Hellmouth #12
"The Board, Pt 3"

"AAARRRRGG!!!!" Gene screamed, releasing his hold of the stake he was attempting to bore into Yossarian's heart with. He rushed over to Lock: "Lock, buddy, we gotta get outta here. We got trouble."
"We're not leaving here until he's dust," Lock shouted, stumbling to his feet and checking himself for fatal wounds and possible concussions. Then he saw the monitors; he saw Larson and Jules keeping a host of vampires back with a limited supply of holy water bottles and Ky defending an unconscious Aimee with, strangely enough, an enchanted water hose. "No, you're right. Let's go." Lock and Gene completely forgot about the beating they just endured and every pain in their body went away on their way to the door. The door ruptured in towards them before they had the chance to reach it, and Brother, the Eastern Representative of the Board, stepped in menacingly. "Yossarian," he boomed, "Are you in need of assistance, my dear fr....." His speech was cut short when Lock's pointed wooden cross pierced his left breast and the vampire unexpectedly disintegrated to powdery dust.
" Alright, you want me to take the kitchen, I'm guessing....." Gene stated, both he and Lock in mid-sprint through the hallways.
"NO!" Lock snapped back, "I want you in the main hallways. Go ahead and give the go-ahead to the units outside, just as we planned."
"But Lock, what about Jules?"
"You can protect her just as easily as I can, now do it!"
Gene cut a sharp turn through the hallways to try and cut short the time traveled traversing the massive Aldrich Manor. "Alright, Antoine, you're in charge out there. What's the prognosis?" Gene yelled into the walkie-talkie function of his cell phone.
"Well, Lock called it; Fabini is in the mansion and he and his army are takin the front door in. They're lined up back for a while, but it looks like something happened inside cuz the line started moving in a little faster," Antoine responded.
"Damn, it's amazing that a guy as emotionally numb as Lock is can read his enemies so well," Gene noted, ducking and weaving through the hallways as fast as his feet could take him, "Go ahead and make the call. Remember: Three-pronged attack, and the third doesn't come until my Axe units are inside. I'll meet them in the main hall..... We straight?"
"Ten-friggin-four, hommes."
Outside, Antoine looked at his group, a small load of five Regulars, each fully equipped with crossbows cocked and aimed. He nodded to them and they all nodded back, returning immediately to recover their aims. His crew was lined up on the far right side of the mansion entrance, covered by some tall grass. Antoine used the same walkie-talkie phone to call over to Nicholas, who was in charge of his group of five Regulars, themselves hiding on the far left side of the mansion entrance in a large ocean of shrubbery, waiting for the call. Ryan and Lion Abbit, the Abbit twins, waited near the middle, about a hundred yards from the entryway in a mass of trees with their Axe Units. Each received a call from Antoine and a reminder of the mission statement, and they then prepped their troops. They all waited with ample anticipation, remaining calm and resilient so as the vampires, in this case Fabini's horde lined up and entering the mansion in a straight, two-fold line, wouldn't be able to smell the fear or sense the quickening of the blood flow from their hearts through their veins. They all watched Antoine's hill until a small white flag, barely seeable in the night sky, rose from the tall grass. Every unit held their collective breath. A few vampires in the rear of the pack started to sense the racing pulses around them. Then the flag dropped.
From opposing sides of the Aldrich Manor entryway, small wooden arrows tore through the chests and sides of the vampire army, dusting a solid handful. The first wave was meant to catch them off guard and confuse them; the second wave of wooden bolts were meant to take out as many as they could from a distance. The second wave managed to take down a solid dozen, about a fifth of Fabini's army in itself. The first "prong" of the attack seemed successful enough and the second was up to the Abbits and their Axe division. A grand scale war cry erupted from the lungs of the twins and the small group of eight poured down the middle of the vampire ranks, beheading as many of the fanged beasts as their blades could manage. The steady pour of vampires into Aldrich Manor became a hastened sprint inside when the horde realized they were being attacked from behind. Antoine knew that he would have to begin the third prong of the attack, and when he saw the last of the Axe Units make it through the foyer, Antoine slung his Hellfire Bomb like a major league pitcher would throw a marble. Each Regular threw the single and fragile Hellfire Bomb they carried with them at the straggling vampires or those not necessarily dusted by the first or second wave of crossbow bolts. Fabini's army was now cut in half, and that was the number they felt comfortable handling face to face.
