I almost vomited at the intense smell of blood. The cries and whimpering from the people behind told me all I needed to know about their mental health. It was one thing to be prepared for a crazy person, it was another to see tens of butchered humans lying about all over the place.
The bodies weren’t just sprawled on the floor, some were tossed on furniture, others hanged from walls and ceilings. The evidence of struggle and fighting could be so easily seen that you didn’t need a detective to understand how a person died in the situation. Splatter on the wall behind a person’s head, scratching on the floors and wall next to a body, arched back from a wound that ended their life, ripped out limbs, and the trailing of tears that washed the faces of the victim from their blood as they pleaded before dying. Sadness, agony, rage, and peace could be seen on those that still had something resembling a face.
I would’ve heaved if I weren’t so scared out of my wits.
There were more screams and struggling somewhere on the building, but going there would put the people behind me in trouble. The only way to deal with this is to take the back exit and make sure they run away from danger.
“Stay behind me,” I told them, those that still were conscious enough to move forward. “Help me with the rest.”
I walk to the hallway entry and peek at the corner. Nothing. Looking behind me, I can see that the number of brave people that still hold a weapon had lowered. Most of them that still hold weapons were twitching at every sound, struggling to look at any place for more than a second. They looked paranoid, as if a vampire could pounce at them from anywhere: the window, the ceiling, the coffee pot, or from below their own feet.
I needed to get them out twenty minutes ago -- I pressed on towards the exit.
The noises died down, but outside I could still hear some fighting. Tedet was defending himself. He must have called an explosion to pull the vampires’ attention, but it must have set all this disaster.
We kept walking silently, the exit wasn’t that far away from us now, but the closer we got the more likely it was to find the vampires. What’s worse was that I had sent Misa with my nephew a few minutes ago. If I had known this was the situation, I would’ve told them to wait for me. Hell, maybe I would’ve ditched all these people.
What am I even talking about? I took another good look at the people behind me and the ones around us, the ones that no longer walked with us. Those that were unlucky to stand next to those leeches when all hell broke loose. This was my doing. I killed all these people because I wanted to get my nephew out as fast as I could. To make matters worse, I had gambled their lives. I was lucky that I found him, if he hadn’t been there all these men and women would’ve died for nothing. The least I could do is save all these ones, now that I couldn’t do anything for the dead.
What’s done is done, I told myself, trying to make the idea of me killing dozens of people not bother me, but failing nonetheless. I had a responsibility to all of these people to take them to safety, anyway. I only hoped Jaser and Misa were safe.
I spotted the corridor with the emergency exit; this was our last stretch. Once we reach that door we’re out of here. I was not able to spot the bodies from either my nephew or the woman, so they must have left the place without a problem.
I could hear the fighting from the outside a lot clearer, Tedet was still alive. But we needed to get out quick before more people get in trouble, it was close to dawn on downtown Al Patreck, just after rush hours, so many people must have witnessed the event and called the police. All I hope is that we had evaded some trouble by scaring all these people.
I opened the exit door and let a sigh of relief as I did, since that felt like I was finally out from danger. I ushered the rest to follow me and I turned the corner to find a row of twelve people. Eight were standing on a row, while four were standing close to the right wall. Two were being held by the other two by their necks, struggling to pull themselves free from their grasp. My heart was set ablaze with fear and fury. Those vampires were holding my nephew and Misa before they ate them alive. I had arrived at the perfect time.
Just as I was pulling all the people with me they turned to watch us in surprise. There was no fear in their eyes, only curious surprise, as if they had found their pray fall for their trap willingly right in from of them. It must have been amusing to them, I could see some smile when they saw the people behind me.
I didn’t have my wand or my staff with me, but I didn’t need them.
I gripped my fist so tightly I must have drawn blood from my palms.
The people behind me cried as they held themselves back. As for me, my anger had far surpassed my fear. I knew I had no chance against all twelve of them but I did not care. If we were going to die, I will take them all with me.
“Get your filthy claws off them,” I growled.
I heard them chuckle. That only made me smile wryly, to make fun of them. That did not sit well with them.
“Last chance,” I said, and I held on to my will as if I had chained it to me. My magical energies could’ve been portrayed as a puppet, so easily controlled, bending to my every desire.
This time they must have felt it, the raw power of the energies that weaved our worlds, all seeping through my body.
“A fucking wizard!” One of them screamed, almost in desperation, suddenly the hyenas felt the pressure of a male lion approaching them.
My nephew turned to see me, and I locked eyes with him. He looked defeated. That was my cue.
