*Awarded Best Character Fiction

Yes, at last I am releasing the first two parts. Witness the first book in the Dark River series. Though as I only have two parts released as of yet, it seems depressingly short. Well fear not, for I will be frequently adding on to it as the novel progresses. In the meantime, enjoy this!

And as always, this is of course open to all comments. Although I doubt anybody will... enjoy this anyway. It's a dark, twisted and deep tale of lies, deception, mystery, action, suspense, and evil. I'm really busting my hump on this one, fellas. Apologies if the first chapter has too much action in it.

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Dark River: Revelations
By Andrew Fitzgerald


Part I. Revelations: Discovery


The landscape was desolate and bare, shrouded in a permanent shadow by the distant clouds hanging over the area for miles. In the center of the smoking, rocky ruin was a charred and ominous curving path that twisted and arced about like a great snake, through the landscape, sloping upward and reaching the massive front door of a great looming black castle, literally miles long and likewise in height, its many windows glowing like eyes that pierced the unnatural darkness consuming the land. This was one vampire’s destination.

Seth stood silently on the winding path that led to the castle’s front door, a tall and pale figure, reminiscent of a nosferatu... and he smiled to himself as he surveyed his surroundings, taking in the scenery with a practiced eye, even if it was bare and dry, devoid of any life besides his own. He absorbed the intimidating sight of the massive castle before him, but was not at all scared. He had been hired by a village twenty miles from this place to come here and kill its resident... a particularly nasty vampire named Magnes, who had been terrorizing local villages, sometimes burning them to cinders and killing all of the inhabitants, man, woman and child.

Seth reached down into the pocket of his black trench coat, pulling from it a small battered piece of parchment, and taking a good look at it. Scrawled on its surface was a hasty map that showed the interior of the castle... as if it would be any help to him. It was drawn with such haste that most of the rooms looked molded together save for a sloppy scribble in the middle. Shaking his head slightly, Seth let the map fall back into his pocket, then began his slow approach along the massive path.

It took him well over ten minutes to reach the castle’s front door, and when he did, the sight of the castle’s looming towers high above his head still did not send even a thrill of excitement or fear into him. Disgusted with the practiced architecture for such a sinister purpose, Seth lifted a hand, and pushed gently against the door. It did not move. The vampire grinned, having expected this.

A second later, the door flew open when a dark laser made contact with it, searing a vicious hole through the handle and shooting it open with the force of a charging animal. Seth lowered his hand and shook his head dispassionately, surveying the interior entrance hall with every bit of distaste his experienced mind could muster.

It was like no other castle... it was the equivalent of an unstructured nightmare. The walls were sloppily carved, jutting out and dented in at random points, showing carvings of faces in the midst of torture, their features contorted with every ounce of pain anyone could bear. There was dry blood smeared on the tinted windows high up on the walls (which gave it the tint), and there was a constant rustling about the place that would have sent a shiver down any mortal man’s spine. But Seth couldn’t be called mortal any more. He did not know what he could be called, besides a vampire hunting a vampire.

Making a disapproving noise with his tongue, Seth stalked calmly into the room, his pale hands jammed into his pockets confidently. He was not in the least bit afraid of what was about to attack him, for he knew every secret about hellspawns, demons, vampires, and pretty much any other species, since he had been alive for so long. No... what truly stymied the blessed vampire was how he was going to navigate his way to Magnes’ throne room.

Bah... I’ll figure it out.

The rustling around him suddenly reached its peak intensity, and the thin sliver of light left by the open doorway behind Seth suddenly disappeared with a loud slam. Not at all surprised, the vampire used his chi and lit up a small ball of fire that illuminated everything for about twenty feet around him, which floated above his head and traveled with him as he moved.

The rustling suddenly halted for a second, as if surprised by their foes confident demeanor, then scraped louder and louder in a vain attempt to intimidate him. Seth let out an exasperated sigh, stopped walking, and pulled his hands out of his pockets.

“Look, enough with the small talk, lets get to know each other,” he said, hiding a grin.

Appearing to have waited for the order, several dark shadows detached from the wall and flew full speed toward the vampire, their white eyes glowing intensely in the darkness, teeth bared.

Seth tensed his fingers, and a two-foot long nail sprouted from each, with the sound of multiple swords being unsheathed. The demons flying at him screeched in astonishment, and attempted to stop their approach with eyes as wide as dinner plates... but it was too late. Seth whirled about with his claws extended. The nearest demon was slashed to ribbons, its blood showering the floor. The other demons screamed out their displeasure and planted their feet on the ground to halt themselves, but they had already reached the ring of light cast by Seth’s fire ball.

The vampire moved forward gracefully and brought his claws down with insane speed, ripping apart a demons skull and killing it instantly. Two others attempted to run up and attack him from the back, but Seth kicked out a foot and caught one in the gut. The one that he hadn’t been able to reach leapt at his exposed back, but found itself falling through its foe and landing flat on its face, in the blood of his comrade.

Seth reappeared behind both demons, claws sheathed and rapier out. He moved calmly forward and whipped the tip of the sword through the neck of the demon he had kicked to the ground. The little hellspawn fountained blood, and fell over without a sound. The demon that had attempted to attack Seth before he had teleported was still on its stomach, pounding its fists angrily, and whirling about to see if it could spot the vampire. Seth moved forward equally calmly as he had done for the first demon, and just as the hellish drone flipped onto its back, and spotted him, it got Seth’s rapier in its chest.

The vampire pulled the sword smoothly out of the creature’s chest, took a rag from his pocket, shook it open, and wiped the blood off the rapier’s blade.

Well… now that we’ve got that sorted out, lets find our way to Maggy.

Seth swept the room with his eyes, taking in every microscopic detail in seconds, a feat nearly impossible to anybody but him. He was only capable of it because of his blessing. He caught sight of a small black lever that could easily have been passed over. It was sticking out of the wall to his left, blending almost completely into the oddly shaped structure of the walls and ceiling. He walked over to it and placed a finger on it, pushing it gently down.

To his left, a section of the wall opened up to a large staircase that arced up through the next few floors.

“Oh, how nice of Magnes to offer me a shortcut!” said Seth with a pleasant smile, as if he had just received news that he was going on a picnic with friends.

* * *

The vampire emerged out of the staircase and entered a small hallway that stretched for about ten feet, ending with a small, circular doorway with writing in what looked to be blood.

A taste proved it to be just that. It spelt out the words: May abyssus exsisto patefacio, quod suus incola libre.

Seth gazed for a long moment at these words, contemplating their meaning. He recognized the wording to be an ancient language, but he had minimal experience in speaking it… though he spoke about every other language as it were.

With a slightly disconcerted sigh, the vampire pushed the door ajar, his confident demeanor a little hammered down by the sight of the words.

Inside this room, it was no better. It was a massive black hall, the ceiling stretching hundreds of feet up above his head. The length of the hallway must have been several hundred yards, and the width… well, it was wide enough to fit about twenty elephants in, side by side and comfortably. Every inch of the walls, ceiling and floor was covered in warm blood… in the form of words, though it did not drip or spread. It was all ancient language writing… and Magnes had done it all.

Seth did not like to think of how long it must have taken anyone to make this sort of place… the first words he had seen on the doorway had shaken him, for evil emanated from them. This was worse, tenfold. Every word in this massive hall gave off the distinct air of something far more sinister than could be imagined.

What is going on?

Seth walked slowly forward, looking around at several of the words.

? ?????? ????? ???????

? ?????? ?? ???????

?? ???? ?? ??? ???????????

These were completely foreign to him, now. He had never seen such scriptures anywhere… and it terrified him deep within.

“What is Magnes doing?” he said quietly, trying to ignore the fact that his voice echoed uncomfortably loudly across the walls. Suddenly, his confidence was completely gone, and he now wished he had somebody with him. I’ve got to get a grip… I’ll find out what’s going on, and put an end to it, right here and now!

Forcing his legs into movement, Seth strode forward, his feet stepping right into the bloody words, but not splashing them, oddly enough. It was as if they were covered by an invisible layer of air that protected them… but it was not so. It was an unnatural and strange occurrence.

