Black Blood - 24. Chapter 24

24

The vampires started invading the town from the eastern side. Mayrin had been waiting for them. She summoned sharp metallic discs that kept coming back to her after throwing them. She used them to attack the vampires as they came rushing to Payan, stomping on the rows of crops at the outskirts of town. They were so thirsty that they had gone completely insane. They didn’t look like humans anymore.

Airi was by her side. He summoned his long thin sword. It was light in his hand, and he mostly counted on speed to defeat the creatures. He waited for them with apprehension, but he remained calm. They had decided to keep elemental magic as a last resort, because it took a lot out of them and they didn’t want to be weakened from the start.

Pandra and Micah had followed them, tired of staying cloistered inside the inn when their friends were gone, even though Mayrin had advised them not to. No one ever listened to her. Kalan had gone to fetch Skylar. They needed her now and she was nowhere to be found.

Toward the north, smoke rose from the forest. From it came a big dragon, flying rapidly toward them. That was Pandra’s dragon, and he seemed injured.

They stood beyond the first houses lining the roads of Payan, but some people had awakened, hearing the bloodthirsty roar of the vampires in the distance. They had come outside to see what was going on, alarmed. They saw the dragon in the sky, its bluish and reddish scales visible in the moonlight. These fools ended up being more scared of the dragon than they were of the army of creatures rushing to their town. They went to ring the warning bells.

Mayrin couldn’t pay much attention to what else was going on. She kept her focus on the vampires. As they got closer she spared no metal disc. She threw them at the vampires, and when they didn’t come back soon enough she summoned new ones. Airi stood on steady feet with his sword, his light hair blowing in the wind, his jaw tightened. He didn’t have to wait much longer.

The people that used to be called Nomads had dirty ragged clothes and lanky hair. Their dark skin had a sickly livid tint to it now. Their faces were contorted with hunger. Their fangs were sharp, craving human flesh. When they were too close, Mayrin let her metallic discs disappear. Instead she summoned two sharp daggers. Airi was the first one to lend a blow with his sword. Mayrin let out a deep breath. As a vampire launched at her, she sliced him once in the neck and a second time across the stomach, all in a split second. When she jerked back her daggers, they were red to the hilt. She attacked another one.

She couldn’t help but being aware of what was happening behind them. She had tried telling Skylar many times that she wasn’t responsible for Micah’s life. She didn’t care if he was eighteen years old. She didn’t care how delicate or vulnerable he was. That wasn’t her problem; Micah had insisted to come here of his own free will. Mayrin’s duty was to kill the vampires, because they were an anomaly, a tragedy, caused by one of her own. She had taken it upon herself to clean this mess, because, well, someone had to. She couldn’t let herself be distracted with protecting a foolish human.

Yet she worried about him anyway, for some reason. Right now he was safe; the dragon had landed next to Pandra. As she tended to his wound, the dragon had breathed out a circle of fire surrounding the three of them to fend off the vampires. All across town bells were chiming in warning, and people were panicking. They soon realized dragons weren’t the problem though. Mayrin and Airi couldn’t keep all the vampires from entering town. There were hundreds of them. They slipped past their defense and ignored the dragon and two humans, fearing the fire. They rushed throughout town, running in houses and killing the families. Mayrin could hear children screaming for help. But surely their parents were being killed in front of their eyes, too. No one was coming to help.

Where are you, Skylar?

Airi spoke in between two slashes of his sword. “We have no choice.”

She nodded, closing her eyes. For just a moment, Airi would have to defend them both against the vampires. She just needed to gather her strength to use elemental magic. She felt the magic surging through her, taking out all of her energy, draining her to the core. She was ready. Airi felt it.

After driving his thin blade through one more vampire’s chest, he turned and took her hand, lending her even more power. A wall of fire immediately rose before them, blocking the vampires, the same way the dragon had done for Pandra and Micah.

Their hands were held so tight that it hurt. Mayrin felt their magic connecting as though they were one. A few vampires were so maddened with thirst that they actually tried to cross the fiery wall—and died trying. One problem was that the vampires they had attacked with their summoned blades weren’t dead. Thankfully, Mayrin and Airi had managed to behead some of them, and those were taken care of. As for the others, they were weakened, but they were standing again, running to reach the town and its people. The fiery wall could only reach so far; vampires were starting to reach its end on both sides.

“Stop,” Mayrin said, “it’s pointless now.”

They ended the flow of magic, Mayrin’s fingers slipping from Airi’s hand. The flames disappeared, leaving a blackened trail on the otherwise green and yellow ground. Some vampires had been charred to death, at least. But so many had slipped past and entered town. Mayrin whirled and cast her glance over the homes. Screams could be heard from each one. The vampires were wildly knocking down doors, and even if people took shelter in their basements, the vampires would surely follow them down there, no matter how many obstacles were in their course. They were too thirsty.