Lock pounded on the door to the kitchen repeatedly, hearing the commotion on the other side. Loud yells of vulgar words were shot towards Ky across the door, and Lock could distinctly hear Ky returning the resentment by curiously clever means and Lock reminded himself to talk with her later about her anger management problems. Lock looked around at ways he could possibly pry the door open but saw nothing except an electronic keypad on the frame of the door. He randomly pushed series after series of button combination, and after every five buttons he heard a little noise from the keypad, a low buzz that seemingly screamed "wrong!" Lock's anger got the most of him as well until he checked the back of his belt to find that he had carried Gene's gun along with him. He took the butt of the gun and beat in the keypad until it made a gurgled dinging noise and the door shot open. All the vampire in the kitchen area stopped and looked at Lock. Ky stopped defending herself to see what her attackers were looking at. Immediately, she dropped the sink hose and quickly levitated Aimee throwing her limp body over to Lock on the other side of the electronic door. Lock caught her and immediately laid her down on the outside. The door made a cracking noise and began to slam shut again; Lock instinctively dove inside before the door closed completely and locked once again.
"What are you doing, Lock?" Ky screamed.
"What, you thought you were gonna take these guys all by yourself?" Lock asked.
"Our cover's blown....."
"Yeah, I kinda got the impression what with the screaming and the pedestrian screaming outside....."
Lock cocked the shotgun and let off a round into the first two vampires charging after him. Ky picked back up the "enchanted sink hose" and motioned to Lock to get over there towards her. Lock ran around the room twice, weaving in and out between stoves and refrigerators, eventually making it to the middle of the room, where Ky again pushed back the mob. Lock raised the gun again and aimed it like a rifle, pushing his back against Ky's.
"Yeah, umm, we're surrounded....." Lock stated.
"Thanks for that update, Mr. Jennings, now can I get my local weather?" Ky mumbled.
"Look, all we have to do is....."
"Shut up," she started whispering, "Look, I have something up my sleeve, kinda similar to this hose trick I'm doin, but I need some heavy concentration for this. Can you buy me some time?"
"How am I supposed to do that? There's like, nine vampires in here, not counting Marquez over there!"
"Lock, I trust in you, and moreso, I trust in your ability to take uncanny quantities of punishment. Just do it, please?" She handed her hose to Lock, who double fisted the two gun-like weapons he had.
"Listen up!" Lock began, " The shotgun in my right hand is loaded with enough Oak in it to put down a good handful of you and my hose here is..... well..... I'm guessing pretty holy at the moment somehow, and I know y'all cant stand that stuff. I know you all can take me and her easily, but I will definitely take the majority of you out first if you try. Any of you think you're lucky enough to make it out alive? Which one of y'all is willing to be the first to be dust?"
"Kill him," Marquez stated bluntly, and the pack started to move in.
"WAIT! Okay, y'all called my bluff! I gotcha. But I got something better in mind! Marquez. Me and you, man to..... Well, beast, I suppose. I'll put these down too; all I'll have is one stake. You kill me, and you can have her. She wont put up a fight or anything. Right Ky?" She continued mumbling things under her breath that obviously weren't in English.
"Damn," Marquez said, "I thought at least I'd hear the whole 'Take me, let her live' routine again. I mean, that kinda stuff makes me happy, because it makes both of y'all much more afraid when I kill you both anyway. But you're offering us her as a prize if you cant beat me? Plus look at you! You're torn up as it is! Look, I'm game if you are, but don't you wanna go out with a better fight?"
