The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (24 page)

“Why are you following me?” I asked him, as I
leaned back against the door. He didn't say anything, at first, but
stood there instead. “Creolas, are you feeling well?”

He smiled, which made me think he had
something up his sleeve, but as he stepped closer to me, trapping
me against the door, he placed a hand on my neck, and the other on
the door, holding it shut.

“Could you, please, answer me?” I asked,
quietly. “You're starting to scare me?”

“Don't be scared.” He whispered softly, as
those red eyes came closer. My body started to shake as his lips,
missing mine, began to kiss my cheek, so softly it felt like the
wind caressing my skin. I closed my eyes, letting the feel of his
lips on my skin take over.

I reached my hands up and placed them on his
waist, gripping his shirt between my fists. I could feel his chest
rising and falling as his breathing became heavier, and then he put
his forehead against the side of my head, with his lips close to my
ears.

“I love you.” He whispered, sweetly, which
made my heart skip a beat and the grip on his clothes grow tighter.
“I have for a very long time and I can't change it, so I probably
always will.”

“Creolas...” His finger pressed against my
lips, stopping me from finishing.

“I know you don't remember, and I know that
you don't feel the same, but that doesn't change how I feel and I
have to ask you one thing before this begins.”

He backed away and looked me in the eyes as I
glanced up at him. I could see the desperate pleading in his eyes,
and on his face, as he stood there, not more than five inches from
my face.

“What's the matter? You look...”

“Desperate?” He asked, cutting me off.

“I was going to say that you looked sad, but
desperate might describe it better.” I replied, smirking, but that
soon faded as I continued to look at him. “Tell me what's wrong,
please.”

“Caitlyn,” his voice was so soft; it made me
shake inside with a strange wanting that I couldn't explain, “I'm
begging you to leave here.”

“I can't.” It was the only response I
had.

“Think about your son. Do you want him to be
like you; without a mother?” His words stung my heart, but I felt I
had to block it out, to harden my feelings against that kind of
pain. “If you love Damien, and I know you do, leave this place and
never look back, not to Julian, or Nick, or me.”

“You're asking me for something I can't do.”
I told him and watched that sadness spread to his eyes, making them
hard and angry again. Something I had just promised Michael I
wouldn't let happen.

His lips moved, as if he were about to say
something, but the words never came out; instead, his lips captured
mine in a kiss that was so full of heat and passion, I wanted to
totally abandon everything and try to fall in love with him again,
but that thought made me think of Julian, and thinking of him made
me remember the approaching danger.

“Creolas,” I said, pushing him away, “stop,
please, I have to go.” He backed up as I reached for the door
handle and pulled on the door. “I'm sorry, but I have to go.”

“Wait.” He whispered, blocking my way out.
“Before you go, I'm not sure if I'm going to be here when this is
over, but know one thing before we part ways.” I closed my eyes as
I felt his breath against my ear. “I've never meant to hurt you,
ever, I only wanted you to be safe. Please, forgive me for what I
did to you.”

“I already have.” I told him, and then
slipped out the door, leaving him standing in the dimly lit
room.

19

Julian was standing out at the shoreline when
I walked up from his right, looking at the approaching clouds. He
glanced over at me, then back as Nick came up on his left.

“So, the three of us are here.” Nick said,
smartly. “And, we still don't know about the fourth person. What do
we do?”

“Face him.” I replied and watched as the two
of them turned towards me. “The prophecy says that the soul is
‘found’, meaning that it will show up during battle.” I turned and
looked at them. “I hope.”

“Well, I guess we don't have a say in it.”
Julian pointed out. “Here he comes.”

The three of us stepped into the three
circles that seemed to be imprinted on the grass. It felt like
something so natural, the way we stood, each of us with our own
element. Nick's earth brown eyes to the north, Julian's sea green
ones to his right at the west, and me, to the east, as air. The
only thing that seemed to be missing was the fire, the southern
direction, which Klamara was coming at us from.

