Coalescence

Chapter 19: The Culmination of Malice

Carlisle dashed into Ricard without warning, nicking him with the edge of his blade before Ricard could fully defend himself. In a vampiric state, his senses, movement, and his thought speed were all increased, giving him a distinct power up in comparison to normal. Bren was pressed with her back against the wall, terrified. It had gone directly under her nose the entire time, that a herald to metamagic could also be a vampire. Her thoughts raced as she thought about the blood vial she drank, and the state her body would be in once it settled.

Her thoughts were immediately stopped by the sight of Carlisle with a sword through his abdomen, skewered by a bright blue stream of flames. His head hung low, the twinblades in his hand held loosely by trembling fingers.

"Just as I thought, you two were never destined for anything of importance." Ricard snickered as he looked into Carlisle's eyes, cast downwards in shock. In a flash, Carlisle grabbed Ricard's shoulders and sunk his teeth into his neck. Ricard pulled the blade back, creating distance with his new wound. Carlisle wiped his lips as his stomach sealed itself back together.

"At least I know the arm isn't for show now, drinking from a half blood always tastes like shit." Carlisle stated, gripping his blades in his hands again.

"I forget, your kind can sustain themselves off of just blood in that form. Too bad it consumes too much for you to produce naturally, otherwise you would've been unstoppable." He rubbed the bite mark, revealing the chunk taken out of his neck and shoulder by Carlisle's bite. "But, it's too bad. It looks like the Strom's were too weak after all."

"Don't make assumptions about my family, we were damn proud of what we built, even if we had to keep it hidden from the rest of the world." Carlisle's eyes glowed brighter, his weapons becoming more dense and bright with power. "Besides, even if we were vampires, we ran on a moral code. We'd never consume innocents, and never use our true form unless absolutely necessary." He clutched a stone close to his chest, a bright orange gem built into his inner chestplate. "I was sent as an emissary to the outside world as the first Faerie-Vampire hybrid, and I've been able to make it in this world all the same."

"Your ethics make you weak, Carlisle. If you only-" Ricard was quickly cut off by a gauntlet colliding with his jaw. As he stumbled over, Bren wiped the end of her gauntlet off and stood beside Carlisle. She held the vial from earlier, now filled with her own blood, and handed it to Carlisle.

"I've got an idea, drink it." Carlisle looked over the vial, and quickly drank it. Bren felt a connection between them, and her own power grew stronger. Her eyes glowed a deep blue, the direct opposite of Carlisles, and she formed a slick overcoat of mana on her skin. She grew small wings of mana, her appearance heavily resembling a Dryad. Ricard rubbed his jaw and looked up, seeing the two figures standing ahead of them.

"Well oh well, isn't this a sight: the last domesticated of their kind standing side by side." Bren and Carlisle looked at each other and talked quietly.

"How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't, I just figured that if you take blood, the essence of life, to get stronger, then I could give blood to create life and do the same."

"That sounds too smart for me. Did you contact the other's?"

"Malcolm and Juten will be here any second, and I'm sure they'll have Griffith and Brigund in tow." Carlisle slowly nodded, chuckling to himself. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just if my mom could see me now, how much she'd cry." Bren laughed with him, unsheathing a lightning blade like Carlisles from before. They both turned to face Ricard, charging in with a flurry of blows that kicked up plumes of snow from beneath them. They were only recognizable through the white veil by the distinct glows enveloping them, distinct swirls of red and blue lighting up the otherwise shrouded mountaintop. Crackles of lightning and the whooshing of flames echoed through the thin, mountaintop air and cascaded down to meet the ears of the Recon Squad.