Lock dropped his guns and charged, nailing Marquez in the face twice and kneeing him hard in the gut. Marquez dropped to his knees and caught a viscous elbow to the skull, dropping him. He jumped back up and caught another handful of fury punches and elbows, including a sweep kick that downed Marquez yet again. Marquez jumped back up, furiously annoyed at some human being showing him up while his crew watched. Lock came in again, nailing one incensed shot to the vampire's jaw and missing the second, himself taking a hard knee to the gut and several blows to his skull. Lock's concussion started coming back on him and his feet became less sturdy. His knees buckled and he fell, catching himself with his hands on the ground and taking another kick to his exposed ribcage. He fell over onto his back and dodged a quick attack by Marquez, apparently being Marquez's kill-shot. Lock twirled his legs around and tripped the demon, cutting him down to his level. Lock sat up and grabbed his stake, driving it towards Marquez's chest. Marquez grabbed Lock's hand and slammed it to the ground; he rolled over and onto his knees, standing up to his feet, twisting Lock's arm behind his back and clutching harder to his wrist. Locked screamed in agony over the jolting pain in his arm, the bruising in his ribs, and the puncture wound in his shoulder, all being stretched and twisted while Marquez laughed a distinct and annoying chortle. He opened his mouth to say something but a crackle of what seemed like electricity popped in the air. He turned back to Ky, whose eyes were open and solid black, her lips whispering one last prayer, and the crackle burst into a solid white field of glowing energy, an intensely larger version of the hex she put on the sink hose, covering the length and width of the ceiling. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Lock looked up and immediately knew what Ky had done, and he smiled at her ingenuity. He reached behind him in his back pocket with his one free hand and pulled out a small box; he opened it up with his fingers and pulled out his one Hellfire Bomb out of the heavy padding in the small box and he threw it at the ceiling above Marquez's gang. They scattered immediately as the flames caught the ceiling and tumbled to the floor beneath it, but more importantly, the flames prompted the emergency sprinkler system in the roof to go off, cascading water throughout the entirety of the kitchen. The water passed through Ky's ceiling-wide sanctification aura, becoming holy water, burning the flesh off of every vampire in the room. Marquez whispered a small, vulgar phrase before he turned to dust completely, as did his entire regime.
Lock pulled himself to his knees and turned to Ky; her body was shaking and her eyes were slowly fading back to their natural color. The field on the ceiling faded and Ky buckled, falling to the floor. Lock shuffled to his feet and wobbled over to her, himself tripping over every step. "Ky? Ky?" he beckoned. Her eyes opened up and a smile came across her face. In a weakened whimper, she said, "Don't count me out yet. Miles to go before this old witch can hang up the broom, heh....." Suddenly and without halt, Lock gently cradled her head in his palm and placed his lips on hers. Her eyes shot wide, closed tight due to the water from the sprinklers in the roof, and slowly softened as the kiss became more passionate. The dust that had settled caked on the floor and washed away into the drain pipe wedged in the middle of the ceramic tile. Lock settled his free hand on her cheek, and her hand moved up to caress his. They held the kiss ardently, forgetting the pain or fatigue they felt or the danger thye were still in; nothing mattered but that moment and that kiss. The fire was out and the "rain" had stopped. The water floated away and every sensation they felt became more powerful than the next. Lock flexed his arms and soothingly began to lay her down on the floor. The cold wetness of the tile sent shivers throughout Ky's body, enough to wake her up from the rapture of the kiss. "Whoa, cowboy," she mumbled, her whole body moving to break the contact of his lips of which he persisted. She slid her body from under his and pulled herself to her feet; she stumbled with every step walking away from him, eventually falling back down to her knees and pulling herself back up to lean against a counter. Lock stood: "Are you okay?" he asked.
"What in the world was that?" she asked.
"I dunno. I'm guessin it turned the water to holy water or something. I thought you did it."
