Samantha Moon Phantasm, page 126
part #9 of Vampire for Hire Series
Ssso much needless suffering, whispered Elizabeth. Some of those children are younger than your daughter. Think on that...
Tammy grabbed a passing girl’s hand. The white-robed entity stopped walking and stood still, continuing to stare into space. My daughter pressed a hand to the other girl’s chest, listened at her mouth, then backed off. All the while, the strange phantom continued walking as though nothing had happened. “She’s warm, but I didn’t feel a heartbeat.”
I have done things most might regard as dark, but even I am aghast at such cruelty. You are right to be livid. That one over by the fountain looked like such a sweet girl. She didn’t deserve to be starved, flayed, and consumed alive.
I shuddered. The girl in question, a bright blue-eyed blonde, had a young, innocent face. The sort of girl who’d cry over mice killed in traps or refuse to smash bugs in the house. She perched on the edge of a grim, ebony-colored fountain, her pale bare feet inches off the ground. Everything about her posture said she should be smiling and enjoying the beautiful day, but her expression was as blank and lifeless as the stone courtyard tiles.
The sight of her hit me with the exact opposite emotion as befell Allison. Inside, I flew into a rage. I wanted to tear the Red Rider apart. I wanted him to suffer like he’d made these young girls suffer. I really wanted him to scream. Anger took me to a place so far away from who I was that I didn’t even mind Elizabeth smiling at my rage, at my wanting to visit sheer pain upon this wretch of a being who could do such things to innocent children.
Not one looked anywhere near as young as Annie though. That truth kept me from entirely losing all rational thought to rage. Again, I wondered if the Rider had become desperate for nourishment. He’d gorged himself on magic for five centuries, and evidently, the buffet hadn’t been refilled. I hoped he’d chosen to prey on such a young girl because he’d become weakened and desperate.
Use your anger, Sssamantha.
I couldn’t help but smirk. Are you trying to give me encouragement or lure me to the dark side?
Tammy caught my thought. “What? Oh. Well, she might have a point, Mom. This guy is nasty. Fight fire with fire and all that. Like what you did with the Devil.”
“No way this thing is more powerful than the Devil.” I shook my head. “Crueler, perhaps, but not more powerful.”
My daughter cringed. “Sorry again.”
“What for?”
“You know… being dumb enough to fall for his crap.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “You weren’t dumb. He played to your vulnerability. That’s kinda who he was.”
“Is,” corrected Allison. “Isn’t he back?”
“Sort of. At least, I’m guessing based on what I saw in that painter’s house. Not so much ‘back’ as there’s a new Devil in town.”
“Better the devil you know, right?” Allison managed a sad laugh. “That’s supposed to be a metaphor.”
Kingsley emitted a wolf snort.
I crossed the courtyard of lost souls to the fountain. The eerie-ass thing, shiny and polished black, had been shaped into a twisting mass of spectral figures gathering together in a tornado of ghostly energy, their faces warped in agony.
“Cheery place,” muttered Kingsley.
Allison clamp-hugged the blonde girl sitting on the fountain. The teen ignored her. After a moment, my friend finally wiped her tears and got her composure back, looking pissed all of a sudden. “Let’s do this. This thing needs to die.”
“Ack! Mom!” Tammy held up her hands; all her fingers had vanished. “What’s happening?”
One by one, her fingers reappeared. She almost went cross-eyed staring at her hands in bewilderment.
“I am having to work faster and faster to repaint the details of your figures,” said Van Gogh from the heavens. “Whatever you plan to do in there, make haste. Your time draws short.”
“The only thing we can do to help these girls is to destroy the fiend that did this to them.” I drew the Devil Killer from its dimensional sheath, considered my options, and did the only thing I could think of...
I charged the rest of the way across the courtyard to the castle doors.
Kingsley and Anthony bounded past me, the wolf running, Anthony’s huge strides appearing slow but covering ground equally as fast. The two of them hit the door with a boom that shook the entire castle, or at least seemed loud enough to.
“So much for subtle,” muttered Allison, coming up behind me, gasping. My daughter trailed behind her.
