Blood of Gold (30 page)

He turned and struck blindly, and to his surprise, he caught the bigger vampire still recovering from his leap. Terrill’s claws went deep. He found himself near the other vampire’s neck and, without thinking, he sank his fangs into his opponent’s throat.

The Monster tasted vile. The black blood boiled in Terrill’s mouth, gushing outward, spewing from the sides of his mouth, but he hung on and sucked. He felt dizzy, and it was as if all the events of the last year went rushing through his body at once: he was a blue-blooded vampire again, then a red-blooded human, then a vampire again. The gold blood arose within him. He felt strong, then weak, then even weaker. But finally, the blood of gold prevailed, and he managed to reverse the flow. He forced the golden blood into his enemy’s body.

The Shadow Vampire roared. He grew until Terrill’s feet were lifted off the ground. Terrill lost his grip, his fangs tearing away from the Monster’s flesh, and fell backward. The asphalt was hard and gritty with sand. The lights of the parking lot hurt his eyes.

The Master of Shadow stood glaring at Terrill, his hands pressed against the wound in his neck. The black, inky fluid of shadow flowed into his wound, but not quite as fast as before, nor was the healing complete this time. When the Monster took his hand away, there was still a raw wound there.

Terrill looked around. The battle had faltered. The Shadow Vampires had pulled back, as if confused. There were three Golden Vampires on the ground, but one of the Shadow Vampires had also been vanquished. In the distance, the waves crashed loudly. The sound had been in the background the whole time, but in this lull, it filled the air.

Something had changed. It might have been Terrill’s imagination, but it seemed to him that the darkness had diminished, that the Shadow was being pushed back by the last light of day.

Then the sun finally sank into the ocean, and the light faded. The Shadow Vampires seemed invigorated by the darkness.

Terrill felt a moment of fear. He’d been so sure he had right on his side, that God would somehow protect them. But as he had told Sylvie, every army went into battle thinking it had right on its side. Only one side could win, and the side that won was usually the one with the most men, or the most weapons, or the most advantageous terrain.

To one side of Terrill, Robert rushed forward and engaged Feller again. Both vampires were bleeding from multiple wounds, and both were moving more slowly than before. Laura screamed, an inhuman cry of rage, and flowed toward Jamie, who stood waiting with a look of determination on her face. Terrill’s progeny, his first follower, showed no fear, only the resolve to win.

Three more Golden Vampires were now on the ground, along with two Shadow Vampires. Some of Terrill’s followers were fighting more than one enemy at a time.

Terrill looked over at Hoss, who was standing in the shadows of the motel with his crew. The young vampire looked troubled. “Hoss,” Terrill called. “I’m sorry! You were right. I was wrong to insist you join me. But the Shadow Vampires won’t give you a choice!”

Hoss looked away.

Terrill felt the onrush of darkness and whirled around to block a brutal jab to his head. The Shadow Vampire, revived by the night, was faster than ever, as if he had only been getting warmed up before. It was all Terrill could do to defend himself. For a few minutes, he steadily retreated, foot by foot. His back came up against an obstacle, and he realized that he was leaning against the motor home that contained Sylvie’s sleeping form.

The Shadow Vampire’s eyes flicked toward the door of the motor home, and Terrill knew without a doubt that the Master of Shadow wanted more than just to kill him. The Shadow wanted Sylvie.

Terrill’s vision seemed to expand, and he could see the entire battle and could tell what direction it was going. They were being crushed, one by one. For every Shadow Vampire who fell, there were two more to take his or her place. It wasn’t an equal battle. The Golden Vampires were being defeated, and there was no one to take their place.

Terrill was infused with a sudden strength, the strength of desperation. Sylvie was helpless inside, and he would die before he let this Monster near her.

He lifted his left arm and felt enormous pain, but found he could use it. Great damage was being done to the tissues, but he didn’t care. He surged into the Shadow Vampire, pushed him back into the center of the battle and started swinging, landing blow after blow. The Monster staggered under the onslaught, and Terrill went in for the killing blow.