"Not that..... The kiss?"
"Oh..... It was a kiss."
"Got that part. Why did it happen?"
"I dunno. Everything was scary and when it was all over, I thought you were dead or something. The emotion just hit me."
"Do you share passionate kisses with Gene after every near death experience?"
Lock smiled: "Not after he stopped appreciating them....."
"Cut it out Lock! What was that?"
"Hey now, you kissed me back just as hard as I kissed you....."
"Reflex, Lock! I was pretty much caught off guard there!"
"You didn't like it?"
"That isn't the question, Lock. What about Jules?"
"What about her? This was heat of the moment! It's not like I've been thinking about..... C'mon, let's get outta here," Lock stood and paused.
"Lock?"
"C'mon! Aimee should be awake by now. If she can open the door for us from the outside, we can....."
"LOCK!"
"Ky! Look, we can talk about this later, in great detail. Hell we can bring a damn psychiatrist with us and we can analyze this into the ground but right now, Gene's in trouble and Larson and ..... Seriously, are you okay?"
Ky looked at him, her natural defenses dropping and her head swimming in a sea of confusion. Her eyes swelled and a tear fell down the cheek that Lock had held, "Yeah..... I'm just drained. That last spell did it for me. I can barely walk right now. I've never cast a spell that big before....."
"Well, plus five for style, sweetie," Lock said, placing his arm around her, assisting her to the door.
Jacob Manning stood on a third floor balcony overlooking the main hall where Larson and Jules fought for their lives. "Yes, sir, I understand. No, it's just a small domestic struggle between a few of my louder friends. No sir, no police. Don't bother with them. We can handle everything just fine. Yes, sir. Thank you. Well, I'm getting a beep, so I'll have to call you back. Yes, and congratulations on the new baby. First born, eh? I'll have to keep that in mind. Have a good one." He presses a button and brings the phone back to his ear, looking over the carnage. "Manning speaking..... No kidding, this plan's gone to hell. Are you all right? Yes, well, Fabini's here, and I'm assuming the Hunters are here for him, so I'll let them handle each other. Marquez is dead? Brother too? Right in front of you? How did you escape? That close, huh? Well, I have the money, so I'm guessing it's just me and you now. We have enough. What say we make a quick and subtle exit and leave them to their own devices. Excellent. I'll meet you at our appointed spot." Jacob closed the phone shut and placed it back in his jacket pocket. He took one last peer over the chaos that dismantled his beautiful fundraiser, shaking his head as he grabbed his money and made his way through the back halls and to the back where his private limousine waited.
Gene sprinted down the home stretch of hall leading directly to the main hallway and kicked the door, his speed carrying him clean through it. Gene tripped and hit the ground; he rolled onto his feet and struck a quick action pose, exemplifying his melodramatic fighting style. Larson and Jules threw their last holy water bottle and the vampire army stopped quick to see what broke through the door. Gene blinked, and a vampire in front screamed "GET HIM!!!!"
"Oh shi....." Gene yelled out, stopping to pivot and sprint the other way. The army charged after him, but a louder blare came rumbling through the front: Ryan and Lion pummeled and beheaded their way clean through the path, as did the rest of their Axe Units. Gene sighed and caught the axe blade that Ryan chucked at him: "Ahh, god bless the cavalry," he mumbled. The chaos came to order quickly, the axe units holding back the beasts from the front as Antoine lead the second charge of his Regulars at the rear.
"AIMEE!!!! AIMEE, CAN YOU HEAR ME???? IT'S LOCK!!! YOU HAVE TO BANG THE KEYPAD UNTIL IT OPENS!!!!" Lock yelled across the kitchen door.
"Rather crude, don't you think?" Ky said, especially surprised when she heard a loud banging noise and the door opening.
"Whatever works," Lock smiled, "Aimee, are you okay?"
"Nothing major..... Slight fracture of the dignity, there, but the nap did me some good. How'd I get out here?" Aimee asked.
