“So you wouldn’t have to. You know in the end you would have to let them go. We don’t have the time to kill them. Lucido needs us now.”
Veria glanced again in the direction that Jennifer and Bevin had just flown, then to me and then to Charlotte, before shrinking to the size of an opened hand slowly shimmering away. Beatrice said, “Michael, call to the horses….”
“I won’t run away, Beatrice. I can’t. I won’t.” I said.
“I know you can’t. Ride that steed to where we are. You will learn to move as we do soon enough. Charlotte, you come with me.” There were equal parts threat and invitation in her tone. They both contracted to a horizontal black line and wavered like water, the appearance was much like a bat in flight, and then went over the wall. I was envious of their method of travel but envious all the more of Charlotte who could already do what I soon would learn.
I peered over the wall and saw MacQueen re-collecting his men. I watched them and wondered what would happen when one of the haunted horses came trouncing through. They were determined, though, not to be there when one did. They grabbed their supplies and ran back in the direction of the smoke, flames and desperate cries. Behind me, I heard the impatient pounding of a hoof upon the dusty, rocky ground, and though I briefly thought this might be one of the enemy stealing up behind me, I knew before I finished turning that this was not so. My improved senses would never have let that happen. A monster horse had managed to it, but that was a different animal all together. I briefly met its eyes and did not linger there, but continued to look the beast over. There were three holes in its side where dark red, nearly black blood flowed freely. Though there could be many reasons for those injuries, I knew that arrows had found their marks and that the horse had yanked them out. One was lodged in its chest as well. I cannot emphasize enough the frightening aura that emanated from these creatures. To feel their eyes taking you in was to feel you were being sized up as prey.
I had discussed this with Don Lucido who had said, “They know they are frightening creatures. When you deal with them do not be timid in your manner. It makes them uneasy, like ‘you should be trembling, why aren’t you?’ I insult them as I work them. I mock them and yet I coo to them as well. It keeps them off balance. Vampires are such entrancing creatures.
“But Veria….” I had begun to comment.
“…has her own ways, an enchantress extraordinaire. Don’t ever forget that. She walks among them like a fragile porcelain doll and they feel protective of her. You’ve seen them, but there isn’t one of us who doesn’t take being around the haunted horses very seriously. They tolerate, but rarely make friends.”
Now, amidst a burning city I approached a fierce blaze. It simmered within this powerful, raging, creature and hinted of madness or dark purposes, as if it fed from the fires of hell. It wasn’t a gaze. Those eyes were barely containing a burning glare, but it was toward those eyes that I ran and soon I was riding on the back of unbridled lightning. My ride bolted as I was settling and I hung on as the walls around me became a blur, and the road ahead appeared to rush toward me. We jumped over burning piles and cut through smoke so thick the next stride could have brought us into a wall for all I knew. To this day, I cringe when I think of those unfortunates, men, women and children, who had the misfortune of being in our way as we rushed to join the others. When we pulled up I could not see anyone, yet we arrived in a skid with front legs locked and back legs trying to peddle backwards. Even before our motion was stopped, the horse was turned at the neck reaching for my leg with its fearsome mouth. I wasn’t having any of that and rolled off the other side. As I slid off, I saw an arrow lodged in the horse’s chest. He turned to go.
“Wait.” I said.
The steed swung back toward me. I continued.
“I can help you… help you with that arrow.”
He faced me, head on, not moving a muscle. Even after the run and carrying my weight, he wasn’t breathing hard. Did he even see me in those insane eyes?
“It’s not in so deep that I can’t get it out. You could run into something or catch it somehow. It could become so much worse.”
He remained still. Not even his ears moved.
I moved toward him. “It will hurt, no matter how fast or careful I am.”
I took another step. “I need to look at it. That will hurt a little, but then I’ll know how to pull it out…if it can be.”
We were now face to face. “Then it will be time to pull it out. I’ll ask you if you are ready and if you’re not, then leave. If you are then stand there.”
