Destined (19 page)

~The End of Life~

A gut wrenching cry echoed from Alexander’s throat as he launched himself toward the creature. He barely got two steps closer before he fel to the floor, screeching in pain. He clutched at his shoulder, and Laura saw with horror that the wound she thought healed had opened up again, staining his shirt with an outpour of deep red blood.

The… thing… in front of them laughed. The deep bass of the sound shook the room. “You are weak,” it spoke. Its voice was grating, not human. It was a beast speaking in a foreign tongue, barely comprehensible, and horrible vile, thick, deep, and guttural. It took a step forward, and the shifting of its massive weight sent trembles down the entire chamber. Smal shards of crystal fel from the ceiling to shatter on the floor. It stepped forward again, so it was right beside Alexander. It rose one giant foot, hovering it just above him. And the foot started coming down.

“NO!” Laura screamed.

The creature stopped, its enormous paw only inches away from crushing Alexander. “No?” It put the foot down, just in front of Alexander. “You are right. It is not him I am interested in. It is you.
Destined one
.”

Laura backed away, trying to think. She looked around, desperate for some advantage. She could not see how even her vampire gifts could save her here. She felt paralyzed by fear, and by the weight of those beady eyes on her.

“Tel me, Laura. Why should I spare your friend?”

Laura looked down to Alexander. He was lying behind the creature, and his screams stil fil ed the room. He was in pain much worse than any human could endure. She thought fast, but couldn’t come up with anything. The creature snarled, and started turning back to Alexander.

“No!” Laura screamed again. “What do you want?”

It spun to look right at her. “I want you.”

Laura looked again at Alexander. Then at the creature. And back to Alexander. She felt desperation. She saw no way she could get to him, get him away, without the creature crushing him first. She had to think, there was no time. And fear gripped her. Alexander had been right – this was no natural place. She had to get the beast away from Alexander. Somehow. Distract it, somehow.

Her mind worked for answers, but none came. There was none, save for one. “You can have me.”

The creature snarled, barring its teeth, and laughed again. But as it did, it kicked Alexander’s body back. He slid towards the pool. Laura watched in horror as his body curled across the floor, slowing down slightly, but not enough. His body slid towards those horrible waters… and stopped right at the edge. Laura sighed with relief. But the momentum of the slide carried his bad arm over, and the limb fel into the water. His body spasmed uncontrol ably, and he screamed again, a terrible sound, a sound of pure agony. Laura saw him try to pul his arm out, but it wouldn’t move, as if stuck in quicksand.

“Enough!” Laura screamed. “You can have me!”

The creature stepped forward towards her. Laura was frightened, yes, but necessity dictated her to do something. Anything! Fear gripped her, but she was a creature of instinct, and could not face demise so easily. And she had the gift of vampire blood running through her veins; that first feeding afforded her that advantage. The creature reached towards her, its hand bolting through the air, but Laura was fast. Just as its hairy paw was about to grasp her body, she jumped onto its arm, and ran along it, up towards its shoulder. The creature froze in a moment of surprise. Laura moved towards its head, towards the eyes – those would be the weakest point. The fur was slippery and dank, but Laura ran fast, faster than the creature thought possible. She had caught it offguard…

guard…

Something hit her hard across her side, and she flew off. She landed hard on the ground, sliding backwards. Instantly the creature was on her, its jaw snapping wildly at her face. Its mouth was nearly as big as her entire body, and she could smel the putrid stench that emanated from there. Laura curled back, avoiding the snout, and spittle flew into her face, on her clothes, and in her hair. It was sticky and disgusting. She tried to get up, to get away, but an iron claw sprung onto her, holding her stil . She squirmed, but it was no use. The creature shifted more weight to the paw, and Laura’s lungs emptied under the pressure. She couldn’t breathe – she was being crushed to death! She heard the sound of marble cracking around her under the weight of the paw. With one last desperate effort, she screamed. Suddenly the load lightened, and the pressure came off. She did not know why. Just then she felt herself being picked up, carried in one paw like it was nothing. The creature turned back, holding her in that giant disgusting claw, and lurched towards the far end of the chamber. Its steps were uneven, and Laura’s head swung uncontrol ably as she was carried. Her vision blurred, and she started getting dizzy. But out of the corner of one eye she saw that Alexander had pul ed himself away from the pool. She felt relief. But the fabric of the shirt of the arm that fel in the water had melted away, and the skin there was a blistering red. Laura was jerked in another direction, and lost sight of him. The creature was running now, moving unevenly towards the end of the chamber. Towards the darkness that was there.

