Chapter 12
The vampire ducked under the kick and then blocked the knife with his own, blades ringing in the empty sparring room. Rahkesh kicked him hard in the ankle, knocking one of Daray's feet out from under him. The vampire turned his stagger into a lunge. Rahkesh caught Daray's knife across his own as the vampire nearly smashed into him.
Seeing how close they were Daray lunged for his throat. Eight months ago Rahkesh would have panicked. Now he simply took his free hand and slipped one finger up under the vampire's fangs when they were inches from his throat, and jerked upwards. Daray yelped with pain and, noticing Rahkesh's knife moving at him, collapsed under the attack. Locking his legs together the vampire spun on his hip and shoulder. Hooking his legs behind Rahkesh's knees and throwing him to the floor. Still moving with his inhuman strength the vampire sprang off the floor from his position on his side as though he was levitating. He snatched up a knife dropped earlier in the fight, and righted himself in mid air, coming to land with one knife in each hand, the blades crossed over Rahkesh's throat.
They froze, then Rahkesh smirked and put more pressure on his own two knives - the one he'd held before and the one he'd grabbed when he landed. His knives were crossed against Daray's throat. The vampire hadn't even noticed until the increased pressure broke the skin and few drops of blood appeared.
Rahkesh didn't try to throw the vampire off him; Daray was much too strong. Instead he just bent one leg and kicked at the floor while simultaneously dropping his knives onto his stomach and grabbing Daray's wrists, forcing the knives away from his throat. His kick spun him out from under the vampire sideways and he grabbed his knives again as he rolled, threw his shoulder into Daray's gut as the vampire rose, grabbed an arm, and hurled the vampire over his shoulder to the floor.
Daray being a vampire he simply twisted sideways and leaped before both feet had hit the floor. Flinging one of Rahkesh's knives away he blocked the other knife and stabbed with the second. Rahkesh dodged, grabbed the arm, and pulled Daray past him, leaping in the opposite direction to pick up his second knife. He spun and flung it. Daray ducked and Rahkesh grabbed up another knife. They had each started with four. They faced each other again, circling.
Rahkesh quickly wiped sweat from his eyes, smearing blood from one bleeding finger across his forehead in the process. It was still early morning, and it was cooler here in the stone sparring room then it was outside, but it was still hot, and they'd been at it for nearly an hour. He was starting to wish he'd worn shorts instead of the long black pants; the heat and humidity would do him in faster then the vampire could. Daray wiped blood off his palms, his bare chest and back and arms were covered in long strips of blood. The cuts and gashes from which the blood had come were long since healed. Rahkesh, being human, was not so lucky. He could feel the sting from his own set of cuts every time he moved, could feel blood dripping down his chest and back, and could feel blood weeping from a gash that was awfully close to his appendix. Fortunately it wasn't much more than skin deep.
Rahkesh sent up a prayer of thanks to whomever had originally invented bloodmagic. No matter how long or how hard he trained, without his added stamina, strength, and speed he would never have had a chance of matching any vampire in a nonmagical fight.
Something landed on his head and sank its teeth into his ear, Satan, Daray's pet vampire bat. Rahkesh tried to grab the creature and throw it off. The momentary loss of attention was what Daray had been hoping for. Tossing both knives aside he leaped forward and folded into a tackle. Rahkesh never saw it coming. At the same time the vampire hit him Daray struck also with his hands, hitting his forearms in the spot that made his fingers go numb, Rahkesh dropped both knives and kneed Daray under the chin hard enough that had the vampire not been clenching his jaws he might have bitten his tongue off.
Aware that if the vampire managed to land on him the fight would be over Rahkesh straightened himself out and began to roll as fast as he could. Daray missed him by inches as he lunged at the spot where Rahkesh should have been. Rahkesh planted one foot on the floor and drove off of it, his elbow smashed into Daray's face and his weight knocked the vampire off balance. Daray fell, but pulled Rahkesh off his feet with him. Rahkesh rolled over the vampire, sinking his other elbow into Daray's stomach, and rolled to his feet.
Wham! Silas hit him out of nowhere. Rahkesh went down hard, but he managed to knock Silas's hand away from his neck, rolled the vampire down beside him and placed his thumb against the inside corner of the vampire's eye. The threat of having an eye removed would normally have meant he'd won, but Daray got there a half second later with one of the eight knives against Rahkesh's throat.
"Two against one." Rahkesh snarled, "I thought you had to help your sister rearrange furniture today?" Silas shrugged as he got up.
"We're taking a break."
"And what was it with calling in the bat?" Rahkesh asked. The fire-breathing vampire bat had landed in Daray's hands.
"You never said we couldn't call on our pets." The vampire smirked. Rahkesh made a mental note to bring Sygra next time. "You lose." Rahkesh shook his head and reached down to his calves; strapped to his legs against his calves were his tasers. He brought them both up so fast neither vampire had the time to dodge.
Rahkesh shrugged one shoulder, and stretched, searching for torn muscles. He ached all over but there was no real damage, as he had many times Rahkesh mentally thanked the combat teachers for making them learn how to fall correctly before anything else. As Rahkesh rose to smirk at the vampires lying on the floor the door was pushed open by a black furred nose. Nuri appeared in the doorway and bounded over to Silas and began nuzzling his face. Silas's eyes opened, and then snapped shut as Nuri placed a paw on his face and stood on him so he could sniff at the mark where the taser had caught Silas on the shoulder.