Feeling slightly more confident with the renewed feeling in his legs, he continued on, heedless of the increasingly sinister bloody words on the walls and floor. In the distance, he saw a pedestal sitting quite out of place, right in the middle of the hallway. On it, there sat a large black tome bound with a sturdy leather strap worn by age, yet firm enough to hold a large book shut, which is what it was doing. The book was completely black, with no inscriptions on it at all. The whole look of it sent a chill down Seth's spine, despite how he willed it not to.

Seth strode up to the pedestal, placed a finger beneath the strap, and effortlessly tore it off.

In an instant, whispers of sound shot through the air around him, loud enough to echo off the cavernous walls. He could not discern words, but the voices sounded high pitched and oddly restrained. The vampire didn't bother to look around, he knew that he wouldn't see anything. It was the old and unwholesome powers that had been contained by the leather strap being released... but Seth could not shake the idea that he might have sounded a silent alarm, one he couldn't trace, but others could. Slightly weary, he lifted a hand over the books surface, and used his telepathy to open the book to the first page, afraid of touching it directly for fear of a trap set by Magnes.

At first, it appeared that the lettering was the same bizarre script that surrounded Seth all over the walls and floor, until he flipped another page without touching it, and found printing in latin, which he was able to decipher.

Prophet 1:11:11

And so it will be. The skies will fade to a dull red, the throbbing vein in time
in which we now reside will be cast into impenetrable shadow.
Life inside shall be Quarantined, and all light shall fade. Behold!
From the wreckage there shall rise the armies of Hell, in all their unrestricted
glory. And in front... The Hand, who shall give, govern and voice Lucifer’s will.

At that point, Seth closed the book quickly, concealing the evil words from his sight. Deeply disturbed, he made to skirt the table and continue on in his search for Magnes, when he heard a small rush of wind. He reached roughly behind his back, seized a handful of robes that felt hot to the touch, and swung a tall figure around to face him. Before he could get a good look at the man's face, he broke free of Seth's grip, and yanked out a handgun, aiming it right between the vampire's eyes. The muzzle lit up, but Seth's rapier was already out, and he swung it forward, deflecting the bullet with little effort. The man faltered for a second, then jumped back, flying over ten feet into the air, firing multiple bullets.

Seth snarled in annoyance, and deflected the bullets with rapid swings of his sword. He took a steady jog forward, calmly evading the bullets that went rogue. This man --- whoever he was, he could not be Magnes --- was a bad shot.

More gunshots... Seth deflected one last bullet before launching himself into the air and kicking the gun out of the man's hand in midair. A punch flew for his face, and Seth threw up his forearm to catch the swing. He felt a slight twinge of pain as the fist landed down, but made nothing of it. The vampire swiftly brought the rapier around, and the man drew his stomach in to dodge it. Smiling a little, Seth threw his open hand forward, and side-armed his attacker to the left, into the far wall. Although the force of the hit had been tremendous, the wall did not break on impact, like it normally would have.

The man panted for a second, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth... then made to move away, but in a flash of black mist, Seth was on him, slamming the man's wrists and legs against the wall with Magic, bringing the rapier to his throat, and breathing down his exposed neck.

Now Seth could get a good look at his attacker. It was a rookie vampire, probably one of Magnes' goons set on guard detail for whatever "Bible" Seth had come across. Glaring with venomous hatred at the inexperienced vampire, Seth said through gritted teeth — a relevantly tough trick to master — "if you don't want blood spewing by the gallons from your neck, then I suggest you tell me everything you know, right now."

The rookie vampire seemed to clamp his mouth shut for a second, then seemed to reconsider when Seth bared his fangs menacingly.

"I am a guard hired by Sir Magnes to guard the Book of Prophecy," spluttered the pinned vampire through trembling lips. "My name is Saban."

"I don't give a **** about your name!" growled Seth, opening his mouth wider in order to get his point across. His fangs gleamed with longing. He was a little hungry, after all. He had not fed in many hours. "Tell me where I can find Magnes, and what the hell he's doing, here! What is this Book of Prophecy's purpose?"

Saban didn't respond. He simply glared back at Seth with the arrogance only a young vampire could have. Seth sheathed his rapier and seized his captive's throat, getting so close that their noses nearly touched.

"Spill it now, or die," he whispered in a voice that would make a giant snake cower in fear. Saban glared back.

Mentally shrugging, for he needed it anyway, Seth twisted the rookie vampire's head to the side, and savagely bit into the jugular. Blood sprayed out in a steady stream all over the vampire hunter's face, and the back of Saban's neck.

Seth waited, sucking as much blood in as he could, before black-and-white images suddenly flashed through his head, as he had been counting on. A fancy room that looks like a study more than the top tower of a vampire castle... many delicate and expensive paintings and furniture are scattered about the place... Saban standing in front of a tall, slender being, standing against the far wall with his arms behind his back... Saban sitting for hours on end in the rafters of the very hall that Seth stands in, with the promise that a vampire will be along soon to stop them...

Seth withdrew his teeth, ripping a chunk of skin off with it. He spat out the skin, but sucked the blood in, savoring the sweet taste as it dripped over his tongue... then he returned his fiery gaze back to the dying victim. His eyes were now turned a dark, dark red, reacting to the loss of blood, as vampires did when it happened. Saban gasped out weak words.

"I... I will never give away his Majesties po...position... e-ever..."

"Good to know," Seth cut in unconcernedly. He stepped back, not releasing the invisible binds holding Saban to the wall, and raised a palm. "But I have all the information I need, thanks. You may not have given me the full story, but I now know where I can find the man who can."

"You... you'll never stop him! He's too powerful!"

"Perhaps you should get out more," suggested the vampire hunter. "But then again, that won't be happening now, will it?"

A black laser blasted from his hand, and less than half a second later, Saban was nothing more than a hunched over body with a char mark where his head used to be.

The vampire hunter stalked wordlessly away from the hanging corpse, through the remainder of the massive room, and to a very small pair of unremarkable, black doors, which he shoved viciously open, sick and tired of the interruptions that came between him and Magnes. He wanted to kill this vampire and leave the castle forever, forgetting about all he had seen. At the moment, he was deciding to avoid thinking about the Book of Prophecy… or so Saban had called it.

Through the doors stood two more young vampires, eyes glowing bright red, swords in hand. Seth drew his rapier and swung it around at their heads. They both ducked it and jumped upward, sailing into the dark room ahead. Seth followed, thinking in his mind at least maybe now I can fight something that has skill.

The room that he entered closely resembled the entrance hall of the castle. It was disoriented, dark, hard to see properly, and the walls looked to be carved by someone who had had a seizure while doing it. An incomplete nightmare. Seth paid it no attention. All his focus was on the two vampires leaping from wall to wall, swords in one hand, handguns in the other. Seth mentally shrugged, and drew out his second rapier, which he rarely used dually. Two vs. two, he reasoned.

At exactly the same time, both the enemy vampires began firing multiple shots at him. He raised his swords and swung them around in a quick frenzy, deflecting them with high-pitched noises. One of the vampires dove down from the ceiling and released a spray of dark magic directly at his chest. Seth gathered together his own chi, and crossed his rapiers. A blast of dark chi energy shot from the point where the gleaming swords intersected, far outclassing the other. Seth’s blast tore through the other stream, and an unseen explosion rocked the room in an uncomfortable way. Seth held his footing, however, knowing that losing it would be suicide.

A second later, two blasts of dark magic struck next to his feet, and he flew high into the air, out of control. He saw two shadows shooting toward him from the walls, and his mind raced for his next move…

The shadows reached him in a blur of metal and flashing muzzles. Seth deflected the bullets again, and spun his swords around to stop the swings at his head and chest. There was hissing on all sides as his adversaries were thwarted over and over. This will only get worse… I have to stop this now.