He missed, and with that miss, all his newfound energy left him. He stumbled, almost unable to stay on his feet. The Shadow Vampire stepped back, a glint of triumph in his eyes.

Then the Monster was flying through the air, landing on the asphalt with a loud grunt. Hoss had him by the waist, while around the Shadow Vampire’s head and shoulders, there was a flurry of movement from a small, vicious creature. The movement slowed for a moment, and Terrill could make out the furious face of the little girl vampire, Charlotte, as she stabbed her claws into the big vampire’s eyes.

Then it was her turn to go flying through the air. She hit the ground with a soft crunch and stopped moving. Hoss, too, was flung off, and landed on his back. They were only ordinary vampires, no match for a Shadow Vampire.

Across the battlefield, the same scenario was playing out. There was a brief surge of energy with the addition of the blue-blooded vampires to the fight, but they were quickly beaten back by the Shadow.

Once again, the two sides backed away from each other. The Shadow Vampires looked confident. The Golden Vampires still seemed resolute, but it was obvious who was winning. Terrill couldn’t think what to do to change the dynamics. If the battle continued the same way, the Golden Vampires were slowly but surely going to be overwhelmed.

The Monster stood up, breathing deeply. The blackness had gathered around him, leaving the other Shadow Vampires in smaller pools of darkness. It was as if the Master of Shadow was gathering all his strength for one last fight.

Feller and Robert still faced each other, but Feller was standing straight while Robert was hunched over. Jamie was covered in black blood, but Laura was equally covered in golden blood, which looked dim and dirty on her. Laura looked as though she was enjoying herself.

Terrill straightened up. It went both ways, he realized. If he had hoped to demoralize the Shadow Vampires by defeating their leader, then the same thing was true on his side. If he went down, he knew the others would collapse.

He didn’t take his eyes off the Monster, who looked smaller somehow and slightly off-kilter, and was favoring one leg. Terrill didn’t have to look down at his own body to know that he was even worse off. He couldn’t even feel his left side, and it was as if his left arm was missing. He felt tremendous pain in his right leg, which was preferable to the numbness in his left leg. Blood was flowing into his eyes from wounds on his head.

As he watched, the inky blackness that surrounded his enemy continued to swirl into the other vampire’s wounds, and when it finally stopped, the giant black cloud that had first confronted him resembled a small tapestry of blackness. That gave Terrill one last surge of hope.

But the instant the Shadow Vampire started moving toward him, his heart quailed, for there was a speed and strength in those movements that he knew he couldn’t match.

He stood waiting, no longer hoping to win, but determined not to lose.

#

Butler’s camera gave out in the middle of the fight as his phone ran out of power. He cursed for a few seconds, but he knew it didn’t matter. He had the footage of a lifetime. Put this battle up on YouTube, and he’d be the all-time hit leader. Hell, he could probably sell it to some network news station and make a bundle.

He was in awe. He’d never known that vampires could be so fast, or that they could sustain such damage. After watching this display, Butler had decided his vampire hunting days were over. Too damn dangerous.

He wasn’t sure which side he was rooting for: probably the Golden Vampires, since they were obviously the underdogs. But it was pretty clear this wasn’t going to be some inspirational come-from-behind victory. The Golden Vampires were getting creamed. The great Terrill was being worn down, little by little, by the huge Shadow Vampire, though it was admirable how much resistance he was putting up while being torn to pieces.

Butler tried to turn his phone back on, just in case, and was surprised to see that it suddenly had a lot more juice.

He raised the camera just as the golden light began to shine within the motor home.

It started off as a flash, as if someone had turned a light on, but it quickly grew brighter. It was as if the white metal sides of the motor home were glowing. The door flew open, and standing on the steps in the center of the almost-blinding glow, Butler could barely make out the figure of a female vampire.

She walked calmly down the steps and into the middle of the battle. For a second, the fighting stopped. While Butler had been distracted, Terrill had been sent to the ground, and he wasn’t getting up. The giant vampire was leaning over him, his arm raised to inflict the killing blow.

