Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust (24 page)

         Just in that moment, a
shadow was creeping along the dark houses and Helena recognized Christine, as
the young woman paused under a street lantern and looked around.

         The huntress hesitated a
second and was about to go over, intending to ask her what she was doing in
this part of town at this time of night.

         Somebody, who seemed to
have appeared out of nowhere, stepped into her way.

         Helena stopped and a
moment later, Christine had faded into the darkness. Annoyed, the huntress
looked at her opponent, who knelt in front of her, his head lowered. With the
wide cape and out-stretched arms, he looked like an overgrown bat. Helena
couldn't see much of him, because the stranger was clothed completely in black.
"You are in my way," she said, challenging.

         "Indeed?" the
man answered and rose slowly. He felt self-confident and superior. Finally he
lifted his head and a wide grin formed on his thin, pale face, his white teeth
gleaming.

         "Nice pointy fangs.
Truly beautiful," the huntress mocked. She went into combat stance,
because the vampire started a direct attack. Moving quickly, he pounced on her,
forcing the huntress to the ground with inhuman strength.

         Helena reacted just as
fast and had already pulled a stake from her coat pocket. In the middle of the
fall, she took her attacker down with her and whispered into his ear, so that
only he could hear it. "Sol invictus!" Then she rammed the stake right
through his heart.

         For one brief moment, the
vampire looked at her in surprise. Soon after, he had already crumpled to dust.

         At lightning speed, the
huntress rolled to the side and jumped to her feet. Half a dozen vampires
circled her, licking their lips, longing to taste her blood.

*****

         Chalice's knees were
still trembling and her heart was beating a mile a minute, as she entered the
abandoned mansion.
'I hope she didn't see me,'
was the only prominent
thought in her head. "Everything will be lost, if the huntress makes the
connection between the vampires and my presence," she whispered frightened
to herself. Fearing the unrestrained fury of her Master, she decided against
telling him that she thought Helena had figured her out.

         The young woman opened the
door to the next room, which lay in total darkness. She couldn't explain why,
because she was sure that she had lit some candles before she had left to carry
out her Master's wishes. Meanwhile Azrael should have awakened. Chalice
squinted and tried to see something in the darkness, searching for the matches.
"My Master?" She didn't get an answer and stumbled on through the
room.

         Then a deep voice
whispered into her ear, "Are you searching for something?"

         Chalice whirled around
and saw into a pair of glowing, deep red eyes. She was so frightened that a
piercing scream erupted from her throat. Her heart was beating so hard inside
her chest that she thought it might burst.

         At once, every candle
began to burn and the echoing laughter of her Master filled the room. Azrael
grinned wildly, revealing gleaming white teeth as he regarded the suddenly pale
face of his companion. "Why so scared tonight, Chalice?"

         The young woman closed
her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply to regain control of her senses. She smiled
meekly at the vampire. "My Master, you seem to be in a good mood
tonight."

         Satisfied with himself
and the world, Azrael sat down in his armchair. "You know, a nice little
game does wonders for my mood."

         Chalice lowered herself
on his lap and slowly stroked one fingertip from his hairline, over the bridge
of his nose, along his lips, over his throat down to his breastbone, where she
let it rest. "Well, then you will be in an even better mood when I tell
you that everything has been prepared. The hunters are occupied, at least for
tonight."

         "What about the
police?" he interrupted.

"Our beloved police chief,
Michel Dutroit, and his men, have been assigned as protectors for the D'Ardenne
twins. They shouldn't be a problem, since they are only allowed to guard the
girls from afar. And there is something interesting I found out. Monsieur
Dutroit is often visiting the Leosol family. My little huntsman told me that he
is supposedly working close together with Helena."

         "Interesting
indeed," the vampire remarked. "Maybe this information will be of use
later on. Did anything else happen I need to know?"

         "The D'Ardenne twins
are anxiously awaiting you, my Master," she breathed into his ear and bent
forward to press her hot lips against his throat. "It will be a good
night."

         "Yes," Azrael
responded, smirking complacently. He wrapped a hand around Chalice's neck and
pulled her head back from his throat to look into her eyes. "Indeed, it
will be a good night," he concluded and guided her face upward to cover
her trembling lips with a fiery kiss.

         Lust rose inside her.
Chalice's eyes rolled back and she moaned loudly as her Master's tongue slowly
slipped into her mouth. Her moment of happiness didn't last long though.     

         Azrael released her and
pushed her off his lap. "Let us go. It is time to quench my hunger."

*****

         Lurking, the vampires
circled the huntress, but didn't attack. They had grown more careful after what
had happened to their companion.

         "What is up with
you?" Helena asked, challenging. "Are you too scared to attack
me?" She switched the stake from her right hand to the left and pulled her
sword from its scabbard. The weapon seemed to glow with an inner, bright light,
even in the murky darkness that ruled under the bridge.

         Blinded at first, the attackers
clenched their eyes shut. Then one of the vampires gathered all his courage to
take on Helena. He also pulled a sword and rushed at the huntress, roaring
loudly. He managed to get in some strokes, but had to jump back as Helena
countered with a double combination of hits.

         She struck his shoulder
and lower arm, making the vampire drop his sword.

