Hallowed
Crossing
Disclaimers: see
Chapter
1
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Annie sighed as she pulled
the ATV up close to the mine entrance.
Cerys’ directions had been easy to follow, especially once she found the
old road. Apparently someone in the
past had the bright idea to mine for silver or gold or something. The mine hadn’t produced anything except
several long tunnels in the ground.
Perfect for hiding vampires and demons during the day.
Add in the history of some
old miner going crazy, killing two companions and eating them in the 1800s, it
made a perfect portal gate between the realms.
The writer knew that if
there were any vampires inside they would have heard her coming long before
actually seeing her. Annie pulled the
cowboy hat off and wiped her forehead.
With a determined grimace,
she got off the ATV and went to the wagon behind it. She rapped gently on the large cardboard refrigerator box she had
found in the storage shed for Cerys.
“You okay in there?”
“Yeah, uncomfortable,
claustrophobic, irritable from lack of sleep, yeah – I’m peachy,” a voice
grumbled back.
“Hang in there, I’m going to
check the mine entrance,” Annie grinned and pulled out the shotgun from the
wagon and a large flashlight. “Any
advice about fighting these things in mines and caves?”
“Yeah, they can leap great
distances and prefer hiding and attacking from behind,” Cerys voice called from
the box.
Annie lost her grin as she
looked at the mine entrance.
Wooden gates had been put up
when the mine was closed and most of the boards had either been broken away by
vandals or rotted. It would be easy to
get into the mine but that didn’t make it any less eerie.
Annie went to the mine
entrance and easily pulled several boards loose with one hand, the other hand
held the shotgun ready. She couldn’t
tell if the tracks around the place were fresh because of the stones embedded
in the dirt. The cobwebs and dust
probably weren’t any indication of vampires or lack of vampires either.
Annie kicked a few more
boards loose and poked the flashlight carefully inside. Not seeing anything as far as the light
could shine; she moved back to the wagon and looked at the refrigerator box
with an exasperated look. It was one
thing to get Cerys into the box at the cabin; it was another to get her out of
the box and into the mine.
“How do we do this?” she
asked the box. “There’s an open area
around the mine entrance of about twenty feet.
I can get the box about ten feet away from the entrance.”
“Okay, you brought a thick
blanket?” Cerys asked from the box.
“Yes, a good old fashioned
army blanket,” Annie grinned.
“Pull the box up as close as
you can, open the end up and I’ll use the blanket to run to the shaft,” Cerys
instructed.
“All right,” Annie moved to
follow the Warder’s instructions.
In only a few minutes the
Vampire Warder was inside the cave with only a few muttered curses.
“Well that was about as weird as I’d like it to get,” Cerys
complained.
“You notice they never go
into problems like this in horror novels?” Annie joined in on the
complaining.
“We have company,” Cerys
growled, raising her sword in a classic defensive position while Annie raised
the shotgun.
“Where’s the portal?” Annie
asked, shining the flashlight down the tunnel as far as it would go. Within sight of the beam were two separate
shafts, one to the left and one to the right about twenty feet inside the main
shaft.
“At the cross section
there,” Cerys pointed at the intersection of shafts.
“Okay, can you tell how many
are here?”
“Not many, maybe three or
four,” the Vampire Warder responded, moving forward into the main shaft.
Annie ducked instinctively
as a screech flashed through the enclosed space and Cerys sword slashed over
her head. The writer began to cough as
she was covered in dust as the vampire attacking them exploded.
“One down,” Cerys
grinned.
“I hate dust!” Annie
growled, shining the light all around.
“Better than being covered
in blood and having a headless corpse to try and explain to the authorities,”
the Warder continued to grin.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Annie
grumbled and spun rapidly on her heels, firing as she turned to the tunnel on
the left. A vampire howled in rage and
pain as the female was thrown back five feet from the shotgun blast to her
chest. Annie quickly closed the gap to
its face and pulled the trigger.
Before she could bring the
gun up, another vampire was on her. The
vampire grabbed her by the throat and lifted the writer off her feet, the pain
causing Annie to drop the shotgun and claw at the hand around her throat.