Seth twisted his rapiers in such a way that he maintained a lock with both of the enemy blades, yet spun them around to do his bidding. He brought them low, and used the position as leverage. With his swords, he pushed off, and spun around lightning fast, slicing through the chests of both vampires at once. Blood spurted everywhere, showering the vampire hunter in the sticky liquid. Such a loud scream emitted from both vampires on either side of Seth that it was a wonder Magnes didn’t know where he was already… that is, if he actually didn’t.

He landed down on his feet, and heard two thumps as the corpses landed, too. More drops of blood kicked up from the impact and struck his face. Wincing a little, Seth wiped himself clean and licked the blood from his hands as he walked away from the corpses, toward the next door. This is getting out of hand… although I must admit that it's a little fun.

* * *

The doorway led down a hallway that branched off with hundreds more doors on all sides, but Seth moved straight forward and eventually found a flight of stairs, which he used to ascend as high up as he could. When the stairs finally led him out onto their top floor, and he stepped out into a small corridor with no other doorways but one at the end of the hall, Seth smiled to himself.

About damn time… it’s time to figure out what’s going on, here…

The vampire moved forward smoothly without a hint of fear, approaching the door with a poker face. He reached out a hand for the plain black door, then stopped, thinking to himself that it wouldn’t be unwise to try to touch the door protecting Magnes with just his gloves… it would be just plain stupid. He withdrew his hand as if it had been shocked, and thought hard, deciding on what he should try first.

A split second later, he decided that a roundhouse kick was what the situation called for, and he proceeded to execute just that move.

The door flew open with ease, yet the force of the kick splintered the wood a little bit. Hmm, I guess it was just a door after all…

Seth found himself standing in the doorway of the same exact room he had seen in Saban’s mind when he had fed on him. He knew he would, but it was still a little bit of a shock to behold such a lavishly decorated room, and yet know that just a few feet below and around you there are dark hallways with walls splattered with blood into evil phrases. This room looked to be a study for perhaps an old time scholar who was just a little too attached to his books, and not enough to reality… to the far right, Seth saw the whole wall, which curved gently around in a smooth and comfortable oval, was jam packed with books of all shapes and sizes. Massive tomes like the Book of Prophecy, and the thinnest scripts that had nothing more than two or three pages within their covers. Scattered about this area were desks, with massive piles of various books, some half open, and some hardly touched. There was a lamp on each, and a chair shoved neatly where it should have been. A pair of reading glasses rested on one, in fact. Seth shook his head and surveyed the rest of the room. It mostly consisted of the same thing, save for a number of thick, red and rather comfortable looking pieces of furniture scattered about the place. The only section of this room that didn’t have at least one book in its place was a tall window, from which Seth would have been able to see the now pitch black skies and unnaturally stretched clouds, had a tall, slim figure dressed in a trench coat disturbingly like his own not been standing in front of it.

“It’s about time you showed up,” said Magnes, turning to face him for the first time, revealing his face to the bright light that filtered from a neat chandelier above the two vampire’s heads. He was rather unremarkable, somewhat resembling Seth, in that his skin was as white as the moon, his eyes were dark red, and his fingers were long, yet not thin. A strange characteristic, but a common one at that.

Seth held back a snort, but could not, however much he tried, suppress a smile. It was all such a perfectly classic showdown type of situation, the one you would expect to see in a movie somewhere.

“Ah, so I suspect by your odd yet apparently desperate stab at stylishness suggests that you aren’t at all surprised to see me… can’t really say I’m surprised. You never struck me as a dumb vampire, just a misguided one. Especially after the stuff I saw down in—”

“The Room of Prophecies,” finished Magnes, cutting him off, somewhat impatiently. Success, I’ve got him on my terms now, thought Seth with a mental grin.

His enemy was still speaking. “Yes, I knew you would be along soon. I foresaw it.”

Seth frowned quizzically. “So now, not only are you a stylish vampire, but you’re a seer?”

“Not a seer, per se,” responded Magnes, tracing a chair back with his finger. “I merely consulted the Book of Prophecy and it said, out of the billions of possibilities and orders it has within it’s delicate and sacred pages, that a vampire would soon come to stop the Hand.”

Questions popped into Seth’s mind, but he ignored them, as he had trained himself to do, and said the one thing that came into his head: “what the hell is the Hand?”

“Never you mind,” said Magnes with a pleasant smile. He walked around the chair and faced his hunter with a haughty air. “It is of little concern to you, anyway. I suggest you simply leave now, for I was just about to do the same. We have no business here.”

“Oh, on the contrary, I am here to kill you,” snapped Seth, iciness pouring into his voice, despite his efforts to halt it.

“Yes, but that won’t be happening,” Magnes responded, as if reprimanding an ignorant child. “You know it, and I know it. Be a good boy and leave.”

Seth could not bite back his retort. “BOY?” he growled. “I’ll have you know that I am older than most, including you, and—”

“Not so, I am much older than you. But we are not going to get into age comparison. I suspect we shall see each other some time in the relatively near future, Seth.”

“Stay where you are,” warned the vampire hunter, although he must have sounded despondent, because before he knew what was happening, Magnes became a blur, there was a smash of glass, and a bat was shooting off into the night sky at unmatchable speeds.

Seth stared uncomprehendingly at the broken glass of the window, unable to believe what had just occurred. He had been bested verbally, a feat that nobody else had ever achieved. He had not enjoyed it in the least.


Part II. Revelations: Abyss


The dark sky outside the window emptied rain to no end, clattering hundreds of drops against the window each second as Abyss stared resolutely out at the dark street miles below. Lonely cars ambled halfheartedly up the lane as though searching for a direction they should head in. All the same lives… searching for a purpose, never to find one.

A somewhat unique nosferatu of a vampire, Abyss leaned soundlessly back in his dark leather chair and propped his feet up on the windowsill, letting thoughts slip through his head at their own will. Another day, another mindless interpretation of life, silently passing me by as if it has something to say but the meaning escapes it… I myself need a purpose. I need to do something important… something that can save these innocent children of allotment from the same equilibrium that has encased me in its impenetrable grasp.

Abyss’ declining years had not yet reached him, but he felt as though they had long ago. He could not keep his mind off of those who he had seen die in front of him by the hands of his most hated enemies… he could not stop himself from dwelling on the fates of those who had not yet been caught up in this fight, and those who already had been consumed by its tide.

The vampire reached over to the small round table beside his chair, dipped a finger into a thin tequila glass, and swirled its dark, red, thick contents about idly, his gaze moving unseeingly over the walls of his abnormally sized apartment. They were stuffed with books… some of the areas had hidden doors that led to certain contents of his life that he had hidden away until further notice.

A knock on the door represented, to Abyss, those remnants returned in full bloom, although it wasn’t necessarily a colorful sprout that it signified. The knock was insistent and urgent. Perhaps I should hurry to answer it…

The vampire pulled himself up out of his chair, took a quick sip of the blood in his small glass, then set it resolutely back down and strode over to a book case, reflecting on the many times he had stood there and thought of how classic and overused this idea was. He pulled a small yellow book at about eye level, and the whole structure creaked inward, revealing a massive cache of guns.

He had everything in this room. The walls were lined with every gun imaginable, and all of which he himself had modified personally, so that each would never run out of bullets. It was his pride and joy, and he only showed it to his closest friends. Taking a careful look over the walls, Abyss chose an AK47 to his right, pulling it off the wall and stalking out of the room. The bookshelf shut itself behind him.

The vampire cocked the machine gun loudly, not bothering to stifle the noise, and took aim at the door.

Seth, who was standing on the other side of the door, heard the noise, and leapt away from the door just in time as several bullets ripped through it, tearing chunks of it off and flinging them across the hall. Wood flew everywhere, causing Seth to throw up an arm to cover his eyes, despite the fact that he was off to the side. Through the gaping chunks in the door, he could see a wall lit up from a muzzle flash. The bullets dented into the wall opposite the door, though they sank in, thankfully not ricocheting. Seth would have had a tough time knocking those ones rogue when he could not predict their course. At least when someone was shooting at him, he knew where to move his blade.

