Snarling with outrage, Eric lost control and morphed into his full were form. Clothing tore and constricted, but the pack leader ignored it all as bloodlust took him over. The vampire tried to fend him off as his eyes opened wide in surprise. There was no stopping the werewolf as a silver blade pierced his left shoulder. The blade was locked and unusable to the vampire as well. With the blade locked in his body, the werewolf caught the left arm with the second blade and snapped the limb like it was a twig.
The vampire screamed for only a moment as Eric’s left hand stabbed into his chest ignoring the blade in his shoulder. As the blade fell from the broken arm and blood poured onto Eric’s left hand, the werewolf lunged in with his jaws nearly severing the neck from the vampire’s shoulders.
Throwing the dying body at a pair of vampires fighting the twins, the blue blaze caught them by surprise as the twins leaped back. Both were consumed adding their fires to his. Seeing the right side clear for the moment, Eric turned to his left checking on Vanessa. Marta lay dying on the ground at her feet as his lover tore through a pair of vampires with nearly as much ferocity as his own.
Vanessa had cleared the last of the enemies on his side of the roof and turned to Eric. With a grimace of shared pain, the woman withdrew the sword. The pack leader cried out in pain, but he held onto the wolf. Injured or not, he was ready to help fight, if it was needed.
For Marek, once the battle was joined the action was a blur. The lieutenant found him quickly and the two were like glue to one another as their swords flashed in a quick, unbroken dance as the others killed or fell around them. Logan with Charlotte covered one side and the big werewolf with the gentle heart found the need to survive outweighed his gentle sensibilities as he fought like one possessed. Big John was joined by Kate, Nicola and Audrey on his left as their seven fought to hold off nearly thirty vampires led by the elder vampire.
When team 4 entered the fray, the twins helped to hold the circle and were quickly joined by Jose. The three witnessed their leader Tom die from the deadly elder facing Mike before being swept into their own battles. Team 3 helped to break the right side with Logan and Charlotte when they arrived.
Marek pushed himself to the limit and knew that he was lucky to still be alive. The elder’s white eyes frowned in concentration as he fought to break the young upstart. His power was immense though he was simply average in size. This was a vampire that had survived for over five centuries and been through many a battle. A scar on the left side of the vampire’s face proved that he had not always been completely lucky, but that was a wound from long ago.
A roar from his right came from Logan as he witnessed his sister take a wound from a sword before falling to the ground. Protective of his family when he was calm, the werewolf was vicious and unrestrained as he tore through the swordsman who had dared harm his sibling. The line gave before his wrath, but the wolf would not move more than a couple steps from the girl on the ground.
Jose on his left fell to a pair of blades. Fire spread across his body as it hit the ground and Audrey and the twins had to watch their step even more. Nicola leaped the fallen wolf to take his spot from her place as a flanker. Her swift blade helped push the vampires back and shore up the break in the line. They would hold for awhile longer Marek’s mind thought briefly as he found himself breathing hard through his mouth.
The frustration of the lieutenant at not being able to kill him was obvious. In fact, the battle plan of having this one lead the forces from the south relied on him being able to break the toughest of opponents.
Sophia fell to his right and was defended by Derek with his teeth gritted in determination. Big John took one too many cuts and fell back in pain. He would have died then if Min hadn’t seen the problem. The spunky little werewolf girl met two vampires with her pair of swords whirling in a blur of steel. The closest of the vampires fell back clutching at his neck as he dropped his weapon. His companion covered his retreat from the dangerous woman and was joined by another.
Marek was exhausted as were his people. This wave was well trained and their anchor was wearing him down. The clan leader wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. Even being undead, his arm was turning to lead. His lungs burned as he tried to keep the air in him. The lieutenant looked tired and like Marek he sported several small wounds, but he was stronger than the clan leader and that strength would keep him up longer.
A large blur of brown fur suddenly caught the elder from Marek’s right. Screaming in outrage as the werewolf restrained his left arm by biting the limb and being clawed as the wolf tried for the chest, the lieutenant was undone. His calm battle demeanor was thrown by the distraction. He had forgotten this was no one on one duel. This was war.
Taking advantage of his ally’s attack, Marek fought past the sword of his enemy and plunged his blade into his chest. The steel missed the heart and stuck. The powerful lieutenant refused to go down and Marek was forced to release his blade. His talons extended from both hands. With his left arm, he caught the sword hand and his right raked the man across the face.
The monster screamed and tried to pull back. Logan’s clawed left hand tore at the vampire’s stomach and would have finished the job if not for one of the guardsmen leaping to the elder’s aid. The werewolf saw the attack coming and released his hold on the vampire leader.
It was too late for the elder, however, as Marek tried once more to slay the powerful creature. His clawed right hand plunged into his chest breaking through hardened bone. The beat of its black heart pulsed in his hand and he squeezed. The lieutenant’s body straightened with the shock and, as the clan leader pulled his fist back from the creature’s body, strings seemed to release him like a puppet set free.
Reaching for its chest, his white eyes looked up at his opponent for a moment as if questioning the deed before his body fell back burning hot and bright. The vampire who had tried to help was caught in the blaze as he attempted to catch his leader.