I pointed my palm to the eight on the left and concentrated my magic right in front of them. The only magic I could use safely in this situation was air magic. And so, I made the magic protrude from my palm in a straight line to funnel it and I uttered the words I’ve uttered so much recently.
“Tempesta!”
Those that were experienced enough understood what was about to happen, and the moment I pulled my hand in front of me, they tried running away, but my thoughts and words are faster than their reactions.
The air blew around me and then funneled into a stream of high-pressure air that shot in a straight line. The amount of air had to have been measured in the tons because the bodies of the vampires were not only knocked but also pulled along the alleyway and into the street, sending some of them out at the end tumbling through the ground, and bouncing off the walls, concrete, and street. Thanks to the air also pulling from behind me I wasn’t shot back from all that force.
The other two vampires that weren’t hurt were staggering from the force that surrounded my attack. They didn’t fall and still stand on two feet, but my nephew and the woman were on the ground trying to catch their breath.
As if on cue, the moment the air subsided three of the people behind me ran forward toward the two vampires and raised their weapons to attack. I had no time to act, but I ran forward to close the distance between me and the vampires. I could not stop the people from attacking but I could try forcing the vampires to retreat, feeling uncomfortable trying to attack mortals and defending themselves from another magical attack. The only safe option for them was to retreat.
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Only one of them was smart enough. The other one grabbed one of the weapons coming at it and snatched it from the man’s hands then struck quickly at him. The man was knocked back and didn’t stand up from it.
The idiotic leech had allowed me to get close enough to prepare another attack. The other two men stopped when they saw their comrade fall quickly to an attack. It was the perfect situation.
“Flamma!” I shouted.
The leech’s face twisted realizing its mistake, but it only lasted for half a second before it turned into a black pile of roasted meat -- not before screeching.
Fire is the ultimate purifier. Killing vampires is not easy, just like any other supernatural creature. Most magical attacks don’t kill them, but fire does the trick nearly every time. Fire cleanses all. And this time, it cleansed the thing from its own existence.
The other leech ran away before I got too close to it.
The other vampires that fell on the street were turning to ash from the sunrays, and those that didn’t were struck by Tedet’s bullets. From the ten that were staying in the alley, only five were left that still hung to their lives.
I ran towards the opening of the alley, but not before ordering the men to keep moving. “Grab them! Keep them safe!” I pointed at my nephew and Misa, then I continued forward.
The streets were riddled with several piles of clothes. All those vampires that were exposed to the sun must have turned to ash. But among the piles of clothing, there were also corpses of normal, innocent people that died at the hands of those same vampires.
More mortals dead; more blood on my hands.
Something inside me boiled in anger but, at the same time, I wept under the guilt. But my animal instincts could only find the ones at fault outside my own person. I was guilty, but it wasn’t my fault I got them killed, after all, it wasn’t me that killed them, it was them, the vampires. That’s how the brain rationalizes guilt. Sure, I was at fault too, but it wasn’t entirely my fault, and in fact, it was only slightly mine.
Those ‘they’ were right in front of me. The real evil, the real cause were those five left standing. If there’s justice in this world, then these five must pay. But no such thing as retribution happens spontaneously, like emergence, order coming from chaos. The molecules in the air don’t suddenly push out oxygen around their heads in their random Brownian motion to suffocated them to death, only because evildoers must pay. Instead, someone has to take matters into their hands, and for this time, I had to become justice.
Tedet and I were Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
The people that escaped took Jaser and Misa with them and ran away following the sidewalk until they disappeared from my sight. On the other side, the five vampires that had survived were readying up for a fight.
They weren’t attacking like those in the mansion, which meant these vampires were the bureaucrats of the vampire world, while the others were comparable to an army, or bodyguards. The only reason we had a chance against these was that they were weak and not trained vampires.
We had a chance against these ones even if they were finally ready to fight.
I had used my spells before, so I only had a few left to use now, but all I needed was to work with Tedet to make this work.
“Flamma!” I screamed but put little power behind the spell.
The vampires jump out of the way and due to this they had to jump away. An unfortunate one jumped in the direction of Tedet who easily picked it off. The vampire blood bladder ruptured with the supersonic rod and dropped dead instantly.
The other four began moving to surround us. Unfortunately for them, they were unorganized and Tedet got rid of a second one while a third used the opportunity to jump him.
On my end, I had to be careful, because I didn’t have a way to defend myself from both. The only way to do it is to ready myself up and gather energy.
Can I pull off two spells at the same time?
Impossible. The best I can do I make my spells come out as fast as I can, but I can’t shoot fire twice without aiming.
They begin approaching from two angles and I don’t have enough time. I had to gather will for two spells too. There isn’t enough time for two spells either.
