by Riley Moreno
“That blow wasn’t meant for you.”
Dorian scoffed.
“Please don’t patronize me,” he spat, “the minute you saw that I had been turned, that I was unholy and evil you’re lips curled in distaste and you wanted me gone, eradicated, like a mistake you made. You stabbed me because you didn’t want to be reminded of the man you’d lost, because I wasn’t him was I? I was some monster!”
“Who has been feeding you these lies?” Demelza asked archly, “And more to the point, why have you swallowed them whole without choking?”
“Ameera saw you, they all saw you,” Dorian accused, “You were going for Ameera who guarded me but then changed your direction at the last minute to attack me.”
“What did you see?” she asked stepping forward, her fury at the accusations and his misguided hate propelling her forward. Dorian hesitated and took a step back, taken aback by the gravity of his desire for her, a desire that had never dampened no matter how much he convinced himself of her treachery; if he’d believed it at all.
“I saw you charge and plunge a blade in my chest,” he said quietly. “That is all I remember.”
“And you would believe the word of those who turned you against your will, who decimated your entire village, over mine?” Demelza asked frustrated tears in her eyes. “You would believe that I would fall from Heaven for you and yet abandon you at the first sign of human weakness?”
“I don’t know what to believe,” Dorian admitted, swallowing audibly. He had seen her walk to the front of class like a mirage this morning. Her red hair a beacon from the only time he had known happiness, the scent of her hair like ocean spray, the pallor of her skin like virgin marble yet to be crafted in to art. The nights of sweet honey musk and damp earth clouded his mind now and he didn’t flinch when Demelza walked forward and touched his cheek lightly with her delicate fingers.
“Believe me,” she whispered and pressed her lips against his and the rigid constriction of his body eased for the precious few second that he allowed her touch on his skin, the feel of her soft lips on his cold ones. He pulled back abruptly and pushed her away.
Dorian had sensed her beating heart through her veins and his hate, for her and for himself, had returned manifold. That Demelza should be alive in every sense of the word, in a body still pure and holy even after the fall, while he was a despicable creature who should be buried in the earth, food for worms, but he walked around devouring purer flesh to satisfy the cravings of his vile body.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t what he had wanted for his life. He had never asked for depraved immortality. And if it were true that she had tried to kill him then he wouldn’t blame her for saving him from this fate. He blamed her for failing!
“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself in to,” he growled, “we are too powerful here. Leave if you know what’s good for you!”
Demelza watched as Dorian jumped from branch to branch and away in the distance leaving her breathing heavily, wanting him more than ever before.
Chapter Five
Desperate Measures
Demelza unrolled the detailed map of the Ozark Mountains on the kitchen table using salt and pepper shakers to hold it flat. She bit in to an apple and placed that at the center of the map. She tapped a red Sharpie against her lower lip, tracing the location of mountains on the map with her eyes.
“We’re going to need immediate support if we want to flush this coven out,” she was saying, “there were fifty vampires when I saw them last but that was centuries ago. They might be twice that number now or more.”
“You’re assuming they’re all staying in one place, though,” Adrian frowned at the network of caves that seemed to crisscross every which way on the map spanning a colossal area the Priesthood would have a hard time organizing a strike against. “Isn’t it unusual for a coven to stay together for so long? Most usually strike out for a few centuries of independence.”
“Yes,” Demelza nodded finishing her apple and discarding the core in the bin, “but I know the Creator of this coven and she’s a controlling, manipulative piece of work. She wouldn’t stand losing a single one of her children.”
“But the Priesthood has, at most, twenty operatives in the United States,” Sarah said leaning against the kitchen counter sipping on coffee, “including the Warriors’ chaperones. Would that number be enough to cover such a large area? They could use any exit and we’d be spread thin.”
“So we need to narrow down their options,” Adrian said with a laconic smile. “We close off all the caves with ultraviolet light and only leave one open. Ten Warriors go in to the coven’s lair while the rest wait at the only opening. I think I can get enough ultraviolet bulbs with portable generators but I’m going to need a few days to arrange them at all the caves. That should be enough time for the rest of the Warriors to join us as well.”
“Yes, but we need to know where the coven is to flush them out of their home,” Sarah said peering at the map for the ideal place the coven could be.
“I’ll find out,” Demelza nodded, “I can use the next few days that you need to organize everything to find out concrete information, how many vamps, how ancient they are and which exits they use regularly.”
“Do you have any leads?” Sarah asked.
“Yes,” Demelza said with a curt nod, “Katherine Kinney saw her friend Dorothy who went missing a few months ago. She was dating a boy I’m sure is one of the coven. Since Dorothy is still a new vamp she’ll be visiting the places she frequented when she was alive.”
“Keep us posted,” Adrian said folding up the map and grabbing the keys to the car. “Sarah and I will be rigging the caves so if we’re not at home most nights don’t panic.”
“I’m not a child,” Demelza rolled her eyes, “Just give me hourly updates so I know where you two are in case you need me.”
“Will do,” Sarah said giving Demelza a mock salute before she followed Adrian out the backdoor. Demelza bit in to her second apple and shook her foot in anticipation of the night to come.