Annie could hear Cerys
shouting and the Warder’s cowboy boots pounding on the stone floor but it was
becoming vague and distant as the writer began to lose consciousness.
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“Come on,” a voice
insisted. “That’s it.”
Annie began coughing and
sputtering as Cerys tried to help her sit up.
“Fuck, that hurt,” Annie
growled, her voice harsh from the choking.
“Yup, usually does,” Cerys
smiled softly, kneeling next to Annie as the writer sat against the wall. “Come on, I took your friend there out and I
think that’s the last of them.”
“Then you guard the mine and
I’ll go outside and set up some surprises for anyone showing up tonight,” Annie
said as she used the stone wall to get up. “Any chance some of your cavalry
will show up tonight?”
“Not likely, they should
have been here last night,” Cerys answered with a shrug and pulled Annie close,
running her hands through the blonde hair and holding the writer’s body
tightly. “You worried me there for a moment.”
“Me too,” Annie whispered,
melting into a long kiss.
“Better get moving, my Boy
Scout,” Cerys teased, pulling back out of the kiss.
“Always prepared,” Annie
grinned and headed outside to the wagon to prepare her surprises.
A few hours later Annie sat
down against the wall of the main tunnel in Cerys’ arms and closed her
eyes.
Two days of hard work with
little sleep were getting to the writer and she knew she was bordering on
exhaustion. Being the mom of a seven
year old boy had helped prepare Annie but her energy was giving out.
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“Annie,” Cerys said softly and the writer moaned
quietly.
“Christ, I’m going to sleep for a week after this,”
Annie complained.
“I’ll agree with that,” Cerys laughed lightly. “What do you have planned for the vampires?”
“Well, tell me what to expect,” Annie countered.
“At around 8 p.m. the portal opens and the first
vampires come through, they are scouts.
They prepare the portal gate for the Master magician to come through at
midnight. The gates are open only for
an hour. With this level of a Master
coming through we can probably expect twenty vampires leaping through.”
“Why don’t we just blow the mine and close the
gate?”
“It takes a major magick spell to close a portal and
that usually means the death of at least two willing Warders,” Cerys explained.
“Okay, that’s out, I want you around for
awhile. How do we handle twenty
vampires?” Annie demanded. “My tricks
can probably handle a handful.”
“They come through two or three at a time, we
hopefully hold out as they cross and take them out. I’ll take on the ones coming through the gate; you handle the
ones coming from town.”
“Deal. The
sun is setting, isn’t it?”
“Yes, they’ll be here soon.”
Annie leaned up and grabbed a quick kiss.
“Don’t get killed on me,” she ordered the Warder.
“Back at you,” Cerys grinned as they got to their
feet.
“We still need to discuss what happens after
tonight,” Annie growled.
“Annie, after tonight I’m probably gone,” Cerys said
softly, stopping the writer with a hand on the blonde’s arm.
Annie shook the hand off. “We’ll discuss that later,” she said firmly.
The writer gritted her teeth and fought back the
emotions attempting to overwhelm her and went outside the mine. It felt good to be out of the enclosed
space. The night was clear and crisp
and Annie zipped up her military field jacket.
Annie had already moved her supplies inside the mine
and the ATV and wagon were now out of the way as well. She leaned against the stones and waited,
checking her watch.
“Annie,” Cerys said behind her, placing her hands on
the smaller blonde’s shoulders.
“No, I’m not discussing it until we’re out of this,”
Annie snapped.
“I told you we shouldn’t get involved,” Cerys
whispered.
“Yeah, you weren’t saying that this morning,” Annie
grumbled.
“I know and I’m sorry,” Cerys said softly. “I let my feelings get the better of me.”
“Where does that leave us?” Annie demanded.
“If we’re successful tonight I have to go back to my
realm and let them know,” Cerys tried to explain.
“So you drag me into this fight, get me to open up
my heart to you and then leave? Do you
come back or is this a one night stand thing?”
