Magestorm: The Reckoning (10 page)

             
26

Across the street from an unused home in Hallow Falls, a vampire quietly watched for any signs of life.  Hidden in the dark shadows of the night, he was patient and alert for any movement.

Finally t
hree vampires approached, doing their best to stay within the shadows.  They were all Heather’s guards, meeting to discuss the results of their searches.  Soon they were lost in their discussion, unaware that there were eyes watching them from the very house they were sent to watch.

“Any luck with your searches?”

“None.  No sign of the mage at any location we checked.”

“We tried his old apartment.”

“And the werewolf territory.”

“Any signs of him here?”

The
vampire shook his head and glanced back at the house.  Heather was not going to be happy that none of them had any luck finding her target.

“How long before we
head back to Heather’s place?”

“Maybe we should do another round of searches
first, just to be sure.  We can start with…”

Suddenly a
light came on in an upstairs room of the house across the street.  The four of them went silent, staring with surprise that someone had shown up, and of all times now.  After a few moments, a figure passed by the lighted window and excitement came over them.

“Should we go call Heather?” one finally
asked.

“No, let’s capture him ourselves.  Then we’ll really be in good with her.  You take the back door, I’ll take the front,” he directed one of them.  The vampire quickly scurried off to sneak around to the back.  The vampire then directed his attention to the other two.  “You find a second floor room, one without a light on, and slip in there.  And you, try the basement.”

All the vampires went into motion, getting to their assigned location.  The vampire assigned to the basement could find no way inside.  The windows were sealed tight and he couldn’t see inside.  After trying several of the windows, he gave up.  From inside he heard a ruckus and hurried around to the back door, which stood wide open.

Carefully he stepped inside and looked around the kitchen.  The light was on, but there was nobody in the room.  He proceeded forward, down the hallway towards the front door, which was closed and locked.  A scuffle could be heard from the second floor and the vampire hurried to the stairs.  Only two steps up, he was stunned to see one of his brethren falling down the stairs
, landing at his feet.

“Get out,” the fallen vampire struggled to tell his comrade.  “Get out before it’s…”

Too late.  The vampire turned to see an unfamiliar vampire entering the back door and closing it behind him.  In from the living room came another vampire, which meant he couldn’t get out through the front door.  They were trapping him in the house.

He turned back to the stairs and, stepping over his fallen ally, ran up the stairs as quickly as he could.  At the top, he was just in time to see another of Heather’s guards getting staked.  The vampire holding the stake looked up at him and he knew there was nowhere to run.

“We’re not here for you, we’re just looking for the mage.”

“I know,” Demian replied calmly.  “Hunting him, hunting him no more.”

“Look, I can just tell Heather we didn’t find anything.  I’ll make up a story to explain the other’s absence.  If you kill all of us, more will come.”

“No, they won’t.  You will simply be replaced by my friends.  This is the end of the line for you, loyal follower of the royal vampires.
”

The other vampires had already staked the one on the stairs and were headed up behind the last remaining member of Heather’s guard.  His pleas fell on deaf ears, and he faced the typical violent death that most vampires fall to.  Staked or forced into the sun, neither was a pleasant way for
a vampire to die.

“All is as planned,” one of Demian’s assistants said while gathering with the other three of his group.  “We will bring Heather here for the mage and then follow you to your next mission.”

“Thank you for your help,” Demian said and watched them leave.  He stood over the small pile of ash that was the remainder of the staked vampire.  It was disgusting to him to have to do this to others of his kind, but he knew it had to be done.  The war was reaching its peak, and the end was upon them.  “The reckoning is here.”

             
27

Nichole awoke and realized the day was quickly slipping away.
 She wasn’t even sure if Xander had returned from his run after finally changing again.  A look at the clock told her dusk would be coming in an hour or so.  The rest was worth it, though.  Feeling much better than she had in weeks, the witch got up and looked out the window.

Sitting in the front yard was her lover, still in wolf form.
 That meant either he was afraid to return to human form, or he tried already and was still crippled.  Either way, he was still closer to the man she fell in love with.