With the last of the elders defeated, the fight seemed to go out of the remaining vampires. It was as if the last hold of their leaders had lifted with his death. Marek wondered if this was the last of their puppet masters.
Chapter 31-Fall Out
Like a blur, Cyrus attacked the trio of hunters. He was on Ray in a blink and slashed at the werewolf with his silver edged sword going for the man’s chest. The big man narrowly escaped by twisting to the vampire’s left. What looked like the merest of taps from Cyrus’s elbow sent Ray tumbling back over a desk.
Jake’s sword passed where the ancient had been and he narrowly parried the creature’s own attack. With the left hand, the vampire slapped his palm to the man’s chest and Jake was flung to the far wall.
In the lull, Cyrus stared down Nick and said with contempt, “Let’s see. What are you then? You smell like a human, but your speed is nearly that of a vampire. Those strange glowing blades that you wield make you more than human I take it. Perhaps you are one of those we have heard rumors about from some of the elders. You are a… voran… I think they call it.
“God’s little insurance policy, if you’re into that sort of thinking. A natural occurrence designed to keep the supernatural creatures of this world from taking it from the human race. We could subjugate the whole world, if we truly wanted you know. Humanity thinks that they are the top of the food chain and have weapons that let them rule with impunity, but they’re wrong.
“My opinion is that your kind are merely stronger than human, but of no consequence. I’ll destroy you with the dog and the whelp who thinks he knows how to be a vampire, and then I shall make sure that the rest of your little alliance is put to rest.”
“You talk a good game,” Nick said trying to buy the others time, “but I think that you have never seen my race, so your opinion means little. If God or nature made us to be able to kill vampires and werewolves, then there will be a way for me to kill you. That is what you need to be afraid of really.”
“I’ve seen your abilities through
my minions’ eyes. You see, I can control their minds and see through their eyes when I concentrate on a certain mind. It’s quite the handy ability and it tells me that you couldn’t kill my lieutenants on your own. The others saved you and killed them instead. If God made you to kill me, then he should have made you stronger.”
Cyrus attacked and Nick could barely register the move. The creature had waited just long enough to see Ray stand up from behind the desk, and Jake was scrambling up from where his body had broken through the drywall. He wanted them to see him kill Nick, to prove that what he was saying was true.
The voran didn’t die quite as quietly as the vampire hoped, however, as his speed was underestimated by the creature, though just barely. Raising his aura blade on the left and his metal sword in the right, Nick met Cyrus’s sword with both of his in a cross. The monster’s strength surprised the voran sending him back into a divider as he left his feet involuntarily.
Ray’s entire upper body appeared to be wolf and his legs were augmented to his full speed. Like a wild animal, the werewolf launched his attack with near blurring speed, but like a wild animal versus a skilled hunter, it wasn’t enough.
Cyrus parried the werewolf’s claws and forced the wolf back. His sword slashed in a flurry of swift cuts that nicked and gashed the werewolf’s skin where it caught him. The wolf was still fast, however, and avoided a truly devastating blow. Cyrus couldn’t finish off Ray as Jake leaped back into the fray. No hit against a soft wall could put the powerful vampire down so easily.
Jake attacked the ancient like he was possessed. So violent and skilled was his attack, that Cyrus was forced to give ground. His face showed surprise and Jake pressed his advantage. Ray lifted a desk behind him and tried to catch Cyrus with the ambush.
The elder vampire grinned as he slid to the side in a blur as the desk flew at his back. Jake’s eyes went wide as the desk came for him, but the younger vampire was no slouch either and he merely leaped up. His first bound put his right foot on the flying, rolling desk. His second sent him after Cyrus and he continued to try and press his attack.
As the ancient, contemptuously swatted him back, he said, “You’re not bad and maybe with a couple hundred more years at your back, you might have had a chance at me, but you are still just a child. Maybe I should spare your life, so that in a hundred years you can become stronger and maybe then you will be a challenge.”
“Talk is cheap,” Jake declared and held off his elder with skill learned over his one hundred twenty-five years. Born in a time that still used swords, the vampire had been training with a blade for most of his life. “Even power can be overcome by skill.”
“True, but my skill comes from centuries of killing with both the sword and my claws.”
Cyrus attacked with his claws and ripped through Jake’s shirt, but the man was too quick to take an injury. A kick from the ancient sent the younger vampire reeling back with his extra effort. Nick thought he heard the crack of a rib from the blow.
Before Cyrus could press his advantage, Nick leaped in and put his own skills to the test. He wasn’t a vampire and was slightly slower than Jake, but the voran had trained to master the weapons more than any of the vampires. It was his calling to slay evil. The man had never forgotten that even when in Vivian’s orbit.
Cyrus parried his sword and when he tried to claw the voran, he met the sting of the aura blade. The surprise of the aura’s sting forced the ancient to back away a moment to evaluate.
“An interesting weapon,” he declared, “and if it was stronger maybe you would have a chance.”
With renewed vigor, the ancient assaulted the voran with everything he had. Nick met the first several slashes with his sword and blade. The sting causing Cyrus to wince with each hit, but it was little more than an itch that needed a scratch to the powerful vampire.
