-CHAPTER 3-
Sora woke up at 6:30 in the morning, a habit she was trying to break. Lucian had taught her to be like a real vampire and stay up all night. She had done so when living with him, but since she moved in with Clara, she was trying to be more human. It was working, but she was just waking up really early.
Rather than try and get back to sleep, Sora got out of bed, smoothing out the wrinkles of her nightshirt as she stretched. After the nightmare, Sora's sleep was restless, her subconscious triggering her to wake up at any suspicious moments in dreams. She didn't recall any dreams after the nightmare, but didn't bother with it.
Sora walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a cup and poured herself some soda. Clara depended solely on coffee for her caffeine, while Sora hated the black beverage and turned to soda. She could wake up just as easily without any caffeine, but she liked the rush.
Speaking of coffee, Clara would probably be waking up in about an hour, and would be demanding her cup, with her face planted in the table until she got it. Sora readied the coffee pot with twelve cups (6 oz. cups, not 8 oz.), poured three scoops of coffee grinds inside of the filter, and turned it on. The machine gurgled before beginning its brewing process, the scent of water hitting the grinds producing a displeasing scent to Sora's senses, and she grimaced slightly before taking another swig of her soda. She could hear someone shuffling about in their room; Kurt was awake, but wasn't planning on coming out for awhile.
Half an hour later, Clara woke up, groggy. She trudged into the kitchen, and saw the coffee pot finished brewing. She came over to Sora and gave her a light hug. "I love you," she said. Sora grinned, "Yeah, only until the coffee's gone. Wake up, kiddo."
Clara poured a big mug of the black beverage and sat at the breakfast bar, folding her arms over the counter, resting her forehead on them. Sora glanced over at her and finished off her soda. "How'd you sleep?"
"Terribly. I had a lot of nightmares."
"You too?"
"What'd yours have?" That was a tradition of theirs; Sora didn't really believe in it since it never worked for her, but Clara sometimes did; whenever they got really bad nightmares they would tell each other about them, and hopefully they would go away.
"My father," Sora said dryly. "You?"
"Not sure... one thing was for sure, it was magic influenced; I couldn't wake up for awhile, and when I did, I couldn't scream for you. It was just filled with a lot of memories, good at first, then progressing into bad."
"Taryn?"
Clara fell silent, and took the first sip of her coffee, shrugging. "I'm not sure... you know he never wanted to hurt me, why would he now?"
"Because your family kicked him out?"
"That's not a legitimate answer, Sora..." Clara mumbled, taking another gulp of coffee and pushing her glasses up on her nose.
"Clara," Sora began, resting her chin in her hand, "last night, after I woke up from my nightmare, I felt a really strong magic presence, and it was nowhere near here."
"What about it?"
Sora hesitated, looking around. Clara didn't want to believe it may be Taryn, but Sora had to bring forth evidence. "...It felt a lot like your power, Clara. It was from a Belnades, I have no doubts about that."
Clara's face paled, and both of them stayed silent for a moment. When Clara opened her mouth to speak, she was cut off by a door opening, followed by Kurt coming out of his room. Clara shut up and turned back to her cooling cup of coffee. "We'll talk later."
Sora nodded, and Clara finished the cup, turning around and smiling to Kurt as he came in. "'Morning. Want some coffee, soda, juice?"
"Blood?" Sora whispered silently. Kurt shook his head, declining Clara's offer.
Clara got up and poured herself another cup of coffee, and sat down. "Kurt, we'll be going out tonight, so tomorrow, be a little quiet so we can try and get some sleep, okay? How'd you sleep last night?"
"Alright, I suppose," Kurt replied. "I mean, as comfortable as anyone can in a new place."
"Wimp," Sora murmured.
Clara just lifted an elbow and calmly rammed it into her friend's ribs.
*
That night, Eric came along with Mazier and Lilith to pick up Clara and Sora. Clara hurried to the kitchen, careful not to trip over the hem of her blue dress, and grabbed some money, giving it to Kurt.