A few seconds passed, in which time the door was continually shot at until it was nothing more than a pile of ripped, warm wood. The walls were pumped full of bullet holes. When the shooting finally stopped, Seth moved in front of the doorway and flung out a hand, seizing at the AK47 that had moved forward to press against his forehead. The gun flew to the side, and he allowed a hand to close around his throat, knowing that Abyss would have to take a good look at a man before killing him.

And he guessed correctly, for a knife raised up, but it halted in midair. The vampire hunter gazed into his old friends slightly puzzled face.

“You can put that thing down, now. Being shot at was enough for me,” informed Seth, smiling warmly. He felt Abyss release his neck and watched him stow the curved, eloquent knife back into his belt.

“I see you are as paranoid as always,” said Seth.

“And I see that you are as resourceful as always,” grinned Abyss, flashing a smile at his friend, and turning to walk back to his chair, setting the AK47 down on the nearest table as he went. Seth stood in the ruined doorway for a few seconds, staring at the still smoking gun, before he walked forward to accompany Abyss.

“What the hell is that?” asked the gunslinger vampire, pointing at the black book that Seth carried under his right arm. The vampire hunter looked down, apparently having forgotten that he had been carrying it, before looking up and responding coolly, “it’s the reason I’m here.”

“Well,” said Abyss, taking his martini glass in between two fingers and sipping delicately at the blood within, “you always had a good story to tell, friend. Sit and I will listen.”

Seth obeyed, taking a seat directly across from Abyss, and pulling a flask out of his jacket pocket in one swift motion. As he unscrewed the cap, the gunslinger vampire observed him calculatingly.

The vampire hunter took a swig from the flask, savoring the blood that ran down his throat, before stowing the flask away hastily and pointing at the black tome he still held. To add further emphasis to his words, he threw it down on the floor, scattering sparse dust particles on contact.

“This,” he said, pointing at the tome, “is what is called the ‘Book of Prophecy’ by Magnes, and his servant Saban. It is an atrocious, evil, vile and blasphemous book, and it should be burned after our business with it is finished.”

Seth retold his entire venture into Magnes’ castle, keeping true to remember every detail, and keeping any hint of embellishment out of it. He knew from past experiences in his long spent youth that embellishment only led to trouble. The story didn’t take long, and when he was finished, Abyss reclined back in his chair, and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. Seth knew this from experience to be a look of concentrated thinking. Abyss was known for lapsing into tranquil silences when thoughts filled his head. The vampire hunter tapped the tips of his fingers together to signal his impatience, but Abyss seemed not to notice him.

“So… London, eh?” muttered Seth to break the silence. The gunslinger vampire seemed to snap out of his steely trance, and gave a startled glance at his friend sitting directly across from him.

“Apologies,” said Abyss hastily. “I can never seem to stay the flow of ideas that are generated from such tales that you bring along with you each humble visit. Yes, I do in fact love it here in London, even after all the trouble it has caused me. Although you may see it wise that I should have moved away from here after the last little… incident… I find it much smarter to stay right in the path of danger, so the enemy would not believe that I would be here. They would look elsewhere. Perhaps it will deter them long enough for me to get settled back into London enough to adapt to my surroundings. Then maybe I can put up a stronger fight the next time an agent from HOTA comes along to take me on.”

Seth nodded appreciatively at this rather bizarre train of logical thinking, but continued on by saying “and what have you thought of about my little escapade?”

“Much,” his friend replied, again leaning back in his chair and sighing. “I think that this Book of Prophecy is the key to all of Magnes’ plans, whatever they may be. And to that end, Magnes must have memorized it, else he would have taken it with him when he left the castle, and not just left it for you to take for your own studies. He obviously meant for you to have it.”

“I thought about that too,” whispered Seth, putting a foot distastefully on the cover of the tome at his feet. “But I don’t see what harm it could do. I mean, if it truly is the key to Magnes’ whole operation, then we’ll need it with us if we are to stop him.”

Abyss grinned a little, and stared directly into Seth’s dark red eyes in a way that made the vampire hunter think he was being stared right through. Such a piercing look…

“You’ve used a lot of ‘we’ and ‘us’’s in that sentence, mate,” said Abyss, that same rather disconcerting smile on his pale face. Seth cocked an eyebrow.

“Is that a problem?”

“Quite on the contrary, it’s what I want to hear. Let’s get down to some reading, lest we forget our duties.”


Part III. Revelations: The Herald

“It says here that the sole purpose of the Book of Prophecy is to raise hell on earth,” said Abyss, looking up from a book he had found a while ago hidden somewhere on his numerous bookshelves. He and Seth sat across from each other again, a massive stack of books beside their chairs. They needed all the resources they could get for this one.

“Precisely,” replied Seth, flipping through the musty old book he clutched in his hand, and frowning down at the ancient scriptures that he knew he was required to decipher. “The excerpt from that evil tome that I read in the Hall of Prophecy stated just that… so I gather that Magnes wants a part in all of this. Although he wants to do it, the truest and most important questions that must be raised here are these: who is Magnes? What is his role in all this? How does he believe he can pull it off? And why does he feel so strongly for it?”

“Perhaps it could be an old family religion passed down through the Book of Prophecy… perhaps it’s an heirloom that a very old relative came across and believed in, so he showed it to all his kids,” suggested Abyss. “If Magnes just found it out of the blue, I doubt very much that he could develop such a strong faith in it so quickly, and without any external pressure on his behalf. I mean, sure, he may be hard pressed to want to kill a lot of people, seeing as that is what he has been doing lately, which is why you hunted him in the first place, but even that would not be incentive enough to believe so strongly in the Book of Prophecy that he would go to such lengths to fulfill it’s purpose. And to create such a terrifying place for one book, for one crackpot religion!”

Seth frowned, and turned the page of his book again, ignoring the dust particles that leapt up when his finger made contact with it. “I agree wholeheartedly. His faith was far too strong for him to have decided on his own to follow it. Someone must have shown it to him… someone close, someone he trusted more than anyone in the world. But that still leaves out the unanswered questions of who he is, what he plans to do, and what his role is.”

“Well hopefully,” muttered Abyss, cocking an eyebrow slightly and flipping a page, “these books can help us figure those things out. I have no god damn clue how they got up onto my walls, but they’re a fortunate find, that’s for damn certain.”

Seth nodded distractedly, turning another page. The books that they were reading were disconcertingly devoted to the Book of Prophecy, and all it’s purposes. Even more disconcertingly, the scripture in the books were the same exact form of Latin that was contained within the Book of Prophecy. But Seth had lived far too long to take this into account. He saw it merely as a stroke of good fortune, and he kept reading, assuring Abyss all the while that it was nothing to be worried about.

“I found something,” said Abyss suddenly. Seth jumped up, tossed his book onto his chair, and strode quickly over to his gunslinger friend, hoping that they had finally run across what information they desired, for mostly, the books they had been reading consisted of describing the army of Hell in explicit and gory detail, something that neither of the vampires wished to hear.

“You remember Magnes mentioning the Hand?” muttered Abyss. Seth nodded.

“Yes, I do, I saw it in the Book, too. It came up a lot, in fact. Like it was a key to the entire operation.”

Abyss nodded slowly. “Yes, it comes up one too many times for my comfort either. But my point is, I think that Magnes might be the Hand that it’s talking about!”

“What?” said Seth, withdrawing his head so it wasn’t an inch away from the book that his friend had been reading. “The Hand is a person?”

“Yes, I think the Hand is the base structure for the plan to raise Hell on earth. You see, in this book, it also stated throughout the long, drawn out history of the demons, that the Hand was the one who would lead the armies on their destructive campaign, who would raise them, who would guide them, who would voice –”

“Lucifer’s Will,” finished Seth impatiently, gesturing frantically for Abyss to continue, who obliged without hesitation.

“Well, it says here that the Hand – Magnes – will need a few artifacts to complete this job. The ritual is long, strenuous, and drains a lot of energy from the Hand. It also says that it takes many weeks to complete, and it is very difficult to do correctly. If but a nudge or disturbance racks the process, the entire plan could be for naught. We can provide that nudge.”

The bounty hunter vampire nodded in agreement. “So what ‘artifacts’ are needed to carry out the ceremony?”