“Annie, I don’t belong here,” Cerys pleaded. “On this side I am a vampire, I have to
drink blood to survive, I can’t go out in the daylight, and I can’t have a
normal life. If we got together I could
feed on you and others. I could spend
years with you, watch you grow old, watch Travis grow up. I could watch you age while I don’t. I’d then watch you die. Then what?
Watch Travis grow old and die?”
“I’m sorry,” Annie said softly.
“In my realm I could have a normal life,” Cerys
growled.
“You chose to be a warrior though,” Annie pointed
out.
“Yes and now I’m tired. This fight killed most of my family, turned my best friend into a
demon and my mate is now a bloodsucking power hungry bitch,” Cerys
snapped. “I think I’ve earned a break.”
“And a relationship with me isn’t a break, right?”
“Annie…”
“Get back to your portal, let’s finish this,” Annie
growled. “I want to get back to
Travis.”
Cerys dropped her hands from Annie’s shoulders and
walked back towards the intersection of the tunnels. The Warder noticed Annie’s dejected body language and cursed the
fates once again.
Annie glanced at the moon and stars, trying to focus
her mind on the task at hand but failing.
She was more than attracted to Cerys but she also knew that part of it
was the intensity of the last couple of days.
Hell, she hadn’t even found out if
the Warder’s name was Cerys or Cer as the other vampire had called her.
Annie kicked at a rock but snapped into focus again
when she saw movement in the tree-line.
The writer was glad that there was a full moon; it lit up the clearing
around the mine entrance like twilight.
Annie wished she was anywhere else tonight, especially taking Travis
trick-or-treating. She really owed him
for missing this night of fun.
She could see several vampires hesitating just
outside the tree line and Annie decided to increase their attention. The writer struck a flare and lit up the
night. The vampires growled, flashing
their fangs and moved closer to the blonde.
Annie grinned and tossed the flare at their feet. The gasoline soaked grass around the mine
entrance went up in a ball of flames in a semi-circle.
Three vampires screamed for a full two minutes
before exploding into dust.
Annie grinned and dropped to one knee and pulled up
the long pole next to her. The vampire
leaping over the fire for her neck discovered that the pole was sharp on one
end, a good old fashioned lance that pierced his chest.
The writer saw five other vampires hesitating as the
fire died down.
Two of them were females and Annie wondered if one
was Cerys’ ex. The writer was pretty
convinced of the one’s identity when the vampire pulled out a sword from her
jacket. The other vampires were a
combination of average Americans and street kids.
Annie resisted looking back down the mine tunnel as
she heard the sounds of fighting and screams behind her. She kept her eyes on the vampires in front
of her, shotgun at the ready.
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Cerys growled at the sound of Annie moving outside
the mine entrance and the growl deepened when she smelled the road flare
flashing to life and igniting the gasoline.
She couldn’t miss the screams of the vampires dying in the flames
either.
The Warder felt her body jerk and gritted her teeth.
A moment later and she was thrown back ten feet down the main tunnel when the
portal began to form in the center of the cross-section. The vampire shielded her eyes, jumped to her
feet and forced her body to move closer to the center.
If Annie had looked inside the mine she would have
been surprised to see the portal opening.
It was almost like that science fiction show Cerys had seen on
television before, something called Sliders, the show about portal
jumpers. The main difference was this portal
put out a lot of energy on both sides and getting near it without being dragged
in was very difficult. It was like
being close enough to a lightning strike to feel the discharge of energy but
without getting zapped.
Cerys closed her eyes and raised her sword in a
backhand position.
The familiar sound of the portal practically tossing
someone through hit the vampire like a firecracker under someone’s chair in
math class. It was always startling; no
matter how many times she heard it.
Reacting from her training, Cerys slashed at shoulder height without
opening her eyes.
A scream snapped her eyes open and she was in time
to see one vampire explode into dust and the other stumbled forward grasping
his slashed chest. Cerys grinned and
stuck her foot out, tripping the vampire into the mine.
He managed to yell as he fell forward onto the
stakes Annie had planted at an angle in the cave.