Slipping out of her jeans and shirt, she swung open the door nearly naked.
 If this wouldn’t entice him to give the change back a try, nothing would.  Clearing her throat, she leaned against the door frame and waited for him to turn around.

Once he did so, he started the change immediately, standing up at the same time.
 Her heart raced as she wondered if the change had healed him.  Nearly back to human form, he stumbled, recovered, and stopped the change.  It didn’t change things, but she didn’t care.  Somewhere between man and beast she would lie with the man she loved.

“Why don’t you come on up here and show me how much you love me?”

Xander was hesitant, but then he figured, if she doesn’t care, why should I?
 A mischievous smile on his face, he started up the porch steps and walked up to her.  Leaning in and kissing her, his hands roamed freely about her body.  The kisses moved their way to her neck as she put her arms around him and reveled in his warm body against hers.

“Shit.”

The words from the witch came just after she opened her eyes, and just as he was ready to take her inside and tear off her remaining clothes.
 He stopped and stood up, wondering if she had changed her mind.  Instead of looking at him with uncertainty, her eyes stared fiercely into the distance.  He turned and saw what she was looking at and his shoulders hunched down a little as two figured came over the hill down the road.

“Damn it.
 Get dressed and slip out the back.  Watch from a distance and take off if things look bad.  Find Cassandra and them, they’ll take care of you.”

“I’m not leaving you regardless of who that is.”

“GO!”

Instead of arguing with her further, he ripped away from her arms as he moved towards the steps.
 Before he was to the ground, he was back into werewolf form and headed into the nearby cornfields.

From a distance Nichole watched anxiously.
 The strangers got closer and then Xander emerged from the fields.  It was odd that he didn’t attack.  He simply stopped and seemed to be talking, though still as a wolf.  The three began walking down the road towards the house and she decided that was all she needed to know.  Clearly it wasn’t a threat.

Inside, she got out four glasses and teacups and started a kettle of tea.
 The front door opened and she went to the living room to see exactly who had shown up.  A mix of surprise and concern hit her when she saw the mage and Cassandra’s werewolf.  If this was a social visit, why was it just these two and not the others?

“Hello Dhane, Amber,” Nichole greeted them politely.
 “Can I get anyone tea or lemonade?”

Xander changed to human form as he sat on the couch, making sure to angle himself so he would stay propped up.
 With a nod to Nichole he signaled for lemonade.  He wasn’t much of a tea drinker.  Dhane asked for the same while Amber politely excused herself to assist Nichole with the drinks.  They returned to a silent room and the witch became anxious.

“What brings you two here?
 Nothing’s happened with the others, I hope.”

“No,” Dhane began after taking a drink of lemonade.
 “We’re here to talk about Elisabeth and the others.  I believe the time is right to strike back and put an end to the hiding.”

“Are you out of your mind?
 She has vampires, werewolves, and another witch on her side.  Not to mention the fact that she has all the spell books.  We don’t stand a chance.”

Nichole was furious at the notion that they put themselves in harm’s way again.
 Dhane looked at Xander, who glanced up at the witch.  The look in his eyes told her he was considering it.  Her anger boiled over.

“No!
 You are not doing this.  We don’t even know how stable your back is in werewolf form.  And if you need to change, you can’t.  That is where Sebastian will have the upper hand, and then he can kill you.  You can’t give him that opportunity.”

“He won’t have that chance,” he said calmly.
 He waved for her to come sit by him, but she refused.  Partially changing to wolf form, he stood and walked over to her, putting his hand gently on her chin to make her look at him.  “We need to do this.  If you think about it, you know it’s inevitable.  They will force us to hide and run for the rest of our lives.  Regardless of the outcome, I would rather have this shot at freedom.  This time, it’s all or nothing.  We end it for good, right Dhane?”

The mage nodded with focus in his eyes as they stared back at Xander.
 Nichole looked over and saw it too, and the situation took on a whole new meaning suddenly.  Fear left her and she knew this was it.  All or nothing, they would be free either way.

“Okay, fine.
 But on one condition.  We get to take care of Sebastian.  We owe that fucker.”

