Chapter 10
1929 Words
10
I plastered myself against the wall and clapped my hands over my mouth to stifle my scream. The rhythm of my heart would have made a fine percussion in a heavy metal rock band as my eyes frantically searched the area for the source of the voice. I saw nothing.
A deep sigh resonated around me. You won’t survive more than thirty seconds as you are. Return to the party and allow Eric to handle the situation.
I was both relieved and annoyed to find myself talking to the invisible voice of this godlike being. Having nowhere else to look, I glared up at the innocent ceiling. My words came out in a whispered hiss. “Listen, I didn’t get myself into this mess, but I’m not going to just stand around and pretend all of this trouble isn’t happening, either.”
His reply was a sardonic scoff. Oh? You didn’t get yourself into this mess? Was it someone else who commanded you to interrupt the fight last night?
“Shouldn’t you be helping Eric out or something?” I reminded him as I tried to focus on the voices I’d heard earlier.
There was a gruff grunt. That fool has requested that I remain with you while he handles this new intruder.
I paused and blinked up at the empty air. “Can you do that?”
There was a touch more annoyance in his voice. Shouldn’t I be able to?
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, are you two connected, or can you go wherever you want?”
His tone took on a haughty air. I may go wherever I please. It is Eric who needs me. Without my presence his strength is not as great.
My eyebrows crashed down. “Then why the hell did he send you to me? He needs you more than I do!”
I heard a loud noise around the corner and clapped a hand over my mouth.
Idiot.
I glared up at the ceiling but lowered my voice to a whisper. “You’re one to talk.”
No one but Eric and you can hear me.
“Then stop talking to me and go find Eric,” I hissed as I peeked around the corner.
Basileus stood at the far end where the passage opened onto the patio that surrounded the villa. I was wrong about with whom Basileus spoke. The servant before him was not the waiter-like man I’d seen earlier, but a gentleman dressed in dark attire. The man held up a lantern, more for his benefit than for that of his nocturnally gifted master.
I also noticed there was a gun on his hip.
Basileus didn’t look happy. “You’re sure about the intrusion?”
The servant nodded. “Yes, sir. I found the hole myself.”
“And you saw nothing of the intruder?”
The man shook his head. “No, sir. Whatever it was waited until I passed before slipping inside.”
Basileus pursed his lips as he looked out on the night. “Inform the others and search the grounds. Tell no one about this, but mind that none of my guests go outside. Do you understand?”
The guard nodded. “Of course, sir. Right away.” He turned to leave but paused and looked over his shoulder at his master. “Sir, there is the matter of the request from the mainland.”
Basileus frowned. “Can that not wait?”
He shook his head. “She says she will not wait, and will invade the island if she must. Her and her entourage.”
Basileus shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Very well, send the boat.” The servant bowed his head and hurried off to obey his master’s commands.
Basileus stood in the doorway for a moment longer before he turned and headed down the hall. That was also straight toward my hiding spot. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I whipped my head left and right in search of a nearby door.
Hold still, you fool.
A shadow rose up in front of me. I gasped and pressed my back against the wall as the dark veil covered me. The shadow pressed against my front and felt like a silken blanket, but with a chilly edge to it.
Basileus rounded the corner and reached me, though a few paces on the other side of the passage. He paused and turned his head in my direction. I pressed my lips shut and willed myself not to shake. Basileus studied my location for a moment before he shook his head and strode off down the hall.
The moment he was out of sight the veil drew away from me. I exhaled my stale air and gasped for some fresh stuff.
The shadow flitted in front of me and formed itself into the towering wolf god. My heart did a couple of nice bangs against my chest as those bright yellow eyes stared at me out of the darkness that comprised the rest of its body.
“Thanks,” I managed to breath out through a lack of breath and a persistent urge to run screaming down the hall.
Vanar turned his face toward the corner where Basileus had come from and narrowed his eyes. Eric has discovered our foe.
My heart nearly stopped before I pushed off from the wall. “Then what are we waiting for? Take me to him!”
Vanar’s bright eyes rolled back to me. Have you forgotten what happened the last time you interfered in one of his fights?
I glared back at him. “Maybe I can’t help him, but you can!”
