Here is chapter 12. Before you start reading the chapter, I thought I would share something funny that happened. My dad was setting up a weight training set he bought for $50, one of those three station workout things, benchpresse and push the bars to lift the weights. My dad hooked up about 8-11 of those large weights, and couldn't figure out why the three more on the bottom would not lift. He wanted to push the weights up, so I could check to see if they were aligned right. He strained, and couldn't do it. I came over.
"Here, let me do it," I said. He glanced at me.
"Sure," he said sarcastically. "You do it." I started pushing, straining. He continued expressing disbelief.
"You lift that thing and I'll give you five dollars. Try it, Hercules. Next you'll say your name is Napoleon and you've been in wars!" I saw an opportunity.
"You'll give me $5 if I can lift it? $10!" I said.
"A hundred! Heck, I'll buy you your own house!" He said, looking totally serious at the notion it was impossible.
"Okay!" I said. I sat back, wrapped my legs near the base of the seat for support, and pushed with my arms as hard as I could. I felt like Spider-Man stopping that train in the sequel. I pushed, and the weights lifted about six inches. I let go, and they slammed back down with a clang! I smiled.
"Wow. Sure, you get five dollars!" My dad said, looking amazed.
"You said a hundred!" I accused. My mom came over and sat down. I explained.
"No way, with all these bills, are you getting a hundred!" She said.
Oh well. I'm working on getting it. The morale of this story is the point I hope I made: get stuff in writing!
Oh, and whoever that was that said Orithian would have died if his jugular had been cut: That's the point. He's not a normal human. He would have died in less than a minute if that was the case. But he is part vampire and part lycan, almost a hybrid.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orithian ran forward, holding the handgun Selene had gave him. He was fairly sure of the path they had taken. Why hadn't he gone with them! He stumbled, and was only saved from tripping by reflexes. He was exhausted from the loss of blood. There was a faint, Bang bang bang bang! Orithian tensed. Gunshots. Up ahead. Not Selene's walther p99's, she was using those in bursts, not semi auto. He ran forward, trying to be silent. It took him nearly eight, maybe fifteen seconds to catch up. Orithian stopped for a moment to get a breath, then went on. He rounded the corner. He saw them, capturing the whole scene in mere seconds. Michael was on the ground, four holes in his shirt, colored… silver. Selene was bent over him. A dead body was on the ground. A …. vampire! To pale to be a lycan! A vampire was standing over Selene. Orithian didn't move for a moment. The vampire raised his small pistol. Orithian took a few steps forward, noting that the corpse on the side was alive, grabbed rusted metal rod off the ground, drew back his arm, and hurled it.
The vampire suddenly had a long metal rod in his chest. Orithian shot him a few times, knowing full well silver wouldn't kill him. The vampire stumbled backwards, and fell down a stairwell. Orithian ran forward, glancing at Michael. The blood vessels in his neck, and face, were silver gray. Orithian leaned over the stairwell. The body of the vampire was at the bottom.
"What was that?" Selene asked.
Orithian smiled. "Vampires weakness. Stake through the heart." He glanced down. The body got up! It stumbled away! Orithian shot a few more times in rage.
"Don't you mean, wooden stake through the heart?" Selene asked mildly. Orithian looked at Michael. He was gasping for air. Orithian bowed his head.
"Can you do anything for him?" Selene asked, sounding tearful. Orithian wondered why. He glanced at Michael.
"All one can do now…. is say goodbye." Orithain said. He knew there was no way to cure him. Not in some sewer system.
"Bite him!" A raspy voice said, behind Orithian. Orithian jerked around, raising his weapon. He recognized Lucian. The leader of the lycans.
"Half vampire… half lycan, but stronger than both!" Lucian gasped. Selene looked uncertain. She glanced at Michael. She opened her mouth, and leaned towards the dying Michael neck. Orithian could guess what was coming. He turned away.
"If that isn't the most grotesque thing in the world that you can possibly witness…" He looked at the lycan. This lycan probably planned the attack on Parabellum, causing deathes. Orithian raised the pistol, and drew the hammer back, not happy to notice out of the corner of his eye the fact that Selene was still biting Micahel.
The lycan looked at Orithian. He said in a gasping voice, "Kill me, brother, but my work it done." Orithian looked at him, his hand poised. He looked at the lycan's eyes. They were tired, centuries old. Orithian felt sympathy for this lycan. He heard a rustle of noise to is right. His head snapped towards the sound.
It was the vmapire elder, Viktor, with a sword! And two death dealer bodyguards, with small mp5's. Viktor did not hesitate as he strode forward, knocked Selene off Michael, with ease, then picked up Michael. He heald him by the throat for a moment, then turned around, and, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, threw Michael though the concrete wall behind him. Orithian took a few steps back. Viktor ignored him. He turned to Selene.
"Were's Kraven!" He demaned. Orithian volunteered an answer.
"I think he's down there somewhere," he said, pointing in the general direction that the vampire fled.
"It wasn't the lycans…" Selene said quietly, accusingly. "It was you!" Viktor looked at her, then at his bodyguards.
"Leave us!" He snapped. He looked at Selene.
