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Vampires
Part 6
By Meagan Richards
Click here if you'd like to exchange critiques
This is the final part of "Vampires",
I hope you have enjoyed it.
Scott
It had been six months since he had left the Irish castle, with Alexander and Kyla. He knew they were still there, Alexander refused to move, his mind had transported him to the time when he and Kyla had lived happily in the castle, and he wanted to stay there. Kyla was still alive, he knew it, he could still feel her.
After he had found the strength to move, Scott had fled the castle, vowing to come back for Kyla once he was healed enough to fight. He hadn't meant to be away for so long, it had just happened. The wound to his heart was bad, but slivers of wood had gotten caught, making it worse. Keighlee, a Rogue Hunter helped him. She had taken him in, and nursed him back to health and kept him sane for the long months of pain. But he was back now, and stronger than ever. Alexander was strong as well, and he was insane, and a vampire insane is nothing to mess with.
During his six months of recovery, Scott had let his simple anger with Alexander boil into pure hatred, which grew stronger with each passing day. He had envisioned how he would kill Alexander, so many ways, only one man to kill, though. Laughing quietly, Scott felt joy bubble through his veins like blood; Alexander was going to be disposed of, and Kyla would be his again, forever. Looking up at the ancient castle, Scott grinned, bearing his fangs. 'Tomorrow night, yes, tomorrow night, everything happens.'
He left the grounds as the sun was rising, he knew the dangers of staying so late, but it all seemed distant to him now. He would return the next night.
Scott waited patiently in the cover of the woods, waiting for the cloak of darkness to strike.
He was about to leave his cover when he heard a soft footstep. Hissing quietly as he drew back, Scott looked through the branches to see who it was; 'no one but a servant'. Cursing himself for his carelessness, Scott waited until he couldn't hear the man's footfalls on the stone path before cautiously leaving his cover again. This time, there was no one to stop him.
Moving like a shadow through the court yard, Scott slipped up to the castle, always looking around him to make sure no one saw him, and keeping his senses perked to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. It was pitch black out now, heavy clouds concealed the moon and the stars. Taking one last look around, Scott began to scale the stone wall of the castle, finding foot and hand grips between the ancient stones. He was headed to Kyla's drawing room, she was rarely in there, a safe place to start.
"If there is a God..." Scott whispered as he gently tugged at the window. He uttered a muted thank you as it easily swung open, granting him access. Crouching on the window sill for a moment before he stepped down, Scott's eyes shifted over the room. Nothing had changed in the months he had been gone, nothing he could see now, at least. Uttering another short prayer, Scott quickly slipped off the window ledge, closing the window behind him. He crossed the room, almost scared to believe he had made it this far, but the next step would be the hardest, opening the bedroom door.
He nearly swore aloud when the door opened and a figure walked in. Quickly slipping into the shadows once more, Scott watched carefully to see who it was.
The woman's hair was pulled back in a braid that fell to her trim hips, she wore a baggy tee shirt, and looked to be crying. Feeling a pang of pity for the poor creature in his heart, Scott bit his lip to keep from saying something.
"I'm going out for a few hours, my pet, be good." a male's voice called from the other room.
"Yes, Alexander." the woman sighed. Scott's jaw dropped, it was Kyla! He felt a surge of rage flood through him when Alexander came into the room and gave her a quick embrace before flitting out of the room, leaving the door open as he left. "I have no choice." Kyla whispered after the main door closed firmly.
Scott watched as she sat on the sill he had been crouching on only moments ago and put her face in her hands. Standing quietly, Scott crossed to her and gently touched her shoulder to alert her someone was there.
"Alexander, I'll be f...." Kyla's mouth froze when she saw who looked down at her. "Scott."
Scott smiled weakly and knelt beside her. "I came back for you, love."
"You're... you're... I thought..." Kyla whispered.
"I'm alive, love, and here." Scott said, gently taking the female's hand in his.
"You are." Kyla smiled, brushing Scott's long hair out of his face. "How long?"
