"Thunder always foreshadows a storm"
About three weeks later, in the feeding grounds
The wind rustled through the grass, stroking Claudette's and Stinky's fur, as they were training once more with their uncle. Garth was finally getting pleased with their progress.
"Well, took you long enough, but you finally got it!" he said, smiling.
"Hey, we were like, top of Alpha School!" said Claudette indignantly.
"Fighting isn't covered that much there, more hunting and stealth." Garth shook his head. "Being top of Alpha School means you are good at some things, not at everything."
Claudette rolled her eyes in response.
"Come on sis, at least we're getting good at it. And Uncle isn't exactly wrong, you must admit, we didn't do much of fighting in Alpha School." shrugged Stinky.
The young she-wolf just shrugged back. "I guess."
"Claudette, not too much fighting, remember you're pregnant!" shouted Kate from farther away.
"Alright, Mom!" she answered.
"That's enough for today. And when you don't feel alright, Claudette, tell me, alright?" said Garth, eyeing his niece seriously.
"Yeah, yeah! Come on, I might pregnant, but I don't need everybody to fuss over me!" answered Claudette exasperatedly. She went to eat with Fleet and her family, who caught a fresh kill, just for her.
Garth and Stinky returned to the wolf family.
"Dammit, Claudette can be quite prickly." chuckled Garth.
"She gets it from her side of the family." laughed Humphrey, looking at Kate, who elbowed him playfully in response.
They all kept enjoying the noon and the slightly hot mid-July sun, which was sending golden embers to the earth, which was getting slightly thirsty. The family looked up smiling when they noticed the Archmages were approaching them.
"Why you guys doing patrols anyways?" asked Humphrey. "Doesn't that shield thingy signal you when something's wrong?"
"It does, but we do patrols outside of the barrier, trying to detect anything. We don't want something lurking around without us knowing." explained Mithrandir. "Or… at the very least discover any bodies." the old wizard added, in a quieter voice.
"Don't want anymore fucked-up surprises like Winston. Had enough of that." said Kharazim, frowning.
"It's already been like three weeks." said Fannaeras, while they all sat down on the silky grass.
"We feel like the Nathrezim will come for us soon." added Shalidor.
Runt frowned in confusion. "What is a Nathrezim exactly after all?"
The Archmages looked at Fannaeras.
"It's… an extremely powerful entity, a highly intelligent demon, which can be damn resourceful. This one is summoning beings from hell. I encountered one which was calling whole armies from other dimensions, hell didn't like that guy."
"Mal'ganis?" asked the druid.
"Yep. He was a real pain in the ass, and will still probably be."
"How do you plan to finish off this… thing?" asked Garth.
The warlock hummed, trying to think of a way to explain. "Soulstones are our best hope right now, but we'll see how powerful he is. These things can be merely contained, not exactly killed, or destroyed."
"Well, that's not great to hear." said Kate worriedly.
"Don't worry, we'll most certainly try our very best and we'll do whatever it takes." said Lara decisively.
"We know that you will." smiled Lilly broadly. "You've proven this already, only too well." she chuckled.
"So, Claudette, how's pregnancy?" asked Spectrale.
The she-wolf smirked. "Much more of a hassle for others than for me, it looks like."
"You'll see how fun it is to have a small pup." her mother laughed. "It'll be more of a hassle for you than for others."
"But nothing's more fun than conceiving them. Mmm." smirked Fannaeras. The other Archmages snickered, while the wolves just rolled their eyes.
The sun started descending ever so slightly on the azure sky, but its rays were still tirelessly beating down on the earth.
*
In the summoning room of the Nathrezim
The demon sighed and kneeled in the circle. If this doesn't work, he'll have to go himself. He can't afford to waste anymore power, but he wanted to avoid facing all of the Archmages at once, he couldn't underestimate their powers and skill, that would be a fatal mistake.
He cut his wrists slightly with a claw, and raised his hands. His spread hands burst on fire once more, and this time his horns and eyes also shined brightly. The dark room brightened up with satanic light.
