Okay I'm back and I know this one took me a little bit longer then the other ones did, but did you honestly expect me to keep pumping these out every day? This installment was just short of being cursed. It took me forever to start it, forever to write any of it and forever to finish it. Yeesh. Anyway, it's out now and that's all that matters. I'm pretty sure the next installment should be easier to write, but not sure when it's going to be out.
The thank you part. Thanks to LHW, Aeoros, Kenitra, Aphrodite, Di, Matt, and Keif. Once again I feel like I'm leaving someone out. Anyway thanks to everyone who e- mailed me. I love hearing from you guys and I do respond to the e-mails. I try to do it as quickly as possible for two reasons. One is that I might get another response back then (I'm an e-mail junkie. I make no excuses for that). The other reason is that if I leave them too long I might forget if I've responded to it or not, and that's bad. So e-mail me with your comments, your likes, dislikes and whatnot. Mist_dark@hotmail.com
Legal part here. This story isn't suppose to imply anything about the members of Nsync. If they're gay that's their business, not mine. Parts of this story are based on the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Palladium books and Kevin Siembieda. If you're too young, or it's illegal in your area please leave now. If homosexual themes offend you, please leave as well.
Anyway, enough talk for the moment. Enjoy the story and let me know what you think.
Until next time, Rune
PART TWELVE
Sleep came slowly to Lance. Since he had come to stay with Selvar he had had to change his sleeping schedule. Selvar was most active during the night, the sun didn't agree with his skin. Maria for obvious reasons couldn't venture into the light of day either. So to be more agreeable with his hosts, Lance swapped his sleeping schedule from morning to night. It was difficult, but he managed to do it. This, however, wasn't the only thing keeping him awake. Cro wasn't helping matters at all. The book was constantly chatting with him. Eventually Lance drifted towards his room, but Cro decided to follow. It soon became apparent that the book wasn't going to be quiet anytime soon, so he simply began undressing for bed. He slipped under the covers and tried to block the noise out. His hopes were dashed.
"Are you trying to ignore me?" Cro asked.
Lance shot up in bed and looked at the book across the room. "You're a telepath?"
"Yep," Cro said smugly into Lance's mind. "I've many talents. It's one of the abilities that was bestowed when I became this book."
Sighing Lance collapsed back into bed. Cro began his chatter again and Lance began to block it out. Eventually the books chatter became complete background noise. Sleep was not to be denied and even quiet hum of Cro's story in Lance's mind was ignored.
Lance rarely remembered his dreams, and when he did they were generally vague. The odd time that he remembered his dreams he experienced them first hand. This dream was different. He was watching it as if he were only a visitor and not the dreamer. Another oddity about his dreams was that he could think rationally. He was never overwhelmed by panic. He felt fear, but never true panic.
Oddly enough he managed to watch the vision with little response. He was shocked that he was seeing his friends killed before him, but deep down he knew it was a dream and that it wasn't real. His suspicions were confirmed when the shadowy man told him that these were only possibilities of what was to come. Even his own death hadn't bothered him too much at the time. He had thought this slightly strange when he saw himself run through, but dismissed it. His later dreams proved that he was more bothered then he first appeared.
In one of his later dreams he sat near the fire in his room reading a thick book, like he had in his dream. Again he watched this dream as if a spectator. He was completely engrossed in the book. Lance doubted that anything short of an explosion would tear his attention away from the book. As a result he didn't notice the man emerge from the shadows. Lance had seen all this before. He also recognized the man as the one that had tried to kill him a few days before. According to his shadowy guide the man was the Green Acolyte. That was when Lance realized this wasn't the vision he had seen earlier. The guide wasn't anywhere to be seen.
He shook his head and focused on the scene unfolding before him. Green pulled a silvery sword from his robe and stalked toward Lance as he sat reading in his chair. The man didn't notice the tiny symbols drawn all over the floor in a circle around the chair. As he crossed over them Lance's head shot up from his reading. Lance leapt out of the chair and spun to face Green.
