Okay, for any old reader you will be pleased to see that I combined all of the pervious chapters and got rid of all the stupid blabby A/Ns. I also changed all of the song lyrics and fixed the formatting.
For any new readers, you didn't miss much. Hope you've enjoyed thus far.
Lyrics property of Eminem, Lose Yourself
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
It's pretty amazing how long you can live in delusion. I thought I'd seen battle before. I thought I knew what a tough fight looked like. I'd had the nerve to think I was a warrior.
They'd been ready for us. I don't know how, but when we ran in their weapons were raised and they were poised for battle and nothing less than deadly. Their numbers were superior, but our element of surprise was supposed to outweigh that. Supposed to.
I lost track of how long we'd been in the Vampaneze compound. I knew unequivocally that I was at the bottom of the food chain here. It was pandemonium, I could focus on nothing but keeping myself from getting cut down. Surrounding me were Vampires and Vampaneze driven by the insane fever of battle. Thinking only of slicing each other to ribbons. It was all I could do to stay out of the way and assist my comrades when I could. I felt like a baby, underfoot and unsure of my purpose. My only advantage was that none of the Vampaneze could be bothered with me; why go after a little girl when you could take on a 6 foot tall General? Honour and logic.
"KADE, ON YOUR LEFT!" Gavner roared, streaking past me. I wheeled around in time to dodge a battle axe that had been poised for a clear cut into my skull. I had barely enough time to stab the purple man in the guts before he took another swing at me.
"Thanks, Gav!" I yelled back. But my ally was long gone, swallowed by the crowd of warring bloodsuckers. Safe for the second, I glanced around fervently; Kurda was the first familiar face in my line of vision. Backed into a corner by two leering Vampaneze. He was putting up a brave fight but two on one isn't right. I lunged over and dispatched the taller of the two foes with a sword strike to the jugular. With the other distracted by the sudden loss of his partner, Kurda was able to take an opportunity for a lethal hit of his own.
"Nice one!" I congratulated him, but he was staring down at the newly-vacated corpses with an expression of nauseated disbelief, deaf to my voice and the battle raging around us. "Kurda!" I pressed. "You okay? Snap out of it!"
"I, yeah. Sorry, I just… thanks, Kade." he fumbled, becoming alert once more.
"Won't be the last time I save your ass, but I can only do so much if you're gonna stand there like a retarded tree, so get moving!" I roared, clapping his shoulder roughly. I didn't have time to stick around and babysit him. He had years of training on me, if he couldn't keep himself going in battle then he was beyond help. My eyes darted back and forth instinctively, searching out a niche where I could slip in and go to work. I saw Arra, fully consumed by giving a tall skinny Vampaneze a taste of Vampire Mountain justice. She was fighting back-to-back with Larten, and I had to admit they were killing it. Metaphorically speaking and then quite literally as Arra took her opponent down with a slice to the stomach. His fall distracted Larten's charge, and he was taken out in the same way. And Larten stared at Arra from across the corpses the way most men stare at a-
Crunch.
I took a blunt force hit to the shoulder. Went spiralling into the ground. Saw stars, saw floor, saw ceiling, and finally saw a filthy bearded purple face looming over me as my sword waved about hopelessly, the flat edge of the blade bouncing harmlessly off his legs as I lay like a tipped turtle.
"So the great Princes of Vampire Mountain send little girls to fight their battles now?" he sneered. 6 feet above me and I still caught a whiff of fresh blood and rotten meat.
I tried to utter a sassy retort, but the wind had been smashed out of my lungs. I fought desperately for oxygen, meanwhile he kicked my sword from my hand. I dimly heard it clatter to the floor to the right of me. Reached for it… too far.
"What's the matter, baby?" he hissed lewdly, stepping one heavily-booted foot over, so he was straddling me. "Can't get up? Don't want to?" My hand found its way to my belt, hunting for my dagger. Please be there. I locked my eyes onto his, trying to draw his gaze. My expression must have looked strange but if he saw what I was reaching for I'd be dead.
"Oh, I know why the Vampires travel with…women-folk." he smirked in a slow, greasy, deliberate tone, drawing his own sword.
My hand touched my dagger at the same moment he aligned the tip of his sword with my throat.
"I can see it now. You're used to laying on your back-"
The word wasn't even out of his mouth, and I'd reached up and castrated him. I twisted out of the way before his vile blood could spatter me. He fell to his knees shrieking, and then went silent as my dagger went hilt-deep into his soft, exposed throat. I gave it a sharp twist out of spite; he'd been extremely rude. When I wrenched it back out, he fell to the floor. His days of being a masochistic brute were at an end. I wasn't a cold-blooded killer, but I had a feeling that death wasn't going to haunt me.
