Malice of the Cross

by Jeremy Croston

  After finishing the note, Radu summoned Hell fire for the very first time, destroying his ancestral home and all of its inhabitants, mostly vampyres. There were a few humans that hadn’t left the service of the family and he only found out later, when examining the remains. The guilt over killing the innocent haunted him even to this day.

  With that, the tale came to a close. “He is a good man, Maximus.”

  “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

  Proving she was truly a Seer, she called me out on my own dark lineage. “Does being touched by the gypsy witch burn in you so deep that you cannot forgive even the slightest transgression?” Seeing my surprise, she plainly stated, “I’ve known dark magic had a place in your past from the moment you stepped into my bar. I never once held that against you, the way you hold Radu’s Dracul lineage against him.”

  She wasn’t saying this out of a place of caring for the daemon; she was concerned with my own wellbeing and ill will. “He’s dangerous, Abigail.”

  “All three of us are dangerous, that’s why we’re feared by both the church and the daemons. If we are successful, we will change the world,” she stated confidently.

  This wasn’t the lady who was tending bar the first time I met her. This had to be the Abigail who was a proud member of the Vatican’s army. “If you believe in the daemon, then I will give him another chance.”

  She stood up first, followed by me. “We still have some daylight left. He won’t have gone far, as I was still able to touch his mind.”

  “Very well, let’s move out. That is, if you’re able to travel,” I suggested.

  “The rest was well needed, no matter how much I may have tried to fight it.” She stretched out her limbs and rolled her neck. “I won’t be a hindrance.”

  It was decided. There we were, on a mountainside in hostile territory, coming together to find our mission companion. Radu was a great many things, but after listening to Abigail’s dream and her reasoning, she convinced me he wasn’t the monster we needed to fear. That said, I’d be keeping a closer watch on him. The moment I felt he was compromising our safety, I’d do my best to put him down.

  Even if it cost me my own life.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A fternoon was giving way to evening and we still hadn’t found a trace of Radu on the mountainside. I was certain he’d left, off to confront his brother on his own. Abigail disagreed. “He’s close, I know it,” she’d tell me.

  Night fell and he still wasn’t with us. Being that this was a part of Europe I’d never traversed before, I decided that we needed to keep moving. Setting up camp with a fire, that would be like calling daemons to the dinner bell. Not that I didn’t believe the two of us couldn’t handle ourselves, I just didn’t want to risk it yet. There would be other chances to engage with Vlad’s personal army.

  But it wasn’t Vlad’s daemons we needed to worry about. As we rounded a small, rocky pathway, a man sitting on a horse was waiting for us—the clergyman. Both of us stopped in our tracks, not sure what to make of this situation. The clergyman hopped off his steed, his sword still away for the moment.

  He removed his helmet. “The humans who traveled with the Dracul. I’d hoped I’d run into you, alone.”

  I had to hold back the need to attack this man, unprovoked. “What do you want, clergyman?”

  He reached back towards his horse, into his satchel. He pulled out a copy of a Bible. “Do not be afraid, Samuel told us. You have done all of this evil: yet do not turn away from the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart.”

  “1 Samuel 12:20. That’s quite the loaded verse you pulled out on us.”

  He closed the book, his message delivered. “You are both children of God. It is plain to see that you uphold the scripture, even if you follow a great evil. Follow your hearts and allow your souls to return to the light.”

  “Our friend serves the lord as well,” Abigail replied.

  She was right. “We’re all on the same side, to rid our lands of the daemons Vlad Dracul has released. The same Vlad Dracul who controls Bishop Brandon.”

  “Nonsense,” the clergyman responded. “Bishop Brandon serves the Vatican and God. Calling him corrupt is a blight to my beliefs.” He walked back to his horse and saddled up. “If you continue down this path, I will have no choice but to issue your death warrants.”

  I knew they’d already been issued. “Why aren’t you following through now?” I asked.

