Blade Of The Vampire King (Book 4)

by Lucas Thorn

  Something about his chest. She squinted through the bright light, but couldn't make it out. The shadows around him seemed to throb. Calling to her.

  She forced herself to look away. To instead look at Gul'Se.

  The Vampire Queen wasn't quite as small as she'd seemed. Unbowed, she was tall. Slender. Still looking as though she'd never age another day. Beautiful, the elf thought. Beautiful but terrible. Milk-white hair, ice-cold flesh, and a wide mouth rimmed with ruby lips.

  Heavy canine fangs.

  Eyes which glowed ferociously as she glared down at them from the dais.

  Her hair was knotted and woven with filth. Fingers and feet blackened by scrambling through dust. She wore rags like they were the finest gown, and maybe they had been.

  The elf stole a half-step as Gul'Se rounded on the necromancer and shot one arm out, screaming in fury at him; “You will not speak his name here!” Then she blinked, looking confused. Her insanity plain for all to see, but the fury was too hot to turn off so quickly. She looked behind them, growing more frantic as she couldn't see what she was searching for. “Where are you, you pathetic self-styled god? Slinking in the darkness? Hiding again? Show yourself, murderer! Coward! Show yourself, Rule! And you, too, Grim. Your pretty words won't save you this time. I know what you promised him. Chagek! I know what they promised you, you traitor!”

  “Chagek? Did she say Chagek?” Chukshene's mouth dropped open and his face paled. Then he let out a squeak as the Vampire Queen's rage was aimed at him.

  “I see you. You have the stink of the demonic upon you. Do you ally yourself with the worldkillers, too? Have all the peoples of the Land lost their loyalties? Can't you see they will destroy you as they destroyed us?”

  “Umm,” he licked his lips. Cracked open his grimoire, eyes flicking toward the elf. “Nysta?”

  “And you, Child of Veil. I have waited for you. For you there will be only a glorious shrieking death. The sound of your agony will ring through these halls for all eternity.”

  “Yeah?” Nysta gripped the knife tighter. “Then if you'll get down off that stage, I'll make my play right here.”

  “Grim's rotten balls, Nysta,” Chukshene whined as the Vampire Queen let out a shriek of unbridled rage. “I don't think she likes your jokes any more than I do.”

  “Got to read between the lines, 'lock,” the elf drawled. “Reckon she thinks I'm a real scream.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “Wait!” Hemlock rushed forward, arms wide and eyes pleading. Desperate to placate her, his words left his mouth in a rush. “Dread Queen, please wait. We didn't come here to face you as enemies. Nor to mock you. Please forgive my companions. They are afraid of you. And in their fear, they lose their senses. We can help you. Maybe we can free you of the curse Rule has placed on you.”

  The voice, when it emerged from the towering sorceress, was small. Almost childlike. “Free me? Am I a prisoner?”

  “Didn't Rule use his magic to keep you here?”

  And the Vampire Queen laughed.

  Her laugh lashed at the walls. Each sound cracking like a whip, driving the shadows further back into their crevices.

  “Feeble human. How little you know. Rule has no power over me, any more than he has over my husband. He did not bind me here. I am bound by magics beyond his limited understanding.”

  Hemlock frowned, but licked his lips and his gaze grew more intense. “Will you teach us? Will you show us this magic so we can fight him?”

  “If only I knew how,” she said. Her gaze flicked toward her husband's body. “It was wounded, you see. Its body formed these mountains when it fell from the sky. And its blood courses through their rocky veins. Its claws ripped into the bowels of the earth and tore fire from the deep. Truly, it was a beast of immense power. It must have been a god of its own world. It should have died, its body shattered and broken. In fact, it wanted to die. It wanted to dissolve itself in the fire beneath the earth. But Urak pulled it back. He bound it to him.”

  “That sounds like quite a feat,” the necromancer said, pausing Nysta's advance with an angry shake of his hand.

  “Yes,” Gul'Se closed her eyes. “Our magic had more power, then. We were the gods of this world, little human. It was ours. We made it from the frozen dusts. From the stones themselves. We nurtured it. And yes, we fed on it. For that was our right.”

  “Show us, Dread Queen,” Hemlock said. “Show us your power.”

  “Show you? You want me to show you?”

