Disclaimer: As chapter one so please don't make me write it all out again. This is for fun and not for profit.
WARNING: LOTS OF VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE; SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
All reviews, and constructive criticism, gratefully received – but no flaming please; and I will try to update regularly.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Summary: Death is up for the final conflicts; the vampire one is next.... ENxOFC, BCxSS
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SAVIOUR
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Back in the fight it was not going well for the vampires loyal to May and the others. Death decided to intervene. It stepped gracefully off the edge of the roof, landing with a deep thud between Stan and Eric, who'd been badly bitten by the dark haired vampire as he'd despatched another of the former's fighters.
Rising slowly it levelled the cowboy with a purple gaze "so, you are the fool who tests my patience? Hmmm, somehow I thought you'd be......."
"Taller?" Stan couldn't help but preen.
"More intelligent...." it said; adding, as Stan glowered "but then if that were so, you wouldn't be fucking with me would you?"
"I can fuck with anyone I want – even you sweetheart; that magic trick don't scare me!" he waved to her eyes.
"No? How about this then?" the creature held out its hands slightly and began to rise, the glow from its eyes rolling out and surrounding its body with wispy tendrils lifting it from the ground until it was high above the vampires in a luminescent orb, its hair floating as if caught in a maelstrom around it.
Stan stood looking up at it, open mouthed in shock, as the creature laughed harshly "what's the matter vampire? Suddenly you do not look so sure you're on the winning side – could it be because you're not? You should pick your fights more carefully."
It revolved slowly in the air until it was looking at Godric – he was fighting three vampires and doing well; but Death had other plans. It flung out an arm and the air around Godric rippled; something – even he couldn't see what – spun through the vampires he was fighting, stopping them in their tracks. As he looked on, their corpses fell to the ground in dismembered pieces; he looked to the creature who merely shrugged "I have another purpose for you Godric, friend of Eric. You must protect him for the one inside – she wishes to fight only for him; but I have other plans."
Godric nodded and moved to Eric's side; he helped stop the blood with Pam's aid, but the wound was severe. She looked at the thing that was May "I am so glad I am loyal to Eric; I wouldn't want to be fighting with those doomed bastards" she indicated the vampires lining up to face Death "she freaks me out."
The ancient vampire with her eyed her carefully "it is not May – it's not even a she.....I don't know what that is Pam, and I have no wish to find out; I am only thankful I fight with it and not against it."
Death turned from the hoards of vampires before it – it came to Eric; running a hand over his throat the wound healed even more quickly than it would normally. The thing rolled its eyes "perhaps now she will let me end this. Come Viking, come fight with your mate."
Godric, Eric, The Magister and Death lined up before the other vampires and Stan. Death stepped forward "I have other enemies to fight this night; though they are weaker and less equipped than you and, surprisingly, even more stupid, I wish to end this uprising."
She turned to the Magister "call your vampires back – I do not wish to harm those fighting with the one inside and that is to whom you are loyal."
He nodded "she entertains me, she intrigues me....."
"And yet she is with him" a pale hand pointed to Eric "she will never forsake him."
The Magister nodded "I understand that, but I still wish to keep her close – I wish to ensure her safety, for my own entertainment if nothing else. Besides" he flashed his fangs in a mirthless grin "it's been more than a few decades since I've had a good fight – bureaucracy is very boring."
The creature nodded "understood, but call your followers to you – you will need to pick off the stragglers; what you do with your traitors is yours and the sheriffs choices."
With a signal from the Magister the other vampires that had come at his command dropped back to the main house. Death began to chant "Death binds the traitors, of loyalty and kind, to their putrefaction. Death binds them for all eternity admit them only to Hades and allow them no peace...." it repeated the words over and over; Godric looked on, horrified, yet no one else understood why.
Those around them began to ripple once more – tendrils of the purple phosphorescence that surrounded Death once again began to snake out towards the vampires that were with Stan. They radiated a strange warmth those with the creature noted, and certainly as soon as it struck the first vampire it screeched and screamed in pain and looked as if it had been burnt with acid.
Soon enough the vampire's skin began to rot and peel away, even as it was still standing, still screaming. Even as the other vampires began to panic and try to run, for most it was already too late; the purple haze had reached them.
The vampires on the porch with Death looked on in mute horror as their own kind began to die slowly and painfully. Inside, looking out from a window, Jessica buried her face into Hoyt's chest, and Sookie kept Bill's face away from where Lorena was already starting to rot where she stood.
The young woman knew that Bill loved her, but she was also fully aware of vampire loyalty to their makers – she wanted him safe and damn the consequences; she slipped to the ground once more, apparently in a dead faint and so Bill rushed to her side (as she knew he would) and didn't see his maker's demise......until it was too late and he registered her loss.
He knew he should mourn her passing, but instead he felt free.....finally.