“We’re not here to be subtle.” I cautioned my daughter to stay put, then stormed inside and down a grand hallway, following a dark burgundy runner past armor statues, tapestries, and other decorations that made me think I’d walked into a Crusades-age monastery—though one low on spirituality and high on torture and murder.
The pull led me around a left turn and along another passageway to a set of ornate double doors in dark brown wood. Six stone cherubs carved upon them in bas-relief all shifted their heads to stare at me as I approached. Oh, that wasn’t creepy at all. Moving wooden angel babies with creepy smiles... yeah, totally a normal thing to see.
I grabbed the handles and pulled the heavy doors apart, revealing a darkened cathedral full of crimson tapestries and paintings depicting the torture and burning of witches. A broad-shouldered figure in a hooded, crimson robe stood hunched over the altar with his back to us. The room hung in silence except for the echoing slurp of greedy feasting.
Fortunately, the Red Rider’s hood didn’t block my view of the altar, and it was obvious he didn’t have a young girl’s corpse in front of him. Still, I didn’t want to know what he ate. Though, I suspected he had a stash of former victim to munch on. Tammy squeezed up next to me on the left, cringing from the gruesome décor surrounding us. This room had no pews or benches for any faithful to gather, merely a large open area filled with images of agony.
And one wretched fiend.
“You’re a hard man to find.” I stepped into the room.
The Red Rider whirled to stare at me, a strip of red flesh dangling from bloody teeth. Unlike our first meeting where he had all the emotional depth of an ATM kiosk, here, he appeared manic. Eyes wild with frenzy grew even wider at the sight of me. I couldn’t tell if he reacted in fear, anger, or excitement, as his expression could’ve fit any of those.
“Now what?” whispered Allison.
“Now…” I strode toward him. “We send this piece of shit straight to hell.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Red Rider screamed out a high-pitched, keening wail.
His horse materialized beside him in a puff of dark red smoke.
“Aww. We can’t hurt his poor horse,” whined Tammy.
The animal raked a hoof at the floor, snarling and snorting flames from its nostrils.
“Never mind. That’s not really a horse.” She jumped back.
I charged the Red Rider. The horse snorted a firebolt at me, so I leapt straight up onto my wings as the glowing serpent of flame licked at the floor. Angling forward, I turned my jump into a dive, swooping down at the Rider. He raised his gladius. Our swords clashed with a boom that echoed over the room like thunder. My dive stalled, all my weight on the point where our weapons crossed.
The horse whirled to attack me, but vanished with a strange, strangled snarl in a blur of Fire Warrior. The Red Rider shoved me aside, but before he could swing, Kingsley, in wolf form, leapt at him. Giant werewolf teeth sank into the Rider’s shoulder. Growling, he picked the inquisitor from hell up in his mouth and thrashed him side to side. The Rider stabbed Kingsley in the ribs, which only appeared to make my man angrier. It did, however, cause him to hurl the Red Rider into the air.
Allison threw magical energy at the walls, floor, and ceiling, chanting and whispering. In response to her, the doors we entered by slammed as if pulled by invisible hands. Intricate mystical patterns traced themselves into being, drawn in hairline golden threads.
After bouncing off the wall and scrambling back to his feet, the Red Rider stared at Allison… and drooled.
Oh, hell no.
“You’re not devouring my friend!” I shouted, again launching myself into a wing-flapping rush, half running, half flying.
The fire-spitting horse came out of nowhere and flew over my head, upside down. I ducked the startling sight, twisting to watch it crash into the wall on the other end of the room. My son tromped after it, chasing the hellbeast he’d thrown.
Allison hurled a bolt of magical energy at the Red Rider, who’d gone running at her like a dog chasing a dropped piece of filet mignon. Her spell caught him in the chest, stalling him to an abrupt stop. I cruised in, swinging the Devil Killer. He raised his left arm, blocking my sword with the buckler shield strapped to it. My blade scorched the leather on contact, sparking and fuming.