  The clergyman chose not to answer; instead he reined in his horse and left. It was only once I was sure he was gone did I talk to Abigail. “He’s lying. Bishop Brandon ordered our deaths.”

  “Yet he let us live.”

  Maybe, just maybe, something I said triggered a thought in him. The holy warrior didn’t need to be our enemy, yet the teachings in the Bible did call for the destruction of creatures like Radu. The Bible verse he used to try and persuade us convinced me of his convictions. An inevitable meeting with him in which our swords crossed seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

  For the time, we had to keep searching for the vampyre. We left in the same direction that the clergyman did, knowing that Radu would seek higher ground. With the incoming threat of the shades, he would stick to his plan. Then a strange thought hit me, what if Radu was just out of sight, following us?

  The more we traveled, the idea didn’t leave my mind. Eventually, I called for another halt. “What’s wrong?” Abigail asked.

  For my suspicions to either be confirmed or denied, we would need to incur danger. “I’m tired. We should stop for the time being.”

  My companion was surprised by this. “Are you okay, Maximus?”

  “The clergyman’s words have struck something inside me,” I lied. I found a decent spot to sit down. “I just need some time to think about what we are doing.”

  Abigail couldn’t believe the words I was saying! “This isn’t the Maximus that talked me into leaving my bar and coming with you. I can’t believe the words of a man following orders from a corrupt bishop would shake your faith in our quest!”

  If Radu was nearby, he couldn’t see that this was a ruse. Not that I didn’t trust Abigail, I just didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility of bringing him out. “You were there when he called the Hell fire from the sky. If he repented his actions, he didn’t let us in on that.”

  She sat down beside me. “We cannot give up our faith. God has placed us on this path for a reason.” She gripped my hand in hers. “Think, if you must, but remember everything you’ve witnessed, believed in.”

  The two of us just sitting here wasn’t enough. When a sufficient amount of time passed, I rose. “I’m going to build a fire. The chill of the mountain air is getting to me.”

  There was enough kindling scattered around to make a fire ring. Using the edge of my blade with a flat stone, I was able to generate a spark and grow it into a medium-sized flame. The warmth did feel good, as the humid, hot air of the Italian countryside was gone at this altitude. With everything in place, we just needed to wait a bit longer.

  The daemons didn’t disappoint. I heard the cry of a valravn, a daemonic bird known to eat the hearts of their victims. Above us, a giant black spot began to circle, quickly followed by a second and third. I’d slain a few of these in Stefania, though judging by the size of the spots high above us, these valravns were much larger than what I was used to.

  “Arm yourself, it seems we’ve attracted unwanted attention.”

  Abigail immediately loaded a bolt into her crossbow. She raised it into the sky and used only the sound the daemons made to locate her target. Her shot was true, the arrow struck the valravn and it crashed to the ground. Damn, the strike was so accurate that it’d gone through the bottom of the beak and out the top of the head.

  The other two, still alive, began their attack. Each dive bombed one of us. Abigail didn’t have a way to defend against short-range attacks, so she ducked out, leaving me in the light with two angry birds the size of warthog
s.

  Due to their size, I was able to quickly move between the two, deflecting their razor sharp talons before they could rip me to shreds. I knew somewhere, Abigail was getting ready to attack again, so I tried to make myself the least visible target I could.

  An arrow whooshed right by my head, sticking itself into the second valravn’s heart. Black blood gushed from the wound as the creature collapsed and died. Seeing that its second brother was dead, the third and final daemon flapped just out of my sword’s reach. In the moonlight, I saw it transform into a humanoid shape, a knight of some sort.

  Covered in a black feather-like armor, I’d never seen this before. It sported a dark blue shield and a black blade. Moving in such a way, it used the blade to slice another one of Abigail’s loosed arrows in half. In this form, this was a much more formidable opponent.

  He came for me, but I wasn’t about to lose to a big bird with a stick. I dislodged the sword right away with a trick my father taught me. Use the flat part of your blade and smack your enemy on the wrist, he said. I did just that and the valravn’s hand opened reflexively and his sword fell. Unarmed, this wouldn’t be a fair fight.