Cerys smirked and thought again that Annie was
definitely more of an asset than they had figured. Not only was she an
excellent writer and open to the reality of vampires, she was also a damned
good fighter and tactical type.
The Warder growled and jumped over the stakes and
listened for sounds of a battle outside.
So far no gunshots and only the first set of screams. Cerys debated whether to check on Annie or
not. She knew from past experience that
it would be at least another five minutes before the next set of vampires came
through the portal but she wasn’t sure she could risk leaving either.
If they got caught between two sets of vampires it
could turn out very badly and Cerys was determined to see Annie through
this. The Warder hadn’t counted on
becoming attached to the human but she had.
The Vampire Warder cursed the Fates and whoever else
had set the entire events into motion.
The last thing she needed was to fall for someone, especially a human in
this Realm. She was gone from home long
enough to be very homesick for what family she had left.
Cerys missed the two suns and three moons of her
realm. She especially missed walking in
the daylight. Living in the human realm was a pain in the teeth, Cerys
cursed. Being the good guy and having
to arrange with someone to drink their blood was a major hassle that she
wouldn’t wish on most anyone. The
natural instinct of the hunter craved the sport of stalking something, chasing
and overpowering the prey and feeding until sated. You couldn’t do that in this realm and be one of the good guys.
Cerys knew the temptation of the darkside and how
easy it had been for her mate, her Arekla, to fall into that blood
madness. Every Warder fought against
it. They were warriors and soldiers,
strong women accustomed to accomplishing things and being respected in their
realm. Having to pay or beg someone for
blood was humiliating for many of them.
Cerys wanted to hit something very badly, other than
a vampire. She should be home on this
sacred night. The Warder should be
dancing around a bonfire celebrating the harvest with a mate, not here fighting
vampires. She should be dancing and
making out with her sister warriors, not waiting here in the dark for some
damned gate to open so she could probably die.
The Vampire Warder definitely didn’t need to fall in
love with a human. She knew it to be a
life of misery if she stayed in this realm.
There was a reason vampires wore
black, she thought bitterly, it
reflected their moods.
Cerys leaped over the stakes and impaled the next vampire coming through the gate and rammed a stake through the chest of the other one. She quickly withdrew the sword and sliced the first one’s head off.
The Warder turned again to listen for Annie’s side
of the battle.
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Annie heard a couple of screams behind her and then
nothing. The writer considered moving
into the mine entrance but knew she had to keep the vampires on the outside
from getting inside. Trapping Cerys and
herself between two sets of vampires in a narrow tunnel did not appeal to the
writer, unaware Cerys had been thinking the same thoughts.
It also wasn’t amusing to watch the flames die down
to nothing once all the grass in the semi circle burned out. To prevent a forest fire from spreading, the
wood-wise writer had prepared a firebreak between the gas-soaked grass and the
pine needles of the tree-line. Now the
flames were dying and the vampires were going to have a clear shot at her.
Annie figured she might have a chance if they rushed
her one at a time but not all of them at once, even with a couple of surprises
she still had left up her sleeves.
The vampires began fanning out, their fangs gleaming
in the moonlight.
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Cerys ducked under the talons of one vampire and
felt the claws of the other one rake her left ribs. She brought her hand back, hitting the second vampire in the face
with the butt of her sword, knocking him off balance. Cerys blocked the first male’s next slash with the sword, which
took his arm off at the elbow. The
vampire howled in pain and rage, realizing that her sword was coated with
silver and could actually cause mortal wounds on his kind.
She kicked him backwards into the portal and heard
him screaming as he disappeared into the silver and blue stream. The Warder slashed with a backhand motion
and took the second vampire’s head off.
The vampire grimaced as she grabbed at her ribs,
feeling the bright red blood flowing over her hands. This was something else she
just didn’t need, she grumbled.