"This is in case you want to order a pizza or go and get a soda or anything; there's a convenience store on the corner. If we're not back in the morning, Eric's number is on the fridge, you'll be calling his grandpa; ask him if he's seen us. If not, he'll know what to do, trust me. Think you'll be okay?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I should."
"Great. Don't go any further than the convenience store if you have to leave; it's not really safe around here at night," Clara warned, and hurried to her bedroom, grabbing her staff before leaving.
Mazier looked over to Sora. "Hey, you want the claymore or the katana?"
"What're you using?" Sora asked, quirking an eyebrow. Mazier reached into his trench coat, pulling out a gun that was about twice the size of a pistol, only the barrel was a good foot and a half long. Mazier grinned. "13mm explosive shells. The bullets have holy water in them."
"You still need a sword," Lilith murmured.
"I'll take the katana," Sora replied, catching it as Mazier lightly tossed it to her in its scabbard.
Clara clutched her staff, the Belnades Staff, the actual staff that Sypha used over 500 years ago. "Isn't that heavy?" she asked. Sora shook her head, strapping it across her back. Mazier, Lilith, and Sora were the only ones in the group who could use a katana. Not only did they have the superior strength to wield it, they were tall enough. Mazier's katana was six feet long, whereas he stood a good seven feet; Lilith's was shorter by about eight inches, and Mazier's alternate, which he let Sora use, was a couple of inches longer than Lilith's.
"Where are we going tonight?" Clara asked. Lilith answered, not looking in her direction. "Mazier found the location of one of the demons we were talking about earlier; it's very close by."
"Do you even know what kind of demon it is?" Eric asked.
"Nope," Mazier replied, "And we don't have any time to waste. Let's go."
*
Mazier led them to a nightclub a few miles away, and before they went in, Clara halted. Eric stopped, turning around. "Clara, what is it?"
Clara stared blankly at the nightclub door. "There's a whole nest of vampires in there; too many. We'll die if we go in there."
"Anything else?" Mazier asked, keeping his hand on the handle of his gun inside his coat. Clara closed her eyes, trying to scan the club.
"There's... something in there... but I don't know what. It's powerful. We can't go in there yet. Something's happening."
Sora sighed, looking at the ground. Finally, she looked up and said, "How about we peek in through one of the windows?"
Eric stared blankly at her. "...Sor, they're completely cloudy glass, you know, where you can't look through them?"
"Hello?" Lilith spoke up. "Vampires here. We can see through them no matter what?"
Mazier patted her on the back and walked over to one of the windows. Clara huddled closer to Eric, scared. "Be careful."
He scoffed, and looked in, narrowing his eyes to see through the haze of cigarette smoke in the place. "Uh... looks like some sort of fight going on..." he pressed his ear up against the wall. "Some guy in there is claiming to be what the vampires are calling 'Silver Wing'."
Lilith's eyes widened. "Maz, we better leave."
"Why?"
"You know Silver Wing!"
Eric looked around. "Wha, who's Silver Wing?"
Lilith backed up a few steps. "He's older than Mazier, I'll tell you that."
"He a Vampire?"
Lilith shook her head. "Worse than a Vampire; Incubus. A really powerful one."
"He's the first," Mazier murmured.
What happened next, everyone could hear: the vampires inside began screaming. Clara looked around frantically, trying to think of something. "What's happening?"
"I... can't tell. He just touched a vampire... and it dropped dead."
Sora stared at him in disbelief. "What...? How?"
"Now none of them are moving..."
Clara's eyebrows pinched together. "I say we just blow up the place; all I have to do is just cast a fire spell... it should become one big bomb when it reaches the alcohol... no matter that it's a vampire nest, there's still gotta be some wine or beer in there."
"I like that idea," Lilith said softly. Mazier nodded, and backed up about fifty feet, everyone else following and ducking behind the nearest building.
"Alright, Clara!" Eric shouted, "Torch the sucker!"
