by Megan Duncan
“I think it’s jammed,” I said, ramming my body against the door to force it open.
Ronon pushed me aside, preparing to ram the door himself. “Let me have a go at it.” He took a few steps back, and collided with the door as if it were a brick wall. He staggered, looking offended by the opposing door.
“Let us try,” two of his hybrid soldiers stepped forward, eyeing the door with so much disgust I would have thought they were staring at Baal himself. Ronon stepped aside allowing them to attempt entry.
I eyed the pair, and watched as they ran forward and kicked the door in unison. An audible crack sounded like a bolt of lightning, but it was the scream from inside the room that really surprised me.
“Who’s in there?” I pressed my face against the minute space between the door and its frame. Had one of Baal’s dark vampires locked itself up with one of my friends? Panic ripped at my heart and I signaled for the duo to kick again. They happily obeyed, kicking the door with another loud snap as the door began to give way.
Like before, another cry spilled from my room, as sheer terror was ripped from the lungs of whoever was inside. I kicked at the door myself this time, grunting with effort and shouting threats to whatever dark vampire was dumb enough to hurt my friends. I swore to rip its head off, and as the door broke from its hinges I propelled myself inside ready to bash some skulls.
“Claire?” A quivering voice called my name from a dark corner. A voice I knew as well as my own.
“Liz? Where are you?”
She stepped forward, her face covered in snotty tears. Blood dripped from her nose, and a blood-soaked makeshift bandage was covering her left arm. She looked like hell.
“Are you okay?” I pulled her to me, carefully inspecting her injured arm. “What are you doing in here?”
“B-B-Bennett,” she stammered, shaking with fright as she watched Ronon and his soldiers flood into the room and inspect every nook and cranny as if a dark vampire could hide under a chair or something.
“He left you in here?” I couldn’t keep the heat from my voice. He swore to me he’d look after her.
“N-no, he s-saved me. T-they appeared out of n-nowhere, Claire,” she began sobbing again. I wrapped an arm around her, ushering her to the couch as I rubbed her back and tried calming her down. I needed information from her and it didn’t help that she was stammering like a terrified kitten.
“It’s okay. I’m here now,” I cooed.
“A-and you brought f-friends,” she said, eyeing Ronon suspiciously as he strode up behind me.
“I did,” a laughed escaped me. “Now take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”
She did as I ordered, and seemed to find a sense of calm. One of Ronon’s soldiers handed me a small handkerchief, and I nodded my appreciation. As I dabbed the blood away from Liz’s face she began to recount what happened.
“Portals opened up all over the place. Those nasty vampires started running out like damn roaches, Claire!” Her voice steadily grew into the mouthy girl I’d known my whole life. “I was on my way to show your mother some of my plans for building the new addition when it happened. They saw me coming down the stairs and I ran.”
She took a deep breath, and I nodded for her to continue.
“I barely made it half way up the stairs when they grabbed me. I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong. One of them cut my arm, and I thought for sure I was going to die, but then Bennett showed up. He killed them and then he locked me up in your room and told me not to open the door until he came back.”
“You did good,” I praised her. The fact that a human encountered a dark vampire and lived to talk about it spoke volumes. Liz was a lot tougher than I thought. I couldn’t have been more grateful that I’d insisted she had some training with Eli. Even though she hadn’t lasted more than a few sessions, it had been enough for her to hold her own until Bennett arrived to help her.
“How did you guys get back here in time? Bennett said…”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re here now. Okay?” She nodded.
“What are you going to do?” she eyed our small group, holding the cloth to her nose to stop the bleeding.
“We’re going to kill them,” I answered with deadly resolve. “We’re going to kill them all.”
Liz shook her head like she didn’t believe me. “But there’re so many of them.”
“We have many soldiers spreading throughout the Château. They will not escape,” Ronon said, stepping closer. “You said you needed to get something here. Is this woman what you were talking about?” Liz scoffed at him, flinging daggers with her eyes. He didn’t seem to notice.