When Nick’s sword was battered away, the voran received a blow that sent him back into the wall he hadn’t realized that he had been backed towards in the flurry. The blow from hitting the wall made him hunch over and the ancient laughed as he waltzed in for the killing blow. He wouldn’t play with those he felt were inferior any longer. It was time for him to kill the upstarts.
Getting cocky, Cyrus caught him around the throat and lifted the voran from the ground. His right hand held back the sword for the killing blow and Nick reacted with a grim smile.
His hands held onto the forearm of the clawed grip around his neck and he closed his eyes drawing on all his power. Aura blades seemed to explode from his hands, chest and mouth all at once. Two more lanced from his elbows pointing at the vampire’s chest.
Cyrus screamed as his arm felt cut into two though the limb continued to hold the voran aloft. His chest seized as the two elbow blades entered on either side of his heart. The blade from Nick mouth pierced the creature’s neck and the blade from his chest reached out to pin the black heart of the ancient vampire.
His allies knew their moment was at hand. Cyrus was right. Even with six aura blades burning brightly, and the power he had put into their cuts, Nick couldn’t kill the ancient vampire on his own. There was no explosion like with a lesser vampire. Cyrus was merely paralyzed for the moment. Already Nick could feel the beast trying to pull free from his grip.
The trap had been set and Jake’s sword pierced the vampire from behind. It went straight through his heart, but still he wouldn’t die. Picking up Nick’s sword and leaving his own driven through Cyrus’s chest, Jake waited as Ray drove his claws into the monster’s lower back and ripped outwards. The werewolf’s rage demanded pain from the monster that had killed too many of his pack mates with his army.
His claws came back, as the gore trailed after, and Ray put a giant, clawed hand on either side of the ancient’s head and squeezed. Cyrus closed his eyes in pain, but still he wouldn’t die.
“You deserve a little extra pain before you go, vampire,” Ray hissed into the creature’s ear. “How dare you walk into our territories and kill our people? You thought that your power was so great that we couldn’t possibly beat you. When you look at your body as this young vampire removes your head, enjoy seeing the results of your arrogance!”
The werewolf stepped back and let Jake do as he had said. Nick’s sword, tipped with sliver and sharp as he could make it, swung in the vampire’s powerful hands. As Cyrus’s head arced through the air, Nick thought he could indeed see the vampire’s thoughts as it witnessed his own dying body.
“Clear!” Nick shouted and kicked the body free from him towards the center of the room. Jake and Ray dodged to either side as they knew this blaze would be the most powerful of all.
Like a small bomb, the room filled with a thud of unleashed power. In a blinding flash of light, the three men were hit with a burning force. Nick found himself being pushed into the metal struts within the wall and felt something break inside. Jake and Ray were sent flying over furniture as dividers and desks were thrust aside in the fury of power.
With a ringing in his ears and pains coming from most of his body, Nick tried to stand up in the aftermath of the explosion. Looking around, he spied flames licking the walls, ceiling, and much of the furnishings. There were no dividers blocking a view of the room anymore.
A desk rumbled a moment later as Ray pushed it off of him. The werewolf’s shape slowly reverted to a man. Blood trickled down the back of his head and from at least a dozen cuts and scrapes on his upper body.
Jake stood slowly rubbing his neck and head. The vampire looked around appearing pretty banged up as was expected after the explosion. He said something, but Nick could only see his mouth moving. The ringing overshadowed anything he could say.
Rubbing his fingers in his ears a minute, Nick noticed the initial ring beginning to fade into the background. Over the next two weeks, the ringing would be a noticeable sound of his every day existence. The voran noticed his left arm bent in an awkward angle. The pain of the broken limb hadn’t yet registered in the aftermath of the other pains he still f
elt from the impact. His breathing came a bit labored. Nick was pretty sure he had cracked, if not broken, a couple ribs from the steel struts. Looking at the wall behind him, he could see that the metal structure of the wall had still bent under the impact. Drywall was fractured and falling from the wall there even as fire threatened to take hold enough to bring the building down in flame.
“That was insane,” Jake said wiping some blood from his mouth. It was as red as a human’s. Nick thought it interesting, after seeing so many vampires with their black blood and hearts that one of his own bled like a man as nature intended.
Looking around, other forms started to move if only feebly. The surviving humans, who had been kept for food, had been further back and were spared the worst of the explosion. The woman that had been his captive only a few minutes ago was closer and didn’t move. Nick knelt by her side and checked for a pulse. She was dead.
Lenora and Victoria began to stir several feet away from where Nick had left them. The women had flame damage to their clothes and a few new bruises besides. They sat up and looked around in stunned silence.
The redheaded, Vicki, asked, “Where am I?”
Her blond friend looked at her similarly confused. The two seemed to barely recognize each other. The results of the mind control had left their minds fuzzy, though he guessed that the explosion could account for some of it as well.
The three men moved to check on the other survivors in the building. The thought of survivors made Nick think to look for his radio. There were cracks in its plastic and metal shell, but it squawked to life as he pressed the button and said, “Cyrus is dead.”
Vorans and Vampires (Book 1): Voran the Night Guardian Page 26