~*~
The moon was twelve days in its cycle and large. Demelza hoped the confrontation would take place when the moon was full and bright during the night. I can see well and good in the dark and so can the vamps, she mused looking down at the clearing in the woods near Katherine’s house, it’s the Warriors I’m worried about. They’ll need full visibility to do maximum damage.
Demelza had been up in the tree most of the night; from her vantage point she could see the Kinney’s house, dark and tucked in for the night, as well as ten feet in to the woods. Demelza was starving. She hadn’t had anything since a dinner of three pot noodles two hours ago. She hadn’t brought any snacks because she feared the noise of her chewing would alert Dorothy’s sharp hearing.
It was one of the first things she had noticed when she had fallen, a ravenous hunger that was sated momentarily till she needed more. She had eaten Dorian out of house and home the first day but he had only laughed and shook his head at her in wonder. He had brought her more; more fish, more bread and butter, more wine, and watched her eat with fascination.
Your essence that needed only the Love of our Lord to nourish it needs a new source of enrichment.
Your hunger will be an endless pit, I’m afraid.
The first monks of the Priesthood had surmised, not unkindly as they had seen her eat man-sized portions unlike their frugal ones. She had run through their stores in a fortnight as well.
Demelza was about to lose hope of ever encountering Dorothy when she saw a patch of pale blue flit through the gaps in the trees. A pale blue dress that was provocative yet presentable, and quintessentially Dorothy blue. Demelza expected to see Toto in a basket in her hands with a scarecrow, a tinman and a lion following her.
She had been gorgeous in life; you could tell by the lustrous chocolate brown hair and big green eyes that must have sparkled. Now the hair was a bit dank and the eyes dull but the mouth was scarlet and pouting;
she had fed recently, an animal by the look of the claw marks on her arms.
Dorothy wasn’t adapting well to her new status as vampire, Demelza could tell. Most new vampires who took to the vocation like fish to water were already mastering their new strengths and taking immense joy in terrorizing the night; Dorothy, who looked like she’d turned about four months ago, was still haunting the places she had loved. The girl stood just within the tree line of the woods to stare at Katherine’s house.
“You miss it?” Demelza asked startling the young vampire who hissed in surprise and hid behind a tree. “Don’t worry,” Demelza said swinging a leg from the branch she was sitting on, “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk. So,” she said when Dorothy slid cautiously out from behind the tree, “do you miss it? Being alive.”
Dorothy nodded then cleared her throat which had lost its use over the past few months and croaked; “I miss breathing,” she said, “sometimes I forget that I don’t need to anymore and Ameera scolds me for breathing so loud.”
“Yeah, she can be mean,” Demelza nodded.
“Are you like them?” Dorothy asked and Demelza noted her use of ‘them’ not ‘us’.
“No,” Demelza swung down from the branch and landed on her feet. “I’m their worst nightmare. Tell me Dorothy,” she walked over till she was inches from the girl, “what would you like most in the world.”
“To die,” Dorothy said immediately. “I don’t want to live like this.”
“I can oblige,” Demelza said respectfully. “But if I were you I’d like to take as many of them with me when I went.”
“I’d like that,” Dorothy’s eyes were sparkling.
“Good,” Demelza said, “do exactly as I say and we’ll have all your friends and family safe from them in less than three days!”
~*~
The house was shrouded in darkness, but it was as Demelza had expected. Adrian and Sarah were probably burning the midnight oil getting everything prepared for the assault. Demelza raided the cookie jar then thought better of it and lugged the whole thing up to her room. She pushed her bedroom door open with her shoulder; her hands too busy stuffing cookies from the jar in her mouth.
“I see you still eat like a glutton,” the shadow on her bed said and Demelza nearly choked on her cookie. Dorian was lounging on her bed, the moonlight from the open window played across his face so it was alternating between light and shadow. The remnants of the thunderstorm still blazed in the western horizon and a soft breeze was lulling the curtains. “You’ve got mud on your shoes.”
Demelza kicked her shoes off in the corner and sat gingerly at the foot of the bed, the narrow bed giving her very little space, she felt the heat rise where she imagined his body would touch hers if she shifted a little.
“I’m surprised you still want to talk to me, what with me murdering you and all,” she said then winced internally for acting like a child by bringing up old grievances. Dorian didn’t react; he only looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.
“I want to believe you,” he finally said and Demelza turned to face him, her hips grazing his ankles.
“Then believe me when I say that I have spent my entire life on this Earth avenging you,” she said, “I tried to kill myself when I thought I had lost you forever and knew the awful truth of my immortality. Since then I have fought demons, banished spirits and killed vampires just to cleanse the world of the evil that took you from me; always looking for Ameera to settle the score.”
“And how would you go about settling the score?” he asked sitting up, his body parallel to Demelza’s, his dark eyes boring in to her violet ones.
“I would cut her heart out with my sword and stuff it in her mouth till she chokes on it,” Demelza said without missing a beat as Dorian came closer and brushed the crumbs from her lips, his hand sliding to the back of her neck.