         He screamed in pain.
Blood flowed from beneath his sleeve and dripped onto the street.          Helena
noticed the greedy expression in the eyes of the others, who observed
everything. Besides that, the huntress saw that his wounds didn't close
immediately as she had assumed.

         Almost helpless, he stood
in the middle and took a desperate leap to the side, thinking it would save him
from the huntress.

         Immediately, some of the
other vampires pounced on him. Before they could taste his blood, Helena's
stake sailed through the air and hit the injured vampire right in the heart.

         He screamed until only a
small amount of dust was left of him. The stake clattered to the ground.

         The others kept staring
at the deadly piece of wood. Hissing furiously, caused by the loss of a quick,
strengthening meal, the vampires finally turned around.

         Disdain was heavy in
Helena's voice as she said, "Trying to feed from your own kind...You are
worse than animals. I shall forgive you as soon as I have released you from
this horrible existence."

         "What does a
huntress know about the unquenchable hunger of an immortal?" asked a bulky
vampire, who stepped out of the shadows. Being two heads taller, he towered
over her and scowled down at Helena. With measured steps he walked over to her,
while the others gathered behind him, smirking. The vampire eyed her female
form and announced, grinning, "Your blood could make me feel better about the
loss of our friend."

         Helena beckoned him to
come even closer. "Come on then, so I can wipe you off earth's face!"
she replied harshly. The huntress gripped her sword tightly with both hands.

         Moving quickly, the
vampire picked up the sword of his predecessor and forced Helena to the
bridge's wall with powerful blows. The vampire raised the sword for the final
strike.

         At the last moment,
Helena managed to parry. She disarmed her attacker, whose sword slid away.

         The vampire was
unimpressed. He pushed hard against her chest, making her stumble against the
wall.

         She could feel the cold
wetness of it against the nape of her neck. Her braid had loosened and she blew
some blonde strands off her face. Instinct had her throwing her head to the
side suddenly and the deadly fist, which had been aimed between her eyes, hit
the wall with a crunch beside her head.

         "Damn!" the
vampire exclaimed, shaking his hurting hand.

         Helena used the
opportunity. She grabbed his arm and twisted it roughly. A well placed kick in
the stomach pushed him away from her. His face contorted in pain.
Uncoordinated, he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Just as the
huntress hovered over him to finish him off with the second stake, another
vampire attempted to overpower her.

         Nobody else would have
been fast enough to miss being cut by the blade of this new challenger. Helena
jumped backward with the grace of a cat. Slashing, the vampire went after her,
but his blows met only empty air. Sparks flew as his sword hit the stony wall
where the huntress had been standing a mere moment before. Obviously confused,
he was surprised as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

         Helena stood behind him
and whispered into his ear, "Looking for me?"

         Dumbfounded, he whirled
around, but was too late to successfully defend himself.

         One well aimed strike
with her sword was enough to behead him.

         Astonished cries could be
heard from the others as the head rolled to the ground, followed by the body
that slumped onto the wet pavement.

         Precautionary, Helena
plunged the stake through the corpse's chest, calling out, "Sol invictus!
Never did any of those I beheaded rise again, but who knows what is possible in
Paris."

         She knew the others would
be easy game, fear was practically written all over their pale faces. First,
she would have to take care of the bulky one.

         He had used the
distraction to retrieve his weapon and get back on his feet. A hailstorm of
blows and strikes rained down on Helena. She dodged as quickly as she could.
The huntress countered with blows of her own and retreated a bit to get an
overview of the new situation.   Fiercely he went after her and she fought
back, matching him strike for strike. With renewed force, he drove her back
again.

         Helena stumbled and her
next blow met thin air.

         The vampire took his
chance, trying to knock the sword from her hand.

         She pulled back her hand
and released her sword. That saved her from getting her hand broken by the
vampire.

         Laughing, he kicked the
sword out of her reach and closed his hands around her neck.

         Helena noticed that his
inhuman powers grew weaker, though slowly, but unstoppable. Giving her the
advantage she needed, she kneed him in the groin with all her might.

         He doubled over in pain,
released her from his grip and turned a bit to the side.

         But she wasn't finished
and slammed her knee right into the vampire's face. Helena was gratified to see
the spraying blood as his nose broke. "You may be immortal, but you are
not immune to pain!" Her hand smashed beneath his chin and cracked his
head against the wall, making the vampire's legs give out.

         Helpless, he slid to the
ground, but found enough breath to hiss, "We will kill you, wench!"

         Helena's answer was even
more painful than his offending choice of words. She kicked him furiously in
the ribs.

         Even though he was very
groggy, he tried to force her down and reached for her ankles.         The
huntress threw herself on him, her knees crashing into his already broken ribs,
reinforcing the pain. "Who commands you?" she wanted to know, while
kneeling on his ribcage.

         Out of spite the vampire
kept silent.

         "I know that you
bloodsuckers don't flock together out of the blue. There has to be a
reason."

         The huntress realized it
was in vain to interrogate the vampire further, because if forced, they would
keep silent until their deaths. Helena knew many of the vampires' secrets, for
example that they could recover faster than any normal human. It was necessary
to kill them all.

         "Be grateful that
I'm such a nice person and will put a stake through your dark heart, before the
pain gets unbearable," the huntress stated coldly. Determined, she did
what she had said. "Sol invictus!"