The Shadow Vampire hesitated as he saw the glowing golden figure coming toward him. He straightened up and grew darker, drawing on all the blackness around him. The other Shadow Vampires staggered, suddenly stripped of their essence by their Master.

The glowing figure stood over Terrill, but didn’t look down. It appeared she was beckoning the darkness toward her.

Butler glared at the flashing red power indicator on his phone. “Stay with me, damn you!” he cried.

He’d only glanced down briefly, but during that instant, the Shadow Vampire had covered the distance between himself and his foe and was wrapping himself around the glowing figure. He was so much bigger than the female. Butler could see his giant fangs as they sank into her shining neck. Her glow dimmed for a moment, and even from a distance, Butler could hear the Golden Vampires crying out in pain.

#

Terrill didn’t see or hear her coming. He looked up at the Master of Shadow, at what he knew would be his deathblow.

Then he was blinded. Sylvie was standing between him and the enemy.

He knew it was Sylvie, though he couldn’t see her features through the brilliant light. He felt at peace. He might die, but he somehow understood at that moment that Sylvie would live, an angel of light.

Then the Monster was there, smothering her in a cloak of emptiness, ripping into her neck.

“Sylvie, no!” Terrill cried.

She didn’t even try to defend herself. Her golden light began to dim. He could see the shape of her body outlined in black, could see her bones as if in an x-ray. The contours of her face suddenly became clear, and she had a serene expression as the light was drained from her body.

She flickered. He heard her sigh.

The Shadow Vampire released her. She looked like an ordinary woman again: beautiful, her black hair flowing like ink across her shoulders, her porcelain skin as white as the moon. She stood swaying. Terrill struggled to rise and catch her, but she stayed on her feet. Then it was the Master of Shadow who was staggering.

A roar emerged from his throat, and his physical boundaries shredded in a rush of otherworldly anguish and horror. His cries strangled to a stop, and he fell to his knees. The blackness was streaming off him, flowing out into the night. The army of Shadow Vampires cried out as one. Most of them fell to the ground and writhed, while a few managed to stumble away.

The darkness that had fallen over them was growing less defined, lit around the edges by the lights of cars and streetlights and other human things. The soft light of the moon and the stars filtered through the blackness, and the darkness felt comforting again, instead of threatening.

The Master of Shadow was now an ordinary vampire, struggling to maintain his shape. He staggered to his feet, no longer looking like a powerful supernatural being, but like a beat-up and degenerate monster of a man.

He let out a grunt, fell flat on his face and lay there, unmoving.

#

Butler looked down at his phone and saw that by some miracle, it had kept recording. Almost as if compelled, he got out of his battered pickup and walked toward the surviving vampires, keeping his phone camera up in front of him, capturing every moment. He started to be able to hear them talking, and then he was in their midst, a human among vampires, totally at their mercy. But he wasn’t frightened, and the vampires appeared to be paying no attention to him.

As if in response to the presence of the camera, the girl started glowing again, still standing in the middle of them all, gazing at Terrill with an affectionate smile. She turned toward Butler and spoke. “I have not destroyed the Darkness. The Shadow still exists. It will always exist. Just as the Shadow cannot ever completely defeat the Light, nor can the Light completely defeat the Shadow.

“Everyone must choose which direction they wish to go. It is not for us to compel them. This is the meaning of life, for both humans and vampires: choose your own path, whether it be in the direction of Light or whether you chose the side of Darkness.”

She stopped speaking for a moment. The whole world was quiet. The traffic had stopped; no one spoke. Then she said, “No one but you can decide.”

She fell silent and helped Terrill to his feet.

#

Terrill looked around. The surviving Shadow Vampires were disappearing into the darkness. As he had hoped, the demise of their leader had demoralized them. Now was the time to finish the job.

“They’re getting away,” he said, motioning for his followers to fan out after them. ”Let’s end this once and for all.”

“No,” Sylvie said. She spoke quietly, but somehow everyone could hear her. They stopped in their tracks. “It will never be over,” she said.

“But we can diminish the threat,” Terrill insisted. ”We can give ourselves some breathing room.”