Alcingeria Volume Two Chapter Seven: Unhappy Reunion

Our heroes are reunited with their old 'friend' Ignacio, what does he (and the vampire mafia) have in store for them?

Chapter Seven Unhappy Reunion:

 Sunday July 18^th 1690

We spent the rest of the day at the local businesses. We even went to people’s houses, asking people the same questions. Some of the people saw him, others didn’t. Regardless, we didn’t get any new information. By the time we finished, it was dusk. We began making our way back to the inn. Stella took the lead.

            “Wow! We really searched the whole town, didn’t we?” Stella asked.

            “Yeah, an’ we didn’t even learn anything new!” Walden complained.

            “I think Ignacio may have left Dunford. He could be anywhere now.” Don fretted.

As we rounded the corner, Stella screamed and jumped back.

            “What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked.

Stella pointed to something on the ground. We all looked. Erin screamed, Tabatha shuddered. The rest of us just stared. Lying on the ground was the body of a teenaged girl. The same teenaged girl from the clothing store! I knelt down to examine the body. I saw blood streaming from two wounds on her neck. I gasped. She had been bitten by a vampire. I then heard the girl breathing. She took quick, short gasps of air. Her eyes were wide in either fear or pain, probably both.

            “Are you alright?” Stella asked.

            “Of course she’s not alright! She was bitten by a vampire!” Walden shrieked.

            Stella kneeled down with me. She put a comforting hand on the girl’s cheek. Her breathing slowed, it seemed like she was calming down.

            “It… It hurts…” The girl whimpered, touching her neck.

My eyes fell on the bite marks. There was something about them that seemed oddly familiar. I touched them gently, taking note of the space between them. I pulled my fingers away, keeping them spread. I touched them to Robert’s neck. It was a perfect match. The bite marks looked exactly alike.

            “Miss, who did this to you?” I asked intently.

The girl looked to Stella, as if for reassurance. She smiled and nodded encouragingly.

            “Ig-Ignacio.” The girl said.

            “I knew it!” Robert yelled.

            “N-no… Ignacio!” The girl yelled, pointing behind us.

We all snapped around to find a man standing behind us. He was wearing brown clothing, his hood was back, revealing his shining ruby eyes. He spread his arms a little, as if in welcome.

            “Well, well, well. So we meet again.” He said with a cold smile.

            “What do you want, Ignacio? What are you doing here?” Robert asked.

            “Not one for greetings, are you?” Ignacio said, almost scolded.

He walked forward a little, then he suddenly stopped. The faint sound of armor clad footsteps became audible.

            “Silver? Very clever. Very clever indeed.” He said, walking to the side as he spoke.

He stayed on the edge of an invisible protective circle that the silver granted us. The sound of armor clad footsteps became louder and louder by the second. His gaze fell on Stella.

            “We meet again, my dear.” He said with a smile.

            “If I had a stake right now…” Stella growled.

            “Ignacio, why are you here?” Robert repeated.

            “Why, I’m preparing, of course.” Ignacio scoffed, as if anyone would know.

            “For what?” Robert asked.

Ignacio laughed, loud and heartily.

            “Soon, you will see.” Ignacio replied ominously.

The sound of the footsteps was louder now.

            “It appears that we shall be rudely interrupted momentarily. I bid you all farewell… For the time being. Take care, my sweet.” Ignacio said the last part to Stella.

He then jumped up onto a nearby rooftop and vanished into the night. Stella shuddered. Torchlight filled the area, several armor clad men appeared.

            “Yutsa law enforcement! We heard a commotion.” The leader of the men announced.

            “We found this girl. She’s alive, but barely.” I explained, pointing to the girl Ignacio had bitten.

The leader kneeled down to examine the girl.

            “What the devil! Those marks on her neck…” He said thoughtfully.

            “They appear to be fang marks, sir.” One of the other guards added.

The leader nodded and stood up. He turned to us.

            “Did you see the thing that did this? Was it a vampire?” He asked.

Robert nodded.

            “Yes. It was a vampire, and his name is Ignacio.” Robert said.

He gave a detailed description of what Ignacio looked like. The guard nodded.

            “Thank you for your help. Please, allow us to escort you to the inn. The rooms are on us.” The leader said.

            “Thanks, that would be much appreciated.” Robert thanked him.

            “It’s the least we can do. We’ll have wanted posters up by morning, and we’ll use the description that you gave us.” The leader replied.

The leader turned to his men.

            “You two, get this woman to a doctor.” He ordered.

            “Yes, sir!” They said in unison.

One of the guards’ eyes fell on Tabatha’s staff.

            “Miss, are you a witch?” He asked, drawing his sword.

Tabatha recoiled in fear. Don stepped protectively between her and the guard.

            “No! Not at all! The staff is a decorative family heirloom, you see. It’s very important to me.” Tabatha explained.

The guard eyed her skeptically, then nodded. The other guards helped the girl to her feet and lead her off. We were escorted to the inn. Before we went inside, I noticed that a large wagon full of loose hay was next to the building. Two horses were tied to a fence next to it. The horses were hitched to the cart. We were lead inside the inn. The law enforcement officers payed for our rooms. We were handed our keys and we went upstairs. The corridor was narrow and about thirty feet long. There was an ornate window at the end. We all went to our rooms and turned in for the night.

 

***

 

Monday July 19^th 1690

I awoke to the sound of screaming. I sat bolt upright, instinctively pulling out my knife. I looked out the window to see it was still dark. It must be early morning. I ran out into the hallway, where the others were waiting. The screaming was coming from the tavern downstairs!

