Twenty Two
Myst City Royal District
The vampiress, Lydia and her toady: the vampire Vlad strolled through the chaos of the royal district. Vampires were forcing back shield-walls of militia blockading the narrows.
Lydia had grander plans, by the end of the night the royal family would be slain and the city would fall, she would accomplish what her brethren had only dreamed about for centuries.
They will all burn.
"Hold it right there!" Marin demanded, stepping out from behind a street corner, her garments dusted with the ash of fallen vampires and her staff charged at the ready.
Lydia raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Not a wise move, little girl," she snarled.
Vlad charged at Marin, fangs and claws extended and ready to rend flesh. He was surprised when an icy bolt from Marin struck him like a wall and froze his body from the waist down, completely stopping his charge.
Lydia scoffed. "Vlad, you're pathetic!"
"Back down, you fanged bitch!" Umbra threatened as he stepped into view.
"A maleficus?" Lydia was surprised to see such a sight. She looked at the small hand-scythe in Umbra's hands with a chuckle. "Got a field to harvest?"
Umbra squinted his face as he channeled his dark power into his hand, the scythe burned in his hand stretching and crackling.
"Grant me the dark power of steel," A serrated Scythe taller than him reformed in his hand. He looked back at Lydia with a smug expression.
Hit her high, I got her low
Umbra's words echoed in Marin's mind startling her, thought projection was a dark form of sorcery Astralode had scorned her against using.
She nodded to Umbra and charged at the vampiress while Vlad squirmed uselessly in his frozen prison.
Marin pelted Lydia with an icy wind, which passed right through her, stirring up her black garments and cold white skin. Marin grunted in frustration.
Umbra attacked at close range, sweeping Lydia's feet with his scythe. Lydia back flipped over the swing effortlessly and clipped Umbra with her heels, bloodying his nose.
"Stand still!" Umbra growled in frustration as he lunged at Lydia swinging madly. This was no ordinary vampire.
"Too slow!" Lydia appeared behind him and struck him in the shoulder with a wet crack.
Umbra howled in immense pain, his arm had been dislocated, Lydia kicked his weapon away.
Umbra's arm dangled loosely as blood ran down it.
A wave of water drenched Lydia, she turned to see Marin readying to cast another spell. With a flourish Marin cocooned the vampiress in the water to suffocate her, but to no avail.
"She doesn't need to breathe!" Umbra called out as he racked his mind for a useful spell to save them. She is so powerful!
Lydia struck Marin in the gut with a sharp kick and tossed her aside like a rag doll. She appeared over Marin with blinding speed pressing her heel down on Marin's throat as the young enchantress gasped for air.
The branded tattoo onUmbra's hand lit up in a fierce blue light as an unrestrained power surgedthrough his body, his eyes rolled back and his pearly gaze locked onto Lydia. "I will send you to Hell!"
"Marin!" Umbra cried out as he watched Lydia press down mercilessly.
He snarled like a rabid beast and drew every ounce of his dark power, a fiery blue cyclone enveloped Lydia, quickly tightening.
With a gory eruption, Lydia exploded into a shower of black blood and chunks of viscera. Leaving rags & a burned wooden medallion in its wake.
"Noooo!" Vlad cried out, breaking through his restraint. He looked at Umbra with a terrified expression and fled into the nearest alley.
The skirmishes all around were beginning to break up, the vampires were losing their will to fight. Their seemingly invincible ruler was slain. One by one they fell to ash as they were staked by the newly inspired militia.
Gladius broke onto the scene just as the last remnants of the vampires were beaten. He struck his blackened sword to the sky. "We are victorious!" he boomed.
The militia roared in triumph. The enemy was routed; now the guards were hunting down the last stragglers.
Fletcher leapt down from a nearby rooftop and helped Umbra to his feet.
Umbra caught his breath and his eyes rolled back to normal.
"Not bad, kid," Fletcher beamed messing up Umbra's hair.
"We may have won, but we lost a lot of good men tonight, and the entire royal guard," Fletcher whispered to Umbra.
Gladius also knew their losses but kept up morale by cheering with the surviving militiamen.
He turned to Umbra and nodded in approval offering his handshake. Now he would surely be able to exonerate Umbra of his charges.
Marin called over to Umbra. "What was that burst of power?" she had never felt something so tremendous and unexpected.
Umbra shrugged, completely drained. He too was surprised at the explosive power he had seemingly tapped into. He painstakingly relocated his shoulder, wincing.
"We should go see Astralode, he will be able to figure out where that strange power came from," Marin gestured over to Umbra as she departed for Astralode's tower.
We owe a lot to that kid!
Fletcher watched Umbra struggle after Marin, he smiled. He knew what love was when he saw it.