Thanks to the beta reader floodmaster16
01/01/2015
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
CHAPTER 13 - Those who fight further
"What in the hell are Johnny and my dad doing?" Mavis snapped, beginningg to get nervous, "And why idn't they take me with them? After all, I helped with the mapping of the secret tunnels too!" The girl continued, crossing her arms, sulky.
"C'mon Mavy, calm down. They'l come back soon, you'll see." Wanda tried to reassure her.
"If they haven't already fled, that is!" Griffin countered.
"I'm going to look for them." The vampiress said, getting up, "I wonder whenwill my father stop treating me like a chld..." She complained again.
"Good idea," Waine interjected, understanding his wife's dismay, "Make sure that he has the situation under control, it will not be easy to run away with that gang of unruly puppies."
Wanda sighed. Her husband was, of course, right.
"Yes, good. If we have to leave this place, we need time for packing up. I want polystyrene, not that itchy hay" Eunice exclaimed, shrilly.
...
The tip of the still smoking sword was pointing menacingly at Erzebeth, who was slowly rising, but the boy remained motionless and, unlike before, he was not trembling at all. He seemed to be like another person, like a true warrior.
"I'll never let you hurt Drac or Mavis!" He exclaimed with pride.
She looked up at him, "I don't give a shit about Vlad, nor his daughter. I . Want. YOU!" She roared.
The human was unimpressed. Indeed it was him who attacked first. The last time he had been this brave was when he had fought against Camazotz to protect Mavis, and now he was doing it for Drac. It was hard to say if all his grit came from his heart to defend the people he loves, or if that holy weapon instilled in him the courage and honor of a dragon.
"You know why I love the kris? The wavy blade inflicts jagged wounds that don't heal easily, the bleeding is continuous and unstoppable." Erzsebet said as he watched the boy, who reached towards her.
The woman threw a quick slash with his dagger, but Johnathan managed to block the attack with his sword, despite his much lower speed and strenght when compared to those of the vampiress. The two seemed to be par on par, and the movements with which the human defended himself were too accurate for a novice like him, so much that Johnny himself was astonished.
The sword he wielded was not a normal weapon, it was a lot more, and Jonathan knew it. It felt just as if she was alive, and the two of them fighting together was like fighting alonside a great warrior to her.
It was not Jonathan who wielded the sword, it was the sword who wielded him.
And a moment later he went on the offensive with a jab that the vampiress was able to avoid only thanks to her powers.
Jonathan seemed to have becomed a formidable opponent for the Countess.
Meanwhile, Dracula was engaged in a fight against Ruthven, but this fight was markedly different from the other. The Lord was not willing to kill Drac, but rather,he wanted to make him lose time and stop him from reaching the human. The Count knew how the clash between Johnathan and Erzebeth, and the human had no chance of getting out alive. His life was in the hands of the Countess, and if she had not already killed him then she was just having fun with him and trying to make him suffer. Dracula's estoc could keep up with the kriss of the vampiress easily, but the boy was, with the exception of hypnosis, totally defenseless against her magic.
The Count had to save his friend, but it would not be easy. Ruthven was strong and benefited from the energy of human blood, and he had to take the Lord out without Erzebeth noticing. Otherwise she would give the human a deadly blow.
Dracula had to take down his enemy in one hit without getting noticed The mission would be almost impossible, but he had no choice.
Drac ran with unsheathed claws against the Lord, who waited him with crossed arms, conscious of his own superiority, and when he reached him, Ruthven blocked easily both his hands, bringing himself face to face with him.
Both vampires looked at each other's red eyes until the world around them suddenly turned black and silent, leaving the two alone in nowhere.
Ruthven pushed Dracula off and looked around, "You must be crazy to challenge me in this field. I'm not very good at melee combat, neither with magic, but my mind-control skills are superfine. And yet, you try to hypnotize me? You should know that when you join your mind with that of someone else you lower your diferences and generate a link walkable from both directions. And, as nature teaches us: only the strongest wins.
Well, I thank you, now I' won't have any problems to make you talk. "
The Count looked at him with a satisfied smile, "You want to investigate through my memories? Go ahead, I invited you here for this!" He exclaimed, defiantly.
