Red Circus: A Dark Collection
Page 23
“It was the blood which drew him. Cedric Pickering, that was his name. You probably didn’t even know that. He came to me, full of pity, and as life slipped away, he turned me.” She glided forwards, trailing her fingertips across Elaine’s stone face. “A weakling, afraid to hunt, morally opposed to taking human life, as if he could deny what he was. I despised him.”
She reached the candle holder and used her thumb and forefinger to extinguish the left and right sticks, leaving only the single flame. The crypt slid deeper into darkness. Nathan continued to retreat, circling to the right now and actually closer to Amelia than she was.
“Geoffrey was my first human kill,” she said, smiling as if proud of her achievement, her eyes drinking in the anguish on Nathan’s face.
He choked. “He was a little boy, innocent. Why not take me instead?”
Angeline kept moving, slow, steady, gracefully. “I had intended to take you all, one night after the next, but after I fed on Geoffrey – and he was delicious, Nathan – Cedric became angry and forbid me to touch any of you. As I said, a weakling. I was powerless to disobey, as he was my maker. So thank you for that, darling. When you destroyed him, you released me to my own free will.”
“Amelia has done nothing to you,” he said.
The vampire began moving between the sarcophagi, getting closer, and with her back to the candle her features were in shadow. “She’s your child, my love,” and in a flash she was over Geoffrey’s tomb and upon him, one frigid and powerful hand clenching his throat and slamming him against the wall, pinning him there. Her other hand plucked the battleaxe away and snapped it in half, the pieces clattering to the marble floor. His wounded leg threatened to give way, but the force of her grip kept him upright. She put her face close to his, her breath cold, cold death as she hissed.
“I started with one of your children when I still lived, Nathan, then took a second. Seeing your pain has been my only joy in this hell I live in, so before you die, you’ll watch me take your last.” Holding him against the wall, she reached towards Amelia.
The vampire had been so intent on her prey that she didn’t hear the boot steps on the stairs. The Rigby’s .470 slugs were designed to take down a hippopotamus, an animal so tough that rifle bullets had been seen to spark harmlessly off its tusks. Corporal Andrews fired both barrels.
Angeline’s right arm, shoulder and a large chunk of her breast and torso were blasted away in an instant, the double booms a thunder as terrifying as God’s wrath. Her body was flung away, into the wall beside Amelia, leaving her forearm and hand dangling from Nathan’s neck. He jerked it away even as the vampire was turning swiftly to face them, rising, her face twisted by hate and rage, fangs bared and snarling.
Nathan closed on her, grabbing the splintered shaft of the battleaxe off the floor and meeting her in mid step, clenching her tightly and ramming the shaft under her left breast, driving it through her and piercing her heart. He held her close, like a lover.
Angeline screeched and thrashed in his grip, coughing dark red blood into his face. Nathan stared into her eyes, his own filled with a father’s fury, and this time it was she who could not meet his powerful gaze. She whispered his name, and then collapsed into ash.
Nathan wiped at his face, then lifted Amelia off the floor, cradling her in his arms. “Daddy’s come for you, sweetheart.” She hugged him tightly, crying softly into his chest. Corporal Andrews kicked at the ashes until they were well dispersed, then carried the candle for his commander as they climbed the stairs together.
As they reached the night air and breathed deeply, Nathan looked at his little girl. “Let’s go home, Daddy,” she said.
And Nathan smiled.
COMING SOON…
IN THE FALLING LIGHT
A Dark Collection Volume II
by
John L. Campbell
photo by Linda Campbell
In addition to Red Circus, his first collected
volume of short stories, Mr. Campbell’s work
has appeared in literary and small circulation
magazines, as well as online e-zines. He is the
co-author of the screenplay Silver Arrow and
the Shadow Empyre RPG series.
He lives in Connecticut with his family.