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Annie resisted moving into the mine, she knew the
vampires were trying to herd her into the dark tunnel. The writer was torn; logically she knew she
stood a better chance of holding them off if she were inside the mouth of the
tunnel. Anything popping its head in
the entrance could be blown off and they couldn’t rush it with all five of them
at once. On the other hand, she didn’t
want to be trapped in that small dark space facing five vampires either.
One of the vampires, more anxious than the others,
rushed at the writer with his claws extended and his fangs biting his lower lip
in his excitement.
“You must be new,” Annie muttered. “I bet you even lisp with those things in
your mouth.”
“Bitch!” he screamed.
She was right, he did lisp.
Instead of shooting him with the shotgun, which he
expected and so pulled back at the last moment hoping to avoid the head shot,
the writer dropped her hand to her side and brought up the wood axe between his
legs, hard.
Not only did he lisp but he
also screamed a high pitch scream that actually hurt the ears, Annie reflected as he fell
to his knees.
Keeping an eye on the other four, Annie raised the
shotgun and pulled the trigger, taking his head and putting him out of his
misery.
The others moved closer.
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Cerys decided to alter her methods and save her
strength. The next two vampires that
came through were met with a torch. The
only real danger to the Warder vampire was when one rushed at her, determined
to force her to join them in their fiery death. Cerys had leaped over the stakes just in time to avoid becoming a
fiery torch herself.
After the fire had died down, the Warder stomped on
the ashes out of anger. She really did
hate it when someone got that close to killing her.
“Annie, are you okay?” Cerys finally couldn’t resist
finding out about the small blonde outside.
“Yeah, so far,” the answer came down the
tunnel. “How much longer?”
“Well, about another twenty minutes for this portal
to close then we’ve got a couple of hours before it opens again,” Cerys called.
“Terrific, I have to hold these bastards off for
more than two hours?”
“Not alone, once this portal closes, I’ll join you
and we’ll either finish them or run them off,” Cerys called back.
“What does your ex look like?”
“What?”
“What does your ex look like?” Annie called again.
“Lot like you, actually,” Cerys shouted with a
growl. “Long blonde hair, green eyes,
wicked smile.”
“Does she also have a mean sword hand?”
“All Warders do,” Cerys confirmed, realizing her
worst fears were true.
“I think your ex is out here,” Annie called.
“I figured from your questions,” Cerys shouted back
and resisted slamming her hand into the stone wall. One, she couldn’t break the
stone, even with her increased strength in this realm; two, breaking her hand
this early in the evening would be counter-productive; three, she really wanted
to save that anger for the Master.
“Kill her!”
“If I get a good shot,” Annie agreed.
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Cerys took out the next two vampires by shining a
bright flashlight in their eyes when they crossed. Both of them rushed at her and impaled themselves on the
stakes. This gave her the opportunity
to rest and be able to rip her over-shirt into strips, which she used to bind
the slashes under her ripped t-shirt.
“I liked that shirt, damnit,” she muttered. “One more thing you’ll pay for, Father.”
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Annie was getting tired; this heightened state of
alert was draining. Watching the four
vampires move closer and then backing off, semi-circling her, always making her
watch their every move. She knew they
were trying to wear her down and it was working.
“Annie?” she heard Cerys call.
“Yeah?”
“Still alive?” the Warder asked.
“Dumb question if I’m answering you, isn’t it?” the
writer grinned.
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a smart ass?” the
vampire countered.
“Yup! My parents just before they threw me out,”
Annie smiled, her eyes shifting in the darkness.
“I like that warped sense of humor, by the way,”
Cerys shouted.
“Good, because I don’t intend to change it, even for
you, good looking,” Annie smirked and watched the female she suspected of being
Cerys’ ex. The vampire’s face became
one of intense rage.
Instead of rushing her, like Annie was hoping for,
Arekla disappeared into the darkness to Annie’s left.
The writer frowned and wondered if she should call
for Cerys’ help.
“One more set and the portal should close and I’ll
be out there,” Cerys called to her and Annie decided to wait.
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Cerys had a harder time taking out the last two male
vampires crossing over. They were
prepared with swords of their own which were already drawn. The Warder had been driven back onto her own
stakes and had made a desperate leap over the deadly pieces of wood but had
caught her calf on one and crashed heavily on the other side.