-̸̛̫̺́~̶̹͇͖͉̐̎́͝-̵̛̜̏͛̏̀~̶̨̡̳̱̒-̸̨͓̣̯̞̈́~̷̡͔͔̪̌͂́-̵̼̤̉̏̚̕~̵̢̔̎͗̍͛ͅ-̷̣̈̔~̵̼͙͐̊-̶͙͎̓͆
"Higher vampire, rise from dust and blood,
And return to the world of the living.
My blood I shall give thee,
And your aid thou shall give me."
-̸̛̫̺́~̶̹͇͖͉̐̎́͝-̵̛̜̏͛̏̀~̶̨̡̳̱̒-̸̨͓̣̯̞̈́~̷̡͔͔̪̌͂́-̵̼̤̉̏̚̕~̵̢̔̎͗̍͛ͅ-̷̣̈̔~̵̼͙͐̊-̶͙͎̓͆
The portal opened, and blood started to get siphoned from the demon into it. After about a minute, while the demon was muttering incantations continuously, forcing himself to continue.
Finally, a seemingly normal human stepped out of the portal. Wounds from his body were getting healed, even a deep bite in his neck sealed, becoming a mere scar.
After the ritual ended, the demon stepped up, weakened. He made a sign in the air, and a red bloody symbol burned on the vampire's forearm. He looked at him, his teeth turning into fangs, but the Nathrezim just ignored him.
He showed an image of the Archmages. "You may summon vampires from other dimensions to your aid now. No need to thank me. Go, and kill them." He then opened a portal. "Kill them, and you're free."
The monster didn't reply but merely vanished through the gateway, turning into a thick black and red mist, very similar to Kharazim's smoke form.
The demon sat back down heavily. He needed a rest from that one…
*
A few days later
The silky grass was gently laid to the ground by Dettlaff's steps, but made no rustling, or any sounds at all. It was like he wasn't even there. Not even the soft summer breeze brushed him.
"Well, I guess it is now or never." thought Dettlaff, and noiselessly approached Ithilden and Lara, who were patrolling east of the barrier, using many types of identification spells.
Lara turned and jumped slightly when she saw Dettlaff. Ithilden turned too, slightly confused. A tall man, in an elegant black frock coat stood behind them. His skin was quite pale, and he had grey, misty eyes, which looked pleasant, but strangely empty, like a thick curtain of fog was covering any emotions from showing.
"Greetings." said the vampire, with a courteous, but hollow smile and a short bow of his head.
"Greetings to you too." replied Ithilden, returning the smile.
Lara still didn't regain her composure. "Um… hello." she said with an awkward wave of her hand. "Who would you be, exactly?" she inquired.
"My name is Dettlaff van Eretein." he answered. I also am a mage, and I thought you could use my help.
"Um-" began Lara, but Ithilden was already stepping towards Dettlaff, before she could even start.
"Well, hello! I am a druid, my name is -" but before the druid could continue, he only had time to raise his hand protectively when he saw the flash of a claw.
He had no way to stop the vampire from slashing him. A claw pierced his chest, while two
slashed his arm and one grazed his face. The vampire was bringing down the left one to slash the druid's head, but it was stopped by Lara's sword. She parried it, dodged under his right claw, cutting his hip while in passing.
She used the few short moments her enemy staggered to call the other Archmages. Ithilden also had time to heal, whilst he protected himself with roots. Dettlaff charged towards her, briefly becoming invisible. Lara kept dodging and dashing out of his way, until the vampire became visible again. The she-elf went on the offensive, dashing, so she could strike him from behind. Dettlaff parried her sword, but was forced to keep parrying. Finally, the vampire managed to break her flurry with a fluid deflect, and Lara barely had time to summon a gust of wind to make Dettlaff's claw veer off course, while she dodged out of the way.
A lightning bolt hit Dettlaff from behind, making him turn. The other mages had arrived. Ithilden also finished healing. Using her momentum, Lara tried to backstab him, but the vampire grabbed her sword, and threw her powerfully into a tree.
Dettlaff parried Spectrale's arrow, dodged Shalidor's fireballs, but Mithrandir's whips hit their target, and Fannaeras summoned chains which drained him of stamina, and Ithilden burned him with sunlight. Kharazim tried to go in for a few hits, but Dettlaff disappeared. He appeared behind the monk and tried to slash him, but he was parried with claws. Their foe was slightly surprised, but didn't let it slow him down, as he kicked and threw Kharazim away. Spectrale, invisible, drove a knife through his stomach from behind, but the vampire dug his claws into Spectrale's shoulder, slamming him onto the ground in front of him. As he tried to bite him, Shalidor's and Mithrandir's fireballs hit him square in the head, and then Lara slashed his back, only to give Kharazim an opening to kick him powerfully in the head.
