A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga (20 page)

Back at the edge of the castle grounds,
Xander and what little of his clan remained in awe of the demon’s
power, now several yards back from the summoner.

She stood tall in the face of certain danger,
reminded by the fact that her brother still lay buried inside that
monstrous fiend.

“You’ve dealt with these things before,”
Emily said with her head turned back towards Xander, “How do you
suppose I fight this thing?”

Xander gave her no response, his attention
drawn towards the burning remains of the castle— his legacy, going
up in flames before his own eyes.

Emily could’ve sworn she saw a tear in his
dried up eyes, a glimmer of the man he used to be. The events that
triggered it, however, gave Emily little time to reflect back upon
its meaning, and she was forced to step into action. If her brother
was battling for his soul, then she was going to give him the
fighting chance he needed.

“Fight him, Steven,” begged Emily, who now
stood only a few yards from the demon, “You can’t give into him…you
can’t
let him corrupt your soul.”

“Oh, come now, sister,” the blood demon
goaded, “You left me to run off with Xander… no … no, that’s not
quite right… you hide me away! You thought of me as a liability,
someone that would only get in your way.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, I
do
believe it is,” the blood
demon said with hoarse laughter, “You didn’t think I could make it
out alive… so you locked me away; but it wasn’t because you thought
I would get killed, no, you thought that I’d get
you
killed.”

“You’re not Steven! He would never say such
things, never
think
such awful things.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” the blood demon asked, “All
my life I’ve been following behind my baby sister. You were always
the shining star in the family. I’m glad our parents died… because
I couldn’t live another day underneath that hell of a shadow you
had me under.”

“He’s scared, Steven! He can feel your soul
rising, taking over control of the body he unrightfully invaded.
He’s not welcome there, Steven, and he’s trying to drag you down
with him—!”

“Be quiet, you stupid bitch!” the blood demon
scowled as he unleashed hellfire upon Emily from his bare
hands.

Emily, too, commanded such raw power from
within her spirit. It took over instinctually, and before she could
even blink, her hands were ready to absorb the blast. She shook
under the sheer power the demon wielded, but held true in hopes of
seeing her brother once more. The hate inside the monster was
strong, and getting stronger, but not powerful enough to break the
love Emily had for her brother.

“I’m here for you, brother!”

“Shut up, shut up, both of you
shut
up
!” the blood demon cried out in frustration, “You don’t get a
fucking say in this,
boy
!”

“That’s it, Steven! He can feel you clawing
your way up! Fight him, goddamn it, and fight him until you can’t
fight anymore!”

“You destroyed my goddamn castle, demon,”
said Xander as he grabbed the demon by the throat. Unshackled from
his self-righteous burdens, he now stood ready to defend everything
he had already lost.

His defiance was short lived, however, and he
was shoved back down to the ground with only a single thought from
the all powerful demon. His best just wasn’t going to be good
enough this time.

The demon’s momentarily lapse in
concentration was all Emily needed to channel enough energy to send
a counter-attack back towards the creature inside Steven. The two
white spiraling dragons that came to her all those months ago once
again came to her aid and crashed against the blood demon. He was
propelled across the courtyard and into the fiery blaze that was
once Xander’s castle, now nothing more than a mound of rubble.

“Steven… I hope that you forgive me…”

Emily collapsed to the ground under the
heaviness of her soul, pulled down by the actions she had to
undertake. She passed out, her last thought going to the memory of
her brother, now laid to rest under stone and mortar.

Xander rushed over to Emily’s side and
grabbed her close as she drifted away from this world, off to a
plane he could never imagine. Xander had lost much, here tonight,
and he feared that he might’ve lost the last piece he held
close.

Suddenly, a single hand tore through the
stone confines of the castle and broke Xander’s concentration. It
was Steven, or at least it was the beast controlling him. Unfazed
by the attack, he picked himself up from the rubble and started to
stride back towards the group.

And in the blink of an eye, Xander could once
again see everything he had worked for go up in flames. His war was
over before it even truly began.