“Get ready.” Julian yelled and I watched the
two men stand ready, but my heart was beating too fast to do
anything but stand there and stare out at the clouds that seemed to
be engulfing us.

As if he were something out of a monster
movie, Klamara stepped out of the clouds and stopped right in front
of us. He turned and looked at me, appearing just the same way he
had when I saw him in my memory.

“I have come for you, Child.” He spoke, his
voice boomed out at me.

“I will not leave this place.” I told him,
standing firm. “Not without a fight.”

“It is useless to fight. You will only kill
your friends in a process that will still end in your death.”

“This ends now, Klamara!” I watched him stop
and looked at me, in shock, and then he smiled.

“You know who I am?”

“I know everything about you and your
family.” I answered.

“This will not save you.” He moved closer and
I watched Nick, who seemed ready to pounce, grow anxious in his
spot. I raised my hand, slightly, and watched him relaxed a bit.
“You will join the others damned by the betrayal of my wife, in the
depths of hell where you belong.”

“I don't think so.” I backed up a bit and
pulled out a stone from my pocket. It was something that Creolas
had slipped in when he was close to me. Written on it was an
incantation, a protection spell, which seemed to make it impossible
from him to step into the circle.

He smiled at me, stopping at the edge, and
then I watched his gaze turn towards the other two boys that stood
there and I knew exactly what he was going to do, hurt them to get
to me.

My mind raced as he set his eyes on Julian.
Why wasn't this working? Why couldn't we do anything to stop him? I
began to panic as I watched, helplessly, inside the circle, as he
lifted Julian, with a flick of his wrist, turned him upside down in
the air, thirty feet off the ground, and let him drop.

Julian, who had struggled with him the entire
time, which felt like only a spilt second, was now lying motionless
on the grass. I moved to go to him, but Nick's mental voice stopped
me.

No, stay in the circle. He wants you to step
out of the protections of its boundaries. I looked over at Nick,
who was staring at me. Julian’s fine, just unconscious.

Suddenly, as if Klamara had been listening
in, I watched him turn to Nick, lift a hand as if it were at his
throat, and close his fingers as Nick grasped at his neck, making a
horrible chocking sound as he was forced, by some invisible power,
to his knees, while gasping for air.

It wasn't that he could kill him by choking
him, but I watched the sharp stick floating closer to him and that
scared me.

“No!” I screamed, trying desperately to stay
in the circle as the stick pressed against Nick's chest, slowly,
puncturing the skin over his heart.

“Leave my brother alone!” A voice screamed
behind Klamara, who turned to look at Creolas, and the sword that
he held, ready to swing, as he snarled at the man. Klamara smiled
and pressed harder with his hand, making the stick bury itself
deeper. Nick suppressed the urge to scream, as his hands clutched
at the stick, but I could see the pain in his eyes. “I said, leave
him alone!”

Creolas stepped into the red fog that seemed
to surround Klamara and attacked him with the sword. It sounded
like steal clashing but I was unable to see anything, until the
dark shape of a body flew out in my direction.

Creolas landed flat on his back in the circle
I stood in and I knelt down beside him, staring at the sword that
protruded from his abdomen.

“This is all wrong!” I sighed as I picked his
head up and set it on my lap. “It isn't supposed to be this way.
You're the fourth, the soul with the true powers.” I felt the tears
coming down my cheeks. “You weren't supposed to get hurt.”

“Cait.” He whispered, opening his eyes,
slowly, as he reached up and took my hand. It was then, as he
stared at me, that I noticed the color of his eyes. They were a
deep midnight blue, a color that I had only seen for an instant
that one other time. This time, though, they didn't change back to
the familiar red color I was used to. “You have to fight.”

“But, I'm afraid.” I answered, stroking his
hair, gently, hair that was growing darker by the minute. “You're
changing.”

“You're the soul, the one with the true
powers.” He inhaled deeply, and then put my hand on the sword.
“Take it, use it to fight, destroy him because you are what he
desires, what his evil has come for.”

“I know, but how do I fight something like
that?” I asked and watched his eyes as they slowly closed.
“Creolas?” I asked as he lay there, motionless, in my arms.
“Please, don't die.”