"Ky'll fill you in, but she aint doin that great..... I'm headin to the main hall. Watch her for me," Lock commanded, peeling off his soaking wet tuxedo jacket and making his way down the labyrinth of hallways.
Down the final stretch of hallway, Lock could see through the door that Gene burst through and he was greatly relieved when he saw that Gene had come through in ordering the others inside. He pulled out his stake and ran through the open doorway. On first glance, the pride in his heart swelled. Jamie roundhouse kicked a vampire twice in the face, rolled between its legs when it turned around and in mid-split, he gouged the stake upwards and through the demon's heart. Art and Antoine double teamed a vampire, rapid-fire-punching it in the face continuously, making a small game out of it until Nick ran by and shot a crossbow bolt through its chest; Art and Antoine didn't like Nick stealing their glory. Through the crowd, Lock caught a glimpse of Gene, swinging his axe furiously at a target who was quickly evading the blows; it was Fabini. Lock became all business yet again; he caught eyes with Nicholas who was reloading his crossbow, and Nick fully understood. He reached around to the back of his belt and pulled out a small machete, tossing it to his captain. Lock peeled out and jumped clean through the crowd, intertwining his body through the various small battles and dustings until he was close enough to take his first swing, a swipe that cut clean through Fabini's jacket and slightly into his skin. The vampire winced and ducked, narrowly avoiding a decapitation from Gene's blade. Gene and Lock took turns taking their swings at Fabini, who escaped each slice with blinding speed and the grace of a dancer, nailing a punch to Gene and a donkey-kick to Lock's face. The wild swinging of the blade was getting them nowhere at this point, and Fabini laughed at their mild attempts at killing them and the frustration that washed over Lock's face with every swing. Lock threw the blade down and started swinging in with his fists, and again, with hastened agility, Fabini fended off every effort. Gene dove at Fabini's back with the axe in a stabbing motion and Fabini pirouetted out of harm's way, the axe instead diving into Lock's thigh. The stab wound was rather shallow, but Lock's howl of pain stunned Gene, who took a swinging fist to his temple from the vampire.
Fabini ran then, slightly out of the crowd. He knew that there was little chance that any other member of the Board was still there, and he knew even more that everything that he had drawn out for months didn't once take into consideration that the Hunters were going to show; his plan failed. His enemies were gone, and he knew that he couldn't keep up the "missed me" game with Locklear for much longer. This was most definitely Lock's fault, he thought. Without question, that boy has ruined everything in the vampire's post life since the moment they met in that alleyway months back. He would have to pay, Fabini thought, even worse than Manning and Yossarian have it coming, but definitely not tonight. Tonight is done. Fabini started to move his way towards the stairs that led to a rear exit from the main hall to the outside via a small garden. Lock pulled the axe tip out of his leg and screamed again at the pain, enough to alarm and hasten the departing vampire even more. Near the door to the exit, Fabini spotted Larson huddled behind a toppled desk, obviously waiting for the slaughter to end before showing his face. Fabini grabbed him by the back of his neck and held him up against the wall, "Well, I'm headin out, and I just wanted to thank you for that nice love tap you gave me back there earlier." Fabini gave Larson the same respect, nailing him hard in his stomach, making Larson cough up a thin stream of blood. "Give my respect to the royal family....." Fabini reached back and readied his kill-blow until Jules dove out from the same hiding spot Larson was in, waving a cross and stabbing Fabini in the back with it. Fabini dropped Larson hard and when he turned to face his assailant, things became perfectly clear to him. He grabbed Jules by her hair and dragged her into the outside garden.
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" he screamed at her as he toppled a tall statue to block the door shut; Jules knew the danger she was in, and she cried out in pain and fear. "This aint a bad thing here, sweetheart!" Her eyes poured out tears as she mumbled her pleas, nothing sounding anything coherent. "Listen, this is the best for both of us. I get to torment my enemy by killing his girlfriend," he smiled, his forehead arching and his teeth growing into a violent and horribly disfigured face, "and you get eternal life."
