Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series (14 page)

He withdrew his fangs and slung my body into a tree like I was a small ball and he was playing catch with the nearby forest. I must have lost a lot of blood because I was covered in it. I couldn’t make myself stand no matter how hard I tried. I felt myself slipping away from reality. The venom was making it hard for me to focus. My eye lids weighed heavy from the pain, I gave in on the fight to keep them open. A thick white cloud came into view behind my closed eye lids and took my thoughts into subconsciousness.

The night air was moist and heavy on my body. The fog wrapped around the trees like a blanket. Every step I took, I made sure to balance evenly over the earth. The only sound was the crunch of the leaves and twigs under my feet. The silence from my surroundings felt unsettling. There was someone else with me, walking so slowly I felt we were on pause with every new step. This was a dream but it felt so real.

What were we doing? Who was I walking with? I was sure if we were to come across the enemy, we would be outnumbered. We were separated from the others somehow, almost like a small piece cut from a freshly baked pie and put out for dessert on a delicately decorated china plate.
Where’s the whip cream?
And why the hell didn’t I have my swords drawn?
Eat me with your finger. Don’t bother using a fork.
That’s how easy it would be to eat us, or should I say, kill us.

Since I realized the obvious, I pulled my two protectors from my back and held them out like a comfortable extension of my arms. A cold chill breeze ran down my back as we pushed further into the woods. Small raindrops fell from the dark sky, adding noise to the once unsettling quietness. Rain … Fog. Couldn’t it ever be a sunny day in my world?

The urgency came quick.
Protect yourself and what you love.
I realized I was walking with Sorin, I could feel his presence. The one I loved above all others. Why did he have to be out here tonight with me? Why couldn’t it be a warrior I didn’t know well, or better yet, me alone? I knew better than to ask that question. I had never really been alone since the moment I walked into this world. But why did it have to be Sorin? I not only felt them coming, but I felt the end following, not too far behind them. The end of Sorin and I was near. That slight moment hit me, the moment where you knew everything was going to change…everything you loved was going to be taken away.

Their figures came into view through the heavy fog and rain about two hundred yards away. From what I could tell, there were about ten of them coming for us hard and fast. During the split second I had I looked over to Sorin, I could tell he was already taking pictures of me with his amethyst eyes. He knew it, too. The end, or should I say, the fall had found us. It didn’t give us nearly enough time to be with one another. With swords in hand, he wrapped his arm around the back of my head and pulled me to his lips hard. I wanted to stay this way…die this way…but I regrettably knew that was not possible.

I felt Sorin’s release of my lips and the beginning of the battle at the same time. Five to one, and not only five to one, but five of the largest, strongest barbarian looking beasts I had ever seen. Man, beast, warrior all in one. Evil weighed heavy in their eyes and in their strikes against us. At first, it was all I could do to see straight. I was enclosed in a black ball of fury. Shielded arms and legs were lunging at me from every direction. I kept myself closed to them. No need for my gift at that moment. A couple of them fell forward and landed at my feet with death. The circle of attack became smaller and tightened around me. I had to stand on the two I killed to fight off the rest. They were not letting up, and I was beginning to tire.

I could see that Sorin was still holding up about thirty yards away. My sword took an arm and a leg. I was fighting, but I wasn’t by myself. My swords seemed to be doing all the work for me. I was the brain, and they were the objects that delivered the deadly blows. Two were left, and I told myself to keep going. Sorin’s circle seemed to be getting smaller as well. It started to look like we might pull through this.

A burning yet cold sensation ripped across the flesh of my stomach. I fell to my knees. I held my swords above my head to protect me from my opponents attacking swings. I couldn’t do this for long. I rolled out of the circle using the opening between their legs. I slid my swords into the back of the first one that came into view after I stood up and regained balance. The beast quickly whipped around to face me, and my swords ripped out of my hands and remained in its back. Then, the creature fell back first onto my swords pushing them all the way through its body. Access to them was impossible because the remaining beast was already coming after me.

I was playing dodge. It would swing its large, rusty-looking sword in my direction, and I would duck or jump, trying to throw my own body blow when given the opportunity. I was exhausted. I kept telling myself one more, only one more dodge after this. But it kept going. I could feel my energy and will draining … no, being pulled out of me. Then it happened. The sword I had been dodging for what felt like forever finally got me. I could feel the slice of its ridged blade cut between my shoulder blade and its muscle. The release of the blade from my shoulder didn’t feel any better than the entry.

The beast stood in front of me looking down into my eyes. There was an expression of victory on its face. I could tell the final swing from the beast was coming. The blade came at me again this time coming down directly to meet the middle of my face. I caught the deliver an inch from my nose with my two hands. Well this was a first for me. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. I knew right off this quick fix to the problem wasn’t going to last long. Right at the end of my thought, a sword entered into its black skin right between its eyes taking it to the ground. The look of victory was removed permanently from its glare.

I swung around to see Sorin. He had taken down all of his attackers and finished my last one for me. He grinned, and all I could do was return the smile while thinking,
Show off, this fight was far from over.

Something else was coming. The look on my face tipped Sorin off, and his stance went from semi-relaxed to firm. It was Beynoks. I looked up high in the trees. The raindrops made it hard to focus my eyes, but I did see bodies coming from up above, descending from the trees. I dropped my view to look in Sorin’s direction. He had followed suit and looked up, but it was too late. They had already reached Sorin.

A sword came down on Sorin’s neck and sliced it right open. His body was motionless. His arms were extended straight out and the one sword he still held dropped to the ground. His magnificent body dropped to his knees. His head was still facing up to view the treetops. One of the Beynoks came up from behind him and pushed a sword all the way through his torso. The warrior grabbed Sorin by his hair and dropped his face down to view mine. I was in shock when I still saw life in his eyes. This was not how it was supposed to be. We were to die together in a real battle, not in an ambush by my own kind. Not this way. The look in Sorin’s eyes told me he was thinking the same thing.