"Nuri, geroff me." The cub backed up a bit. Several seconds later Silas rolled over and staggered to his feet. A moment later Daray did the same.
"If you can call out a bat and your cousin, I can use my tasers." Rahkesh said, smirking at the two wincing vampires. Someone started laughing and the three turned to look.
A tall female vampire was standing in the doorway laughing. Dark hair, gold flecked eyes and skin rather like Daray's, looking a little tan instead of the stereotypical corpse-white. Rahkesh looked at the other two for a name.
"So this is your friend hm?" The laughing vampire asked.
"Yes. Rahkesh this is our grandmother Cyala Ateres, grandmother this is Rahkesh Asmodaeus." Daray said.
"Wonderful to meet you." Rahkesh said with a respectful nod as he started picking up the knives.
"And you, with a few years more practice young human you might just be a match for any vampire." Cyala said. "Daray said you were obsessed with electrocuting people," she added eyeing the tasers, "goodness knows these two could use a bout of electrocution regularly. Do that again will you?"
"Cyala!" Both vampires leaped away from Rahkesh looking vaguely like frightened deer. Cyala started laughing again.
"Silas your sister asked me to tell you that she needs your help again." Silas groaned. "And then you both have lessons later, guest or not. You're welcome to join in." Cyala added to Rahkesh, "They're horribly behind. Hand to hand combat tonight boys." Rahkesh could have sworn one of the two whimpered. "Now go and help you sister Silas." Silas turned and looked at the other two pleadingly.
"Help me?" Silas asked. "There's got to be some way to get out of this." Daray shook his head.
"No, your sister's got ten more years of practice than any of us. I don't feel like getting both arms broken again." Daray said. Rahkesh raised an eyebrow wondering about that story.
"How about we help you finish moving this stuff, it'll go faster with four than with two." Rahkesh said, he put the knives back into the sheaths along the walls and followed to two vampires out the door. Casting minor healing spells on himself, followed by a cleaning spell to get rid of the drying blood. He was quite grateful for a break, humans weren't meant to take that kind of fighting continuously. Thank Merlin for magic, otherwise he would have been black and blue for weeks.
"The problem is that the furniture from that vault is enchanted so you can't use magic to move it around. Everything has to be done by hand." Silas said, opening a door to another corridor. There were several couches and armchairs, and a few tables, scattered around a stone vault door on one side of the hallway. "We're moving stuff from that vault to another one. The enchantments on the walls of that vault need to be repaired."
Sierra looked a lot like her brother, not short but not especially tall either. She was a beautiful vampire with bright blue eyes and brown blond hair. She waved Dray and Rahkesh towards a massive wooden table without a word and stalked across the room to grab Silas by the ear.
"You were supposed to be helping me here. Brother dearest do I really have to give your schoolmates those photographs? I'm sure they'd find them most amusing." She hissed at him. Daray tapped his ear and tilted his head towards a footstool. Rahkesh nodded and paused to clear things out of their way. Delaying so they could listen in.
"How did you get those anyway? OW! Okay okay."
"Well?"
"Er, no no, not necessary at all, hehe, um what else do we need to move?" A very pink Silas asked, carefully pulling away out of reach, rubbing his ear. Sierra rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Everything idiot, everything. And it is your fault." She turned to Daray and Rahkesh who were just picking up the table. "He's the one who managed to remove the vaults protective spells you know. And who are you?"
"The human I told you was coming over for a week. Rahkesh meet Sierra." Silas said shortly, lifting an armchair and beginning to carry it out of the vault.
"Ah, sorry about that, that you have to go to school with this monster." She said, nodding towards her younger brother.
"Easy sister, I might just sic Nuri on you." Silas retorted, "and ignore her, she's the real monster." Rahkesh decided it was best not to reply as the two started arguing.
"Are they always like that?" He asked Daray.
"No. Well not always. Put the table over in the corner. It's just that they're always blackmailing each other, and now Silas has had Nuri pouncing on everyone from treetops and staircases." Daray replied. Setting the table down they went back for another.
"How did you manage to remove the protection wards?" Rahkesh asked, Silas shrugged as he moved past, helping his sister move a couch.
"They were dueling," Daray answered when neither sibling did, "and Silas managed to utterly mangle a tickling charm and the resultant magical explosion brought down the enchantments."
"A tickling charm?" Rahkesh asked, "I wasn't aware they had any kind destructive power."
"They don't." Silas muttered, turning a little pink at the snickers from the other three.
XXXX
Cyala grabbed his leg and flipped him to the ground, slamming a fist into his kidney as he went down. Rahkesh groaned and stayed down. Cyala backed off long enough for him to get up. The ancient matriarch smirked at the three young males who were all looking a little worse for wear. The so-called lessons seemed to be more about ignoring pain than anything else. She'd beaten all of them at once in about two minutes.
"You must have done some sort of bloodmagic." Cyala observed as Rahkesh bounded back to his feet and attacked again. "There's now way you're keeping up so well without it."
"Yeah, it's necessary in a school where you wind up fighting vampires and werewolves." Rahkesh said, and ducked an attack and dodged out of the way of another. "Otherwise they'll just walk all over you."