He stood as he had been and I bent before this giant to judge the damage. I used my sleeve to wipe the blood away. The smell of it was intoxicating and I say now that I was in the throw of wanting to feast upon this reddish brown fluid, but I knew that would be a terrible mistake. I turned my attention to my task. The arrow was nestled in the muscle, not lodged in a bone. I stood. And looked into the madness of those crimson eyes.
“Are you ready?”
Still he stood betraying nothing. Trance-like, but he was in no trance.
“This it’s going to hurt. You’ll want to rage because of it. Maybe you’ll come after me. If you do, I can give no resistance. I will be unarmed before you. An easy target, don’t miss!”
I think I saw blue flame flicking out from it nostrils. Not in lazy flames but in narrow points. I had noted the path of the arrow and its slant. I was ready now, with raging power of my own compounding upon itself. If my pull was right, I could back the arrow out in the same path it came in. I raised my foot and braced it upon the chest of the horse and pulled in one steady motion, straight and true. The shank of the arrow was free in my hand and the sharp tip had come along. The horse shifted slightly and the fire of its eyes was fierce, and it only glowed hatefully at me. I stepped back awaiting a full charge but the charger only swayed its head back and forth. When the horse did move, it stepped toward me with menace, but then turned to a door into the building by where we had stopped, and bashed the door open with a kick from its front leg. There was no doubt in my mind that the passageway was cleared for me to use.
The horse backed warily away from me and then disappeared into the dark and the smoke. I was wary as well as I entered the building, which was not a home but a place of business. I wasn’t certain why I was delivered here but I knew I would find out soon enough. But because I was unsure. I moved with stealth. My options were to take the stairs in front of me or turn to my left or right to enter rooms deeper within the building. Both sides brought me the scent of bloodshed. No one was alive there now. The stairs took me to the second floor which lay undisturbed except for a stair passage that led to the roof, which I took.
Morning twilight was blooming into sunrise. A high flying bird, normally nearly invisible in the faint light of the hour, shone like a star. The new day’s sun was now reaching the higher grounds and mountain peaks. And there with his back to me, stood Desmondo Milan. He was watching some action in the streets below. I might have watched him for thirty seconds before I understood he was alone and showing no awareness that I was there. If he maintained his attention to the happenings below I might be able to get to him.
I stepped quietly on to the flat roof. Milan was motioning signals to someone across the street and when I figured that out I bent low, hopefully not too late to avoid being spotted by whomever was receiving those hand instructions. It was such a temptation to rush Milan while his back was turned, but I would have to get closer. I was fearful that I might launch myself toward Milan and he would deftly move out of the way, and I would not only miss him, but sacrifice my opportunity by being unable to stop my forward motion and plunge off the roof.
I felt it was important to identify who he was signaling to, and what those receiving the signal were watching from their positions. There was nothing to hide behind for cover. At a glance I could see that the rooftop was at least occasionally used for meetings or meals but tables and chairs were stacked and hugging the wall that was
now to my back. I was unprotected as I closed in on him and I cared no more whether I could be seen from some other vantage point. I was now committed and would keep my actions in check no longer.
As I advanced I looked beyond my target and peered over his shoulder. Across the street, I now could see archers assembled with strings drawn and arrows fitted. In one more step, I was nearly beside him, but I could see now to the ground and to the scene that had the attention of Milan’s trained force. Nearly a dozen vampires from the house of Del Rio were gathered at the water’s edge alongside of the pier that ran out into the harbor. The pilings near them were strewn with arrows, and the sand at the shore as well as the water around them was blood red. The harbormaster’s office was on fire as were several buildings nearest the water. Smoke rising to the sky measured perfectly the extent of the sunrise. Many rooftops were crowned with the touch of the rays.
