A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga (15 page)

“…The whole plan is shit,” said a voice from
the bottom of the stairs, a woman Emily knew by the name of
Fiona.

“I don’t like it the sound of it either, but
we have to trust that the master will see us through this,” a woman
named Ava whispered, “Once the summoner’s undone the curse, the
master will set us upon a brighter path—.”

“Good evening, ladies,” Esther spoke up as
she began to descend the stairs. If there was something the two
women were hiding from Emily, then the Victorian-era vampire was
aware of it, as well. “I trust that you’ve made yourselves useful
while the master’s been away?”

“Ugh… yes,
Esther
.”

“Unlike you, we’ve
done
our
share.”

Emily followed Esther down the stairs,
winding around and around until finally reaching the bottom. Dozens
of vampires had gathered for Xander’s coming arrival. The group was
separated in multiple groups, each clinging to the comforts that
their own era provided. They were fractured, afraid and sheltered
in fear of the coming onslaught they all believed imminent; yet
they all followed Xander, their vampiric father and master.

The two Celtic goddesses stood out from the
rest of the pack, the first of their new father’s breed of undead
offspring. The blonde beauties stood well over six feet tall and
wore matching silk gowns, pearl white and cut off at the shoulders.
They resembled super models, yet the two women held enough power
over even the bulkiest of mortals.

“Ah yes, the massacre of Dresden,” Esther
quipped, “I do believe you two had your share… to the amount of
over five hundred lost souls in a single night.”

“A small price to pay,” Ava responded, “We
snuffed out the den of werewolves, didn’t we?”

Esther gave her no response and turned back
to Emily and gave her the slightest of smiles. Esther wasn’t going
to win the battle with the two snide vixens, and she wasn’t about
to press her luck now; not when her master was returning after more
than a month on the road.

“Welcome downstairs, Emily,” said Fiona with
a crooked smile, “It’s so rare that you
grace
us with your
presence.”

“It’s good to you, as well, Fiona,” said
Emily as she approached the bottom of the stairs, “And you, Ava. I
hope the last few weeks have seen you well.”

“As good as expected,” Ava interjected, “It’s
hard to keep your spirits up when you know you’ve got shit and piss
for company.”

The others called her the Valkyrie, quick
with a blade and deadlier with the bow, yet she lacked even the
most basic of social skills. She was a warrior, bred to rain death
and destruction down upon her enemies. Both Fiona and she were
Norse–Gaels, and known to be the most fearsome of their kind.
That’s why Xander chose them, to be the law when he was not there—
his
law.

“I’ll choose to overlook that remark,” Emily
said.

“Then you chose right,” Ava said. She was
antagonizing the warm-blooded Emily, baiting her to step over her
bounds and raise her hands in anger.

But Emily wasn’t going to give Ava the
satisfaction of seeing her lose composure. This wasn’t the first
time they had clashed with words, nor was it the first time that
Emily had wanted to knock that stupid smirk off her face; but she
held true and refused to participate any further. She could see the
contempt in their eyes, and animosity that brewed in their
stomachs. They weren’t happy to betray their own kind— not for her,
at least.

Tempering her anger was a feat made easier by
Esther, who was there for moral support. Her hands slipped in
between Emily’s and grasped on tightly. “I’m here if you need
me—.”

The doors swung open with a mighty crash as
they bounced off the stone walls with fury. It was Xander. He had
returned to them.

If the journey had been rough on him, Emily
never would’ve been able to tell. His long beige trench coat flowed
effortlessly around behind him as he sauntered into the grand hall.
Xander ran his hands through his knotted black hair, while his eyes
didn’t leave the presence of Emily, not once.

“Master!” Ava shouted, “How we’ve missed
you!”

“It’s been so lonely without you here!” Fiona
yelled as she fired off a snotty look in Emily’s direction.

“I demand silence!” Xander bellowed. He
stopped in front of the others with his right hand raised high into
the air and commanded the attention of all the vampires under his
control. “I have been through hell and back… scoured the landscape
of many countries… and I see that the importance of our mission is
still lost on every one of you.”