Dhane nodded in agreement.
 “I think I have just the tool in mind to help you exact your revenge.  Before we get to that, though, I have an errand to run.  Then, I need Terrance and Tyler to help with some personal business.”
             

28

Terrance slipped around to the alley that ran behind the post office.  Once he was confident that nobody was around, he changed into his werewolf form and prepared to charge through the front door.  Glancing up, he noticed a fire escape ran along the outside of the building on the other side of the alley.

With swift and powerful movements, he climbed the fire escape up to the third floor.  If the vampires were prepared for an attack, they would expect the back door as being the most likely entrance, not a window three stories up.

Thrusting forward, Terrance fired himself like a shot through the window and into an empty room that took up the entire floor.  Immediately his heart sank as he worried that the information was wrong.

Cassandra cast her spell to unlock the front door a
nd the two women slipped inside and closed the door carefully behind them.  The first room was a small reception area, old and dusty, but clearly somebody was using the place.  The thick layers of dust on the floor were scuffed heavily with footprints.

After casting an illumination spell, t
hey continued on through to the next room, which was a large factory floor, though none of the machinery that once worked here remained.  Instead there were scatterings of boxes and garbage instead of the vampires and the witch they were seeking.

Cassandra nodded to Samantha and they proceeded along a path in the dust near the wall to their left. 
A sudden thud above them caused the ladies to freeze.  Something was moving on the second floor.

They continued on to the sta
irwell and listened carefully for sounds from up or down.  After several seconds of silence, they had to decide their next move.

“I suspect they would be in the basement, just to be safe,” Cassandra whispered.

“I agree.  Do we wait for Terrance?”

“Stay here and keep watch.  I’ll check and make sure that noise on the second flo
or was him, then we can all proceed down there.”

Samantha nodded
and watched as Cassandra headed up the stairs.  Her footsteps faded away and silence replaced them.  A sinking feeling swept through the witch as she waited for her friends to return.  Finally the quiet was broken with heavy footsteps on the stairwell.

“Hello,” she whispered.  She was afraid to shout in case it wasn’t Terrance on the stairs.  Instead she braced herself, ready to hurry through a spell if needed.  Around the corner and down the final set of stairs came Terrance, and she let out the breath she had held.

“This place sucks,” Terrance spouted as he noted the blood on his leg.  “Foot went through rotten boards.  I didn’t find anyone up there, so I hurried down to find you guys.  Where’s Cassandra?”

“Oh, we heard your accident on the second floor, so she went to check on you.”

“I haven’t been on the second floor.  This happened on the third floor.”

“Then… what was the noise we heard?”

Both of them felt a rush of panic and sprinted up the stairs.
  When they reached the second floor they found it filled with offices.  This would make it more difficult to find Cassandra, and easier to be ambushed.

Terrance signaled for Samantha to stay behind and crept forward, peering into offices as he went along.
  The witch held her hands high, hoping the light would scare off any vampires rather than lead them straight to her.

The werewolf vanished down a hallway to the left and Samantha started making her way forward, past the offices he had already cleared.  Most of them were empty, but a few still had old chairs, desks, and filing cabinets.  She stepped into one room and cut her leg on an overturned cabinet.

“Damn it,” escaped her lips before she could catch herself.  Standing perfectly still, controlling her breathing the best she could, she listened again, but all was quiet.  Back into the hallway
she stepped, and then proceeded to the end of the hallway where Terrance had disappeared.

Glancing to the left showed no signs of Terrance or anyone else.  A look to the right and something moved.  Her heart began to thud in her chest.  Surely, if it was Cassandra, she would still be using the illumination spell.

Carefully she walked in that direction, peering into each office, unsure what she would find.  When she reached the area the movement had come from, she
took extra care checking for signs of life.  Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her, yanking her into an office.

“Take off the spell, quickly!”

She did so, following Cassandra’s whispered order and they hid behind the door.  Soft rustling sounds could be heard from the hallway, telling Samantha all she needed to know: they were not alone!

“Are you sure the light came from this way?” a voice asked.

“I’m sure it was from somewhere around here,” the other responded.  “Wait, do you smell that?  Fresh blood nearby.”