Even with the bloodmagic there was no way he was going to be able to outdo her in an attack, so he would have to dodge and hope for an opening at some point. Only she was faster than he was. Cyala picked Silas up and slammed him over her shoulder into the floor. Daray leaped at her from behind and she caught his fist without turning around and twisted his arms until he'd spun around and tripped. And she was telepathic. Nope, not a chance at winning this. Rahkesh tried the move he'd invented from the twins break dancing lessons and dove for the ground, using his falling momentum to spin himself around on his back and lash out. Both legs hit her behind the knees and Cyala fell, slamming a fist into the side of his head so hard Rahkesh nearly blacked out. But Silas had taken the momentary opening and caught her in the gut with a kick as she rose. Cyala ignored it and locked one hand around his throat and pulled his head forward, hitting him over the back of the neck. Silas blacked out.
Five minutes later Cyala finally called a halt. Silas was awake again and Daray was rotating one ankle, wincing as bones snapped back into place. Rahkesh cast healing spells on his own injuries and took the moment to get a drink from the muggle water cooler the vampires kept in the sparring room. Between the earlier fight with Daray and then this he was starting to feel vaguely pulverized. Perhaps tomorrow he'd take a break from the fighting and work on wandless magic or potions instead.
"Give it a thousand years or so kids, and you might manage to bruise me." Cyala said cheerfully.
"Sure granny." Daray muttered. Cyala cuffed him over the head.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me granny! I'm only twenty-eight hundred years old!" She snapped, Daray raised both hands to block another slap.
Rahkesh started laughing, he couldn't help it. Cyala turned and shot him an angry glare.
"Enough of that." Rahkesh snickered and shrugged. Cyala snorted and shook her head. "Fine. You did well enough for a beginner human, and what was that move?" She asked.
"Break dancing. Some friends taught me and I incorporated it into fighting." Rahkesh explained. Cyala beamed.
"Excellent idea. The muggles have instructional videos on break dancing don't they? I'll have to get some." This was accompanied by greatly distressed looks from her two grandsons. Who both then turned to scowl at Rahkesh. The sparring room door opened and Sierra came in. Cyala returned to the middle of the floor and Daray and Silas followed.
With Sierra on their side the defeat wasn't quite as humiliating. Rahkesh saw at once why Daray was cautious about angering Silas older sister. Sierra was an extraordinarily talented fighter. She was absolutely relentless, even if she didn't have her grandmother's experience, strength or speed. She might only be a few years older but Sierra seemed to have an innate ability that put her actual skill well beyond her years.
The four of them surrounded Cyala, she attacked Silas and managed to throw him at Daray, sending both of them into a heap. Rahkesh moved in just fast enough to connect solidly with a kick aimed at his head.
Ow.
Rahkesh opened his eyes and groaned. He was lying on the floor, Daray was running a charm over his skull to show any damage.
"Well no apparent skull fractures." The vampire said cheerfully. That charm was getting awfully close to his forehead, Rahkesh leaned forward, effectively snapping the charm and sat up.
"Easy, lie back, we need to finished that spell first." Sierra told him.
"Nah, actually I feel just fine." Rahkesh said, rubbing the left side of his head and feigning surprise. Fake skin or not that charm would show the hidden scar. And he didn't need anyone finding out about that. Silas helped him to his feet and he moved away to watch the rest of the fight. Which was almost pathetically short. Cyala attacked the second he was out of range and proceeded to thrash the other three with astounding ease.
Once that fight was over Daray and Silas began working through an attack and block series of katas that their grandmother assigned while Rahkesh taught Sierra and Cyala the attack he'd invented.
Rahkesh was surprised to find that the evening meal was entirely humanl food; he'd been expected to be the only one eating. Cyala and Sierra joined them but Rahkesh hadn't seen any sign of the other members of the extended family. Daray's parents were off killing a rogue vampire who had created a band of some forty new vampires as his followers. Once they were done with him they had to hunt down each of his followers. Apparently this happened frequently enough that the city masters knew to contact Elara and Sabian Ateres whenever they found such a group. The Ateres family assassins were kept busy all over the world. It was also the secret to the family's power, they didn't just kill the vampires they hunted down; they drank all of their blood first. The ferocious family matriarch had been one of the assassins years ago and now looked after the family estates and trained the young.
A bat flew in the special bat door in the ceiling and landed on the perch beside Cyala's chair. She took the letter from its backpack and handed it to Daray.
"Aunt Vera is sending an important package by courier. We're to meet him in the town tomorrow evening. At the dock." He read.
"Good, we can all three go." Silas said, "and while we're there I'd like to go hunting, it's been weeks since we had any human blood." He raised an eyebrow at Rahkesh who shrugged.
"I don't mind." Rahkesh said, a trip sounded excellent, and he wasn't likely to acquire any more bruises this way. "Where's the nearest town?" The castle was about as remote as it was possible to get.
"The town he's talking about is where a highway gets close to the river. We'll go by boat, it's a few hundred miles normally but we have another boat downriver and we can portkey to that." Silas said. Rahkesh nodded, a long boat trip down a jungle river. Wow, now that sounded like a nice way to spend a day.
"It's still a long trip so I think we'll stay over night there. There're a few tours that stop there since it is just about along the highway and there's several taverns and inns." Daray said.
"Wonder what she's sending?" Silas asked, looking over the letter again, "she doesn't say."