  “Umm, Hemlock?” Chukshene winced. “I don't think that was the best way to phrase it.”

  But the necromancer went on as though he hadn't heard him. Voice urgent. Insistent. “We want to learn. The world has changed while you've been locked in here. Grim has fallen. His body lies buried deep beneath Godsfall. And Veil, too. Rule has won. He will destroy everything if he has his chance. He will destroy the other races, leaving only humans.” He took another step closer, palms aimed at her. Pleading in his voice. “I beg you. Help us. Save us from him. This world is yours as much as ours. Surely you would want to protect it?”

  The Vampire Queen drifted slowly past the throne toward him. Her eyes, burning with intense hunger. Fingers, curled into birdlike claws. “You want me to show you, little human? My power? Oh, I can show it to you. Power was his gift to me, you see. My love gave me everything. And though it seeks to strip me of it, I have protected it. Sheltered it. Hidden it. I had to. It's what Urak wanted. Your bastard gods came here. Not for Urak. He came for it. For the Keep itself. But it was already bound and no magic Rule could wield can break those bonds. How he raged. And raged.” She reached up and tore the rags from her body, revealing puckered pink scars criss-crossing every inch of her flesh. Scars the elf knew would drill deep into the Vampire Queen's body. “Look at me, little human. Look upon the work of your god.”

  “Grim's balls,” Chukshene breathed.

  “My torture lasted for days. But Urak would not submit. Not even when Rule did the same to our children. Not even when he impaled Lorik to the wall. And then Usek. And do you know what he did when Rule finally grew impatient and used Veil's cursed blade to wrench his life away?” Her face twisted into a mask of pure insanity. “He spat in Rule's face! Spat with all his hate. And how that bastard god did scream. But he has yet to suffer. And I will see him bend before me. I will hear him beg. I will hear him weep for forgiveness!”

  Feeling the change in the Vampire Queen's temper again, Nysta moved to the necromancer's left. Caught Melganaderna's eyes and nodded the axewoman further down the side of the room.

  Hinting at her to flank the Vampire Queen. Thinking of how they'd dealt with the creature made of swords, and hoping to do similar to its creator.

  A Flaw in the Glass was quiet in her fist. The worms beneath her skin hardly moved, but she could feel them trembling.

  “He never suspected,” Gul'Se continued, apparently unaware of Melganaderna manoeuvring softly silently the wall. The rage appeared to have died, but the elf could hear the frozen undercurrent ready to flare again. “Never even considered that Urak would have bound the beast in the way he had.”

  “How?” Hemlock swayed on his feet, mesmerised by the thought of so much power just waiting for him. He could taste the Keep's desire to be free. Could hear the walls buzzing like angry bees as they struggled against the arcane bonds which kept it submissive.

  She held out a hand to the necromancer, smiling as he lurched forward, arm outstretched. Searching for her touch. “Fooling Rule was never difficult, little human. He thought he knew us. Thought he knew our ways. But he did not know my husband. The binding was made with flesh. My flesh. It was a sacrifice I made for him. For Urak. And Rule, in his impetuous desire for vengeance on us, left me alive. Unaware that I held the very thing he wanted in the palm of my hand! Come to me now, little human. If you seek power, come to me. I have yearned so long. Come to me. Feed me.” Her mouth yawned impossibly wide, the drooling fangs glinting as she flew at Hemloc
k in sudden hunger for his blood.

  She screeched wordlessly, the sound tearing through his own scream as he realised what was happening.

  And the only thing which prevented his throat being torn from his neck by her slavering jaws was the howl of Torment as the massive battleaxe swung through the air to bite deep into the Vampire Queen's belly. It sawed into her guts, but stopped as it crunched against her unrelenting spine.

  Gul'Se's shriek rose in pitch, making the very air seem to bleed.

  “Bitch,” Melganaderna spat into the creature's agonised face. Jerked the axe free with a spectacular gush of blood. “He's mine. And you can't have him. Hemlock? Move your ass away from the nasty lady. And if you ever try to touch another woman again, it'll be your guts I'll be cleaving.”

  He shuddered, springing back clumsily from the shower of blood which spewed at his feet. “Shit.”