The door
began to creak open and the witches prepared themselves to fight off the vampires.  A roar interrupted the vampires as Terrance came charging towards them.  They were knocked into the office and the women slipped out as quickly as possible. 

A violent battle ensued between the werewolf and vampires.  The wolf was trying to fight both at once so neither could get their fangs into him.
  In such closed quarters, though, it was proving difficult.

“We have to help him,” Cassandra urged, but she wasn’t sure how to do that.  Spells raced through her head, but nothing usefully jumped out.

Without a word, Samantha ran to one of the other offices and disappeared inside.  A moment later she returned, carrying
a wooden leg from an old office chair that had been left behind.

“We just have to take one of them out so Terrance can concentrate on the other. 
Hide around the corner and I’ll lead him to you.”

Before Cassandra could question the plan, Samantha was in the room and headed for the closest vampire. 
He was fairly scrawny, unlike the hefty vampire on the other side of the room.  Swiftly she threw a right hand and connected with the vampire’s jaw.  At first he looked stunned, not from the blow, but simply shocked that she punched him.  Slowly a smile crept across his face.

“You want to play, dear?  I have many good games I could play with you.”

The plan was to turn and run, leading the vampire into the hall for Cassandra to stake him.  His snide comment gave her an overwhelming urge to deck him again, however.  This swing he caught and she knew she was in trouble.

Samantha yanked her arm away from him and turned to run, but he caught her by her shirt and yanked her back to him, tearing it open in the process.  Panic consumed her and she tried to pull away again but couldn’t.

“Oh look, you want to play one of my favorite games.”

He looked over her barely contained breasts, only hidden by her bra now.  Before she realized what was happening, he grabbed a handful of her
hair, spinning her around so she was facing away from him.  His hot breath was on her neck and his other hand began moving up her waist and to her breast.  A sudden piercing pain in her neck and a hand clutching her breast simultaneously caused her knees to go weak for a moment.

The vampire leaned on her, taking advantage of her stumble, and was nearly on her back at that point.  With desperation, she forced herself to stand, using every ounce of strength she had.  Her attacker remained on her back as his feet came off the ground, and he simply clutched her tighter.

With heavy footsteps she moved towards the door, thankful that she got the skinny vampire.  If the other one had jumped on her back, she would be doomed.  Almost to the doorway, her head began to swim.  The vampire was not sucking to feed, he was sucking to kill.  She imagined he would have no problem violating her after he killed her, but she had no intention of giving him that opportunity.

Finally she stumbled through the doorway and to the floor.  The vampire was enjoying himself so much that he never noticed they weren’t alone.  It was the last mistake he would make.

With wide eyes, Cassandra was stunned at how Samantha got the vampire out of the room, and she knew she had to act quickly.  There was no hesitation in her swing, knowing that even if it went through him and hurt the other witch, it was still a better result than letting the vampire drain her.

The blow sunk deep in the vampires back, causing him to release his bite and howl in pain.  He rolled off of the witch and twitched horribly as his skin began to wrinkle and turn grey.  Having never staked a vampire, Cassandra could only watch in horror at the result.  The heart unable to work properly, the diseased vampire blood began to dry up at an extreme pace, leaving their foe looking like a prune.

As the final twitches occurred, Terrance appeared in the doorway, having dispatched the other vampire easily in a one-on-one fight.

“Well, that’s fucking disgusting,” he spouted.

The vampire finally stopped moving and the two of them helped Samantha to her feet.  She did her best to cover herself up, but the shirt was beyond useful.

“That was really reckless of you,” Cassandra scolded her.

“Yeah, but it worked, didn’t it?”

Cassandra shook her head, surprised that the witch had the strength to pull that off.  In her present condition, however, another encounter with a vampire could be the death of her.

“Maybe you should hang by the front door and keep watch while Terrance and I check out the basement.”

Terrance nodded in agreement.

“Not on your life.”

Stubborn as she was beautiful, they weren’t going to convince their half-naked friend to sit the rest out.  Rather than wasting their breath, they proceeded down towards the stairs and hoped the basement would be quieter.