Immortal Coil: A Novel (Immortal Trilogy Book 1) (25 page)

Maggie had been fixing a cup of tea when the image hit her. She dropped her cup and gripped the side of the counter. His presence hit her like a hammer in her head the minute he entered within range of her power. When she felt steady on her feet again, she rushed into the living room. “He’s coming. And he’s not alone. I count twelve with him.”

“Okay, we are prepared for this,” Antony said. “Randal, as much as I know you will want to be here to confront him; you must protect Gardner. You will take Gardner to the house in New Jersey.”

Randal frowned, but nodded his acceptance.

David said, “Do you know when they will get here? How much time we have?”

“No more than a half an hour at most,” Maggie said.

Half an hour? Not a lot of time
, David thought.

Preparations were started. Randal and Gardner were sent out. Randal was a prime target for the vampire and Gardner was too vulnerable, so there was no way either of them could be there when the confrontation started.

Maggie was confident she could control the transformation of her wolf, and Dylan’s as well, when the attack came. To be safe, however; Antony requested that they stay out of sight while still in their human form. Until they were wolves and could protect themselves, he wanted them out of the way. The werewolves agreed that it was a good idea. It would also be a major surprise when the Dark One learned that the vampires would not be fighting alone.

Antony set out bear traps around the house to slow the attackers. He was not sure if any of this would be effective but he needed to try. He reminded David and the others to avoid the traps.

Antony wondered what the others knew about him, and his group; how much intelligence had they acquired? Did they know about David and the werewolves? And what about Randal and Gardner? Were they heading into a trap? Antony forced these questions out of his head. Instead, he concentrated on what he could control. The Dark One knew about Maggie and her abilities, and would be prepared for that, but did he know about the werewolves? Antony had to assume that the possibility existed that the enemy knew more than just their location.

Within the hour everything was set.

All that was left to do was wait for the attack to come.

The air in the room was stale and dry. Dylan coughed, and everyone looked at him. He shrugged apologetically. The room grew quiet again. No one moved. The ticking clock on the wall was the only sound. It was deafening.

Maggie closed her eyes and then opened them again. “They’re here.”

She and Dylan headed to the basement.

Moments later the first vampire to attack destroyed the door with one massive kick. The solid oak door was the first casualty. It blew inward and shattered into pieces against the far wall. David had to duck out of its way as it flew past him. The kicker stormed through the threshold and promptly walked into Antony’s waiting arms. The vampire’s head was torn from its neck. The poor creature never even saw it coming.

Then the house was suddenly full of vampires. Four of the creatures lined the front of the room, near the broken doorframe. Antony had stepped back to stand next to David. David unsheathed his katana with a flourish. The vampire closest to David smiled, winked, and then motioned for him to bring it on.

In all, eleven vampires flooded into the house. The creatures moved in unison, stepping forward, then to the side; and then stepping back again. It was a well-choreographed formation and worked to disrupt the two defenders as they tried to keep track of who was standing where. To David it looked like a bazaar country line dance.

“Nice moves,” David said and swung his katana, forcing a vampire to dodge the blade. “I can cut you in half no matter where you’re standing.”

The vampires then broke into three groups: two groups of four, and one group of three. Apparently, the gap in the third group’s formation was for the headless husk still resting in front of the door. The defenders were clearly outnumbered, but still the attackers did not make a move; they simply continued circling the front of the room in their macabre, synchronized dance.

The last vampire to enter the house was their leader, clad in a brown trench coat and cowboy boots. He carried his ivory capped staff as he weaved in and out of the undulating horde. David stepped forward brandishing his katana in front of him like a shield. He watched as the smug look on the tall vampire’s face faltered.

“I know you.” He sneered. “I killed you.”

“I survived,” David said.

“I should have decapitated you. Well, you won’t be able to make that claim for long.” The Master turned his back on David. He stepped into his group of vampires. “Kill them all.”

A wave of vampires rushed forward. David kept his attackers at bay by swinging his katana, cutting and chopping at the air, and driving back the advancing horde. Antony was standing to his left, and any vampire that tried to duck under the blade would have to deal with him. David now displayed a few moves of his own, and twisted to the right. He quickly spun back to the left, rolled over Antony’s back, and then popped up on Antony’s other side. He decapitated the unsuspecting creature standing there.