Ruthven raised a hand toward the vampire, "I'll make you live a nightmare from which you'll never wake up." He said, smiling wickedly, and a moment later the Count began to hear a very strong and loud hiss, so much so that he knelt in pain and covered his ears with his hands, but it was all in vain, and it was not over. His heart ached with every heartbeat, like a fire in his veins that gradually propagated in his chest, legs, and arms. It was a pain worse than that of the shadow flame, the worst he had ever experienced so far.
"The mind is a strange thing. Pain, like all the feelings and emotions, is purely a psychological issue. I could torture you to death from inside your own head, but your body would remain intact. Don't you find it romantic? Never lose your beauty..." Then he came to the vampire, took him by his neck and held him up, looking into his eyes, "Wait, are those wrinkles? Since when do vampires get older? Old age is a mortals' thing..." The nobleman chuckled, then let go of Dracula, who fell to the ground, and then continued, "If I tell you Camazotz, what comes to mind?"
For a moment the two found themselves in a forest. It seemed to be morning, but Drac gritted his teeth and darkness fell again on them, "You're bending Vlad. It's not easy to concentrate and not think about anything when the pain blurs your mind, is it?" Ruthven said.
"You... you..." Drac tried to reply, but the pain was choking him to the point of preventing him from speaking.
"Don't you find all this suffering... useless? I can keep you from dying just to continue torturing you. How long do you think you'll resist? If you are thinking about holding out until my energy runs out then you must know that I came into your mind less than a tenth of a second ago..."
Dracula chuckled, "You can believe to be superior all you want, but remember that you're playing in my house..." He said through gritted teeth.
Immediately after that, the darkness faded, bringing the two into a grove.
"Wise decision,, Vlad, let me see what you know about the demon." Ruthven said dissolving the magic with which he tortured Drac, "Now, concentrate."
"I've already concentrated enough." Drac said, getting up.
The Lord was puzzled by that statement, then he sensed a lurking danger, his heart beginning to beat faster and then getting a cold sweat.
"What the hell is going on? I have full control of your mind and of your memories, what should I be afraid of?!" The man exclaimed, looking around, but there seemed to be nothing.
"You know? The world of memories is not a real world, after all. You can remember a fire, and it won't burn you, but the emotions associated with that memory can still hurt you, even years after. Like you said, the mind is a strange thing, and a memory full of emotions and a lot of concentration can become more real than it should. You wanted to live my remembrance in first person? I'll settle you in your place right now." Drac said, smiling with a glance of superiority.
"And what demon should I be afraid of?" Ruthven replied.
A moment later, a shadow stood over the man, who looked up; he opened his mouth to speak but he froze for a moment, it was Camazotz, the vampire demon , "So it's true, the demon exists..." Then he turned, beside him was Jonathan too, "No, no, no... it cannot be, I should see this through the eyes of the demon!" He shouted, then turned to Dracula, "You were not the demon!"
Meanwhile, the Count was watching with a satisfied smile. His plan seemed to work, but would the demon's slash really hurt the Lord?
Camazotz attacked. The Lord took Jonathan and jumped away, but was wounded in his arm, and the shadow flame began to burn it. It was the exactsame thing that had happened to Drac.
The wounded vampire began to scream, torn by grief. It was nothing when compared to the pain that Ruthven was able to inflict with his hypnosis, but it was the most that Drac could do, and it was a lot.
Unfortunately, the memory of the demon was enough to bring out Drac's wound, and, failing to prevent Ruthven's scape, he opened his eyes on the real world, once again face to face with his enemy. Everything that had happened during that mind-melee had lasted less than a second.
Ruthven fell to the ground, exhausted. His left hand was blackened, as if burned. The memory of the shadow flame had een enough to make his spirit react in a violent and self-destructive way.
The Count turned towards Jonathan and Erzsebet, who had just realized what had happened. It was enough time to jump towards Jonathan and wrap it in his cloak to protect him from her magic, but instead, he fell to his knees on the floor and could not move. He had not noticed it, but the psychological fighting had exhausted him too.
The vampiress stopped the human and turned to the other two, "What the hell have you done?"
Dracula was able to get up. He felt as if his brain was smashed, he was confused, dizzy, and suffered from blurred vision, but he managed to stand up. He did not have to show his real condition.