The vampires I knew as family were war-torn. Arrows were thick among them as well. Several of them lay lifeless. One of them was face down in the water. Ferdinand was stuck with five or six, Santos had an arrow into his face and Elena was a bloody mess but still moving at the water’s edge, breathing hard and leaning against a piling. I gasped, which should have given away my position but Desmondo Milan didn’t move. I looked over to the archers and they held ready to launch their arrows but they moved not a muscle.
Then I understood as I saw don Lucido Del Rio among those at the water’s edge. He stood motionless as well, save for slight slow stirrings with his hands. There was a battle of wills going on. Milan had gotten his sharpshooters into position and just was short of sending their deadly bolts but don Lucido had reached into their minds and caused them to stop their maneuverings. Though the city was in chaos, the harbor itself sent no anxious screams into the air. Some ships had pulled away from the docks, and others were already out to sea and in the process of re-anchoring in a move to stay out of the fire’s reach. Though there were a few buildings burning that stood next to the water, there was no one about besides the vampires; no one in panic, and no one running the streets. Perhaps they had already fled or maybe they chose not to be out where they might draw the notice of wild, haunted horses, witches and vampires.
Amid this great draw of concentration and mental effort, the archers remained poised to launch, but were entranced to remain that way. I heard the rumbling hooves along the streets and the thunderous kicking and pounding of the horses’ legs. Some positioned for backward kicks and some reared upon their hind legs with front legs crashing down. Those buildings shuddered and rocked under this assault and archers swayed where they perched, though they did not react. Their fog was so deep.
Through this combat with Desmondo Milan, don Lucido spoke. “This didn’t have to happen. It’s a great big world out there. Plenty of room for differences.”
Though don Lucido spoke quite naturally, Milan’s comments seemed more labored. “Sooner or later, worlds collide. It’s time that you are gone from this one…from mine at least. Our ways crossed and since then, your ways have always gotten in my way. Listen to you, begging for harmony. I hear it too. But to me it sounds weak. With so many voices someone has got to take the lead.”
“Somewhere inside you is your voice, Milan, but someone else is speaking. Someone else is using your tongue. Someone else is thinking for you. You like to believe this is your road but you’re just the wagon carrying a load of someone else’s purposes.”
Movement from out of the smoke down below caught my attention and I could see Beatrice emerging from where the cloudy swirls had drifted away from the burning buildings nearby, and were now rolling over gravel and grass. She joined the vampires at the water’s edge and moments later the lot of them floated further out and disappeared beneath the surface. I knew she would not be long away. Ferdinand resisted her urgings enough that he remained as the rest lowered out of sight. Ferdinand the defender didn’t look very formidable with so many arrows stuck in him. His blood was flowing freely from his wounds and running down his clothes until it merged with the water where he leaned against a piling.
Again I was reminded of how close I stood to Milan and still he seemed to take no notice. I heard the whistle of a fast moving arrow on approach behind me. But in my mind the image of Bevin creeping up behind me flashed like lightening, and I could see him swinging his arm toward my neck with his hand flat out with fingers extended and razor talons reaching beyond that. He meant to decapitate me and I ducked low as his hand swung over the top of my head. I felt the breeze as it passed. A hand laid onto my collar before I could roll away and after that, an arm went under my chin. Desmondo Milan held my head in his arm’s crook, and I thought at first he would hold me before Bevin and let him swing again at my throat with his claws. But as I felt his muscles tighten and draw my head upward, I knew he meant to tear my head off by sheer force, holding my head in his makeshift noose. I planted my feet before Bevin could grab me and pull me the other direction, which surprised Milan. He needed to steady himself if he was going to take my head, but I would not give him the chance. I dug in and pushed backward which momentarily put him off balance and I drove us both toward the edge of the roof. Bevin now lurched to grab us both before we plummeted. His hand missed but I took hold of his sleeve and brought him along with us.