".....please..... Please don't do this..... I didn't do anything to you....." she begged, growling through her sobs.
"Bad associations, my dear. Hell, that's how I turned out the way I am. You don't deserve to die, but it's the choices you make that put you in this little conundrum. This is Locklear's fault, you realize, and he could be here taking your place, but he wont. We all know he wont face me one-on-one. So this is like..... Revenge on the run, I suppose. Trust me, you win in the long run." He pushed her neck to the side as she screamed in agonizing horror and he sank his fangs into her neck, draining her of her life. Back in the main hall, Lock limped his way through the path of destruction that Fabini had cleared through. The fighting was nearly over, and it was quite obvious that the Hunters would be claiming a victory in this battle. Fabini's trail went cold as the destruction slimmed to merely a few remaining vampires, all of which were attempting to escape. Against the wall, Larson was pulling himself up to his knees wiping the blood from his lips and tuxedo shirt. "Larson, where is he?" Lock yelled, running to the former Watcher as best he could.
"She's with him," Larson coughed.
"She?"
"..... Jules..... Fabini took her....." Larson pointed in the direction of the garden door. Lock sprinted over to the door and jiggled the handle, which wasn't locked but he couldn't seem to get the door open. "FABINI!!!!" he screamed across the door.
Fabini could more than hear Lock jamming the door, and he knew couldn't seem to drain Jules fast enough. His body quaked in apprehension, knowing that if Lock could manage to break down that door, there would be nothing stopping the Hunter captain from killing him. Jules was drained enough in his opinion; he let go of her body enough so that her comatose state forced her body to slump to the ground. He picked her up with his stomach to her back and he cut his wrist with her fingernail. His body shook more as the anticipation of the door breaking open became more and more severe, and he thrust his wrist to her mouth. Her body was weak and her mind was quiet, overheated from the terror, and her lips wouldn't grasp the blood-soaked wrist of the vampire. "Wake up, bitch!" he yelled, shaking her head viciously. Her mouth parted and a moan came out, but she refused to drink. The door boomed the sound of hammering on the other side, and Jules could hear her lover's voice screaming for her assailant's heart. A second boom jarred her body, thrusting it to as much consciousness as her near-bloodless body could manage. She felt her heart slowing and her eyes growing heavier, the objects around her growing blurry and the garden becoming slightly colder than it once was. The wrist directly in front of her dripped a thick, crimson liquid down Fabini's cold skin to the floor, and her inborn instinct to survive drew her to it. Her lips closed on the wrist and she nursed the blood down her throat. The blood was surprisingly cold, as if it lacked life, but it held a slow burn trickling through her body.
The door frame split through with Gene's axe and a half a second later, Lock burst through, shoulders first. He leaped over the fallen statue and immediately lifted and fired a single bolt from Nicholas's crossbow. Instinctively, Fabini turned to use his victim as a human shield, effectively letting her take the bolt in her stomach. Jules cried out in a loud shriek, falling to the ground when Fabini turned and darted towards the outside gate. Lock dashed after the monster, loading another wooden bolt into the crossbow. Fabini had gotten too close to the gate and Lock knew he wouldn't catch him, so he stopped; he lifted the crossbow like he was aiming a real bow and arrow. He took a deep breath. Fabini jumped into the air to clear the cast iron gate and Lock pulled the trigger. The arrow struck the vampire in the middle of his right calf as he cringed and screamed, eventually finding his way over the gate and out of harm's way. Lock fell to his knees; he was exhausted and everything he had hoped for tonight failed. Fabini's still out there, Manning and Yossarian got out clean, and Jules.....
"LOCK!!! LOCK!!!!" Gene screamed from the garden. Lock turned around and saw Gene, tear-stained eyes opened as wide as they ever could, holding Jules's limp body in his arms, "Lock! She's got a pulse!"