Leviathan (Fist of Light Series) (2 page)

“I believe this will do,” Jeeves decided, stroking his incorporeal chin thoughtfully.

“Won't it?” I smiled, pleased with myself.

Jeeves rolled his eyes and scoffed at my expression. “You happened upon this place due to mere luck.”

“Luck has given me the upper hand at the most crucial moments, though she tends to ignore my puny existence the rest of the time.” I nodded solemnly.

Recently, I had taken to wearing a black leather jacket, which was modified with specially tailored pockets and sheaths in the interior for carrying numerous weapons. Kathryne had insisted on a more traditional black cloak, but I reminded her this was present-day America. In addition to adding an air of general badassery, the jacket provided an inconspicuous look amid the teeming masses of humanity. I turned and watched as water beaded and fell in slow motion, drawn inexorably toward the ground by gravity. I closed my eyes and readied myself for the battle to come, stuffing my emotions into a metaphysical cubbyhole.

“Sense the balance between Water and Air. Find the appropriate quantities necessary for the working to properly integrate. Of course, the usual dangers remain, as always,” Jeeves said from his position beside me.

I shook my head vigorously to clear it more thoroughly of lurking distractions, which flung some less clingy droplets of water outward. “This isn't going to work. It hasn't up to this point and barring divine intervention, that isn’t going to change.”

“The process is far from instantaneous. You have come far from when we started, just months prior. Combination of disparate elements is no easy task.”

Vampires were beginning to round the corner, stacking up in a milling and uncoordinated mass. They didn't seem to have gotten the memo about cute, sparkly vampires. With their skin in various states of flaky decay from pursuing me in the daytime, they were
not
easy on the eyes. They were ugly broads, to say the least, bloated on the blood of the innocent, yet still their appetite was not sated. No, it appeared they were looking for a second course, and I was it. Despite the sun being hidden behind the cloud cover, being out in the daytime was slowly killing them. Too bad they wouldn't just stand around and let the UV rays do my job for me.

“Ah, a perfect opportunity to expand your knowledge of the supernatural community. Vampire type A, which you see here, are little more than frontrunner troops, lower-tier vampires to be discarded on the whims of their superior. Enthralled, their minds and lives are paired to their creator, destinies forever linked to a commander. Little humanity remains in them, although intelligence remains unaffected in the change. Their hearts have long stopped beating in their chests, the organ a mere specter of its original functionality. Sunlight is as a slow-acting poison. A few minutes exposure will see them truly dead. The medical doctors of this day would pinpoint the source of this poison as a mutation in how their bodies respond to vitamin D. As the sun’s rays beat down upon them, their own withered bodies produce a toxin that instigates a slow, painful demise, unless vast amounts of fresh blood are ingested in a timely fashion. However, even these type-A vampires are preternaturally agile and possessed of great strength, disproportionate to their flaky exteriors.”

I struggled to file away every minute detail, assessing strengths and weaknesses. “Interesting. So if they no longer have a heartbeat, why do they need the blood?”

“Blood fires the furnaces of the soul,
boy
. Each time a vampire feeds, it leeches a portion of the victim’s essence and absorbs it.”

I made a face. “
Ick.
Could've done without clarification on that particular subject.”

“I'm merely furthering your education in all fields of thought, rather than limiting you to bare essentials. First, you disparage me for not giving you all the pieces of the puzzle and now you pine after woeful ignorance?” Jeeves scoffed, an amused expression on his face.

“Just tell me how to kill them,” I demanded.

“Simple, really. Separate the head from their body or deplete them of enough pilfered blood that they can no longer continue functioning.”

“Right then.” I tried to inject my voice with more confidence than I felt. “Simple stuff.”

I narrowed my eyes and brought both hands together in a contemplative gesture. Extending my senses outwards, I locked onto a nearby water supply, engaging the unpressurized pipe system below. I extended a fist and commanded their contents to explode upward. Sewer drains and fire hydrants relinquished their stores, creating an out-of-place fountain. Frowning in intense concentration, I ignored the now advancing vamps entirely as the task at hand required my full attention. Combination of Air and Water was an irritatingly difficult equation, one that required exact quantities. Incorrect measurements had proven dangerous in every sense of the word. My unoccupied left hand was raised imploringly, beseeching Air to provide aid.

