turned to face his old nemesis. This complicated matters. The Corps. V contingent ceased their hesitant shuffling and gave her their full attention.
“There’s only a few of them scattered in the shadows,” added Skeete. Chubs stood at her side, putting on his mean face—the one Norman had overcome so many times in the classroom with his vampire skills. Norman wanted to shout out to him that his brother was free, but he heard the horde begin to growl with new confidence. Norman needed to act now.
“It’s time to end them,” said Skeete. “Take out the big one first. Save the teacher for me.”
Rufus growled and turned his full body to face Skeete. The challenge shredded his desire to delay with words and brought on his combat lust. However, Norman needed him to keep his cool for just a little longer. If it came to all-out battle, they were lost.
“It’s not us whose end has come, Skeete,” shouted Norman. “It’s yours.” Norman couldn’t tell if the Corps. V were surprised or amused by his statement.
Chuckling, Skeete left no q
uestion. “Do you really think you can end me, Norman? You’ve tried so many times, yet here I stand. Plus, I’ve got a lot of friends and you’ve just got this piece of meat and two children.”
“Oh no, Skeete,” replied Norman. ‘I’m not going to kill you. They are.” He pointed toward the mass of Corps. V standing in the center of the warehouse. They had broken into three groups of roughly equal size to avoid shafts of light that came in through various holes and cracks in the structure.
Any amusement that Norman had sensed vanished from the faces of the Corps. V. Rufus and Norman had done a good job at keeping them on the mental defensive, but they could only keep it up for so long. In the end, Skeete was right. This was all a bluff. Norman’s little group was hopelessly outnumbered. However, if they could keep it up, just a little longer, and his students came through, the sun would change all that.
“And why would they do that?” wondered Skeete.
Norman waited. He had a flair for the dramatic as well. “Because I want them to.”
49
Do and Die
Skeete dipped her head and wrinkled a brow in genuine confusion.
Norman knew this was his chance. He turned to the mob, pointed one finger back at Skeete, and bellowed with all his volume, “Kill Skeete! Now!”
Three of the Corps. V shot up into the air, launching at Skeete in great arcs. They landed all around her. One shoved Chubs backward into a wall. Another wrapped his elbow around Skeete’s neck and squeezed. The third grabbed Skeete’s arm and tore it off with a single, freakish jerk. She screamed in pain as her blood squirted, pulsing out of the gristle dangling from her shoulder. The three wrestled her to the ground and began beating her savagely.
At that moment, Hector, Rae, Saul and Skip leapt out from the shadows in the back of the warehouse and descended on four of the Corps. V at the margin, easily taking them by surprise and ending their lives with short stabs of sharpened wood.
Norman and Rufus charged at the front of the group, followed closely by Declan and Felicia. Norman and Rufus quickly pierced the first two they encountered with the military stakes. They kept pushing forward. The impaled, screaming vampires knocked over others as they plowed through the group.
Declan used his mass well, pushing a swath down with his bulk. Felicia picked off two vampires that spun out of Rufus’ way with her short hand-held stake.
The four of them continued their charge through the center, hoping to join with their three friends at the back. They had fully seized the element of surprise and it had bought them the first round.
They plowed into the main body of vampires. The Corps. V began to close in behind them. Pain pierced Norman’s right side just above his hip. He looked down and saw the handle of some type of blade sticking out of him. A moment later, his attacker’s body was raised into the air. Declan had hoisted the vampire above his head. He threw the Corps. V down into the mob in front of them, knocking a group to the floor in the process. Norman kept charging with the blade still lodged in his guts.
The overwhelming mass of their opponents now stopped Norman’s forward momentum. Rufus withdrew his long stake from the body of the vampire he’d used as a battering ram and began swinging and thrusting it with incredible speed. Norman attempted the same, but moved with much less speed and accuracy.
He staked a vampire, pushed the body to the ground, and pulled at the handle. It didn’t budge. He jerked again with the same result. Three Corps.V charged him with handheld stakes. Norman abandoned his weapon and prepared for impact.
Declan swatted one away with his arm. A second attacker suddenly found himself immobilized by Rufus’ pole driven all the way through the side of his neck.
The third closed the distance to Norman, raised his arm and thrust down. Norman caught his arm and redirected the stake. They both fell and rolled, wrestling for control of the weapon.
Declan bent to assist. Felicia’s screamed as she landed on the back of Norman’s attacker and stabbed him twice in the back. The vampire expired and slid off Norman. Declan hoisted Norman up in a swift tug.
Norman looked between the two students. “Thanks.”
Declan smiled at his teacher, but the smile immediately transformed into a pained grimace. The wooden point of a stake exploded through the center of his abdomen, just below his rib cage. He pursed his lips with a grunt.
