A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga (30 page)

Led by the improbable pair, the assortment of
thirty vampires and ghouls made there was across the bridge and up
the path towards the entrance of the temple. Reunions were in short
supply, however, and now with threats of the looming attack, they
had little time to prepare before being overwhelmed by their
adversaries.

“She’s here,” Samuel said hurriedly, “The
vampire queen has brought her horde to the Amazon… and this time
we’ve nowhere to run.”

“Ghouls!” shouted Fiona with a sword raised
high into the air, “I want weapons drawn and a defensive position
at the bridge’s center! I need tight formations… not an inches
width between a single one of you!”

“Kindred!” continued Fiona as she watched the
ghouls form a tight bottleneck on the bridge, “The temple offers
little in the way of protection… its true purpose far different
from that of defense, and so, it will not be used as such. I want
you in similar position to the ghouls, ten paces backwards. If
anyone gets through, you’re to eliminate them.”

The vampires were not as quick to fall in
line as their blood-driven counterparts. They stared blankly at one
another for a moment, almost as if waiting for one to stand up and
challenge Fiona’s leadership.

“Well then, go ahead and do it,” said Fiona,
who knew full well what the remnants of her clan were thinking,
“Challenge me for leadership. If you have better skill with a blade
and some alternative strategy that I haven’t considered… then
surely you’d be a better fit as Xander’s right hand.”

Not a single vampire stood against her.

“None of you will do it, will you?” Fiona
asked, “You think we’re all going to die… and whoever takes my
position will surely be the last to die… a slow, agonizing death at
the hands of the vampire queen’s most cruel and sadistic
executioner.”

Still, they stood in silence.

“There’s no hope in us defeating the army
that stands before us,” Fiona admitted, “They outnumber us a
hundred to one, odds even
we
couldn’t overcome. I’m not
going to order you to die… I’m ordering you to hold the line; until
the summoner can turn back the hands we were given and end our
eternal existences. We’ll be reborn, with an entirely
new
destiny before us! Fight for
that
, my kindred, and see our
enemy’s will broken!”

The vampires beat on their chest for their
commander and promptly fell into formation. They weren’t fighting
for her— they were fighting for survival.

“Nice speech,” Samuel quipped, “I could’ve
sworn I saw a little fight in them, after all.”

“Oh, shut up,” Fiona retorted as she
approached the temple, “So this is it? The Temple of Prometheus… I
don’t get it. What the hell makes this place so important?”

“What’s taking the horde so long?” Steven
asked, to the attention of no one, “I thought they were right
behind you.”

“Your master seems to be the only one privy
to its information,” said Samuel as he joined Fiona in her
approach, “If it’s questions you have, best start with him.”

“Hey, Fiona!” called Esther, waving excitedly
in the air, “Can you hear that?”

“There,” Esther replied. Her hands were
cupped from behind and angled towards the tunnel on the other side
of the bridge. Something was happening, and it was getting closer
by the second. “The horde’s almost upon us.”

“At least the trolls can’t get through,”
Samuel said with a grin, “That’s one thing we’ve got going for
us.”

“You’re a bloody fool,” Fiona said, “You just
had to go open your mouth.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Steven
asked, “I don’t see anything.”

“No, she’s right,” Esther confirmed, “I can
hear it, too.”

The tunnel burst forth with an explosion of
rock and debris, spent hurdling through the cavern and raining down
on the unsuspecting ghouls and vampires. They held their line, and
each refused to back down, even those caught between the flying
boulders’ path.

The massive troll, O’larg, emerged from what
little remained of the tunnel and screamed out for the blood of his
enemies. His hoarse battle cry echoed throughout the cavern and
reverberated through the miscreant army’s collective bones.

He raised his
wallopin’
stick up high
and it crashed against the many cone-shaped stalactites on the
ceiling. They came down on his head, which only seemed to
antagonize the beast further. The troll beat its chest silly as it
howled its wobbly war cry to its enemies down below.

The entire cavern trembled under the troll’s
disturbing strength and the ghouls on the front line felt their
nerves begin to quiver.