  Staggering away, Gul'Se slid from the broad-bladed battleaxe and clutched at her belly. Her eyes gleamed despite her pain and she bared her fangs at the young axewoman. “That cursed weapon might kill a lesser vampire,” she hissed. “But I am Gul'Se. And even your god couldn't kill me!”

  Nysta darted forward, A Flaw in the Glass spinning in her hand as she sought to bury it in the Vampire Queen's chest. But Gul'Se was quick, and flew into the air as if on invisible wings.

  She soared toward the throne and landed lightly, pulling her rags across her scarred body. Fresh blood leaking wet down her hips. “It hates me,” she said. “Hates me. But it is bound to me. And it will serve even if I have to drown it in its own slime!”

  The raw stink of magic rose swiftly as Gul'Se spat words of horrifying power. Each syllable made the walls shake. The ground beneath their feet churned, and sent Chukshene sprawling. His spellbook skidded from his reach, and he clamoured across a mound of bones in search of it.

  Hemlock held out his hand, reading from his grimoire. Snapped his own mystic words and hurled a ball of solid green light at the Vampire Queen.

  Who knocked it aside with a contemptuous wave of her hand.

  “Your magic is the magic of children,” she laughed, but it was a hollow sound. Whatever she had cast, it'd taken a lot of her energy. The ground kept shaking as something boiled and bubbled beneath their feet. “Behold, you who would be a Deathlord. Behold what such power truly brings!”

  The noise was thunderous.

  Like thousands of armoured men were stamping their steel boots on wooden floorboards. A torrent of sound as the bones of the dead clattered against each other. Searching. Joining.

  Rising.

  Skulls, their black orbs burning with green light. Skeletal ribcages glowing bright with eldritch flames. Bony fists reaching to grip ancient weapons. Mouths open in silent roar.

  And Gul'Se laughed.

  She laughed as the Melganaderna was pulled to her knees by an army of undead.

  Laughed as Chukshene was dragged away from his grimoire.

  Laughed as Hemlock desperately sent smaller orbs of green energy smashing into the skeletons trying to tear the flesh from the axewoman.

  Laughed as Nysta stalked her through the savage ranks of bone warriors.

  “You will serve me!” Gul'Se cried to the roof. “Your plans are broken. Your hopes are destroyed. Accept your place at my feet, and grovel for forgiveness. Wounded beast, you will serve me, or you will die. I will drain the last of your blood and leave your husk to rot in the dark.”

  And the walls kept shaking.

  Urak's body trembled, drawing the elf's attention. One arm hung loose. The other was resting against his chest. Holding something. Holding whatever it was that pinned him to the wall.

  She licked her lips.

  And moved fast.

  Sheathed her knives and grabbed a large ork femur from the ground. Began using it as a club, howling curses as she beat and smashed skeletons from her path. Could hear Melganaderna and Hemlock as they shouted to each other.

  Heard Chukshene cursing.

  Heard the warlock let out a cry of pain and wondered if he'd finally lost his battle to survive.

  But couldn't spare him a glance.

  Skeletons surrounded her. Teeth chattering in silent language. The awful smell of decay and death. Each creak of bone against bone was like the creaking of the gates of the Shadowed Halls as they opened to embrace those who would die today.

  Hemlock's voice grew more desperate. His spells more explosive. Chunks of rock, torn from the ceiling and wall, rumbled across the ground.

  The elf felt a burst of pain in her shoulder and spun to find a skeleton, minus its arms, trying to tear through her jacket with its teeth. She snatched the orb of its head with one hand and twisted it free of its spine. Threw it down at her feet and shattered it with her boot.

  Gul'Se was close.

  The Vampire Queen hovered in the air next to the throne. Her eyes searching the chaos. The joy of rising death plain on her face. Then her malevolent gaze found the elf, and the Vampire Queen's expression grew dark.

  “You, Child of Veil. We were once the same blood. But she twisted you. Perverted you. Now look at you. You are corrupted by her. It calls to you, doesn't it? It would.”

  The elf brought the thick bone shaft down, crushing another skull. Again and again. Spitting words between blows. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”

  “You can't have it,” the Vampire Queen's voice dropped to the childish voice of earlier. Then she began to wail. “You can't. It's mine. He gave it to me. It's all I have left of him! Urak! Speak to me, my love!”

