Vampire Charming (28 page)

An
arrow slammed into Slade’s arm cutting him off.

“
Open
fire!
”  Fang screamed at the Goblins, a bow clutched in his hand.  The
projectiles wouldn’t kill Slade, but the Werewolf was too angry to care.  “Forget
the robots!  Bring down the Vampire!”

Jane
screamed in panic.  “
Slade!
”  She tried to examine the wound, her
fingers soft and searching.  “Oh my God, you’ve been
shot!
”

Slade
quickly overpowered her efforts to help, knowing what was about to happen.  He
dragged her arms in front of him, so every part of her body was shielded by his. 
He curved himself around her as more arrows rained down.  Slade didn’t even try
to get out of their path.  If he moved, it would expose Jane as a target.  A
single arrow could be deadly to a human and now she was inches away from
hundreds of them.

Everything
that was
Jane
was housed in this small, mortal form.  What had he been
thinking
to bring such a delicate creature to Infinia?  Gods, he’d been so fucking
selfish!  Slade surrounded Jane and prayed the onslaught wouldn’t harm her.

She
was already struggling to get free.  “
Are you out of your mind?! 
What
are you
doing?!
”

He
ignored that, holding her still.  He felt the arrows piercing his back and shoulders,
disrupting his magicks.  Despite his best efforts, so many projectiles hitting
him at once knocked him from the sky.

“
NO!
” 
Fang bellowed, realizing his mistake.  “Stop shooting!  The Shadowmen will kill
my woman!”

Slade
barely heard him.  Half-a-second before he slammed into the ground, he turned
his body to protect Jane.  Still holding her against his chest, he hit the
field on his back, the arrows breaking off and tearing more of his flesh.  The
impact created a ten foot furrow in the dirt and left Slade dizzy with pain,
but he didn’t have time to assess his wounds.  The Shadowmen were already
moving towards them.

“Slade!” 
His grip loosened enough for Jane to get her head up.  Anxious gray eyes met
his.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m
fine.”  He got out, not sure if it was true.  “We have to go.”  He staggered to
his feet and picked her up, again.  He could see the end of the Corpse Road now,
but the Shadowmen were right on top of them.  Clawed hands reached out for them,
trying to drag them down.  Slade pushed himself into the air, narrowly evading
capture.

“Jesus! 
Slade,
stop!
”  Jane tried to stanch the bleeding.  “You’re hurt too
badly.”

“If
I stop, we’ll die.”  Pure determination had him flying towards the boundary of
the field.  Injuries had drained too much of his power.  He wasn’t sure he
could make it.

He
saw the green grasses shifting into blackened rocks. 
Forty feet. 
Saw
the boiling red pools that could only be the Magma Pits of Maldondorr. 
Thirty
feet.
  Saw the Shadowmen keeping pace beneath him, fighting each other for
the blood that dripped from Slade’s body and expecting him to fail.  Like he
always failed, when it was important. 
Twenty feet.

Too
far.

His
strength was fading fast.  He wasn’t going to make it.  They were so close, but
Slade could feel himself beginning to blackout.  He’d
known
his earlier
victory against them had been too easy.  He’d
known
that he’d blow it in
the end.

“I’m
going lose.”  He wasn’t aware he’d whispered the words out loud until Jane
responded.

“No,
you’re not.”  She took a deep breath like she was trying to center herself.  “A
pragmatist would lose, but you’re better than that.  You’re Slade, King of the
Vampires.  You can do anything.”

He
looked at her in surprise.

Ten
feet
.

Ten
feet between Jane living and dying.  Ten feet and she’d be safe.  She met his
eyes, trusting him, and all the doubts faded away.  In his entire life, she was
the only thing he was absolutely sure of.  Jane was his Eternal-One.  And the
Eternal-One of a woman like this could surely keep going for ten more feet.

Slade’s
gaze stayed locked on hers as he somehow got them passed the field.

