Gauntlet Rite of Ascension (20 page)

              “Your father looked around for a minute then started off into the woods, following the scent.”

              “Where are you going?” I asked.

              “What do you see, Don?” He countered.

              “Nothing, I see nothing here. There is just the scent of a man passing recently, nothing else.” I said.

              “Exactly.” He answered.

“Your father was an expert at getting under my skin, I have never met anyone as skilled at that than him, not even you.”

“What do you mean, exactly?” I asked.

“Don, think, you have spent too long using that snout for all your information and forgot about your other senses. When a person walks by leaving a scent trail, what else to they leave?” He looked at me with quiet patience, like a teacher explaining basic math to a five year old. It was maddening.”

              “I looked around and realized what he meant; there were no foot tracks, nothing at all. That was not normal. Something
had
carried someone through here and left no trail. Without another word, we both began tracking the scent trail left behind.”

“We followed it for miles as it wound its way further into the mountains. The path was treacherous, but with our enhanced abilities we were able to stay on it. Eventually, we came to a large crack in the mountain, a dark deep fissure that split the rock wall and allowed access to its inner mysteries. We were still young, about thirty years old, and felt invincible with our Beast’s power. We never imagined there was anything in the world scarier than us. We were wrong.”

              “I carried my dual swords as I do now and your father had a single blade, its length longer than average. Normally that design would make his offense powerful, but slow. Your father was able to wield his blade with precision, power and speed. He was lethal indeed.”

              “We strode into the black heart of the mountain without a worry, sure of our own superiority. The going got tight at times and the path narrowed to small gaps in the mountains hard rock interior, but soon we entered a large opening that was maybe the size of a modest living room, maybe thirty by thirty. In this area we saw the victim who we had been tracking and bent over him, leeching the blood from his body was the vampire.”

“A wave of rotten corruption hit us like a hammer blow. I felt a deep and powerful wrongness radiating from the thing in the chamber and it sent the hairs on my neck straight up. We watched in horror as it drained the man of his body’s liquids, his skin shriveled up as this thing somehow pulled every bit of moisture from the man’s body, creating a mummified corpse in the span of a few seconds.”

“That wasn’t all; as we looked around we saw dozens of similar bodies lying around the space. Dried out husks, each one a person who would never see their husbands, never see their wives, never get to grow up and make love for the first time, never delight in the wonder and fear of having a child and the ecstasy of creating that child.”

              “The thing turned from its meal and looked towards us, drawing us into its gaze, trying to paralyze us. My Beast arose within me and fought it off, allowing me to break its stare. It seemed unsure of what happened. A strange look came over it, like a person walking into a dark room and reaching out for a light switch they have used hundreds of times only to find it not there anymore.”

“Your father rushed it first, seeming to have recovered from its gaze quickest. He had his sword out in front of him and in one lunge impaled the thing right in the chest. It neither registered pain nor fear. It took a step towards your father, impaling itself even greater and punched through your father. It did not send him into the wall with its punch; it literally punched a hole in your father’s chest that exited his back. Its hand covered in your father’s blood and tissue.”

              “Your father let out a gurgled moan of pain and anguish before I could get there to help. I reached them and used my swords on it. It was fast, faster than anything I had fought before. It didn’t know what to make of my blades, but it knew they would hurt it. It easily dodged my attacks and even landed a devastating blow to my head that sent me sailing through the air into the wall where I felt bones break under the strength of its power.”

              “That’s when I started getting worried. This thing had easily beaten back two of the finest fighters the Pack has ever known in the span of a few seconds. I heard a growl and saw your fathers form shift and I willed myself to follow suit. It came at your father first, and he brought his sword down in a quick and decisive stroke, severing its arm from its shoulder. The severed limb hit the floor and its hand flexed, the muscle and tendons showing stark in the pale flesh. The vampire never slowed and again struck your father in the chest, only this time it sent him flying into the wall with a large dent in his chest where the vampire had crushed his ribs and sternum.

              I don’t know why, but one thing that kept nagging at me was the lack of blood, not from your father or me, we bled like usual, but from the arm lying on the ground and the things shoulder no blood at all fell. As if it wasn’t able to flow out or perhaps it didn’t have any in its body.”

              “The one armed monster followed your dad’s trajectory and if I hadn’t been there it would have been able to attack him while he was defenseless. The blow it gave him knocked him momentarily unconscious and the vampire was closing quickly.”

              “I wasn’t going to let your father die at the hands of such a creature. I again rushed in, only this time I treated it with more respect and caution. I slashed its back and saw my blade open up a deep gash that never drew blood. It turned to face this new threat and I focused myself and drew on my Beast to add speed and control to my blades. It didn’t let me down, I came at it and with a series of quick slashes, severed its other arm and one powerful slice took its head from its shoulders.”

              “The thing dropped to the ground but stayed animated, as if all I had to do was bring its parts close enough and they would reform. To my amazement and horror I finally saw its blood. A deep black ichor oozed out of its neck and slowly flowed towards its body. I knew if it reached its torso the thing would be back in the fight so I kicked its head away into the corner to buy some more time.”

              “Your father had recovered and stood next to me staring down at it with disgust. The thing still emitted the strong aura of discord that I associated with funerals. The unease of death and the certainty that everyone at a funeral feels, knowing death is close and that eventually it will happen to you. It was the aura of morose nothingness that I felt, the power of the unstoppable abyss.”