  I went low first, cutting away at its leg before finishing with a high thrust into the unprotected throat. As it died, it changed back into its original bird form. It fell lifeless in a pool of the black liquid these daemons apparently had for blood.

  There was no time to gloat in victory. The commotion captured the attention of another kind of monster, the gargoyles. The main component of Vlad’s army, these heinous devils infested all of Europe. It was no surprise they would be attracted to what brought a few valravns out of hiding. The swarm seemed to include a dozen or so of the beasties.

  They never reached us. Fire rained down from the sky once more, killing the gargoyles before they even understood what was happening. Burning chunks of daemon soon dropped, too. Abigail and I left the unprotected path we had used for a camp and took cover under some bushes off to the side. There we saw a man with fire for eyes commanding the sky to take out his enemies.

  When the last of the gargoyles was brutally killed, the fire stopped as quickly as it showed up. Turning to where we were, “The two of you can stop cowering.”

  “Radu,” Abigail called out softly.

  He eased up on her. “I apologize for my behavior the other evening, Seer.”

  “You’re damn right you’re sorry,” I yelled. I wasn’t nearly as forgiving as Abigail. “You nearly kill us then run away like a scared child. You were the one who was supposed to be the strongest!”

  He hung his head. “You’re right, Brinza.”

  I walked right up to him and dug a finger into his chest. “You’ve lost the chance to lead this expedition. From here on out, we do things my way, understand?”

  There was a hush around us. The only thing you could hear was the scattered remnants of the burning, dead gargoyles crackling. I couldn’t see Abigail, but if I could, I would’ve expected an expression of wonderment. Would Radu kill him for insolence, is what had to be going through her mind.

  He slowly removed my finger from his chest. “You’re right,” he admitted.

  “I know I am.”

  He walked over to Abigail and offered her his hand. “Please forgive me. Injuring a companion was never my intention.”

  She offered him a smile. “I wouldn’t let Maximus leave until we found you. You’re a powerful ally, Gabriel.”

  “Let us knock off the charade of that name,” he waved off. “My name is Radu Dracul and I’ve been touched by Hell. I’ve tried to distance myself from that for too long. I once declared it would take becoming a monster to kill Vlad; maybe what it actually takes is embracing what I am.”

  “A good man who’s been dealt a very bad hand.”

  “Well put, Maximus.” There was a subtle change, referring me by my first name and not my family name.

  It was time to admit my own deception. “Stopping and building a fire, that was a way to drag you out of the shadows.”

  “You knew he was following us?”

  Her surprise amused me. “Of course. I gambled on the fact that if we were in trouble, he’d reveal himself.”

  The vampyre placed his hand on the skull mounted to the base of his sword. “Well, Brinza,” he was back to using the family name, “where do we go next?”

  With that, the shift of leadership was transferred from Radu to me. “Let’s get out of these damned mountains. Our enemies are expecting us and I’d hate for them to be disappointed.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  F all had reached the region as we settled into the city of Milan. This was the first bustling city we had come across and it was the perfect place to set the stage for our final journey to the Vatican. Radu wanted us to see a performance by a man known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Word had spread about his abilities from a performance earlier in the year in Munich.

  It was there in the opera house we discovered a horrific truth. Milan was run by vampyres—and not just any vampyres, either. According to Radu, the head of this coven was a second cousin of his. Dracul’s reach had spread this far north.

  It was only when we were back in the protection of our safe house that he informed Abigail and me of the entire situation.

  “The fact Vladislav is here is not good for us,” he admitted.

  “There wasn’t a lot of creativity when it came to naming people in your family, was there?”

  “The time for jokes has passed,” he scolded. Even though the leadership torch had been passed to me, Radu was still Radu. “He’s a true minion to my brother, a slave to the power with no ability to think for himself.”

  “We kill this Vladislav then. Our crusade ends in failure if we don’t take out all the pests.”

