The Tale of Two Killers, page 31
He headed down the winding corridors until reaching the Gathering room and entered. There were no Councilmen sitting in their posts at the head of the circular room, but Hamilton was not alone when the heavy door closed behind him. Samuel and Kingston were in the center of the gathering area. Both boys were dressed in their combat attire as well, Samuel’s blond hair parted to the side with a genuine scared look on his face. Kingston looked like he was having an easier time keeping a hold of himself, red hair tied back into a ponytail to keep it out of his face.
“Hey, lads,” Hamilton greeted. “I feel like it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. You both look fantastic.”
Samuel hurried for his former instructor, not wasting any time in getting his worry out. “You have to help us stop Julius. He’s gone completely off the deep end.”
Just the mentioning of Julius churned Hamilton’s stomach, knowing without the need of a reminder that that boy was one person who hated him more than anything. “What’s going on? Where are the Councilors?”
Kingston stepped up beside Samuel, “They’re all getting ready for some kind of meeting being hosted tonight, so Mister Jamison told us you would be able to help us on your own. Samuel and I are afraid Julius has lost it. He’s planning to stalk the streets of London all night to kill as many vampires as he can.”
Hamilton was having trouble following the problem at hand. “Why can’t the Administrators at Gregor restrain him? It’s their job to keep all slayers in the House in line. Why do you need me?”
“Julius ran away months ago,” Samuel said.
“And, honestly,” Kingston started next, “I’ve known where he’s been for a while, but I was too scared to tell the Administration in fear they would hurt him. Julius is my friend, Hamilton. He’s been so close to me since before we even started this whole thing. It’s just…it’s all gotten to his head, and I’m afraid my best friend is going to get himself killed. Even with you being transferred and him growing distant afterwards, I know Julius still respects you more than anyone. He looks up to you.”
Hamilton felt terrible for leading these kids on. He was sure they didn’t know the full extent of Julius’ hatred for him, but to think about the lost teenager preparing to face droves of vampires on his own was a scary thought. Samuel and Kingston had shown themselves to be the two more proficient fighters of the bunch, and even if Julius had been honing his skills for the past almost two years since the last time they’d seen each other, he was confident in saying the young slayer wouldn’t be able to take down more than a handful of vampires at once.
“I feel like I’m the last person he’d ever want to see,” Hamilton spoke up, voice insecure. “I feel like I’m just another person who abandoned him.”
“Help me show him you haven’t,” Kingston begged. “My best friend, your former student, is out there getting ready to throw his life away with the confidence that he’ll actually make it out of this night alive.”
“He’s going to get himself slaughtered,” Samuel said. “I’m sure he just needs a good talking to.”
Hamilton wondered if his love for Demiesius had aided in giving Julius such an insane idea. The boy held a hatred for vampires that burned hotter than anyone else in the world, and to find out one of the people he’d trusted in so much was virtually in league with them, it must be something that could shred the heart. If he could stop this flame from spreading any further, he at least wanted to give it a shot.
“Are we the only ones going?” Hamilton asked.
“Yeah,” Kingston sighed, “Mister Jamison said that was alright.”
With that in mind, Hamilton turned his back and headed for the doors of the Gathering room. “Let’s go.”
The three got into Hamilton’s car that was parked outside, Samuel in the back seat while Kingston directed him to where Julius had been hiding out all this time. He was surprised at the amount of distance they had to travel, entering Oxford after forty-five minutes of driving. While the majority of the ride had been quiet, he wondered to himself how Demiesius and Jeremiah were doing, hoping that his son wasn’t giving his husband such a hard time so the elder could sleep after spending most of the day awake. Even with the worry of one of his previous students on his mind, Hamilton wanted to be with his family, make sure Jeremiah was taken care of while his husband was as well.
There was a brand-new nurturing instinct inside of him that hatched the second Jeremiah was born, and that was the fierce need to be with him at all times. Hamilton wanted to feed his baby, care for him the way a parent felt the need to after their baby was born, and even with Hamilton’s being a biological male, this was an internal makeup he couldn’t ignore. Right now, he just wanted to get Julius stable enough to get back to his family.
