A Night to Remember
Larten Crepsley smiled as the moonlight shone high above him, illuminating the crossroad of alleys he stood in. A gentle breeze blew from behind him causing his blood red cloak to billow around him, temporarily giving the illusion that he was drenched in blood. 'Not yet' he thought as he saw his image in one of the stagnant puddles around him 'But soon'
He drew himself up to his full height and turned to face the alley where the breeze was coming from and gazed down it. He could smell them. The vampaneze who were slowly advancing through the shadows, their steps making hardly a sound. As they advanced from the dark alley towards him he smiled. ' Tonight will be challenging' he mused, having travelled for decades killing vampaneze for information on his dead love he rarely found any challenge in fighting one on one anymore. He was not simply being arrogant, little did he know it but he was easily one of the most skilled fighters of the currently living.
As the three dark shapes emerged from the shadows he saw them clearly for the first time, taking in their appearances and quickly summarising their abilities in combat. The vampaneze in the middle was obviously the oldest, and the leader. His skin was a deep shade of purple and he bore many scars, not so many however that Larten could assume that the man was an awful fighter and was merely lucky. The vampaneze on his sides were obviously very young, their skin only a light shade of purple. And also very inexperienced in combat, he gathered this last morsel of information when he saw that they gripped their weapons, both carried maces, as if they expected them to jump from their grip in an instant. The leader also carried a weapon, although with much more familiarity, as if accustomed to using it. 'Yes' thought Larten, as he eyed the large sledge hammer in the man's hands, 'This is the one to watch'.
"Greetings, brothers of the night" said Larten, in a quiet yet cheery voice, "Before we begin I have two requests, may I first enquire after your names so I can drink to your names after I have slain you, and my second request shall be dependent on the answers you give"
The trio looked shocked for a second as if they did not expect the strange orange haired vampire to behave so civilly before their fight, much less be joyful at the odds against him. They all decided in that instant that they liked this vampire, despite his killing of many of their close brethren. The leader of the three laughed, then spoke.
"Why of course my friend, you may have our names, I am Joseph Fowl, my friends here are Jacob Collins" nodding at the man at his left, "and Eli Stone" nodding at the man on his right. "and now my brave friend, may I have your name and second request".
Larten smiled, although slightly deflated "Certainly, my name is Larten Crepsley, General of Vampire Mountain, and former assistant to Seba Nyle. My second request would have been to duel one of you in single combat, but as none of you are the vampaneze I am looking for I simply ask for information on one Randel Chayne"
"I am sorry Larten, I have not met with Randel for over forty years, I wish I could help you as I assume that he has done something dreadful towards you and you wish revenge, but I cannot help you. I do not know if it will help you as you will in all likelihood die in this alley tonight, but I last saw him near New York." The vampaneze shook his head as he said this last sentence, it seemed so unjust that this orange haired man should die here tonight in this filth before he got his revenge, but that was life. Sighing, he pulled his hammer up from his side and grasped its long handle with two hands. "But now we must dispense with the pleasantries and proceed with the 'main event' as humans say, if you die tonight Larten is shall drink a mug of ale in your name and wish you well in paradise".
Larten smiled "I shall do the same for you my friend" then he jumped straight up in the air, turned a complete backflip, and landed a good ten feet behind where he had previously been standing with two long, gleaming knives in his hands. He smiled at the trio then called "Well come on then!"
The trio laughed at the vampires' good mood and not wanting to disappoint him, they swept forward leaving a trail of dust behind them. The two younger vampaneze made the first mistakes; they jumped simultaneously at from either side of the vampires head with all their strength and speed.
But they were not fast enough. Larten ducked at the last second and his hands dashed out, knives flashing as they flew towards the vampaneze and drew blood. As he withdrew from the trio and spun he inspected the damage he had caused. Both the young vampaneze were clutching their stomachs, trying to staunch the blood seeping through their fingers. Their leader looked at the two incredulously then turned to Larten and snarled. He sprang forward faster than Larten could follow and swung his hammer at the vampire wildly, smashing into the vampires stomach and sending him flying across the alley where he slammed into a wall before the two younger vampaneze, who had abandoned their futile attempts at stopping the river gushing from their stomachs, smashed his left leg with their maces.
He screamed as the bone shattered beneath the maces, temporarily blinded by the pain. He heard one of the vampaneze swing another blow towards his leg, intent on severing it. He growled, nobody would take his leg, nobody. He roared and his eyes flew open to see the two younger vampaneze standing before him grinning like madmen. With one hand he pushed himself of the ground and with the other he slashed his knife in one huge lunge and the blade bit into the neck of the first vampaneze, almost cutting his head off, then carried on to bury the knife in the neck of the other, cutting of his laugh half way through, resulting in the blood erupting from the man's throat to splutter and gush down his front.
The leader of the former trio stood behind his former companions looked shocked at seeing his two friends die so quickly and effortlessly before him. Then he saw red and charged forward, hammer raided above his head. Larten groaned and stood, wincing when his broken leg took his weight. He made a few steps towards the vampaneze before he was caught in the chest by an explosive front kick. He slammed back into the wall, shattering several of the bricks as he hit it. He fell face first to the floor and howled as his chest hit the floor revealing that the kick had broken most, if not all of his ribs. He coughed blood as sat up, he recovered just in time to see the hammer swing towards his head. Groaning, he leaned forward and threw his arm out; hitting the hammer of its course, making it hit the wall behind him.
The man before him looked stunned that the clearly beaten vampire still had some fight in him, the hissed. This man would die now. He drew back the hammer again for the final blow. It started to fall towards then vampires head then suddenly he was flying backwards and hit the other side of the alley. He groaned, then staggered to his feet and made to step forward when he felt a sudden explosion of pain in his chest. He looked down and saw the handle of one of the vampire knives protruding from his chest, he looked up towards the vampire just in time to see the vampires hand fall down again, releasing the knife at the last second to see it spin across the alley and hit the vampire in the middle of the forehead, blade buried in the vampaneze skull. Larten watched his foe fall forwards, landing face first, driving the knife further into the vampanezes head until the blade protruded from the back of his head.
Larten sighed; it was a shame to kill such a talented warrior in order to get at a murderous cur like Randel Chayne. 'Oh well' he mused, 'a promise is a promise'. He gave each vampaneze the death sign and wished them on to paradise. He left the three bodies behind him and limped down an alley, choosing one at random. 'Time to find a tavern' he thought, 'and honour their names with a pint of ale'.