  Everyone knew that was coming. My inability to walk away from a problem was considered both a strength and weakness. I was well aware that one day it may get us in trouble, but that was a chance I was willing to take. My friends were strong enough to take up the mantle when I saw fit. If I didn’t believe in them, how terrible a leader would I be?

  “Vladislav loves music, so our best chance may lie in Mozart’s encore performance tomorrow evening. He will be there, as will his minions,” Radu said.

  The opera house would be a crowded nightmare. To execute a vampyre in plain sight would be most difficult, unless… yes. “Did I read correctly that each night the opera house hires attendants for the guests of honor?”

  When Radu confirmed it with an insult about how I’d read something besides the Bible for once, I laid out my quickly formulated plan. Abigail was a very attractive lady; the opera house would hire her just based on that. If we gave them the ultimatum that I needed to be hired as well, they wouldn’t turn it away. With both of us able to wander around without suspicion, it would place me in a spot to assassinate the vampyre lord without anyone being the wiser.

  “You’ll get one chance at this, Brinza. If you fail, you’ll have given our location away and Vlad will know.”

  We wouldn’t fail. “When Vladislav is dead, his followers will come for us. Abigail and I will escape down the adjacent alleyway. That’s where you’ll be, to finish them off.”

  He seemed agreeable to it. “If this succeeds, we will have delivered a significant blow to Vlad’s operations. With The Jackal dead, eliminating more of his lieutenants is the proper route.”

  The rest of that night was spent getting ourselves prepared. With everything in order, we fell asleep right before dawn. We’d need to be one of the first people at the opera house when it opened after lunchtime to get nightly jobs. The excitement of the moment kept catching up with me as I’d wake up every so often, thinking I’d overslept. Abigail showed more resilience and was awake when needed.

  Without Radu, we stayed close together on the busy streets. By the time we reached the opera house, a crowd was heading to the same destination. Our preparedness paid off, as we were the first two when the doors opened. An older man wi
th quite a few missing teeth and a terrible reek to him led us in.

  “What can you do for me?” he asked in Italian.

  Thank the Lord Abigail spoke fluent Italian from her time in the Vatican’s army. I understood it well enough, but my speech was limited. “I can keep your men… entertained,” she smiled.

  The old pervert liked that. “What can he do?” he asked, jabbing me with his grimy thumb.

  “Gabriel,” she used Radu’s old alias for me, “cleans but also helps me find my way.” She pointed at her eyes, as if he didn’t know she was blind to begin with.

  “You both can start now.” He grabbed me and pushed me into the next room. “Clean the chamber pots and have them ready by nightfall, boy!”

  Getting separated was always a possibility. To keep my part going, I did what was asked of me. The smell of the night-old chamber pots was wretched. Not only did I have to dump the contents, which more times than not was wine-induced shit, I had to wipe them out and polish them. By the time I finished, I wanted to cut my hands off and burn the stumps.

  Unfortunately my tasks didn’t get any better. The night couldn’t get here soon enough! As if cleaning chamber pots weren’t the worst task on Earth, I was assigned to clean the floors of the balcony seats. The kind of heathen behavior that went on to produce the stains I had to wipe up, I didn’t even want to think about it.

  Someone came to fetch me. The lady spoke in hushed tones. “Sir, we are to disappear.”

  It was clear she wouldn’t leave until I followed. Gladly putting the rag down, I followed the young waif out of the balcony and down underneath the opera house. It was on my way down that I passed Abigail. She sensed my presence and gave a slight head motion as we passed. The staff had done a remarkable job in transforming her from soldier to maiden ready for the men about to come in.

  No one was paying any attention to us “vermin”, as I heard a few of the staff refer to us. This played to my advantage. I quickly slipped out the back, finding a room off to the side; it must’ve been used to get the women ready. I quickly washed myself with the water available and pulled out my dagger. I kept my head low and moved quietly through the backstage areas, until I reached a small alcove where I could spy on the procession of people coming in.