A scream from Tammy distracted me. I got a brief glimpse of her diving to the floor to get under another fire breath from the horse before the Red Rider’s gladius plunged into my gut. He yanked it out and slugged me in the jaw with his sword hand. I held my ground, barely yielding a single step.
He stared at me, aghast that a woman my size didn’t go flying over backward… or seem to care much about an abdominal wound. Already, the itch of healing swarmed around the puncture.
“Mom!” shrieked Tammy. She focused on him with an intense look of concentration.
The Red Rider flinched and emitted a wail of confused agony, appearing bewildered.
“The heck did you do?” rasped Allison.
“Flooding his mind with Justin Bieber music.”
I took the opportunity to attack, scoring a nice slash down his chest, bloodying his armor. He recovered in time to deflect my follow up. I pressed the advantage, but our blades crossed five times without finding flesh again. When I raised my arm to swing again, he stomp kicked me in the chest. That knocked me away enough for him to break and run for the doors. As he passed, I spun with vampiric speed, slicing a deep wound into the back of his left thigh. The crack of the blade striking his femur rattled my knuckles.
Flaming black blood sprayed on the floor. He staggered down to one knee but kept dragging himself forward. Tammy stared at him with a constipated expression. Boy band music appeared to have lost its ability to distract him again.
A magic bolt from Allison nailed the Red Rider in the chest, knocking him over sideways barely a second before the horse rammed into her, throwing her to the floor into a slide. It went to trample her, but Anthony bowled into it, knocking the beast on its side.
Kingsley, a streak of black fur, dashed by from the left and pounced on the Rider again. The two whirled in circles, too fast for me to have any clear opening to strike. They spun around and around in a tornado of punches, snapping jaws, and werewolf claws.
A loud roar from the left accompanied a blast of orange light.
The horse bathed Anthony in a huge gout of fire. Though he cringed, he appeared unfazed. Hmm. Guess that horse isn’t too bright. Trying to burn the Fire Warrior… Still, something tells me I really don’t want to get hit by that blast. Vampires and fire don’t get along. The Red Rider eventually stabbed Kingsley in a tender spot, causing the big guy to involuntarily transform back to his human self. In a display of speed and strength that made me appreciate Kingsley all over again, the hairy oaf hurled the Rider across the room.
A weary Allison picked herself up off the floor, rubbing her left shoulder.
Kingsley swooned to one knee, cradling his groin. He bled from a slice on the inside of his thigh, a hand’s width short of ground zero… and he looked quite pissed off.
Allie! Down! shouted Tammy in our heads.
The Red Rider pulled his crossbow and shot at Allison at the same instant she hurled herself flat to the floor. His quarrel passed over her and hit the wall, blackening the stone with a splat of decay. Another quarrel appeared in the weapon and he aimed at Tammy—who stood there like a deer in the headlights.
“Tammy!” I shouted, throwing myself forward, reaching for the projectile.
I snatched the quarrel out of midair, but the instant my fingers closed around it, a flailing, flying, warhorse crashed into me. We spun head over heels a few times and landed in a heap. Evidently, Anthony had similar ideas about protecting his sister and had thrown the horse to block the quarrel.
“Get off me you ugly piece of shit.” I shoved at the beast, which also appeared to be attempting to right itself.
Somewhere, Tammy screamed. Allison let off an angry shriek. Something exploded, shaking the floor and making the iron chandeliers above us rattle. The horse finally floated up and off me, surrounded by glowing yellow light. Allison made an ‘away with you’ gesture, and the beast rocketed like a missile into the altar, cracking it.
A smoldering Red Rider charged at Allison, seeming more intent to attack her with his teeth than his blade. Any magic he could glean from her would make him even more powerful. We truly had caught the bastard at his weakest. A fabulous stroke of luck? Perhaps.
Meanwhile, the Rider brushed off the pelting of magical bolts she hurled at him, walking straight into the barrage and backing her against the door. Kingsley rolled around on the floor, struggling to remove a crossbow quarrel from his left pectoral. My little Tammy leapt at the Red Rider—stopping my heart—in an effort to shove him away from Allison, but he knocked her over on her ass with little effort.
