Absolution At Dawn

by Eryn Black

  Cast in solid silver, the doors were adorned with an elegant facade of crosses that would stop any vampire in his tracks, but Victor would not be defeated by such tricks. Grabbing one of the wounded, he pushed the screaming man into the door and watched as the door burned his hands. The doors were armed with silver plating. The precious metal did not kill their kind, but could render them burned and vulnerable for attack. No doubt the windows were set with similar defenses and unless there was a mortal servant nearby he would have to find another way in.

  Stepping back from the doors, Victor swung his sword over his shoulder, deflecting another attack and distracting the man while his second in command, Donavan, tossed the body aside. Looking up at the front of the palace tower, he searched for an entrance and knew that his time was growing short. The stabbing pain in his gut told him that she did not have long to live and the dawn was only an hour away. The palace was covered with a series of red tiled gabled roofs stacked over each other with a large stain glass window as the focal point. Above them all was a blackened window and he did not need to question. Victor could feel in his blood where she was kept, but looking over his shoulder he could see his men fighting off Alexander’s soldiers and he could not leave them just yet.

  “Go!” Donavon shouted. “Save the Queen! We shall stand strong here for you.” His loyal friend and brother in arms turned his back to Victor and drew a dagger to parry off the wooden weapons whilst he finished off his defense in a repost with his sword.

  Sliding his sword into the sheath, Victor leaped to the nearest roof. The tile was slick and his fur boots held no traction, slipping out from under him. Sliding down he franticly reached for something to grip, but everything was covered in snow. Rolling onto his back, he tried to bring himself to a stop while drawing a dagger. There was no slowing and he managed to roll back on this stomach, driving the dagger into the roof, shattering the tiles and breaking through to the wood bellow.

  Feet dangling over the side, Victor did not hesitate and pulled himself up. The fall would not have killed him, but Alexander’s men bellow would have appreciated the opportunity once he fell. Stepping cautiously on the roof, he took only a moment before he once again took leaping bounds on the front of the palace. Victor’s footing was unsure, but his pace was quick, keeping him steady as he ran the ridge of one roof to another. Soon he had the blackened window in his sights with only a few feet ahead. At a closer look the window was black stain glass and he knew it would no doubt be lined with silver. Never slowing his pace, he flipped his dagger in his hand, catching the blade with his gloved hand and pulling it back over his shoulder before releasing it into the window and shattering the glass.

  “Victor!” Sophia screamed to warn him, but the men tackled Victor to the ground, beating into him with sliver-armored gloves. These were Alexander’s mortal servants ready to die for him in their mind-controlled state. Every burning hit did nothing to him while he could hear the cries of his Sophia screaming for him. Looking up he saw her fight the rope that bound her, but her mortal strength was no match. The rough rope ripped her white satin bedclothes that were to be worn for their marriage bed. Stained with blood from where the rope had broken her skin in her struggle.

  “No!” she screamed in a blood curdling terror when she saw the men struggle to hold down Victor’s beaten body. Sizzling and smoking, his exposed flesh healed quickly from the marks left behind by the gloves, but his strength was gone. Struggling to push himself up on shaky hands, Sophia saw the silver dagger in Skeal’s hand dripping with Victor’s dead blood. He had been the man to orchestrate her abduction and was Alexander’s deadliest comrade; no doubt he would make his mark tonight on her Victor. Shimmering black droplets fell to the floor in her horror. Catching the torchlight, the black sparkled with flakes of gold that only could have come from a vampire. They had wounded him, leaving Victor vulnerable, but they did not finish the job.

  “You have fought valiantly, my brother.” Alexander stepped from the shadows. “Our father would have been proud as he was on so many of your conquests.”

  Standing at the same height as Victor, Alexander had a slimmer build and his hair was kissed with blond frosting compared to Victor’s coal black hair. They both had their father’s strong jaw line and their mother’s blue eyes, leaving them able to charm any maiden, but Alexander’s heart had been poisoned long ago and now was as black and dead as the blood that beat through it. “But tonight I am victorious.”

  Snapping his fingers, four men answered Alexander’s command, pulling Victor onto his feet, two taking his arms and another wrapping his arms around Victor’s neck, leaving Skeal to hold a threatening silver dagger at this throat. Victor was no fool and yielded only long enough to see what his odds were. Looking from his brother to the one who held him, he looked for whatever opportunity was available to him, but there seemed to be little hope. Still, he would do whatever was necessary to protect Sophia.

  “You may be the strongest between us, brother, but what good is strength without a mind to plan out the attack?” Alexander was proud of his victory, but did not throw caution to the wind and kept his eyes focused on his brother, who was beginning to heal from Skeal’s dagger.

  “Enough with the games.” Victor’s deep voice shook the room. “You have what you want. I am at your mercy, now let her go,” he demanded, but to his horror his brother’s smile only brightened, stepping behind Sophia and rubbing his hands over her exposed shoulders before slowly moving them up to her neck, caressing and kneading her soft flesh.

  “She is beautiful, I must say. Far better than that blonde beauty you ravaged for a month a hundred years ago.”

  Victor knew what his brother was playing at and by the painful look in Sophia’s eyes he could tell that Alexander’s verbal assault had hit its mark. Her brown eyes began to fill with tears until the first few drops finally escaped with some rapid blinks.

  “Your fight is with me, brother.” Painfully pulling at every muscle and bone, his body worked to heal itself. “Set her free. If it is revenge you wish, then separate us or take what you will out of me, but do not kill my bride.”

  “You think I have no honor,” Alexander spat out. “An eye for an eye. My wife is dead; because of you I shall never see her again. Look upon your bride, brother, she will be the last thing you ever see.” He turned to the horror stricken Sophia crying out to her husband. “Fear not, my lady, I have not forgotten you. Once I am finished with him I will release you to my men for them to enjoy.”

