Chapter 24: Revenge
AN: Ack! I swore to myself when I started this thing that I would never take a hiatus. But then again, I never planned on 25-30 chapter story either. The origional plan only had 18 chapters. Geez, that would have sucked wouldn't it? But either way, I'm back and I must warn you: NEVER IN YOU LIFE read Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, or The Epic of Gilgamesh. NEVER!
Um….I'm done now so….if you are into online RPG, try Ragnarok. It's a manga one, based in either Hong Kong or Korea…I think it's Hong Kong. You can get a 15 day free trial (hence my hiatus). type (www.) then (roempire) then (.) then (com) for some reason I can't type it normally.
The search led me to a mountain and I thought at first that I must surely be wrong. But looking closely, I could see a west-facing cave, just barely visible in the twilight. My jaw clenched firmly, I thought grimly to myself, 'And now everything shall be decided, one way or another.'
"Coo. Coo." Came a mocking voice to my right. "So, the little bird decides to return to her nest."
I had wanted to get a good shot at Aleera, here was my chance. Pregnant though I was, I was still smaller boned that her with a greater wingspan, meaning I was slightly more maneuverable. Slightly.
"Only to kill you Aleera," I spat. Before she could defend herself, I shot straight at her, a silver dagger in each hand. As I banked left to avoid a collision, I slashed out. A shrill shriek of pain informed me that I'd hit my target.
Flying higher, I allowed myself the chance to look at my quarry. Aleera was holding one hand to her face, another to her neck. Had she been mortal she would have died already, and as it was, those wounds were not going to heal quickly. She turned hate-filled violet eyes upon my hovering figure and with a screech, launched herself at me, claws outstretched.
I dove, feeling air whoosh over my head, clipping a feather or two off. Damn it. My reflexes weren't as fast as I had hoped for, but it was too late now. A large cold body slammed into me from the side. Aleera sunk her claws into my arm and I screamed. Remembering the daggers I held, I plunged them all the way through her leg and gave them a nice little twist.
It succeeded in convincing Aleera to re-think her strategy, but sooner or later it wouldn't matter. If she were smart enough, she'd realize that all she had to do was keep chasing me and I'd eventually tire, if I didn't pass out from blood loss first. The wounds on my arms were bleeding quite freely now.
Someone bit my ear and I responded instinctively by swinging the blades of my daggers around and shoving them into whoever was behind me. Which turned out to be Marishka. She flew up to join Aleera, my daggers still imbedded in her stomach.
"Oh shit." I knew I was dead, right then and there. I was wounded and weaponless, facing two vampires with two more in places unknown.
"Did you come back to play Destiny?" Marishka grinned, an expression that made her look strikingly similar to a smug cat; an evil smug cat.
She dived, pulling my daggers out of her stomach as she did so. I barely managed to spin out of her way but recovered and followed her path down. Locking my hands around her neck from behind, I steeled my will and snapped it.
Marishka dropped like a stone. It wasn't enough to kill her, but she would be effectively paralyzed until it healed. From the cave in the mountain face came an enraged roar. A black shape, followed by a smaller white one, shot out of it at an incredible speed.
I was so dead. So very, very dead.
Aleera smirked at me. "Try to wing your way out of this one angel. I'll give you a head start."
I considered running, but realized now that Dracula was awake, such efforts were futile. The image of my mother and friends' bodies floated to the top of my mind and I glowed with rage. If it was my fate to die tonight, then so be it, but I would not go down with out a fight.
Grabbing my last weapon, the knife hidden up my sleeve, I threw myself at Aleera. Oblivious to anything else, I stabbed and slashed with my knife, looking for an opportunity to injure my foe. For her part, Aleera gave as good as she got. By the time Dracula and Verona arrived on the scene we were both bleeding from half a dozen or so wounds. I couldn't even tell what blood was mine and what was hers, a fact I was more than a little disturbed by.
"Hello Destiny, my dear," Verona's voice slid like oil into my ears. She must have snuck up from behind while I was busy with Aleera, and now she had me by the neck, just as I had had Marishka. The only difference was that if she snapped my neck, I would not recover. For some reason though, she chose to land instead. I soon found out why.
A deeper demonic bellow reached my ears. "Ah," Verona purred. "Our Master is here." By this time I was shaking violently. Without even listing my offences, I knew that I had run out of chances with Dracula.
Verona let go of me grip as he landed and morphed back into human form, a triumphant look on his face.
I will not die a coward, I thought to myself, and forced myself to meet his gaze. For a moment, the world grew fuzzy, but the illusion was pushed away as I called on the anger I felt towards him. I held onto it, letting it fuel me, and held his gaze without effect, defiant even now.
The smirk vanished from Dracula's face. In an instant he had closed the distance between us and locked a cold hand around my throat, trying to diminish my air supply. I heard his voice in my mind.
'What were you doing?' he demanded. 'Did you honestly think I would not catch you? And by the way, thank you for seeking me out, it saved a lot of effort on my part.'
'Shut up, you arrogant bastard,' I snapped. 'I'm going to die anyway, so just kill me now and get it over with.'