Clara nodded, and held her staff in front of her, parallel to the ground. She closed her eyes, first of all, casting a protective spell so she wouldn't get taken with the blast. She then slowly turned her staff until it was vertical, silently and quickly murmuring a spell. Her palms, wrapped around the staff, began to glow red, small embers falling from them onto the ground below. She then opened her eyes as she said the last word of the spell, and opened her arms wide, her staff still standing as she let forth a burst of flames from her hands. She quickly closed her hands around the staff again, bracing herself as the ball of flame crashed through the door. Sure enough, she was right, and a small explosion was heard as it hit a beer bottle, causing a chain reaction, hitting the caskets. Shrieks were heard as the vampires right next to the explosion were incinerated, and soon after, the whole nightclub exploded. Clara let out a light whimper as she stood her ground, the flamed and debris flying past her, crashing into the shield.
As the flames rose, everyone saw a figure leaping up into the sky, opening a pair of bright silver wings and flying away. Mazier took his gun, pointed up, and began firing, and Lilith did the same with her crossbow. A bullet hit the Incubus in his shoulder, but failed to explode. Mazier gritted his teeth. "Shit!" Lilith aimed again and fired, hitting the web of one of his wings, instantly reducing his speed and altitude.
"I'll follow him! You all make sure that explosion killed all the vampires!" Sora shouted, running off, katana in hand.
*
This wasn't good; the Incubus was flying towards the suburbs; some people were still outside; he could feed off of anyone and instantly regain his health! Worse yet, Sora found herself following him near hers and Clara's house. She hoped Kurt was inside...
She was so busy watching him that she didn't notice the civilian outside that he was heading for. When she finally did see him, it was too late; Silver Wing had already landed and took hold of the human, who immediately began to writhe out of his grasp. She halted when she saw the young man, and her eyes widened.
"KURT!" she cried out. Kurt's head snapped up, his eyes wide, and he squirmed more, trying to free his wrists of the demon's grip.
A gunshot came out of nowhere. Dammit, Sora told Mazier to stay behind! The shot was aimed for Silver Wing's shoulder, but it missed, hitting Kurt's wrist, luckily it hit his sports watch that he wore on his left wrist, and it was another dud, but Kurt shrieked more than a shocked person should have. He kicked Silver Wing away, and Sora saw him give her a fleeting look...
...Then he disappeared.
Sora woke up at 6:30 in the morning, a habit she was trying to break. Lucian had taught her to be like a real vampire and stay up all night. She had done so when living with him, but since she moved in with Clara, she was trying to be more human. It was working, but she was just waking up really early.
Rather than try and get back to sleep, Sora got out of bed, smoothing out the wrinkles of her nightshirt as she stretched. After the nightmare, Sora's sleep was restless, her subconscious triggering her to wake up at any suspicious moments in dreams. She didn't recall any dreams after the nightmare, but didn't bother with it.
Sora walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a cup and poured herself some soda. Clara depended solely on coffee for her caffeine, while Sora hated the black beverage and turned to soda. She could wake up just as easily without any caffeine, but she liked the rush.
Speaking of coffee, Clara would probably be waking up in about an hour, and would be demanding her cup, with her face planted in the table until she got it. Sora readied the coffee pot with twelve cups (6 oz. cups, not 8 oz.), poured three scoops of coffee grinds inside of the filter, and turned it on. The machine gurgled before beginning its brewing process, the scent of water hitting the grinds producing a displeasing scent to Sora's senses, and she grimaced slightly before taking another swig of her soda. She could hear someone shuffling about in their room; Kurt was awake, but wasn't planning on coming out for awhile.
Half an hour later, Clara woke up, groggy. She trudged into the kitchen, and saw the coffee pot finished brewing. She came over to Sora and gave her a light hug. "I love you," she said. Sora grinned, "Yeah, only until the coffee's gone. Wake up, kiddo."
Clara poured a big mug of the black beverage and sat at the breakfast bar, folding her arms over the counter, resting her forehead on them. Sora glanced over at her and finished off her soda. "How'd you sleep?"
"Terribly. I had a lot of nightmares."
"You too?"
"What'd yours have?" That was a tradition of theirs; Sora didn't really believe in it since it never worked for her, but Clara sometimes did; whenever they got really bad nightmares they would tell each other about them, and hopefully they would go away.
"My father," Sora said dryly. "You?"