Beside her, Airi’s face was white with dread. But he stood his ground. They were both strained from using that fire, but they summoned their blades again.

“Let’s go,” he said simply.

They started running up the blood-stained path. Some wounded vampires were bleeding but that didn’t stop them. Mayrin and Airi split up so they could cover more ground. They each entered a house where they could still hear people screaming, hoping to save them.

***

Pandra had taken out the arrow from Lord’s white scaled front. It seemed bad, but not fatal. Pandra was speaking to him softly in her language. Lord had breathed out fire to protect them, but now the flames were dying. Thankfully no vampires seemed to notice. They had moved on to attacking other people now.

“Where’s Viko?” asked Micah. He knew they couldn’t understand him, but he tried anyway. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

Kalan had already gone after Skylar, and besides she was quite able to defend herself. Micah was more worried about Viko. No one had gone after him.

A shadow crossed Pandra’s hazel eyes. Her hand rested on her dragon’s neck. She slowly looked at Micah, her long black hair dancing in the wind. Then she gazed in the distance. Micah realized she was looking at the castle with the high towers.

With his injured shoulder, Micah knew that he wasn’t of much use. Well, even without the injured shoulder, actually. He had been stupid enough to come here. Viko had carried him on his back without complaining. He had wrapped bandages around his wound after cleaning it. Micah didn’t care if he was weak or useless. If his friend was in trouble, he would go to him anyway. It was better than doing nothing.

“He’s at the castle?” he pointed with his good arm.

Pandra nodded. She said something in an alarmed voice. She was probably telling him not to go. But Micah had already jumped over the flames. He ran as fast as he could, and luckily for him all the vampires seemed busy eating other people. Not that it was a good thing, but at least Micah was able to keep running. His shoulder hurt, but sadly he was getting used to the pain by now. Kalan had given him clean clothes earlier so he could change out of the dirty, blood-stained ones; a loose shirt and a pair of beige pants with suspenders. But as he ran the pants were already stained with dirt and blood again. He felt sick as all around him people were screaming and choking on blood as they got their necks ripped off. The vampires were merciless.

Some people were still ringing bells further in town. The sound of it was incredibly loud, and it hurt Micah’s ears as he ran. There were no vampires in the town center yet. People were panicking, though. Some parents were yelling desperately as they tried to find and gather their children. Dogs were whining in fear as they felt the danger coming. Birds were flying away from the trees in a flapping of wings, shedding black feathers in the night. Micah couldn’t feel his legs but he kept running.

The moon shone high above the stone castle, its towers looming over town. Everything was quieter here. A few people walked out of fancier two story houses, wondering what was going on. Some looked at the sky, observing that there were no dragons despite the bells being rung. They stared at Micah as he ran past them in a flash. He had never run so fast before in his life. The fear of seeing all those vampires swarming in the night like running zombies had probably given him the push he needed.

He passed some kind of restaurant from which came loud music that reminded him of folk and Celtic rhythms. People inside were dancing the night away, unaware that their town was under attack. Micah didn’t stop to warn them. He didn’t know the language anyway. They would just take him for a crazy person from another town, with odd shoes and a strange haircut. Besides, with all those bells chiming someone was bound to notice at some point.

A few moments later, rendered out of breath by all that running, he skittered along the last few feet to the fortress wall. He circled it, brushing his hand against the stone, looking for some kind of window or opening. He couldn’t see very well in the dark. The cool wind blew strong, and Micah shivered, feeling cold and hot at once. His breathing sounded so loud to his ears, and so did the pounding of his heart. He kept walking, sneakers thudding onto the line of gravel surrounding the wall.

He found a door, and it wasn’t even locked or closed for that matter. It was a good thing, because that thing looked so heavy he wasn’t sure he could’ve pushed it by himself. He looked up, holding his breath. Lit by the stars and the moon, the castle seemed to stare him down menacingly. He couldn’t hear anything coming from inside. Darkness engulfed him as he trotted along the path shaded by willow trees. After climbing up the stairs, he saw that again, the main door had been left open, its silver carvings glittering in the moonlight. Micah walked through it.

Trying to calm down so his heart would stop pounding, he walked across the torch lit entryway. The painting of Charisma on the wall scared him for a brief moment. He sighed shakily. Before him was a spiral staircase, but he couldn’t see any light upstairs. So he ignored it for now, and kept walking on the granite floor. Another painting was hung between two torches, depicting a scene that reminded him of the image often used for the zodiac sign Aquarius. Except instead of water, it was blood being poured, staining the river scarlet. Indoor trees in pots lined the walls at intervals, some bearing fruits that surely no one was eating.

Suddenly he heard steps coming from his right. There was a room beyond the stairs, with some couches and chairs. It was dimly lit there, too. Micah thought he saw two silhouettes coming his way. He inhaled sharply and made to run, but they were faster. They were vampires. One was…

“Josh?”