"Probably something her targets owned that she felt like taking. If you're going to kill them you might as well." Daray said at Rahkesh's raised eyebrow. "Occasionally these rogues will be wizards and they'll have a few magical artifacts around." Rahkesh nodded.
There were two types of vampires, the ones who could use wands and magic and those that could only do the most basic vampire magics such as a little telepathy, hypnosis with their eyes, and a tiny bit of telekinesis. Those were the ones that didn't like being ruled by the more powerful vampires, who were always magical, and they were also the unstable ones who tended to go insane. They were the ones who started vast cults and made dozens of new vampires from adult humans. But, occasionally, there would be magical vampires who did that as well. The Ateres family clearly had no qualms about stealing the valuable belongings of those they killed whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Rahkesh didn't much approve of that but he decided not to make an issue of it. Anyone who made dozens of new vampires would have been told that doing so would bring down the wrath of the rulers of the vampire world. By creating so many new vampires anyways they were challenging the Ateres family assassins and the city masters, so they could expect harsh retribution.
XXX
The boat turned out to be a long lightweight canoe with oars and a shallow motor. Daray took the motor while Silas pointed out the plants and animals to Rahkesh. Sygra was wound around his neck and shoulders, tongue flickering out to smell the air. Daray's pet bat was tucked inside the small backpack Daray was wearing. Having gotten into a serious fight with another bat Daray had decided that Satan needed a little time off from the messenger bats they kept at the castle. And, over Silas protests, Nuri sprawled on the bench beside them, looking ahead eagerly like a dog would while trailing one paw over the side of the canoe into the water.
Silas had intended to leave him behind, since towns were not the place for panthers. The cub had looked so dejected and hurt when they tried to leave without him that Silas had reached down to pat him as they took the portkey. The crafty young panther knew about portkeys, and promptly bit Silas's pant leg, and subsequently ended up with them, miles from the castle. He then ran away and refused to be caught. Much to the shock of all three he'd even managed to shake off summoning charms. And so he had to come with them.
The river itself had been enchanted so that the parts that were too shallow could simply be skipped while the boat had a levitation device built in for crossing fallen trees.
"That was a capybara." Silas said as something darted from the riverbank into the trees. Nuri's ears twitched and he rolled one eye open to watch the creature, and then went back to his nap. Not hungry enough to get excited over a capybara, which was what Silas was teaching him to hunt.
"You can use their toenails in one of the skin-cancer curing potions." Rahkesh commented, deciding that he would have to find the time for an ingredient-gathering trip. The potions teacher would be delighted, and he liked the bald older man who taught potions. A congenial old man who truly loved experimenting with mixing things just to see what happened. He was also a bit of a genius, having invented hundreds of potions. Rahkesh didn't want to know what his cooking was like though. Professor Strawlime's inventions were all of the highly deadly or painful nature. Before becoming a teacher he had designed potions and tested them on muggle criminals that he would capture. He figured that no one was going to care if a child rapist ended up having his skin melted off and his stomach and intestines burned to ash by an experimental potion.
The thick dark green growth ran right down to the water in many places. Where the river widened out there were occasional small islands with a few trees and wet grasses. Everything was green and had a rich earthy smell. They sped along for several hours, enjoying the myriad of creatures and plants.
"Squirrel monkey's" Silas said as two shapes leaped between the trees.
Weird. Sygra hissed softly in Rahkesh's ear. The black cobra was keeping up a running commentary of her opinion of everything.
"There's a sloth, and those white birds are egrets. The colorful ones are scarlet macaws." Silas said.
They smell odd. Everything smells strange here. Those birds are disturbingly colorful, showoffs. Rahkesh bit his lip trying not to laugh.
"Their feathers are used for something aren't they?"
"Feather and stone magic." Daray agreed, "only you can't kill the bird when getting the feather or it won't work." Something lunged out of the water and dragged a bird that had been wading around a patch of grasses and short trees into the water. "Ah, that was a caiman."
Meat eaters in the water. You aren't planning on swimming are you?
A bird with a massive bill flew by, "that was a Toucan."
Awfully top heavy. Can they even stand upright without falling over face first? How do they fly without smashing into the ground?
They eventually began to see a few other boats with people fishing, and a few tour boats.
Why do those humans smell so strange?
It's called bug repellent, to keep insects away. Rahkesh hissed softly, since neither vampire was watching and couldn't hear over the chatter of tourists and the sound of boat motors.
Why would you want to? I bet they've got some big tasty insects here.
Humans don't eat insects. And a lot of them are venomous. Be careful what you hunt okay?
I'm more venomous then they are. But I won't eat them. The people reek.
Silas shrunk Nuri, and put the tiny panther into a box in his pocket. Nuri hadn't looked at all happy about that. They pulled up to a reserved dock a few yards away from all the rest and followed a boardwalk through some trees to the town. A man was sitting on a bench eating a sandwich as they walked out of the trees. Silas and Rahkesh moved over to stand beside a trash can, they and it effectively blocked anyone's view and Daray bent down and whispered something to the man. He then picked up the wooden crate that sat tucked in the grass and half-grown trees behind the bench. He took the crate to the boat and then came back; in between the man finished his sandwich and left.
"Your courier?"
