Wild Sorcery - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Death of the Dead

This trusting girl's wide eyes were the color of iron and her very short, straight, red hair was worn in an elegant style. She had a thin figure wrapped in an odd scaly outfit of green.

She stared, frightened, up into the the eyes of the Lady Vampire. “Please,” she gasped. “Please let me go, my Lady. Not today!”

“No,” the Vampire Lady said with a smile.

She gestured to her servants to bring the maiden and turned back to her carriage. They were studiously ignored by all and sundry, who wished not to attract the attention of a creature of the night who stalked the day.

My voice rose, “I think you should let her go.”

The Lady Vampire, the maiden, and her servants, all turned to face me as I stepped forward, a confident smile on my lips, and my axe upon my back.

“Hi,” I said to the maiden with a smile. “I’m Adrienne.”

“What are you doing here?!” the Lady Vampire snarled. “This is no business of yours!”

“I don’t think it’s any business of yours, either,” I countered. “If the maid wishes to walk home or ride with you, it’s her decision to make.”

I unslung my large war axe and thumbed the blade, eyeing her servants closely. They became very uncomfortable under my gaze. Growing frustrated, the Lady Vampire struck toward me.

Quick as thought, I whipped the axe up and held it in her way. “Go ahead and try it,” I said grimly. “I’d be glad.”

She glared at me for a moment, then whirled around with a hiss. She snapped an order at her servants and they released the maiden, then hurried to open the coach door for her. I watched until the coach disappeared into the market crowd, then turned to the maiden in question.

“Hello,” I said again. “My name is Adrienne.”

She stared back at me, a little nervously. “Hello,” she replied. “My name is Haley.”

“Hi, Haley,” I said. “May I walk with you?”

“Uhm. . .” she said uncertainly. “All right.”

As we walked away down the street, I turned and glanced over my shoulder and saw the Lady Vampire across the market from me. She was staring, her teeth bared in a rictus of rage. I flashed a sweet mocking smile at her, then followed after Haley.

---

I walked Haley to her home, a small hovel lower down in the City of Gorave. She awkwardly and invited me in and I thankfully accepted.

We had talked long on the journay to her humble residence, and I found her to be a very pleasant girl, trusting and considerate. But as far as I could see, there was abolutely nothing special about her. No reason for any vampire to want her, no reason to suppose that controlling her would give the Lady Vampire greater control of the city than she already had.

Still, I had made a deal, and whatever else I thought, I was not going to abandon this poor girl to the nonexistant mercies of the Vampire Lady. So when she still more awkwardly asked me if I had anywhere to stay, I told her no, and accepted when she offered to let me sleep in her common room.

---

I awoke to hear Haley scream. Not bothering to dress, I snatched my axe and I ran into her room to see her on her bed, staring, screaming up at a horrific monster that loomed over her.

It was a Desecrator-Rotter. A horrible rotting undead creature that was sent after us, doubtless by the Lady Vampire.

Most of him, the right half,  was very good-looking. He had a rose-red eye and short, straight blue hair worn in a carefully-crafted style. He was tall. The other half of him, his left side, was black and gray, bones showing through rotten flesh. He smiled at me, one-half was a pleasant smile, and the other hald toothy skeleton-grin. Then he lunged, grabbing at me with both hands.

I backed away from him and swung the axe, lopping off his fine long-fingered right hand. It flopped to the floor, wriggling as if still alive. Before it could recover from the blow, I dashed about it to the bed and grabbed Haley by the wrist.

“Come on!” I shouted, dragging her out of bed and toward the window.

The Desecrator-Rotter clumsily knelt down beside its severed limb and grabbed it in its bony rotten fingers. It placed its severed hand to the stump of its shapely wrist. The hand reattached itself, and he wiggled his fingers for a moment, then turned on us again. He rose to his feet, still smiling.

I smashed the window open with my axe, then shoved Haley through. “Go!” I shouted.

She fell with a scream, but landed well. I whirled about, axe swinging, and lopped the monster’s head off. It stumbled past me and bumped straight into the wall, and I took the opportunity to escape out the window.

I landed beside Haley, then jumped to my feet. “Come on!” I shouted, grabbing her hand again.

---

“What was that thing?” Haley gasped when she had enough breath to speak.

“A Desecrator-Rotter,” I told her. “An undead construct, obedient to its creator’s commands.”

“But why would anyone send such a thing after me?!” Haley cried.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Who was that lady who spoke to you yesterday?”

She stared at me, shocked. “The Lady Margrave?” she exclaimed. “She couldn’t- she wouldn’t!”

“She would.”

“You’re wrong!” Haley snapped. “She has been kind to me!”

“She’s a vampire!” I snapped. “She hungers for human blood, and desires nothing more than blood and power!”

Haley’s lips quivered, then without wanring, she whirled away and ran into the darkness.

“Come back, you fool!” I shouted, but it was too late.

She raced fleet-footedly away from me, and disappeared into the shadows before I could catch up to her. I gave up in disgust, cursing her, cursing the undead, cursing the whole damned city.

A cultured voice came from behind me. “Now, that’s not nice.”