O’larg used the downward hill before him to
gain speed as he tread heavily towards the bridge. The gigantic
trolled was bloodthirsty and determined, two of the most fatal of
attributes, but his formidable size proved to be the most fatal
this time, and he found his footing impossible to keep and he
clumsily dropped to the rocky floor before tumbling down to the
bottomless pit below.

They each breathed a sigh of relief, but
their fortune was short-lived as another, shriller, war cry tore
through the cavern and the black abyss below. Before they could
react, the ghouls were staring down the might of Lady Amata’s horde
as they charged into battle.

Unlike the enormous troll before them, these
monsters would find no difficultly in traversing the bridge and
bringing the fight to their enemies.

“Everyone, get ready,” Fiona said through
gritted teeth, “Show no mercy… take no prisoners… for tonight we
dine on the blood of our misbegotten brothers!”

Chapter 6

The horde charged towards the front lines
with little care for their own. They threw themselves upon the
blades of the ghouls, one by one, until their combined weight
proved too much and forced the enemy to reel backwards.

Those caught between the rest of the horde
and their adversaries were not so lucky, and they found themselves
being pushed off the bridge and to their untimely fates down far
below.

“Vampires, charge!” shouted Fiona, sword
drawn and pointed towards the enemies that had managed to break
through the first line of defenses, “I want the bridge sprayed with
their blood!”

The vampires cried out for battle and rushed
to help defend the line. They were vastly outnumbered, and their
only chance lay upon holding the narrow bridge where they wouldn’t
be overrun. That was the plan, at least.

“They’ve already broken through our first
line,” Steven said as he drew his sword and looked towards the
others, “We need to press on, or we’ll see everything unravel
before our eyes.”

The battle was going dreadfully, and it would
only be a matter of time until the horde had overrun them
completely.

“Where the hell’s Xander, anyway?” Samuel
asked, “Someone tell that
troll’s ass
to get out here and
fight! He’s supposed to be the strongest one of us, yet he cowers
inside the temple’s walls while the summoner does all the
work?”

“Shut your mouth, vampire hunter!” Esther
yelled, “You know nothing of my master’s will! He will join the
battle when he sees fit… not you.”

“Stop bickering,” Steven interjected as his
sword rose towards the opening of the tunnel, “We’ve got bigger
problems right now than your petty squabbling.”

Raised above the minions that carried her,
the vampire queen emerged through the tunnel on a wooden throne
adorned with the skulls of the traitor’s children. The throne
barely made it through the tunnel, widened by the force of the
mightiest of trolls. But she was a queen, born with stature and
importance, and saw it necessary to be carried in such a manner.
She was important, and she wanted her enemies to know when she
joined the battle.

And notice they did, as the sound of a dozen
drumbeats signaled Amata’s entrance into the fray. She leapt high
into the air and sailed effortlessly across the cavern’s highest
reaches.

“Look out!” shouted Fiona as she tumbled out
of the way, “The vampire queen has made a terrible mistake! Press
on and we’ll finish her now!”

Amata drove herself into the ground in the
middle of the group and sent them reeling from the force of the
impact. On a bent knee, she slowly lifted herself off the ground
and withdrew a katana from its hilt.

“Foolish creature,” Lady Amata growled, “The
sooner you die… the sooner I’ll be able to kill your treacherous
master.”

Esther and Fiona charged the vampire queen,
swords raised and spirits high. They could’ve never imagined the
power she wielded, but they would soon be fully realized to her
power.

The vampire hunters, teacher and student,
moved to take up swords, but were soon drawn to the bridge, where
several werewolves had broken through their last line.

“Allow the vampires to fight their own
battle,” Samuel said, “We need to hold that damned line!”

They charged towards their allies holding the
line, swords glistening under the temple’s aura as they hacked and
carved their way to the front.

“Your skills return to you in short order!”
Samuel bellowed as he parried a blow and returned with a thrust to
the ribs.

“And then some!” Steven answered with
vociferation, “I feel good, mentor! Better than I have in a long
time!”

