Chapter 4: Others of the Night
Some forewarning required: I think Lina is sorta OOC in this chapter. Sowwie!
-----
...Miss Lina, I hope you're having fun up there...
...Lina, you better wait for all of us there...
...I miss you, Lina...
Lina's eyes shot open as a burning pain shot through her arm.
"Owww!" she complained. "Will you people stop hurting me already?!" She blinked her eyes rapidly to adjust to the candle light glowing in various places.
Lina tried to test her hurting arm. Clink, clink, clink.
"Huh?" She looked at her arms, eyes finally adjusting to being used again. She was chained down. Her arms were chained to pillars, each standing on either side of her. She was so stretched out that she nearly had to tip toe to avoid her arms being pulled out of their sockets. But at least all the arrows were pulled out of her body and the wounds were already closing up.
Lina looked at the priest in front of her, who was holding an bloody arrow. "This isn't so merciful, Father." She said the last word mockingly.
"This is plenty merciful," he replied, tossing the arrow away. "Be grateful I did not stake you when I could have."
Lina rolled her eyes. "Please! You probably kept me alive to question me. Very selfish of a priest, might I add, to think of your own personal benefits. Well, anyway, forget it, buddy, cause I got nothing to say to you."
Marcus narrowed his eyes and took a step toward her.
"Father Marcus, we should not waste time on trash like her," a voice said.
Lina turned to see a young woman with short curly hair and blue eyes, armed with a bow and arrows at her side.
"Where's the other one?" Lina asked, looking around.
"Right here." A young man stepped out from the shadows beside the girl. He was a head taller than the woman, with short brown hair and matching blue eyes.
Lina grunted. "Let me guess, your parents were killed by vampires so you swear vengences on all of Us and sided with this priest. This is too cliched, yknow."
The two narrowed their eyes at her.
Lina rolled her eyes. "I didn't become a vampire to meet the likes of you two." She turned her red eyes towards the priest. "What's your story, priest man? Grew up in a holy place and tried to rid the world of its nightly Creatures?"
Marcus looked back at her coolly. "And what is your story, vampire? Did you choose to be damned over being dead?"
Lina tried to shrugged, but the chains held her down tightly. Robert and Lilith probably could have broke through it like thread.
I should have paid more attention to Robert's lessons. She thought.
Aloud, she said, "Wasn't my style to get killed and stay dead, yknow." She looked pass him and at the two others. "By the way, when I get out of these chains, I'll pay you back for what you did to my only outfit." Lina indicated the various holes on her tattered white pajamas. Through the tears and rips, they could see that all the arrow wounds were closed, not even a hint of scar remained. Only one scar remained and that was of the cross' doing. Although the wound had closed, they could see through the torn white linen that the mark had remained clear.
"You will not get out of these chains," Marcus informed confidently. "These chains are designed for older vampires. You are only a newborn, there is no way you could have already acquired the strength to break them."
Lina smirked. "Confident, aren't we?" She tried to straighten herself so that she can look at the priest evenly. "We'll see about that. You have to take your eyes off me sometime. And when you do, you won't know what hit ya."
Marcus shook his head, dismissing her comments.
"I think you fail to see you're in a bad situation right now, vampire," the girl commented, looking at Lina with disgust and arrogance.
Lina turned to look at her casually. "Which one of the dogs are you? Luka or Mirna?"
The girls sputtered. Her face reddened. "Who do you think you're talking to?!"
Lina gave her another smirk. "Do you really wanna know the answer?"
"I'll shut that mouth of yours permenantly!" the girl shouted and proceeded to take out a wooden stake.
The young man put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "Mirna, calm down, she is only messing with your head."
Lina nodded towards the young man. "Listen to him, Mirna, I think he's the smart one." She snickered.
Mirna tightened her grip on the stake and turned to Marcus. "Father! This is ludicrous! We should finish her off before--!"
Marcus raised his hands to stop her rant. "Luka, take Mirna and go replenish your supplies at the village."
Luka's hands tightened around Mirna's shoulder. She took a step back, glaring at Lina, turned around, and the two of them exited the place.
Lina snorted. "I thought they'd never leave. Obedient pups, aren't they?" She gave Marcus another smirk.
His brows knitted, not in annoyance, but in thought. She's a newborn, how can she not be afraid of her situation right now. The Others we've captured were not as weak as her and yet they were more frightened than she is now.
