by Robert York
One of the most sacred laws in the Vampire world that carries automatic death should it be violated is that no Vampire except for the head of the clan or a designated Turner can create a Vampire. That’s the main deterrent to ensure that the world isn’t overrun by huge numbers of Vampires, which in turn allows them to maintain a low profile in the human world. I’ve learned there’re a few Vampire malcontents that would like nothing more than to put humans in the place. These “Outlaw” Vampires normally aren’t part of any clan though many are branded with family marks. It wouldn’t surprise me that that many in the Vampire world identify with their beliefs. “Outlaws” believe we humans are nothing more than a food source or prey to be hunted.
Adrianna along with many of the older Vampires kept to the old way. Their words and honor still mattered to them. Core beliefs ingrained into Vampire society over the centuries. So for some of her people - the younger ones to be sure - to blatantly disregard her orders, carelessly cast her love and support aside along with the hard fought truce between the Vampire world and the world of Wizards was possibly a tremendous blow to her pride as well as honor. Blood would be the only offering that would restore balance. I stood next to her awkwardly glancing obliquely in her direction trying to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind of substance. Oh sure, amusing anecdotes were the first things my mind went to. Sadly, this was not the time for such things, even though a few were actually quite funny. After grasping at thought threads in my mind of the right course of action, my instincts spoke to me. I simply sat beside her giving her the space she required, but more importantly so she’d know that I was there and concerned about her. Aside from the lust I felt for her, I really didn’t want to see her in pain, which was the truth. Adrianna remained silent for a good five or ten minutes. I kept quiet not breaking the silence even though I wanted too.
“Thank you for not speaking Solomon,” She said sorrow in her tone. “Sometimes words are not needed.”
“Is there anything that I can do for you,” I asked, uncertain.
I could tell she was thinking about my offer, because a smile appeared. It wasn’t a mechanical indulgent smile, but one of genuine joy and dare I say hope.
“You’re such a sweet man,” She said through her smile placing a gloved hand on my cheek. “Sadly, this is something that I have to deal with on my own, but I thank you for the offer.”
Her eyes searched the depths of mine once again, though somehow this time was decidedly different. Her questioning glance had changed to one of glad affirmation. Her hand moved behind my head as I felt the gentle urging force of her pulling me closer. Her eyes burned with the hunger that I’d seen and experienced outside Barnabas’s tent. My mind felt this wasn’t the time for such things, but my body felt differently about it. Who am I to argue? Her eyes closed as the gentle force slackened. I could sense an internal struggle happening behind her eyelids. Her hand dropped from behind my neck moving to her lap. When her eyes opened she stood, her controlled businesslike air returning.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me Solomon,” she asked turning back to me.
The movement accentuating her curves even though they were concealed beneath her winter gear. I inadvertently glanced down at my lap then back up to her. Did she have any idea what she was doing to me? I remained silent and seated.
“You’ve awakened thoughts and desires I haven’t experienced in centuries,”
She closed her eyes once more giving her head a mind-clearing shake. I could literally feel the lust radiating from her. When her eyes opened they were fixed squarely on me.
“You and I have much to discuss when this is over, but one question gnaws at me,”
“What is that,” I asked. Surprised that I could talk.
Her smile returned, and then was gone.
“The question is, would you be able to keep up with me,” she asked playfully.
Adrianna hooded her eyes then sensuously licked her lips in a way that promised a night of pelvis bruising animalistic charged sex as she turned away making her way over to Wilmar and Barnabas.
That wasn’t fair on so many levels. Don’t get me wrong it was nice, but so unfair. A woman showing any sort of sexual interest toward me is a rare occurrence. I’m not accustomed to it or the effect it has on my body. A good effect though it may be. “Give it to me now!” Is what my body was saying, while my mind was saying, “You do realize she’s not serious about you right?” Now it’s a matter of whom to listen too, my logical mind or my other mind that was hardening as I thought about Adrianna tracing her tongue over her ruby red lips. I stood hunching in an attempt to hide my “thoughts” from the rest of the group, when out of the corner of my eye I spied Bart. He was intently watching Adrianna with a look of utter disgust. He must’ve overheard what she’d said to me not liking it at all. Of course this is supposition, but either he’s sweet on her or he thinks the way the hardcore Vampires think. Such as believing interacting with humans is wrong.
After the cursory examinations of various remains, Barnabas and Wilmar made their way to what until recently was Bialek’s compound. The rest of us followed. I of course brought up the rear whereas Race decided to pause in order to relieve himself on a few of the Vampire remains. Much to my amazement, he was able to flash a doggie grin along with what sounded like a rough chuckle after each tinkle.
The closer I got to the proximity of the gruesome sight of bodies on pikes the more the bile wanted to rise in my throat. I could clearly see the horrific things that’d been done to them. There was something else as well, something lurking behind the scene of carnage. A creepy feeling I couldn’t shake. My skin erupted in goose flesh with every crunch of snow under foot. Barnabas and Wilmar stood fifteen feet from the bodies. Adrianna, Bart and Tilly, with Race and myself approaching from the left, flanked them. The bodies were of an older man and a young woman, Bialek and Olivia was my guess. The naked bodies were torn and gashed in hundreds of places. Flesh hung in thick strips on their chests and abdomens fluttering in the gentle breeze like ragged torn cloth. Blood covered most of their bodies, but their faces were mostly untouched. There was no longer any doubt of Olivia’s fate, she was dead and our list of suspects grew shorter.