The two male vampires grinned and leaped easily over
the stakes, landing on either side of the Warder. Cerys thrust her sword up, holding the pointed end with her left
hand as she braced the sword against the blow from both their swords at the
same time.
Cerys knew she had an advantage in that she was
accustomed to being a vampire in this realm and the newly crossed males weren’t
yet. She also knew her strength and
knew how to use her vampire skills.
On their side was their fresh strength, the fact
they weren’t injured, both knew how to sword fight, and there were two of them.
Cerys shoved their swords back and sent both of them
into the sides of the tunnel walls and leaped to her feet. She leaned heavily on one leg and glanced
down at the bleeding calf of her injured left one and shrugged it off.
Just as the Warder had counted on, both vampires
hoped to take advantage of her injured leg and rushed her with swords extended,
intent on impaling her. Cerys
intentionally fell forward as the vampires met in the center of the tunnel.
The Warder rolled over and laughed at the
expressions of surprise on each vampire as they realized they had impaled each
other with the swords. Cerys struck out
with her own sword, first one direction and then the other, cutting their legs
and causing both of them to fall backwards, each clutching the other’s sword in
his chest.
Cerys crawled to her hands and knees and leaned over
to slice first one head off and then in the other direction for the second
head.
She was tired.
Remembering Annie holding off at least four vampires
outside, Cerys got to her feet and grabbed one of the long stakes from the
earth, along with her sword, as she headed for the mouth of the tunnel.
The Warder felt a chill pass over her body when she
stepped into the moonlight and there was no sign of Annie or the vampires.
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After five minutes of yelling for Annie, Cerys gave
up. She didn’t dare let the entrance of
the mine out of her sight and that had limited her search for the small
blonde.
Cerys found the shotgun lying on the ground next to
where Annie had been, along with flares, several stakes, and a military
backpack.
The Warder paced restlessly in front of the mine, a
growl in her throat and saber in her hand.
Cerys picked up the shotgun with her other hand and continued pacing.
Cerys growled when she saw movement in the tree line
directly in front of her. She kept the
shotgun resting over her shoulder and appeared unconcerned.
Arekla walked slowly into the moonlight, keeping far
enough back from where the shotgun really wasn’t a threat to the vampire.
“Okay, where’s Annie?” Cerys growled.
“Her name is even like mine,” Arekla taunted and
made an exaggerated show of appearing to think about the question. “Gee, do you want to do this like some bad
horror movie? It’s simple, you leave the portal alone and you get your
playmate.”
“You already know the answer to that,” Cerys
frowned. “Even if you kill her, the
answer is no.”
“Oh, I don’t plan on killing her, my sweet,” Arekla
grinned, revealing her fangs. “I’m
going to turn her for you. How will
that feel, two of us in the service of a Dark Master?”
“Look, I’m not going to play your game,” Cerys said
wearily. “The answer will always be
no. I’ll hold true to my vows.”
“Why?” Arekla demanded. “Your family is dead or turned into demons and hunted in our
land, your vows demand that you kill me now, is it worth it? Join me and hunt with me! We can take that
little blonde of yours, turn her and have endless nights of pleasure with
her. Join the real winner in this
fight.”
“No, humans deserve better than to be hunted like
wild game in the forest,” Cerys countered.
“Why?” Arekla grinned back. “We’re faster, we’re stronger and we need
their blood, why not hunt them instead of begging for it? Then we can return to our realm and be
assured power and riches.”
“No, the answer is simple,” Cerys growled.
“Then she becomes one of us,” Arekla lost her smirk
and glanced back into the woods. A
moment later two male vampires moved into the light, dragging Annie between
them by her arms.
The only betrayal of emotion on the Warder’s face
was a twitching jaw muscle. Annie’s
head was dropped forward and Cerys figured the writer was either dead or
unconscious.
Cerys growled and pulled the shotgun into a
semi-ready position but she didn’t move from her location.