He hadn’t even been home for a minute, and
Xander already felt need to discipline his flock. Perhaps it was
his way of leading them back to the path he had laid out for them
all those months ago, or maybe he felt they assurance that
he
was in control. That he would always be in control.

“B-but master,” Ava stuttered, “We had no
idea when you’d be returning—.”

“I said
silence
!” Xander barked, “You
disappoint me, Ava; you and your Celtic sister. You were bred to
lead my house when I’m absent… and yet I see that those under your
command have become isolated and fearful. You’ve failed in your
primary duty—.”

“But, master!” Ava repeated in complete
shock. “I didn’t mean to—.”

“You didn’t mean to do anything, expect
further your own misguided agenda,” Xander interrupted, “Get out of
my sight… all of you!”

“What?” Fiona asked, “And leave you alone
with your precious summoner? We don’t need her… or her special
abilities.”

“I said
get out
!” Xander screamed with
eyes that burned hellfire and acrimony. “Get out of my sight and do
not
return until I’ve called for you… that goes for all of
you.”

None of the others said a word, each knowing
full well the limits of their position and of what Xander would do
when he was tested. They shuffled off, back into the darkness from
which they came. Even the two Celtic goddesses knew their place,
and it wasn’t by their master’s side.

“They’re not all bad,” Emily said after the
rest of the vampires slinked back from sight. She looked back at
Xander with soft eyes, his pain readily apparent. “You just need to
give them something to believe in… something to fight for.”

“And what would that be?” Xander asked, “I’ve
been grooming my children for hundreds of years… and I fear that
their time has finally come. They’re not ready, Emily, and I worry
that they’ll never be ready. I’m leading my group to their deaths…
and I don’t even think that I care.”

“Don’t speak like that,” Emily said as she
ran to him and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders,
“
Never
speak like that.”

She took a moment to console the cold-blooded
vampire, her beating heart pressed up against his dormant heart,
long since stopped pumping. Xander had saved her life a number of
times, and now it was time for her to repay the favor. She was
going to save his soul.

“I’ve found it,” Xander whispered in her ear,
“I’ve found the Temple of Prometheus.”

Chapter Three

A bright red flash streaked across the night
sky, far out of reach of the towering House Franson outlined in the
distance. It stood alone on the landscape, masked by the cover of
twilight and omnipotence.

The crack of thunder signaled the coming of
Steven, appearing though a crimson fissure that opened over a murky
and lifeless swamp. He dropped into the water with a splash and
made quick work of pulling himself back upright. Covered in filth,
Steven took a moment to try and understand what had just happened
to him.

“Ugh,” Steven said with a nauseating feeling
unlike he had ever felt before, “Ah—!”

He clutched at his turning stomach and spewed
the remnants of his lunch into the brownish sludge that covered him
right up to his waist. Whatever happened to him, his body clearly
didn’t agree with it.

The last thing he remembered, he had just
left Samuel’s company in their mountain hideout. He had opened the
envelope to give the red stone another look when it suddenly
transported him to a completely different location.

“Sister?” asked Steven to himself, “What’re
you trying to tell me?”

As the uneasy feeling left his system, he
looked up to see the mythical castle lingering in the distance, a
clear sign for Steven that his sister had orchestrated the entire
thing. Whatever the stone was, he believed that it was his sister’s
way of helping him find his way. He couldn’t have been more
wrong.

Suddenly, the red stone firmly in his grip
began to glow once more. Unsure of what this meant, Steven started
to wade through the swamp towards the silhouette of House Franson.
There, he would finally put an end to his sister’s unseen
desolation. She would see the true face of her undead benefactor,
even if it killed him. Only then, he felt, would his sister truly
be safe.

“You may hate me for what I need to do, dear
sister,” muttered Steven, “All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be
safe… even if that means my own life need be forfeited—.”