“Don’t let your newfound confidence get the
better of you,” Samuel said as the voice of reason, “Our mission is
to survive, nothing more. Don’t be a hero and you might just see
yourself out of this one.”

“And what shall be the fate of the vampires
to our rear?” Steven asked as he cut down the last werewolf to
breach the wall, “Shall we just watch them get slaughtered?”

Fiona and Esther were lacking coherence and
confidence as a combined fighting force and took turns on the
offensive. They slashed away with their swords, but their attacks
saw little success and the vampire queen more than held their
ground before their united assault.

“We must believe that they will triumph over
the vampire queen,” replied Samuel, refusing to look behind,
“Besides, they’ve got two to one odds. We’ve got much worse than
that. Hold the line, Steven. That’s all your sister requires of
us.”

Just then, the towering silhouette of a large
vampire emerged from the attacking horde and the man launched
himself over the vampires the separated him from those he deemed
most worthy.

“And what do you make of our odds now?” asked
Steven, staring blankly at the enormous vampire in front of
him.

“Considerably lower,” Samuel said as he spat
to the ground.

The man stood seven feet tall and covered in
blood that dripped down his disheveled beard and scraggly hair. He
wore little in the way of armor, not that he would’ve needed it.
His arms were like tree trunks and it would’ve taken more than a
few hacks in succession to separate meat from bone. Perhaps the
scariest part of the man, however, was the war axe he carried,
which seemed to dwarf even him.

“What the hell
is
he?” Steven
inquired, his sword hand shaking ever so slightly.

“A Norsemen,” Samuel replied as he braced
himself for an attack, “He’s a goddamn true-blooded Viking.”

“The name’s William,” the beast barked, “And
I’ll see you stripped of your flesh, vampire hunter, you
and
your mangy mutt!”

The lumbering vampire charged towards the two
startled hunters, and cleaved downward with his mighty war axe,
right down the middle of the two. Each jumped to the opposite sides
of the bridge and took up arms. Together and fighting as one, the
teacher and student threw everything they had against their
formidable foe. Steel clattered and tempers flared, but they
wouldn’t give in to the behemoth’s strength. They would fight,
until they couldn’t fight any longer.

Meanwhile, the two kindred sisters found
themselves still unable to cope with having to fight side by side.
They may not have shared the same blood as humans, but their
connection to their master should’ve formed a bond not easily
broken. However, this wouldn’t come to pass for the two vampiric
sisters. It was awkward, and they barely managed to slow Amata down
as she cut a swath straight through the two of them.

“You call yourself a warrior?” Lady Amata
asked as she parried a blow from Fiona and sent her reeling with
the butt end of her katana, “Both of you have hundreds of years on
me… yet you stand far less than my equal in skill and strength.
You’re master has failed you in more ways than one, girl.”

“I’m no girl,” grumbled Fiona, who found it
difficult to steady herself after the attack, “I’m right hand to
the future king… and I’ll start
his
reign by ending
yours
!”

Fiona pushed off the ground and dashed
towards the vampire queen with blood and spit frothing from her
mouth. She was filled with rage and wanted nothing more than to end
the war right here and now, but her mind was clouded with anger and
she couldn’t see past Amata’s deception.

Her sword went clean through the image of
Lady Amata, and before Fiona could realize the ruse she’d fallen
for, she was struck in the back of the head. An elbow from the
vampire queen had cracked the bone and Fiona hit the floor without
resistance. The attack was devastating, but not fatal. The human
blood coursing through her body would see that she was healed in a
short amount of time, but it wouldn’t be fast enough.

The vampire queen mounted the unsuspecting
Fiona, drenched in blood and drifting in and out of consciousness.
Amata, with her katana aimed high into the sky, called out for
swift and proper judgment. The blade came slicing downward, but
before it sunk into the skin of the Celt, the dark queen was
knocked off balance and sent crashing to the floor.

“You get the
hell
off her,” Esther
growled, “I never asked to be a queenslayer… but we don’t always
get what we want, now do we?”