But I couldn't gloat, one second passed and three more Vampaneze surrounded me, sneering and glaring with weapons raised. They were tired and wounded, but they were huge. And angry. They didn't waste time on small talk like their comrade had, they converged on me and my body went into overdrive, spinning and slicing and dodging and blocking. My dagger hand weaved in and out of their branchlike arms, cutting and jabbing. My other arm was securely encased behind my shield, but starting to ache from absorbing hit after hit. At such close range, their superior numbers were more of a hindrance than an asset; they had to take care not to injure each other by accident and I wasn't making it easy for them. Their lack of coordination was the only reason I lasted more than a minute. But my movements were getting harder, my lungs were aching and my vision was blurring. Although I couldn't tell where, I knew I was hurt and it was only a matter of time before I went down. No one was coming to help me; nor would I expect them to. I couldn't see any allies in the crowd; just faceless soldiers. I just prayed when I passed into the afterlife my friends wouldn't already be there.
My distraction cost me, I felt a blade slice my back and I stumbled. Rolled my ankle while I was at it, too. My head hit the floor and I saw stars again. Way too many stars. My hearing cut out and I waited for the final blow.
Waited to die.
Waited to meet the Vampire Gods.
Waited to -but seriously what the fuck was taking so long?
I rolled over painfully and partially sat up. I was sure my vision was failing me because I thought I saw Adrien fighting one and Arra shredding another. The last and largest of my attackers had fallen and was obscured by a black-clad figure who was on his knees and leaning heavily into a sword that was buried in the Vampaneze's chest. He turned, and I could see his face. Twisted in pain and partially obscured by blood, but there was no mistaking Mika Ver Leth. Was I already dead? Were they dead?
I felt my lips move but I couldn't hear anything. Felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around too sharply, and my back screamed in agonized protest. Only then did I realize I was indeed alive. Not well, but alive. Gavner's worried face hovered above me, blurry but undeniable. He was saying something but I couldn't hear him over the ringing in my ears. Mika's lips moved sharply, he appeared to be yelling something to Gavner. Gavner bent down and scooped me up, easily and gently as though i was an infant, shielding me against his broad body as he carried me past the carnage. As we moved I realized I could hear again. The world was no longer blurry and my senses were waking up. The compound looked emptier, or maybe everyone was just dead. Bodies everywhere. Wounded Vampaneze trying to awaken their dead comrades. Something felt eerily wrong. The floor was shiny and red. I started shaking but I couldn't stop staring. Some skirmishes were still raging throughout the room but my brain was sluggish and unwilling to identify faces. I wished my hearing would cut out again; all I heard was dying screams.
We passed through the doors from which we'd came, and I expected to feel the cool relief of fresh air and the peaceful stillness of the night but the battle had spilled out of the compound and into the woods. I caught a glimpse of a Vampaneze running away before he broke into a flit and disappeared from sight. And I saw a body. I couldn't see the face clearly. But it wasn't purple. My heart jumped into my throat.
"Gav." I whimpered in disbelief, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing.
"I know." he murmured grimly.
"Who?"
"We haven't identified him yet."
The last of my adrenaline quit, and I was ready to be done with this. I suppressed a sob and buried my face into Gavner's chest. Maybe denial would help. He held me tightly, being cautious of my shredded back. He carried me behind the building and up the short hill where we'd gathered before the attack was launched. He set me down and hurried off, reappearing immediately with a blanket that he draped over my shoulders. He ordered me to stay put before leaving once more. He needn't have bothered; I had no desire to mobilize in the near future. I sat in silence, trying to make sense of what happened. A handful of vampires were already gathered there, nursing ugly wounds and swapping dark narratives of how the fight had played out for them personally. There were 3 Vampaneze prisoners as promised, unconscious and chained together. But something was off about the atmosphere. We'd clearly won from what I'd seen, but nobody was celebrating. More and more vampires began to trickle back into the clearing and unbidden tears of relief burned in my eyes when Larten, Gavner, Arra, and finally Kurda were all re-assembled around me. The only absent members of our company were Mika and Arrow, and a small cheer went up when they finally approached. But it died as soon as it had risen; Mika appeared to be in poor shape. He was bleeding from the head and kept stumbling despite being heavily supported by Arrow. The tattooed prince didn't appear to be wounded but his face was masked with fear and an inhuman amount of rage.
"We were compromised." Arrow snarled at us as he came within earshot. "We have to leave. There's a town 10 miles Northeast. Flit there, NOW. Carry the wounded and the prisoners. GO!"
No one questioned, no one paused.