The other Archmages kept trying to hit him from a distance, but to no avail, as their foe was too fast. The vampire then gave a deafening roar, the mark on his forearm shining like a star, and two portals opened, and out of them two other vampires made their appearances. One of them looked like a naked woman, but her face looked nothing like men; it was contorted and she had horribly long fangs and claws. The other was a large abomination, hard to even look at. Spikes traced its long back, while two large horns decorated its deformed head, and he had pads between his long, sharp as daggers claws.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" screamed Lara, while she dashed away.
The female's inhuman scream made Shalidor and Ithilden have to shield themselves for it, while the whole forest echoed it. The other leapt from tens of feet away onto Fannaeras and Mithrandir who barely had time to dodge.
They all gathered together and Shalidor and Fannaeras raised a barrier over them.
"What do we do?!" asked Lara, while the two vampires hacked and slashed at the shield, and Dettlaff and the Archmages were rushingly healing.
"Ithilden and I will take the she-vampire. Fannaeras, Mithrandir, you take whatever the fuck is that other thing. Lara, Spectrale, Kharazim, don't let that powerful one escape, keep him busy." said Shalidor in a clear voice. They all nodded, and the human and blood-elf caused their barriers to explode, leaving them a brief opening to strike first.
Shalidor and Ithilden quickly went for the woman. Ithilden was tripping and slowing her down, while Shalidor summoned a flame atronach, and started hitting her with lightning spells. Meanwhile, Fannaeras hit the vampire with green-flaming skulls, forcing it to the ground, while Mithrandir hit it with fire, and also cut it with his sword.
Spectrale kept surprising Dettlaff with different attacks, reappearing from all directions, while Kharazim and Lara also proved to be quite tough, by parrying and deflecting. They left him no time to hit.
After a few intense minutes, with plenty of shielding, slashing, dashing, and spells, finally the fight was coming to our heroes' favour. Shalidor slashed the she-vampire's arms off with a conjured sword, while Ithilden brought down on her the wrath of the sun. Fannaeras finally immobilized the monster, draining it of life and stamina, and Mithrandir decapitated it. Kharazim bit Dettlaff on the shoulder and drew some blood, but by the time he threw the monk off, Spectrale had blinded him with a spell, and Lara cut off his hand which he tried to raise defensively. The vampire screamed, and the mark on its forearm shined once again, and none of the Archmages expected neither a swarm of thousands of bats to come down upon them, nor for the bodies of the other two vampires to… explode.
All the Archmages staggered and shielded themselves, while Dettlaff turned into his mist form and managed to worm his way out of the fight. Ithilden tapped his staff on the ground, and it released a burst of sunlight, which dispersed the bats. But they all swore loudly when they saw mere traces of Dettlaff's smoke form, which clearly indicated he had escaped them.
"What in the whole sweet hell was that?" asked Fannaeras, while he was healing.
Kharazim was quick to respond."Higher vampire. And a real fuckin' powerful one at that." he sighed. "His special trait is to summon lesser vampires to his aid. And this one can call them from across dimensions, apparently. We faced a fleder and a bruxae now. But they are more species, and he'll call upon them, no doubt."
"Great. Just fuckin' great." said Shalidor ironically. "And after Babadook, I almost thought this shit can't get worse." he shook his head.
Ithilden chuckled darkly. "It always can get worse, friend. Always."
*
After a few moments
The Archmages had finally healed after the fierce battle with Dettlaff, and at the time they finally thought they had a few moments of peace, they felt that something was tearing at their barrier. In a flash, they were already there.
The higher vampire, using his almost regenerated hand, was trying to force open the barrier with magic, and two bruxas stood at his side, clawing ferociously at the magic shield.
"FUS, RO DAH!"
Shalidor threw them back with a powerful shout, but Dettlaff's attempt to break the barrier sadly succeeded just in time, and the two vampires disappeared in, the Archmages' spells missing them. Dettlaff had vanished once more.