“Last chance, Cerys,” Arekla taunted and pulled
Annie’s head up by her hair.
The Warder resisted moaning at the sight of the
black eye, cut lip, bloody nose and especially over the fang marks on the
writer’s neck.
“Won’t take much to kill her, I already had the
pleasure of tasting her,” Arekla taunted.
Cerys’ eyes narrowed and she hesitated. After a moment the Warder dropped the
shotgun and sheathed the saber in her belt.
“Let her go,” Cerys said flatly.
“No, we keep her until the Master comes across and
then we’ll let her go,” Arekla countered.
“She’ll be our insurance.”
Cerys pulled the saber out and dropped it next to
the shotgun. She walked slowly across
the burned grass towards her ex. The
Warder looked deep into the yellow eyes of the woman she had mated and taken
vows with and saw nothing of her former lover.
In place of her beloved Arekla was only a shell filled with hatred and
power lust.
“Let her go,” Cerys said softly as she got within
ten feet of the vampires.
“I don’t think so, Cerys,” Arekla said easily,
letting Annie’s head drop down. “I think that you and I should…”
Before the tainted vampire could finish, Cerys
pulled a Glock automatic pistol from behind her back and dropped into a firing
stance. The two male vampires flew
backwards from two shots in their foreheads, dropping Annie to the ground.
Cerys moved the pistol slightly and pumped four
rounds into Arekla’s heart, sending the female vampire flying back. The Warder grabbed Annie, threw the writer
over her shoulder and dashed back to the entrance of the mine.
Cerys dropped the unconscious writer just inside the
tunnel and turned, firing her pistol at the same time, hitting the male
vampires again as they ran after her.
They fell for the second time and slowly rose to their hands and knees,
shaking their heads.
From past experience, Cerys knew that a silver
bullet in the head hurt like hell and scrambled your brains for a bit. With four silver bullets in the heart, Arekla’s
wounds just might be fatal but Cerys couldn’t be sure.
The Warder bent down during her dash towards the
vampires and grabbed up her sword and quickly decapitated the male vampires
before they could recover from the gunshots.
Cerys turned back to the mine entrance and knelt
down next to Annie and drew the writer into her arms. The Warder quickly checked the blonde’s pulse and found it rapid
and erratic but strong and the fang marks looked like they would heal well.
“Come on, Annie,” Cerys urged, lightly shaking the
young woman. “Come on, lover. Don’t do
this to me.”
Annie moaned and then whimpered.
“Come on, that’s it. Come on back,” Cerys urged, gently rocking the blonde in her
arms.
Annie opened her green eyes slowly and jerked as she
woke up. Cerys held the writer close
and repeated comforting words over and over until Annie blinked and stopped
fighting.
“Cerys?” the writer whispered, her voice harsh.
“Yeah, it’s me,” the vampire nodded, fighting back
tears of relief.
“I’m sorry,” Annie said weakly as she began to cry
softly.
“What happened, my Boy Scout?”
“I was watching the vampires and your ex
disappeared,” Annie answered. “Next
thing I knew what’s-her-name was jumping me from above and the other vampires
attacked me.”
“She must have climbed up the rock face; we’re good
at that,” Cerys commented with a rueful smile.
“They dragged me into the woods and…she had her paws
all over me and was teasing me about being with you,” Annie wept. “She kept telling me I was just a poor
substitute for her. Then she bit me.”
Cerys gritted her teeth and clenched her muscles as
she struggled not to let Annie see how upset she was. The Warder growled and silently vowed to take Arekla’s head
herself.
“She’d pull back and ask if I was enjoying it,”
Annie’s crying became harder and Cerys held her tighter and continued to rock
the small woman in her arms. “I…did
like it. She knew it and…she laughed at
me and bit me again.”
“Damn her!” Cerys growled. “I’m sorry, Annie. I
shouldn’t have gotten you into this.”
The Warder held Annie close while watching the mine
entrance. Next to the two women were
Cerys’ sword and the shotgun. She
didn’t think Arekla would be back until closer to time for the Master to cross
over but the Warder wasn’t taking any chances, especially not now. Annie’s
life was too important.