"Your boyfriend made a big mistake," Drac said, but was interrupted by the Countess, who pointed out:
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Well, whatever he is... a demon is more scary than you can imagine. Even just its memory can be deadly. "
"Er... Erzsebeth..." The Lord groaned, getting up slowly, "He's not the demon, but both he and the human know everything."
"Then I can interrogate the boy." She said.
"NO!" Ruthven shouted, coughing repeatedly with the effort, "Don't read his mind, he looked Camazotz in its eyes!"
The woman was stunned, "How did you survive?" But the question remained unanswered, Jonathan still blocked, "There's nothing we can do, but force them to talk without hypnosis ... it will be fun." That said, the woman waved her hand and Jonathan was unfroze.
The boy turned to Dracula and pointed the estoc against him, "Hem, Drac? I think I've got a problem..." The scared human said, then he began to run towards the vampire, seemingly ready to attack him, "Somebody stop me!" He cried hysterically.
"If I can't hypnotize him,then I will use him as a puppet." Erzsebeth chuckled, able to control the boy just by looking at him.
Drac limited himself to avoiding the human's attacks. They were clumsy, both because Johnathan was trying to stop himself, and because the sword itself no longer controlled the boy.
In any case, the vampire was calm because he knew his sword would not hurt him. But the other two vampires did not know that, and he could use their ignorance to his advantage.
"Come on Vlad, is it really worth it? He's just a human!" Ruthven said as he held his wounded arm, which was healing slowly.
Jonathan continued to attack, but Dracula began to have problems with his defense, having increasing difficulties when it came to moving.
"Ruthven... You'll not be able to stop me." The count said, but the psychic combat had weakened him very much, and he could no longer defend himself from the magic of the Lord effectively.
"Seriously, how long you think you can hold out?" Ruthven asked, and narrowed his eyes to better focus on the target.
Drac felt oppressed, as if he had a boulder on his back and fell to his knees.
"Your magic is powerful, old Vlad, too bad it runs out so quickly. Synthetic Blood is just a poor substitute that will never equal up to human blood, isn't it true, Erzsebeht ?" He continued, turning towards the woman, who did not answer. After all, she needed a lot of concentration to control Jonathan, who, in the meantime, pointed his estoc to the heart of the exhausted vampire , "Is this what you really want?" The Lord continued, "Just tell us who it was that demon took control of and how did you summoned it. Killing you is not part of our interests, we just want to take our righteous revenge on humans."
"You have no idea of what a demon really is..." Dracula said, panting.
"You still don't want to collaborate. Well, too bad for you, your life is now in the hands of the boy," Erzsebeth growled furiously, then turned to the boy and with friendly voice continued, "The choice is yours, young human, are you sure you want to shoulder the burden of turning little Mavis into an orphan?" She concluded, approaching to him and placing a hand on the arm that held the weapon.
The boy gritted his teeth, "There would be a heavy weight on my conscience even if I told you everything."
The Countess gripped the human's arm, and pushed it slowly, making the estoc penetrate the chest of the vampire. She was giving them both the chance to change their mind, Dracula moaning in pain and Jonathan keeping his eyes closed to avoid watching that scene, but neither of them did anything.
"Get back!" Erzsebeth suddenly shouted and jumped back in a moment, and with her magic she made a shock wave that pushed Ruthven away. But exactly at that time Drac had launched his attack too, jumping against the woman and pulling the sword out from his body. He unleashed a blow that just touched her, cutting her corset.
"It was a close one... you're a skilled strategist. Earlier, you focused on a memory to the point of hurting Ruthven, and now, you tricked me with a sword that doesn't hurt you... But you're too tired to continue this fight. You have no chance against us. I'm tired of playing, tell me how to become a demon... " The woman turned to Jonathan and stroked his hair, while the other hand toyed with her kriss, "Otherwise, I try to do it my way: I cut the boy's throat and wait until some Lamia appears. After all he is their protégé . "
Jonathan gulped. Drac's strategies had failed, and now they had no other loopholes.
But suddenly the unexpected happened. A very powerful and sudden air wave, almost like a silent explosion , threw everybody on the floor, dissolving the curse of the two evil vampires.
"Holy rabies! What are you doing! "Mavis roared, confused and angry, appearing on the old tower's roof.
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