Raven's Ascent

by Ben Blackwell

  “Raina, so good to see you,” he greeted the middle-aged woman behind the counter with a wide smile.

  “Octavian!” The witch smile back at him. “I think I’ve got just what you need,” she said before turning around and rummaging through the cabinet behind her.

  I stayed near the door and observed as the vampire, Octavian apparently, walked over to the counter.

  “How’s Lily? Is she still struggling in school?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, yeah. The usual. She doesn’t have her magic yet, and I try to shield her from the magic world as much as possible, but she still knows that she’s different. That she can’t talk to anyone about it. I think I will have to start homeschooling her soon,” the witch, Raina, explained while still searching for something. “Ah! There it is.”

  She turned around and handed Octavian a small, brass object. “I had this made a couple of years ago, in case Lily ever went missing or something. Hold it in your hand, close your eyes, and picture the person you’re looking for. The compass will lead you right to them. I’m trusting you with this, so you better bring it back undamaged,” Raina said sternly, but with a smile in her eyes.

  “Of course, Raina. Thank you. It’s perfect,” Octavian responded with a deep, thankful nod. “Did you find anyone to help deal with the spirit?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, she should be here soon. Let me just call her,” she exclaimed out before hurrying into another room.

  I had watched the whole encounter with a neutral expression, but I was quite surprised. I expected him to have a witch who would help the Crimson Fangs with official business. That was more than just a dutiful witch, though. Apparently, he wasn’t joking when he called her friend.

  Being here in a magic shop with him also jolted my memory, and brought up images of when we first met two years ago. The situation had been very different back then.

  Octavian turned around and looked at me. “Are you going to say something, or just continue staring at me?”

  “I just… didn’t expect you to be on such good terms with a witch,” I replied reluctantly.

  “And you haven’t yet tried to ruin my mission. I guess things have really changed since last time… Raven, was it?”

  I looked at him in surprise. “You… You remember?”

  “Yeah. You were a major pain in the ass,” he replied without a smile, but with crinkles around his eyes.

  “Well, guess what, I was there first, so technically, you were ruining my mission,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

  He looked at me, tilting his head, then laughed. “Good thing we’re on the same side this time, then.”

  I smiled and shrugged in response. I preferred to work alone, but I had to admit that he made this mission easier.

  Before we could continue our argument, the witch came back. “She said she will be here in just a minute. Can I offer you two a water or a tea or something until then?”

  “Just a water, please, we will have to leave as soon as possible,” the vampire responded with appreciation in his voice. The witch nodded happily, then disappeared in the back.

  I shifted a bit, moving away from the wall to inspect some of the decoration in the room. Without looking at him, I asked, “So, are you finally going to tell me your big plan?”

  Octavian shrugged. “We find the possessed vampire with the compass, then get a witch to banish the spirit or curse or whatever.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What did you expect? If things get more complicated than that, we’ll just improvise.”

  I finally turned around to squint at the vampire, trying to find any hint of amusement on his face. But he just looked at me, expressionless, with maybe a hint of confusion. He wasn’t joking.

  I would’ve expected something more refined, some kind of strategy to deal with the evil spirit. But until we knew anything about it, a flexible approach might not be so wrong. Also, I didn’t want to push him. He might have been acting civil, but he was still a Crimson Fang, so I’d better play nice. Mostly, at least.

  After Raina came back with two glasses of water, we only had to wait a little while longer until the door opened again. A woman entered the shop, but she was definitely not a witch.

  Black tattoos and runes covered both her bald head and arms. Her wrists were covered in bracelets, many adorned with inscriptions embossed in leather and bones dangling from them. As she looked at us with cold, staring eyes, the smell of earth filled my nose, but it reminded me more of earth in a dark cave, maybe even a graveyard, than the smell of forest. Even without the smell, I could have identified her as a shaman.

  “Oh, you’re here!” Raina rushed around the counter and toward the shaman. “Ana, this is Octavian. And… his friend,” she added after looking at me with a confused expression for a second. Then she turned back to the shaman, and her face lit up again. “Anyway, they need help banishing some spirit, right?” She looked at Octavian expectantly and took a step back.

  The vampire smiled at her thankfully and turned toward Ana. “Yes, thank you for coming so quickly,” he said, stretching out his hand for a handshake.

  The shaman looked at him with no expression, her voice as cold as her eyes. “What kind of spirit?”

  Octavian blinked, then slowly withdrew his hand and shrugged lightly. “We don’t know yet. It made a vampire… aggressive, feral even. Before that, it was in a witch, and it did the same thing to her. But it jumped over into the vampire during the fight.”

  I wondered if the vampire was affected by the shaman as much as I was. If he was, he hid it well. While he seemed relaxed, one look from her made my skin crawl and my back shiver.

  “I see.” The shaman’s gaze moved past us, seemingly staring into the distance. Then she blinked once, looked at me, looked at him, and then took a step away from the door. “Let’s go, then,” she said, gesturing towards it.