“Carefully now,
carefully,”
Jeeves said, almost breaking my concentration entirely.

I snarled and funneled more power into my construct, committing increasingly larger amounts of my being into the design. My eyes burst open, two azure lighthouses amid spiraling chaos. A cyclone had manifested around me, born of will and maintained by elemental power. Wind tore at my clothes, whipping them about in a noisy frenzy. I stood in the eye of the storm, a relatively peaceful safe haven when compared to the rest of my construct. My right hand tightened painfully, committing another component to my creation. Particles of Water coalesced into jagged pieces, frozen missiles that spun about indefinitely, waiting for the opportunity to bite into flesh and bone, rip it to shreds. As the vampires encroached upon my position, they were met with a miniature hurricane, populated with my sharp projectiles.

“This, no doubt, is forward progress. The fact that your combination has produced viable results ensures proximity to our goal.” Jeeves nodded.

Primal fury arced through my blood and crackling, snarling lightning entered the mix, striking indiscriminately among the charging vamps. Their bodies were torn to shreds by my icy friends, whittled down to the bone, fractured, and exploded. The presence of water only amplified the effects of lightning. Unsatisfied, I filtered more power from the nexus and boosted the present currents of Air, sucking my enemies undeniably towards their collective doom. They hissed and cried out hoarsely but were silenced just as quickly. A grimace of pain and triumph crossed my face as the body count began to number more than half the assembled forces.

Exhaustion followed close on the heels of my developing smugness. My vision dimmed and flickered, an uncertain thing liable to vanish in a fleeting moment. Even as the remaining few vampires came within inches of destruction, my construct wobbled and my legs turned to Jello. After falling to a knee under the enormous pressure bearing down on me, I attempted a final, feeble push but found my reserves insufficient. My anger surfaced at the realization, circling threateningly, ready to sink its teeth into something with a fleshy exterior. The quasi-hurricane exploded in a cloud of mist, disparate elements dissipating harmlessly, reverting to their natural tendencies. I stood and took in the destruction wrought by my lethal construct.

Jeeves glanced around curiously, likely noting my boundaries and barriers for future reference. “That done well enough. Of course, you have failed to realize that this maneuver succeeded exactly as planned. Enter Vampire type B, the puppet master himself.” He indicated a figure rounding the street corner.

My nemesis gained increasing amounts of definition as my eyes cut through the dark atmosphere. The closer it got, the more defined it became, until it became clear that
it
was a he. Rather than looking in dire need of anti-dry skin cosmetics from being exposed to low-levels of UV rays, he was more refined. This vamp was all decked out in black, with an old-school cape that didn't belong in this age, let alone century. His minions withdrew at an unspoken command, probably transmitted via psychic means.

Jeeves summoned a nebulous chair and settled down for a lengthy introduction. “A Royal vampire possesses only a fraction of the defects present in their minions. Only they can create vampires from the human stock. The newly created vamp subsequently becomes enthralled to their will and sports the mark of their maker upon the neck. While they don't have preternatural strength, their alacrity far surpasses that of their obedient thralls. As opposed to their lesser counterparts, the sun is only a marginal barrier, although extended exposure will eventually kill them. Many of the elder Royal lines can walk amid the unwary during daylight hours if they wear proper attire that covers their person. They can procreate, which is closely interlinked to their still beating hearts that continue to pump blood through living bodies. Their greatest source of pride and amusement is reliance upon their slight magical ability, an inherent feature. Their power is proportionate to the purity of their so-called 'bloodlines.' A favored game involves toying with the brain chemistry of their hapless prey, influencing their actions and forcing them to experience agony and overcome their will. However, their kind is particularly vulnerable until they reach their eighteenth year, as they are little more than human until then. The manifestation of power occurs directly after the bloodlust gains dominance over rational action for the first time, and the vampire within comes to the fore.”