It closed the distance quickly. When it got near, it stopped. The darkness there… it was impossible to see through. It was like a curtain, a solid black shape. There was no transition between it and the light of the chamber. It was just a wal of black. Laura watched, gripped by fear and uncertainty, as the creature reached towards it with its other paw. It extended a single claw forward, touching the darkness, and…
tore
… a piece of the black away. It moved its claw down against the shadow, like a knife through cloth. The darkness parted in the spot, and a hole appeared. The hole grew larger as the creature’s claw slid down, until the opening was the size of two men or more.

The hole in the black was stained with a sickening blood red color, like a living wound, and pulsed against the dark. Laura looked at it, and realized inside was the
mirror image
of the place just behind her. But the red hole was no mirror – the creature wasn’t reflected, and neither was she. Just as that thought ful y formed, Laura found herself flying through the air. She had been thrown – and was going towards the gap. Desperately, she shielded her face with her arms, trying to twist away from where she was going. But then she hit it.

She felt the most agonizing pain ever. It was similar, in essence, to coming back from the dream world, but it was so much more real. This time, her flesh was actual y seared as she lived a thousand lives. Piercing needles burned her, and every second lasted an eternity. She was trapped in a vacuum of time. She felt pain, torturous pain, but it was worse than that. It was as if she was losing a part of herself. The sun’s blazing heat, the frozen river’s iciness, it was al too real – al too powerful. She felt herself being stretched thin, like butter on too much toast, felt the very essence of her
being
thinning and slipping away. She was being stretched forward and backward, left and right, in a mil ion different directions al at once. She was losing her shape, losing herself, and this time – it was for real. She felt the pul from al sides increase in intensity, until she knew she was going to break under its weight… and then she snapped back into herself, and flew out the other size.

Hit the ground hard, and slid a long distance. Her body felt… weaker. She looked up, and saw through the portal. The creature on the other side was slicing downward, making the gap even larger, big enough for it to come through. She watched through blood-stained shimmering glass as the creature slowing began to step through. The portal waxed and waned as one massive leg came through. Its body fol owed, and then the snout appeared. Laura knew she had to get up, to get away.

She looked around her, and realized it was as she had seen before – the exact same chamber as the one on the other side, except that everything was mirrored.
What was this place
? Behind her stood the same pool, and further back, the same exit to the corridor. This one was not blocked, though.

She looked up, at the ceiling, and saw the same crystals. Except these ones gave off a blood red shine, bathing the entire chamber in a sickly red glow.
What
is
this place?

The creature was coming through. Laura scrambled up, moving away. The creature’s entire body appeared through the portal, and the red surface clung to its back for a second before rebounding back harshly. Waves rippled across the sickly red surface before simmering down.

Immediately, the creature launched itself at her. It was fast, but Laura was lighter – and that meant more agile. She parried left, getting out of the way, catching the creature off guard. It staggered, and Laura used the moment gained to circle around it. From behind, Laura launched herself at its back, trying to knock it over. She slammed into it, and felt like she had hit a brick wal . She rebounded off, stumbling, and the creature spun around. Again, it launched itself at her, and again, Laura managed to jump out of the way of the attack just in time. It swiped at her, but Laura was now more wary of the arms, and avoided them. With a quick few steps, she jumped at the creature’s face – towards its eyes. They had no protection, and if she could just get to them…

The snout came up to greet her, and she slammed heavily against it. The creature jerked its head to one side, sending Laura flying. Through the air she went, far and high, but she managed to regain her balance to land on her feet just before hitting the floor. The creature roared again, shaking the room. Laura felt the reverberations of the noise through the air. Again, smal crystal shards fel from the ceiling, shattering on contact with the floor. But a few of them landed on the creature’s back, and Laura noticed that smal tendrils of smoke hissed from those spots. Wait. Could the crystals be the answer?