The attacking horde fell back and blended into a single mass. The vampires then began to move single file, subverting David’s katana, and effectively surrounding the two defenders. Antony and David stood back to back and spun around in an attempt to keep the attackers from blindsiding them. David managed to decapitate an attacker as she moved in to attack their weak point. Another attacker moved in to take her place. David decapitated a second attacker, and he realized numbly that the circle was closing in on them. Before David could recover from his momentary lapse in concentration, he was disarmed. He watched as the katana flew across the room and landed behind the recliner near the back window.

“Forget it,” Antony said, seeing that David’s attention had been dangerously diverted from the attacking horde. “Use your hands. You are stronger than they are.”

David pushed off his first two attackers, keeping himself from being pinned down. He back-peddled and was able to prevent another vampire from getting behind him. he maneuvered through the advancing horde. Antony struggled with the two holding him back, and a third attempted to take off Antony’s head with his bare hands. Antony shook off the embrace of the first two and wrapped an arm around the neck of the third. With an immense twist of his arm, Antony removed the vampire’s head. He tossed the dried husk to the floor.

Still outnumbered four to one, the two defenders managed to keep themselves out of trouble for another several minutes.

Then something odd happened. David and Antony had no defense as the remaining nine vampires converged on Antony only. David stood helplessly by as six vampires immobilized Antony’s right and left arms, and a single vampire held each of his legs and the last vampire held him around the torso. Antony struggled against the hold, but couldn’t seem to shake his captors. David moved forward to help Antony out of the bind, but the tall leader stepped into his way. David attempted to forcibly remove him, but the tall vampire grabbed David’s hand and twisted, forcing him to his knees. The leader then gripped David around the throat and lifted him right up off the floor.

“I could snap your neck,” the tall vampire said in a delicate whisper. He turned and looked at Antony struggling against his captors. “And make him watch.”

“Then why don’t you?” David asked struggling to make his seized vocal chords function.

“I have questions, first. For one: where did that witch go? Make her appear here so I can kill her. If you don’t want to see your beautiful blond haired boy vampire shrivel into a useless pile of dust, bring out your witch.”

“She’s safe from you and you won’t get her,” David said with a sneer. “Go on and kill me because you won’t have to her.”

“We’ll see,” he said. “My second question: where is my roped boy?” this last was a snarl, and David felt the vampire’s grip on his neck tighten. With just a little more force, David was sure his head would simply pop off.

“He, too, is out of your reach,” Antony said triumphantly.

“Bring him to me!” The leader bellowed and lifted David up over his head as if he weighed no more than a feather pillow. He then slammed David to the floor on his back; the wood beneath him cracked. The vampire lifted his ivory capped staff over his head, intending to bring it down and crush David’s skull. He never got the chance. Without warning a black wolf crashed into him, knocking him off David and onto his back. The wolf then leapt onto the crowd of vampires holding Antony down. She caught one by the throat with her massive jaws and bit down, severing the creature’s neck. The head rolled to the floor and burst into a cloud of ash. She whipped her head to the side and tossed the husk of its body across the room.

Once freed, David jumped to his feet and raced to the spot where his katana had landed. Feeling the reassurance of its sturdy hilt in his grip once again, David returned to the fight. Behind him the rust colored werewolf rushed into the crowd of vampires, severing a hand and then managing to bring down a second by pouncing onto his back. He bit down into the neck and tore the head from the body.

The vampire leader watched as the two wolves tore through his horde. He gaped at his dwindling numbers, and then gave anguished cry of disappointment. He commanded the survivors to flee. He disappeared in a crackling whoosh of air just as the black wolf leapt for him. Maggie’s wolf landed on all four legs and skidded across the hardwood floor, having missed her target.

Antony killed a lingering vampire who was apparently too stupid to realize his comrades were abandoning him.

In all, five vampires escaped, as well as their leader. Antony rushed into the night but his quarry had scattered in too many different directions. Antony returned to the house where David stood in the middle of the living room with dried and crumbling body parts cluttering the floor around him. Dylan’s wolf sat in the corner worrying at his prize: a withered leg. Maggie’s wolf stood behind David, ready if the vampires were to return.
Antony inspected the empty door frame. It needed to be repaired immediately. He thought perhaps a steel door was in order.

“We had the element of surprise on our side this time, but that will not be the case if they return. If they have enough time to prepare we will be in serious danger.”

“Then we won’t let them prepare,” David said.