  Octavian was visibly irritated for a moment, his straight face finally breaking into a frown. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. He straightened his face and put on a smile, gave a quick nod to Raina, and then walked out the door. I glanced over at the shaman, then followed him quickly. As I walked past her, I could feel her cold stare on my back, sending more shivers down my spine.

  I was glad we had got professional help, someone who seemed to know how to handle evil spirits, even if she was almost as creepy as the spirit itself. But that was a good thing… right?

  I walked up to Octavian, putting some distance between me and the shaman as she followed us. The vampire had already pulled out the compass and was clasping it in his hand. He took a deep breath in, then slowly exhaled as he closed his eyes. For a few seconds, it was completely silent. Then the compass hummed softly for a moment, and the needle started turning. It seemed to move randomly for a few moments, then it quickly spun around and stopped. Octavian looked at the compass, then turned it in his hands a bit. The needle kept pointing in the same direction.

  “I guess we found him. Time to hunt,” he said grimly.

  4

  “Straight ahead and then right at the… third intersection,” Octavian said. He frowned at the compass, then looked out the window.

  “Wait, let me see.” I leaned forward, tried to get a glimpse of where it was pointing.

  “No,” he growled and put his back between me and the compass. “I don’t need your interference.”

  Not giving up, I stretched and arched. He tried covering the compass and his map for a moment longer, then turned his head around and hissed at me.

  With a scowl, I returned to my seat. I hated being useless. Waiting for us to arrive, with nothing to contribute. I sat on the right, behind Octavian, while Ana sat on the left. Unlike me, she seemed to have no problem with not taking part in the action. Her eyes gazed emptily out the window, and she hadn’t said another word since we left Raina’s.

  We had gotten in the car and started following the general direction the compass was pointi
ng. Octavian had gotten in the front this time, and kept busy watching the compass and telling the driver where to go. But while the compass proved to be a useful tool to track someone, it clearly wasn’t built for the 21st century. More than once, we had to make sharp turns, usually followed by angry honking from other cars, because unlike modern technologies, the compass didn’t account for streets.

  Octavian had soon taken out his phone for a map to plan ahead, find the fastest route. Now without me badgering him, he was frowning at it again. “Take a right… here.”

  The car turned right at an intersection when he started gesticulating wildly. “No wait! Straight, go straight! There’s no left here, we need to take the next one!”

  Unlike most American cities, Darkhaven wasn’t built on a neat grid. It had started similar to medieval Europe’s castle towns, as a somewhat fortified village. Back then, vampires still lived in castles, not skyscrapers, and they had planned the city accordingly. Times had changed since then, but the city’s layout in the older parts of town hadn’t.

  I held on to the grip on my door as the car turned left sharply, the tires screeching over the asphalt. As I checked the traffic lights, I saw that we weren’t even supposed to go straight ahead right now – a fact that was underlined by more angry honking.

  But the vampire didn’t seem to care. “Alright, so take the next right, and then the first left turn after that, and then we should be getting close.”

  “Yes, now left, and now…” he continued, then looked up in confusion. He turned his head, inspecting our surroundings, then checking the compass again. “… Now we’re here, it seems. Park the car, Buck.”

  Without a comment, the driver, Buck, who still hadn’t said a word, stopped the car on the side of the street. Octavian had seemed eager on the ride here, but now the excitement made way for concern.

  “There’s a magic shop over there, I think,” he said, pointing toward one of the shops on the side of the street. “The spirit must be in there. Let’s hope we’re not too late,” he added.

  We got out of the car, and Octavian immediately took point. He marched right across the street, barely paying any attention to the cars braking hard to not crash into him. He turned his head to look at them once, and the honking quieted down. Of course, the normal humans wouldn’t know that he was a vampire you’d better not cross, but the suit and his authoritative strut had the same effect.

  The shaman and I followed closely behind him as he entered the shop. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anyone. The light was on, and everything seemed in its place. No signs of forced entry, no signs of fighting. Everything looked normal.

  There was a huge variety of items lined up in the shelves, making the store look like some kind of magic thrift shop. Some items might as well have been antiquities. Many were probably just junk. But they were definitely magical. The wild mix of scents that their magic gave off made me nauseous.

  Octavian took a few steps into the room. “Hello?” There was no reply. He checked the compass, then turned around to us. “It’s here somewhere,” he whispered. “Let’s—”

  But before he could finish the sentence, there was a loud clanging noise from the other room. We both jolted toward the door leading toward it, while Ana followed a bit behind, still seemingly unfazed by everything.

  There was another loud crashing sound as we dashed through the door, and the source of the sounds was immediately obvious. A slightly older, bigger man, had fallen against a storage rack, and landed on a pile of small boxes and junk. He held a short sword in his hand, but by the way he was waving it about, he clearly had no clue how to use it.

  But it seemed to have kept him alive so far. The vampire we were looking for was standing above him, snarling. Blood dripped from his mouth, and from the looks of it, it had already ripped into the older man’s shoulder once.

  “Stay back, you beast!” the shop owner shouted as the vamp clawed for his face.

  With a quick movement, the vampire ripped the sword from the man’s hands, then discarded it carelessly behind him. He raised his head and hissed, exposing his bloodied fangs.