              “Your father reached into the small pack he kept with him and took out the flint and small knife he always kept on hand, He reached out to a mummified corpse and tore a small strip from the bodies dried clothes. He then set it down and quickly struck the flint and almost instantly set the strip of cloth on fire, it seemed to be hungry for the flame, as if its burning purity could cleanse it of its sins.”

              “The small fire blazed into life and the light made us squint as our eyes had grown accustomed to the dim light. The vampire’s reaction was immediate. It hissed and the flow if its ichor sped up hopping to escape the threat the flames presented.”

              “I watched as your father dropped the burning cloth onto the vampire’s body and we both stepped back as it flared to life in a hot and quick flame. The fire ate at the vampire quickly almost relishing in doing its job of burning this poison from the earth. I reached out and took another strip and set it aflame. I went over and set the things head on fire, again watching as the flames hungrily consumed the combustible flesh. We made sure the severed arm met the same fate.”

              “When the body, arm and head were all ash the vampire emitted a moan of release that washed over us and almost brought me to my knees. After, the feeling of perversion this thing exuded was gone. It vanished with the vampire’s death.”

“How did my dad know to use fire?” I stood staring at Abaddon.

He had given me a small glimpse at my dad before I knew him and I wanted to know more.

              “He said later that it was on instinct. He had a moment of clarity and it just came to him.”

              “Your father realized how dangerous these things were and set about finding a way to track them. He always had a gift for the finer aspects of control and soon worked out how to do it. He tried to teach me, but I never could quite grasp it.”

              “Why are you telling me this now?” I asked.

Katrina pulled up in a dark sedan. She and Abaddon had a short conversation and she looked over at Max with worry. She went over to him and they quickly got into the car and left. Abaddon watched them leave for a few seconds then came over to me.

“I should have told you about them sooner, prepared you for an encounter. I never believed you would have to deal with them until later. I made a mistake. I should have told you and prepared you better.”

I didn’t know what to say, Abaddon was never very talkative and this apology was totally unexpected. Before the silence became completely unbearable Abaddon continued.

“Those things pick a target then basically tag it, psychically. They then find the one they tagged and feed from them, from the mind at first, then the spirit and lastly the body, leaving their victim an empty shell. It has targeted Max and will not stop coming for him until one of them is dead. We don’t have much time before it gets too far away. If you can track it, maybe we can get to it before it goes to ground, sunrise is coming soon but it was hurt and will need to feed, which will slow it down.” He said.

“Those things have the ability to remove any trace of themselves, giving us nothing to follow. Your father was the only one I have ever known that could track them. If you want to save your friend we need to find this thing and kill it. I want you to try and track it, see if you can find its trail.” He finished.

“What? My father had centuries of experience. I haven’t even passed the Rite of Ascension and you want me to try something that no one else can do?” I asked.

“Yes.” Abaddon said.

My first instinct was to lash out at him, he was infuriating, but that wouldn’t help anything, especially Max. I had absolutely no idea how to do what he asked of me, but I knew I had to try.

I reached out with my enhanced senses, using my sense of smell to try and find the things trail. I picked out hundreds of different scents, all normal, all of this earth. I listened for what, I don’t know, but only heard what I should have. I decided to reach inside and see if I could tap into the same state I had earlier, when I sent my awareness out. Nothing happened.

“This form is limited in its ability.” I heard my father’s legacy say.

I understood what he meant, and almost slapped myself on my forehead for not thinking about it myself.

I once again willed myself to change forms, taking the form of the Beast. My hearing, eyesight and sense of smell all increased. My limbs filled with more pent up energy and a desire to quit thinking about all the complexities of life came over me, urging me to hunt and feed. I pushed them away as I once again used my senses to find any trail the vampire may have left behind, nothing.

I tried to send out my awareness again like I did last time and was somewhat successful. I could feel everything within ten feet, but it didn’t help. I still sensed nothing. I started getting frustrated. It was unfair, asking me to do this. I wasn’t ready. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I even had the ability.

“You have to search without searching.” My father’s legacy said inside my head.

“Search without searching? Are you sure you’re from my father? He would never be so vague.” I thought back.

“You have to find the way yourself, it is not something that can be taught like swinging a sword, it is a feeling, not an act.” He added.

“Search without searching.” I thought sarcastically.

I took a deep breath, allowing my inner turmoil to calm. My thoughts a jumbled mess as the pressure of what was asked of me built. I took another deep breath and another, using the calming techniques Abaddon taught me. Slowly, I started to gain a serene focus to my mind, a tranquility that settled over my thoughts and stilled my troubled imaginings. I began to search inward for some answer to the question, some thread of thought that would help me find the way. Slowly a memory began to grow; it started vague, like something seen in your peripheral vision. It came into focus and I was drawn to it as water is inevitably pulled down the drain when the plug is removed.

The memory was of a time when I got a book full of those 3-d pictures made by computers.

It was a rainy day and I had just watched a show on magic and illusion. I went to the library looking for something new to read, something different.

I saw a book with a strange picture on the front. It was clearly a computer-generated image, but it drew me in. The book had instructions in the inside cover telling me how to see the images. You had to look without focusing and wait for the image to appear. It was weird, staring at a bunch of shapes until my eyes lost focus and I started to see the statue of Liberty from the page. Once I found that spot and my eyes had adjusted I could easily see the picture and even look around the page at all the cool details.