Abyss looked down at the book in response to this anxious and rather important inquiry. “Well,” he said, “it looks like he’ll need four or five. This part describes something called the Herald, some sort of long shaft that is something of a conductor rod for the procedure. The precise means as to how it conducts, or where it is inserted in all this remain uncertain, but one thing’s for sure; he’s gonna need it, whatever it is.”

“Well supposing that is one of the four or five artifacts,” said Seth, “then Magnes will be gunning for it as we speak. Where is it?”

“You’re not going to believe this, mate…”

“Oh, I think I could manage it.”

“It’s right here in London.”

A momentary flash of fear erupted in Seth’s stomach, but he pushed it aside with his next question: “where?”

“Beneath the old Mausoleum that I used to visit before it closed down after the real estate cost shot through the roof and the Curator left it to ruin.”

Seth reasoned that he must not have been able to mask his emotions, because a second later, Abyss squinted at him and said “are you alright, Seth?”

The bounty hunter’s eyes flicked back onto Abyss, and he replied with a failed stab at nonchalance, “oh, yeah. No problem, I’m just a little tired. Traveling here all the way from Russia does leave one feeling rather worn.”

“Ah, so the bastard was hiding with the commies,” said the gunslinger with another grin that would send sane men scrambling up trees.

“Near Munich, actually,” added Seth, rubbing his hands together. “I was up there on SPIRE business, and I came across a small town that notified me of what they thought just had to be a vampire…”

Abyss chuckled, and sipped at his martini glass again. “Oh, to be human, and ignorant.”

“But,” said Seth as a gentle reminder, “that is beside the point. Abyss… Magnes needs the Herald to carry out his plans. If it’s as vital as these books say it is, then he’s probably at the mausoleum already! Can we rely on this information?”

“Absolutely, I don’t let anything touch my shelves unless they’re genuinely useful for either me or SPIRE. I suppose you want to head there right now?”

“When the hell else would we go?” laughed Seth. Abyss shrugged in response.

“I dunno… but how can we beat Magnes to the mausoleum if we don’t have above average means of transportation?”

The bounty hunter stared at Abyss for a moment, before shaking his head knowingly, and smiling a smile that could rival his friend.

“Didn’t I tell you? How did you think I got here so fast from Russia? I brought the motorcycles with me. Both of them.”

* * *

It was still gushing down gallons of water by the second when Seth and Abyss arrived outside on the streets of London. In front of the two, parked neatly against the wall of the hotel they had been staying in, were the two beloved motorcycles. Seth had acquired them from a year in the far future of a distant planet. The details of his escapades there were too long for even him to document, but needless to say, he traveled back to his original time, with two of the motorcycles that had been designed and built there. These motorcycles could reach well over speeds of 400 miles per hour when pushed to it. Their handling was unmatched, and they could swerve around and spin, yet still remain both on the road, and going in the same direction, at the same amount of speed, which was handy for Seth, considering the type of business he handled for SPIRE. They were long and bulky, their sidings bulletproof. Both were jet black on all sides. The fronts sloped down at a perfect angle, ending in a ridge and curving backward to make room for the front wheel. The wheels were made of an odd substance that Seth had not been able to identify, no matter how hard he tried. Although, unlike normal cars or bikes in this time, the wheels were ball shaped, which was why the motorcycles could spin with such ease and yet still maintain the same speed and angle.

“I love these babies like children,” said Abyss sincerely, gripping the handle of his own with a steady hand and running it down the smooth, shiny side panels. “I remember when we both used these on Sarya to track down all those refugees…”

“Ah yes,” grinned Seth, recalling the memory with faint interest. “They were quite the violent bunch, weren’t they? But then again, they couldn’t catch us on these puppies.”

The two vampire’s mounted their respective motorcycles, instinctively knowing which one was whose. Seth gave his a little pat, then twisted the key in the ignition, firing up the futuristic engine with a loud roar. Abyss followed suit, and as soon as he heard the sound again, he grinned reminiscently.

“I remember when I used to live for that,” he muttered.

“Come on,” insisted Seth. “We’re getting soaked!”

They sped off down the road, their mounts instantly peaking at least sixty miles per hour with hardly a tap of the gas.

As they rode, Seth could feel the numerous guns he had slung all over his body rattling against the combined elements of wind and rain as both pelted him. Before he had left Abyss’ apartment, they had both stocked up on at least twenty guns each, easily storing them on their bodies in concealed places with simple enchantments. Seth’s personal favorite, a dark machine gun that could fold itself up and sprout a blade, was at his side, as it always was on SPIRE business. Of course, he still kept his rapiers with him, as they would always remain his favorite means of dispatching his enemies, apart from the many spells he could cast.

With minimal directions from Abyss, the two vampires arrived at the mausoleum without any delay. They skidded to a halt in front of the imposing stairs leading up to the front entrance, and leapt down off the motorcycles, their hands straying to their weapons. Although this was not at all needed, for not only was there no sign of resistance or forced entry, but no citizens seemed to be around for miles… puzzled, they stared around for a few more moments, before drawing out their respective weapons. We may not see the evil, but it’s here, thought Seth darkly.

The bounty hunter vampire equipped himself with a rapier in one hand, and his transformable machine gun in the other. Abyss was less intricate. Being the gunslinger he was, he didn’t use swords. He bore a magnum in each hand. Seth smiled in spite of their current position, observing the two gleaming guns in his friends hands.

“Those have always been my favorites, you know,” Seth said.

Abyss nodded in response, not looking remotely happy anymore. He had a look of utmost solemn, and Seth understood why. It was a known trait about Abyss… whenever it came down to fighting, or any mission that SPIRE officials sent them on, he would drop all jokes and put his game face on so they could get the job done quickly and stylishly.

“Shall we go, now?” suggested the gunslinger vampire. Seth nodded, and they strode up the steps, and inside the mausoleum, meeting nothing along the way.

The doors to the abandoned place were wide open, like the maw of some strange beast. Inside, the two vampires found nothing out of the ordinary. The main hallway was just as it had always been… statues, portraits and paintings, fine sculptures, and glass cases containing highly valuable artifacts filled the majority of the space, which caused one to have to weave in between the works if one wanted to reach the next room, and make his way to the central foyer, which was Seth’s destination. He had not yet told Abyss, but he refrained from doing so because as soon as they entered out of the rain, it became so deathly quiet around them that he became suddenly cautious, afraid to make even the slightest noise for fear of disturbing any unforeseen presence.

I suppose it wouldn’t quite be unforeseen, thought Seth to himself with a slightly black sense of humor ringing in his head. Why haven’t they done anything, yet? They must already be here, I’d have expected them to have torn the whole damn place apart looking for the place to dig.

“Did they know where to dig?” questioned Abyss, who, like Seth, had his guns raised to ward off anything that may be awaiting their acknowledged presence.

“I’m not sure…” answered Seth, as quietly as he could, though still with the uncomfortable feeling that they were about to be detected. “It must be the only explanation why this place isn’t already a ruin. Magnes is relentless in this search, from what we’ve read, and he’ll do anything to get at the artifacts, and if finding the Herald means that he has to tear down a mausoleum, he’ll do it.”

“But is he the one who would be –”

A shadow behind a glass case containing an ornamental vase shifted slightly. Seth and Abyss both saw it, but the bounty hunter was first to act. He lunged forward and spun his rapier to cut into the neck of whatever had moved, but it was too quick. Out of the shadows, it dodged around the sword, revealing itself to be a tall goblin. It’s skin was an ugly pale green, it wore nothing but a loin cloth and tattered rags, and it clumsily held a broadsword with both of his hands.

Seth swiftly twisted around in the same movement of his lunge forward, and slammed the goblin in the ribs with a powerful kick that knocked him sideways into a chest. He dropped his broadsword with a clatter, and seemed to be thinking of trying to fist fight his way out of the situation, when he found himself staring down the long shiny barrel of one of Abyss’ magnums.

Bang. Blood and brains blasted out the back of the goblin’s head, gushing over the chest. The despicable creature slumped over, its face torn open.