The sun was on its way down by the time Hamilton reached a country road that led to a secluded house. “Is this his childhood home?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Kingston said from the back seat. “He’s been living here since he ran away from Gregor.”
The closer they got to the house, Hamilton could see someone sitting out on the porch. It was Julius, and when he parked his car behind a stolen drop-off van that belonged to Gregor, he could see Julius was dressed in his slayer attire as well, equipped with all of his weapons, and the chain of the sickle in his hands rattled as he twirled it in a small circle close to the floor. The black-haired boy stood when Hamilton cut the engine and got out after taking off his coat, Samuel and Kingston following suit.
“Listen, Julius,” Samuel called out, moving past Hamilton to the porch. “Please, just hear us out for a second.”
Hamilton looked up at the sky when an uneasiness came down over him. He couldn’t explain what it was, maybe just a change in the wind, but when he looked back towards Julius and the boy gave him a sly grin, he couldn’t say the joking expression gave him any relief. “Julius,” he said, “I just want to talk with you. Samuel, Kingston, they’re worried about you, and so am I after what they’ve had to tell me.”
Julius stopped twirling the chain and lifted the silver handle of the sickle instead. Pointing the curved blade in Hamilton’s direction, he said, “I’m afraid there’s nothing we have to talk about tonight. In fact, this will be the last night you ever speak again.” Taking a confident stand at the top of the porch steps, Julius glared sinisterly at his former instructor. “I’d just like to thank my best mate for bringing you to me.”
Samuel rutted his brow and looked back at the two standing behind him.
When Julius’ words quickly registered in his mind, before Hamilton could go to look over his shoulder to Kingston, he felt a harsh, piercing sensation burrow into his lower back. He gasped sharply as a numbing pain entered his body. When he looked down, his hands touched at the bloody tip of a blade that’d been stabbed through his lower right abdomen. A scream echoed around him, and even with how shrill the holler had been, it was like he could hardly hear it. He watched, frozen, as the blade was pulled from his body, and the second it was out, it was like everything around him hit play.
Blood poured from the open wound.
Agony rippled through him suddenly as Samuel’s horrified scream entered his ears. “What the hell did you do!?” the boy yelled out in anger and confusion.
Hamilton dropped to a knee, shaken by the blood on his hands as he gripped his stomach. When he looked up to the boy who’d stepped around him, Kingston showed no remorse for the act of betrayal he’d blindly committed. There was a bloodied dagger in his hand and a cold look in his eyes as he joined Julius on the steps.
Please, no…
Hamilton’s thoughts cried the words he could not speak.
Please, don’t let this be my end.
Chapter XXIX
Vengeance is a Flame that Burns the Brightest
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!” Samuel bellowed out, his resentment for the two equally young slayers seeping out of each of his pores. He dropped to Hamilton’s side, kneeling beside the bleeding man as he cupped the lesion punctured through his abdomen. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized fearfully. “I swear, I didn’t know these two lunatics were planning this. I’m so sorry!”
Hamilton met the Austrian boy’s eyes, surprised he hadn’t passed out from the blood loss. There were scared and livid tears in his eyes, and before he could think to say something in return, Julius began to approach him from the porch steps of the house.
“Move aside, Samuel,” he ordered as if he had all the power in the world. “I didn’t want to have to kill you, too, but seeing your clingy sentiment to our wonderful instructor, allowing you to leave this property after this evening probably isn’t such a good idea.”
Samuel glared up at the dark-haired boy and rose to his feet. From his slayer belt, he withdrew two sharpened blades and fisted their leather grips. He held them in front of his face in a semi-crouched stance, heart pounding in his chest at the thought of what he had to do. “If you think I’m just going to stand back and watch you kill him, you’re sadly mistaken. If you want to get your hands on him, you’ll have to face me first!”
