Nightfall - 8. Pain
-Arael-
The pain in my chest was getting worse. It almost felt like my heart was beating again, but instead of a heart, it was a strange new organ made of misery, pumping anguish through me. I stared up at the mural on the ceiling of my bedroom. It was a very lifelike image of me grinning as he gnawed playfully on my ear. It was nice, but it was hardly any comfort.
"Such a shame I'll have to leave it when we move to Italy..." I said. There was no one in the room with me, but hearing a voice, even my own, was somewhat helpful.
"You know, I could gut the place for you?"
I sat up to see Maxwell leaning in the doorway.
"In fact, I could start now. We could replace the drywall later before we leave." He said, stepping forward into the room and looking around. "This Bacchus character really has you, doesn't he?" I nodded and he came further in, sitting on the edge of my bed. "You know we're gonna find him, right?"
"Yeah... I just miss him so much it hurts, you know?" I lied back again. "I haven't slept since I left your apartment. I barely even blink now because when I close my eyes, I see him getting killed before we can get to him."
He put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. He's one vampire for three to find."
"You heard Carmi, though. He's at the top of the Trackers' most wanted list." I sighed and shook my head. "It's not just us three looking for him." Now I was shaking all over. "If someone got to him before us and killed him, it'd be my fault."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?" I sat up again. "Maxwell, he's out there hunting other vampires again because he thinks I'm dead. He thinks I'm dead because I didn't have the good sense to stay on the ground instead of getting up and getting myself killed in front of him, Max. This is my fault!" If I were alive, I'd be wiping tears of anger from my eyes. I'd stupidly caused all this. The room turned redder than it had been before. My eyes were burning brightly in the darkness. I started pounding the bed with my fists and tearing at the sheets, screaming at the top of my lungs.
Maxwell grabbed me by the wrists. "Shayne! S-Shayne, calm - SHAYNE! Relax!" I struggled in his grip, breaking free a couple times only to be caught again. "Calm down." I couldn't sit up anymore, so to keep from dragging him down with me, l leaned into him - resting my head on his shoulder - and screamed again, only breaking for tearless sobs. He released one of my paws and quickly put his arm around my shoulders. "Shh, it's okay." He said, patting me on the arm. "Don't worry, the sun will be down soon and Carmina will be back. We can get started looking. We'll find him first, don't worry."
I chuckled weakly and shook my head. "Thank you, Maxwell. I don't know how Bacchus dealt with two weeks away from me without someone like you around."
The gryphon smirked. "Yeah, yeah. You'd be utterly lost without me." he laughed as I punched him in the arm. "Come on, let's get a drink." Suddenly his face was confused. He tilted his head a little and looked at me. "Can vampires get wasted?" When I shook my head, he looked crushed. "Then all hope is truly lost."
-Carmina-
My trip to headquarters was a bust. No one had any information for me other than 'stay away'. I'd spent twelve hours there and left near sunrise, against everyone's advising. I was now hiding in a hollow tree, but it was better than being there. No matter, the sun would be setting soon.
The leader of the still loyal Trackers, Alextra, seemed different now. I didn't think anyone else saw it, but there was something odd. I didn't see physical differences in the she-wolf, but the air around her was... not right.
Sickened by the thought of her, I pushed the organization out of my mind. I would never return to them, so hopefully I'd never have to think of them again - at least not after Bacchus was found. I thought, instead, of Arael and his friend, the gryphon. I hadn't gotten his name.
It was rather brave of him to restrain me. I couldn't feel the hypnotic aura that came with being a vampire when he held me. He couldn't have been one of us for very long. I remember not being strong enough to fold steel as a young vampire, so he had to have been brave or foolish to get so close to me. Or perhaps it was loyalty. He'd risked himself even more by showing me his eye just to keep me from killing Arael. My brother was lucky to have someone like him around.
When the sun finally set, I carved my way out of my little hiding place and charged through the woods. The city Arael was living in was a few minutes away running - about five at my speed - so if I didn't stop, we would waste nearly no moonlight looking for the wolf.
As fate would have it, I was stopped.
I had to wonder why I didn't smell him before he knocked me out of the space between the trees. It didn't bother me that he was ruining my favorite red dress, but not knowing he was there irked the hell out of me. He hadn't even made a sound.
When I regained my composure, I looked around to see I'd been thrown to a rocky area within the woods. There was a stream which cleared the smell of the trees for me with that of water. I pulled a few strands of hair behind my ear and looked around, bow drawn, for the unlucky bastard that'd hit me. He mussed my hair. He had to die.