  And the elf nearly died right there, frozen by the sound of Gul'Se's grief as it pierced her heart. A grief which mirrored her own.

  As it was, the rust-spotted sword which had been searching for her guts, bounced off the wyrmskin jacket, but managed to find a gap between two hastily-repaired patches and jammed into her skin. Drove deep through the meat just under her shoulder.

  It clipped bone, wrenching a scream from the elf's lungs which made the Vampire Queen shriek in echo. Gul'se's face lit with insanity. “That's right, Child of Veil! Scream for me! Scream!”

  Gul'Se pushed through the skeletons, shoving them out of her way as she drove toward the elf.

  Drunk on the smell of fresh-spilled blood.

  Drunk on the elf's agony and fear.

  Nysta reeled, wrenching the broken blade free of her body and dropping it with a metallic clang to the ground. Gasping, she swung awkwardly with the ork bone, trying to keep the skeletal warriors back, but feeling her strength ebb even as the worms rushed toward the source of her pain.

  She felt them gnawing at the flesh.

  No.

  Not gnawing.

  Knitting it. Joining with it.

  She let out a moan of horror as she realised if she could live through the next few seconds, she might actually survive.

  And, given what was now inside her body, wasn't sure if she wanted to.

  Gul'Se burst from the ranks, clawed hands raking the elf's face and neck. Drawing sprays of blood which made the Vampire Queen laugh.

  The elf smashed the bone club across Gul'Se's brow, splitting it open. But she couldn't stop the madness from powering into her.

  The Vampire Queen snatched at the elf's jacket, pulling her closer into her demented grip. The strength of insanity keeping Nysta from pulling free. The elf drooped in Gul'Se's manic grip, one arm limp at her side.

  Lapping Nysta's blood like a dog, the craving forced excited snarls from deep within the Vampire Queen's throat. The sharp tongue curled back into her smiling mouth as she tasted the elf's vitality and liked it.

  “Fuck.” The elf kicked out blindly, her foot finding the softness of Gul'Se's already torn belly.

  But it didn't stop her.

  Instead, it just made her grip tighter.

  The fanged mouth opened.

  Wide. Impossibly wide.

  And clamped down hard. The Vampire Queen was like a shark, worrying at the elf's neck, just above her shoulder. With
in the undead grip, the elf felt like a doll. Helpless.

  The feeling of those fangs, burrowing deeper into her veins in search of blood. Tearing at flesh and ripping through vein and artery alike.

  The claws, digging into her back.

  The agony flowering outward, riding on wings of terror.

  And then the surge.

  Like a tide emptying itself on the beach in the dead of night.

  From somewhere so deep in her core, they came. They moved up her spine. Slow. Sluggish. Gripping her heart. Winding around ribs.

  Turning her flesh as black as obsidian.

  Rising up toward her throat. To where the Vampire Queen gorged on her blood.

  She thrashed in Gul'Se's grip, letting loose ragged scream after ragged scream. Unable to bring the heavy ork bone high enough to strike hard. Unable to lash out.

  Then the darkness reached her neck.

  And the Vampire Queen twitched.

  Shuddered.

  And threw herself away from the elf, arms outstretched as if to defend herself, black inky blood spewing from her mouth.

  She spat the elf's blood to the ground, scrubbing at her mouth with her fingers trying to get the fluid from her lips. Gagged. Wretched. Doubled over, clutching at her mouth.

  While Nysta staggered to one side, momentarily ignored by the skeleton warriors. She felt her blood streaming down her neck. Hot and wet, sliding down her chest and soaking her undershirt.

  “Fuck you,” the elf growled, feeling the worms pushing at the wound. Closing it. Her throat still felt raw. Her nostrils filled with the smell of blood.

  Could taste it on her tongue.

  She advanced on the stricken Vampire Queen.

  “Curse you! Her blood swims in your veins.”

  And then Melganaderna launched herself through a wave of skeletons, Torment held high. “I haven't finished with you, yet,” she shouted. The enchanted axe was ablaze with purple light.

  Hissing venomously, the Vampire Queen flew into the air again to escape, rags streaming behind like the wings of a bat. Her face upturned once more to the roof of the room. “Serve me now. Serve me. I command you!”