Darkness had fallen over Steven’s heart,
weighing him down heavily and brining him one step closer to the
evil that he so desperately wanted to vanquish. He wasn’t sure if
it was from the hunter’s training he had endured, or the dire
circumstances of their life. All he knew was that it was there,
dragging him deeper and deeper.

That was just fine with him, however. When
faced with unchallenged evils in the world of the supernatural,
sometimes the dark is the only place where battle could truly be
fought. If his soul was to be sacrificed, then he would just be
another causality of a war that was brought into their lives.

Steven would give his life away, if that’s
what it took to keep his sister safe. All to make sure that his
sister never had to live with the darkness he could feel engulfing
him, tightening its grasp around his throat. He wasn’t always the
most deserving brother, but perhaps in his sacrifice would his soul
find sanctuary. That was the hope, at least.

“Forgive me,” Steven spoke softly to himself,
“For I’ve sinned… and I’ll continue to sin until I know that my
sister’s safe—.”

Something moving in the trees caught his eye,
just outside the swamp’s boundaries. Whatever it was, it was
watching him— and it wasn’t alone. Two other shadows emerged in his
peripheral vision, biding their time until they were ready to
strike.

He had never been in real battle before, at
least not any battle that he could win. This time, it wouldn’t be
like the unwinnable battles upon his front steps. Now, he had real
power and would see it put to good use.

Steven lifted himself out of the sludge and
back onto solid footing. No sooner than he did, one of the shadowy
figures sensed the opportunity to attack— just like Steven had
anticipated.

A concealed blade caught the monster off
guard and with deft agility Steven managed to separate its head
from shoulders. It wasn’t until the creature hit the ground that
Steven was able to see the monsters that were attacking.

It was a vampire, no doubt sent from the
master high atop his mountain castle. He had little time to gather
his wits before another approached with otherworldly speed and
aggression.

“Not today!” Steven shouted as his blade cut
in a downward arc, “Today you’ll feel the wrath of a vampire
hunter!”

The vampire jumped backwards in fear of
Steven’s rage, now set completely on the creature in front of him.
Steven faked a swipe to his left and as the vampire attempted to
attack from the right, he struck the creature of the night with a
hardened blow to the jaw.

The vampire dropped to the ground under his
overwhelming power and begged for mercy. “Please, sir, I know not
whom I attack. I beg for forgiveness.”

“You’ll find no forgiveness here, monster!”
roared Steven as he drove his blade straight through the vampire’s
black heart.

It screamed in pandemonium as the gravity of
the situation sunk in through its thick skull. In the final moments
of the monster’s life, it realized just who it was dealing with— a
man with nothing left to lose.

Everything went deathly quiet, with nothing
except the rustling leaves to keep him company. Except Steven knew
he wasn’t alone. Not yet.

“Show yourself, demon!” screamed Steven, his
fury reaching up to the heavens above. He searched through the tree
line in attempt of separating the unholy monster from between the
lush foliage around him. He found nothing.

“I know you’re out there!” Steven yelled,
seemingly to himself, “Are you afraid? Does the thought of a
warm-blooded man really give you cause to turn tail and run?”

Still, he received no response. A smirk
streaked across Steven’s face as he raised his blade high into the
air and let it slip from his grasp. “Is this what you want? I’m
unarmed… and completely vulnerable! If you’re going to make your
move, you might want to make it quick!”

Steven finally received a response in the
form of a blood-curdling scream. The vampire charged through the
darkness of night and appeared in front of him with little warning.
He acted quickly, but not fast enough to stop the vampire’s claws
from catching him in the cheek.

Blood splattered against the tree beside him,
but before it could hit the ground, Steven grabbed the vampire by
the throat and threw him to the dirt with near limitless power.

A look of complete shock and disbelief could
be seen in the vampire’s eyes as Steven’s grip tightened around the
monster’s throat. He was filled with hatred that burned with the
fires of his friend’s Julia’s murder, and that of his sister’s
eternal damnation. None of them asked for any of this, but Steven
would be sure that no one else suffers a similar fate at the hands
of another beast like this.