Looking down at the chain and sickle in his hands, Julius slid the rattling silver against his palm. “Funny how you think it will be that easy to defeat Kingston and I. If you haven’t noticed, it’s clearly two against one, and if you’re thinking I’m still a little rusty when it comes to fighting, you’re the one who’s sadly mistaken. I’ve perfected this weapon and your little daggers will do you no good. Not that I wanted to fight you anyhow. My enemy here is Hamilton and Hamilton alone, and it’s time I taught him a lesson he clearly needs to learn.”
When Julius took a step off the porch, Samuel dug his feet into the dirt, “Stay back!”
Aggravated by the Austrian boy’s interference, Julius met Kingston’s eyes and nodded out towards their partner. “Take care of him, please.”
The way Kingston moved without delay reminded Samuel of someone who was possessed, somehow manipulated by the words of the dark-haired boy, and he wanted to understand why. How could these two turn their backs completely on the man who’d worked so hard in the beginning to teach them what they knew now?
“Kingston,” Samuel said almost woefully, “Please, stop and think about what you’re doing. I don’t want to have to fight you. I thought — I thought we were friends.”
Getting closer and closer to the blond teenager in his fight stance, Kingston shook his head, “We can still be friends after tonight, Samuel. Trust me, that is something I want, too, but if you’re going to protect this vampire fucker, then I have no choice but to strike you down here. Move aside and I’ll reconsider.”
Even after hearing the allegation of Hamilton having an intimate relationship with an immortal, Samuel continued to stand protectively in front of his former instructor. “I don’t care what you have to say about Hamilton, true or not, we are vampire slayers. Killing one of our kind is worthy of a death sentence.”
Julius knitted his brow, “I’m sick of hearing him bicker, Kingston. Kill him!”
At the drop of a hat, Kingston sprinted towards Samuel, the same effective dagger in his fist that he’d used to stab Hamilton in the back. With the sun going down, the land before the isolated house in Oxford began to darken as well, the dancing shadows of the two quarreling slayers stretching across the grass. They were similarly matched, knowing what move was coming next no matter how fast.
Taking his eyes off the combative slayers, Julius laid his gaze on Hamilton. The man was still knelt there on the ground, holding onto the strength leaving his body with each pump of blood that gushed from his open wound. It felt like he was a kid on a holiday morning, ready to open a present gifted to him, except it was not a holiday, and his present was a human being he aspired to carve open with the deadly blade of his sickle.
When he neared Hamilton, he, too knelt in front of him. He smiled at the scent of iron blood filling the air, and said, “It is probably sick of me to say I’m going to enjoy this, but I am really going to enjoy killing you tonight. Ever since I found out you’ve been fucking a vampire, I’ve wanted to get my hands on you so badly. I just — I want you to know what you’re doing is wrong.”
Julius furrowed his brow when Hamilton merely trembled before him, having wanted to hear what the man could use to back up his actions.
The second he opened his mouth to speak again, Julius didn’t have time to get a word out when the butt of a spear point knife knocked him across his face.
Hamilton rose to his feet quickly and stumbled back. Weakened from the amount of blood he’d lost, he pressed his left hand to the open abrasion while wielding his weapon in the other. He wasn’t about to die on his knees. If this was going to be his last night on earth, he was going to go out fighting for his life.
The faces of Demiesius and Jeremiah in his mind kept Hamilton strong. “You hate me so much,” he spat. “Then come at me!”
Spitting a wad of blood from his mouth, Julius ran the back of his hand across his lips. Kingston and Samuel had stopped their brawl to watch the two, Hamilton standing in a prepared and defensive position as Julius began to circle him like he was prey. This reminded him of almost every situation he’d ever been in with a vampire, being stalked like a wounded animal under the spotlight of the moon, except…this was the first time he would be fighting as weak as he was.
Hamilton was ready when Julius attacked from behind, the boy yelling out when he swung the heavy weighted knot at the end of the chain. Hamilton turned fast on his heels and ducked before the weight could knock against his temple. Before the moment Julius could pull back the chain, Hamilton then grabbed at it, entangling his pointed blade into the loops and tugged with all the force he could muster. The handle of the sickle was pulled from the young slayer’s hands so fast that the sharp crescent point nearly sliced into his chest as it was seized from his possession.