The
staggering relief he felt sapped the last reserves of his energy.  Slade
tumbled to the ground again.  He automatically shifted to protect Jane, which
was fortunate since this landing was even less graceful than the last one.  The
best he could say about it was he somehow avoided the magma pits and most of
the bigger rocks.  His arms shielded her head, her delicate body cushioned by
his.  He skidded to a halt in the black gravel, Jane clutched on top of him.

Less
than a second later, a perfect face hovered above his.  “You are totally crazy.” 
Jane whispered, her voice awed.  “But you are the only real hero I’ve ever met.”

At
which point Slade knew he wasn’t a hero, at all.  Almost losing her to the Shadowmen… 
Fang’s unceasing attempts to steal her away…  Nearly dying… all of it pushed
his Dark Instincts to the breaking point.  They screamed at him to do whatever
it took to claim this woman. 
Now
.  And, for once, he was going to
listen to their ravenous urgings.

…Just
as soon as he could sit up.

EXT- EDGE OF THE ENDLESS WOODS- NIGHT

ROLAND has followed the river into the
Endless Woods.  With the curse on them (somehow) lifted, he isn’t afraid to
venture into the darkness of the trees.  If TEGAN was right, then SLADE is hiding
here with the rebels.  Unfortunately, ROLAND has been searching for hours and
there’s no sign of his enemy.  As much as he wants a live-and-in-person chance
to see ALLANDRINA topless, ROLAND is getting tired.  And hungry.  And bugs are
biting him.

This quest is
totally
harder than
he thought it would be.  Damn it, he’s got stuff to do, ya know?  ROLAND is
thinking about saving himself a lot of trouble, and just going home to jack-off
to ALLANDRINA’S picture instead of rescuing her.   …Then he sees the woman.

She’s washed up on some rocks by the
edge of the stream.  Her body is broken and burned and she is clearly close to
death.  She’s still super-hot, though.  ROLAND has a thing for gals in S&M
outfits and she’d dressed in a leather leotard.  He scampers down the
embankment to check on her breasts.  Um, make that
pulse
.

ROLAND

Hey, you
okay, mysterious and sexy stranger?

DALLYN

(In a
wheezy, dying -but still kind of Russian sounding- voice)

No.  The
Vampire has killed me.

ROLAND

Now he’s
killing chicks with big boobs?  God, he’s such a
dick
.  I’m going to
make Slade pay.

Where is
he?

DALLYN

(Still
wheezing)

The
Vampire and his bitch human left the Endless Woods, after they pushed me over
the waterfall.

ROLAND

(Confused)

Yeah, but
if it happened
after
you went over the falls, how could you possibly
know that they left…

DALLYN

(Reaching
up to grab his stylish tunic)

Death is
upon me, boy!  Stop with your mindless questions and focus on what’s important.

The
Vampire is on the Corpse Road.  You must stop him from completing his quest.

ROLAND

(Nervously
tugging on his ear)

The -uh-
Corpse Road?  No offence to the dying, but that sounds pretty gross.  I don’t
think…

DALLYN

(Wheezing
her last breaths)

Circle
around and cut Slade off at the Magma Pits of Maldondorr. 

Go forth
and prove you are… king of the world.

DALLYN spreads her arms LEONARDO
DICAPRIO-style and then dies.  (Note:  OMG, we MUST get LEONARDO DICAPRIO for
this movie.  That would be so cool.)  The camera pulls back in an overhead crane
shot, implying her upward ascension, because attractive people should always go
to heaven.  Though he’s just met her, ROLAND is deeply affected by the death of
someone with such a smoking body.  Um, make that
indomitable spirit
.

ROLAND

(Throwing
back his head and screaming out in manly pain)

NOOOOOO!

Redrafted Film Script- “From Here to Infinia”

Jane
was surrounded by a wasteland of lava straight out of
Return of the King
and
she didn’t even notice.  Slade was hurt.  That was all she could process.