Laura didn’t have enough time to think as the creature charged her again. She ran back, pressing herself against the wal . If she could just time it right…

the creature was lumbering over, extending one arm as if to grab her, and she stood absolutely stil , waiting for the perfect moment. An ungraceful smile curved for the perfect moment. An ungraceful smile curved the demonic thing’s lips as it realized it had Laura trapped. Just as it was about to smash into the wal , and into Laura too, Laura sprang out of the way. The creature hit the marble surface hard. The entire chamber shook with the force of impact, and more crystals fel . Most shattered harmlessly on the floor, but the ones that touches the creature’s fur, again, created thin smoke tendrils. And Laura saw the spots where they touched were singed with a hint of black. That confirmed it to her. The crystals… they must have some sort of power against the creature. But why would it bring her here, if it knew about them? Perhaps it didn’t But Laura didn’t have time to think. It was al or nothing, now.

Laura ran towards the creature, grabbing a shard off the ground. She moved towards its legs, narrowly avoiding its powerful paws, and used the shard to cut at its feet. Despite her aim, she hit a hard part – the hoof! – and the powerful leg reflexively kicked at her. It connected, and sent her flying away. Again Laura soared backwards through the air, landing with a hard thud on the marble floor. But she saw in the split second that the crystal had made an incision. She had managed to cut the hoof! She knew she had an advantage, now.

Getting up, she turned and ran away. If the crystals could hurt the creature… but there was no time to think. The creature had started racing after her, footsteps pounding the marble tiles. Laura cut to one side of the pool quickly, running along the long edge. Looking back, she saw that while the creature was fol owing, it was careful not to come closer to the pool than need be. It was wary of the waters – no matter what it said before about being a caretaker.

“You cannot escape your destiny, Laura Cubus!”

it roared behind her. “Your destiny is to die and be held here like the rest!”

Ignoring the words, Laura kept running. The creature sprang after her, increasing its speed. Looking over her shoulder, Laura saw that it stil avoided coming too close to the pool. Suddenly, she remembered she could jump. Not just jump, but jump
across
the distance of the pool. It would gain her valuable room, especial y if the creature couldn’t – or wouldn’t – fol ow.

Gaining speed, Laura angled herself towards the edge of the pool, and leapt across it. She flew over the chil y waters, and started coming down. Abruptly she realized she may have miscalculated the distance. She flinched as she started coming down, just before the edge. Straining, she used al the momentum she had to shift just the tiniest bit forward… and she landed on the floor, just at the very edge of the pool.
Woah
. She wavered momentarily, but caught her balance just in time to avoid fal ing. And she looked back.

To her dismay, the creature only snarled and leapt right after her, al fear about the pool completely extinguished, replaced by pure determination in its beady eyes. It flew across, and landed just behind her. Laura had already dashed forward, and changed direction quickly. The creature stumbled – its legs weren’t as agile as hers – and flew into the side wal , crashing hard against it. More crystals showered down, and Laura avoided them as she ran. Again, some more fel on the creature’s back, but it didn’t seem to notice. Although Laura saw, for the third time, those tiny tendrils of smoke rising from where its fur had burnt.

Laura’s eyes scanned the floor around her. She needed a bigger piece, one she could use to fight off the beast. But al the shards on the floor were broken and useless. Desperate, she glanced up, looking to where the biggest crystals might be. They were al there, glowing red on that high ceiling. If she could just reach them… they were high, but if she could somehow use something as a springboard…

An idea formed in her mind. It was bril iant, and at the same time ridiculously risky. But it was al she had. She continued racing forward while the creature behind her was recovering from its crash into the wal . Then, when she thought the distance was far wal . Then, when she thought the distance was far enough, she skidded to a halt, and turned her body around towards the creature. And she ran right for it. Those beady eyes saw her movement, and the thing snarled, and smiled wickedly. Its tongue lashed out, a serpent’s tongue, split in two, and the creature’s legs propel ed it towards Laura. It was fast, but so was she. They ran towards each other, the gap between them closing with alarming speed. Suddenly, Laura angled herself towards the wal , and jumped up. Using the wal as a boost, she pushed off it to propel herself right at the creature. The creature swung a hairy arm at her, at the spot she had been on the wal , but Laura avoided the punch. Its fist hit the wal , sending more crystal shards raining down. Laura saw some land on its arm, and where they did the fur
melted
a little, like a burn, but again the creature didn’t notice. Using her momentum from the push, Laura jumped up to its shoulder, and took one step before leaping onto its head. And with al the strength she had left in her legs, she leapt up, off the beast’s head and towards the ceiling. Towards the crystals that might save her life. She flew through the air, getting closer to the top. She reached out with one hand to grab a single crystal that was sticking out. Her fingers brushed against its sides…