  “Holstein! Stand down!” Octavian shouted, his voice full of authority.

  Quickly, I pulled some magic into my hand. As I channeled it forward, I saw Octavian rush forward. Like in slow motion, I watched my magic blast travel toward the vampire, who was already bending down to bury his fangs in the man’s neck. Fast as a cheetah on the hunt, Octavian dashed to intercept. He leapt forward, crashing into the vampire just in time.

  He managed to throw him off the helpless man, but got right in the path of my blast. He caught the full force of it and was flung back against the vampire. The impact was hard enough to send them both crashing into another rack.

  I flinched at the unexpected friendly fire, but the Crimson Fang didn’t seem hurt. I stepped toward them, both to be helpful if needed and to get between the shop owner and our target.

  Octavian groaned as he got up, but immediately straightened up again. He looked at me, annoyed, but before he could say anything, the possessed vampire hissed angrily. And began slashing at Octavian’s face as he struggled to his feet.

  Octavian tried to push him down to the ground, but the posessed vampire, Holstein, was unexpectedly strong. I watched with an open mouth as he not only pushed Octavian off of him, but threw him back against the rack. Then he turned to me, his face a grimace of anger.

  I lowered my head like a bull ready to fight and pulled the knife from my belt. As the vampire jumped me, Octavian heaved himself up and shouted, “Don’t kill him!”

  My jaw clenched at the thought of having to be careful not to hurt that thing while it tried to kill me, but he was right. We were here to banish the spirit and save the vampire. Killing him now would not only stop the spirit, but also kill an innocent vampire.

  Just before the vampire crashed into me, I quickly stepped aside, ducking under his claws. Instead of slicing his throat with my dagger, I pulled a bit of magic into my hand and punched him square in the face with it. I had figured this trick out years ago, and it had been helpful more times than I could count. Releasing my magic in sync with my fist made for pretty badass punches.

  I only pulled in a little magic, so I wouldn’t accidentally break his neck, yet the result was still impressive. The blow was strong enough to make him flip backwards, smash against the opposite wall and drop to the ground.

  A smirk appeared on my face. Not so fast, bitch.

  Octavian looked at me, and the determination and anger in his eyes softened with appreciation. “Nice. Now let’s get that beast.”

  By now, his suit was full of dust and dirt, but he didn’t seem otherwise hurt. He jumped onto the vampire and pinned him down with this full weight. I quickly followed, twisting the vampire’s arms and holding them down behind his head. We looked at the shaman, who was still waiting at the door.

  “Come on, quick!” Whatever you have to do, do it fast,” Octavian shouted.

  The shop owner was still leaning against the wall, panting heavily as he watched the scene unfold before him. After a long second, Ana walked over to us and pulled out a glass jar filled with a black substance and a small, crudely-made cloth doll.

  I watched her, just as curious as I was impatient, as she opened the jar and started drawing runes on the vampire, mostly on his face. While drawing, she muttered in a language I had never heard before. The words were rough and guttural, and were certainly not from our time.

  When her chanting got faster and faster, she took the doll and lifted it above the vampire’s face. An icy chill ran through my veins as she got louder and faster. I could see the same uneasiness in Octavian’s face. Then both our heads jerked down as the vampire started twitching. We doubled our efforts to keep him pinned down, but his movements didn’t seem very determined. Like he wasn’t trying to push us off, but… as if he was fighting with himself.

  His skin got pale, even more than usual, only contrasted by the black ru
nes on his face. They almost seemed to glow now, and my head hurt just from looking at them. The vampire’s struggling got wilder, but we kept him in place.

  The shaman’s chanting reached its climax as she lifted the doll up high. When she screamed the final words, the vampire’s back arched up, then his head stretched up toward the doll, his mouth opening widely in a silent scream.

  The lights flickered around us, and an shiver ran through my body. I thought I was used to the supernatural, with all the witches and vampires running around. But whatever the shaman was doing now felt more inhuman than anything I had ever witnessed.

  The lights were barely more than a dim flicker, and the room was dead silent. I watched in suspense as black smoke rose from the vampire’s open mouth, then from his nose and ears, too. Slowly, it was sucked into the doll, until the vampire fell back on the ground, like he’d been sucked empty. His skin was a pale grey, and his movements ceased completely.

  The shaman shouted one last dark and primal sentence, words that made my neck tingle and gave me the urge to run away as fast as I could. Then, with one swift movement, the shaman pulled her arms down and ripped the doll apart.

  A loud scream broke free, full of pain and agony, but I felt it more than I heard it. At the same time, we were thrown back by an invisible force. I landed on the ground hard, but quickly rolled backward to get back on my feet, holding my dagger ready.

  Octavian had been thrown against the shelf once again, while the shaman had hit the opposing wall. The shopkeeper had been cowering behind a rack, which had protected him from the worst. Within a second, the Crimson Fang was already back on his feet, while the shaman took a little longer. Octavian looked shaken, a haunted expression covering his face as he dashed back to the posessed vampire.

  I quickly followed, my dagger still ready as we leaned over him. I watched his face carefully for any movement, but he remained still.