Think, think, think. I needed to cover two angles.
Cover?
Merlin, bless me. I’m about to attempt something silly.
All the power I gather I divide in two, and one half goes directly to my coat. The other I keep with me.
One of the vampires approaches me rapidly before the second one decides to do the same a fraction of a second later. I turned to face the late vampire.
I hear the hissing of the vampire behind me and that is my cue to act.
“Scutum!”
A wall of asphalt folds upwards like it’s been leveraged and the vampire behind is moving too fast to evade. He won’t die from it but will become a concussive obstacle that might stop him for a few seconds.
The late vampire is so close to me I could poke him with a broom if I had one. This is where I decide to bet all on my coat strategy.
Thank you, coat, you were good to me.
Fire. Flames and cinder. “Flamma!” I screamed.
Using a fire spell requires me to take thermal energy from the air around me, which is why it normally chills me a little to use a fire spell. But this time I felt my body warm up rapidly, my coat burst into flames. This is normally why controlling magic is important, because even though using the power can come as easily as a thought, that same power can turn you into fire inside you. I had just used that power from within my coat.
The coat that had become entirely into flames, moved around me towards the vampire that was now at arm’s length away.
I tried dodging just at the same time I cast the spell, but I would still be caught by the vampire.
A whooming sound deafened me while a bursting hand grabbed me from my shirt.
The vampire took me with him as we fell. And I knew I was done for. I would die burning with a fucking leech. And the worst part? It was going to stink before my nostrils burned from breathing the sundering air.
I touched the floor with the vampire and for a moment it let me go but soon after panicked to grab on me and succeeded. I tried my darndest to push it away and burned my fingers in the process.
Suddenly, the vampire flew right from off me and the thing I saw was a figure struggling with the ball of flames.
“Ted!” I shouted. “No!”
The stress of death suddenly turned into anguish as I saw my own friend hold onto the same fire that would’ve killed me. In his desperation, Ted had jumped to save me without taking a second thought for his own life. If he had hesitated for a moment I would be completely engulfed in flames, but he never stopped for even an instant.
A moment later, Tedet lifted the vampire and smashed it to the ground. The shrieks of the vampire stopped instantly right after and Tedet jumped off covered in flames.
“TEMPESTA!” I beckoned and pushed air downwards to quell the fire like one would blow on a candle, even though I knew there was a possibility I could make it worse.
The flames disappeared and he began taking off his smoldering clothes.
“Ted,” I said and ran towards him. “Are you okay?”
“It burns so badly…” he said quietly.
I felt relief for a second, he didn’t seem badly hurt. I looked around and all the vampires seemed to be dead or dying. The ones Tedet had fought were shot down and the one I had left behind seem had been half crushed by the wall I made and then shot by Tedet while it tried crawling away.
“Let’s get the hell out,” I told him. “Let’s get out before the police come here.”
Tedet recuperated a little after it and we walked to the car. I held Tedet’s girlfriend’s gun while he drove us back to my house – despite his injuries, he wanted to drive home. My leg started throbbing on the way to the car. The pain of the early injury was finally catching up to me.
We saw the people running away and stopped to get Jaser and Misa a ride to my house too. The others, we couldn’t help, and some had already dispersed elsewhere.
No one said anything during the trip. The silence was almost palpable if it weren’t for the rumbling of the motor. And my only thought was on what to do tomorrow and if we were to be caught by the police.
I felt the crushing weight of my decisions pushing me hard down that it felt deadly. The countless innocent people dead, the revenge of the vampires, and the possible criminal consequences that could come from this made me feel like I was suffocating. The only thing keeping me on my feet was that kid, sitting on the backseat of the car, that started crying in relief. He wept thankful phrases towards us and to any greater forces than nature, a god, or just destiny.
I guess it was all worth it if it was for him.
I turned to see Tedet’s burned body and felt regret.
Maybe he’s right, I thought. This barely feels worth the price.
The life of my nephew almost cost Tedet his own. Did I really bet my friend’s life for my nephew?
I felt shocked at the notion. Is my nephew worth more than my friend?
I imagined myself driving the car in the same situation, but without Tedet sitting where I sat.
No, I thought. He’s not.
I felt something inside me change and promised never to make the same mistake I made today. Today we were lucky, but we will never become this lucky again. Any other time it was me who was at the brink of death, but today Tedet had his first waltz with the Mistress of Death. ‘I would shoot a hundred people just to save you, and I trust you’d do the same,’ I remembered him saying and I finally understood.
This is how you felt all this time Ted? I wept a little in my mind. I’m sorry. I won’t ever make you feel like this again.