"How could you bear my trust?" Selene asked, desperately. "After you killed my family?" Orithian listed closely.
"Was it not a fair trade?" Viktor asked. "For immortality?" Selene looked like she couldn't believe it.
"And your daughter? Who you ordered to be killed?" Selene asked, looking like she was crying.
Vitkor glanced at the lycan on the ground, Lucian, who had wisely decided to play dead. He snatched the small pendant of his neck, then looked at Selene.
"I loved my daughter!" He said, holding his arms out. "But the abomination that was growing in her womb was a betrayal of both me, and the coven!"
"Your own daughter!" Selelene whispered.
"I did what was necessary to protect the coven! As I am forced to do, yet again!" Viktor said, seizing the sword, and turning to walk through the hole in the wall he had conveniently created. Viktor froze, looking.
Orithian stepped forward. "I'm afraid I cannot let you kill Michael." He said the words calmly. Viktor turned around.
"Oh? And how do you plan to stop me?" Viktor said. Orithian moved quickly, flinging his knife forward. It sank into Viktor's hand that was holding the sword, pinning it to the wall. Orithian smiled. Viktor dropped the sword, ripped the knife out of his hand, and broke it in half, then tossed it away. Orithian glanced at the shards.
"Oh well." With those words, Orithian launched himself forward at the vampire, kicking him in the chest. Taken by surprise, Viktor fell back through the hole, splashing into a puddle of water. Orithian jumped down lightly. Vitkor took a few steps forward, and swung a punch. Orithian dodged it, slugging the old vampire, and knocking him backwards. From behind him, he thought he heard some blows. Viktor merely seized Orithian's arm, and swung him around in a full 360 degree circle, then used the momentum of the swing to smash him into the ground. Orithian tried to crawl away, feeling broken ribs, every breath painful. It wasn't so easy. Viktor walked over, placed him in a headlock, and said quietly,
"Time to die!" He tightened his grip. Orithian knew what he was doing. He was going to brake his neck. Orithian tried striking at him, Viktor's face, his chest, no use.
There was a noise. Orithian turned, just as the blade of Viktor's sword sliced just past his ear. Suddenly the grip fell away. Orithian rolled away, and stood, backing off. Selene was about ten feet to his left, holding a sword. Viktor stared at her for a moment. He moved his arms, and two long blades came out of his sleeves. Selene raised the sword. There was blood on the end.
A small red line appeared on Viktor's face. It spread. Then half of his head fell off, onto the ground. His body collapsed along with it.
Orithian stumbled backwards when the head fell off. He looked around. There was Michael…. Looking very strange. Selene was just staring at the body of the dead Viktor.
Suddenly Viktor stood up! He bent over, picked up the half of his head, and put it back on. The line disappeared as the flesh regenerated. He looked at Selene, fury spreading across his face.
"Very well," Viktor said. He looked at Orithian. "You will both now die." Viktor took his coat off, and tossed it away. Orithian felt for the handgun that he had loaded with tracer rounds. The feel of the grip reassured him…. Somewhat.
Viktor looked up, spread his arms, a looked of concentration on his face. Orithian realized with absolute horror what he was doing. Wings burst out of Viktor's back. His height suddenly went front six feet to thirteen. His arms were like telephone poles. He was thicker around the chest than most of the wardrobes Orithian has seen. Heck, some cars he had seen. If only I had a tank, Orithian thought sadly. But then, Viktor now looked big enough to smash a tank.
The enormous vampire glanced around him, then chuckled, seeing the dismay, the despair, on Orithian and Selene's faces. Orithian raised his USP pistol loaded with tracer rounds.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Viktor reeled for a second, then doubled over. The room was quiet as a tome for a moment. Plop plop plop. The glowing rounds fell out of Viktot, splashing in the water. He looked at Orithian. Click went his empty gun. Viktor took a step forward, Orithian trying to back up, his back to the wall, unfortunately.
He grabbed Orithian by the throat, and lifted him into the air. Orithian grabbed at the massive hand, trying hopelessly to pry the fingers away. He couldn't see where Selene was.
There was a growl behind Viktor. The giant jusy threw Orithian back through the holes he had created earlier. He turned. There was Michael. But he was now twelve feet tall, and equally huge.
Orithian didn't watch for more than a second, but he could certainly hear the massive bodies smashing each other, the concrete breaking. He ran over to the lycan that had played dead. Lucian. Orithian heaved Lucian up against the wall.
"How do I kill Viktor?" Orithian shouted into his face. The lycan gave him an insolent look.
"Don't you think hundreds of lycans have tried?" He spat. "We've staked him through the heart, shot him, stabbed him, tried torching him, sprayed him with Holy water! No one knows how to kill Viktor! If he was so easy to dispatch, his own servants would have done him in, centuries ago!" Orithian dropped him back on the ground. The walls shook. Orithian glanced back at the brawl. Michael was doing fine, but neither seemed to be doing any real damage to anything, but the wall's supports.
Then he remembered something he had learned in training. It was believed that only a powerful, fully transformed lycan could kill a vampire elder. The answer came to him quickly.
"Nathaniel!" Where was his brother?
---------------------------------------
Okay, hope you liked it. Next chapter soon.
