by Dima Zales
We would all enter different places around the building, surrounding it. Then we would walk around in stealth mode until one of the tallest among us yelled out a signal for everyone to attack at once.
My heart began racing with anticipation, and the vampire who had been barking out the orders for the plan looked at me and said, "Maybe she should enter the building last. Her heartbeat will give us away."
I looked down, feeling horrible that I could ruin the whole operation.
"Don't feel bad, Princess," he said. "You're in your transition and we are here to protect and serve you. We'll keep a group out here to enter last, after the fighting has commenced."
He pointed to four vampires that I didn't know to stand with me outside while the others entered silently. I wished that I could go with them, but I also didn't want to blow the whole thing. I had to keep my strength to be able to battle to the end.
He gave a signal for the remaining vampires to close in around the building silently. My heart raced even more as I watched them all enter the building. I couldn't wait to join them.
It seemed like it took forever while we were waiting to hear the battle begin. In fact, while we waited, nearly twenty other vampires joined us.
"We're just waiting for the battle to begin and then we will go inside," someone told the new arrivals.
"Is this the princess?" one of the newly arrived vampires asked, looking at me.
"Yes, our princess is back among us."
More bowing ensued and the vampires assured me of their allegiance.
Just as some more vampires were arriving, we heard a loud scream that I assumed to be the signal. Then there was a lot of fighting noise.
"Attack," ordered the vampire that had introduced me to the new ones.
At once, we all ran to the building and through the walls. I felt a hundred times stronger and more confident with the legion of vampires fighting along with us.
We all went in several directions in which we had heard fighting. I stayed back a little bit because I wanted to find Cliff, and I also wanted to keep my strength as much as possible.
I was saddened to see some familiar faces lying lifeless on the ground as I walked along. I went through walls to avoid being seen.
At one point, I found myself in a kitchen where several vampires were battling. I saw four vampires attacking one. I took a closer look and saw that the lone vampire was Tanner. I was at his side in a split second. I grabbed one of my stakes and threw it at one vampire's heart, hitting it directly. The familiar silver ooze came out ,and he fell to the floor.
One of the other vampires turned on me, and I threw him across the room. I looked over at Tanner and saw that he had already killed one and was choking the other. I grabbed the stake from the dead vampire and rushed at the one I had thrown across the room. He let out a cry as I came at him and threw it at his heart with dead accuracy.
I grabbed a stake and threw it to Tanner, who caught it and impaled the two vampires lying at his feet. I ran out of the room and up a narrow staircase. It was difficult to focus any of my senses because there was so much fighting going on all around me. I could hear the battle all over the building. It was almost dizzying to listen to, with my vampire hearing.
Focusing on my sense of smell instead of hearing, I tried to locate Cliff or Samantha. I figured that if I found one of them, I would probably find the other, since she was so insistent on luring him to her. It was hard to smell anything over the rancid stench of the silver ooze all over the place.
Suddenly, a vampire jumped out at me, hissing, fangs exposed. I quickly ran across the hallway, and he landed with a thud against the floor. He jumped up again and started running after me. I jumped out of the way once more, and he slammed into the wall.
I took advantage of the split second that he was in shock and grabbed his curly hair, smashing his face into the wall several times. He turned and looked at me with his eyes rolling around. I grabbed a fresh stake and thrust it into his heart, letting him fall to the ground. I grabbed the stake again and ran to find Cliff. We were supposed to kill off the Morettis together, so I urgently needed to find him and not waste my time with common vampires.
I went up two more flights of stairs and found myself in another hallway with lots of closed doors. It reminded me of the hallway of a hotel. I felt a sense of familiarity, and hoped that it meant that Cliff was nearby.
The hallway was quiet, so I would have an easier time finding him, I hoped. I walked along the hallway listening for any sounds, and heard movement from behind a door on my right.
Without thinking, I opened the door, unprepared for what might be waiting for me.
"Alexis!"
I looked to the far corner of the room toward the voice. "Cliff. Cliff!" I ran to where he sat on the bed. I wrapped my arms around him although he couldn't return the embrace. "How do I get these chains off you?"
"Samantha says that she has the only key."
"Let me try something," I said, remembering my own experience with chains. I stared at the chains and said with as much authority as I could muster, "Remove yourselves from him. Get off of his wrists now."
Cliff's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he watched the chains fall to the bed. He looked at his newly freed wrists and asked, "How did you do that?"
I smiled. "It's a gift. Let's go kill some evil vampires who want me dead."
He kissed the top of my head. "I really like your newfound confidence. I'm sorry for everything that you had to go through to get it though."
My heart nearly melted. I reached for his face and stroked his cheek. I breathed in his smell and smiled.
We stared into each other's eyes for a minute and then I said, "Don't do this to me. I need to stay angry in order to kick some evil vampire butt."
He laughed. "Seeing you made me forget about where we are and what we need to do. Let's go kill those impostors."
"Do you know where they are?" I asked.
"Yes, I overheard them talking. One benefit of being a Fyrsturae descendant is that other vampires don't realize how much stronger our senses are than other vampires. We can hear and smell much further than they can."
