The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith (45 page)

Gareth drew in a deep breath and addressed the senator. "Take her
and leave." He turned around quickly and disappeared into the wrecked
heart of the castle.

Senator Clark staggered to his feet. The vampire had had him at his
mercy and failed to follow through. Instead, the vermin had returned to
feed on the princess. Typical cowardly beast. Straightening, he pulled
his pistol from his holster. He debated going after the creature and
making it pay, but Adele caught his attention. She was trying to crawl
to the castle door, toward what she perceived was shelter. He adjusted
the filter on his goggles because Adele appeared in a whitish glow,
which was not natural for humans. The mask must have been damaged
in the fight.

"Easy now, darling. I've got you." Clark's voice came thick and muffled from behind the gas mask as he gathered up the princess in his arms.
"I'm taking you home."

Senator Clark raced for Ranger. Adele's head lolled against his
shoulder. His troopers were scattered about the castle, searching for the
very thing he had cradled in his arms. As he neared his ship, the crewall glowing proper human red-smartly ceased their fire and a bugle
sounded recall.

A blue shape landed effortlessly in front of Clark, interrupting his
daydream of a successful hero's return. The vampire soldier straightened
its tall frame with a cruel smile and even had the audacity to hiss at him. Clark never even heard the second vampire swoop down on him, its
claws ripping into his shoulders. He was lifted off his feet and lost his
grip on Adele. He swung his pistol and fired wildly above him. The
lithe female vampire tossed him forty feet to the side.

Clark tumbled halfway over the precarious edge of the battlement.
Even as he clutched at the stones for his life, he snapped his head wildly
about, searching for Adele. He saw her in the grip of a slim male vampire who dragged her toward the decrepit bloodmen ship. Clark scrambled back onto the rampart of the decaying castle, but he knew he would
never make it in time to rescue Adele. He shouted in rage as the sails of
the enemy ship gathered wind. He would break his gunners for not
turning the vampire ship into unflyable kindling.

At the same instant, Flay bulleted toward Ranger, easily eluding the
regrouping commandos as they converged on the drop lines hanging
beneath the frigate. She settled aloft to shatter some of the ship's spars.
She propelled off a mast and ascended, raking billowing sails with her
clawed hands, leaving them fluttering loose in the wind.

"Kill it!" screamed Clark, dragging his mask from his face as he
limped toward his ship. "Blast it out of the sky!"

His answer was a volley erupting from multiple barrels in a cloud of
green smoke. Flay glided from the airship's rigging into the open air as
bullets whipped around her. Some troopers heard her laughing over the
sound of the gunfire. She spiraled away from Ranger as the crew made
the crippled ship ready for a desperate launch.

The princess was thrown at Cesare's feet on the deck of the
bloodmen airship. It didn't matter to the prince if she was alive or dead.
He was pleased enough with the victory. He was going to win, despite
Clark the great human vampire killer, despite the human hero named
Greyfriar, and despite his treacherous brother.

As the bloodmen ship rose into the twilight sky, a streak of grey and
steel flashed across the battlements. Greyfriar leapt from a crumbling
tower in a desperate grab for a trailing mooring rope.

Flay approached the bloodmen vessel and actually paused in midair,
staring in disbelief at the figure dangling from the airship. Her face
grew sharp and hard. Her eyes slitted with hate. She gathered speed and flew at Greyfriar. Incredibly, even while flailing on a wind-blown rope,
he pulled a pistol and took a shot. She eluded it all too easily and came
in like a banshee, raking him across the shoulder and back. The sheer
force of her attack knocked the pistol from his hand and almost made
him lose his grip on the line.

Greyfriar immediately drew his sword, but he was in an awkward
position. Flay took full advantage of that, her clawlike hands ripping as
she darted past him. Her delighted laughter flashed loud and then faded
as she flitted in and out of range. He couldn't release and meet her in
battle. His burden of arms would slow him down, and he would lose the
ship, and lose Adele. If the princess returned to Cesare's domain, she
would never be seen alive again.