"Yes, we use humans." Daray said. "There's an inn near the docks, we'll get rooms there." They got three rooms next to each other and met outside, watching as a few tour groups moved in. Nuri had been brought back to normal size and strictly ordered to stay in the room, and make no noise, or else. Silas had left he closet door open, and placed a notice me not charm on the bottom space, which he had emptied. A place for the panther cub to hide if someone came in.
Sygra had also been left behind in a cage. She had been tired after the boat ride full of fascinating sights and smells. Satan had flown off to find his own dinner, probably the ear of someone who'd been sleeping with the window open.
The tour groups came mostly in fifteen person vans; very few tour buses came around here since a group of natives had taken to getting poisonous snakes inside them.
"Where does she think she is?" Silas asked, watching as one girl walked past with the shortest skirt Rahkesh had ever seen, and white tank top, and flip-flops.
"I don't know, but she's in that group that just signed up for a dinner on the river. I bet that shirt gets see-through when wet, and those flip-flops won't provide much protection from the stuff on the river bottom. Must not be worried at all about flipping over." Daray added.
"Those flip flops don't provide much protection from the puddles, and those have stuff in them you don't want on your skin." Silas said. "There are parasites that burrow in through your flesh and other things of that nature. You won't believe the stuff the tourists think passes for appropriate jungle-wear." They had told Rahkesh in advance to wear boots. Given the recent rains sneakers wouldn't cut it.
"Stupid tourists," Daray muttered, "but they make awfully good prey. That place wasn't here last summer." He added, pointing to a bar with live music and a small restaurant attached to the side. It was shabby on the outside, but it had the only neon sign in town. It also had two entrances, one to the restaurant and another to the bar. As if it was trying to pass itself off as a family restaurant and a bar simultaneously, and doing a very poor job of the former. "Lets try there; the tourists seem to be headed that way."
"How do you guys hunt?" Rahkesh asked curiously. He had some ideas, seeing as how both vampires had changed after they arrived. Silas in a white sleeveless top, black pants and fingerless mesh gloves made from a dark colored metal that covered his forearms. Daray was wearing black pants, a sleeveless black leather top, and black leather bracers on his forearms. Long sleeves were too hot and wand holsters to hard to hide, even if they were invisible. Instead the wands, and two small knives, were strapped against the forearms where they could be quickly and easily drawn. Taking their advice Rahkesh had worn the boots and black pants with a sleeveless very dark gold/brown leather top with black and dark green studs, and black leather arm guards. He could feel his wand against his skin but it was invisible and from the outside you couldn't feel it was there. He also had tasers in his boots, the vampires had favored throwing stars and knives.
"Seduce, then bite." Silas said, "it's pretty simple. A vampire can control what the victim feels when they bite them and a little telepathy removes any suspicions." Rahkesh blinked, Silas had slipped into an accent he'd never heard.
"A little too Spanish Silas." Daray said.
"Sorry, gets confusing after a while, switching countries as we do traveling with grandmother." Silas said, in something that Rahkesh recognized as being very much Australian. Though it still seemed just a bit off.
"We spent our childhood in Australia." Daray reminded Rahkesh as he also developed an Australian accent. "And hunting is really very simple. Humans tend to naturally find vampires mesmerizing when we're hunting them. And these tourists make it real easy. Lets go, I'm hungry" Daray said, leading them to the bar.
Inside the lights were red and purple, the small band was on a stage at the far end, the bar along the far part of the right wall, there were a few booths along the walls, and a doorway into the back and another into the small restaurant on the left. There were people dancing on the floor, packed into the place like sardines. Rahkesh watched with interest as the two vampires scanned the crowd. If they chose someone who was on drugs or drunk the effects of that would transfer in the blood to the vampire, so they probably to avoid that, vampire's made dangerous drunks.
"Ah, young, and stupid. A good start." Daray said, picking out a girl from one of the tour groups who looked to be about sixteen.
"Stupid?" Rahkesh asked, she looked quite pretty. Daray had already left, somehow no one bumped into him as he moved through the crowd. He slipped up behind the girl and placed a hand on her hip, smiling down at her when she turned to look at him. "Stupid?" Rahkesh asked again, turning to Silas.
"Vampires have unusual tastes. Most of us hate those horrid perfumes and hair sprays, makes me nauseas. I mean how can anyone hope to stay hidden with those smells? Or how is anyone supposed to know what their blood will be like? With all of that scented stuff you have to taste to find out, better to just make it obvious than layer on that gunk." Silas explained with a wrinkled nose. Rahkesh looked at him for a moment, bemused, and then let it pass off as another vampire thing. Clearly their definition of stupid was different than his.
"Exactly how many do you plan of feeding from?
"Don't know. Daray usually picks out six or seven and takes a little blood from each. Oh, nice." Silas said, perking up. A set of four young women had just entered, looking around rather nervously.
"Four?"
"Feed on three, bed the fourth." Silas said simply, and moved off in their direction. Rahkesh shook his head in amusement and hoped the vampire would remember silencing charms. The inn seemed to have very thin walls. He moved over to the door that led to the restaurant, he was hungry and he didn't eat blood. There was a small set of tables, only a dozen of them. Looking around Rahkesh decided he didn't feel like eating alone. Spying a set of blonde twins who were eyeing a posted menu while they danced he moved in behind one of them and slipped an arm around her waist.