“Good girl,” he whispered and pulled her in to him, his lips kissing hers with an intense desire that she matched with her own. Demelza’s lips were on fire as she tasted the sweet nectar that was Dorian; his powerful hands tore at her clothes and traced her skin pulling her roughly to him.
It was carnal and lustful; their union deferred for centuries was like a cosmic meeting of two stars colliding with each other; the consequences catastrophic but their destruction in to each other inevitable and the creator of the most wondrous star-fall.
Dorian felt like he had come home. The scent of sea spray permeated from her hair, and the tightening of her body around him, her hips rocking to her own rhythm was harkening to the sea of his youth that buoyed him forever on to the horizon where there was no perceivable end. At the peak of passion he bit in to her neck, her back arching as she cried in ecstasy, her full breasts blooming with every touch, every thrust of him till she could have no more and she felt like her wings had been returned to her and she could fly to the Heavens and back.
They lay entwined together after, the sheets crumpled on the floor, their legs and fingers melded together, their noses touching as they sighed in relief, no eagerness to cover up what they knew to be beautiful and natural, only the present need to look in to the others eye to convince their heart that their lover was there, real and in their arms.
Chapter Six
Revenge
The house was full of Priesthood Warriors and Demelza was having a hard time keeping them all in line. It was protocol that dictated that the Chaperons had the authority over the Warriors and this was true. However, Demelza felt that she pulled rank on all the Chaperons and the Priesthood combined because of her status as one of the founders of the organization. The Chaperons didn’t take too kindly to her authoritarian world view.
“We only need five Warriors at Pensmore Castle,” Demelza said, “I’m telling you, more would be a waste.”
“But your source said that there were a little over a hundred vamps in there,” said one of the younger Warriors, fourteen, with a smattering of pimples across his nose. “How can you expect five Warriors to flush them out without losses?”
“I have a plan,” Demelza said.
“Let’s hear it,” Adrian said. All of them were in combat gear. It was half an hour till sundown and they were getting ready to leave.
“I need a promise first,” Demelza said, “the vampire who helped me is off limits. He is on our side and will be protected. I will have your word on this!”
There was shuffling of shoes and a lot of grumbling but they gave their grudging consent. Ever since Demelza had changed the plan when she learned of the intricacies of Pensmore Castle the Warriors had been on edge and fidgety. They didn’t trust her source but it was enough that they trusted her. She couldn’t have her cake and eat it too.
They don’t have to like it, they just have to do as I say, she thought.
“The Castle is huge and well-fortified,” Demelza said, “It is bulletproof, flood proof, hurricane proof. I’m pretty sure they have ways to keep Warriors out too. So we concentrate our force at the exit cave so we can maul them down as they come out of hiding. One of the covens is a reluctant vamp, and is willing to help us out. My source pointed her out and helped me get in contact with her. Once she goes in and clears the area for us we start project clean up. Let’s sync our watches,” there was a flurry of wrist checking. “When you hear the bomb be ready for an onslaught of vamps.”
They packed up in to cars, the four Warriors that were on the Pensmore mission came with her. She parked a mile away from the Castle and waited for Dorothy to show up. It was a risky plan with so many ifs and buts and many things left up to chance but it was the best thing they had at such short notice.
The leaves of the tree overhead rustled and there Dorothy was, peering down at the spooked Warriors who instantly drew their blades.
“Stand down!” Demelza commanded and they reluctantly sheathed their swords. “Hi Dorothy!” Demelza called, “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” the girl was practically skipping tonight, her eyes
were glowing and her skin was a faint pink. Demelza handed her the vest and Dorothy slipped her clothes off without any shame to fasten the vest around her waist before putting her clothes back on.
“Go on,” Demelza said, “we’re right behind you.”
Dorothy nodded and ran so fast they thought she’d vanished on the spot.
Demelza and her team followed on foot, keeping to the cover of the trees. Once they neared the Castle they saw Dorothy standing at the entrance, her lithe body silhouetted by the open front doors, light spilling out and on to the gravel drive, music and laughter drifting on the air. It was a formidable house, rich and manicured to perfection and Demelza could feel the resolve of many of her team ebbing away.
Then Dorothy walked in to the party and three minutes later the bomb turned the music in to keening silence, laughter turned to screams, the smell of ash and melting flesh was on the air. Shadows began to dart out in to the night and the Warriors charged. Hacking left, right and center Demelza saw the silver arcs of blades sweeping through the moonlight and in to pale bodies in different stages of decay. Her own sword sang as it slashed and hacked, making her way steadily in to the heart of the ruined castle.
There was no more trace of any living vampires, all of them having fled to the caves underground. Demelza still checked every room just to make sure and found most of them empty till she came to the last one. Staring at the ruins of the castle and her coven from a large bay window was Ameera, her beautiful face a mask of pure loathing and hate.
“Well if it isn’t the damned angel,” Ameera sneered. “Come to claim your lover? Or have you come to gloat?”
“You don’t claim what’s always been yours, Ameera,” Demelza said calmly, “you would know that if you weren’t such a heartless monster.”
“Ooh,” Ameera mocked, “now you’ve hurt my feelings. So I’m going to have to hurt your pretty face!”