“Well,” were Seth’s first words, “you certainly have that killer instinct.”

“I was forced into it. Spire does that to people. Or, perhaps more appropriately, HOTA does. You above all should know that, since you’re the one who’s been waltzing around massacring people for the last god knows how many years.”

“I’ve lost count,” grinned Seth. “But come on, we must get to the central foyer. I believe if we get there, we can understand why goblins are here, and where Magnes’ servants went when they came here.”

But before the vampire companions could take another step, a quiet clicking filled the room. The source was indiscernible, but they both knew what the sound signified, having dealt with it before. They both raised their guns just as the noise revealed itself…

In the form of at least sixty tall and burly goblins, jumping out from the doorways and ducking out from the shadows that encased the room, all clutching a different manner of weapon. They didn’t come straight for them, most just stood in space, staring around as if they were surprised they were there. Dumber than sh-t, thought Seth bitterly. He had never liked their race, somewhat because they were evil and sadistic, but also because they were just unpleasant in all aspects, including their smell. Almost as soon as they emerged, the stench became painfully apparent.

Seth raised his gun. Spare nobody. He pulled the trigger, and the room lit up from the muzzle flash. Bullets flew with deadly accuracy, striking deep into the skulls of two goblins before the idiots even realized what was happening. The mini army of despicable fiends hopped over the tables and cabinets, shoving antique items of incredible value out of their way with both their hands and their brutish swords. Some managed to block the bullets that flew at them, but most were struck without mercy. As soon as Seth started firing, Abyss raised his own magnums and fired rapidly, taking out six or seven of them within seconds.

Seth spun and unleashed an astoundingly dead-on phalanx of bullets into the goblins creeping toward he and Abyss from behind. As he spun, he also ducked under the table as a few arrows zipped toward him from the archers perched in the shadows like the cowards they were. Abyss shot two of them in the eyes before ducking down and rolling away, separating himself from his vampire ally.

Seth jumped back to his feet as quickly as he had crouched, and jumped into the air, twisting half around to fire his foldable gun into the chest of the closest goblin. One behind him reared back with his broadsword to strike a fatal wound into the incoming vampire while he was distracted, but Seth hit the floor and used the force to propel his legs hard into the goblins forearm, knocking the broadsword across the room. The beast threw a punch at the floored bounty hunter, but he hit nothing but air. A second later, he realized Seth had teleported… and the rapier sprouted out of his chest, squirting blood all over the floor. Seth withdrew his sword and fired a couple random shots at a fast approaching group of goblins before once again diving down for cover as more arrows flew his way. He rolled several feet, hurried behind a cabinet, and found himself face to face with Abyss.

“There are too many, we’re lucky we’ve lasted this long!” insisted Seth, wiping the goblin blood from his forehead. “We have the advantage of distance, but those archers are going to get us soon if we don’t think of something.”

“Leave it to me,” said the gunslinger with exaggerated confidence. As soon as this sentence left his mouth, he was gone. Startled, Seth hurried through another isle of antique tables, then stood, sinking his rapier into the gut of an unsuspecting goblin. It let out a pitiful screech, and flopped over. Seth pushed it out of his way, searching for more of the smelly foes.

“Denravi!” he heard the distant yell of Abyss calling Seth’s last name. Before he could register anything, he felt several fists hit the wrist holding his gun, and he automatically opened up his hand. The gun clattered to the floor. Seth unconsciously dove for it… and was caught by the chest. Seven or eight goblins hurtled him thirty feet into the air, and he smashed against the far wall, sliding to the floor in a haze of pain, the air gone from his lungs.

“God damn it!” yelled the bounty hunter, slightly hunched over. He coughed a few times, then glanced up. The goblins who had caught him off guard were fast approaching, leaping over tables and smashing mausoleum keepsakes out of their way as they did…

Thinking quickly, Seth called on his dark chi and let it loose. Two incomprehensible dark shadows reared forward out of the bounty hunter’s palms, and slithered through the open space between he and the approaching band of Magnes’ foul devotees. They slowed their pace dramatically, glaring suspiciously at the undulating dark magic…

Then both shot forward at lightning speed, forming into lethally sharp spikes and impaling two in the blink of an eye.

In another blink, more shafts reached out of the original two, splitting up and jabbing into the heads, stomachs and necks of the goblins. In seconds, they all lay together in a heap on the floor, blood pooling beneath them, a hole somewhere on their bodies.

Seth retracted the dark chi, and they obediently zipped back into his palm. He dropped one arm, but left one outstretched. He used quick telekinesis to pull his fallen gun back into his hand. Across the room, he saw Abyss kick down what looked to be the last archer, and put a bullet through its right eye. Seth scanned the room, and saw that all the archers had fallen to the gunslingers prowess.

Smiling a little, Seth moved away from the wall, and set his machine gun back under his cloak. As he did, he quickly became aware that Abyss hadn’t just taken down the archers. The remaining goblins that Seth had not been able to deal with were strewn across the room in gory masses, their blood peppering the wall and pouring over the tables and desks. And they all had bullet holes in their hearts.

“Mother****er, you’ve been practicing!” observed Seth enthusiastically, kicking at the limp corpse of one of the goblins he had stabbed with his chi.

“Yeah, well, I had to do something with the long interlude between Sarya and coming back to London,” replied Abyss, stepping over several corpses and relaxing his grip on his magnums. “You wouldn’t believe the boredom I had to cope with. Or the memories.”

“I think I could understand the latter,” muttered Seth darkly. “Come on, we’d better get moving. If Magnes hasn’t unearthed the Herald yet, he’s close.”

The duo walked stepped calmly over the disgusting, flea ridden bodies of the goblins, and strode through the door that led into the main display room.

They emerged onto a balcony overlooking the place, and found themselves staring down on an army. Hundreds of goblins were moving about, laboring as one to heave on what looked to be a crane. The floor below had been swept clean, all the artifacts that had been on display were shoved against the wall to make room for the odd device. One end looked to be a small chamber where two or three goblins could fit inside to operate it, and extending from it was a great mechanical arm, which was stuck into the floor, and was digging straight down with disturbing precision and tenacity. The other goblins seemed to be clawing at the loose soil beneath the dug up tiles feverishly, tearing fingernails and blistering their hands. But they seemed to have a single-minded purpose. It was shocking and vile… and in the middle of it was the worst sight of all. At least for the two vampires.

Two completely red skinned beings stood side by side, their hands clasped together in front of their bodies, staring down at the slave labor with completely blank expressions. They wore some very expensive looking clothing, and they both had two huge arcing horns growing out the sides of their heads. Their noses were almost pig-like… their faces were fat and hairless, as was their head, and their eyes… their eyes were an even more piercing red than their skin. They were demons.

“Damn them!” Seth snarled through gritted teeth, clenching furiously at the railing to contain his rage. “Foul, loathsome creatures of darkness! What the hell are they doing defiling this sacred place? And how the hell did Magnes enlist their terrible services? How dare they show their faces on Earth!”

Abyss stared at the demons with a slightly less angry glare than Seth did, but he still showed faint disgust at the sight of the two negative counterparts. In the name of… Abyss had to stop himself, because he realized he didn’t know who he could call a god at that point in his life.

The demon presence brought forth a whole new array of staggering questions to add onto the already overwhelming load building on the two vampires, but they refrained from thinking about it. They had to focus. Whatever the demon presence signified, it would have to wait. The Herald was their main concern.

“We can’t directly attack them, there are too many,” said Abyss. “But they’re bound to find it at any moment, and we don’t have the power to take down an entire army and two demons like them!”

Seth stared down at the process, watching all the goblins milling about, and his mind raced. He was finding it difficult to concentrate on their task when such an unwholesome and terrible aura wafted from the two figures below. The only thing he could think of doing was wait until the Herald was found, then take it with chi, and book out of the Mausoleum. It wasn’t the best thought out plan, but it was the only choice. A direct attack would most certainly leave them both dead. Seth relayed this plan to Abyss, who frowned vaguely.

“That’s chancy at best,” he stated. “But I suppose there’s no other option?”