“Remember the day we first met?” Samuel asked
as he shuffled back into the courtyard, now turned into makeshift
arena. He was covered in blood and barely able to stand upright,
yet his resolve remained unshaken. He would see this through to the
end, or die trying.

“It wasn’t so long ago, was it? I was
attacked by a group of unruly bikers. You stood up for a man you
didn’t know, all because it was the right thing to do. You barely
made it out of there alive, but afterwards, before you passed out,
you told me that you’d do it all over again if you had the chance.
That’s
the kind of man you are… a fighter, in the truest
sense of the word.”

“Stop it!” the blood demon cried as he
pounded his head in defiance, “You know nothing of our torment! We
live and breathe as one now… a god— no, no, no, we’re gods among
men! You cannot contain us… you cannot stop this flesh and blood
heart from beating. You’re weak… and we… we’re strong!”

“Not strong
enough
.”

“Do not test me, Samuel Anderson,” the blood
demon screeched as he continued to forward, “Never think you can
control me!”

“I don’t need to… Steven’s doing that for
me.”

“No!” the blood demon shouted, “We’ve found
harmony! Y-you’re nothing but a dissident… insincere and t-tugging
on heartstrings that have been severed for the worthless appendages
they a-are.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be faltering
right now.”

Now only a few yards from the three broken
companions, the demon slowed his assault, but not by his own
freewill. The cracks were starting to show on the outside of the
demon’s shell; Steven was breaking through, one step at a time.

“You’re doing it! Keep fighting, Steven!”

“Shut up!” the demon cried out in apparent
agony, “Don’t say another filthy word!”

“Become the man we always knew you’d be! Be
stronger than the hate that boils in your stomach!”

“I thought that I told you to shut your
mouth!” the blood demon shouted as he grabbed Samuel by the throat
and lifted him off the ground. “Shut your filthy mouth! I’ll tear
you apart… I’ll cut you limb from limb… I’ll… I’ll…”

“T-that’s it,” Samuel croaked, barely able to
breathe as the demon’s hands closed around his esophagus, “Fight
him… fight him with everything you’ve got.”

The blood demon dropped Samuel to the ground
and let loose a shriek that shook the very ground beneath their
feet, unbinding from the life form he so desperately tried to cling
to.

With the sound of cracking thunder, a bright
red burst of fire shot out from Steven’s body. A blast that
engulfed everything it saw in a blinding light that tore through
their subconsciouses on its way back down to underworld from which
the demon came. Beaten, the demon retreated and left the group
stranded, bloodied, but still alive. The war was officially on and
they had been dealt a vicious blow, one from which they might never
fully recover from.

“Are you happy, vampire hunter?” Xander asked
as he picked Emily from off the ground, “Whether it was by your
hand, or not, a hundred of my children lay dead. You would’ve made
your elders very proud today.”

Samuel had no response to give, for he was
beginning to believe that he may very well have led this doom to
their doorstep. Had he never brought Steven into this life, he
never would’ve been able to be used for such wicked motives. He
trained Steven, but while he thought it was to protect the
summoner, it was in reality to be the perfect bomb.

Xander was right in a twisted way. Lady Amata
had delivered a striking blow to their side, one they might never
recover from. Now, it was their turn to repay her in kind.

“If they’ve truly started the war,” Samuel
said as he rose back to his feet with vigor, “Then it’ll be a war
we finish— together as one!”

Chapter Five

The resulting explosion had far reaching
consequences, much farther than either Xander or Samuel could’ve
predicted, and the Hunter’s Guild now burned with the same fires
that once spread across Xander’s home. It was on ablaze, and
nothing anyone of them could do would stop the flames from
completing their desired outcome. The elders had played with fire,
now the demon would see that they burned for their
transgressions.

Dozens of hunters and students ran around in
distress, each trying to salvage what little remained of their
lives at the Hunter’s Guild, but the flames were too strong and
drove them out of their beds and out into the courtyard. They were
so paralyzed by the mysterious attack that they didn’t even see the
two shadows enter the castle grounds under the mask of
nightfall.