"Come on!" Gavner lifted me up before I could protest and we took off. I'd only piggyback-flitted once before; I hated being carried but stabbing pains kept shooting up my back, and Gavner was still in peak condition to the best of my knowledge. So I held on and let him take me to safety. Because we were all flitting together, I kept seeing the other members of our company darting in and out of the shadows along with us. The speed of it all made me nauseous, so I closed my eyes.
It felt like all night but it was probably mere minutes when we arrived. We came to a stop and I saw lights; we'd come to rest on the top of a steep hill overlooking a small village. Why we were here, I didn't know. We hadn't passed through on the way but the decision of a prince always comes with a reason.
Gav and I were among the first to arrive. Arra, Larten, Kurda, Adrien, and Darrick appeared moments after. They were carrying loads of weapons on behalf of the vampires who were wounded or had their arms full. More and more of us filled the area with every passing minute, many dropping to the ground in exhaustion. Many looked fearful, others confused. It made my skin crawl; this was not the post-battle atmosphere I'd been told to expect from this group. Something had gone terribly wrong.
Finally, Arrow joined us, carrying Mika who looked weak but nonetheless irritable at being carried about.
"I'm fine, damn it all." I could hear the dark prince gripe to Arrow as he was set safely down. "Go worry about someone who needs it."
"Shut up and save your strength." Arrow snapped back. Mika opened his mouth in protest, but closed it again and leaned resignedly against a boulder.
"Sire, what happened?" a General demanded.
"How were they ready for us?" howled another.
"They knew we were coming, we've been betrayed!"
"Who's the traitor, hm? I'll kill yeh!"
"They had an unfair advantage?"
"How did they do it?"
"Show yourself, traitor!"
"Coward!"
"SILENCE!" Arrow barked, and he had it immediately. The mob went as still as if they'd become mute. "Now, I don't have any answers for you." the prince continued tensely as he paced in front of us. "I've got my theories, but until we get some real answers…" -He glanced pointedly at our trio of unconscious Vampaneze prisoners- "…we can't know for sure."
"Interrogate them right here and now!" Arra spat viciously. "We deserve the truth! Expose the traitor and make him pay."
"Don't be ridiculous, Arra." Mika scolded, voice sounding decidedly hoarse. "You know better than to process prisoners of war out in the open."
"It'll take us weeks to get back to Vampire Mountain with this amount of wounded men! What are we going to do, keep those three unconscious and quiet till then? There's more than one traitor in our midst for all we know, they'll turn them loose while we sleep!"
"She's got a point." I ventured thoughtlessly.
"Maybe they were reading the signs and looking after themselves, after all isn't that what we're doing? I know you don't want to hear this Sire, but they're a lot more cunning than you think they are. Maybe we gave ourselves away without realizing it." Kurda spoke up. Rather foolishly in my opinion. Judging by the furious insults that were then hurled his way, he regretted opening his mouth pretty quick.
"I said, silence." Arrow growled, looked troubled. He glared heatedly at Kurda, but didn't offer a comment. The prince remained silent for a moment; confusion, indecision, and exhaustion etched on his face. "It's too risky." he decided finally. "All we can do is return to the mountain as soon as possible. And pray we all make it safely. We were overpowered and many Vampaneze escaped the compound. They could be tracking us right now."
A shudder of apprehension rippled through our group, accompanied by a chorus of speculative whispers.
"But you don't get to dwell on that." Arrow interrupted harshly. "As many of you already know, we lost five of our great men tonight. Let that sink in. We shall honour them now. Findlay Barness, Greer Wade, Brock Lohman, Serrano Fiera, and our great General Grayson Hadley. Even in death may they be triumphant."
He made the Death's Touch sign and each of us followed suit, repeating the words.
A tear rolled down my face at the mention of Alexine's husband. Loyal, generous, and loving unconditionally. He didn't deserve it. Any of it. And Serrano; my fellow apprentice who I'd barely known. It could have just as easily been me. Probably should've been.
"As you can see, we were only able to recover four of the bodies before we were forced to flee." Arrow continued, voice close to breaking. "We will not be able to give Serrano a honourable Vampire Mountain funeral."
My heart hurt, I thought I was going to throw up but it wasn't over.
"I wish I had good news for you." Arrow spoke once more, this time his voice did crack. "I really do. But you should all know because I believe it's a reality we will shortly have to face."
Despairing and fearful groans rose up from the crowd. The feverish muttering recommenced, but faded once more when Arrow spoke again:
"I have reasons to believe that many of us have been poisoned."
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherfucking roof off like two dogs caged
I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed
I'm not good at writing action idk I tried
old reviewers, please come back. i'm sorry i left you.
rxx