"Three weeks. I had to know if you were still here, and if Alexander had installed any alarm system of any sort."
"What did he do to you? All he told me was that you were gone, forever." Scott mutely pulled down the neck of his shirt to expose the scar about his heart. Kyla tensed and turned her head away.
"I was half mad by the time Keighlee found me." Scott said quietly. "She took me to Egypt where I was able to heal."
"You're going to kill him." Kyla said bluntly, catching Scott off guard.
"I intend to, now, I may just take you and run, love."
"He'll find us. We'll be running forever."
"Then I might have to kill him."
"You can't, only I can destroy the Bloodstone he wears."
"Help me then, Kyla." Scott said. "I need you."
Kyla bit her lip and looked away. "I can't, Scott."
"Why not?"
"He's too strong."
This made a cruel laugh push itself past Scott's lips. "Too strong? This would be coming from the girl who threw me through a wall, beat me up on several occasions, and killed unknown numbers of the Hunter clan?"
"You don't understand!" Kyla yelled, suddenly wrenching away from Scott.
"Then tell me so I can!" Scott yelled back, feeling the old anger flare up in his chest. He was ready to strike Kyla. Kyla flinched and huddled into a ball. Scott immediately regretted his actions, and gently touched Kyla's arm. "Please."
"I can't. I'm sorry." Kyla whispered, and started to cry again. "I'm his again, like it was in the beginning, it was meant to be."
"You're asking me to leave you." Scott said. "I won't come back, Kyla."
"I know." Kyla sighed. "Just make love to me once more, that's all I ask of you, Scott."
Scott did as Kyla bade, and left quickly after it was over, but he did not intend to leave Ireland as Kyla asked him, he would get his revenge if it killed him.
Old Relations
Scott stood under the huge old oak outside the castle at sunset. The sky was smeared blood-red, like an omen of things to come. He gently touched the dagger concealed beneath his shirt and smiled. Tonight, the vampire Alexander would finally die. The simple thought of finally having his revenge cause Scott to shiver in pleasure.
Taking a deep breath to make sure no one was around, Scott stepped from the cover of the trees and walked to the castle door. Letting out a scream of anger and pleasure, Scott took a flying leap at the door, sending it crashing against the stone wall, exploding it on impact. Walking over the shattered remains of the door, Scott strode through the castle, looking for his target. Nothing moved, he couldn't sense anything living the castle. Ah, well, vampires are very good at concealing themselves when they don't want to be found out, or when they're luring some unsuspecting soul into a trap. Scott smiled and tightened his grip on the special dagger he had made especially for this task. Keilghlee had helped him make it, he didn't tell her why he wanted it, just that he wanted it for protection before he left her home.
The dagger was long and sinister looking. The tip was diamond, which would break off once it was plunged into its victim, reviling its wooden heart. Cold steel surrounded the wood, with tiny holes in the metal, so when it slashed, the poison from the wood would seep into the blood stream. It was a deadly weapon, and it was only used in times of dire need, when the carrier was sure his or her end was in sight and needed that last bit of protection for the final fight.
Scott crept through the deserted halls of the castle, always ready in case something attacked. Everything look new, no dust anywhere, the only trace of life in the castle, cleanliness. A terrible mistake for the inhabitants. Pictures stared at him from their places on the wall, and Kyla's painted eyes seemed to follow him everywhere he went, an unpleasant feeling.
All too soon, Scott found himself outside the door to the main chambers. This was where Alexander was, he was sure of it. Taking a deep breath, Scott let out a savage war cry and kicked in the ancient wooden door.
His eyes took in everything around him before Alexander flew at him. Kyla bound and gagged on the bed, watching him with large scared eyes, books and papers littering the floor, ashes from the fireplace scattered, a bruise on Kyla's left cheek.