“Be on your guard young Wizard,” Merlin said in a concerned whisper. “Dark magic is at work.”
“Could you be a bit more specific?” I asked thinking the question. If I began speaking out loud to what appeared to be myself, people would think I was crazy. All right, slightly more crazy than I already was.
“Can you not feel the dark magic in this place?” Merlin asked. “The feeling of cloying closeness as though a malevolent spirit was pressing in upon you.”
I did feel something, though I couldn’t put a name to it. Merlin picked up on the creepy vibe I was getting or he got the vibe funneling it to my mind and body. Regardless, there was something more here than any of us could see. I was almost certain Barnabas felt exactly what Merlin and I were feeling.
“Thank you,” I replied. “I’ll warn the others and be on my guard.”
“You are most welcome young Wizard,” Merlin answered back. “If you should meet an untimely end there is no telling where I may end up and I am quite intrigued regarding this time I find myself in.”
“So this is all about self preservation for you?” I thought.
“Of course young Wizard.”
I could respect that. He’d been cooped up in that crystal for hundreds of years in isolation. No books, no television, no board games or crossword puzzles, just his own thoughts to keep him company. Man, that was a depressing thought. I’d hate like hell to have to be trapped inside another vessel after being out for a short time. In matter of fact I personally wouldn’t go back into a little crystal without a fight.
“Fair enough,” I replied.
“Are these your friends,” asked Adrianna compassionately.
“Yes, Hans Bialek and his apprentice Olivia,” Barnabas replied pondering th
e situation. “The body of James, Orm’s apprentice doesn’t appear to be anywhere around either,”
Wilmar dazedly looked between the two pikes his eyes coming to rest on Olivia. The pain in his expression made me want to cry. I felt for him, I really did. Then he composed himself.
“Perhaps his body was obliterated in the explosion or carried off by the attackers,” Wilmar offered.
“Perhaps, but I doubt it. If that were the case why did they leave their bodies behind,” he reluctantly agreed.
Wilmar thought then said.
“He may have been the Trojan horse we have been looking for,”
Barnabas nodded thoughtfully. The creepy feeling had increased which made me even more anxious. I placed a hand on Barnabas’s shoulder, leaning in close.
“There’s something not right about this place,” I said in a hushed tone.
“Yes,” he answered in a similar tone. “I felt it when the wall came down.”
Barnabas kept his eyes on Bialek’s horror stricken death mask.
“Don’t you think it’d be a good idea if we got the hell out of here, like right now” I said in what I hoped didn’t sound like a frightened forceful tone.
Barnabas hesitated, thinking.
“I found something,” Bart yelled from over by the rim of the crater, near a low pile of scattered rubble.
I turned looking in his direction; somewhat amazed Bart never said anything useful. The others turned to look as well. Bart knelt no more than ten or fifteen yards away from where Barnabas, Wilmar and I stood. Looking at each other in turn with quizzical expressions, each of us made our way over to Bart’s location. Race, still in his Werewolf form made it there first. He crouched a few feet to the side of Bart, his hackles up, a deep-throated growl of warning issued from the wolf as his eyes fixed on something.
Race’s behavior put us on edge. Adrianna moved cautiously over to stand beside the huge wolf. She placed a calming hand on his arched back stroking the soft black fur between his powerful shoulders. Her tone was soft as she spoke calming words. It didn’t take much of this for Race’s growl to die away. He didn’t relax his posture however. I was fairly certain Adrianna wasn’t using glamour. She really didn’t need too; her looks along with her commanding way would’ve calmed the heart of the most steadfast troublemaker.
Standing at various distances from the object we peered down at it. Lying in a small depression loosely covered by fine stone debris was a bent and scarred medallion roughly the same size as an Eisenhower dollar. Part of a silver chain of no more than eight inches in length remained threaded through the loop. The medallion appeared to have been made of a similar metal, silver though it was badly tarnished. The design etched in the metal was of a mystic eye encircled by four runes depicting the four elements; wind, fire, water and earth could still be visible through the blackened mark that could’ve only been made by a powerful magical attack of some sort.
“Master Bialek’s amulet,” Tilly choked out right before the waterworks started up again.
Remind me never to take him to tear jerker movies. Everyone in the theatre would drown from his balling. Am I sounding like an ass at the moment? Yes I am. He can do all the crying he wants after we’re finished with all of this, right now he needs to suck it up. Barnabas read my expression, he flashed a warning glare not to say anything to Tilly and to just let him cry it out. So I just bit my tongue.
“Barnabas is right young Wizard,” Merlin deciding to throw in his two cents.