He pushed the thoughts away and looked back to the vampire. He noticed that she wasn't looking directly at him, rather she was still looking past him. Marcus blinked and smiled, looking down at the golden chained cross worn over his white robes. He took a step closer to her, then closer and closer, until he was about a few steps away from her. She made a motion of moving back each time he took a step, even though the chains restricted her to move away.
"Ah, I see at least something bothers you," he commented with a smirk of his own.
She scowled, trying to look at him but couldn't manage. "Not very priestly of you to have self-satisfaction of others discomfort, Father. Well, what can I say? They did tell me I'll grow an immunity to it sooner or later."
Marcus' green eyes narrowed. "Who are They?"
"You think I'm an idiot to tell you, huh?" she asked in return.
"Tell me! Who are the ones that you know?" he exclaimed.
Lina glared back at him. "No one tells me what to do. If you want to know, then MAKE me tell you."
"So be it. You leave me no choice, vampire," he said quietly. He straightened and took a step back, holding the golden cross within his palm.
Marcus closed his eyes and raised the cross to his praying lips. When he finished, he opened his eyes, lowered his hand.
Lina looked at him boredly. "I'm yawning with excitement," she said dryly. "Oh, please slow down, I'm agonized with pai--"
A piercing pain through her heart stopped her in mid-sentence. Her body convulsed as the pain grew.
"What--What are you doing?!" she shrieked. The pain grew sharper for an instance then dulled. "Stop it! Stop it! STOP!!"
The priest's hands loosened on the golden cross. He looked at the panting vampire with a look that's mixed with guilt and some satisfaction that this method had worked.
Lina glared at him with her vampiric red eyes, which were beginning to slit with anger.
"What did you do to me?!" She demanded, gripping the chain.
He pointed at the scar of a cross where her heart would be. "Even a scar of a cross can be used against a newborn vampire like yourself."
She growled, showing a fang that was starting to grow from her lips. "You'll pay for that, priest." Lina gripped harder on the chains.
"You are finally showing your true nature as a vampire," he commented with an emotional-less expression.
"I'll remember to show you how much it hurts to have something pierce your heart," Lina spat.
"And how much it angers you that you can do nothing about it, even though you're nearly immortal," he said, matter a factly.
Lina narrowed her slitted red eyes at him. He in turn ignored it, instead focused on placing the cross into the robes he wore.
Trying to calm herself down, Lina said, "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but like I said, I'm not gonna say anything. And besides, if those two followers and that gold cross are all that you got..." She tried to shrug. "I think you shouldn't try to mess with Them. They're not newborns like I am. They can snap your neck like a toothpick." Lina smirked at the thought.
"You can do that too, if I gave you the chance," he commented.
He shook his head slightly and gave her a look of weariness. "You don't understand, I'm not a Hunter."
Lina nodded towards the exit. "Those two seem equipped and skilled as one."
Marcus turned his body half way towards the door and glanced at it, then turned back to look at the vampire. "They are in a...situation of their own. Our paths just seem to cross one another."
He crossed his arms over chest and heaved a sigh. "I don't know much about them, to be honest." He chuckled shortly. "But it's not like you're interested."
Lina grunted. "I sort of got my own little problems to worry about right now. As far as those two go, I can care less about their past, present, or future. I'll make them pay for what they did to me regardless."
He chuckled. "Fair enough."
The flame-haired sorceress turned to look at the priest. "YOU, however, is a different story. I'd like to know what you're after, if not to hunt Us. And being that you were the ring leader at the time we first met, I think I deserve that much." She looked casually at him, waiting for a reply.
A moment of silence passed as Father Marcus contemplated the odd request. No other vampires had been interested when he mentioned it. He wondered why she was.
"I..." he started slowly. "I'm looking for someone. Someone...that may have strayed into the Night."
"What, you think he became a vampire or something?" Lina asked.
Marcus uncrossed his arms and clasped them behind his back, sighing. "She. I'm not sure what to think. She disappeared suddenly. Rumors had it that she fell in love with a vampire and fled with the creature into the Night. I've been asked to look for her."
He turned his back to her and Lina saw that there was a big golden cross sewed onto the back of the white robe, she flinched in surprise, gripping at the chains. She swallowed hard, trying to moist her dry throat. Lina shook her head, suddenly feeling weak. Her whole body slacked.
I need blood. I lost too much when I didn't feed to begin with.
Blood. Her mind whispered.
Sweet, untainted blood. His blood...
Lina felt she lost grip of her mind, she couldn't concentrate. She only saw the priest in front of her. Or rather she saw the red blood coursing through his veins. Sweet scented blood, like honey, pure and untouched.
Her mouth salivated. His blood...holy and untainted...blood...