An hour later they had finished dinner and moved back into the bar with dessert. The two girls were with a tour group from the United States, North Dakota, a country Rahkesh had never been to and state which Rahkesh hadn't known was even inhabited. They seemed to adore his English accent, which he had stopped disguising for that reason.
Glancing at the door while one of the girls was telling a story she had already told once, about a skiing accident on vacation in Vermont, Rahkesh stiffened as he saw someone he was sure was a vampire enter. He was getting very good at sensing vampires, and after six months of practice he was even picking up a bit of magical telepathy. Not enough for thoughts but enough to turn and pressure Silas mind. The vampire removed his fangs from the throat of the girl who had her back pressed against him; he ran his tongue over her neck to heal the bites, apparently ignoring everything. But Rahkesh could sense Silas, and Daray too, reaching out a bit to sense the newcomer. The two vampires exchanged a look, and then Silas's mental presence vanished abruptly. Closing himself off entirely Silas moved the girl deeper into the dancing crowd, hiding any stray sing of his presence in the human crowd, and turned the girl so that he could look over her at the door.
Daray opened his own mind, letting his telepathic presence flood the room, the new vampire's head whipped around as though he'd been slapped. Rahkesh realized that he was reaching out far enough to be sensed and drew back to observe. The new vampire moved into the room and leaned against one of the pillars holding the ceiling up. His eyes fixed on a sign of some sort above Daray's head. He opened his mind and Rahkesh dimly felt another vampiric presence fill the room. Daray ignored it, still drinking from the neck of the girl sitting in his lap. Not the same "stupid" one as before, both vampires had drunk from several female tourists. His ignoring the newcomer put him in a position of power, briefly forcing the stranger to wait until he was finished. Then he pulled her up and back out onto the floor. They danced in close to the strange vampire, Silas maneuvered around behind him.
Then the cousins closed in, Silas opened his mouth a bit and clicked his fang against his lower tooth, a sound so soft only a vampire would hear, and would know it for what it was. Simultaneously he lifted a hand in a motion that went with the dancing, only now Rahkesh caught a tiny glint from the tiny knife hidden in his palm. He dragged the knife quickly across the back of the strange vampire's neck. Then drew away, turning to watch and to attack if need be. The girl he was dancing with did not notice a thing.
Now as the stranger leaned forward a bit, after feeling the knife, and Daray had his turn. He turned with the girl he was dancing with and moved one leg, showing off the knife strapped in his boot. He then looked straight into the vampire's eyes and Rahkesh saw his eyes glow briefly as a wave of telepathy swamped the stranger, who snapped his eyes shut to avoid the worst of it. When his eyes closed Daray spun into him and slid his hand, with a knife in it, along the newcomer's throat. Then he too drew back to watch.
The new vampire titled his head to one side, then closed down his own presence and turned to look around as though searching for something. Daray leaned down to whisper to the girl, who frowned, then smiled and nodded, and headed off to the bar. Daray looked around too, also as though he was looking for something. The hostility in the room from the telepathy vanished.
Sensing somehow that they were looking for an empty booth Rahkesh sent a quick telepathic pulse aimed at Daray, who swung around to look at him, Rahkesh tilted his head and Daray noticed the empty booth behind the one Rahkesh and the blond twins were in.
The two vampires sat down behind him, the stranger on the other side of the wall at his back. Rahkesh listened in on their conversation as the other twin started on her side of the ski accident story.
"Uncle Grath, you weren't due back for five days." Daray said warmly. Rahkesh blinked, Uncle?
"I finished early. As it turned out the master of Tokyo overestimated the number of vampires that rogue had created. Nicely done by the way, I never sensed Silas, and your telepathy has improved." The other vampire said in a deep rich voice. Rahkesh relaxed, okay, it had all been practice. Not unusual with this family.
"You're staying in town tonight?"
"No. But I saw the package in the boat as I was getting the port key and thought I'd take it back with me." Grath said.
"Fine, we'll be back tomorrow, we're taking the boat." Grath nodded and left the bar. The girl came back now carrying two drinks and sat down with Daray. Apparently not noticing the other man at all.
XXX
Rahkesh woke suddenly, his training at Akren causing him to be completely awake and ready for a fight instantly. It was not long after dawn, the curtains shut out most of the light. There was nothing in the room, just the sound of the twins breathing. No one was there. What had awakened him? He opened his mind a bit, and felt a vague telepathic nudge. The vampires. Standing, careful not to wake the two girls, he transfigured a robe and threw it on. Daray was outside the door. Fully dressed and looking anxious.
"We have to leave soon, there's a major, major, storm coming up fast. I feel a flood coming, a really bad one, and I'm worried about getting out of town. We're leaving now." The vampire vanished down the hallway. Rahkesh dressed quickly in the same clothes he'd worn the night before, and then wrote a quick note for the sleeping girls.
Sygra. There's a bad storm coming, we're gong to try to get back to the castle before it gets here. The snake stirred and nodded.
I won't get wet?
I can't say. I can place a water repelling charm on you if necessary.
Okay
Touching the tiny black earring he always wore he opened it. The trunk fell onto the floor, no bigger then a pinhead, and then it expanded. Rahkesh flipped it open and found what he was looking for. Transfiguring the shapes of two chocolate frogs in chocolate kisses he poured a few drops of potions onto them and wrapped them with transfigured foil. Then he placed a special charm designed to make people strongly notice things on them. The potions were trustworthiness and believability potions. Hopefully they would help the girls explain their absence to their chaperones, and make their guardians believe them. Then he set the alarm clock for ten minutes, put the trunk back in the earring, put a do not disturb sign on the door, grabbed the room key, and flew down the stairs.