“What do you mean,” Antony asked.

“We go to them, before they have time to recuperate.”

“We do not know where they hide,” Antony said.

“We found him once before, we can do it again.”

Antony looked down at the wolf. He understood Maggie was controlling the wolf with her ability to astral project. The wolf looked back at him with those eerily human eyes and growled. The growl spoke volumes. The wolf was saying she would find him, and when she did she would rip out his vile throat.

Randal moved through the night with a speed that caused the air around him to crackle and pop. Gardner rested peacefully on Randal’s chest, tucked safely into a cloth baby carrier strapped over Randal’s shoulders and around his waist. He reached the house in a half hour. By car the trip would have taken two hours.

Upon arriving at the house, an au pair met him at the door. The au pair looked past him to the empty parking lot. She glanced at him questioningly. “Where is the car that brought you here?” she asked.

“I ran,” Randal said.

She huffed, disgruntled by his audacity. She took the baby and scurried away. There were housekeepers and other workers running around, doing what they must to keep the empty house in working order. Several offered their assistance to Randal. He sent them away. He wondered if they knew what he was. Apparently, at least one of them didn’t. She constantly brushed at his hair, tried to feed him cookies and straighten his clothes. When she finally moved off to perform other duties, Randal felt a great relief when she was gone. Just a few minutes more and he might have fed on her just to be rid of her.

Once alone, Randal reached into his pocket and pulled out the stiff piece of paper and unfolded it. This was the picture of his family he had thought to shove into his pocket when the vampire had killed them, and turned him into the roped boy. He looked at the image of his mother, his father and his pain in the ass big sister. He missed them immensely, and although he led the others to believe he didn’t remember his human life, he actually remembered it in excruciating detail. He remembered how his father used to putter in the garage to avoid visits from his mother-in-law; and how his sister used to pass her desert to Randal under the table (hooray for anorexia), and especially how his mother used to insist on saying grace every thanksgiving, even though no one in the family ever attended church. His father always provided the same prayer for grace: “Good food; good meat; good God, let’s eat.” His mother hated this saying, but it always seemed to serve the purpose. And, besides, she wasn’t going to get anything else from either Randal or his sister.

At the time it had seemed his life was one big dramatic mess; but now, as he stared down at the picture of his lost family, all he remembered were good times.

Randal refolded the paper and shoved it back into his pocket. He felt the rush of emotions washing over him and didn’t want to let it surface. He walked the house, watching as the staff busied themselves with their tasks. Some of the help seemed leery of him, some outright feared him, as if they sensed what he truly was. Antony had assured him, however, that no humans knew of their true nature. These people were nothing more than human servants getting well paid to care for a house no one lived in. Still, Randal couldn’t help but wonder what they thought.

The au pair was not afraid. She stared at Randal suspiciously whenever he entered a room she was in. She wasn’t thrilled about Randal being close to Gardner, but she didn’t prevent him from spending time with the baby.

When she felt Gardner had had enough attention from the wild-eyed boy, she would spirit him away, telling Randal it was time for a feeding, or a change of diapers. He sometimes believed she was not really doing those things, but merely keeping Gardner away from Randal.

The thoughts caused the vampire boy to have impure thoughts about ripping the au pair’s throat open and drinking her blood. He would never act on such a thing, but if she showed even a hint at being the type of au pair that was less than trustworthy, she was toast.

Randal paced, and grumbled whenever a servant tried to offer assistance to him. He didn’t want to be pampered—he wanted to be fighting the Dark Father with the others. He hated that they could be winning the fight and ridding the world of the foul monster without his help.

He also thought of the alternate possibility; they could be losing the fight, and in effect leaving Randal and Gardner alone. He would be devastated if he was forced to live at the Jersey house, with servants taking care of Gardner for the rest of his life. Randal could not take it anymore. He had to go see what was happening in Philadelphia. He had to help them if the Dark Father and his new minions were more than his family could handle.

Randal was just about to rush at sonic speed to Philadelphia when the phone rang. He waited for the servant to answer it. When the servant motioned for him to take the phone, Randal did. He placed the receiver to his ear.

“Yes,” he said.

He heard Maggie’s voice on the other end. “It’s over. You can bring Gardner home.”

Randal placed the receiver in the cradle and left to collect Gardner. He secretly hoped the au pair would refuse to give up the baby. He’d love to teach her that little lesson.