Vampire Shifter Academy, page 20
Chapter 25
At midnight of the designated day, Eva was at the abandoned house, waiting outside with Bella standing next to her, both girls were silent, in awe of the important task they would be facing shortly.
“I’m really happy you’re here,” Eva smiled gratefully.
She made sure to act really suspiciously the last two days, talking to Bella about “something important they needed to take care of” and how nobody could find out. If the Hellhounds were on her tail, they would surely figure out that something important was coming up. As she and Bella sneaked out of their dorm room earlier, all she could do was hope that they were following them. Just like before with her dad, she couldn’t see them or hear them. They were too stealthy for her.
“The guys should be here soon,” Eva continued and, as she spoke, they both heard a noise coming from between the carefully planted rows of trees.
They were still officially on school grounds and the trees here differed greatly from the trees up in the woods. These trees were planted deliberately and if any tree which was already there was ruining the rows, it was simply cut down. There were still a few trunks visible in the ground.
The girls jumped at the sound, but they were relieved to see that the guys had just got there. Frey, Dorian and Sebastian all walked out in front of them. Just by looking at their faces, she couldn’t read them. Were they as afraid as she was? Or were they just very good at hiding it?
“Sorry we’re a little late,” Frey smiled.
“You’re just in time,” Eva assured them. “Now that we’re all here, I have something important to share.”
She was speaking as she had been instructed by Sorwyce and her father. Both Bella and she made sure to wear lots of perfume, so it was easy to track them just by their smell.
“My father, Roman Miles, has contacted me, and we’re going to see him. He needs our help.”
They were all listening to her speech, even though it was already agreed what she would be saying. She needed to make it known. She knew that the Hellhounds might even hear her speak, and mention her dad’s name, so if they weren’t there, they would rush over.
They all listened for a second, but there was no sound. Only the wind howled, rustling their hair. Eva wondered if this would work. If only she could be sure that the Hellhounds were really following them.
At that moment, a putrid smell was brought on by the wind.
“Fuck! What is that awful smell?” Sebastian was the first to acknowledge it, and press his fingers tightly against his nose.
That was the confirmation she needed. Now, she was sure that the Hellhounds were somewhere around. They wouldn’t harm her, seeing she was offering a far better reward: her father.
“Quickly, we must go!” she urged them. “My dad said to meet him a little after midnight, so we must hurry!”
She started first, and everyone else followed her. Everyone knew what they needed to do, as Eva had prepared them well. Her father and Sorwyce had shared their plan with her and, on the back of the map she had received, Sorwyce had drawn a picture. They all had to stand in the shape of a pentagram, each of them with an element in his hand. Frey had a bottle of water in his pocket. Bella was to pick up some dirt on the way. Dorian just needed to blow heavily into the air, and Sebastian had a lighter in his pocket, which he needed to use when the time came. Eva herself would be the representative of the spirit, and they needed her to spill the holy water on the beasts. Then, Sorwyce and her father would jump at them and, hopefully, subdue them long enough for the Masamune Katana to do its job.
It all sounded so simple, in theory. But, they still hadn’t seen the Hellhounds. Eva could only hope that the sight of those beasts wouldn’t render them helpless, because if that happened, all hope would be lost.
They were running to the church, and every once in a while, Eva would take out the little map she had in her pocket, to make sure that they were going the right way. She wished that her father could have taken her there at least once, then she would know the way for sure but he said there was no time. They had to act immediately. Xol’gorog was growing stronger, and he knew that Roman was alive, which meant that Sorwyce was alive, too.
After running for another half an hour or so, Frey stopped by Eva’s side and pointed somewhere.
“Look, over there!”
Everyone looked where he was pointing. There, hidden in the dark bushes and overgrowth, with moss and ivy growing up and down the dilapidated walls, the church lay. It was so well hidden, that one would have to know it was there to find it. The roof was almost all torn down, and a big hole gaped at them. Eva tried peering inside, but all she could see was darkness. They searched for the door and instead found an opening, a broken wall, which allowed them to enter.
They walked in, slowly, quietly, none of them speaking. There was fear in the air, as palpable as themselves. Eva knew they all had to be on their feet. She stepped into a puddle, making her foot wet. She quickly rushed forward, until she was finally standing in the middle of what used to be a church. It used to be one of those small, village churches, which couldn’t accommodate more than twenty people, but that was more than enough. A few chairs lay around, thrown carelessly on the ground, the wood rotten and moist to the touch. No one wanted to touch it.
The silence which reigned inside was oppressive. Eva felt like it grabbed her by the throat and wasn’t allowing her to breathe properly but, in fact, it was her own fear which did that. Silence was neither with her, nor against her.
“Eva?”
She heard a familiar voice. A flame lit up, Sebastian flicked his lighter, and they could finally see each other better. The small group stood close by, then a little to their left, two new figures emerged.