“Maybe you should have chosen something else to fight me with,” Hamilton’s voice was shaky even with his confidence. “This is my specialty.”
“No matter,” Julius leered. “Face it, you’re still dying!”
The young slayer quickly pulled two tiny throwing knives from his belt and twirled them around his fingers. He flung them in Hamilton’s direction a second later and darted for the man.
Though he was a little slower than he was used to being, Hamilton dodged the small daggers and used the chain and sickle to the best of his abilities. This weapon had been what his own instructor had drilled him to perfect, but even with that in mind, he couldn’t set aside the fact that with every move he made, he was losing more and more blood. Putting as much effort into each of his attacks, Hamilton held his own against Julius for as long as he could, getting a couple hits that managed to knock the boy back long enough to catch his breath for a few seconds.
Wrapping the chain around Julius’ ankle, Hamilton dragged the boy off his feet, a heat in his eyes that wanted nothing more than to live, to survive this fight and go back to his family. He dragged Julius to the dirt and came down over him.
“You think I’m a traitor?” he snarled, raising the blade over his head, “Fine, I’ll be the traitor!”
Hamilton brought the deadly point down, but when it was on the verge of piercing Julius’ left eye and expunging him from this world, Hamilton was tackled by Kingston who’d run for him.
Groaning out from the wave of pain that swelled through him, Hamilton tried to lash out as Kingston rolled him over. When he succeeded in pinning the boy to the ground, he winced when a fistful of his long blond hair was grabbed and pulled back. Like a bolt of lightning struck him, Hamilton’s blue eyes shot wide open when Julius plunged a knife into his chest, not once, not twice, but three devastating times. Each assault punctured his lungs, grazing arteries when the razored edge was ruthlessly withdrawn, and caused the truest amount of damage that could reach his mortal body.
“Oh, my god…” Samuel couldn’t believe his eyes as his former instructor collapsed like a limp corpse to the earth. He would have put forth more effort to protect Hamilton, but Kingston had stabbed him in his thigh before going to Julius’ aid.
Kingston was helped to his feet then, and they looked down on the blood-soaked man lying on the cold ground. The two boys looked back at Samuel, unknowing that Hamilton wasn’t totally dead yet.
The agonized man’s trembling hands reached for the thin chained necklaces gifted to him by Demiesius, tears blurring his eyes when his fingers finally found the vial looped around his neck. He unscrewed it from the chain, hoping for what would become of him the second this single drop of elder blood found its way into his system. Would it be enough? Would it work? Just when death gripped Hamilton, the shaky crimson drop fell against his tongue, and his entire body went completely still. His once vibrant and worldly ocean eyes glazed over with an emptiness only seen in those who knew what the end looked like, and as a long, final breath escaped his still lungs, his heart shuttered its last withering beat.
The man once known as Hamilton H. Hamilton was dead.
***
It was nightfall when Demiesius awoke from his seemingly short slumber, but it was not his nocturnal instincts that roused him on this night. He looked towards the bassinet Jeremiah still slept in that was beside the bed, almost startled by the fierce cry escaping the tiny boy’s mouth. It was like he was screaming bloody murder.
Afraid something was wrong with his son, Demiesius got up from the bed quickly and peered at the baby lying on his back. Jeremiah’s cheeks were a bright red and streams of tears trickled down his puffy cheeks.
Demiesius raised the writhing boy out of the bassinet, figuring maybe he just wanted to be held, but even that wasn’t enough to calm him down. He carried the boy downstairs after getting dressed, not fully buttoning his white dress shirt when he entered the kitchen area. Usually when Jeremiah cried, it was either because he wanted to be fed, needed to be changed, or wanted Hamilton to hold him, but since his diaper was clean and Hamilton still wasn’t back yet, the elder tried to see if a feeding was what his son wanted.