I couldn’t tell if I knew any of the Beynoks swarming around Sorin. They were all outfitted in black with black ski masks over their faces. It made them all cowards in my eyes. The one holding Sorin’s head by his hair raised his sword high in the air. I was determined not to release the hold I had on Sorin’s eyes.

It was unimaginably hard to not cry or show fear. I needed to show him how much I loved him. I needed to give him all the courage I could. The connection between us was strong, unbreakable. I felt his unbinding love and desire tornado towards me. We had an unending love. I felt a teardrop fall out of the hold I thought I was strong enough to keep. My hand rose up to hide the path of the tear. The swordsman was almost at his delivery when he gave a quick jolt and retracted.

Arrows and daggers whizzed from behind my body in the direction of the enemy. I didn’t care to look back. I knew they were mine, but they were too late. I watched my once trusted Beynok family take the one thing I loved the most in this world away from me. Two of them scooped Sorin up by each arm and dragged him away running in the opposite direction. They were too far away for me to run after them, but I did anyway. I didn’t even take the time to roll my dead enemy over to pull my swords out. I just ran in the direction of Sorin.

I could hear the heavy beating of the feet coming from behind me. My injured body was running as fast as it could, but Sorin seemed to get further and further away from me, and the noise from behind was getting louder and louder. I was moving in slow motion like dreams I have had. Soon, Sorin was out of sight, but I still pushed forward.

There was a clearing coming up. I heard the roar of a helicopter engine. Just as I came to the clearing, the helicopter lifted from the ground. I fell to my knees and screamed. At first, the scream hurt, but then it felt good as the scream encompassed me. I was nothing without Sorin. The purpose of my existence was nothing. When that helicopter lifted, it took my soul with it. As I felt permanently staged to stay on my knees, looking up at an empty sky, I felt hands wrap around my arms, my torso, and my legs. The tears I held back fell and fell hard. I didn’t care what happened. I didn’t care about anything.

When my eyes opened, Corbin and Serenity came into view as others whisked by, chasing after Gallagher and the other invaders at the mansion. I was slowly regaining control over my rapid breathing. The screaming was no longer coming from my mouth, but my throat was left sore. Tears no longer fell from my eyes, but dry, salty streaks remained on my cheeks. I was knocked unconscious when Gallagher slung me into the tree. Sorin wasn’t dead, it was just a dream…a nightmare…a vision. I repeated it in my head over and over and then out loud to make it sound real. I thought,
Shake it off. Regain self-control.
The hands wrapped around me were those of Corbin and Serenity. I knew from that point on I could always count on them. They were my friends.

“For fuck sake, Princess, why did you leave the mansion? You could have been killed.” His face drew even closer to mine. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I feel light-headed, like I’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“Shit, you are bleeding pretty badly, but it’s mostly Gallagher’s venom that’s making you feel light-headed. He’s old and his venom is stronger than most. Would you like for me to get Serenity to suck it out or let it pass through your system by itself?”

“I think I’ll let it pass through my system by itself, and don’t worry, there’s not nearly enough of Gallagher’s venom in me to turn me. Plus, I didn’t digest any of his blood. I’ll be staying a Beynok.” I wasn’t about to willingly let a vampire suck on me. Give me a break.

Corbin was right. I could have been killed. What was I thinking? I was embarrassed about causing such a commotion and equally embarrassed about losing the fight with Gallagher. I used all the little bit of strength I had left to get up and walked back to the mansion like a dog with its tail between its legs.

I went straight to my room, Sorin’s room, before anyone had the chance to scold me. I was so off-balance.
What was that energy surge coming from my swords?
I couldn’t feel unfamiliar with my swords now. I just couldn’t. They were the only things I took from my house in Yachts. They were all I had left of my former life. They had to stay the same to me. They couldn’t change. They were the only things I could depend on.
Why can’t anyone tell me what is going on with them?

I concluded that I was officially pissed off with Sorin. He left me here by myself to find out about the prophecy. Then I became so cramped I almost got myself killed. Then I had that awful dream about losing him, while knocked out, only to make me realize how much I loved him. I hated him for that. I felt like I was stationed here until his return, until I could make my next move. I was calling bullshit on that one. I was waiting for Sorin no more.

It would take a couple of hours for the venom to run through my system. There wasn’t much in me, but Corbin was right. Gallagher was old and his venom was potent. I had no fear of turning because Gallagher didn’t suck out as much blood as he needed to turn me. There needed to be the perfect combination of venom and blood loss to turn someone. Plus, vampires could use their venom by choice so who knows what Gallagher’s intentions really were … turn me, kill me, stun me?

I showered and changed to make myself presentable to Galloway. I knew I had to get him on my side before I could make a move. I heard the three in the kitchen when I hit the foyer. They spent a lot of time in the kitchen for being vampires. I planned to apologize for my actions.

When I entered the kitchen, they all turned in my direction. I could tell by the look on Galloway’s face he knew I was there to apologize and back it up with a purpose.

“I am sorry about my actions earlier. I should have told one of you I was leaving the mansion. I was just so afraid I was not going to be allowed to go out. I couldn’t take one more second cooped up in this place. What exactly happened? I could sense Gallagher and the others getting away, but did any of the guards catch up with them?”

Corbin was fuming and said, “Shit, Princess, we know what we’re doing. We caught up with three of those scum. Of course, Gallagher got away. He is too spineless to fight against us to save his own followers. He would let anyone die for him and have no guilt about it … Scum.”

“Gallagher told me they were only here to scout the place out to see if Sorin and I were here. He’ll come back, but with bigger numbers. You guys realize this, don’t you?”