Felicia’s eyes widened with rage. Her diminutive form leapt with massive speed into the spear-wielding Corps. V. He landed on his back with Felicia straddling him. She forced her fangs deep into the vampire’s throat and clamped her jaw. She sat back up with a huge chunk of his neck muscles and trachea in her mouth. She spat it into his face. Blood spattered from her mouth. The immobile vampire gurgled blood through his torn neck tissue. She screamed from the center of her diaphragm and thrust her stake into his heart.
As she withdrew, a thick, cleated boot smashed into the side of her head. She reeled sideways, dropping her stake. Declan tried to charge toward her, but the piece of wood lodged in his body scraped and tore at his innards, like a knife poking through an infected wound. He writhed in pain, unable to come to her aid.
Rufus appeared behind Declan. A dead Corps. V dangled from his weapon. He grabbed the end of the wooden spear that suck out of Declan’s back. He put his face up to Declan’s ear. “Grit your teeth, soldier.”
Declan obeyed. Rufus pulled the spear out with a swift jerk. Declan roared and hobbled over to Felicia who attempted to regain her bearings.
Rufus then kicked the body off his spear and whirled around to re-engage. Before he could, an arrow pierced his shoulder. Then another shot through his chest. He dropped his combat stake and fell to the ground.
Norman rose up amid the chaos and ran to him. He looked into Rufus’ eyes. They displayed pain, frustration…life. Rufus gave Norman a tiny nod. Norman gripped the arrow nearest to Rufus’ heart and pulled. It came out clean. Another centimeter and Rufus would have screamed the dreadful scream and left this world forever. Norman pulled the other arrow, but it snapped, leaving the wooden tip inside. Rufus subdued a scream through his teeth.
“Time to call in the cavalry,” said Norman. Norman reached out with his will for the three subdued vampires. The rest of the horde must have sensed him because the melee stopped. A strange silence ensued. They all searched Norman and his tattered group. Felicia stood up in the silence. Declan held a hand over his wound and looked around for imminent attack. Rufus did not betray the pain he must be feeling from the wood in his shoulder.
Chubs stepped forth from the shadows at the side of the warehouse. In one hand, he held a bloody, wooden stake. In the other dangled three heads by their hair. Skeete stood up next to him, her arm beginning to regrow in a worm-like appendage.
“I don’t know how you did that, Norman, but it wasn’t very nice,” she said. “I’d just had my nails done.” She looked at her partially re-formed arm. “Oh well. Easy come, easy go.”
Rufus looked over to Norman, who glanced upward to measure the progress of the rising sun. He looked back at Rufus and shook his head.
The group of Corps. V expanded into a circle surrounding Norman, Rufus, and the students. As it grew, it engulfed Rae, Hector, Saul and Skip. They moved to the center and stood with the others. They had taken some of their enemies down, but there were still more than enough to do them in. Moreover, they’d played all their cards…but one. Norman hoped they’d have the chance to lay that one on the table. Just a little more time.
“Where’s the child?” demanded Norman, stalling.
Skeete folded her arms and made no answer.
“Stanley, she doesn’t have your brother. I rescued him.”
A trace of conflict crossed Chubs’ face. His eyes shot around the room, searching.
Skeete stepped right next to Chubs and placed her good arm around his neck, stroking his face with her fingers. “What are you searching for, love? Everything you need is right here.”
Chubs’ eyes stopped dart
ing around the room and looked to the ground. Then, he lifted his head slightly to meet her eyes.
“Yes, sweet thing. I’m right here.” She continued stroking his face. “You know he’s lying. He can’t save your brother. Only you and I can do that. You know this. Think of all you’ve done for him already. All you’ve sacrificed.” Her hand slid down his neck, along his rib muscles, and stopped at his belt. “All you’ve gained.”
Chubs’ momentary hesitation vanished and his gaze fell to the ground. Skeete brought her face right up to Chubs’ ear and whispered. Despite her soft words, they could all hear. As she spoke, she twisted her lips into a wicked smile and looked at Norman. “If you’re going to save your brother, he has to go. Do it for Daeshaun. And for me.”
“She’s lying, Chubs. Your brother is here,” said Norman in desperation.
Skeete stepped away from Chubs and crossed her arms. “Really, Norman. I expected more of you. Then again, you never were a good liar. We shall miss you nonetheless.” The smile evaporated from her face. Her fangs descended as she hissed the last words. “Won’t we, Stanley.?”
As if commanded, Chubs leapt, tracing out a path through the air that would take him directly to Norman. Rufus propelled himself upward, intercepting Chubs and throwing him off-course. They tumbled to the ground. Rufus rolled on top and held Chubs’ windpipe closed with one hand.
“Let’s end this!” shouted Skeete to her horde. “Tear them to pieces! Bring me their hearts! I want to stab them myself.”
The entire circle of Corps. V closed in on Norman and his friends.
50
The Enemy of My Enemy
Norman spun around, searching for options. On the floor, nearby, Chubs made a swift punch to Rufus’ arrow wound sending the soldier reeling off him with a shriek. Norman had forgotten that Rufus had been fighting with a wooden point in him this whole time.