Hearing the chains clinking behind him, Marcus turned around. He blinked as he saw the vampire's unfocused red eyes. Her black pupil slitted within those big red orbs, her fangs fully grown in her mouth. He thought he saw the strangest look on her face, one that was satisfied and fully happy. She should have been weak, losing so much blood earlier. She should have fallen asleep by now, recuperating in her vampirical ways. But now she just had the look of pure self-satisfaction for no reason at all. His green eyes connected to that of ruby red.
Come...
Marcus blinked at the vampire as those words whispered in his mind. What was she up to?
Come...
His eyes narrowed as he took a step forward. He tried to stop himself from taking another but found that he couldn't. A thought suddenly went through his mind and he clenched his fists. As a priest, he knew that he shouldn't have looked into the eyes of vampires, having many skills of wide varieties. This, he remembered from reading, was one of physical manipulation. Although his mind was unwilling, his body moved along to the vampire's bidding.
A bead of sweat slid down his face. Having been a newborn, he didn't think that she was capable of too many skills, much less this particular ability. He knew and encountered many newborns that tend to find it difficult to control their own mind and body, much less someone else's, he underestimated her capabilities...
"Stop," he said softly, as his feet dragged on toward her direction. "I know this isn't what you want to do. Control your mind."
His own body stopped in front of Lina, her eyes too focused on the priest. One side of her lip lifted to smile, showing one pointy fang.
"Your blood," she whispered, putting her lips to his ear. "...is what I want. I can see it. It is coursing through your veins, sweet and untainted. You're sinless, Father, I can smell it."
"Stop," Marcus went on. "You still have your humanity. Get a hold of yourself before you fall further into Darkness that which surrounds you."
She made no replies back as Marcus felt her lips on his neck. His heart started to beat, he could hear it in his ears. Another bead of sweat slid down his burning face. Marcus tried to step back but found his feet nearly bolted to the grounds. He lifted his hands to push her away but she was like a wall, unmovable. Finally, he felt her fangs cut through his skin, felt his blood obeying her needs as they traveled through his body into her mouth. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, feeling very much appalled that he would let such things happened. He heard her swallow, heard the clinking of chains, restraining her in place.
Suddenly his eyes popped open. He fumbled for his golden cross. Finally in his hands, he gripped it with all his might. He prayed, it was all he can do, and ended with, "Amen."
Lina let go of her prey's neck and let out a piercing scream, blood sliding from her lips. She panted heavily, her body bent as low as the chains would let her as she felt the pain through her heart.
Marcus stumbled backwards, covering his ears from the vampire's violent howl. He let the cross go and it hung freely down his neck. The screams stopped abruptly and he looked up to find the vampire growling.
Lina shook her head to clear it. For a second through the pain, she thought she heard a voice, very distant, but she heard it. Let me out, she heard, let me go. But as quickly as the pain had stopped, so did the voices. Then all she heard was herself growled and the priest's thumping heart. She opened her eyes to see her feet.
"It was just a taste," she said, looking up at the priest holding his punctured neck, smirking.
He glared wooden stakes at her, clenching his fists.
She smirked and said, "My, that look you give me, very unlike a priest, Father." Lina casually looked ever to her scar and found that it hadn't disappeared even after she had fed on living blood. She grunted.
"It will never go away," the priest said coldly. "You can feed and feed again for the next millenia and it will still be there." He continued to glare at her as he put the golden cross in his palm. "If you ever touch me again, I will do more than just pray. Do you understand, vampire?" He spit out the last word with disgust.
"What is it that make you feel such disgust to Us?" Lina asked with a glare of her own. "So we feed on blood. Yea, it's disgusting, if you must know until just now, I never once thought I could've managed it, but it's something I have to do to survive. Don't you eat? Well, it's the same concept, so don't be such a hypocrite, Father." She bit off the last word.
"I know you must do what you must to survive," he said. "But that is not what disgusts me. It is the fact that you delve further into Darkness when you need not to." He let out a deep sigh and let loose his golden cross. "I apologize for my actions just now. It's been...a long journey."
"Yeah, that goes double for me," Lina grunted.
His lips curved into a small smile. "What is your name?"
Lina puffed her chest out in proudness. "Well, I didn't wanna boast or anything but they do call me the Sorceress Supreme, Lina--"
"Father Marcus!!" the door burst open as Luka stampede into the abandoned place. "Weres!"
Marcus whipped around sharply. "Are you certain?!"
Luka did not have time to reply as Mirna stumbled in, shooting arrows out the broken windows. "They're coming!"