“No,” I said, squeezing Liz’s hand to let her know I was still happy I’d found her.
“Then I suggest we continue our mission before we run out of time,” he barked at me.
“Hey! Don’t talk to her like that! She’s a princess!” Liz’s bitchy attitude returned without hesitation, and I couldn’t keep the small laugh bubbling up inside me contained.
“Liz, it’s okay. He’s right; we’ll have to play catch up later.” She looked pricklier than a cactus, but she sat back down beside me. “I want two guards to stay behind and watch her,” I ordered.
The second I finished my sentence, the two who had helped me kick down the door stepped forward. They bowed their heads to me, and marched over to stand beside Liz. She shivered at their closeness.
“They’ll protect you, okay?” She nodded, wide-eyed. “When we leave, board up that door again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, princess,” they replied in unison.
“Ronon, come with me.” I didn’t wait to see if he obeyed, stomping through my bedroom and into my closet. Digging through the stack of linens I dug out the box I had buried there.
As I pulled it out a thumping rattled my bathroom door. Both Ronon and I jumped, ready to pounce on whatever was sneaking up on us. The light of the closet was flickering, but I could easily make out the outline of the bathroom door. The light inside was on and a shadow was pacing back and forth.
Ronon pulled one of his knives free, holding it before him as he slowly stepped forward. The rattling continued again, only this time I saw what had caused it.
“Stop!” I yanked on his shoulder, pulling him back as I rushed to the bathroom door and pulled it open. Louie’s angry face meowed at me as I snatched him up before he scampered away. “Not today, big boy.” I planted a kiss on his head and shoved him back into the bathroom. He’d be safe in there, and I didn’t want to worry about him getting stepped on by a dark vampire, or worse.
“Is that your cat?” Ronon asked.
“Yes, now get over here.” I walked back to where I’d left the box on the floor and took a seat on the chaise. Dropping the box on my lap I looked up at him. He was eyeing the ebony carvings, glaring more and more as he surveyed each one.
“You ready for this?” I asked him.
“For what, exactly?”
I didn’t reply. I simply opened the box and listened to his intake of breath. If Ronon had ever looked like he was going to faint, it had been this very moment. He stepped back, wiping his hands on his face as if the images of what lie inside could be forgotten. He was reacting like I’d just opened Pandora’s Box, but in a way, I guess I had.
“What the hell are you doing with those?” Disgust dripped from his voice, and I did my best to hide how much it made me shiver. He still kept his blade free and at any moment he could lop off my head. I just had to remember he was on my side, even though he looked outraged.
“I took them from his minions the last time Baal attacked.”
“And what the hell do you plan on doing with them?” He was stepping away from me like he didn’t trust me.
I pulled the stones from their box, lifting them up and dropping them into my palm. “We are going to be wearing them.”
“Like hell I am!” Ronon shouted, storming away from me.
I followed after him. “Y
ou have to, Ronon. I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.”
“No other way? No other way!” he repeated, sounding delirious.
“We can’t face Baal without them,” I tried explaining, walking closer to him to only have him step further away from me again. Liz and the rest of the hybrids were looking at us like we were completely insane, while some of them were working on fortifying the door we’d kicked in.
“And why not?” he asked, completely livid as spittle flew from his mouth. He was as angry as a rabid dog.
“Because you just can’t, Ronon. Trust me on this.”
“Why should I trust you? You’ve already betrayed us once.”
I sighed, sagging my shoulders. There wasn’t time to fight with him. “Fine. I’ll wear them, but you’re going to wish you’d listened to me when the rest of his minions are making you drop to your knees.” At that, I glared at him, looped the stones around my neck and made my way to Liz.
“Do you know where everyone else is?”
“I t-think Robin and Dmitry were in the library when it h-happened, but I don’t know where they are now.”