“None,” confirmed Seth.

“Then we wait,” added Abyss, moving to lean back against the wall of the balcony. But before he could, Seth seized his bicep hard. Almost instantly, the gunslinger lost feeling in that limb. Before he could ask what the hell his friend was doing, he caught sight of the problem.

Both demons had shifted their gaze up to the balcony, and they were gazing, wide-eyed, right at them. Their mouths opened slightly –

And then a cry of triumph erupted from the goblin infested pit below. Even the demons switched their gaze down for a brief second. Seth and Abyss followed their eyes, to see a lone goblin yanking out a small, green glowing stick, about a foot long and as big as a fist in diameter. In that instant, both the demons and the vampires knew that the Herald had been found.

If something was going to be done, it had to be done now.

And it did. One of the demons jumped down into the pit, landing heavily on three or four goblin backs, crushing them into the ground. Disgusting squeals of pain echoed up from the floor, but the red skinned monster ignored its henchmen’s pleas. The demon moved forward, seized the Herald out of the goblins hand, and jumped back out of the pit in one smooth movement. It screeched something to its companion, and the two sped off out of the room, their speed disproportional to their muscular appearance.

“They’re going outside, get to the motorcycles!” shouted Seth suddenly, leaping to action. He spun and dashed out of the room, Abyss hot on his tail.

* * *

Outside, the rain was showing no signs of letting up. Seth and Abyss hit the steps of the mausoleum at a run, jumping down them four at a time and coming to land hard on their feet, though slipping a little in pools of rainwater.

“Where are they?” demanded Abyss. “We can’t let them escape with th—”

There was a revving of two familiar engines, and the demons suddenly shot out from both sides of the mausoleum, riding the same exact motorcycles that Seth and Abyss had taken from Sarya many years ago. The two demons were hunched down determinedly over the handles… but the Herald was nowhere to be seen. Damn them, thought Abyss angrily. They’re making it a shell game!

“Come on, hurry!” yelled Abyss, and the two vampires pelted toward their own motorcycles, which were parked on the side of the road, where they had been when they arrived. Just as they reached their motorcycles and made to jump on, the two demons hit the street in front of them, and as the first one sped by, he stuck out a knife in a daring, yet too bold beheading move. Abyss, who had been the target, flung his body backward and used his motorcycle to shield him. The knife skated off of the bulletproof armor, and the weapon flew out of the demons hand. But it made no difference. As quick as the move had been executed, the two demons were speeding off down the road, quickly fading from sight.

Wordlessly, Seth and Abyss mounted their vehicles and kicked them alive. In seconds, they had left the mausoleum far behind, and were fast gaining on their quarry.

The rain pouring down from the black clouds hanging over London made it nearly impossible to spot the demons, but Seth and Abyss were able to catch sight of the two unholy abominations. They were still bent low over their handles, determinedly staring forward. They thought that there was no possible way the two vampires could have caught up. Luckily, they had apparently not heard the other two engines roaring right behind them. Abyss aimed a revolver and fired six well placed shots. Two found their mark, embedding themselves in the lower arm of the demon falling slightly behind. Blood poured out of both of the small wounds, and the demon jerked in surprise and pain, lurching to the side with the impact and nearly falling right off his motorcycle. But he remained upright, and kept his foot on the throttle. He and his companion whipped their heads around, shooting hateful glares at Seth and Abyss. It figures, thought Abyss angrily. All those bastards are capable of is hate.

Quite unexpectedly, the demon in the lead aimed a hand shotgun behind him and fired. The bullets whizzed directly toward Seth, who twirled his transformed machine gun sword and deflected them swiftly. They bounced off in all directions, flying into the building walls that they sped last lightning fast. People walking slowly on the sidewalks dodged out of the way, spitting obscenities and cries of fear. Seth felt sorry that he was disrupting their lives so much, but he had no choice. It wasn’t as though he had taken the fight to the streets of London intentionally…

A second later, the demon in back braked hard, and he nearly succeeded in his plan to tear through Abyss’ motorcycle, but the gunslinger was too quick. He swerved hard to the right, dodging the demon, and fired another round into its shoulder. Blood spurted everywhere, showering Abyss before it was washed off in the intense rainfall. The gunslinger made to shoot again, but the barrel simply clicked. Cursing, he reloaded expertly quickly, while Seth retracted his sword back into his machine gun, and fired it. The bullets ricochet off the siding of the demon, and a few might have skimmed its skin, but for the most part, Seth was moving far too fast to shoot effectively from a distance. He pushed down harder on the throttle, reaching the alarming speed of four hundred and fifty miles per hour. Buildings were now flashing past like lightning… and yet, it seemed so normal to the two vampires. And it seemed the same way for the demons apparently, for they showed no signs of discomfort. The demon who had braked, who was still directly across from Abyss, rammed his motorcycle against the gunslingers as he reloaded, nearly knocking him off balance. Abyss spun badly, but the wheels luckily kept him upright. A second later he loaded all the bullets, twirled the barrel and fired at the demon.

But it suddenly had its own brutish sword out, which it used to deflect the bullets in a similar fashion that Seth did. Grinning slyly, the unholy beast moved toward Abyss, raising his sword to deal a deadly blow. Abyss’ magnum clicked empty. He raised it in defense for the upcoming swing –

And Seth cut across it, literally. The bounty hunter came up slowly behind the demon rearing back to kill his friend, and used his readied rapier to smoothly lop off the demons sword arm neatly at the shoulder.

The torrent of blood that ejected rapidly from this stump was lost mostly in the rain, but small drops of it struck Seth in the face and eyes, making him wince and mutter quiet curses… though these were drowned out in the agonized bellows from the demon, who leaned to the left as if to shield his missing limb… as Seth knew it would come to pass, the demon leaned too far, and the motorcycle capsized loudly and abruptly. The demon was crushed under the weight of the vehicle, slamming hard into the street and disappearing behind them, lost in the rain. Seth turned to Abyss.

“He wouldn’t have braked if he was carrying the Herald,” he called to him. “After him!”

The two vampires sped up even faster, reaching mind rattling speeds of five hundred miles per hour. The wind and rain was now striking their bodies so hard that it stung profusely. They knew there would be red marks all over their faces, but it was a small price to pay for the reward… they quickly came up behind the final remaining demon, who still wore the same coat he had worn in the mausoleum, a very expensive leather one that flapped behind him with the speed. Abyss reached out to pull the demon off the motorcycle if he had to…

And all three found themselves flying quickly toward a building wall. The demon took the initiative, jerking his motorcycle to the right and flying down the short side road. Seth and Abyss expertly maneuvered themselves the same exact way, but just as quickly as the wall had appeared, the three suddenly saw a steep drop off into a massive junk yard, god knows how deep it was...

The demon, Seth, and Abyss all threw themselves off their motorcycles, though Seth and Abyss actually shoved their vehicles to the side rather than simply diving off. All three shot off over the side, though only the demons motorcycle went with them. Seth extended a hand in midair as he sailed over the infinite expanse of garbage so far below, and used a spark of dark chi, which leapt from his hand in the form of a black rope, flying forward and gripping the wall of the drop off that they had flown off of. Abyss, who was right next to him, seized his left arm. Seth was surprised, but helped his friend latch on. He seized hold of the dark rope, and the two clung tenaciously to each other as they sailed downward toward the wall.

They smashed hard into it, but only grunted slightly. The pain was nothing to what they had endured in the past. As soon as they were safely hanging there, they looked around. The demon that had flown over the edge was sailing rapidly downward, gaining momentum as he went. He was screaming loudly enough to wake all of London… he obviously could not think of an enchantment that could save his life.

“I’ll be right back,” whispered Seth.