56
I prepared myself for a painful collision with the ground. I was scared but angry and I would not let this opportunity to stop Milan and the Lorn pass me by. I didn’t know what would happen when we landed but I was fearful they would simply fly as we fell, leaving me to fall. I shrugged loose from Milan’s hold on me but grasped his coat instead and powerfully pulled on the two of them in the beginning seconds of the fall, to be beneath me to cushion my landing. Ordinarily, either of them would be stronger and wiser than me in handling the immense power of a vampire, but they were falling by surprise and I hoped that both of them would remain under this shock until we hit the ground.
When we landed, I will tell you, I found that what had been told to me about vampire sensitivity to pain, being greater than human experience of it. But along with this was a greater strength and ability to withstand pain. I experienced both of these at the same time, and when we landed, I was able to use them to break the fall and roll off for several turns before I had some seconds of disorientation. All three of us were shaken momentarily, only stunned at the impact, not broken or shattered.
Don Lucido must have moved at the beginning of the fall because it was his feet that I stumbled into as I had moved away. I hadn’t expected him there. Though the battle over control of the archers had been won by don Lucido, I thought it must be taxing to fight with so many for control of their wills, especially with Desmondo Milan as an opponent vying for that same control. I understood now that Milan, standing on the roof, consumed in concentration had been wrestling for control of the bowmen who were poised to send those deadly arrows. I wondered how don Lucido could now be here with so many taking aim.
He stepped over me and took hold of Milan and in a great shove, sent him twenty feet into the side of the building that Milan had been standing on earlier. The wall did not give much and Milan slid to the ground, roaring like a lion, angry, frightened and hurt. Bevin had pulled back stealthily and was preparing for some behind-the-back ambush, but I grabbed him, hearing in my head Veria, Ferdinand and Beatrice expressing warnings of danger to myself or to don Lucido. My hand went around the scruff of the neck, and keeping care to avoid his deadly claws, I threw him much the same way as don Lucido had flung Milan, although it wasn’t as impressive. Though I had caught Bevin by surprise, he was a bit clearer of mind and fought the force of my shove. This for him was a good thing, because he met the wall with some ability to cushion the impact, though it wasn’t graceful and only marginally successful. Even as he was thrown he reached back to tear at me but missed, narrowly.
I briefly glanced toward the direction of the water where don Lucido had been standing while engaged in the battle of wills wit
h Milan and saw that Veria now stood where he had been, her arm raised and outstretched toward the archers, her hand reaching out in claws beyond that, pulling unseen strings connected to ones who knew not they were linked. She was the one now keeping the arrows from being sent. Beatrice was coming hurriedly from the water which was hip-level and hampering her as she drew near the shore. Ferdinand tread ahead of her toward the entranced archers.
Milan reached for bricks on the ground around him. This was wreckage from collapsed buildings, cracked and exploding with the fire’s heat. He flung them as weapons though, and Bevin joined him. Their barrage was meant to keep their opponents away from them more than to launch some new chapter of this confrontation and the bricks landed, bouncing off me and don Lucido, and buildings and walls and ricocheting in huge powerful arcs.
I don’t believe it was aimed, I really don’t. I believe fate guided one of those bouncing bricks, flung with great vampire strength. It tumbled along the ground and spun as it rebounded and took flight straight into the face of Veria, who didn’t see it coming. She stumbled in an instant and fell to the ground.
“Veria!” I cried out as did several others or maybe I heard them in my head. I remember I felt heartsick and wanted to go to her.
“Your concubine has fallen, Del Rio.” Milan called out. “I have wanted to kill her slowly for so long. Such a disappointment….”
“You stole her life long ago, Milan, back when you could think for yourself. She was always better than you.” Don Lucido said as they circled each other. “You moan because she took her life back.”
But the archers were no longer held entranced. Don Lucido was in combat and the Lady of Darkness was downed. She was not getting up.
“Refit and aim your arrows true.” Constantine shouted. “Send your bolts to their hearts and their eyes. Don’t let the fire’s toll on the town go unavenged. Kill the giant, kill the vampires. They are demons from hell.”
The Blood In Between (The Safe Haven Trilogy Book 3) Page 30