Green smiled and said something that Lance couldn't hear from his viewpoint from the shadows. The Acolyte gestured with his sword and moved toward Lance. He lunged forward trying to catch the blonde off guard. Lance spun sideways and slapped at the man's wrist with the book. Green dropped to a crouch to avoid being disarmed and flicked his blade upward. The tip of the blade nicked Lance's wrist. The blonde gasped and dropped the book. Green kicked the book into the fire before spinning out of his crouch to a stand position. The book slid into the flames but didn't burn.
Lance watched from the shadows as Green cornered him. The Acolyte forced him against the wall and laughed at him. Lance watched as the man's arm moved backward and then rushed forward. He watched as the sword punched into his stomach and saw where it came out his back. He saw the look of shock on his face as he slumped to the floor, sliding off the blade. And he watched as his blood pooled around him. All of this was difficult to watch, but what horrified him was what came next.
Green sheathed his sword and pulled a knife from his robes. He knelt next to Lance's cooling body and began to dismember it. He severed the arms at the shoulders, the legs at the hip, the head at the neck. Once he had that done, he moved to cut the hands at the wrists and the feet at the ankles. When it was all finished he put the body back together like some sort of perverse puzzle. Smiling to himself Green stood and vanished in a flash of light.
Lance sat up in bed, covered in sweat. It took him several minutes to get his breathing under control. Once he did, he slid out of bed and padded over to the window and pulled back the curtains. He winced at the bright light that that came through. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was shining very brightly into his room through the crack he'd made in the curtains. He sighed and tied the curtains back to let the sun filter into the room. Blinking back the pain caused by the light he made his way to his wardrobe and selected one of his robes to wear for the day. He knew it would be several hours before Maria was awake, so he couldn't talk to her, he'd probably just tour the grounds to clear his head.
The dream bothered him. Not because he had died in it, he'd had dreams like that before. But that it had been so vivid and that he had been so cold toward what had happened. It wasn't every day that he had a dream where he was not only killed, but also dismembered. He shouldn't be able to brush off things like that so easily.
Lance didn't notice a pale blonde woman in a gray robe skulking behind him at a respectable distance as he walked through the halls on the way to the courtyard. On the way there he passed the occasional skeleton doing various chores. It amused him to no end to see a skeleton dusting. He momentarily considered asking Selvar to give the skeletons uniforms, but decided against it. There is no way he would have gotten any work done if he was constantly looking for a skeleton in French maid outfit.
"Yes, I'm sure that they're going to be moving shortly," Arvia snapped. "I touched Lance's mind. He's had a vision of sorts. I'm assuming that the others have as well."
"Don't take that tone with me," Red replied calmly. "It is not your place to do so."
Arvia bowed her head slightly. "I apologize my lord. It won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't," Red said smoothly. "What information did you gather from touching Lance's mind?"
"His companions were killed in the vision by the Acolytes," Arvia said with her head still bowed. "The dream guide told them that they were to go to England, where Lance is."
"I see," Red said quietly. "Did you by chance find out exactly who sent those visions?"
"Yes," Arvia said. "Karr was the one who placed the vision. Damek was the one who put the vision together."
Red nodded. "Very good Arvia. You do show potential." He smiled as he caught the look of pride on the woman's face. "However, it took you far to long to collect this information. I should have known about the vision the moment that Karr and his siblings hatched the plot. You do realize I can't continue to accept these failures."
Arvia's head snapped up. "My lord, surely you don't mean."
"What I may or may not mean is irrelevant. You should be most concerned with pleasing me. I do not appreciate priestesses that don't fulfil their duties." He arched an eyebrow at Arvia. "Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
"I'm not sure I really like this," Evelyn said. She folded a few more clothes and placed them in the pack. "I know that your dreams were visions, but I'm not sure about the source. Or rather if we can trust the source."
"I'm kind of nervous too," Joey admitted. "But when I was talking with Daryl, he said that a message would be coming and that we should trust it."
Evelyn flinched at her son's name, but didn't react beyond that. "I'm still not completely comfortable with the concept of just picking up and going to England."
"You don't have to come with us," Chris said. "That sounds rude, but it's not meant to be. I mean you've done so much for us already."
"You don't seriously think I'd let you two go off by yourselves?" Evelyn laughed. "Neither of you are experienced enough to go about by yourselves. Besides, you'd get captured, or killed, or eaten, or lost before you went ten feet. You have difficulty finding the well Christopher. How in the world to you expect to find England?"