0-0-0-0
Death continued to chant, the combined voices of the creature and May rising to a crescendo that echoed around the area. The vampires with Stan continued to die as he was held, unscathed and terrified, in place by the sheer will of Death.
It's hair, a fiery mantle the night it killed the Manaed and their followers; was a halo of purple luminescence that was breathtaking in its beauty even as it was the ultimate destruction of so many.
Finally the creature stopped chanting and turned to the vampires with it "finish the cowards that run from their fate – you will find them easily, my chant will light your way." Sure enough the likes of Eric, Godric and the others saw that those who were running were lit up like purple beacons; glinting like lilac diamonds in the moonlight as they ran, bloody tears of fear and blind panic coursing down their pale white cheeks.
The creature descended the steps of Bill Compton's home and proceeded to walk around Stan. Eric noted his face was covered in blood; at first the blond Viking thought it was where he'd been fighting, but then realised – with disgust – that the vampire had actually been crying.
Death came to stand before Stan once more "you have been judged, vampire. You have been found....." there was a pause "....wanting."
It reached out and touched his chest – Godric flinched, knowing first hand how that hurt. But then he saw its hand begin to enter Stan's chest – melting through the skin, muscle, sinew and even the bones of his ribs to reach his silent heart.
Ripping it from his chest Death held the unmoving organ before its owner's horrified gaze. "Oh do not worry, Stan. You will live as long as I decree you should; this heart is what made you human once. It beat a rhythm that your body followed, until it was silenced – then all stopped, but still it resided in your chest, perhaps waiting to start beating again?"
Stan wordlessly reached for the cold heart – but Death pulled it back from his clutching fingers. It smiled darkly "let us make it beat again" and it did. With a slight flexing of its gore covered fingers the heart began to beat.....
Stan screamed, long and loud. Death grinned "it hurts does it not? You feel not only your own approaching demise, but also the death you inflicted on so many others – not just those you fed from; but others of your kind who you betrayed."
Stan rocked back on his heels, but still remained upright. The screaming away from them had long ceased and the vampires of the Magister were slowly returning, their faces covered in the blood of their enemies.
His wailing ceased abruptly "shut up" the creature hissed "you scream like a girl; but let me help you....you will not need a voice where you are going."
Its other hand reached out and delved into his throat – his voice box came free with a gentle tug. All noted that none of the wounds were healing.
Death looked at him with disgust "you are a traitor; you betrayed your own kind. Now meet your fate....."
The purple tendrils reached out to the vampire before her – his eyes wide with terror, he could not even scream as they forced their way into his eyes; the orbs bubbling and then bursting. His ears, which sloughed off revealing the bone beneath and finally down his throat – burning through the already open wound to expose the spine behind; eventually the creature allowed him to slump to the ground, where he lay writhing in agony until...finally.....he went still.
As with the Manaed corpses at May's house, so the ground here swallowed the vampire ones. Godric stepped forward "is it necessary to bind them so?"
Death shrugged "they betrayed you; what do you care?"
Eric moved to stand with Godric "what have you done? Are they not in Helvete?"
"No, Viking. They reside here" Death swept its arm out "in the ground, bound to their corpses until they rot to white bone. That will take some time; only then will they be admitted to Hades...or Helvete as you call it."
The Magister looked intrigued "I did not even think we had souls once we turned...."
"You do; they stay, only your heart stops beating, your lungs stop breathing – but you continue to exist. As centuries pass your soul tires; it was not meant for eternal living, but it stays with you none the less. Theirs will stay with them, until the binding reaches the point that they are released. It is a just punishment."
Eric was not so sure – to be buried alive for what could be centuries? After all, no one knew how long a vampire took to rot; they'd never died like this before. Always burnt by the sun or staked; it was quick and final, no rotting in the ground like a human for them......until now.
Death glanced down the road "the others are coming" it nodded, seemingly surprised "I thought they would wait until daylight – cowards that they are, I believed they would wish to strike while you were unable to fight them."
It gave a mirthless smile "it seems that they are either more stupid than even I thought, or they have more belief in their abilities than they should."
"How long?" Eric nodded at the road.
"A few hours – rest, vampire; the night is yet young. Take your mate; for now, I release her." The purple haze dwindled rapidly; the eyes blinked and were suddenly blue again.
"May?" Eric murmured.
She flew to him "are you alright? I could see you were hurt, but it kept trying to distract me" She ran her hands over him, checking he was unhurt; then gently touched his neck "you were bitten....."
"I healed – as I always do." He smiled down at her as he drew her to him.
"Be careful – I worry...."
"It's that thing you do...." Eric smiled at her as he caressed her face; his love shining for her alone. Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her into the house "Compton! We need a bedroom......"
0-0-0-0
Miles away, but gaining ground – came the final conflict that May and Death would face. They were as evil as any that the ancient creature inside May had ever dealt with - yet their faces shone with the fervour of the devout; their eyes were alight with the conviction of righteousness and their souls sung to the tune of slaughter......
