"I, Vampyre" - Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Kiss of Death

 

            I stomped over to Aussie D, thinking that I would give her a huge hug, even in the epicenter of the ongoing chaos… but she just smiled ruefully at me while taking a step back.  To be fair, I wasn’t exactly lovable �" or huggable �" while ‘transformed.’

            “DONNA,” I said, as gently as was possible with the barbed vocal cords of a hellspawn.  “You… you CAME…”

            “Silly wombat… ‘course I did!”  Donna barely glanced sideways as a vampire charging at her from behind was intercepted (and ripped into five messy pieces) by her vines.  “I jus’ needed to know the where and the wherefore.  That little nymph of yours, Siren… I s’pose she’s okay, in my book…”

            I looked down at my wounded, empty right hand.  “Donna… the ‘Bane, did you…?”

            Aussie D made quite the show of rolling her eyes in exasperation.  “NO, it ain’t gone for good.  Wee li’l Belli wanted me to do it, but…”  She paused, before shaking her head, blue eyes twinkling.  She was still so very, very beautiful.  “I couldn’t…”

            I nodded, grinning.  “You knew how much it means to me…”

            Aussie Donna looked mock-aghast.  “The hell you say!  I tried, believe you me.  But it doesn’t destroy too easy, now does it?  All that bleeping ‘shadowfire’ every time I tried to throw a spell at it.  ‘Tis almost like you’ve got someone watching out, from the big black beyond, for it… for you, Nevik…”

            One of the animated green vines had a spiral of brown and silver wrapped around it, I finally noticed.  I held my right hand up, and �" with a wordless command from Donna �" the vine twisted and turned itself, releasing the whip, which landed in my waiting palm.  The holy symbol grip had been carefully wrapped up in brand-new leather, and I smiled again at Aussie D, hoping she could see the sincere expression of thanks through the gnarly maw of teeth.

            “Okies, enough ‘warm fuzzies’ from catchin’ up and all!” Aussie Donna barked out.  “Go on ‘n’ help Siren with Bad Guy #1… or #2… whichever it is!!”  Donna glanced up at the damaged dome overhead.  “I’m gonna see if I can’t help my dear sister out…”

            I dipped my head in understanding, hesitating only to check on our friends.  Adrianos ether-drew a pair of weapons �" twin black-metal drow sabers that I was certainly familiar with �" and launched himself into a whirlwind of a swordfight with the Vorenus-clone.  My heart ached for Makenna, who was still pinned to the floor with her own rapier, but she was at least out of harm’s way.  Skaar roared as he pounced at yet another soon-to-be-dead vampire; Spike leapt and actually sprang off of the jaguar’s back in midair, bringing her scythe crashing down with devastating effect.  And Bellissima and Kyoko were still engaged in an inverted duel on the ‘ceiling’ of the room… both of the vampiress assassins oblivious to the thick vines creeping up the walls on all sides.

            I lashed out with the Kindred’s Bane �" an extremely satisfying *KEE-RACK* echoing within the dome �" clearing out a path through the diminishing dozens of Vorenus’s vampires.  I saw Siren again, still locked in a desperate battle of her own.  She was in the midst of an incredibly intricate set of gymnastic maneuvers… a series of spins, flips, tumbles, and unnatural contortions of her body that would have already killed a mere human.  It served to (barely) keep her one step ahead of Vorenus, but I could tell that she was quickly getting exhausted.

            And then, she made a mistake, falling for a deliberate feint.  Vorenus let out a victorious “HaHA!” as he slashed his sword across Siren’s shoulders, tearing the back of her flimsy lace robe open.  She screamed as she fell to her knees, and I surged forward as Vorenus put the blade of his rapier to her neck, his back to me.

            “Auf wiedersehen, Lady Sir--…” he began.  Unfortunately for Vorenus, his last words would forever remain an oxymoron, as the ‘Bane wrapped mercilessly around his neck, cutting through it as I pulled it tight with all my considerable strength.  His head bounced off the floor before scattering into reddish dust, and his headless body toppled over, the silver blade landing harmlessly in front of Siren.

            She looked back at me, her eyes bright and beyond beautiful, but it was still no time for hugs and kisses.  I scooped her up, and we ran for the far end of the oval floor… dodging the huge chunks of glass that were raining down all around us!  Siren said something, but I couldn’t hear her over the sudden turbulence of noise.  I saw Aussie Donna, still standing in the very center of it all, and I thought… this is helping?!?

            Aussie D’s vines had strained the already-fractured glass dome beyond its breaking point.  It continued to fall apart, crushing hapless vampires between and underneath deadly-sharp debris.  None of it seemed to come close to Spike, Skaar, Makenna, or Adrianos, though… and the ‘other’ Vorenus was much too quick.

            I choked back a cry when I saw Bellissima, falling amidst the red-tinted deluge, grappling with Kyoko even as they both tumbled down.  Just as they reached the halfway point between the now-collapsed ceiling and the floor, the geisha grinned as she yanked Belli’s dagger out of her hand.  Kyoko started to turn to mist… but the Mist Tamer forced her back solid again.