“There's no one left to protect you, Child.
What are you going to do now?” Klamara asked cruelly. I looked up
at him, slipping out from under Creolas. My heartbeat slowed as I
calmed myself. Gently, I reached down and pulled the sword from
Creolas, then, grasping it tightly in my hands, I turned back to
face Klamara once again.

“I have nothing else to lose.” I whispered,
looking at the three lifeless forms lying on the ground around me.
“Deep inside, my heart is breaking but I refuse to give up and
surrender to you. You're going to have to kill me.”

“It will be my pleasure.” He smiled at me.
What was I doing?

“Get ready for the fight of your life.” I
whispered to myself as I stepped out of the circle and into the fog
that surrounded my adversary.

It seemed that the world had stopped. There
was no sound anywhere. Nothing but dead silence as I watched him
come closer.

* * * * *

I felt hands on my shoulders as my body began
to shake when I heard a voice speak up.

“I'll take over.” Julian said, snapping me
out of the trance I seemed to have fallen into. I nodded; hugging
myself as I shook, then I looked from Julian to the ground in front
of me. “We didn't see her step in, all we saw was the blue light
that broke through.”

* * * * *

I opened my eyes, still feeling the crushing
blow that my chest had taken, hitting the ground, and I looked up
at the clouds that surrounded Klamara. Strange blue beams of light
were breaking down the red fog, like glass cracking, and it seemed
to be spreading like wild fire.

To my right, Nick was slowly getting to his
feet, and I watched as he pulled the sharp stick that was lodged
between his ribs from his body and toss it on the ground. He looked
at me, a bit weak and nodded, letting me know that, over all, he
was fine, but it was the dark haired man in the third circle that
made us move from where we stood.

At first we didn't recognize Creolas; after
all, it had been a little less than 200 years since we had seen him
look so human. Any trace of his first encounter with Klamara was
gone, and only the man remained, though we were sure he was still a
vampire.

Nick checked him over; making sure that the
wound had healed. As we watched, Creolas opened his eyes and sat
up, staring in awe at the spectacle that was taking place.

“She's in there,” he whispered, “fighting for
her life.”

Suddenly, we heard a voice coming from the
fog. It sounded like a million different people all talking at once
but the booming voice, the one clearest to us, was Caitlyn’s.

“Over time and space, through centuries,
unnumbered, our knowledge has been passed from one host to another.
In times of crisis, when we are in need, our knowledge is power,
and I hold the key.”

I watched the red fog explode with blue
light, making it thin then disappear all together, leaving nothing
but Klamara and Caitlyn standing there facing one another, with
Caitlyn's sword thrust into his heart. She glared at him with
glowing blue eyes.

“The fiery Hell you're so fond of speaking of
belongs to you and you alone.” She told him, still speaking with
the many voices. “Go there and reign for eternity.”

Caitlyn removed the sword and we watched,
with fascination as Klamara's body began to crumble to dust and
blow away with the wind. It wasn't over; Caitlyn dropped the sword
and stepped back, further away from us, as the blue light began to
gather around her once again. She surrendered to it, as it lifted
her off the ground, with her arms wide, and her eyes closed. It
seemed to suspend her there, with angel wings of blue light, and
then we noticed the little balls of flashing silver that one by one
escaped from her body, as if she had taken all of Klamara's victims
into herself and was now letting them go.

As they began to disappear, the blue light
faded and Creolas, who moved while we watched, stood beneath
Caitlyn as she was slowly lowered to the ground. He held her
against him as he stepped away from the circles, then gently knelt
down on the ground with her curled up on his lap.

We watched as she opened her eyes, reached up
a hand, touching Creolas on the face, then she smiled.

“So this is you.” She whispered, and then
looked at the two of us. “It's over, isn't it?”

“Yes, it's over. You won.” I told her,
kissing her forehead. “Close your eyes and rest now.”

Without a word, she closed her eyes and fell
into a deep sleep for the next eight hours.