True to her words three hairy Werewolves burst through the door and windows.
"Heh heh...look what we have here," one of them said, saliva dripping down its mouth.
"Two humans, a priest and a vampire," another said, smirking.
"A newborn," the third said, seemingly the lead of the three as he was in the front. "This is a great evening."
Luka and Mirna stood in front of Marcus with weapons drawn out.
"Oh great," Lina mumbled. "Hairy dogs, what's next? Birdmen?"
The three Weres growled. "You will eat those words when we're done with you, vampire!"
"But first," the second growled and turned to the three humans. "We feast."
With that, both sides rushed each other. It would have been a blur if Lina were not a vampire.
They're good. Lina thought as Luka and Mirna attacked and dodged the Weres.
"Looks like I get the main course," the alpha Were said, salivating.
"Ew," Lina said, making him turn to her. "I know you're very close to dogs but geez, you don't need to drowl all over after each sentence."
"I would watch my mouth if I were you, vampire," he growled then smirked. "Letting these humans get the best of you is nothing to boast about."
"Are you stupid? Or are all Weres that slow?" she countered. "Does it look like I'm boasting, you hairy idiot? I'm here insulting you, do I need to make it any clearer?"
The Were roared in rage, or perhaps annoyance, and charged her. He back slapped her with his claws. Lina's cheek ripped open as blood gushed out of the wound. He gashed her abdomen and blood poured out of her body. Again and again, he attacked her and she had no way to defend herself. She felt the pain but noticed that her mind was slipping away. Then she heard a thump.
Let me out...
Lina blinked. What? Then she heard another thump. Was that my heart...? But...I'm dead...
Pain...pain...rage...Weres...pain...let..me...out...
Then she heard the thump again and again and found that her mind was slipping away as she felt rage creep into her. Her mind went blank and she saw nothing but Darkness covered in red.
Let go...
The Were continued to pound her, roaring in satisfaction as he examined the bloody work he made. Her healing abilities weren't fast enough to heal the wounds that it continued to beat onto her and she hung, wrapped in chains, bloody and helpless.
"Newborns," the Were grunted as he shook his bloody claws. He then turned to the priest that stood watching gaping and helpless.
The two other humans saw what had happened but had no time to think of it as they continued to dodge the attacks.
"Now," the alpha said, "where were we?" He smirked, showing his fangs, his claws clean of vampire blood. He slowly walked towards the priest.
"Father Marcus!" Luka and Mirna shouted from across the room. They tried to make their way towards him but couldn't as they found the two other Weres in the way.
Oh no... Marcus thought. He took a step back as the Were advanced. He gripped his golden cross and prayed.
The Were roared with laughter. "That won't work on us, human! I'll enjoy my holy food!" He laughed again and made a move to rush the priest and found that he couldn't. A dark mist surrounded him, it swallowed him, making him unable to move. He swiped at it with his claws, but it do anything to make it go away.
"What the?!" he exclaimed as he heard a clink behind him. He craned his neck to look behind him and gaped.
The newborn vampire that he had nearly destroyed was awake.
"Im-impossible!" the Were exclaimed as he saw her lift her face, her ruby-red eyes slitted and glowing. "Y-you should be nearly dead by now!"
She gave him a smirk as she gripped at the chains restraining her arms. One side broke, leaving her arm free. She started to pull on the other one.
"No you don't!" the Were shouted as he rushed towards her.
He saw the vampire smile knowingly and felt the dark mist closing on him like a brick wall. He heard the other chain break and then saw nothing but her ruby-red eyes. He gasped as he stopped his movement abruptly and felt a piercing pain in his stomach. He looked down and saw that her thin arms were through his furry abdomen and howled in pain.
She let him back away from her and looked at the other Weres. They both stopped as they heard the howling. They saw their leader hurt, bleeding and gripping his stomach then they saw a blur and then saw Darkness...
Marcus felt sick to his stomach as he saw the vampire suddenly appear in front of each of the Were Luka and Mirna had been fighting then made a swiping motion with her arms. All of a sudden the Were's head flew off in another direction as its body thud onto the floor. Then she disappeared. Marcus sought the other Were and found that the vampire had appeared behind it, emerging from his shadows and made another swipe with her arm. The second Were's head dropped in front of Marcus. He jumped back in surprise and at the same time, disgust. He paled, tasting his lunch in the back of his throat. The vampire then made her way towards the alpha Were, the last of the three. It was still wounded, gripping at its abdomen, growling at the vampire approaching it like Death.