The vampires had the boat untied and Rahkesh jumped in. They took off up the river as fast as the motor would go. Despite the rising sun the sky was turning dark and black clouds were moving in. The wind picked up and the air smelled like rain.
Nuri kept looking up, and staring around, ears twitching nervously. He wouldn't stay still, but kept pacing, growling occasionally.
They had gotten a head start, and with the motor enchanted for speed they were almost going fast enough to keep ahead of it. Almost.
"I would have taken the emergency portkey, but Uncle Grath took it last night." Daray said, glancing at the clouds, which were now above them.
They had been fleeing before the storm for four hours when they looked up to see that they didn't have a chance of outrunning it. The first droplets hit slowly, and then the skies opened up. Rahkesh cast a hurried water repelling spell on Sygra, who was back on his shoulders. Then transfigured a hood and pulled it over his head. It didn't do him any good, not against this.
Fascinating rain. Sygra muttered, sounding not the least bit fascinated and more than a little unhappy.
It wasn't rain; it was several hundred cubic meters of water being dumped on them. Rahkesh had never seen it rain so hard. Never. Hadn't known it could rain like this. An hour later and he and Silas were taking turned magically throwing the water out of the canoe.
"This storm is a strange one. They usually don't come from that direction. It's already rained far up river. The storm is moving down the river, raining as it goes, we're in for a major flood." Daray said. Indeed, the river was rising fast. Small islands that had been visible before were underwater now, with only the trees showing. It came as a shock to notice that the water was nearly two meters higher on the banks then it had been. The pouring rain made it hard to see what was ahead of them, Rahkesh could hardly tell water from river bank.
"Never seen a storm do that, it came from the wrong direction." Daray was muttering. "And I've never seen this river rise so fast." Suddenly through the downpour a fallen tree appeared, hurtling towards them through the floodwaters. Silas tapped the levitation device; the propeller cleared the tree by inches. The tree rolled past them. Fallen trees, formerly still attached a bit to the bank, were now being washed into the river. They went flying past, the river's current had picked up to phenomenal speeds. Had the boat not been so heavily enchanted they would never have bee able to go against the current.
"Remember that spot, where an incoming tributary was blocked by a small dam the natives built, to build a pond" Silas said suddenly. Daray's eyes went wide.
"Oh crap." He whispered, "it'll break."
A sudden crunching sound reverberated through the forest, confirming Silas fears. Sure enough seconds later a wave of water came racing down the river towards them. Riding on the front of the wave was the remains of the dam, massive trees and boulders.
Uh master? That looks painful.
"We are going for a swim!" Daray called. "I'll levitate us over the front wave…what is THAT?"
Shielding their eyes against the falling water the three stared at the wave. Before them something was rolling out of the water. The wave seemed to part momentarily, driving whatever it was down the narrowed waterway straight at them. A huge boulder, a massive rock as big as a large house. Squinting through the rain Rahkesh saw that it runes carved on it.
Up ahead the narrowed river between its steep banks narrowed even further between two boulders. The oncoming wave, with the mansion sized rock in the lead, struck the two boulders. And the smashed dam got stuck. The large boulder couldn't pass between the two buried in the river, and the dam was caught across it.
Daray pulled them back, putting all their weight in the back of the boat. Then he pushed the propellers as deep into the water as he could. Then he hit the levitation device. It only worked for a few feet but it was enough. The propellers forced the boat clear out of the water, then the levitation device raised them just high enough to slam into one of the small boulders, and skid across the top of it. Sygra wrapped herself tightly around his neck. Rahkesh braced, suddenly understanding Daray's plan.
Both vampires leaped out onto the largest rock, Rahkesh caught a stuck tree and crawled along it to join them. Nuri, being a cat the fastest and best balanced, simply leaped from rock to rock to tree to the top of the boulder. The boat flew past the obstructions, and was promptly dragged under by the second part of the broken dam. Drenched, gasping, and shaking, the three huddled on top of the rock, Nuri pressed against Silas.
Great, I'm wet, you're wet, it's still raining, and we're stuck on this rock. Sygra sighed.
"Okay, this just sucks." Silas said, eloquently summing up the situation. The boulder shifted, and settled again.
"Stay here or get to shore?" Daray asked, rubbing an injured hand.
"Get to shore, we don't know how long this rock will stay here." Rahkesh said, "we can levitate each other that far easily."
Daray moved to stand, and, unthinking, placed his still bleeding hand onto one of the carved runes…a rune carved in the shape of a handprint.
"DARAY MOVE!" Rahkesh bellowed. Too late. A thunderclap boomed around them, and then everything went black.
XXX
There was light. Why couldn't he see? Ow. Something hurt. Everything hurt. Rahkesh's eyes snapped open and he grew a gasp. And froze.
There was sunlight.
He wasn't wet.
What about the flood?
Blood, a carved handprint, oh damn.
His vision cleared of the spots and he looked around. Daray, Silas, Sygra, Satan, and Nuri were lying beside him. They were on a rock. The runes were the same as the boulder, but that had been a boulder. They were on flat ground. It was sunny, it wasn't raining.