            “This way!” Robert ordered, heading for the stairs.

We all followed him with our weapons drawn. Tabatha readied her staff. We came down the stairs running. What we saw was chaos. Chairs and tables were broken and tipped over, there were pools of blood on the floor and splatters on the walls, bodies lay strewn across the floor. There were vampires all over the room. Whoever wasn’t dead was fighting for their life, and they were losing. Agonized screams pierced the air. We saw the innkeeper crouched behind the counter, desperately looking for a way out. When we came down the staircase, the vampires in the room stopped, and they stepped backwards as we came forward. The inn was quiet for the most part, other than the screaming that could be heard outside. The innkeeper shakily stood up, confused.

            “What… How did you make them back off?” He asked.

The vampires glared at us. I looked around at all the bodies. There was nothing we could do to help these people. They were going to turn into vampires, and by the sound of it, the town was overrun by them. Robert looked to Walden. Walden looked at him. He nodded. Walden knew what he had to do.

            “Fireball!” Walden shouted.

A single fireball shot from his hands, engulfing the vampire he was aiming at. It fell to the floor screaming, it burned to ash. The other vampires looked horrified, but they didn’t back off.

            “Can’t you cast a more powerful spell to kill them?” I asked.

            “Not without burning the place down!” Walden retorted.

Walden looked to two vampires who were close together.

            “Fireball!” He cried.

They both simultaneously caught fire, burning to ash in seconds. After seeing their three friends die, a few of them lunged at us, pushing through the protective aura that the silver granted us. Walden burned the first two to ash, but that wouldn’t hold off the crowd that remained for very long. I looked around the room. I saw a broken chair on the ground nearby. I ran over to it and snapped the remaining legs off. I now had two makeshift stakes! A vampire was running towards Don. He raised his flintlock in surprise, but there was no way he was going to get it up in time. I ran forward and staked it. The vampire burned to ash, along with the stake.

            “Thanks!” Don exclaimed.

            “What are all these vampires doing here?” Stella asked.

A vampire pushed forward and I used the last stake to kill it before it got too close. Fifteen more of them flooded through the door from the street! There were countless more behind them, trying to get inside the inn.

            “They’re everywhere!” I shouted.

            “It’s no use! We aren’t equipped to kill this many!” Robert yelled.

            We all instinctively backed away, towards the counter. I turned to the innkeeper, who was still crouched behind it.

            “Is there another way out of here?” I asked.

He thought about this. He then nodded.

            “Yes.” He replied.

A vampire pushed through the silver’s protective aura. Walden burnt it to ashes.

            “What’re ya waitin’ for? Show us!” Walden shrieked.

The innkeeper nodded and ran for the stairs. We followed him without question. There wasn’t time for questions. We got to the top of the stairs, but the vampires stayed at the bottom.

            “We’re trapped! Now what?” Macalister asked.

            “You’d better have a good plan.” Don warned the innkeeper.

The innkeeper nodded and pointed to the ornate window at the end of the hall.

            “There.” He said.

Don whirled around to face the innkeeper.

            “You’re crazy. There’s no way we’d make that fall unharmed!” Don exclaimed.

            “There’s no other way!” The innkeeper shouted.

I then thought back to last night. I had an idea.

            “Everyone, listen up!” I shouted, taking charge.

Everyone looked to me, surprised at my confidence.

            “There is a way we can all get out of here alive.” I told them.

Everyone looked at me more intently than before. A vampire nearly snuck up on us, but Walden burnt it to a crisp. I decided to hurry things up.

            “Last night when we were being escorted here, I noticed a large cart full of hay, it had two horses hitched up to it. If one of us can get around to the side of the building, they can pull the cart up under the window. We can jump down and get away.” I said hurriedly.

There was a moment of silence as everyone considered that.

            “Redmond, are you aware of the risks of that plan?” Don asked.

I nodded.

            “I am.” Was my answer.

            “Then you know that whoever volunteers to bring the cart around most likely won’t survive.” Don went on.

I nodded. There was a moment of silence as we all held our breaths, wondering who would be the one to volunteer.

            “Very well. I’ll go.” Don finally said.

            “No. I’ll go. You’ve risked your life to save us enough. It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to do this.” Robert told him.

            “You don’t have to. I’m going.” Don said, looking Robert in the eye.

            “No, I’ll go. It was my plan. It’s only fair that I carry it out.” I interjected.

Robert looked to me with surprise.

            “Redmond, I’d expect this suicidal bravery from Don, but you?” He asked.

            “Like you said, Don has risked his life for us enough. He ran onto a burning pyre to rescue Tabatha, he came back for us in the vampire mafia’s base back in Valgate. Not to mention the countless times he’s gotten us out of tight situations in all our years together. It wouldn’t be fair for him to go.” I explained intently.

A vampire got up the stairs, but Walden burned it to ashes.

            “Hurry it up here guys! I can’t hold them off much longer!”  Walden shouted.

            “Are you sure about this, Redmond?” Don asked.

I nodded.

            “Just be ready to jump.” I told him.

            “Wait, here. Take this.” Stella said, handing me her silver crucifix.

I took it and held it in my hand. Although my heart was pounding in my chest and fear surged through my veins, the cool touch of the silver calmed me. I was starting to have second thoughts, but I stood by what I said to Robert. It was only fair that I go. I gripped the crucifix in one hand and my knife in the other.

            “Wish me luck.” I said with a nod.

With that being said, I ran down the staircase to meet the vampires that awaited me.

Author's Note

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