“Dad!” Eva shouted back.
A loud gust of wind pushed them all away and the flicker of light disappeared. Everything was dark.
“Dad!?” Eva shrieked, hearing growls and tumbling.
It sounded as if someone was fighting a bear, but Eva knew better.
“Quick, form a pentagram!” Eva shouted at everyone.
Sebastian tried to create some light again, because otherwise, they couldn’t see how to form the needed pentagram. Without it, the holy water might not work.
“The holy water is in the well!”
Eva heard her father grunting and she looked around. Sebastian managed to shed some light and she saw that her friends were already forming a pentagram. Only she was missing. Right there, in the middle of the room, her father was wrestling a beast which resembled the stuff her worst nightmares were made of.
Its body was black and furry, but she could see the muscles on its legs, as it jumped at her father. Its head was half skinned, showing a bloody skeleton head. Its fangs were long and pointy, drooling and dripping everywhere. It smelled like something had died in here and had been festering in the sun for weeks. She had the urge to vomit but she knew that her father needed her help.
She rushed over to the well, wanting to grab the bucket. At that moment, the other Hellhound jumped in front of her, baring its teeth at her. She took a step back, knowing she couldn’t fight it. She also knew that her father wouldn’t be able to hold the other one for much longer.
“Good doggie,” she whispered, making sure not to make any sudden moves.
The beast snarled even harder at her, its body taking one step towards her. Suddenly, Sorwyce jumped out from the darkness, his cane fitting between the beast’s teeth, tugging at its head left and right.
“Quickly!” he shouted at her. “The water!”
Eva grabbed the bucket, then rushed back to her place in the pentagram. Her father was lying underneath the other Hellhound. She could hear barking and bellowing, like two dogs fighting. She took a step forward, and spilled all the water on it.
The beast shrieked with pain and she could see its singed fur. Her father quickly drew out the sword and, in one big swoosh, decapitated the beast. Its head rolled over to Bella’s feet, who looked like she was about to lose her mind with shock.
“Bella, focus!” Eva shouted to her. “We need you!”
It was the wake up call she needed, because the moment she heard Eva’s voice, she snapped back to reality and held that dirt in her outstretched hand, like a saving grace.
Eva eyed her father, waiting for him to tell her what to do, but he was already rushing to Sorwyce to help him. The two men threw themselves on the muscular back of the furry beast, whose fury was unparalleled. It jumped around, throwing them off of it with incredible strength. She rushed over to the well and filled the bucket with more water.
Sebastian’s light flickered in the wind and Eva knew that they needed to hurry. There was too much draft and his light might go out at any minute. Without light, they were goners. She went back to her position in the pentagram, then waited for them to bring the beast into the middle. If they tried severing its head outside of the circle, or before the holy water was thrown on it, it wouldn’t work. The beast roared as the men charged at it, Sorwyce pulling its tail, her father squeezing its jaw clenched together, so it couldn’t bite them. Finally, they were inside the circle but the fight was still ongoing. She could see cuts on her father’s face and his hand was severely bleeding.
“Now!” her father shouted and she spilled all the water onto the beast’s back, just like before.
The beast thrust and tugged, its body twitched with the pain the holy water was inflicting on it. Her father drew his sword, and cut through the air but the beast was quick. It pulled away in time and he only severed its front, right leg. It hopped on three legs, still strong enough to defend itself. Its yellow teeth shone at them, spiky and hard. Eva didn’t know if it was just her imagination, or if the beast really looked bigger now than a moment ago. Its fur was all raised up and it looked twice its size. Humongous and frightening, she dared not even look at it.
Sorwyce grabbed its tail again and the beast turned around, focusing its attention on him. It dug its teeth deep into Sorwyce’s arm, completely biting it off. Sorwyce screamed in pain, watching his arm in the beast’s mouth, still bleeding. Roman seized the moment, while the beast was with its back turned to him, and raised his sword. A second later, its head rolled off and hit the wall in the far end of the room.
Roman dropped the sword and it fell with a heavy, metallic sound, piercing through the air. Her father slumped down on the floor, following it. He was breathing heavily. She turned to Sorwyce. He was pressing a part of his shirt onto the open would. Eva could see flesh and bone, there was blood everywhere.
“We need to get going,” Sorwyce squeezed through clenched teeth.
“You can’t go anywhere like that,” Roman shook his head. “You need to go see Amelie, she can help you before you bleed to death.”
“But, won’t he regenerate?” Eva asked.
“The bite of a Hellhound does not allow for vampire regeneration. Also, the blood won’t stop on its own. It’ll just keep leaking out of him, until there is none left. He will be… dead.”
Eva swallowed heavily. This wasn’t part of the plan.
“He needs to go, but he can’t go alone,” Roman growled in pain.
His own wounds were hurting him, but he started this, and now, he had to finish it, no matter what. He got up and walked over to Sorwyce. He was looking increasingly paler and weaker. Roman knew he didn’t have much time.