The force that Alexander hit him with threw Scott to the ground, knocking his head against the floor and causing black splotches to bloom in his field of vision. Scott put his hands to Alexander's chest like they were lovers in the throws of passion, and pushed Alexander off him with enough force to send him flying across the room. Howling in anger, Alexander rushed at him again, his fangs ready to rip, to tear. Before Scott could react, Alexander was on him, his fangs tearing at his face.
"You think that will stop me?" Alexander crowed, "I wear a Bloodstone! You cannot kill me!"
"I can try." Scott said, and flew at Alexander. Both males fell to the ground, growling like rabid wolves. Alexander let out a screech of pain as Scott sunk his fangs into his shoulder and tore out a piece of flesh. Scott grinned as the hot blood flowed down his chin. Neither of them could think rationally anymore, the blood lust flowed through their veins like fire. Scott screamed as Alexander's fist shattered his nose.
"She's mine! She's mine!" Alexander howled as he pinned Scott to the floor, and thrust his thumbs towards his eyes to blind him. Rolling his head out of the way, Scott bucked his body wildly, throwing Alexander off him and sending him flying into a wall.
"You sorry excuse of a vampire." Scott hissed, standing slowly. "You choose to rape a woman, and to sneak up on your comrade to stab him the back and leave him for dead." He screamed and launched himself at Alexander, hitting him in the gut, sending them sprawling across the floor. Alexander howled and clawed at Scott's back, tearing long, bloody gashed in his flesh.
"Now, I finish you." Scott said, pulling the dagger from it's place and driving it into Alexander's chest. It slipped through hid flesh and rib cage like a hot knife through butter and hit it's mark. Scott quickly twisted the knife and pulled it out, leaving the diamond tip inside Alexander's chest.
Alexander screamed like a banshee and clawed at Scott, trying to tear out his eyes. Scott bared his fangs and plunged the dagger into Alexander's midsection, tearing it open, spilling hot blood and guts out.
"I would have you in the dungeon, stark raving mad from the pain." Scott panted. "But I shan’t do that for you are already insane." Alexander screamed long and loud as Scott severed his left hand from his arm, the hand that wore the Bloodstone. "You forget, the wearer of the ring is immortal, but you can disconnect the ring from the wearer."
The Vampire Alexander died screaming, Scott looking down at him, ending the legend of the ancient vampire who once was lover of the Vampire Kyla. As he watched Alexander die, Scott stripped the flesh from Alexander's severed hand and ate it slowly, like he was savoring the taste of it. He picked the bones clean, then he fashioned the bones from the fingers into a cross whish he mounted on a white gold chain, Alexander's Bloodstone gleaming in the center.
Scott put the body in a stone casket, and placed it in the dungeons, a place that could be left undisturbed for years, before returning to the main chambers to tend to Kyla.
"You killed him." Kyla whispered as Scott untied her.
"He nearly killed me." Scott replied. "I told you I would kill him."
"Why couldn't you just leave? You said you wouldn't come back! Why did you?"
"Because." Scott said gently. "I swore I'd have revenge."
"Just... just get out." Kyla said. "Leave me alone for a while."
Kyla
After Scott had left the castle, Kyla returned to the main chambers. Blood was everywhere. Grimacing, Kyla took the items she wanted, and left the rest, locking the door behind her, possibly forever. She took her things to a guests chambers and collapsed on the bed. Scott had sworn he wouldn't return! But he had, and he had killed Alexander. Now what would she do? Scott would expect her to come back to him, like it was before this whole episode, or like she owed him something.
Fighting back bitter tears, Kyla looked out the window, there was something that could help her; sleep. Vampires could sleep for years, even centuries, if they desired. Maybe that's what she would do, let the pain heal. When she woke, she would be whole again, stronger than she had ever been. Sighing, Kyla turned away from the window. Who knew? For now, she just curled up in the huge bed and fell asleep.
Ghosts
Kyla woke up screaming the next night. Something was in the room with her and it wasn't from this astral plane. Looking wildly around the room, Kyla finally saw it, a glowing apparition of a woman. She screamed louder when she realized who it was; her mother, Lady Gwenith.