"That explains a lot. I'll follow you then," I said.
Cliff led the way as went through a maze of hallways and staircases. We had gone up and down so many different sets of stairs that I had even lost track of what level we were on.
"Is this a castle?" I asked. "It's so huge."
"This is nothing compared to our castle," he said. "Even when you lived there, you didn't even come close to seeing all of it. Do you remember the secret passage that we discovered?"
"No."
"We'll have to relive old times when we get back there," he said, smiling. "But first, we have a battle to win."
We ran on and then he suddenly stopped. I nearly ran into him but managed to stop myself in time, just centimeters away.
Do you hear that?
I listened and heard a faint scuffling noise.
What is that?
They're in that room. He pointed to a door just a few feet away from us. They know we're here.
They can hear my heartbeat, right?
Don't worry about how they can sense us. We will communicate with each other with our minds like this if we need to.
Can't Samantha hear us? Isn't she a royal too?
Only those that we want to hear our thoughts will hear them. Our thoughts cannot be invaded. Unfortunately, that does apply to her too. Are you ready, my princess?
I sighed. I hope so.
He cupped my face in his hand. You are ready. Everything that you've gone through has prepared you for this battle. You will even outperform me.
I looked away, overwhelmed. Let's go in.
He turned and opened the door. Samantha and a tall male vampire with short, spiky hair turned to look at us. I assumed that the tall one was Vince, head of the Moretti clan and rarely seen, even by the vampires that he had turned.
"I
f it isn't the prince and princess," Samantha said. "What should we do with them, Vincey?"
"Take them down, of course."
Samantha looked at Cliff and licked her lips. "I'll take him. He's yummy."
At the same moment that Vince slapped her, I jumped to attack. Cliff was faster than I was and put his arm out to stop me.
She's trying to get under your skin. Don't let her.
Samantha didn't even seem to notice Vince's slap. "She's quick to defend you, Cliffy baby. Just like she was with that human boy. He was pretty yummy too."
She ducked, and missed Vince's slap that time.
Several light bulbs exploded in the room, and I thought I heard some go off in adjoining rooms as well. It was taking every ounce of my self-control not to rip her to shreds.
Samantha turned her attention back to me once the light bulbs had stopped exploding. "You really should watch that temper of yours, missy. It's going to get you into trouble."
Cliff pushed his arm against me to remind me that he was still blocking me and to remind me to stay focused.
"Speaking of that human boy," she said. "I heard that you changed him, Alexis. Is that true?"
Pushing past Cliff's arm, I flew at her and ripped into her flesh with my teeth and my nails. I caught her off guard because she didn't even fight back at first. I spit out a chunk of her flesh onto the floor, and that's when she grabbed my neck and started choking me.
I felt Vince jump on me, pulling my hair back and yanking my neck so that Samantha lost her hold on me, and I started to gag. Suddenly, he was taken off my back, and I saw Cliff throw him against a wall. Cliff flew at him and bit into his neck.
I turned my attention back to Samantha, who was about to bite into mine. I quickly moved out of her way, and she fell and hit her face on the floor. I jumped onto her back and grabbed her hair, banging her face against the floor a few more times for good measure.
I could hear Vince and Cliff fighting outside of my line of vision, but I didn't dare take my eyes off of Samantha even though I had the upper hand for the moment.
She began to reach around her back, trying to get to me. She managed to wrap a hand around one of my ankles and somehow used that for enough leverage to roll herself over and was nearly on top of me. I kneed her in the stomach, and as she groaned, I was disappointed to see that most of the small wounds that I had given her had already healed.
I reached into the sleeve of my sweater, pulled out a stake and started stabbing her with it. If I couldn't kill her with it, I would do as much damage as possible. I stabbed her as hard as I could.
Taking a deep breath and doing my best to avoid her claws, I stabbed with all my might in the heart. She started gasping for air, and I backed off and took a moment to see how Cliff was doing.
It looked as though he was being overpowered by Vince. I wiped something wet off my face and saw that it was blood. I felt to see where it was coming from and found a good-sized gash on my forehead. I hoped that it would heal quickly.
Cliff was really struggling, and I knew that I needed to help him. I looked at Samantha and found that she was still lying on the ground gasping for air. I leaned over and drove the stake into her heart three more times.
I took a deep breath and flew into Vince, knocking him off of Cliff. I grabbed him and tried to throw him into the wall, but he was stronger than any other vampire that I had come across. He barely budged.
He laughed at me. "Is that all you have?"
I glared at him and quickly looked back down at Cliff who was still on the ground. I ran into Vince again with all of my energy and again he merely stumbled.
He ruffled his spiky hair and smirked at me. "There's a reason that vampires all over the world tremble when they see me coming. You're still part human, and you think you can beat me."
I bit into his chest because he was too tall for me to reach his neck. He let out the tiniest sound and then gave me a little shove, and I flew across the room, knocking over a sofa chair and landing on the floor.
Cliff, how are we going to defeat this guy?
We're going to have to take him by surprise. But I'm pretty badly hurt.