Flay arced against the skyline as she turned, and Greyfriar let his
sword droop as if he were near defeat, as any human would be with his
terrible injuries. With a smirk of glee she dove for the kill, hands raised,
claws dripping. When she came into reach, he swung the blade up, a
solid strike, slicing her from hip to shoulder. Flay screeched. The blow
sent her tumbling, screeching with her hand tightly pressed to her
blood-drenched chest. She bolted up to the airship.

Adele watched Flay land on the deck and stagger as if badly hurt. It
struck Adele as odd that the first thing the war chief did was seize the lashed
end of a mooring rope that dangled off the side and begin to shred it with her
claws. The sheer peculiarity of it compelled Adele to struggle to the rail and
look over. She saw Greyfriar trailing far below, climbing as fast as he could.

The sight of Greyfriar spawned a surge of warmth spreading
through Adele, similar to the Canterbury swell she remembered so
fondly. The uncanny wave of comfort banished her pain and numbness,
filling her with a euphoric strength that let her focus on action. She was
shocked to realize her Fahrenheit blade was still in her belt. Cesare was
too vain to search her, and the bloodmen were incapable of action
without direct orders. With fingers tight about the hilt of the dagger,
she straightened on unsteady legs. Then she shoved off and catapulted
herself blade first at Flay, and the khukri sunk deep. Flay's snakish eyes
dilated from the damage and darted to Adele. One claw slammed the
princess back to the deck.

Adele cried out as darkness closed in. Pain flared in every nerve. She
struggled to hold onto consciousness because Gareth needed her. As the
war chief reached down for her, Adele threw all her strength into the sizzling blade and plunged it into Flay's throat.

The vampire staggered back, and blood gushed through her sharp
fingers. Adele knew she wasn't strong enough for this fight, but she had
to buy Gareth time. She struggled to her knees. Flay seized her by the
neck, trying to throttle the remaining life out of her even as the vampire screamed from the touch. Adele didn't even try to grab Flay. Instead
her instinct for survival directed her hand to the cross she had rescued
from the dust in Greyfriar's Kirk.

Through her spiderwebbing vision, Adele looped the cross around
Flay's neck with a fervent prayer on her lips. The princess felt a spreading
warmth bringing strength and comfort while Flay screeched in pain. The
vampire released the young girl and slammed against the side of the ship,
frantically tearing at the object encircling her. Adele put her booted foot
against Flay and shoved the vampire over the rail. Then the young woman
collapsed across the gunwale, watching the vile Flay plummet like a rock
and disappear screaming into the clouds below.

Then Adele's gaze drifted to Greyfriar, just below her. She grabbed
the end of the rope just as it snapped.

"Don't let go!" Gareth shouted. "I can't keep up with you."

The hard cord sliced Adele's hands. The pain awakened her lagging
senses, but it didn't give her any strength. She was going to lose him.
Fresh blood welled from her hands and made the rope even slicker. She
cast about for anything to assist her. All she saw was the bloodmen crew.

"Help me!" she pleaded. Surely there must be some sliver of humanity in them. But they merely gaped at her before returning to their
duties.

A dark shape slithered on the deck behind her, its shadow crossing
her.

Cesare.

He snarled and grabbed Adele, throwing her to the deck. He ripped
the rope away from her and tossed it over the side.

"No!" she screamed, scrabbling futilely after the vanished rope.

Cesare regarded her emotional outburst for a rope with confusion.
He peered over the side. A sword flashed upward and pierced his chest.
Cesare fell back, stunned at the weapon protruding from his flesh.

Gareth struggled with one hand to gain purchase on the rail. His
wounds were severe, and he had lost a great deal of blood. He was weak,
unsure if he could climb the rest of the way up.

But suddenly Adele was there, reaching down with her good arm,
desperate with hope. "Hurry!"

Gareth didn't hesitate, grasping her offered hand and lifting himself
onto the deck. He climbed to unsteady feet as Adele slumped to the
deck, her reserves finally spent.

Cesare yanked the blade from his chest. He saw no vampires around.
None of the Pale had survived the American attack. Cesare screamed to
the human drones about him, pointing at Adele and Greyfriar, "Kill
them! Kill them now!"

They obeyed: no thought, no reason. They attacked as a surging
mob.

