Fledgling (The Vampire Manifesto, Book Two) (25 page)

“Come to me, my angel of death.” Osiris held me in his gaze, as Connor kneeled before him. “Educate this Titian about the error of her ways.”

“As you command.” From Connors back was an explosion and from this explosion, feathered wings began to take shape and form, blistering wings made of flame, smoke and lava. His wings began to flap and he rose up into the sky above us. He held out his hands and a blazing longbow materialized with his grasp.

This was it at last. I’ve always secretly accepted the horrifying reality behind my affiliation with Connor in the back of my mind. This certainly wasn’t a surprise. Despite everything, I’ve always recognized how it was going to end between us. I understood that because of who he was and who I refused to become, that ultimately there was going to be a head-to-head confrontation between Connor and I. That one day a line was going to be drawn in the sand and I was going to find him and myself on opposing sides, neither willing to back down from the definitive battle between us that would only climax with the demise of the one or the other. I just never thought it was going to be today.

My dark haired savior.

He fired a cascade of arrows from his longbow and they showered down all about me, detonating as they came within close proximity, erupting hellfire up into the atmosphere. Liquid hell showered down from the sky and I had to focus, moving as fluid and swiftly as possible, traversing at a velocity that not even I myself knew I possessed. He was attempting to burn me alive.

I’ll never let him burn me again.

He rushed headfirst, diving suddenly, both his fist connecting with my chest as he wrapped his wings about me and we tumbled across the ground. I could feel their all-consuming caress upon my body, scorching their way through my clothes and searing their feather like patterns into my skin as each individual wing tipped inferno pressed against me.

“Bring me the head of the other Post Human.” Ordered the Celestial.

Komchot and Ethan skulked forward, making their way towards Abigail.

I was able to pivot, throwing Connor off me, yet the ends of his wings adapted, metamorphosing into hundreds of singular grappling hooks, each one either seizing the ground around me for balance or attempting to wrestle and dig into my flesh. I scythed away at them with the Blade of Osiris, severing all that came close to me. He was on his feet, his wings lifting him off the ground, this glorious visualization of man and fire. I attempted to come to Abigail’s defense, but a fortification of intense lava exploded up from the ground, a tidal wave of burning magma blocking me off from her.

“I kill you, but you just won’t stay dead.” Ethan declared.

Abigail was moving backwards, stopping just before Dakota’s unconscious body as Komchot and Ethan closed in for the kill, yet it appeared as if each step the Marauders took becomes more and more challenging. Komchot collapsed to one knee, a low siren wail of torment and agony issuing forth from her lips. She clutched her face in a futile attempt to shield herself from some incorporeal attack that was devouring her alive from the inside out.

“Get out of my mind!” She bellowed in utter defiance as a torrential gush of blood began pouring out of Komchot’s ears and nose. Without warning, there was this sickening, stomach-turning popping sound from the inside of her skull and she collapsed to the ground, dead.

Abigail pointed at Ethan. “Now it’s your turn die.”

Connor came at me, faster than I’ve ever seen him move and struck me hard in the chest, knocking me backwards. He went in for the kill, but I swung the Blade of Osiris at him, missing him totally, as he seized my sword arm.

He was just too fast! He had always been quicker than I, stronger as well, but this was something else altogether. The veins in his body protruded and swelled and I could detect an inferno thrusting through them, as if the blood in his body had been substituted for lava. He twisted my arm, yanking it from its socket as he maneuvered my hand behind my back, forcing me to the ground.

Ethan Blackwood was faltering, his steps becoming sluggish and deliberate, blood beginning to trickle down from his nose. That’s when I saw him wolf out, his human body shifting, growing, restructuring itself into the massive Werewolf, snarling and howling. The Werewolf charged towards Abigail, seemingly impervious to her cerebral onslaught. When he was close enough to her, he sunk his teeth into Abigail’s throat while wrenching at her hair with his claws, tearing her head from her shoulders. Blood gushed out of her decapitated body as it collapsed to the ground still twitching.

The Werewolf made its way towards Osiris, dropping Abigail’s head at the feet of the Celestial.

Connor raised his hand and a blazing sword materialized within it. He plunged that weapon into my chest and I could feel its firestorm burning through me, working its way through every limb, depleting all my strength. I fell to my knees, my strength all but gone, the angel of death standing before me ready to pass sentence. Connor raised up that blistering sword high above his head, grabbing it with both hands in preparation for the final blow.

A second Celestial energy matrix detected…

“STOP!” Came a booming voice.

In front of Osiris, another Celestial came into existence. He was slight, his physique nowhere near as hulking as Osiris, yet still infinitely greater than that of any human being. Around his frame were extensive strips of fabric that draped about him loosely. His skin was translucent, yet nowhere near as opaque as Osiris. Within him, a crimson firestorm fulminated, while above each of his ankles was a singular feather comprised of gold and liquescent mercury.

“Psychopompos.” Osiris gave a nod of recognition. “You have word?”

“Yes.” Psychopompos declared. “Our Lord hath decree that the execution of the Titian that manipulates the Soul Sword be postponed.”

Osiris seemed physically offended at the news. “Did the Lord bestow an explanation for his change of heart?”

“I did not enquire, nor did he clarify.” Psychopompos stated. “Nevertheless, I personally have come to speculate how it came to be that an orangutan could elicit a response from the Soul Sword. The Orangutan chromosomal sequence is not compatible with Celestial technology. Unless…”

“Unless she is of Celestial Seed.” Osiris finished.

They both turned towards me.

“What does our Lord wish to be done with her?” Osiris asked.

“Tartarus.” Psychopompos declared. “I am to imprison her there myself.”

“As you will.” Osiris declared.

Psychopompos was on me and when he gripped my shoulder, we were traveling at a pace so rapidly that I couldn’t even recognize the surroundings about me, everything appearing as streaks of multihued colored light. When we stopped, I was unable to catch my bearings, the vertigo so intense that it took all my strength not to pass out.

Psychopompos was shoving me into an intricately structured sarcophagus. I sought to fight, but all everything I had was gone and once I found myself inside the confines of the casket, I discovered it to be so snug that I was scarcely able to move. The crystal entrance sealed up in front of me and as I turned my head, I could see rows upon rows of these same types of sarcophagi all around me. There had to be hundreds of them. Psychopompos remained motionless and watched as the sarcophagus began to fill with a dense, clear substance. Within seconds, the inside filled up with this thick gel and as it covered my head, I held my breath afraid I would drown. Yet even with my Vampiric lungs, I was only able to do this but for so long and ultimately my body gasped for air and the thick liquid flooded inside me.

I resisted and tried to scream, yet I realized that I could still breathe, even though I was completely submerged, yet the gel contained some form of paralyzing agent, which labored its way through my body inhibiting my movements.

“This is the Tartarus.” Psychopompos gestured to the other sarcophagus. “This is where all Titians are imprisoned. This is where you shall remain until our lord Zeus decrees otherwise.”

He stood there a moment longer, then disappeared.

Tartarus. Celestial constructed prison with the sole purpose of imprisoning Titians. Escape probability is zero point zero-zero percent. Recommend all higher and lower biological functions be placed in suspended animation. Initiating hibernation sequence. Powering down all biological elements.

Hibernation commencing…