I stood up and walked over to the two of them. I leaned down to where Cliff was lying and placed my hand on his chest. I imagined him healthy, healed and strong, and sent those thoughts through my arms and into his body. I could feel the healing going as a vibration in the same way that it had when I had healed Kayla.
"He's not going to give you energy, little princess."
I ignored Vince and concentrated on trying to heal Cliff.
Vince just stood there watching me. He pretended to file his nails and act bored to show me how confident he was that I could never beat him.
You've healed me. You really have been blessed with a lot more gifts and talents than any other royal. I'm going to pretend to still be down and take him by surprise.
I gave a slight nod, letting Cliff knew that I understood and then I stood up and stared at Vince.
He stared back at me and laughed. "Do you think you'll beat me with a staring contest?"
"What makes you think that you are so powerful that no vampire can beat you?" I asked.
"I don't think, I know."
"How did you become so powerful, then?"
"Do you think that I'm going to give my secrets away?"
"Are you a descendant of the Fyrsturae?" I asked.
"Do you think that you will beat me with conversation?"
"Why do you keep answering my questions with questions?" I exclaimed.
"Why wouldn't I?" He smirked at me.
I stood there and focused all of my energy, imagining that it was a ball growing larger and stronger as I concentrated on it. Once it was as big as I was, I ran at him, and he actually flew back and landed against the wall.
As soon as he hit the wall, Cliff was up and had Vince's neck in his hands.
"What?" Vince choked. "I broke your legs in a place that takes vampires hours to heal."
I copied his smirk and said, "You're not all-knowing, after all, are you?"
He reached up and began pulling Cliff's hands off of his neck. I ran over and held his hands down so that he couldn't push Cliff away. Vince started gasping for air, and I let go, biting into him and ripping out pieces of his flesh.
Vince finally pushed Cliff off, threw him across the room and turned to me. He pushed me down onto the ground and put his arms out, facing Cliff. He stretched out his fingers as far as they would go and then squeezed them tight so that it looked like he was holding a small ball in each hand.
I watched in horror as Cliff lifted up into the air. Vince moved his arms to the left and right, and Cliff moved in the air in tandem with Vince's arms.
Cliff started choking and grabbing at his neck.
"Stop!" I screamed. "Whatever you're doing, stop."
He turned his head to me and laughed. He continued to control Cliff with his hands from across the room.
"I want to see you make me stop," he taunted me.
I imagined my energy as a ball again, and ran toward him when the ball was twice my size. He was thrown back twice as far as the time before. He lost his control over Cliff and Cliff fell to the ground, gasping for air. He stood up, still gasping.
I didn't want Vince to go after Cliff before he had caught his breath, so I charged at Vince again. I went to stomp on his face, but he grabbed my leg, and I fell back on the floor, hitting the back of my head.
Before I could get up, he lifted me off the ground and threw me back across the room. I landed with a thud against the fireplace. I had hit my head really hard on the brick mantle and slumped to the ground.
I could feel something wet and sticky surrounding my body. It started around my head and moved down to my shoulders, arms, and body. I managed to get my arm up to look at it and saw that the substance was my blood. A lot of it, from what I could feel.
I started to feel dizzy, and it became harder to breathe. The harder tha
t I tried to take a normal breath, the less air that I was able to take in.
Cliff appeared over me. His face held shock and terror. "Alexis, hang on. You're going to be just fine." His face was white and his eyes glistened with tears. "Everything is going to be just fine," he repeated, his voice wavering and his lips trembling.
I just watched him, as I couldn't bring myself to utter a word or even think of a thought to send to him.
He reached down and rubbed his hand on my forehead and over my hair. When he brought his hand up, it was covered in blood.
Vince then appeared over me and his eyes were a scary shade of red. He was obviously in a severe state of blood thirst. Cliff must have seen that too, because he jumped over me and flew into Vince, sending them both flying across the room.
I heard several crashes and everything turned white, then black.
The only things I was aware of were the sounds of my body. I heard the very slow throb of my heartbeat. I heard the rasp of my strained breathing. I heard the blood coursing slowly through my body. I could hear my other organs shutting down.
As I listened, everything became slower and slower. One by one, the sounds stopped. Finally, the last sound was that of my very weak heart. Until it wasn't even pumping blood.
Was this supposed to be happening? Was I going to die?
Could I still transform into the powerful vampire princess that I was meant to become?
Silence.
29
I listened for any sound that could be heard. The silence seemed so loud, and I wanted to know what was going on and what was going to happen.
The fact that I was aware of the silence encouraged me, because I figured that if I were truly dead that I would no longer be aware of anything at all.
My mind wandered back to the battle and to Cliff fighting Vince. I didn't see how this could end well at all.
Vince was obviously a very strong vampire and knew what he was doing. I didn't know how he managed to break Cliff's legs so badly, but Cliff would still have broken legs if I hadn't healed him. It was too bad that I couldn't heal myself from death.
Suddenly, I became aware of a tingling sensation from where all of the blood had gushed out of my head. I was so excited to be aware of something. I didn't know what the tingling was, but it had to be better than nothing.