He looked around, and realized that they were on flat ground, in the middle of a circle of standing stones. And there were people standing beyond that ring of stones. Watching then, and whispering.
The first tingles of fear beginning Rahkesh realized that these weren't any people he'd seen along the river. They were wearing white robes, gold ornaments, and colored feathers. Several of them were holding staffs. A few were wearing thick garments made from sort of animal hide, and those ones were armed. He could see weapons made from a strange metal.
That did not feel good. Where are we? What happened? Not that I mind being dry.
Sygra slid up his arm and wrapped herself around his neck again. Nuri nudged Silas awake. Daray sat up and looked around. Then checked in the vampire bat, who coughed up a puff of steam and fire, then flew onto Daray's shoulder and hung from the seam of the sleeveless leather top.
Rahkesh touched his ear, and felt the earring, which currently held his trunk, cloak, and broom was still there, unharmed by whatever had happened. That was reassuring, with it he was fine anywhere.
"Oh. We are so not in Kansas anymore." Silas whispered.
They all stood and looked around again. It was early evening, it had been early afternoon. Now they could see that they were on a flat area of bare rock. On a massive flat area right on a mountainside. A little ways away, set back against the trees, was a city.
A massive city built into the forest and mountainside. There hadn't been any mountains where they were before…
The city was carved from a sand and white colored rock, dozens of levels and windows. Wide streets ran between the buildings. People moved about, dressed in clothing of a style Rahkesh didn't know. Silk drapes fluttered over the widows. The rain forest crowded around the massive city, plants grew in the middle of it in gardens in the streets, the streets widening so that people could move around them.
This place smells very different, the air is clearer. Sygra commented in his ear.
Far away he saw the treetops drop down as the slope of the mountainside continued. A massive mountain range towered above them; they were placed out before the mountains. Safe from avalanches by the distance, but very high up. They were even above one layer of clouds, or so it seemed. The snow capped mountains above, the rainforest stretched out below.
"What happened?" Silas whispered.
"Perhaps we should ask them." Rahkesh said, nodding towards those watching them. At that moment two women and two men pulled away from the others and walked to the stones. There they each touched one of the four largest rocks, and began moving their hands as though drawing runes. The rocks began to glow. Then beams of light shot out, connecting the circle of stones. Rahkesh closed his eyes and pictured the stones and the glow in his mind, then opened his senses, immediately he was swamped by the two vampires, he "rapped" hard on their presence, and felt them both close themselves off to let him work. He felt the vague presence of the people outside the circle ignoring them he searched for the magic in the stones, and could feel runes as though they were being drawn onto him. A slight shock, that then became a continuous electrical current flew across his senses. He opened his eyes.
Abruptly the light faded and the four people stepped into the circle of stone, cautiously approaching them.
"Rune magic, that was a simple ward against anything entering or leaving the circle. Not particularly advanced, but it would give you one nasty shock." Rahkesh said approvingly.
"Nasty shock. Normal person translation: electrocution. Your kind of people Rahkesh." Daray said dryly.
"They seem a little frightened." Silas observed. They did look like they were trying to hide nervousness.
They are nervous, but not fearful. Sygra hissed. They are very curious.
"Well we just appeared out of no where on the outskirts of their city." Rahkesh pointed out.
"I don't think that we were so unexpected. Look at how they're dressed. The people in the city don't seem to be dressed that well. And the cracks in the rock aren't growing grass, its been kept clean." Daray observed. The group went silent as the four stopped a good distance away. Two men and two women, all four carrying long staffs made from a black wood he'd never seen before. The staffs were decorated lavishly with gold and silver and copper and colored feathers. The metals had been melted and then dripped onto the staffs so that gold droplets ran down the staffs, silver ran upwards, and copper around. The feathers were tied to both ends, attached to the strings in an order that probably had some meaning in feather magic.
The four people bowed, and then straightened, the three did the same, and then watched them. Finally Rahkesh stepped forward and walked up to them. Stopping at a distance just far enough to not threaten. They couldn't possibly speak English. But they needed to make it plain that they spoke different languages, and then establish some form of communication.
"Hello." He said simply with a smile and nod. Instantly the group beyond the stones began to chatter away in some language. Rahkesh looked back at the other two. Both shrugged and walked up to stand beside him. One of the women, the one with gray hair that was starting to turn white, spoke two words, and then smiled at them. She pointed at the young panther and looked at them, and raised an eyebrow. Silas knelt and pulled Nuri into his arms. He patted the panther, and then stood. The woman nodded.
One of the two men, the blond one, spoke a few sentences. Another person brought a rope from the group standing beyond the stones. The woman handed it to Silas, and signaled that he should tie it around Nuri's neck as a leash.
Silas took the rope, examined it, and then handed it back. He put down the small bag he'd had on his back and fumbled in it. Rahkesh noticed him conjure something silently with the wand strapped to his arm. The magic hidden inside the bag. He pulled out a black collar that appeared to be padded, and a very long black leash.
Nuri whined, and then growled, but permitted the collar and leash.
"I trained him to not mind, in case it was ever needed." Silas explained quickly. Then he stroked Nuri and stood. The woman nodded approvingly.
The four beckoned them forward and they followed them to the group, now silent, waiting beyond the stones.