Luka and Mirna came to the priest's side, supporting him as his knee weakened. They stood as pillars as he leaned against him for support and looked on as they found they cannot and will not do anything to stop the vampire from killing the Were.
No... Marcus thought. This isn't right...there shouldn't be any more killing...I shouldn't let her go further into Darkness...
"Stop!" he shouted at the vampire's back. He pushed away from Luka and Mirna and stepped foward.
"Father!" they exclaimed as they held him back.
"Stop it! You shouldn't kill any further! You shouldn't delve further into Darkness!" he exclaimed.
The vampire either did not hear or chose to ignore him as she raised one of her arms.
"No! Stop! Stop it! Don't kill anymore!"
"Father! Father, she won't listen!" Luka exclaimed, holding onto the priest's arm.
"Don't go near Them, Father!" Mirna shouted as she took hold of his other arm.
Marcus shook his head violently. "No! Stop! LINA!"
The vampire stopped in mid-swipe.
Lina saw shapes, or rather blurs, and dark-red all around her. She heard her name somewhere in all this red blur. Then she felt a burning pain and screamed.
Luka and Mirna gasped as they saw the Were took hold of the vampire's throat. The Were had taken advantage of her few seconds of hesitation. The attacked seemed to deepened the vampire's state of blood-thirst trance and she growled at it, fangs growing. She in turn took hold of its neck and without hesitation snapped it. They heard it, like a limb on a tree being broken, the Were thumped onto the floor, lifeless.
They saw the vampire gasping in air she did not need, they saw her clench her fangs and saw that she had lost a lot of her own blood. It never was a good thing to have a rampaging vampire lose a lot of blood for They will look for other ways to compensate for Their lost.
"This doesn't look good," Luka commented as he saw the ruby-red eyes turn towards them.
"I don't think we need to stay here any longer."
Mirna nod in agreement and pulled at the priest. "Father, let us go."
The priest held his ground, they saw his brows arched, seeming in thought.
"Father! This isn't the time to be stubborn!" Mirna scowled.
She saw the vampire making her way towards them .
"Father!" she exclaimed.
"Hush!" Marcus said and palmed his golden cross, then closed his eyes. "Stay behind me."
They did as they were told and heard the priest begin to pray.
It didn't affect the vampire at all. She continued to make her towards them. Mirna stretched a hand to pull at the priest but Luka intercepted and held onto her hand, he shook his head at her. Mirna let her hand fall beside her and continued to watch on.
Little by little the vampire closed the distance between them and stood in front of the priest, a couple of steps away.
"Amen," they heard the priest whisper.
The vampire grunted and clutched at where her heart should be. She glared at the priest and mouthed something Luka and Mirna did not hear, the priest in turn, frowned deeper.
"Leave her conscious be, influence of Darkness," they heard him whisper.
The vampire smirked then closed her eyes.
Lina "saw" the redness disappear and opened her eyes to find Priest Marcus and his two lackeys in front of her. She found herself gripping her chest and let go. There were blood all over her and her bloody white pajamas was even more damaged and bloodier, if that was even possible. Lina looked around the place and found the three Weres that had attacked him decapitated and bleeding all over the floor.
"Uh...what...happened?" she asked.
Luka and Mirna suddenly readied their weapons and prepared to charge her. Lina, by reflex, jumped back and felt pain at her side and her neck. She winced at the pain. She was thirsty again and she felt horribly tired. She felt her mind clouding and looked out the door hanging from its hinges to see orange outlines of trees.
"Oh no..." she groaned. "I thought I outgrowned this already..."
Luka and Mirna blinked as they saw Lina crashing down onto the floor.
"What the...?" Mirna said as she relaxed her stance.
They heard snoring come from Lina and blinked again.
"She is still a young vampire," they heard Marcus say. "Even if she was capable of killing three Weres alone."
He brushed pass them, making his way towards the sleeping vampire. "Come, help me make a resting place for her."
"Father, we should just leave her here to burn in the sun," Luka said coldly.
"Yes, why should we help her?" Mirna asked.
"...because she saved our lives," the priest replied.
"But she was about to feed on us too!" she exclaimed.
"..."
He lifted on Lina's arms and started to drag her towards the back exit of the place where the sun had not touched.
"If you two are not going to help me, then I shall do it myself," he said and continued to tug on the vampire.
Luka and Mirna looked at each other then wordlessly helped the priest out the back exit, not liking the idea one bit.
All the while a black crow, perched atop a brick hanging from the wall, watched on with its beady eyes...
-----
Author's note: Yay! I did it! Chap 4 is out! :D