Lady Amata and her trusted protector,
William, strolled on the grounds amid the confusion and walked past
many of the hunters that only wished to live another day. There
were, however, many that had little love for those of the undead
kind and took up arms.

“Die, vampire scum!” one of the men shouted
as he charged towards the hulking William. He was quickly sliced in
half by the vampire’s large broadsword, a reminder to the others
foolish enough to try, that they would find no victory here.

Several others joined in the attack, but they
were cut down by the vampire queen and her right-hand vampire. The
battle didn’t last long and soon the rest of the hunters realized
the futility of their actions and backed off accordingly.

“Impudent creatures, are they not?” Lady
Amata asked her loyal follower.

“Not even worthy to lick the dirt from off my
boots,” William replied.

They made their way up the main staircase
with goals of reaching the inner sanctum of the Hunter’s Guild,
where the hellish blast seemed to originate.

“My lady,” William said as they reached the
top of the stairs, “A wall of fire blocks our path… we can go no
further.”

“You’ve done well to trust in my guidance,
William,” answered Lady Amata, “Don’t start with all that doubt and
mistrust now. Witness my power… and take heed of what knowledge of
the forbidden arts can do for one of our kind.”

Lady Amata blew upon the flames with a wind
that howled from a relentless anger buried deep within her. The
fires crackled and hissed at the thought of servitude to the
vampire’s wishes, but soon they, too, fell under the command of the
sinister Lady Amata.

“If you play your cards right, one day you’ll
command such power over the elements,” Lady Amata replied, “Come
now, let’s see what fate has befallen our most irrational of
allies.”

They continued down the dimly lit corridor,
aided only by the light from all that burned around them.
Eventually, they made their way to Elder Ulic’s chambers, where all
five elder’s lay sprawled across the stone floor. The powerful
blast that erupted from Steven’s tormentor had ignited upon the
very pentagram they used to call upon the dark lords of the
underworld, a price they paid with their lives.

“Do you see the carnage unleashed by their
failure to control what they could never hope to comprehend?” Lady
Amata asked her stalwart companion.

“I do, mistress,” the lumbering William
replied as a look of disdain spread across his face, “…A mistake
they’ve paid for with their lives. We shall not make such a
mistake.”

“Yes,” Lady Amata said, full of sepulchral
melancholy for those that had been lost, “Still, these hunters had
their use… and with them we’ve finally discovered the location of
Xander’s mysterious fortress, long forgotten among our people.”

The elder’s might have been reckless in their
hasty decisions, but they had been a useful tool when Lady Amata
called upon them to take up arms against the summoner threat; but
like all tools, they broke under a burden they couldn’t
control.

“Send a message to the rest of our
allies
,” Lady Amata commanded as she knelt down and picked
up the charred arm of one of the elders. It was burned to a crisp
and barely resembled the man that once connected to it, a sign of
the sheer power they had allowed to run amok on the world.

“What would you have me tell them,
mistress?”

“Tell them that we move for House Franson
under the next full moon,” Lady Amata continued, “I want all of our
forces to descend on their castle, and like a plague upon the
underworld, we’ll make him pay for his audacity.”

“Yes, Lady Amata. I’ll make the preparations
right away.”

“Good,” Lady Amata said with a sickening
grin, “If Xander believes that he can withstand the scope of my
power, then we’ll show him exactly how misguided those thoughts
were. The elder’s may have started the war for us for us, but we’ll
take it to the next level. With swift action and relentless
opposition, I’ll see him undone by his own impudence… there’s
nothing that can save them now… nothing at all...”

The End

A Woman
Scorned

Chapter One

“
Wake up
,” a gentle breeze whispered
into Emily’s ear, “
I need you to wake up.
”

Emily opened her eyes to find herself far
removed from reality and placed back upon the never-ending shores
where she was reunited with her deceased mother. It had been months
since her summoner awakening, yet it was like Emily never left, not
even for a moment.