It did not make me feel confident to see the horrible wound I’d slashed into his leg already gone. Damn. So much for a walk in the park.
I sprinted after him. Evidently, he sensed my blade coming and spun to defend. In this place, he fought with much greater strength and speed, fending off my strikes, no longer physically weaker than me. Against my better instincts, I listened to Elizabeth’s advice and let myself get angrier, thinking of that poor girl sitting on the fountain outside, how she didn’t deserve to die the way she did. How none of those innocent girls—my prior incarnation included—deserved their fates.
My arms burned from the effort of overexerting myself. The ringing of our blades grew louder. Swing by swing, I forced him to back off. Every so often, I moved just fast enough to slip in under his defenses and rip long gashes in his chest.
“Mommy!” shouted Tammy, sounding terrified.
I disengaged with a flap of my wings, leaping up and hovering high near the ceiling so I could keep the Red Rider in view while glancing back over my shoulder at my daughter.
She flailed around on the floor, having ceased existing from the knees down. Allison, too, showed signs of fading away, her entire left arm missing. I glanced down at myself and noticed I’d pretty much gone fully transparent.
Shit. Not good.
Our timer’s about done.
“Come on, Vincent. Please… just a little more time.”
Tammy’s legs faded back in.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
The Red Rider sprinted for the doors, but bounced off them with an echoing boom, triggering a wave of glow that swept around the walls in the luminous writing Allison made. He rammed himself at the barrier again, but it held.
“Looks like you can’t just poof here,” I said, before diving down into an aerial strike.
I set upon him with enough speed that even he couldn’t defend from my first swing. The Devil Killer opened a rent in his back that easily breached his left lung and sliced every rib on that side. It barely slowed him down. He spun with an elbow smash that hit me in the head, knocking me into the wall.
And glared at Allison.
Crap. He knew he couldn’t get out of here as long as she remained alive. If she died, her magic would fade, and he’d slip away. But… he’s not slowing down. What the hell? This sword is supposed to be able to kill anything.
Mom! shouted Tammy in my mind. His crown! He’s afraid you’ll damage it. That’s gotta be important. Break it!
I sensed Elizabeth gathering strength. It didn’t feel as though she intended to try overpowering me for control, but her stirring raised my defenses.
Sssamantha. It is time to send all the magic he stole from those helpless innocents back where it belongs. This creature is a wretch even by my standards. You want to avenge those children, don’t you? You want the magic he stole to go back where it belongs, do you not?
Yeah… Wait. Back? He hasn’t consumed it?
He has, but he holds it inside. When you destroy him, it will be free to return where it came from. Unlike you, those children reincarnate. The defenseless little girls he murdered will be reborn. When they do, you want them to have their magic back, don’t you?
I snarled to myself. I did want them to get their magic back, but I also wanted mine back, too, dammit. Sure, I knew that would never happen, but impossibility didn’t stop people from wanting stuff. Orphans want their parents back, but it could never happen.
Focus on your want for the magic to go back where it belongs when you strike him down, said Elizabeth.
The Red Rider pounced at Allison. She screamed and leapt to the side, firing off a magical bolt with both hands. It set off an explosion that knocked them both flat on their backs and sliding. Allison didn’t get up, though she continued to breathe at least. Kingsley staggered over, the crossbow bolt missing from his chest. He went to grab the Red Rider, but his hands had vanished.
“Dammit,” muttered Kingsley, then transformed in an instant, clamping his teeth down on the Rider’s shoulder, his pawless forelegs waving at the air.
I let off a scream from the deepest, angriest recesses of all my revulsion at everything the Red Rider did to the innocent, to my former self, even to J.C. Such torment that man had suffered for centuries at the loss of his little girl… and leapt into the air. Kingsley, fangs still sunk in the man’s shoulder, angled his eyes upward at me. He held the Red Rider in place as I dove from the crest of a fifteen-foot high arc.
Wings spread wide, I chopped the Devil Killer down in a two-handed grip.
The blade struck the top of his head, cleaving the skull to the middle of his neck.