"Not sure... one thing was for sure, it was magic influenced; I couldn't wake up for awhile, and when I did, I couldn't scream for you. It was just filled with a lot of memories, good at first, then progressing into bad."
"Taryn?"
Clara fell silent, and took the first sip of her coffee, shrugging. "I'm not sure... you know he never wanted to hurt me, why would he now?"
"Because your family kicked him out?"
"That's not a legitimate answer, Sora..." Clara mumbled, taking another gulp of coffee and pushing her glasses up on her nose.
"Clara," Sora began, resting her chin in her hand, "last night, after I woke up from my nightmare, I felt a really strong magic presence, and it was nowhere near here."
"What about it?"
Sora hesitated, looking around. Clara didn't want to believe it may be Taryn, but Sora had to bring forth evidence. "...It felt a lot like your power, Clara. It was from a Belnades, I have no doubts about that."
Clara's face paled, and both of them stayed silent for a moment. When Clara opened her mouth to speak, she was cut off by a door opening, followed by Kurt coming out of his room. Clara shut up and turned back to her cooling cup of coffee. "We'll talk later."
Sora nodded, and Clara finished the cup, turning around and smiling to Kurt as he came in. "'Morning. Want some coffee, soda, juice?"
"Blood?" Sora whispered silently. Kurt shook his head, declining Clara's offer.
Clara got up and poured herself another cup of coffee, and sat down. "Kurt, we'll be going out tonight, so tomorrow, be a little quiet so we can try and get some sleep, okay? How'd you sleep last night?"
"Alright, I suppose," Kurt replied. "I mean, as comfortable as anyone can in a new place."
"Wimp," Sora murmured.
Clara just lifted an elbow and calmly rammed it into her friend's ribs.
*
That night, Eric came along with Mazier and Lilith to pick up Clara and Sora. Clara hurried to the kitchen, careful not to trip over the hem of her blue dress, and grabbed some money, giving it to Kurt.
"This is in case you want to order a pizza or go and get a soda or anything; there's a convenience store on the corner. If we're not back in the morning, Eric's number is on the fridge, you'll be calling his grandpa; ask him if he's seen us. If not, he'll know what to do, trust me. Think you'll be okay?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I should."
"Great. Don't go any further than the convenience store if you have to leave; it's not really safe around here at night," Clara warned, and hurried to her bedroom, grabbing her staff before leaving.
Mazier looked over to Sora. "Hey, you want the claymore or the katana?"
"What're you using?" Sora asked, quirking an eyebrow. Mazier reached into his trench coat, pulling out a gun that was about twice the size of a pistol, only the barrel was a good foot and a half long. Mazier grinned. "13mm explosive shells. The bullets have holy water in them."
"You still need a sword," Lilith murmured.
"I'll take the katana," Sora replied, catching it as Mazier lightly tossed it to her in its scabbard.
Clara clutched her staff, the Belnades Staff, the actual staff that Sypha used over 500 years ago. "Isn't that heavy?" she asked. Sora shook her head, strapping it across her back. Mazier, Lilith, and Sora were the only ones in the group who could use a katana. Not only did they have the superior strength to wield it, they were tall enough. Mazier's katana was six feet long, whereas he stood a good seven feet; Lilith's was shorter by about eight inches, and Mazier's alternate, which he let Sora use, was a couple of inches longer than Lilith's.
"Where are we going tonight?" Clara asked. Lilith answered, not looking in her direction. "Mazier found the location of one of the demons we were talking about earlier; it's very close by."
"Do you even know what kind of demon it is?" Eric asked.
"Nope," Mazier replied, "And we don't have any time to waste. Let's go."
*
Mazier led them to a nightclub a few miles away, and before they went in, Clara halted. Eric stopped, turning around. "Clara, what is it?"
Clara stared blankly at the nightclub door. "There's a whole nest of vampires in there; too many. We'll die if we go in there."
"Anything else?" Mazier asked, keeping his hand on the handle of his gun inside his coat. Clara closed her eyes, trying to scan the club.
"There's... something in there... but I don't know what. It's powerful. We can't go in there yet. Something's happening."