"Hey," Chris said. "I can too find the well. Besides I'd have Joey with me."
"Joseph?" Evelyn scoffed with a twinkle in her eye. "Are we talking about the same Joseph that was convinced North was that way?" Evelyn asked as she pointed south.
"That's south Evelyn," Joey smirked. "Everyone knows that."
"Apparently you didn't when you went looking for that clearing," Evelyn pointed out. "Besides, I don't mind traveling. I just wish I knew we weren't walking into a trap. Have either of you seen or heard of these Acolytes?"
Both Chris and Joey shook their heads. "Nope," Joey said. "Daryl didn't say anything about them when I talked to him. And I haven't had any other dreams about them."
"Well," Evelyn said. "I guess if it's a trap, we spring it." She closed her pack and set it beside the others that she had already packed. "It'd still be nice to know that this whole thing isn't a coincidence."
"Um, I think I can help you with that Evelyn," Chris said from his seat near the window. "I believe we have company."
Evelyn moved toward the window. A blue robed woman was standing in the middle of the yard. She hovered a foot of the ground, keeping her robe just off the mud that the spring had created.
"I'm going to make this simple," the woman called. "In the name of the Acolytes I will destroy you."
"Pleasant woman," Chris muttered. "Wonder if she's just going to shout at us all day."
The front door was suddenly ripped of its hinges. It landed at the woman's feet. "I am not in the mood to play games. I am a busy woman and I will destroy you before the hour is out."
Evelyn sighed. "Get our things. We may be able to slip out the back without her noticing us."
"I don't know," Joey said pointing outside. "She'll probably be able to see behind the house now." The woman had risen higher into the air. She was now floating high enough that she should be able to see behind the cabin.
"Well that complicates matters," Evelyn muttered.
The floating woman was knocked out of the sky without warning. She tumbled to the ground and landed in one of the few remaining snow banks. She was so shocked she didn't even try to stop her fall.
"Whoa, what happened?" Chris asked.
A moment later he got his answer. The woman was pulling herself to her feet when the air began to shimmer in various places around her. The air turned misty for a moment and became solid. Five humanoid shapes appeared around her. Each of them was identical and each had glowing yellow eyes.
"They look pissed," Joey commented.
"Joseph," Evelyn warned. "Language."
"Sorry."
"Go now," a voice whispered. "Must go now. Brothers not able to stop her long."
"Who?" Chris turned from the window. In the middle of the room was a small whirlwind with yellow eyes in the middle. "What is that?" He asked as the whirlwind dissipated leaving only the eyes behind. A second later they vanished as well.
"An air elemental," Evelyn said. "And I have to agree with it. Those other elementals aren't going to hold her off for long. Let's get out of here." She gave each of them a pack and moved toward the back of the cabin. She pushed open the back door and ushered everyone out. "I've a boat that I use for trips into the city at the river. It's a few hours from here."
"I don't know how quickly we can move in this stuff," Joey said pointing to the slush, mud and remaining snow.
"Under other circumstances I'd say we'd live," Evelyn said. "Under these ones I'm suggesting we move a lot faster." The three of them rose two feet of the ground. "We'll move much faster this way, and it'll be harder to track us."
"Is this safe?" Chris asked worriedly.
"Perfectly," Evelyn said absently. The three of them shot forward into the surrounding forest. "Christopher," she said. "If you wouldn't mind keeping it down."
"Sorry," Chris said meekly. He let out a small shriek as they zipped around a tree. "I'm just not used to moving like this. I'll try to keep it down." He clasped both hands over his mouth to muffle any further cries.
"Thank you," Evelyn said as she maneuvered them around a few more trees. Chris didn't reply, he just nodded his head and shut his eyes.
"Josh, it's not that I don't believe you," Erastus said. "I do believe you saw what you say you say. However, I don't think it's the best choice to simply pack up and head for England at a moment's notice."
"Why not?" Josh asked. They'd been arguing this point for hours and it was starting to get to both of them. "You believe me that I had that dream, why don't you believe me when I say that I have to go to England?"
"Dreams can be faked Josh," Erastus told him. "I believe that you had your dream, that much is certain. I don't believe that it wasn't tampered with. If you know what you're doing creating a dream like that is child's play. I can't do it, but I've known people that could."