I didn't see my attacker yet. He was a good hider, I'd give him that. As I relaxed, a gentle breeze blew the smell of trees toward me. I'd immediately dismissed it, but then I realized there was something other than tree in the smell. There was the smell of some sentient being and it was getting rapidly closer. I turned around just in time to duck backward, narrowly avoiding being knocked off my feet by a huge black fist. I caught a glimpse of luminous crimson eyes and immediately became aware of who had attacked me.
I got to my feet and dropped my recurve immediately. "Bacchus, wait!" I'd barely gotten the words out before I had to duck again, this time dodging a foot. Damn he could kick high for such a big thing.
"You're a fool to come into the woods alone." He said. His voice was as smooth and beautiful as any vampire's, but also as cold and dead as we'd been taught to believe Strigoii were. "I'll kill every Tracker alive, starting with you." He moved so fast it was like he had more than four limbs. "I'll kill you all before you can get me." It was scary how not-angry he sounded as he tried to destroy me.
I jumped backward just as he was clawing at my face. "Dammit, I'm unarmed!" I screamed at him. "Didn't you Sire teach you not to harm an unarmed male, let alone a female?!"
"I've never been much for listening." He said. I blinked and he was behind me. I let my knees go out and rolled backward on the ground between his legs and sprang to my feet.
"You don't understand! I'm not hunting you!" I had to speak as I dodged his lightning fast movements. Why the hell were Strigoii so fast?! "Listen to me! Arael is looking for you!" I saw the pupils of his eyes narrow through their blood red glow. He struck me in the stomach and knocked me backward. When I landed, I touched my face and looked at my paw. He'd hit me so hard I'd coughed up blood.
"You're sick..." Now I could hear pain in his voice. "Arael is dead because of monsters like you!"
I braced myself as he charged at me. As he got to a step before me, I stepped aside and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck as he passed. Because of my looks, I never had to use my enhanced strength, but it never diminished. Easily, I pulled him backward and threw him into the air, then I was behind/above him. I drew my knees into my chest and kicked him back to the ground so hard that he cratered into the rock.
"Just listen to me!" I said as I came back to the ground. "I wouldn't joke around like that. I know who he was to you - who he still is." I was certain the only reason he wasn't attacking was because I'd dazed him.
"How... how would... you know?" he said, getting to his feet again.
"Bacchus, my name is Carmina. I'm Arael's sister." I said, hazarding a step toward the massive wolf. "Yes, he did die, but he came back as a Strigoii. He's somewhere in the city with his friend, the gryphon, waiting for me to help him find you." He looked as if he wouldn't attack, so I stepped within arm's length. "He's been worried sick. I didn't get to talk to him much, but I felt it."
The wolf was almost hyperventilating now.
"Come with me." I said, holding a paw out for him to take. "I'll take you to him."
His eyes looked alive now. Bacchus was beginning to smile. He nodded and reached out and took my paw. "Thank you, little Moroii."
I smirked and turned up my nose. "My frame may be small, but huge things come in small packages." I snickered. "Don't be fooled, I'm like six Jacks in one box."
Bacchus chuckled and nodded. "Yes, dear Carmina. That you are." he said, rubbing the back of his head where he'd landed on it. His voice wasn't cold and dead anymore.
"Come on." I said, jerking my head toward the direction I'd been heading. "Let's get you to Arael. Then we can discuss the new dress you'll be two will be buying me." There was no way in hell I wasn't getting a new one after this one got ruined.
I took a step toward the woods and was met by the end of a Tracker's bow beneath my chin.
"I thought you ssseemed off today, Carmina."
SHIT! This one must have been passing by and heard us. I weighed my odds. With Bacchus on my side, I was sure I could kill him.
"Don't bother. We've got you sssurrounded." The reptile hissed.
Double SHIT! A mind reader. He pushed his bow into me and I backed up to Bacchus, taking his paw. I could feel him tense against me. He was itching to tear them apart.
"Don't." I whispered to him. "There's too many." I could see the others now. They were circling around us, arrows already aimed.
"Carmina, dear. I'm sssure Alextra would have words with you and your abominable friend."
-Arael-
My appreciation for Maxwell had never been greater. He brought me through screaming, destructive hopelessness and self loathing and now we were watching television and knocking back bags of blood. It reminded me of before I had someone to hurt for. They were good times and these were bad, but these times were worth it. Besides, in those times, Maxwell wasn't a vampire.
"Shayne, look." Maxwell said, pointing beneath the curtains. "The sun has set."
"Oh, you're right." I said, sitting up. I'd been lying on the couch with my head in the gryphon's lap. I was at the window drawing back the curtains.