I received a mental image of him giving a small yawn. 'Boring,' he replied. 'Besides, I unfortunately still need you, and torture is so much more satisfying. You forget, I know what you fear most.'
I clamped down on the bubble of anxiety that floated up inside me, but some of it escaped. Dracula just laughed.
'You have about a minute to make your choice Destiny, or I will make it for you. You have one minute until your brain starts to hemorrhage from lack of air.'
He was right. My vision swam as the air went stale in my lungs. I didn't know what to do. My greatest fear…
'Alright,' I told him, surprised at how soft it came out. He released his hold on my throat and I sagged against him, greedily inhaling the precious air. At that moment, I couldn't have even held a spoon; that's how long I had been without breath.
After a minute or so I was recovered enough that I didn't need Dracula's support to keep upright, and so I pushed away, but he caught me and drew me back.
"With your history of troublemaking, did you honestly think I would let you go anywhere? No my angel," he said, kissing my neck in an abrupt change of mood. I wondered if he was bipolar, "you will not be leaving my side anytime soon."
"Fuck you, jerk," I muttered, looking over his shoulder, and then realizing what I had said, quite literally bit my tongue. Dracula's eyes laughed at me, even though he said nothing.
A whistling noise reached my ears. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't take too long for me to figure it out. I threw myself to the ground just as an arrow struck Verona in the shoulder. She let out a startled shriek.
More arrows followed and soon I saw people hurrying out of the trees. I had never been gladder to see a noble in my life. Boris and Nonia were accompanied by another man I did not know, but I figured he was the person sent by the Vatican. Maybe it was the fact that he was dressed all in black, or that he could easily blend into the shadows, or possibly…that fact that he seemed to have packed a whole armory into his coat. (AN: yes, this is sarcasm)
Knowing that in my shape I would only get in their way, I whisked behind a tree and looked on hopelessly as they fought the vampires. Boris and the Vatican man focussed on the Brides until Verona, Aleera, and Marishka decided that the shots here coming a little too close to their hearts and flew up to hover above the skirmish.
Nonia, brave and headstrong as she was, had peeled away from the other two at the start and had made a beeline for Dracula, currently in his hellbeast form. I prayed fervently to God that she would walk away from this alive.
As soon as he could afford to, Boris hurried over to help his sister, who was beginning to tire, even though she kept attacking strong. He shot at Dracula, who turned, causing the bolt to hit his side rather than his dead heart.
With a bellow of rage, Dracula lashed out with one clawed hand. With a cry of pain, Boris went flying across the clearing. Luckily, he landed on grass, not a tree. With Boris currently out of action and even with the man from the Vatican alternating between shooting Dracula and fending off the Brides, Nonia's chances of surviving were looking slimmer and slimmer. I had to do something.
Something glinted in the moonlight. Marishka had pulled my daggers out of her stomach and had stupidly, in typical Marishka style, left them for the taking. Picking them up, I threw first one, then the other at Dracula. The first went sailing right through his wing and glanced off his back, but the second lodged itself deep in the side of his neck.
He turned to see who had thrown the objects and when he saw me standing, bespattered in the blood of Aleera, holding my knife ready to throw, he gave a snarl of anger. But instead of turning his attention to me, as I had hoped in vain for him to do, he grabbed Nonia and sunk his fangs into her neck. Then, like her brother before her, she went sailing across the clearing. But a thick pine halted her flight. Even as far away as I was, I could hear the sickening crack as something broke.
"NONIA!" I screamed. The Vatican agent responded by firing furiously at the Brides, to the point where Dracula actually had to go up and protect them from the wooden volleys. I never even noticed their departure. Running over to the tree, I saw Nonia had her eyes open some. My eyes misted over, but I took her hand. Her neck wound bled sluggishly.
"I knew he couldn't kill you," I whispered, injecting false certainty into my voice. Nonia shook her head very slightly and winced.
"Don't lie to me Destiny. I know I'm dying. He broke my back after he fed on me. I don't have enough blood left."
"I can heal you," I insisted.
"No!" She coughed wetly. "Save it for your own injuries. Besides, I will be able to see my family again."
"That's certainly looking at it optimistically," I agreed. My voice cracked.
"Take this please." She shakily brought a hand up to her neck and yanked on something. She pressed a necklace into my palm, a silver chain with the Valerious House emblem on it. I put it on and looked at Nonia. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling slightly.
A shimmer caught my eye and I stood, looking around. By Nonia's body stood…
Nonia? It looked exactly like her, except pearly whitish and translucent. She waved to me and I waved back, a small smile curling at the corners of my mouth.
"I will miss you, my friend."
HARD CHAPTER TO WRITE! REALLY REALLY HARD CHAPTER TO WRITE! ARGH! Okay, I've vented. (small polite voice) please review (gives big sad eyes, as puppy-dog eyes don't work if yours are blue) please? Gir? I have a cupcake…with tuna (Invader Zim) Gir plushies for everyone who reviews. Oh, and crackpotjoe?
Your dungeons are full of yogurt and there are turnips in your bathtubs. (didn't expect that did ya? HAH)