  Sophia’s veins froze with fear when she saw the mortal minion open the silver container. Cringing away, the men who held Victor prisoner looked away from the container with fear. Only Skeal was willing to look in when he dipped the tip of his dagger. In a terrible minute Sophia knew what he intended to do and in desperation she fought against her bonds with all her might, but her mortal body was no match for them.

  “Administer the punishment, Skeal,” Alexander ordered, and the wicked man broke his grim expression with a crooked smile that left his icy blue eyes dull of emotion. His lips stretched into a brighter, disturbing smile, imbedding it into his cheeks and highlighting the presence of a bizarre scar in the shape of a small arrow pointing up into his cheek.

  “No!” Victor fought against the arms holding him, but he was still weakened from the wounds and his body was still fighting to heal itself.

  Reaching into his thick black hair, the man who held Victor by the throat used his free hand to pull his head back, giving Skeal a better target. Sophia’s cries stabbed at him and he held on to his last image of her smiling up at him, refusing to accept this heartbreaking sight to be the last thing he remembered seeing.

  “Alexander!” Came the voices bellow and with them Victor’s dearest friends.

  “Damn!” Alexander cursed hearing the voice of his brother’s protector. He was no match for the mighty Remus and he would not risk the fight now despite holding his brother captive. Alexander was no fool and would not risk the wrat
h of Remus. “You couldn’t face me with your pitiful band, in honor. You had to call upon your mighty protector to save you.”

  “Honor?” Hearing the word come from his brother’s lips was like acid to his ears. “You know nothing of the meaning. Release my bride and I will call Remus and his men off,” Victor demanded, but Skeal would not drop his dagger. Hungry for the pain in the punishment, he pinched Victor’s face to hold him steady and took aim with the dagger.

  “Skeal! Stand down!” Alexander commanded, but it was pointless. “Skeal! I command that you stand down. We have no army to protect us from what Remus will bring down.”

  As he spoke the chamber door burst from its hinges under the explosive blow of an enraged warlord. His hair was long and tied back with a red ribbon and his armor was Roman in style and ancient to their times. Shorter than most, his sword was a deadly attachment to his right hand and his left was masked in a glove of a lion’s fur fitted with silver claws dripping with dead blood. He did not waste his time with anyone who stood in his way, pushing them aside with ease and grabbing Alexander by his linen collar. Trembling in fear, Alexander knew what this man was capable of and called out to his men to stand down and release Victor at once.

  The rest happened in a flash that even with Victor’s reflexes he could do nothing to stop them. Pulling away from his captor’s hands, Victor ran directly toward his bound bride, but in that same instance Skeal turned on his heels, releasing the blade with a force to match Victor’s speed and impaled Sophia in the heart.

  “No!” Alexander was the first to call out when he saw what his killer had done.

  “No!” Victor cried out, reaching his love and breaking her bonds. Falling in his arms, he fell to the floor, holding her close.

  Alexander turned to the skilled killer. “You were not to harm the woman!”

  “Maybe not by your instructions.” Skeal’s cold voice had gone unnoticed by the others in the room as they rushed to Sophia’s side.

  Victor held his bride close in desperation to hold her soul in her fragile body. Sophia’s mortal heart beat its last and she was gone from this world before his teeth could pierce her flesh. Her eyes looked skyward and empty. She had left him before he could save her and leaving Victor alone to walk the world.

  Looking down on his cub, Remus knew the pain the man felt and his sire Victor’s despair hit him as well.

  “Lord Remus.” Not hesitating, one man stepped forward in alarm. “Alexander escaped through a hidden passage. We have sent men in pursuit, but I fear that he might be beyond our reach in the snow and with the dawn approaching.”

  “Find him.” The words erupted from Remus with a growl. He wanted blood for Victor’s loss and he would find it, but turning back, he and the others watched as Skeal jumped from the window. Two men followed in pursuit, but Skeal was known for his deadly ability. Remus held no hope in his capture before dawn.

  “My love.” Victors collapsed over Sophia’s body. Growing cold in his arms, she abandoned her body, leaving him in the agony of being alone.

  “She is lost, my brother.” Placing a hand on Victor’s shoulder, Remus tried to comfort him. Responding to his maker’s touch, Victor leaned into Remus’s hand while holding his bride close. “She is in a better place now. Far better than you or I will ever know.”

  “And forever out of my reach.”

  Present day LA, California

  Sitting back in the high back, black, leather chair, Victor swirled in his seat holding the tarnished dagger in his hand. Blackened with time it was left to wither in the years locked away for only Victor to hold. Her blood had long ago flaked off, but there was still a stain on the hilt where he could see the only traces that his beloved Sophia had once lived and died.

  Over two hundred years had passed and there was still no hope for him to find peace.

  Spinning in his chair, Victor looked out his floor to ceiling window. Sparkling at his feet were the LA night lights with millions of possibilities, but nothing to tempt him. Life had ceased to hold much meaning to him for the last two hundred years and the passing of every night was nothing more than another notch in time for him. Long gone were the days of the sword and horses. Long ago he had retired his sword and his horses were now only ridden for enjoyment. There was no room for adventure and battlefields, now having lost the ability to grant a man his all earned honor.

  He was tiered.

  The high pitch buzz from the intercom scratched at his nerves and Victor answered just to end the pain of hearing it again.

  “I thought I told you I hated that sound,” he grumbled into the box, visualizing Hope, his secretary, smirking.

  “That is why I used it. I know you would have never answered if I had simply knocked on your door.” Their working relationship always left room for a relaxed banter and Victor appreciated the chance to speak frankly to someone. Too many kissed his ass these days and he really hated it.

  Eryn Black

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