The tall, athletic young man that used to go to school with Skylar and live in the same apartment was now holding him with unnatural strength. His brown hair seemed darker and messier, and he wore some blue leather tunic with tight black pants and boots. A sword was sheathed at his side. Micah almost hadn’t recognized him without his varsity jacket. He smelled like smoke.

“Oh, Micah, you shouldn’t have come here, man.”

Behind him was another young man in similar attire, except he had rips and blood stains on his shirt, but it was partly hidden by the scarf tied around his neck. He wore glasses with no glass in them, and his light short hair was curly. He joined his hands behind his back as he studied Micah. Then he looked toward the open door.

“Huh, I guess no one is guarding the fortress.”

“Where’s Viko?” he asked. “What is Charisma doing to him?”

“Torturing him,” the one with the glasses answered matter-of-factly.

Micah’s heart skipped a beat, and he struggled to free himself from Josh’s hold. It did nothing but hurt his arm even more.

“Relax. If you want to see him, I’m taking you there anyway.”

They started walking down a gloomy corridor, their footsteps filling the thick silence, until they reached a set of stairs, those ones leading to the basement. The stairs seemed to never end.

“Why are you siding with Charisma?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Um, maybe because she gave us immortality,” glasses and scarf answered with a voice that clearly implied he thought Micah was stupid.

“I wasn’t asking you.”

“Drew’s right, though,” said Josh, shrugging sheepishly. “I mean, I’m already a vampire, what am I gonna do?”

“You could help Skylar! Do something good.”

Drew chuckled mockingly. Micah ignored him. Below the steps was only blackness. He was starting to hear voices; Charisma’s and Viko’s, actually.

“Charisma would just find me and kill me,” Josh pointed out, scratching his hair. He sounded like he was just trying to give himself excuses.

Underground it was damp and cold, with a single torch lit further on the wall. They marched up a narrow corridor, lined with cells. The floor-to-ceiling metallic bars were solid looking and tight. All the cells were empty, though. Why keep prisoners when they could drain them from their blood? Micah thought darkly.

Well, there was one prisoner. Viko had been thrown in a cell. He sat just in front of the bars, brown hair veiling his face. His clothes were dirty. The first thing Micah noticed was that his hands were full of blood. As Josh dragged him closer, he saw that his fingernails had been torn out. Micah breathed in with a sound close to a sob. Sitting in the narrow corridor in front of the cell, Charisma turned slowly to look at the newcomers. The torch was in a metal holder in the wall behind her, in between two empty cells. It cast a faint yellow glow. Charisma’s skirt was ripped and her sandals were muddy. Black hair had come out of her braid messily. But she was smiling. One of her hands was holding Viko by the collar. The other held a knife. The blade was dangerously close to Viko’s eye.

“I was just asking him where you and your friends were!” She tilted her head. “But you came on your own. That’s so great. Maybe you can keep your eye after all, dragon prince. You would’ve looked good with an eye patch, though.” She laughed musically, reaching out to ruffle his hair. Then she released him and got up to her feet, rubbing her hands.

“Ah, we’re going to have so much fun! Tell me, Micah, how are you enjoying this world?”

Viko was looking at him through the narrow bars, holding them with mutilated hands. He cursed under his breath.

“Vampires are attacking this town right now, you know,” Micah stated nervously, hoping that would distract her from her torture.

It didn’t. “Ah, that’s lovely! Why don’t we celebrate? Drew, go get me some wine.”

He saluted like a soldier and went back upstairs to fetch the wine. Micah’s eyes darted to the flickering torch. He wished he could use magic to make the fire spread to Charisma and burn her on the spot.

“You know what,” Charisma brushed her lip with a finger, “on second thought, I think I’d like to celebrate with blood. Bring him closer, Josh.”

Josh did as he was told, still holding his arm. Charisma seemed interested by his injured shoulder.

“Stop,” he let out in a low, trembling voice despite himself.

She giggled, bringing her long gold painted fingernails closer to his bandaged wound.

"I swear!” Viko choked out, knuckles white as he held the bars so tightly, like he wanted to separate them. “I swear I’ll kill you.”

Charisma ignored him. She knew exactly where the injury was, despite the fabric of his shirt and the cotton bandages covering it up. In a rapid movement, she dug one nail right into it, making him scream out in pain. His wobbly legs were barely holding him. Josh had to tighten his grip on his other arm so he wouldn’t fall.

Scarlet liquid slipped past the bandages and ran down his shirt. Charisma brought her finger to her lips and seemed to enjoy the taste. She threw her head back, smiling contentedly.

“Delicious.” Slowly, her violet eyes studied Micah through long lashes. Her stare felt cold as Micah felt himself shaking in pain. “So, what will it be? Do you want to die, or do you want to become a vampire?”