Greyfriar didn't want to kill these humans, but he had no choice.
Nothing must stop him. Adele must survive. Blood, flesh, and steel rose
in the air until abruptly there was stillness, with only Greyfriar
standing, drenched in the blood of the newly dead. Cesare stared in
horror. He was alone now.

Cesare was wounded, but Greyfriar was worse. With a bellowing
roar, Cesare charged his enemy.

He had never fought a human with such strength and quickness.
Greyfriar dodged slash after slash of Cesare's claws. The human's forearm
slammed into Cesare's stomach, doubling him over. Cesare righted himself with a wicked slash at Greyfriar's face. The human warrior dodged,
and the claws ripped into his chest instead, staggering him. Vampire
reflexes saved Cesare a nasty riposte of Greyfriar's blade. The human just
kept coming, no matter what damage Cesare inflicted. Blood flowed from
both of them, both scarlet in color, both a sign of their dwindling life.

The unmanned airship floundered in the wind, pitching to the side.
The weakened Cesare dropped against the bulwark hard. He glanced at
Adele. He needed only a moment to feed from her to regain the advan tage. He started to scramble to his feet, but the shadow of Greyfriar
came over him with blade raised for a killing stroke. Gareth was free to
put an end to his brother's life, but he stepped back, his blade dropping.

"Go," Greyfriar said wearily. "Go now and you'll live."

Cesare stared, dumfounded. He contemplated taking advantage of
the human's foolishness. But he was rational enough to know he didn't
have the upper hand; it wasn't a sure kill. And Cesare never fought
unless he believed he had a sure kill. Better to wait and fight again. And
if this Greyfriar was giving him that opportunity, so be it.

Cesare sneered. The human called the Greyfriar was weak. He had
the vampire prince at his mercy, but he couldn't bring himself to kill.
The fool! Cesare decided he didn't need Adele after all. The die was cast
thanks to the aggression of the humans, particularly Senator Clark
striking the vampire homeland on three different occasions. The clan
was Cesare's for the taking. The war would go forward with or without
the wretched princess. Cesare leapt into the air, letting the air currents
take him far out of the human's reach.

Gareth watched his brother flee. Adele struggled to stand beside
him.

"Why didn't you kill him?" she asked, grasping Gareth's arm as the
ship pitched again with a gust of wind.

"I won't kill Cesare as a human. When I kill him, I'll do it with my
hands." Gareth slipped to one knee. Adele sank down with him. "And I
can't move another step."

Adele squeezed his arm, offering her own dwindling strength. She
understood. This was more than a battle between families; it was a battle
between nations. When the time came, all of his kind would have to
know that it was Prince Gareth who challenged their vile traditions.
Then it would shake the vampire nation to its core and give it a chance
to become something more. Killing Cesare as Greyfriar would only fuel
the war between humans and vampires, not end it.

Gareth gripped her hand lightly and gazed at her. "You're alive."

"I've been better." Adele tried to smile wanly. "But I think I'll survive. A few of Morgana's meals and I'll be fine."

Gareth searched out his brother's diminishing form, and then he gazed in the other direction. The sails of Ranger were visible aft. The
frigate was catching the foundering wreck of an airship.

"No," he said. "You have to go home." Gareth stood, pulling Adele
up with him.

Adele turned to watch Ranger draw close. Her face drained of the
exhilaration of victory. She exhaled and dropped her head in defeat as
boarding hooks slammed against the rails.

Senator Clark swung across with a team of commandos, all flashing
saber and revolver, white cowboy hat trailing behind. Gareth tensed for
the fight. Senator Clark reached out and grasped Gareth's hand gratefully, shaking it with pride.

"The Greyfriar, I presume! I'm Senator Clark. Thank you for your
help, sir. We got the devils on the run!"

"And the princess is safe," Gareth noted.

"Yes, yes!" Senator Clark turned to Adele. "Thank heaven for that."
He pulled the fragile girl into his steely arms and delivered a powerful
kiss on the blood-caked face of his future bride.

Adele grimaced as Clark's passion aggravated her wounds and his
beard scraped her face. She fought not to squirm, and her return kiss was
just above catatonic.

Clark immediately pulled back. "You were lucky, my dear, that you
were not more seriously hurt when that filthy vampire used you as a
shield."

Adele's eyes sought out Gareth's, but he had turned away.