"After 'em!" Kharazim shouted, and they quickly followed them.
They tracked them rather easily, as the protective spells didn't leave them room to cover their tracks, or manage to become invisible.
But, by the time they arrived, five bloodied and massacred wolves were already laying on the ground, and the vampires tried to advance further, towards Kate's family. The wolves were fast, but no wolf was fast enough to dodge a vampire.
Ithilden and Lara hurried to try and save whatever was left of the brave alphas, while the others quickly stopped the bruxas. They were much slower because of the spells, so they were easier to take down. One fell by Shalidor's lightning bolts and Mithrandir's sword, and the other was left dead by Fannaeras' life-sapping spells and Spectrale's well aimed stabs.
Shock was an outrageous understatement to describe the wolves' faces.
"How were they so fast?!" cried Kate. "If you wouldn't have been here, we'd have all been dead meat, for sure!"
"They're fuckin' vampires. They're demonic beings, faster than the wind, drinking blood and live for only one purpose: to kill and devour. Those are the lower ones. Ruled by instinct. But our greater foe is a higher vampire. Goes by Dettlaff. A higher vampire, which means he's a lower vampire one hundredfold at least. And he's ruled by thought, which makes him even worse. He summons these wretched beasts to come to his aid." explained Kharazim.
"Is there even a way to stop that thing?!" asked Garth, wide eyed.
"Only by another higher vampire's fangs may he come to an end. And that vampire will be me." the monk added.
Lara and Ithilden came over.
"Two of the wolves couldn't make it. The other three will, with a few days of rest." they said.
Stinky and Claudette hurried over to the two bodies and examined them. Two almost identical pure silver-furred wolves, one's abdomen ripped open, and the other muzzle bitten cleanly off. The two young ones came back, Claudette with her eyes wet, but both looked like they were just on the edge of being sick.
"Silver and Moonlight are the ones dead. Twins, too. Hutch, Dan and Chase survived, though." said Claudette, a few tears making their way down her muzzle. "We went to Alpha School with them."
Stinky added in a sorrow-filled tone. "They were so nice, always! And now they're dead, just like that, in mere seconds!"
"And they may not be the last." said Spectrale disgustedly. "Sometimes even we can't save everyone. And it's vampires we're on about here."
"It's fine. You're trying your best anyways, we know that." said Lilly firmly. "Don't blame yourselves, we anyways would have all been dead long ago, had you not come."
"I think it's time for you guys to be able to defend yourselves better too." said Shalidor. He was conversing quickly and quietly with Mithrandir, Fannaeras, Lara, Ithilden and Kharazim for the past minute. "Follow us."
Confused, but their minds burning with curiosity, the wolves started following the mages.
*
About 10 minutes later, in a cave
Runt was gaping at what was inside the cave. "How come we've never seen this?!"
"We've put protective spells over it. We didn't want anyone to mess with the crystals and spells." explained Lara.
Garth rubbed his left shoulder. "I feel… heavy, as though someone put an elk on my shoulders."
Shalidor smiled. "That'll be the magic in the air. There's very intense and powerful spells and crystals at work here, of course you'd feel it."
"Alright…" replied Humphrey.
"What did you bring us here for, anyway? And where did Lara just disappear to?"
"She's bringing some others we want to talk to."
Right on time, Lara walked in, with none other than the Royal Family following in her wake.
The wolves immediately bowed.
"Rise, rise, friends, please!" said King Bear. "But I must ask, what is this place?"
"Oh my! These crystals are so beautiful!" exclaimed Canue with a look of awe on her face, as she approached the crystal, but Fannaeras's hand came to stop her, frowning firmly.
"No touching." Canue tried to get around his hand, but the warlock kept blocking her.
"But they're so pretty!" the princess protested.
The blood-elf laughed and smiled sardonically.
"If you wanna die from the shock of power, be my guest, your Highness."
The princess frowned at him, but backed up and said no more.
"So, what have you gathered us here for?" asked Queen Bear curiously.
"We want to put yet another crystal here. This one shall give you powers. It shall make you stronger, faster, more agile, and enhance pretty much all the physical attributes you have."
"We want you to be able to defend yourselves. We can't just go on like this, sooner or later you'll all die if we don't do this now." added Spectrale.