"So my dream was a fake?" Josh asked. "So what? I still want to go to England. Even if it's not real, Lance might be there. I want to know if my friends are still alive."
"Regardless of whether or not Lance is in England, it might be a trap." Erastus said. "Ivar put you under my protection and I have no intentions of allowing you to walk into a trap."
"Isn't that my choice to make?" Josh snapped. "If I want to go to England what's there to stop me?"
"Me for one," Erastus replied. "It's fairly simple Josh. I don't think that going to England is the best of ideas. Particularly just because you had a dream. You aren't strong enough to defend yourself the trip by yourself. So you can't go anywhere without me, if you hope to get there alive that is. At this point in time I see no need to go, which means you can't go either."
"You're treating me like I'm a child," Josh snapped.
"Perhaps I am," Erastus said. "But Ivar's last wish was to keep you safe, and I plan to honor my friend's request. There is nothing that you can say that would make me break that promise."
"Fine," Josh threw at his teacher. "I guess I'll just sit here until Lance and the others are killed by the Acolytes. And then I'll just wait around until they come to kill me."
"The Acolytes?" Erastus asked. "What do you know about them?"
"Just that they're the ones that are going to kill us." Josh said. "At least that's what they did in my dream."
Erastus began to pace in the cave. It was an interesting thing to watch. Watching a person pace above water wasn't overly interesting, but watching the same act under water added a whole new element to it. The water rippled and stirred up little clouds of dust around Erastus's feet.
"Get your things together Josh," Erastus said after a moment.
"Why?" Josh asked. "What's with the sudden change?"
"The Acolytes are far more dangerous then you know Josh," Erastus told him. "If they're involved then it's best if we head to England, trap or not."
"They didn't look all that dangerous in my dream," Josh said. "I mean yeah they killed us, but I didn't even try to sing anything."
"It doesn't matter how powerful you are Josh," Erastus said. "They Acolytes are a danger. They've disposed gods before. Stripped them of their powers and sent them wondering into the world. They haven't done that in over a thousand years, or so the legends say, but they could do it. I've no doubt that they could do it again if they wanted to."
"Whoa. What do they want with me?"
"I don't know," Erastus said. "And I don't think either of us truly want to find out what they want. It's usually safer for everyone involved if you don't know what the Acolytes want with someone. Now go get ready. I want to England as quickly as possible."
"Pyre?" Justin asked as he snuggled closer to the man under the thin blanket that covered both of them. He wasn't particularly cold, he just wanted to get closer to Pyre.
"Yes?" Pyre asked. He placed his arm around Justin's shoulders and brought him closer to him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What do you mean?" Pyre caressed Justin's bare shoulder. "If you mean this, it's because I love you."
Justin blushed in the dim light of the campfire. "That's not what I meant. I know why you did that. You just can't resist my charms."
Pyre chuckled quietly. "The important part is that you believe that Justin." He jumped slightly when Justin slapped his chest. "What did you mean?"
"I meant, why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? Why do you hunt vampires? Why are you going to England with me?"
"That's more then one why," Pyre pointed out.
"Whatever," Justin said. "Just answer them. Please?"
"Now that, I can't resist," Pyre joked. "Let's see. I started helping you because you needed it. I was there in the right place to offer a helping hand and decided to do just that. After that I just sort of didn't want to see you go. I fell for you hard. You started telling me about yourself and I wanted to know everything. It's something I haven't felt in a long time. I love you Justin. That's why I'm here right now. And that's why I'm going with you to England."
"That's sweet." Justin leaned over and kissed Pyre gently. "But you didn't answer my other question. Why do you hunt vampires."
"Why do you?" Pyre asked.
"I hunt them because you do," Justin replied. "Well that and I saw what they did to that little girl. But there has to be some reason you started."
"There is," Pyre said. "It happened a long time ago though."
"Oh," Justin said. He'd just realized that he might have brought up memories that were be best forgotten. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No." Pyre shifted under Justin to get more comfortable. "I think I should tell you. I haven't told anyone since it happened. It'll probably be good for me."
"If you're sure you're alright with this," Justin left the statement hanging.