“Okay. You three,” I pointed to three of the hybrids, who were standing behind the sofa. “Head to the library and save whoever you can. Look for a red-haired vampire named Robin, or a tall blonde male with a scar across his face named Dmitry. They’ll need your help and protection. Bring them back here and anyone else you find. Got it?”
They nodded and looked to Ronon to see if he approved of my orders. He signaled for them to head for the door. “Go,” he ordered, firmly.
The trio ran out of the room, and I turned my lethal gaze on Ronon. I was so sick and tired of people being afraid of the stones. It was the wielder of the stone that was evil, not the stone itself and if he wanted to stay here and throw a tantrum then that was his problem. I was going to save my friends, my family and my city.
I brushed past him as I barreled my way out of the room, looking back to make sure they had securely closed it behind me. The sounds of fighting had grown louder in the hallway and I knew the battle was raging. Smoke was beginning to fill the air, and I held my breath as I raced down the hallway to the back stairwell. A small detachment from Titan’s army was attending to an injured vampire at the far end of the hallway, near the stairs. A pool of blood was growing beneath them. I recognized the man’s face from some of my father’s meetings but I couldn’t place his name. His eyes were frozen and for a brief moment I thought our eyes locked together as I turned to head down the stairs.
Shock struck me like a two ton rock, but I didn’t let it make me falter. A lone member of Titan’s army was brawling with one of Baal’s dark vampires. The beast had the upper hand, and would surely win if someone didn’t step in. The solider buckled under a lethal blow to his head, blood splattering on the wall as it flew from his shattered jaw. The sound of bones cracking made me explode into action.
I was still a good twenty steps above them, but I launched myself from the stairs and descended on the dark vampire. I landed on his back, tucking my arm under his throat like a crazed spider monkey. He was momentarily surprised by my attack, but not long enough. He pitched backward, ramming me into a wall. I thought every bone in my back had shattered with the impact and I screamed in pain, baring my fangs as I cried.
The dark vampire stepped forward, ready to slam me back into the wall again. I tightened my grip around his throat hoping I could suffocate him, but I couldn’t get myself into the right angle. Luckily, none of that mattered.
The fallen soldier hoisted himself off the ground. Blood was streaming from his mouth like an open faucet. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as he reached for the throwing knives strapped to his wrist and launched them at the dark vampire’s face, which was right in front of my own. I ducked my head behind his, using it as a shield as the blades thudded into his skull.
Five blades later the dark vampire was lying at my feet looking like a porcupine. “Are you okay?” I asked the solider as he yanked the blades free, returning them to his wrist. He could only grunt as his visibly broken jaw hung awkwardly. I patted his back and took off down the next flight of stairs; two more and I’d be on the next level. I cursed the architect who designed this building. Who the hell needed such tall ceilings that there had to be four flights of stairs for each level? It didn’t help that the steps were shallow; taking thirty of them to descend what should have only taken fifteen.
I finally rounded the corner of the stairway on the second floor and found myself in utter chaos. It was a total warzone. The twenty foot wide hallway was wall to wall brutality. There were dark vampires, Titan’s soldiers, Naos vampires and Blood Guard everywhere. Every ounce of me wanted to join in the fight, but I needed to get to the heart of the battle.
That’s where I would find Baal.
That’s where I would end this once and for all.
A headless dark vampire skidded to my feet as the battle before me continued to swarm like warring bees. Blood pooled under me, making me feet stick to the ground. I ignored the queasy flip-flop my stomach made and pried the scimitar from its lifeless grip.
Brandishing my new weapon, I jumped over bodies, dodged lethal swings and deadly blows as I made my way down the hallway. I knew exactly where to go. The throne room. It was always the throne room, like it had some invisible target on it saying, “Come on all you evil doers; attack here!”
I hacked, stabbed and sliced my way through the chaotic brutality, helping where I could. Blood was covering nearly every inch of me by the time I skidded to a stop in a gruesome mass of mutilated guts. My arms fanned out keeping my balance as I slid through the wide double doors of the throne room.