King Bear sighed deeply, thinking. "Shall this be for all our subjects?". The Archmages nodded.
"Well…" he hummed, thinking.
"It's only for their good." shrugged Fannaeras.
"Alright. I shall give them consent afterwards. They won't mind." the bear chuckled slightly.
"They are thinking highly of you now." Claudette chimed in. "In the beginning, they were less trusting, but now they really like you." she smiled.
"At least that." shrugged Kharazim.
Spectrale laughed. "It's totally not like we'd have done it anyways." he said ironically.
"Alright. Do it." said Canue.
"Get out of the cave, then, please.", said Shalidor. And so, all the animals stepped out.
Ithilden took out five different crystals from a small satchel. One was a bloody-red cube, another a malachite-green diamond, the third was a misty-silver sphere, the fourth was an arctic-blue star, and the last one was a pale-pink heart.
"Strength, stamina, agility, speed and lastly, regeneration." He named them. "All five are here. Let's do this."
They all stood in different positions, and different colored beams erupted from their hands, and the crystals slowly were rising upwards. They all chanted together the following words, in a perfectly matched tonality and strength of voice:
-̸̛̫̺́~̶̹͇͖͉̐̎́͝-̵̛̜̏͛̏̀~̶̨̡̳̱̒-̸̨͓̣̯̞̈́~̷̡͔͔̪̌͂́-̵̼̤̉̏̚̕~̵̢̔̎͗̍͛ͅ-̷̣̈̔~̵̼͙͐̊
"Robur. Stamina. Agilitatem. Velocitas. Neogenesis. Venit in esse e tua potentia nobiscum!"
-̸̛̫̺́~̶̹͇͖͉̐̎́͝-̵̛̜̏͛̏̀~̶̨̡̳̱̒-̸̨͓̣̯̞̈́~̷̡͔͔̪̌͂́-̵̼̤̉̏̚̕~̵̢̔̎͗̍͛ͅ-̷̣̈̔~̵̼͙͐̊
They repeated this phrase three times. The crystals were shining more and more, each one in a different color. The mages lowered their hands, and then they knelt, and put their hands into the ground. Completely different colored beams went through the rocks and connected with the crystals once more. The light stopped to intensify after another few moments. They all got up and did precisely the same complex moves, and clapped their hands together, and closed their eyes. The crystals burst out with light, their magnificent colors filling the room.
Finally, the Archmages let down their hands, and with one sign, the spell was sealed.
"Alright, it's on. Let's get outta here." said Lara. And with that said, they all left the cave, sealing the entrance with another few runes and signs.
"It worked, must've!" shouted Stinky. "I feel so much faster and stronger!"
"This is amazing!" said Runt and Ann, enjoying the feeling running through their veins.
"Let those beasts come! We're gonna destroy them!" added Claudette smugly.
"Don't be overconfident, Claudette. Underestimating your foe can bring you your doom." frowned Garth.
"Your uncle's not wrong. Vampires still need to be fought very carefully, and not underestimated one bit.
Ithilden grinned. "Yep. All of them combined also boost our magic, so we also got that."
"The Royal Family is letting his subjects know right now.", said Lilly.
"Well, good. Dettlaff's sure not gonna back down, not one bit." nodded Shalidor.
Kharazim grimaced. Lara was quick to question him:
"What?"
"I think I feel something south, outside the barrier. We gotta go, right now." he answered.
Garth quickly spoke up: "You have no excuses, we're coming too." he said, putting his paw down. "It's our territory, after all." The Archmages didn't respond, merely opened portals, and they all quickly went through.
*
They emerged near a beautiful river, and they quickly looked around. They heard nothing but the calm gurgling of the river, but they were all ready to battle, sitting next to each other. Shalidor and Fannaeras quickly were creating runes around them.
Suddenly, Lara parried seemingly nothing, but when she cut aggressively, a short scream was heard and a vampire appeared. She was similar to the bruxae, looking partially like a woman, but this one had white hair and misty silver eyes. Mithrandir and Ithilden started fighting it, while another abomination staggered, and made itself visible. It looked slightly like a bat with two huge ears on its head, its forehead split into two horns. Shalidor and Fannaeras took their moment to keep attacking it. Another creature perfectly similar to the other she-vampire also appeared, and the seven wolves took it upon themselves to kill her. Kharazim, Lara and Spectrale saw Dettlaff looming, in his mist form, and forced him to fight them.