What
was she supposed to do?  Jane wasn’t a doctor.  The only time she’d ever even
played
one had been in some stupid local TV commercial when she was twenty-three.  Her
only line had been, “My patients love the great taste of Geno’s Pizza.”  Why
would a doctor be advertising a pizza restaurant?  The role hadn’t made any
fucking sense!  Goddamn it, if she’d tried out for better parts, this wouldn’t
be happening.  If she’d become a regular on
Gray’s Anatomy
or something,
she would have picked up some medical pointers.  As it was, Jane was useless.  She
didn’t know how to help Slade.  How could she…?

Jane’s
frantic thoughts skidded to a halt, as she stared down at her hands.  They were
covered in blood.  Slade’s blood.  He was losing too much blood.

Vampires
needed blood.

Her
eyes desperately glanced around, falling on a jagged piece of obsidian.  That
looked sharp enough.  Jane grabbed the stone, yanking open the front of her
shirt.  “Alright.”  She could do this.  Without giving herself time to think,
she sliced open a long, shallow cut on her neck.  Actually her hands were
shaking so badly, that she missed and it was more like her collarbone, but it
would have to do.  “Slade?”  She lifted his head, bringing it to her torn skin. 
“Slade, sweetie, you have to drink.”

He
certainly wasn’t fighting the idea.  Slade gave a low groan, his mouth opening
against her wound.  His tongue slowly tasted the flowing blood.  Following it
as it pooled onto the top of her breast.  His teeth grazed and then…

“
Oh
God!
”  His teeth sank into the delicate globe and Jane’s whole system went
into meltdown.  It wasn’t the time to jump the poor guy.  He was
hurt
,
for Christ’s sake.  But her body didn’t seem to realize that.  When Slade bit
her it was like being dropped headfirst right into the middle of the best sex
ever
. 
Her libido just wanted more.  Jane’s hand clenched in his hair, her eyes
squeezing shut, as she tried to keep control.

Slade
wasn’t
trying to keep control.

Not
at all.

He
fed with insatiable greed for a long moment and then slowly lifted his head to
look at her.  …And Jane knew she was in trouble.

Those
Dark Instincts he was always going on about were running the show.   Slade’s
eyes were half-crazed with lust and hunger.  His body was healing fast, but he
sure wasn’t thinking clearly.  “Jane.”  He rasped and began tugging at her
clothes.  “Now.”

Her
chances of spontaneous combustion reached one hundred percent.  “Slade, you’re
injured.”  She tried to push his hands away from her bra and get him to focus. 
“Hang on.  You’re not yourself.  You can’t…”

Or
maybe he could.  Slade ripped the scrap of lace right off of her and then moved
on to her khakis.  “Have to have you now.”  He sounded guttural.  “Can’t wait.”

“We’re
outside.”  There was nobody around, but it was still pretty scandalous.  At
least to Jane.  A certain Vampire seemed fine with it.  “Slade, someone could
see.”

“Don’t
care.”

He
held her against him, even as he stripped her naked.  The guy had incredible
dexterity for someone so recently shot.  Jane had no idea how he moved that
fast.  Not that she was exactly trying to fight him off.  Her body was
screaming for him.  She
loved
that he was so intent on making love to
her.  But, this wasn’t like him.  He was usually such a gentleman.

Jane
tried to remember how to breathe as the hot air of the magma pits blew across
her exposed nipples.  “Later, Slade.  We can do this later.”  Sleeping with him
had always been inevitable, but he was too hurt for this kind of activity.  What
if it caused permanent damage?  What if they did this and then he snapped out
of his caveman mood and regretted it?

It
didn’t
seem
like he was going to regret it, though.

The
guy was as aroused as she was.  She could feel it.

Slade
caught both of Jane’s wrists behind her back, dragging her forward so she was straddling
him.  His fingers rubbed against the links of that ugly silver bracelet.  He
always checked to see if she still wore his gift and he always smiled when he
felt it.  His free hand found his belt, freeing his massive shaft.  He probably
would’ve taken his shirt off too, but there was still an arrow holding it in
place.