He doesn’t-
“Listen here, you mangy fluff ball,” I snapped as I jerked my head down the hall. “Either you show me the way or I’m going to drag you through these halls until I find Eric on my own.”
Vanar scoffed. He would be dead before you found him.
I met those fierce yellow eyes with a stern look of my own. “Then stop talking and lead me to him!”
The wolf god studied me for a moment before he sighed. Very well. Come with me.
His body dropped to the floor and morphed itself into an indescribable blob of shadow. He flew around the corner and down the passage. I rushed after him with my heart pounding loudly in my chest and my mind screaming at me to stop and go back. I couldn’t do that. Eric had saved me last night. I couldn’t let him die now because of that.
We broke out into the cool night air and Vanar led me down a winding set of stairs to one of the middling garden tiers. The foliage here was so thick as to be overgrown, and the stench of mold permeated the air. There was also another, mustier scent mixed in with the plants, like the odor of dust kicked up after a long dormancy.
Vanar turned a sharp left and took us under an arbor heavily laden with vines. The path opened into a small grotto surrounded on all sides by creepers and thick, old rosebushes. A pair of stone benches had once accented the hidden nook, but one of them had been smashed to bits. The reason still lay among the rubble where I saw an arm sticking out of the stones.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the body partially hidden beneath the rock. I rushed past Vanar who had halted just short of the arbor.
Stop!
Too late. I knelt beside the body and pulled off a heavy piece of masonry. What I revealed was not Eric’s battered body, but the face of some hideous ghoul with rotten flesh. Their closed eyes flew open, and I found myself staring into a pair of deep red orbs that burned with fury. I threw myself back, but their putrid hand shot out and wrapped around my throat. They squeezed my windpipe shut as they rose from the rubble like an undead from the grave.
I grabbed their arm and tried to free myself, but their strength was immense. I was like a child fighting against the ocean tide, and I was losing. The world began to spin, and the edges of my consciousness blackened.
A small, narrow shadow flew past my face and became impaled in the wall of shrubs to my left. The glimmer of a sharp blade reflected the starry sky, and I realized it had been a dagger that sped past me. The weapon had sliced through the creature’s arm, severing its connection to its hand. Its grip loosened and sweet air rushed back into my lungs.
I fell sideways choking on the air, and the hand dropped into my lap. A scream escaped me as I scrambled backward until I hit something hard. I expected to feel the stab of thorns and hear the rustle of leaves, but the wall behind me shifted. That’s when I realized it wasn’t a wall, but two hairy legs.
I tilted my head back and found myself looking up into a partially masked face. Another yelp poured out of my lips as I did another imitation of the crab walk away from this new and equally frightening creature. This time I ran into the arbor through which I’d entered the small arena, and that gave me a full view of the two combatants.
The zombie-like creature shambled to its feet and opened its jaws to reveal sharp, rotten teeth. A horrible hiss escaped its lips at it glared at its opponent.
The other figure sported a gray, scratched mask that covered the upper half of their face. A black cloak and hood covered their head and trailed down their back to stop a half foot off the ground behind them. They wore a plate of thin black armor over their chest under which there was a thick black long-sleeved shirt and black pants stretched down to mid-calf where things took a furry turn. The creature sported a pair of thick wolf feet that angled upward mid arch and stopped at the rounded heels, giving them both an unbalanced and yet graceful movement. Their shirt-covered arms hung at their sides, and I saw that their hands weren’t so much human as they were wolf, complete with long, sharp claws.
The undead creature lunged at him with its own sharp claws flailing about. The hooded figure grabbed it about the throat with one hand and swung the creature in an arc. The undead thing was slammed face-first into the stones that made up the ground. The tile rocks cracked under the impact, and I heard the sound of bones crunching to pieces.
The creature shot an arm backward at an impossible angle and grabbed the ankle of the hooded figure. My savior grabbed the arm and flung the undead thing onto its back. The hooded person plunged one of his clawed hands into the creature’s chest. The thing writhed and screeched before I watched the muscles in the hooded figure’s arms tighten. The undead thing burst into ash and scattered about the ground. The vanished foe revealed the hooded figure’s hand which still clenched something gray and limp. He stood and opened his hand. The thing dropped to the ground atop the pile, and it was then I realized what he had held was the remains of a rotten heart.
- Writer