"Apparently immortality isn't everything it's supposed to be." Lady Gwenith sneered. "You were always the strange one, Kyla, you would run off in the middle of the night to meet with a lover you thought no one knew you had, then you got yourself turned into this monstrosity that lives on blood and time! Now your little lover is truly dead, who will you run to? Who will keep you going when you feel like killing yourself?"
"Get away from me, bitch." Kyla whispered, drawing her legs up to her chest.
"Why couldn't you have just done what I asked of you? Gotten yourself married and then died in your own time. No, you had to run off and live like the world was yours, you are a failure, Kyla! You hear me? A disgrace!"
"Shut-up!" Kyla screamed, covering her ears with her hands. When she opened her eyes, the ghost of her mother was gone, and the room was once again empty, and she was once again alone. From deep within a place where time doesn't exist, the thing from the fire laughed.
Kyla looked around the room once more, she had made up her mind.
Scott
A week after the final confrontation between himself and Alexander, Scott returned to the Irish castle for Kyla, he would take her away from here, where old memories drifted through the corridors like ghosts.
"Kyla!" Scott yelled, opening the repaired front door. His voice bounced off the stone walls, ringing through the castle. Frowning, Scott closed the door behind him and headed towards the chambers where he knew Kyla was staying, he could smell her, just not very well. Her scent had grown old. Odd, she hadn't left the property, Scott knew that, he had watched closely, no one had come or gone from the castle in a week. Suddenly, a fear hit him like ice water. The Dungeons!
Scott flew towards the dungeons, panic growing in his chest like hot steel and his brain screamed 'trouble!' He ran to the room where he had put the Vampire Alexander's remains to rest, and stopped dead.
There were two more coffins in the room beside Alexander's, who's final bed lay on the right of the group. They were all stone, but each bore a different design on it. Biting his lip so hard it bled, Scott slowly opened the middle casket. He collapsed against the table sobbing.
Kyla lay on a bed of black velvet, dressed in a green silk gown from the time when she was mortal. It was like she had always slept, like she had never walked the earth since the 1500's. The Vampire Alexander was also in clothes from his time, covering his wounds nicely, and the stump where his hand had been was wrapped in black silk.
Looking around the barren room, Scott saw clothing for him, as well as a note from Kyla. Feeling tears prick his eyes, Scott picked up the note.
The world is not ours now, Scott, maybe at a later time, we will be able to claim what is ours, but not now. People do not fear us, their minds are closed to us and others like us. The Hunter clan is no more than a rich family who made it big in real estate, vampires are no more than things that grace TV and movie screens to scare people briefly before the sun rises. We thrived once before, centuries ago, and we will again, possibly centuries from now.
I don't expect you to understand, I won't be surprised to wake and find your resting place empty, and you gone your own way. Alexander really loved me, in his own way, as did you love me. I'm not asking you to stay, I'm asking you to listen to your heart. Nothing more. If you choose to leave, so be it, but if you stay, we will rise when the time is right.
Scott looked at the note, then at the sleeping Kyla. When a vampire sleeps, nothing but time can wake them. Sighing, Scott shed his modern clothes and burnt them, standing naked as his link to the present was reduced to ashes that would rot, leaving no trace of what was. He pulled on the clothing Kyla had left him, trying not to think about what he was doing while he did it.
He closed the casket of the Vampire Alexander, whispering a short prayer as he did so. Before closing the lid over Kyla and laying down for his own slumber, Scott gently kissed Kyla one last time, and whispered in her ear, "I love you, what I did was out of love, don't hate me for it, please. I only beg your forgiveness." Then, the Vampire Scott, the last of the First Generation Vampires to walk the Earth, lay down in his coffin and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw before slipping into forever was Kyla's sleeping face, and then a horrid whisper in his ear that came from something not human, "Sleep well, Scott."
June 30, 2002
12:28 PM
Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, Canada