I whirled around to see a tall pale man with droopy amethyst eyes. His wavy, teal hair was medium-length and worn in an attractive style around his prominent ears. A vampire, I recognized; here, they ruled the night.

Another voice called out, “Not nice at all.” I turned to see a short tan-skinned vampire with hooded black eyes and straight red hair worn short. He grinned, holding a long dagger in his large hands.

A third voice added, “Insulting our city like that.” This one was a tall lady with a small nose and eyes the color of chestnuts. Her thick, straight red hair was shoulder-length and worn in a carefully-crafted, bizarre style. “We should teach her a lesson.”

Not wanting to hear any more wiseassery, I swung my axe and lopped her head from her shoulders. Pivoting on my heel, I launched myself at the short vampire, cutting his knife-hand off at the wrist with one stroke, then slashing through his neck with the return. I rounded on the last vampire and caught him before he could flee.

“I will offer you a deal,” I said, holding the razor’s-edge of the axe to his neck. “Show me to the Lady Margrave, and I’ll let you live.”

He didn’t turn it down.

---

Lady Margrave’s residence was a huge mansion overlooking he city. Bright windows shone from behind tall walls. Music sounded, and there was dancing, laughing, singing. She was throwing a grand party. To celebrate what, I cared not to guess.

Hulking guards stood at the gate. They stared at me, but made no motion to stop me as I walked past them into the mansion’s courtyard. I stopped in surprise, staring at what hung over the doors. The half-demon’s corpse hung in a web of fleshy ropes that seemed to have grown out from the bloody corpse. Her vacant-eyed head hung by the long hair beside it, staring with empty eyes at me.

Collecting myself and remembering why I was here, I hefted my axe, and strode up the stairs to the doors.

“HA-ha-ha-ha-HA!” the head cackled. I leapt back, expecting some attack, but it only spoke on, “Oh, the mighty little killer has come to die! The mighty little killer has come to die! Welcome, little mouse, little rat; welcome to the cat’s den! Little rats who walk into the cat’s den know what to expect!”

Sure now that the thing was only to unnerve me, I determined to not let it do so, and walked beneath it into the brightly-lit ballroom. Dancers twirled through a waltz. Vampires clustered and talked, using and showing off their slaves. A vast hubbub of voices, music, clinking of glasses, cries of despairing slaves. All were cut short as I stepped into the room.

As if oncue, the crowd stepped aside, forming a wide clear avenue from the door to the throne that stood on a raised dais on the far side of the room. In the throne sat the Lady Margrave.

She smiled

I walked slowly through across the floor until I stood at the foot of her throne, looking up at her. Holding my gaze with hers, she made a negligent gesture. There was a commotion. Pained fearful cries, and a half-dozen hulking brutes appeared, dragging Haley between them.

“Adrienne!” she cried, seeing me, with hope blooming in her eyes painful to see.

“Yes, Adrienne,” Lady Margrave said spitefully, cutting the hope short. “Alone, in my court!”

She rose to her feet, still smiling, and walked down off the dais to face me eye-to-eye. “Thinking to rescue the poor, helpless, damsel in distress from the terrible, fearful, powerful vampire?”

I nodded. “Something like that. Yes. But of course, as powerful as you are, you wouldn’t mind killing me yourself.”

She laughed. “A challenge? Are you challenging me?”

“Are you deaf, or stupid?” I snapped.

“Accepted!” she snarled. “But how do you think you could defeat me?” She scoffed. “No mortal can stand against me. For I am the Queen for the Night! I am-”

My axe cut off her tirade, giving my answer to her question. He body crumpled to the floor.

I turned to her servants who still held Haley captive. They stumbled away from my angry gaze. Then I reached down and grabbed Haley by the hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Don’t say anything,” I whispered to her. “Stay by me. Don’t meet their eyes or stumble or tremble or show any sign of weakness, and we might get out of here alive.”

We turned toward the doors to see the vampires stood in a crowd, watching us intently like dogs staring at a bone, like they were waiting for another to leap.

“Come on,” I said, and led Haley for the door.

One vampire stood in our way. I strode right up to him and glared, meeting his dark eyes with my green. He flinched away and stepped aside. We walked on a few paces more before our way was blocked by two short slender vampires alike enough to be sisters. Red-eyed and white-haired, they flinched away from my gaze and hurried aside. But as we walked on, I could feel the other vampires closing in behind us.

I held my axe loosely in my hand, glaring imperiously at all about me, hiding a tremble in my knees that would doom us all if any vampire caught it. Then the open doors were before us. Not daring to look back, I pulled Haley down the stairs into the blessed welcoming darkness away from the light of the ballroom.

The half-demon was silent at our passing, no doubt shocked that we returned at all. Likewise the guards at the gate neither spoke or acted as we passed.

Neither of us said a word until we had left that terrible manse far behind and its light had vanished into the night-time gloom. Then we stopped and collapsed against a wall, exhausted, trembling with fear, gasping for breath.

Only then did Haley glance over at me. “Thank you,” she said softly.”

Continued in Chapter 24

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