“Someone needs to get him to Amelie’s hut, now!” he shouted, at everyone and no one in particular.
“I can do it,” Bella offered. “I know where it is.”
“He’s heavy,” Roman eyed her suspiciously. “You can’t carry him and he’s too heavy to lean onto you the whole way. You’ll have to run to fetch Amelie and bring her back here, as quickly as you can. Can you do it?”
“I think so,” Bella nodded.
Roman eyed the boys, then Bella again.
“It’ll have to be you,” he told her. “I can’t spare any of the boys. Now that Sorwyce won’t be there, it’ll be a helluva lot more difficult than we had planned. I need them to tie Rannulf down and keep him subdued. Now, go, run!” he ordered Bella and in a second, she was out of there.
“Roman,” Sorwyce whispered, his strength leaving him slowly but surely, “in my pocket…”
A fit of coughing prevented him from continuing but Roman knew what he meant. He reached into Sorwyce’s pocket, and extracted a small bag of dried plants. To Eva, it looked like the same thing Amelie gave her when she was at her place.
“Put it… in his… mouth…” Sorwyce lowered his head.
“Hang on, my friend,” Roman tried to help him, to make him as comfortably as he could be, under the circumstances. “Help is coming.”
“Go… you don’t have much time before Xol’gorog finds out what happened,” Sorwyce urged them, coughing again.
“We have to go,” Roman told the rest of them. “Our job isn’t finished yet.”
Chapter 26
They snuck into the main building, tiptoeing their way up the stairs, to the quarters where Rannulf lived. The door was heavy, with intricate details on the sides. When Roman pressed the handle, he realized it was locked.
“Allow me,” Sebastian pushed through, as he was standing behind everyone else.
He turned to Eva, and got so close to her, that she thought he was going to kiss her right then and there. Her heart leapt, even though that was the last thing they should be doing right now. However, instead of kissing her, he cupped her cheeks, lowered her head, and extracted a hair pin, long and black. He straightened it out, pushed it into the keyhole, jiggled the lock a little, and then, everyone heard a barely audible click, which meant that the door was open.
“Nice work,” Frey whispered.
“Shh!” Roman shushed them both.
Everyone walked in slowly, one behind the other. There were several rooms in this long corridor, but all the doors were closed. Eva knew they wouldn’t be able to check all the doors, before Rannulf woke up and realized that they were here.
Roman pressed his finger to his lips, and she could see him smelling the air. She tried it herself. At first, there was nothing. Just the smell of a centuries old house, with musty walls and leaky windows. Nothing else. But, as she focused harder, she could sense something. At first, only faint traces of something she couldn’t identify yet, but then, the smell became stronger. It was putrid, disgusting. The smell of a dead body. That was the smell of creatures from Hell and here on Earth, there was no force which could make them get rid of it. That was the only indication others had of realizing they were there.
Roman lowered his hand and pointed at the third door on the left. They all followed him. Roman placed his hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath. He opened the door slowly, trying not to make a single sound. Everyone waited on, in anticipation. Silence reigned. Not even breathing was heard.
When Roman finally opened the door, Rannulf was sitting on the bed. His eyes were gleaming red, staring at them with a hatred that threatened to burn the house down.
Roman jumped at him immediately, pinning him down onto the bed, holding him with the weight of his own body.
“Quickly, the ropes!” Roman shouted.
Eva took off the small rucksack which was resting on her back. She took out the ropes, and everyone grabbed one leg or hand and tied it to the bed.
“You can’t harm me, Roman Miles!” the demon hissed in Rannulf’s voice. “You are all dead! You just don’t know it yet! Hahahahaha!”
The evil laughter reverberated throughout the room and, for a second, Eva stopped what she was doing to look at it.
“Don’t look at it!” her father shouted. “Avert your eyes!”
Eva immediately lowered her head, and made sure she tied his left hand firmly to the bed. Then, she made another knot, just in case. A few moments later, everyone moved away, looking at the squirming body on the bed.
“Don’t look at it!” Roman repeated to everyone, taking the satchel out of his bag and shoving the dry herbs into the demon’s mouth, then keeping it firmly closed with his hand. “Quickly, the book! Page 5!”
Eva immediately gave him the little black book, which she was keeping safely in her backpack. The sides of its pages were scorched, as if the book had survived a fire but the letters were still legible. Roman held the demon’s mouth shut and started reading:
Daemonium de inferos,
Ex quo te ire iubeo.
Terramque relinquit corpus.
Numquam reditus!
Eva knew enough Latin to know that her father was commanding this demon from Hell to leave this body and never to return. Roman kept reading this over and over again, as thunder came crashing from outside. Lightning electrocuted the skies above Ridgeview Academy, as the slumbering students slept, oblivious to the monumental battle that was taking place.