Bellissima reached down, her arm turning intangible, and the red vapor flowed into Kyoko’s mouth like she was inhaling deeply.  In the next heart-stopping moment, Belli’s clawed hand burst out of Kyoko’s chest, reclaiming the dagger and stabbing it backwards into the geisha’s belly.

            Kyoko hit the ground very hard, her hands still tugging futilely on the dagger buried in her stomach as she smashed all the way through the wooden floor.  The last few giant shards of glass and the tachi, tumbling end-over-end, followed her down into the abyss.  Belli, on the other hand, landed light as a feather, rematerializing from a tornado of red mist like the force of nature that she was.  Bellissima gave Aussie D a quick, sisterly hug… but then turned her full attention to our last remaining enemy.

            “It’s over, Vorenus!” Belli snarled, advancing on him slowly.  Siren and I came running over, and soon we all had Vorenus surrounded.  “Give up… and I might just consider killing you quickly…”

            “Over?” Vorenus repeated, snickering to himself.  “You think this is OVER!?”  He glared hotly at Adrianos, who was still clutching both of his ebon sabers, but looking terribly fatigued.  “Your essence belongs to ME, Adrianos… to do with as I see fit!!”

            With that, Vorenus waved his rapier at Adrianos with a seemingly unnecessary flourish.  But, in the next terrible tick of that unseen clock… all of the blood in Ad’s body seemed to be instantaneously purged, through every wound, pore and orifice.  Spike and Siren screamed in unison, and Vorenus’s mad laugh was just as high-pitched.

            “Congratulations, you overconfident fools… you’ve managed to kill all the clones of my clan.  Now… prepare to face the unrelenting wrath of my proper Kindred!”

            I protectively pulled Siren and Aussie Donna back as an invisible explosion came through the hole in the middle of the floor, like an eruption of superheated air.  But it wasn’t simply steam… it was more vampires, hundreds of them �" yet another ambush.

            “And YOU,” Vorenus continued, and I quickly realized that he was talking to me.  “Don’t think I don’t remember what you did to me with that whip of yours.”  Dozens of invisible vamps hacked away at me, and I reached out desperately as Siren and Aussie D were pulled away by unseen hands and claws.  “I’ve got a very special little spell, one I’ve been saving, just for you.  I like to call it… Blood to Ash!”

            Shaking with unfettered fury, I charged at Vorenus, like a demon-possessed bull.  He just smiled a maddeningly confident little smile… and said a single, arcane word.

I collapsed, face first, as I felt all the strength and power leave my body.  I shrunk and morphed back into human form, shivering uncontrollably.  Unbearable pain… it felt like all the blood in my body was coagulating, and then dissolving into dust, little by little.  Strangely, I also felt like all my senses were heightened even more than usual, as if I could see and hear every single thing going on around me.  An odd thought crossed my mind:

Maybe that’s what it’s like for a vampire… right before you die, for good.

Bellissima ran over to me, flailing and fighting off interfering vamps, but Vorenus warned her off with more harsh words.  “Stay away from him, Bladedancer.  It’s highly contagious… if he so much as ‘breathes’ on you, his fate will also be yours.”  Belli screamed something unintelligible and charged at Vorenus, but his sword became a blur, and she landed with her back bent over the broken base of the dome, blood oozing from multiple wounds.

“ADRIANOS!” Spike wailed, running over to him and falling to her knees.  She barely had a chance to shed a tear before Vorenus was looming over them both.  Skaar pounced again, but Vorenus windmilled his sword-arm, and the jaguar familiar fell to the ground… lying very still indeed.

“If you care about him so deeply,” Vorenus said to Spike in a taunting voice, “why don’t you give him a nice little KISS!?”  That said, he stabbed his sword into Spike’s back, through her chest, and then down into Adrianos’s torso, pinning them face-to-face.

I lifted my head, which seemed to take every ounce of willpower I had left.  I saw Makenna, leaning up, shuddering as she slowly pulled the rapier out of her shoulder.  I wanted to shout, to scream, to warn her to look out… but I hadn’t the strength to do any of that.

“You’ve been a bad girl, Makenna,” Vorenus scolded, as he shot over to stand above her.  He kicked her back to a prone position, and then stomped on the pommel of her rapier, driving the sword deep into the floor, the blade buried in her chest all the way to the hand-guard.  A trio of vampires materialized behind him, with hungry-looking grins on their wild faces.

“Take your time with her,” Vorenus said, shaking his head sadly.  And so they did.

Vorenus knelt down beside me in the next instant.  “Don’t die too quickly, Nevik,” he said, peering at an imaginary watch.  “I do hope I timed this right… I want you to watch all your friends die first.”  He glanced up and frowned for a moment.  “Hm.  I’ll be right back… I have to go kill that delicious-looking Australian witch who’s causing all sorts of trouble…”

Vorenus disappeared in a flash, and I couldn’t even turn to look.  I was somewhat encouraged to hear a steady stream of Aussie-isms and creative swear words… but then, mid-curse, they stopped, and my dying heart sank again.