Even after several minutes, all of them were still locked in battle. The wolves were dodging, biting and scratching around the second woman. Humphrey and Kate were cut across their shoulders, but Garth was quick to stop her advancing and locked his jaws onto her head, just below the ear. She tried to get him off, but Stinky seized her left forearm, Claudette her right shoulder, while he two Omegas, Ann and Runt, stopped her from using her hands. She screamed horribly, but it didn't hit the wolves, as they were sure to stay out of its way. The she-vampire was caught in a headlock, and she was slowly bleeding out.
Fannaeras managed to get the monstrosity to try to strike him with both its arms, so Shalidor could hit him full on the head with the Fire Breath shout. The vampire, disoriented, screamed and tried to leap away, but icy spikes came from the ground at Shalidor's command, and impaled its legs. Fannaeras then spread chains around its body, locking it in place, and draining its vital energy.
Ithilden hit the woman with multiple sunbursts. She tried to become invisible, but the marks still could be seen, so Mithrandir cut one of its arms right off, and knocked her onto the ground, where she started to get swallowed into the ground. Ithilden had planted his hands into the ground, and was burying the struggling she-vampire into the very earth, and Mithrandir whipped it with his fire spells.
Spectrale blinded Dettlaff with an arrow, black dust and a spell. He still managed to parry Lara's sword, by hearing her, but he had no chance of stopping Kharazim from shoving his claws into his back. Dettlaff's mark shined, and he released a burst of energy. He teleported to Spectrale and bit deeply into his neck and drew a bit of blood before the Nightingale stabbed him in the stomach, and managed to escape. Dettlaff then became invisible, and managed to hook Kharazim's arm into his claw, and threw him into a tree. He couldn't advance onto him however, as Lara blew a strong gale at him, and kicked him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. He released a swarm of black bats at her, which tried to claw her, but she quickly shielded herself, and she blew up the shield, dispersing the bats. Only then she realized Dettlaff only wished to escape. She then quickly went to heal Spectrale and Kharazim.
Fannaeras finally finished draining the vampire of life essence, and Shalidor conjured a sword and decapitated it ; for good measure.
Ithilden suffocated the she-vampire, and Mithrandir set fire to the patch, before the druid sealed it, only burning sounds could be heard from the inside.
The woman found her way out of Garth's powerful hold, but as she was about to try and bite him, an arrow pierced the back of her head, its tip coming out right through the mouth, and it paralyzed her whole jaw. The arrow was none other than Spectrale's. Ithilden quickly rushed to heal Kate and Humphrey, while Lara just finished patching up Kharazim. The fight was over.
"God fucking damn it. That was intense." said Fannaeras, using a soulstone to heal up.
"Couldn't have said it better, Fann." affirmed Kharazim, stretching his limbs.
Humphrey perked his head up from the ground, as Ithilden finished healing him and his mate. "What were those, again?" he asked exasperatedly.
"The two woman-looking ones were alps. Dangerous cousins of the bruxas. Shalidor and Fannaeras fought a katakan."
"Cool names." mumbled Runt. "If they only were easier to take down."
"Told ya, they aren't to be estimated. Only now can you keep up with them." spoke Fannaeras.
"Two nights 'till full moon. That's gonna be a hell of a night. Dettlaff's already gathering up strength, I can feel it." said Kharazim, raising his eyebrows worriedly.
"You can't tell where he is?" asked Spectrale.
"Nope." the monk answered. "But I can tell you, it's gonna be a tense battle. I think he's gonna get loads of vampires now. Like, loads."
"Let us prepare ourselves then, we can't give 'em a warm welcome." smirked Lara.
"You know we got our pack and the bears in the fight too. Odds are a bit more in our favour."
Spectrale laughed.
"I don't know exactly when they ever WERE in our favour. But, let us go!"
With that, the Archmages opened portals back to the territory, and they went through them, to announce and prepare for the battle they had to fight.
The sun was making its way down the bolt commencing yet another peaceful night, but there was evil lurking in the background. The sky turned blood red, seeming to foresee what was going to follow in the night after the one to come.