I shifted from foot to foot, shaking out tense limbs in preparation. “You know, I could’ve done with the CliffNotes version. We're kind of short on time here. Care to share any more pearls of wisdom before he decides to eat me?” The vampire approached within twenty feet, calmly assessing me.

“Only that when one Royal kills another, they gain dominion over the stock created by their defeated counterpart. If a Royal is unmade by one outside their hierarchy, their thralls will become mindless beasts, intent on savagery and blood.”

My vision began to return to normal, ever so slowly, followed uncertainly by the strength in my limbs. “Aren’t they already intent on blood?” I indicated the few remaining low-tier vamps, assembled behind their master.

“It has been a long time since I've encountered an Empowered of such caliber,” the Royal said. “Your strength will sustain me for a decade and augment my power splendidly. Yes, I sense you have much vitality left to you, regardless of your previous display.” He punctuated his speech by kicking a dead vampire, its head torn clean off by my icy projectiles.

I reached into my jacket and rooted around for one of my throwing knives, firmly grasping its reassuring weight. “Wouldn't know how many times I'd be dead without the need for monsters to make a grand entrance,” I murmured.

“I assure you I am no common monster.” The Royal's words were coupled with a psychic bombardment and the charging of his remaining minions.

Fighting the urge to lie down and go into a deep hibernation, I unveiled my throwing knife, which resembled a dagger more than anything else. Its clean curves created lateral symmetry of both the grip and the blade. The heft of the sturdy weapon allowed for greater in-flight stability and feedback for a novice such as myself. In a fraction of a second, I threw the weapon as I’d been taught and the dagger sailed through the air, slicing through the space separating Royal from Empowered. Rather than sticking into the fleshy bits of the Royal's torso, my nemesis blurred out of the way, almost too fast to track. But the dagger was never meant to harm, only to distract long enough so I could cement my mental barriers and focus my attention on the vamps bearing down on me. The struggling presence of the oppressive will confining my thoughts dissipated and my thoughts were my own once more. Approaching footfalls caught my immediate attention and I reached over my back to grasp the hilt of my sword. I drew it from its sheath, lightning playing along the blade, as I shrieked death threats to those arrayed against me.

Air answered my fervent call, enabling me to even the playing field against the vamps’ impressive speed. Despite the fact that they were considered lesser beings by their more refined counterparts, they were damn
fast.
The half-dozen vamps flourished their weapons threateningly. Sparks flew as I parried a thrust from a rapier then counterattacked, lopping off an arm at the elbow. Half-clotted blood seeped slowly from the dark wound.

“
You’ll likely be overrun if you attempt to stand against a direct assault,”
Jeeves pointed out rather unsupportively as I redirected two more strikes to the side.

I snatched my stiletto out of my jacket with my unoccupied left hand. Dual-wielding was necessary. Otherwise, I’d never have been able to deflect all the incoming strikes. Calling upon Air, I launched the katana from my grasp, toward an unsuspecting vampire. One might think it wasn’t the best idea to discard a weapon so fruitlessly, throwing it away and leaving my person relatively defenseless. But then, they didn't know that my katana was never far removed from my grasp. I clenched my fist around a strand of purple-hued Air and swung my arm around at shoulder level while advancing with my stiletto. I sank my weapon into an exposed abdomen. A vampire hissed, exposing elongated canines. The same monstrosity quickly lost its head. The katana, directed by a whip-like appendage of Air, cut cleanly through the surprised vampire’s neck.

My grin assumed a feral visage, directed at the five remaining low-tier vamps driven relentlessly forward by their master. The two I’d wounded were slightly slowed from the advance and I was determined to bring the score to even. I caught a lightning swift thrust with my stiletto's cross-guard, even as I shortened my Air-whip, bringing my sword to heel. With a weighty
smack
, Jeeves returned to the fold, his will driving the direction of another parry, saving me from a gruesome gutting from a wholly undisciplined slash enacted by a broadsword-wielding vampire.

“Thanks,” I huffed through clenched teeth, sweat streaming down my forehead and into my eyes. “That was close.”