I hoped against hope that Siren and Bellissima were still fighting, but the frenetic battle that had been a constant in the room ever since Belli kicked the door down was also dying down.  I did see and hear Spike and Adrianos �" who was somehow holding on to his undeath by a thread �" and their words filled me with sorrow… but also a tiny sliver of hope.

“Oh, Ad…” Spike whispered.  “Tell me everything’s going to be all right.”

Adrianos barely moved, as the words somehow came out of him: “Sp…ike… I… don’t… think…”

“Lie to me, then!  Oh, my Lord… just… lie to me…”

Adrianos nodded his head a fraction.  “It… will be… alright… Meia… mon petite…”

A bloody tear dripped off of Spike’s cheek, into Ad’s mouth, and Adrianos licked his ashen lips with a tongue that looked completely black.  Blinking, Spike shifted her position, groaning as the blade of the rapier twisted inside of her.  “Ad… drink from me…”

Adrianos shook his head, ever-so-slightly.  “No… you’ll… infection…”

Spike lowered her neck as close to his mouth as she could.  “I don’t care.  Drink my blood, Adrianos.  Take me into you, my love, take as much as you need.  If you die, I… I wouldn’t be able to bear it!”

And so, Adrianos bit into Spike’s pale neck… and their blood flowed together.

“Well, isn’t that sweet…” Vorenus said, dripping sarcasm, nearby again.  “I wonder if Siren here will do the same for you, Nevik?”

I rotated my head toward his voice, each degree a new agony, and I saw Siren kneeling there.  A pair of burly-looking vampires were holding her hands and arms behind her back, and bruised flesh showed through the remaining tatters of her clothes.  Somehow, the opal pendant was still around her neck, and it was rolling back and forth across her breast, even though she wasn’t moving.

“What do you think, Dani?” Vorenus mocked, and if hate were a weapon, he’d already be dead, ten-times-over.  I tried to summon forth a pyrokinetic fire, to at least go out with a literal blaze of glory, but… nothing.  “Do you want to offer him some of your precious blood?”

‘Use that whip of yours, love…’

            I froze at that voice in my head, thinking at first that it must have been Siren.  But… it wasn’t.  It was… just a blood-remembrance, an echo of a crimson misty memory.  Right?

The Kindred’s Bane was still on the floor, near my motionless right hand.  It was giving off a pungent odor of garlic, per usual, and none of Vorenus’s vamps seemed to want to get too close to it.

“Where’s… Belli…?”  I mumbled.  I felt like one of my lungs just disintegrated.

“Who cares?” Vorenus asked, shrugging.  “Let’s just say… she’s not doing too well right now.

“Do you think he’ll drink your blood, Siren, if it’s pouring out of your decapitated body?”  Vorenus leaned down so his mouth was right by my ear.  “I don’t appreciate you beheading and destroying my clone, Nevik.  It’s only possible to make one, did you know that!?  For some reason, additional clones are highly unstable and die within a day… it’s an interesting little problem that I’m still working on.”

‘Br…k… brea… th…al.’

Now it was Siren’s voice, but her telepathy was ‘off’… fuzzy, like interference from a radio station.  I finally noticed that Vorenus was poking his sword, the other silver rapier, into the base of her neck… slowly, cruelly, deliberately.

“I’m afraid I don’t have all night,” Vorenus complained, and his minions chuckled sycophantically.  He pulled the rapier out of Siren’s neck, and her eyes widened a smidgen.  “I have the grand opening of my casino to get back to, and you all have made quite the mess…”

‘BREAK THE OPAL!’  Siren’s voice, loud and clear in my head.

Somehow, calling upon my very last vestige of strength, perhaps drawing power from the smallest remaining pool of blood in my hardly-beating heart, I rolled over, grabbing the Kindred’s Bane as I did so.  I flicked my wrist �" gazing with a sort of detached horror as my right hand crumbled into ash �" and the fall-end of the whip traced a parabola through the air… connecting with Siren’s necklace… just nicking it, just enough to knock the gem loose from its mounting.  It fell to the floor… and the ‘opal’ shattered.

Or, that is, the tiny glass ball broke apart, and an opalescent mist issued forth.  “What the hell…!?” Vorenus exclaimed, flinching backward as the mist flowed swiftly past his head.  I looked at Siren, and she had a strangely contented half-smile on her face.

The mist swirled around Makenna, and one of the vampires who were feeding on her waved his hand distractedly, like he was trying to shoo away a bothersome fly.  In the next heartbeat, that same vampire was howling at the spotlights above in pain, his hand and most of his forearm ripped off by the crazed-looking, ravenously bloodthirsty vampire who had just coalesced from the cream-colored mist:

Draconus.

 

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