King of Dust

Chapter 09

"What?" I gasped as I snatched the letter from Urien's hand. "What do you mean, me?"

My eyes ran over the letter, pausing on crumpled up bits of paper or smudged ink. Lo and behold, it was my own handwriting. There was no mistaking that. As I read the letter, it all came back to me.

Being a vampire is a funny thing. Your brain is really only designed to handle so much information, and as we get older, we forget things. It happens to everyone. It's the reason why your grandma consistently calls you Vlad when your name is Chad, but no matter what you tell her she still gets it wrong. You forget the name of someone you knew long ago. You forget the color of your lover's eyes. Same thing happens to vampires. We're granted immortality, not perfect memory. As I read the letter over, something that had happened hundreds of years ago came flooding back to the forefront of my mind.

Dear Mister Hopson,

I appreciate your letter, but I, truly and honestly, have no clue what you're talking about. I have lived in Starkovia for many years now. I am not some dread lord or some god sent to you by... whatever it is you worship. I'm not going to give you immortality, so you better get that out of your head now.

Also... Human sacrifices? Really? I don't want to know how many people you've slaughtered on your altar. And a torture dungeon? I'm not impressed. I'm... grossed out. Your weird ritual did not bring me here. I fought for my family and watched my brothers in arms bleed on this earth to get here. You had nothing to do with it.

And what in the hell do you want me to do about your finances? Do I look like some sort of bank? You're the one who's bonkers and drove your family into the ground. I do deeply apologize for the loss of your son, and I do agree with you that you are cursed. From what you've written your life sounds like a nightmare. It is, however, not my duty to pull you from the brink. I have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Your king,

Darius Marcel Starbán

"Ah, yes," I muttered under my breath. "I remember this. This guy, Kenton Hopson, wrote me some letter with way too much information in it. He left his wife, cheated on her with some other woman, or something? Somehow that led to a dark being from beyond the grave being summoned. He drove his family into ruin, and somehow, I was supposed to fix it? Not sure where the logic was on that."

"What's this all about?" Urien demanded.

"I wrote back, told him to bugger off, and that was the last I heard of it."

"When was this?"

"A... hundred years ago? Two hundred? Look, these things blur together."

"But, wait..." Yra looked over the paperwork in his hands. "This deed is to their children, who we met outside. If you spoke with them a couple hundred years ago—"

"The children are a trap, just as I expected," Urien interrupted. "We need to figure out what's making this house tick. Something's at play here that I don't quite understand."

Urien strode from the room, determination on his face, and I followed shortly afterward. For whatever reason, I felt like a child who had gotten into trouble. I hoped that what I had said had not caused a mess. Astrid looked between the two of us, confused, as Urien stepped from the room. Yra wandered nonchalantly behind me, his hands in his pockets, and raised his eyebrows. "You're just really good at digging yourself into holes, aren't you, Darius?"

I glared at him, knowing he was referring to more than just the letter, and I left the room with Astrid in tow. I didn't have time for his games, nor did I want to deal with his sarcasm. Urien was already up the stairs heading toward the third floor of the house when we emerged back into the hall, and the three of us followed. Urien had gone into 'inquisitor mode' and there was no pulling him from his determined stupor.

When we stepped up to the third floor, Urien disturbed some dust which sent a cloud of muck into the air. I coughed and batted the motes away from my face to no avail. Astrid's torch barely lit the dark hall and she waved moths from her eyes as they flocked to her light. "Holy Light of Ohaldin, it's dusty up here!"

"It's a little weird that they'd keep the lower levels spotless and neglect this one, ya?" I added.

"They should hire a better maid," Yra scoffed.

"Okay, we need to get through this place quickly before it gets dark." Urien's eyes scanned the room as he counted. "I see four doors. There's four of us. Let's split up and look in each of the rooms. Astrid and I will take the north and south doors so you two can avoid sunlight."

Astrid gave my hand a good squeeze before moving toward her door when something creaked nearby. It sounded like the moan of metal in a cold wind, and a scraping sound followed afterward. Something lurched from the wall and swung wildly with its fists, barely missing Yra, and teetered around to swing again. Yra ducked underneath the thing's arm and stumbled away from the wall into the landing.

Astrid raised her hand above her head and an aura of light enveloped her body. At that moment, she looked very different from the scared little girl that had knocked at my door.

"Kaya!" she shouted. A bolt of light leapt from her hand and toward the creature. In the explosion of illumination, I saw that what swung at us in the dark was nothing more than a suit of armor. When her bolt hit it, the top of the armor spun around in distress.

Yra cried out in a rage and pulled his rapier from its scabbard. He slashed at the armor, but the tip of his blade merely bounced off the breastplate of the thing. I dashed forward, feeling my nails grow long and sharp as I flexed my hands. With precision, I pulled at the arms of the armor, hoping to dismantle it. My claws caught on the metal, sending sparks and the sound of screeching into the air when I swiped with one hand, but with the other I latched on. In one solid yank I took the arm off the construct. After I popped the arm off, the armor hissed, sputtered, clanked, and fell to the ground.

Astrid gasped as the fight concluded and the sound of armor falling echoed about the house. She covered one ear with her free hand and Urien brushed dust off himself. "Good work," he said. "Keep your eye out for any more monsters."

"I won't send Astrid off alone," I said.

"She fended for herself just fine."

"Yeah, Darius," Yra sneered as he stared at me. "Don't tell me you're starting to like her."

"She's a valuable member of the team!" I shouted, louder than I should have. Urien hushed me and violently waved an arm to get me to keep my trap shut.

"If you're going to bicker, take it downstairs. Keep your heads together. We have work to do."

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