"I am," Pyre assured him. "My sister was the vampire hunter in the family. I forget exactly why she started. But she was very good at what she did. The vampires called her the Glamoan. It means the `one who brings death to the deathless'. They feared my sister. And rightfully so. She'd killed thousands of the abominations, and several masters as well. I helped her a few times. I didn't really think it was my calling. It was hers though." A tear ran down his face, followed by another.
Noticing Justin reached down and squeezed Pyre's hand. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"I'll be fine. Just give me a minute." Pyre closed his eyes to collect himself while returning Justin's gentle squeeze. "We'd come to a village. It was a lot like the one that we found that little girl in. Only this one was slightly bigger. It was in vampire territory though, that's all that really mattered. It was one of the times she'd been able to convince me to join her. We arrived in the village later then we thought we would. The sun was just setting as we walked into the village square. The mayor was there, waiting for us. She was a strong woman, but she was afraid. Afraid for the people that looked to her for leadership and afraid that she wouldn't be able to do anything for them. She was the one that had sent for my sister. The mayor explained that the vampire attacks were becoming more and more frequent. They had had a pact with the creatures, but the vampires weren't just feeding, they were slaughtering the villagers. The village wouldn't last long if this kept up.
As it turned out my sister being there didn't help. The vampires came into the village half an hour after the sun set. I could take two at a time, my sister could take ten. The villagers were armed enough that they could kill one or two vampires by themselves. There were at least a hundred of them. Probably closer to two hundred. There was just no way we could have fought them all off. The longer we fought the more villagers were killed. The more of them that were killed the more vampires that could turn their attention to my sister and I.
"I remember the look on the Mayor's face. She staked five vampires trying to save a young woman and her child. The vampires tore the girl and her child apart in front of the Mayor before turning on her. She killed one or two of them as she died, but she did die."
"She sounded like a strong woman," Justin said. "The Mayor I mean."
"She was," Pyre said softly. "It was her death that sent my sister into a berserk rage. I'd never seen her like that. She moved faster that night then she ever had before. The vampires fighting her dropped before her as she moved toward the five that had slain the Mayor. She killed them. Then the others swarmed her. Twenty or so of them took her down. Beat her, kicked her, scratched at her, and then killed her."
Justin hugged Pyre tightly. The man had started rocking himself slightly as he told his story. "I'm sorry," he said lamely. He had no idea what to say to the man he loved.
"Thank you," Pyre whispered. "Once they'd killed her they left. All of them. They all just pulled out of the village. Even the ones fighting me just stopped and left. I don't think they thought I was a danger to them. The entire village was dead. They didn't even drain them of their blood. They just left their corpses lying there.
"I cried myself to sleep that night. The fighting had exhausted me. I collapsed in tears next to my sister's broken body and fell asleep. When morning came I buried them all. I buried my sister last. I wanted to bury her first, but I knew that she'd find a way to get me back if I even thought of dealing with her before the villagers. She always lived for others. So I buried the village and then my sister. I spent more time with her then I did the others, and I'm sure she'd understand that.
"I vowed revenge, not the prettiest of emotions, but a true one. I found the master that led the attack and killed her. I almost died killing her because I wanted her to suffer, but I got away. After that I had to carry on what my sister had started. I couldn't do anything else. That's why I'm a vampire hunter."
"I'm sorry," Justin said. He hugged Pyre tightly for a few minutes before saying anything. "I didn't mean to pry like that."
"Don't worry about it," Pyre said. "You asked, and I answered. I've been carrying that around with me for a long time now. I guess it's about time I got it out. The pain will never go away, but it's a start." He held up his hand to stop Justin from speaking. "Now, no more on the sorry front. It's over with, We do have to get some sleep. It's getting late and we have a long way to go before we get to England."
Justin leaned over and kissed Pyre again. "You're right. At least getting the supplies was easy. I thought that'd take longer."
"I just know how to haggle," Pyre grinned. "You on the other hand just like to buy everything in sight."
"Shut up," Justin laughed. "I happen to have a wide variety of tastes. Now didn't you say something about sleeping?"
"True," Pyre leaned over and kissed Justin again. "Sleep well."
TBC
That's it for now. Sorry about the confusion that sections may have caused. Lance's dream might take a second reading, but it understandable. Let me know what you think. Mist_dark@hotmail.com
Rune