to find the Queen.
She could draw out the remainder of her followers
left behind to defend home. They lurked inside earthen hovels hidden throughout
the city. I hadn’t the time to personally convene them, nor did I want to waste
my refuelling magics on such tasks.
I need my
strength to locate what remains of my Coven.
That is in
theory the Vampire Queen could help me rally her underlings. If she was
lucid when I called to her.
What a
damned big ‘if’.
Gwendolyn was quite insane, more so after the loss
of her consort.
I’d been loath to leave a powerful ally behind, but
she was too crazy, a hindrance, and it made sense to keep someone under thumb
guarding home.
Lurching onto my feet, I wandered deeper into the
city, trying to remember the location of the vampire Nest. Used to shifting
location at will using magics, it felt like an age since I used my feet to
travel to a destination.
The patter of feet echoed down the street behind
me.
A vampire would never be so heavy-footed.
I slinked to the side and wove a reflective glamour
to blend unto the rutted brick I splayed against. Breathing shallow to calm my
heart, and reduce my body temperature, I waited for whatever hunted me to pass.
Familiar magical signatures tickled my senses a
scant second before they sprinted into view.
I extinguished the blistering heat I’d prepared to
shower upon my unsuspecting prey.
Naomi and her Siblings ran as if death stalked not
a pace behind.
Larissa, a witch of mediocre power, but strong
alchemy was snatched into the shadows. Her cloak billowed in a silken cloud
then rushed back as she disappeared.
Her dying shrieks spurred the others to run faster.
Unbelievable, the Coven is
hunted by vampires in my city . Are they so crushed by defeat at the Wyld
they’ve forgotten the natural order of things?
A vampire crept past my hiding place, a look of
intense hunger giving a thorny edge to his features. Lanky frame clad simply in
threadbare jeans, his feet made no noise as they lifted and settled on the
frosty ground. Shadows tugged close to his flesh. Cloaked him more fully than
the sleet.
The meandering pace he used for the hunt ignited my
ire.
He toyed with them.
And he wasn’t the only one. More than a dozen
vampires followed my Children. Picking them off as if they were nothing.
Filthy
parasites.
Fury bubbled my blood and heat raced through my
veins shooting power into my fingertips. I drew enough of the Source to burn a
weaker man into ash.
I wove a force field to trap my Children and avoid
chasing them down.
Feeling the spike in temperature, the vampire
tensed as I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him into the
wall.
His eyes rounded and cleared of blackness when my
glamour dropped. Fangs receding into red gums, he went limp. The relaxation of
muscle meant my death grip on the fleshy tissue of his neck felt disgusting.
Pulpy and slimy, as if it was unable to find purchase on bone so floated
disembodied under the surface of his skin.
Thoroughly sickened, I let go.
He fell to his knees and hunched over, feebly
covering his head as if I’d strike him.
“Stupid creature. As if I’d waste time delivering a
blow. What would that achieve?”
“But the Queen says….”
I lowered my head. “Go on.”
“Nothin’.”
The innermost corners of my eyes narrowed. Gwendolyn uses my name as justification to
beat her underlings? Not my concern, I despise them all. “Your name?”
Peeking through layers of scraggly hair caked in
mud, and what stank like offal the vampire blinked. “Raj.”
My Children ceased jostling at the shield of energy
I’d conjured, realising I’d saved them.
They tripped over themselves to reach me.
Naomi led, shoving others from her path without a
care for their wellbeing though they were injured worse than her. “Father,” she
breathed. “You’re alive.”
“You doubted? Yet you did not cast a spell of
finding? How telling.”
She flinched.
I looked at Raj.
She could draw out the remainder of her followers
left behind to defend home. They lurked inside earthen hovels hidden throughout
the city. I hadn’t the time to personally convene them, nor did I want to waste
my refuelling magics on such tasks.
I need my
strength to locate what remains of my Coven.
That is in
theory the Vampire Queen could help me rally her underlings. If she was
lucid when I called to her.
What a
damned big ‘if’.
Gwendolyn was quite insane, more so after the loss
of her consort.
I’d been loath to leave a powerful ally behind, but
she was too crazy, a hindrance, and it made sense to keep someone under thumb
guarding home.
Lurching onto my feet, I wandered deeper into the
city, trying to remember the location of the vampire Nest. Used to shifting
location at will using magics, it felt like an age since I used my feet to
travel to a destination.
The patter of feet echoed down the street behind
me.
A vampire would never be so heavy-footed.
I slinked to the side and wove a reflective glamour
to blend unto the rutted brick I splayed against. Breathing shallow to calm my
heart, and reduce my body temperature, I waited for whatever hunted me to pass.
Familiar magical signatures tickled my senses a
scant second before they sprinted into view.
I extinguished the blistering heat I’d prepared to
shower upon my unsuspecting prey.
Naomi and her Siblings ran as if death stalked not
a pace behind.
Larissa, a witch of mediocre power, but strong
alchemy was snatched into the shadows. Her cloak billowed in a silken cloud
then rushed back as she disappeared.
Her dying shrieks spurred the others to run faster.
Unbelievable, the Coven is
hunted by vampires in my city . Are they so crushed by defeat at the Wyld
they’ve forgotten the natural order of things?
A vampire crept past my hiding place, a look of
intense hunger giving a thorny edge to his features. Lanky frame clad simply in
threadbare jeans, his feet made no noise as they lifted and settled on the
frosty ground. Shadows tugged close to his flesh. Cloaked him more fully than
the sleet.
The meandering pace he used for the hunt ignited my
ire.
He toyed with them.
And he wasn’t the only one. More than a dozen
vampires followed my Children. Picking them off as if they were nothing.
Filthy
parasites.
Fury bubbled my blood and heat raced through my
veins shooting power into my fingertips. I drew enough of the Source to burn a
weaker man into ash.
I wove a force field to trap my Children and avoid
chasing them down.
Feeling the spike in temperature, the vampire
tensed as I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him into the
wall.
His eyes rounded and cleared of blackness when my
glamour dropped. Fangs receding into red gums, he went limp. The relaxation of
muscle meant my death grip on the fleshy tissue of his neck felt disgusting.
Pulpy and slimy, as if it was unable to find purchase on bone so floated
disembodied under the surface of his skin.
Thoroughly sickened, I let go.
He fell to his knees and hunched over, feebly
covering his head as if I’d strike him.
“Stupid creature. As if I’d waste time delivering a
blow. What would that achieve?”
“But the Queen says….”
I lowered my head. “Go on.”
“Nothin’.”
The innermost corners of my eyes narrowed. Gwendolyn uses my name as justification to
beat her underlings? Not my concern, I despise them all. “Your name?”
Peeking through layers of scraggly hair caked in
mud, and what stank like offal the vampire blinked. “Raj.”
My Children ceased jostling at the shield of energy
I’d conjured, realising I’d saved them.
They tripped over themselves to reach me.
Naomi led, shoving others from her path without a
care for their wellbeing though they were injured worse than her. “Father,” she
breathed. “You’re alive.”
“You doubted? Yet you did not cast a spell of
finding? How telling.”
She flinched.
I looked at Raj.
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