“The Cob Elf has been through quite enough turmoil for his new master to berate him in front of all these strangers,”
Great, now the old man spirit Merlin was siding with Barnabas. Hurray for me. Barnabas remained uncommunicative while examining the amulet from afar. Even Wilmar was keeping his distance. I was honestly surprised that he wasn’t down on his hands and knees licking the damn thing. I didn’t know, but perhaps they were showing some sort of respect for the dead or perhaps they were afraid to touch it because it was until recently around Bialek’s neck. However, I think the most likely answer is that something had them spooked, like something wasn’t right with that amulet.
I didn’t sense any magic emanating from the amulet itself nor did Merlin, otherwise he’d have said something or at least I hoped he would at any rate. It was nothing more than an innocuous piece of jewelry, yet it’s strange that it was just lying out here in a crater. Bialek’s murders took an awful lot of time to torture he and Olivia as well as place them on pikes for someone to discover.
The more I thought about the situation the more it didn’t make sense. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t see what all this meant. I knew Barnabas, Merlin and I felt that something wasn’t right about this place and that amulet. Even Race felt something by the way he acted. We were all just too dumb or just too damn slow to realize the possible danger that may have been lurking right in front of us. Then again, maybe just maybe we were making a mountain out of a molehill and the vibe we were feeling for this creepy place was of our own making. Yeah and if pigs could fly it would be much harder to get bacon.
I looked in Barnabas’s direction to gauge what he might be thinking, then started. His eyes were wide with what I assumed was horrified realization. I watched as the color drained from his face. Before I could open my mouth he said.
“I think it would be prudent if we retreated back to the place where we entered.”
It wasn’t a suggestion it was an order. Without a complaint or challenge to Barnabas’s words everyone except Bart began moving in that direction.
“What’s the matter Wizard,” Bart asked, contempt oozing from his every word.
I was almost positive that we all stopped looking back in Bart’s direction. I wouldn’t put any money on it, but I was ninety nine percent sure of the fact.
Barnabas remained silent.
“I’ve gone along with all of your wizard nonsense for the sake of Ms. Thorne,” he continued.
“Bartholomew!” Adrianna rebuked.
He continued unperturbed by her tone.
“I expressed my opinion before starting out on this maddening exercise in stupidity that joining forces with wizards was a stupid idea, I went along with it because Ms. Thorne, the head of my house said it must be so, I even tolerated the smell from that mangy flea bag.”
He indicated Race with a nod of his head.
“But retreating because the great Barnabas Blackmane is afraid of this little piece of metal is entirely too much for me to stomach.”
Bart reached for the amulet taking it in his right hand before any of us could protest his actions. That’s when the trap we’d been agonizing over for the last few hours finally closed around us.
Chapter 24
The sensation of falling from a mountainous height didn’t last as long as it sometimes did when traveling by an Egress Gateway Spell. Which is what I suspected we all got hit with back at Bialek’s when Bart touched the amulet. The loss of consciousness along with the subsequent binge-drinking throb in my head however made my stomach feel worse than getting off an extreme roller coaster with multiple loops. I’ve got to give credit though to whoever made it. Normally an Egress Gateway is supposed to be easy to find, They are after all, intended to be used in order get from one place to another.
This particular gateway however wasn’t. I didn’t think any of us knew what we were dealing with until we found ourselves in an entirely different location, imprisoned inside a containment circle twenty feet in diameter. Our packs and weapons were in another containment circle on the other side of what appeared to be a decayed building that had until recently been submerged in a lake or river.
The skeletal remains of what I assumed was a church, mainly because of a large cross peering down on us through the remains of irregular stone arches. The cross itself stood atop a steeply slanted roof like a carrion bird waiting for death to take us in order to pick our bones clean. The church had seen better days, giving comfort and strength to the fai
thful. Now with it being abandoned it loomed ominously around us in the eerie light from a half moon that hung in the night sky. A thick musty metallic smell laced with the hint of decaying fish hung in the air like a heavy curtain. What I wouldn’t have given for some nose plugs or a clothespin at that moment. All was quiet with no movement outside the containment circle and no sign of our captors.
I was the first to awaken; I played possum until I heard the distinct sound of someone else stirring. The sleep spell, which I assumed had been used on us, was unknown to me, but a sleep spell was the only thing that could’ve knocked us all out at once. I’ve been incapacitated by a spell similar to this once before. Another of Barnabas’s lessons, I slept like a teenager in the midst of a growth spurt, this time however, I woke fairly quickly without any ill affects. Perhaps having the spirit of a powerful Wizard in my head had its benefits aside from providing me with cryptic advice. Race was the first to stir after myself, he’d transformed back into his human form having the look of surviving a college freshman initiation party. The rest were still unconscious and this may or may not be important but Adrianna snores, like a two-man crosscut saw team taking down a giant redwood. This revelation cast doubt on the saying “sleeping the peaceful sleep of the dead.” In any event, I found it amusing.
The sultry night made my winter garb unbearable. Sweat beaded on every inch of my body feeling like I was in the throes of a high fever. I got to my feet stripping hurriedly out of my winter coat and pants attempting to gain some measure of relief from the humidity as well as the heat. I gratefully realized that I still retained my colt defender and three remaining magazines. The enchantments I’d placed on it and the shoulder holster must’ve been undetectable by our captors.