Sora sighed, looking at the ground. Finally, she looked up and said, "How about we peek in through one of the windows?"
Eric stared blankly at her. "...Sor, they're completely cloudy glass, you know, where you can't look through them?"
"Hello?" Lilith spoke up. "Vampires here. We can see through them no matter what?"
Mazier patted her on the back and walked over to one of the windows. Clara huddled closer to Eric, scared. "Be careful."
He scoffed, and looked in, narrowing his eyes to see through the haze of cigarette smoke in the place. "Uh... looks like some sort of fight going on..." he pressed his ear up against the wall. "Some guy in there is claiming to be what the vampires are calling 'Silver Wing'."
Lilith's eyes widened. "Maz, we better leave."
"Why?"
"You know Silver Wing!"
Eric looked around. "Wha, who's Silver Wing?"
Lilith backed up a few steps. "He's older than Mazier, I'll tell you that."
"He a Vampire?"
Lilith shook her head. "Worse than a Vampire; Incubus. A really powerful one."
"He's the first," Mazier murmured.
What happened next, everyone could hear: the vampires inside began screaming. Clara looked around frantically, trying to think of something. "What's happening?"
"I... can't tell. He just touched a vampire... and it dropped dead."
Sora stared at him in disbelief. "What...? How?"
"Now none of them are moving..."
Clara's eyebrows pinched together. "I say we just blow up the place; all I have to do is just cast a fire spell... it should become one big bomb when it reaches the alcohol... no matter that it's a vampire nest, there's still gotta be some wine or beer in there."
"I like that idea," Lilith said softly. Mazier nodded, and backed up about fifty feet, everyone else following and ducking behind the nearest building.
"Alright, Clara!" Eric shouted, "Torch the sucker!"
Clara nodded, and held her staff in front of her, parallel to the ground. She closed her eyes, first of all, casting a protective spell so she wouldn't get taken with the blast. She then slowly turned her staff until it was vertical, silently and quickly murmuring a spell. Her palms, wrapped around the staff, began to glow red, small embers falling from them onto the ground below. She then opened her eyes as she said the last word of the spell, and opened her arms wide, her staff still standing as she let forth a burst of flames from her hands. She quickly closed her hands around the staff again, bracing herself as the ball of flame crashed through the door. Sure enough, she was right, and a small explosion was heard as it hit a beer bottle, causing a chain reaction, hitting the caskets. Shrieks were heard as the vampires right next to the explosion were incinerated, and soon after, the whole nightclub exploded. Clara let out a light whimper as she stood her ground, the flamed and debris flying past her, crashing into the shield.
As the flames rose, everyone saw a figure leaping up into the sky, opening a pair of bright silver wings and flying away. Mazier took his gun, pointed up, and began firing, and Lilith did the same with her crossbow. A bullet hit the Incubus in his shoulder, but failed to explode. Mazier gritted his teeth. "Shit!" Lilith aimed again and fired, hitting the web of one of his wings, instantly reducing his speed and altitude.
"I'll follow him! You all make sure that explosion killed all the vampires!" Sora shouted, running off, katana in hand.
*
This wasn't good; the Incubus was flying towards the suburbs; some people were still outside; he could feed off of anyone and instantly regain his health! Worse yet, Sora found herself following him near hers and Clara's house. She hoped Kurt was inside...
She was so busy watching him that she didn't notice the civilian outside that he was heading for. When she finally did see him, it was too late; Silver Wing had already landed and took hold of the human, who immediately began to writhe out of his grasp. She halted when she saw the young man, and her eyes widened.
"KURT!" she cried out. Kurt's head snapped up, his eyes wide, and he squirmed more, trying to free his wrists of the demon's grip.
A gunshot came out of nowhere. Dammit, Sora told Mazier to stay behind! The shot was aimed for Silver Wing's shoulder, but it missed, hitting Kurt's wrist, luckily it hit his sports watch that he wore on his left wrist, and it was another dud, but Kurt shrieked more than a shocked person should have. He kicked Silver Wing away, and Sora saw him give her a fleeting look...
...Then he disappeared.