Cerys let Annie drift back into sleep when the
writer’s weeping subsided into tears and then into light whimpers. The Warder looked at her watch and waited
patiently as she pulled her jacket off and wrapped Annie in it.
The Warder was worried; Annie had lost blood two
nights in a row and had very little sleep during the last 48 hours. What the writer needed was several days of
rest, lots of liquids and plenty of food to build up her strength and blood
again. What she was likely to get was
another long night of fighting.
Annie moaned in her sleep and Cerys whispered
reassuring words to the writer and waited until a half hour before midnight
before waking the small blonde.
Cerys lightly shook the writer until Annie
reluctantly opened her eyes.
“I need to get you into one of the other tunnels and
get ready for the Master,” Cerys explained.
“I’m standing with you,” Annie muttered and
struggled to sit up with Cerys’ help.
“You can’t even stand,” Cerys smirked at the smaller
woman.
“Then prop me against the wall with the shotgun or a
torch,” Annie growled as she tried to focus her eyes. “You can’t keep an eye on me and face the Master at the same
time.”
“What the hell am I going to do with you?” Cerys
laughed as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Well, my idea is to keep you after tonight, but
we’ll discuss that part later,” Annie mumbled.
“Goddamnit!” Cerys cursed and got to her feet. “We don’t have time to discuss it! When we
finish the Master off, I’m going through the portal before it closes.”
Annie’s green eyes flashed with pain and anger at
the vampire’s words.
“Just like that?” she demanded. “We go through hell and back and you dive
out before we have a chance to talk?”
“I’m on a damned time limit here!” Cerys
snapped. “I’ve been here almost a
year. If I don’t leave tonight then I’m
stuck here. If I want to see my
homeland again and have any kind of normal life, I have to leave tonight.”
“This sucks,” Annie grumbled.
“Yes, I agree,” Cerys muttered.
“Can you come back?” Annie asked softly, hope
brightening her eyes.
Cerys hesitated and closed her eyes. After a moment she moaned and pulled Annie
up to her feet and into the arms of the Warder.
“Yes, the next portal is at the end of December,”
the vampire whispered and kissed Annie, letting all of her emotions flow into
the kiss. Cerys thought her knees would
go weak when she heard Annie moan in arousal.
Cerys pulled back, reluctantly.
“What other goodies did you have planned for my
cousins?”
“How about a couple of pipe bombs?” Annie grinned.
“You are telling me that you made pipe bombs?” Cerys
demanded, her eyebrows raised with an incredulous look.
“You slip into that formal way of speaking when
you’re surprised or nervous,” Annie grinned.
“Yeah, a few shotgun shells, some cotton balls, a few other ingredients
and some old pipe from the outdated water pipes in the barn; you’ve got pipe
bombs.”
Cerys shook her head. “Alright, we take on whatever comes through, defeat the Master
and then you blow the entrance to this place once I’m through the gate. How’s that for a plan?”
“I’m still upset about the last part but the rest of
it sounds good,” Annie grumbled.
“Then let’s get you set up behind the stakes by the
gate. Anything jumps over them, you
take them out,” Cerys said and helped the writer down the tunnel. “I’ll get your backpack in a minute. I take it the pipes and shotgun shells are
in there?”
“Yes, ready to go.
I’ve got my dependable Zippo lighter,” Annie smiled as Cerys leaned her
against the stone wall and the writer slid down to the stone floor.
Cerys shook her head with an amused expression as
she turned back towards the entrance and reached for the backpack.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cerys heard Annie gasp when the energy began to
spark inside the cross section of the tunnels, signaling the beginning of the
portal opening.
Cerys closed her eyes and picked up one of Annie’s
lances.
“Annie, no matter what happens, I do want to come
back to you,” Cerys called.
“You’d better damn it or I’ll find a way to come to
you!” Annie growled and lifted her shotgun; lighter in her lap.
“How many vampires will come through before the
Master?” Annie yelled.