"Did you know you disappear sometimes when you run?" Maxwell asked, moving to the end of the couch behind me to sit on the back of it.
I chuckled, turning around. "I've been working on that for years." I was behind the couch, standing next to him now. "I'm going to change clothes now. We'll go to the forest where Carmina found us. Her scent should still be there, so we'll follow it and meet her. I'm sure she's on her way." Maxwell nodded and I was off to my bedroom, having shed my red suit in the hallway. I could hear Maxwell protesting my sudden nudity.
As I thumbed through my clothes, I speculated on how this would go. If we were after Bacchus, we'd certainly encounter Trackers after him as well. Certainly someone knew by now that I was a Strigoii, so this could get violent even before we found him. Considering all possibilities, I needed to dress so that I couldn't be easily harmed.
In the 1400s, before I was turned, I owned several suits of armor. I'd sense gotten rid of most of their components, but I had the most necessary parts. From the bottom of my closet, I yanked out two steel breastplates and slender legplates - one for me and one for Maxwell. Once mine was secured, I found an old western outfit I'd been in love with at one time. Why not? With a little tweaking, I could work it tonight.
When I was dressed, I looked in the mirror with great approval. My armor was hidden by a black dress shirt and slacks, leather chaps and vest. I tied my hair back with a scrap of the leather fringe from the chaps, letting the white streak hang free, and completed the look with a black cowboy hat. I think I played a villain in a movie once with a look similar to this. I came back out of my room, carrying Maxwell's plate for him.
"Howdy, partner." The gryphon snickered. "What, no spurs?"
"Nope. Spurs are hot, but they're noisy." I said, thrusting the armor into Maxwell's arms. "Go put this on under your clothes. It should keep the Trackers from getting arrows in your chest."
He took the armor and tilted his head a little. "This is kinda light, don't you think?"
I shook my head opening a cabinet in the entertainment center. I took out a pistol belt and answered him as I put it on. "You're not used to your strength yet. Each piece is an inch thick and weighs fifty pounds."
Maxwell nodded, then he was gone.
I fell backward to lie on the couch and wait for Maxwell. I chuckled. Now that we were making moves to find Bacchus, it seemed the pain in my chest was easing. I would do my best to keep realistic. It was likely that we would not find him this particular night, but I couldn't help but feel perhaps too optimistic. Maybe not tonight, but soon I would be with my wolf again. I looked up to the ceiling and smiled at the mural of him above me.
-Bacchus-
I couldn't believe I'd caused this. Honestly, what was so wrong with dying and coming back if I was immortal?
We were brought before the lead Tracker, known as Alextra, and sentenced. Both of us would die.
Her exact words were:
"Carmina, dear, you were my favorite. You'd shown so much promise, but to be found not only speaking with an abomination, but also aiding it in its personal affairs is unthinkable. I suppose I'll find a new favorite. I sentence you (was she a judge or something?) to death. You shall both see the sunrise once more."
After that, we were thrown in this fucking cell... I'd wanted to tear a path through them, to at least get Carmina out of there. She didn't deserve to die because of the misfortune that seemed to follow me.
For every bit of good that comes to me, I've always gotten twice as much bad. It was why I hunted Moroii. If I was going to be kicked in the nuts by Fate, I'd give it a reason. I guess this will be the last kick for me. At least I knew my Arael was safe. I hope he didn't feel the same pain I did when I thought he'd left me.
I ran my paws up and down the bars. I could easily bend and break them, but Carmina had forbidden me. It was as if she'd given up. Had she? I would not believe that. The little vampire girl I'd fought in the woods was not a quitter. But what if she had...?
"You doubt me, don't you?"
Her words shook me. She'd been quiet since we were thrown in here. I moved to sit next to her, enjoying my speed for what appeared would be the last night. "I can't help it. You won't let me bust us out of here or at least get you out."
"There is no sense in getting us killed any sooner than is necessary." She said, not looking up from the floor. "I have faith in my brother and his friend." Now she looked to me. "You should, too."
"I do, but I'm a realist. We're in a cell, scheduled to be executed at dawn, which is about eleven hours away." I said. She rested her head on my arm, my shoulder being too high.
"I am as well, Bacchus. I know it seems hopeless right now - hell, it may be - but even if we are killed here, I know one thing for certain."
I tilted my head a little. "And that is, little Moroii?"
She sighed. "That Arael is emotionally driven. If we die here, I promise you everyone else here will perish as well." She looked up to me again. "And sunlight would be a peaceful death to them." I opened my mouth to speak, but she continued, changing the subject. "Did you know that there's a soul-deep connection between a Tracker and her bow?"
I couldn't listen. I would spend my last hours thinking of Arael.