“No!” yelled Abyss. “You can’t, its too –”

Seth didn’t listen. He planted his feet on the wall of the drop off and pushed off, flying high into the air over the infinite expanse beneath them. He aimed his body at the falling demon, and projected an explosion of chi directly behind him, which propelled him alarmingly fast through the air. As he flew downward to meet his enemy, he felt the rain still slamming down hard on his shoulders and back, and felt the cool air rushing past his face, drying his lips as fast as they were soaked from the heavens…

He smashed hard into the demon, thinking in his mind thank god I timed that right. He latched expertly onto his foe, twisting roughly at the overcoat the demon wore. The abomination attempted to wiggle away, but since it had no experience in the air, it was virtually helpless to whatever Seth did. The vampire yanked the overcoat effortlessly off the demons back, said loudly enough for it to hear “sayonara,” and pushed off its back. Its screeches filled the air as he projected another dark chi explosion, which sent him sailing back up through the air. He did the same thing several times until he found himself standing on the edge of the drop off with Abyss, who had climbed up the dark chi rope, tingling both physically and mentally.

Seth pulled the Herald out of the demons overcoat, which he still held resolutely in his hand.

The rain was beginning to let up.


Part IV. Revelations: A Parting

The still mangled door of Abyss’ apartment banged open, and the two vampires limped inside, Seth kicking the door shut behind him. He tossed his gun and rapier aside, cursing loudly and ripping his shoes violently off of his feet. The soles had melted when they had pushed the motorcycles so hard while chasing the demons… they had been very expensive Italian shoes. Now they were completely ruined… he wasn’t thrilled.

“That went dandy,” he snarled to Abyss, who held the glowing green Herald in his hand like it was the last thing he wanted. He tossed the priceless relic onto a nearby chair, and flopped down in the opposite one, glaring angrily around at his dark apartment. “****,” he muttered audibly. “It doesn’t feel like we won jack, does it? The damn thing wouldn’t even break.”

This was true. All the way back to the apartment, Abyss and Seth had attempted unsuccessfully to break the Herald over their knees, smash it against building walls, shoot it, cut it, melt it, remove its atoms, or anything else they could think of. It remained resilient, so they had given up. It had not so much as a scratch on its green surface, even after all of their efforts.

“No,” agreed Seth, tearing his other ruined shoe off his foot and hurtling it into the wall. The sole left a melted print on the wallpaper.

“Real nice,” growled Abyss. Seth ignored him. The bounty hunter limped forward on his smoking feet, shoved the Herald off of the chair and onto the floor, and flopped down onto the chair, clearly exhausted. The two friends stared long and hard at each other, contemplating each other’s gazes with difficulty. Both were hard to read, but yet both knew what the other had swimming about in his mind, unable to rid itself.

“Demons on Earth,” whispered Abyss. Seth nodded slowly, not bothering to break eye contact with him.

“Magnes brought them here,” said Seth quietly. “God knows how he managed it, but if he brought two of them, chances are he knows how to do it pretty well by now. And we can’t rule out the possibility that there may be more. To that end, we need to see what his minions are gathering next for the ritual. Of course, without the Herald they’re obviously going to be useless to him…”

“He’ll have sent something to hunt us down,” said Abyss, nodding. “It could be knocking our door down any second.”

“Magnes doesn’t know where you live,” reminded Seth with a slight smile. “So we don’t know when whatever he sends will arrive, if at all. He’s known that I’ve been working against him from the beginning, but I have no home that he can gun for, so that’s out of the question. Those hundreds of goblins, though, they must have seen you as well, and if Magnes is as well informed as we’ve made him out to be, he knows your name too. And if he does the proper research, he could look into your past… and find me.”

“What good will that do him?” shrugged Abyss, apparently exhausted and unconcerned. He seemed completely unaware that chunks of bloody brain were still stuck to his fingers and ears. He’ll realize it soon, chuckled Seth’s brain.

“What good? He’ll find out that we are connected to each other quite intimately. Not only that, but he’ll understand the type of power we possess, and what kind of a threat we pose to his operation. Also, the goblins will have found the demon corpses yet, and those who haven’t will have guessed that because they didn’t return, they are dead. They will know that we have the Herald, and they will tell Magnes. If he gets all this information in the time I’m thinking, he will soon discover this apartment.”

“So we have to split,” said Abyss. Seth nodded again, still quite slowly.

“Can we make for one of the Spire Towers?” suggested Abyss. Seth instantly shook his head. “Magnes will have read about those as well,” said the bounty hunter, almost inaudibly, for he was still sorting everything out in his head as quickly as he could. “He’ll have sent a dispatch of goblins or demons to investigate the Towers… no doubt to find us.”

“Then we need to help them!” insisted Abyss. Seth shook his head yet again.

“No,” he said. “They can handle themselves, they are strong enough, and you know it. We’d just get in the way, and plus, if we went to where Magnes’ troops were converging, all we would do is run the risk of the Herald being captured.”

“We have no idea how many troops Magnes could send,” insisted Abyss. “At least one of us has to go there.”

“Then it will be you,” said Seth at once. “I’ll have to go hunting for the next piece of the puzzle by myself, if you think it to be absolutely necessary to assist Spire. But if we are going to split up, we also need to leave this place with those books. Now.”

Abyss stood up with his friend, but as they made for the door, he uttered an exclamation of disgust, and batted the chunks of bloody brains off of his face.

* * *

The city library was the only place Seth could think of to read books in silence, without worry of being disturbed by any unwanted visitors, so that was where they ended up, seated at the very back of the massive building, at a small wooden table with a single lamp illuminating the several books they had taken from Abyss’ apartment.

“Let’s start at the Herald, and go from there,” suggested Abyss. Seth nodded in agreement, and flipped calmly to the page where they had first heard mention of the Herald. For several minutes, the two pored over the book, their concentration fixed solely on that single document. For five minutes they searched vainly, until Abyss, who could read faster than Seth, spotted it.

“Look at this,” he said, pointing at a sentence about halfway down the page Seth hadn’t reached yet. “It says here that he needs two golden lockets to totally fulfill the operation. That’s it, Seth… the final puzzle piece. You need to obtain the two lockets before Magnes does. It says that they are being kept safely in a military complex about ten miles off the city limits of… Tokyo.”

Abyss looked up at Seth quizzically. The bounty hunter shrugged. “Nobody ever promised it would be a cozy journey,” he admitted. With a mental shrug, the gunslinger glanced back down at the page. “Apparently the security is top notch,” he informed with a slight grin.

“That won’t be a problem,” said Seth unconcernedly, pulling at the wrists of his black gloves. “Come on, read up. I need to know what military system runs it. We don’t even know if the Japanese government knows of its existence. It could be a different source.”

“Doesn’t say,” replied Abyss, disappointment evident in his voice. “Only says that nobody has ever penetrated their defenses, for the two lockets safety had to be absolutely assured… centuries ago.”

“Eh?” grunted Seth, finally looking over at his friend. “Centuries? That doesn’t make sense! They are part of a ritual that Magnes is concocting now.”

“I guess we must have been right in thinking that he didn’t just invent this religion,” said Abyss with a slight shrug. “Like you said, the human brain can’t just make something up and believe in it so much that he’d be ready to kill – and die – for it. But the question is, who else knew about the lockets that they would go to such lengths to keep them out of the grasp of people like Magnes?”

“Anyone could have discovered their terrible beliefs over the years that it existed,” said Seth, leaning back in his chair and setting his feet on the desk. He tapped a gloved finger absently against one of the guns concealed under his jacket. “I can get past any security. The only thing I need to know is how I’m going to get there quicker than Magnes’ forces. Or Magnes himself, that is.”

“That’s an issue for you to decide,” said Abyss apologetically. “Find a map of Japan, get the directions to the place, and get your ass in there. If you manage to acquire the lockets –”

“I will,” interjected Seth.

“Yes,” added Abyss hastily, then continuing. “When you acquire the lockets, make your way to the nearest Spire base. I know they have one somewhere in Japan. Several, if I remember correctly. From there, you will be able to contact me. I have to get to one of the Towers. Good luck, buddy.”

With a quick pat on the shoulder, Abyss left Seth alone at the table, taking two of the three books with him. Seth stared down at the remaining tome, which happened to be the Book of Prophecy.

He knew not how long he stared at the document, only that at one point he finally stood up, took the evil book under his arm, and muttered to himself, “these lockets had better f-cking be worth my weight in something like money.”