And What I Found There - Book Two

32. With Just One Single Blow

Vyndren's wolf leaps through the air and crashes into the gargoyles, burying them beneath the rising waves that now lap aggressively pass my knees. I'm nearly wrench off balance by the violent current.

The wolf seizes the monsters by their wings and sharply swings its head, letting the gargoyles go so they fly uncontrollably through the air. The wolf briefly glances at Vyndren struggling against the remaining monsters but now it bounds over to me, sweeping off my feet again and tossing me on its back as it anxiously begins loping through the rising flood.

"Wait! No!" It's taking me away from Vyndren! "I won't leave you!" I frantically tell the wolf, knowing Vyndren can hear me through it. "I won't!" I anxiously twist around to see my Dark Rider once more. "No! Vyndren!"

He is forced on his knees by two gargoyles savagely wrenching on his arms, another gargoyle takes advantage of its open target and viciously rams its horned head into the Dark Rider's chest. Once, twice, again...

They're killing him! No!

I know what the wolf is doing now, it's trying to get me as far away from the gargoyles as it can before Vyndren is killed, before his animal soul spirit disappears...

But I can't run away. I refuse to run away and let him die like this, let him die for me...

I suddenly jump off the wolf, landing roughly into the muddy flood water that is now swirling around my waist. I swiftly snatch my cross necklace from my vest pocket, the one infused with holy spirits, and I seize my other cross, the beloved wooden cross Vyndren carved for me. But without hesitating, I summon what's left of my power and the wooden cross erupts into flames. I clutch the burning cross -heedless of the pain- and frantically wrap the holy cross around it.

I know what I have to with these now.

The giant wolf suddenly leaps in front me, hiding a dying Vyndren from my sight as it tries to shepherd me away. But I swiftly summon my control over water and the wolf is abruptly snatched off its feet, carted away from me with an outraged howl.

Now, with all my strength and determination, I pitch my burning crosses through the air and watch for a breathless, heart-freezing moment as it spins end over end through the icy rain... and now it seems to briefly hover right in front of the Dark Rider's face before it falls into the water.

But that's all it takes.

I know burning crosses awaken his demon.

Vyndren suddenly screams in a voice that sounds like a thousand different men screaming in rage and pain. His strength is beyond doubled as the vicious Blood Prince's demons expand within him. The gargoyles holding his arms are flung off to the sides and the others take a few steps back in alarm as the Dark Rider's entire body starts to violently change.

He is still screaming in agony and fury as all of his bones crackle and reform, he desperately rips through his shirt while his skin darkens to a deep ash color. His muscles wildly swell and another face breaks through his in a burst of blood, this is the face of the monstruous bat demon.

Two massive wings erupt from his torn back and blood is slung off them as they expand. Blood and rain gushes off his impossibly huge body trembling with tribulation as he finishes transforming in the hulking monster over nine feet tall.

The gargoyles briefly bow in fear at the sight of the fully phased Vampire, but now they give a roar and surge forward.

The Vampire Prince hisses with fury, the fires of his inferno eyes blaze like an explosion as he lunges. He catches two gargoyles by the throat as he lifts off into the air. The other Dark creatures snarl as they too take off into the stormy sky.

I tilt my head back as I try to see through the rain as the Dark creatures all clash.

The Blood Prince slams his two victims together with thunderous crash and they clatter into pieces before the rest of the horde flies into him.

But nothing can match a fully phased Vampire's speed or strength, it seems. He moves too fast for them to catch him, he is too powerful for them to overwhelm him, and he's too savage to spare any mercy.

The Dark creatures all go spiraling out of the sky in a swarm of violently fighting bodies and suddenly crash into the church. The building collapses with a jarring, aching roar.

I anxiously cling to a tree as the flood tries to rip me off my feet, my skull pounding and my vision doubling. I feel on the verge of a powerdrop. I've summoned too magic all at once. But I can't run out of power! Not yet. Not right now!

The Vampire suddenly soars back into the dark sky, his silhouette seems to cover the entire forest as lightning flashes behind him.

I feel my heart skip a beat with terror. God, what have I done?

Suddenly the flood wrenches me off balance and I'm screaming as I go sliding through the battlefield, my body battered between headstones and the destroyed ruins of the church.

I'm still screaming even after I manage to pass through the warzone and am now whisked and whirled around the trees in the haunted forest. Where the hell am I'm gonna end up when this stops?! And when will this stop?

I -again- scream now as I'm washed over the edge of the Hill in a tumultuous waterfall. NOOO!