The war raging in the hallway was a friendly picnic compared to the macabre scene that exploded before me. The massive chandeliers that had miraculously survived Baal’s first attack had plummeted to the floor in a mountain of broken glass and crystal. Several of them were stained in crimson while others were found to be perfect weapons. Lifeless limbs peeked out from under the once beautiful fixture.
My body was screaming to join the fray, but I picked through the clashing bodies, trying to find just one. Baal.
Eli and his daughter, Kyri, crossed my gaze first. They fought together, doing a dance of death as they savagely sliced at the enemies circling them. The amount of bodies around them made it apparent they could handle themselves.
Next I saw Rennek, fighting valiantly against a dark vampire and one of Baal’s hooded minions. Pain was etched in every feature of his face, and I knew without a doubt that they were using a dark stone to bring him down. He was battling against its power, but he wouldn’t last forever and I couldn’t stand by and watch him fall victim to it.
A dark vampire lashed out at me as I began my sprint to defend Rennek. I whipped my scimitar in a wide arc, dragging a deep gash across the dark vampire’s chest. It shrieked in pain, but I didn’t give it another look. I kept my sights locked onto Rennek, not even glancing toward Eli and his daughter as I ran past them. I swung my blade back and forth as I ran, feeling like I was battling my way through a dense forest made up of monsters. There was hardly any room to move at full speed, so I had to hack and slash my way through.
I shouldered my way past several blood guards who were desperately trying to keep several more dark vampires from crashing down on Rennek. It had obviously been Baal’s plan to take out as many of our bravest defenders as possible.
Their eyes registered recognition, and renewed hope as I flew past them to save Rennek. He’d fallen to his knees, crumbling under the power of the stone. The hooded figure was drawing close. Close enough that he could have skewered it with his great sword, but his will was breaking.
Behind the hooded minion stood the dark vampire, its eyes were gleaming at the sight of victory and its mass of jagged teeth were peeking through a sinister grin. My legs carried me over the bodies on the floor as I watched the dark vampire raise its blade high above his head. Rennek
remained on his knees, looking up in horror and not being able to do anything about it.
I hadn’t realized I was doing it until my throat began to burn and the scream of rage that had exploded within me released itself. But they couldn’t hear me, not over the roar of battle.
The blade began its descent, and I knew I only had seconds before Rennek would be dead. I jumped over a fallen blood guard who was crying uncontrollably as he desperately attempted to hold in the vital organs that were falling out of his severed middle. Bile rose up in my throat, and pain thrashed wildly inside me. The agony in his eyes almost stopped me, but I couldn’t let it. It was painful to realize, but nothing could save this poor fallen vampire now. He didn’t deserve to go out like this, and I wished I could comfort him in his final moments, but those final moments could mean the lives of so many others.
They were only steps in front of me now as I circled around to attack from behind. Their backs were facing me, and Rennek’s figure was revealed in the space between the two of them. I willed for him to just look at me, to see that I was coming for him. That I was trying to save him, but all he did was stare up at the blade that was flying toward him. A lone tear ran down his blood stained face, and he closed his eyes.
With one, powerful swing I severed the heads of the hooded minion and dark vampire. My chest was thundering with heavy breaths as the bodies dropped to the floor to lay beside their severed parts. For what felt like an hour I was too afraid to see if I’d saved him. I just stared, wild-eyed at the gory mess at me feet until I heard my name.
“Claire?” Rennek was blinking at me, using his sword as a crutch to lift him from his knees.
I jumped into his arms, almost knocking him over in my excitement. I couldn’t have been happier if he were my mother. Rennek and I had never been close, but to know that I’d saved him gave me hope. It replaced the doubt I had about whether or not I could save anyone at all.
“Where is he?” I asked, pulling away from him.
He shook away the last of the haunting effects of the stone and pointed at the far end of the room. He knew exactly who I was asking about.