Krimson Mind: The Krimson Cycle Vol. 1

Chapter Thirty-One - Krimson

"Now that we are all here, shall we begin to negotiate your surrender?" Alexioff laughed. The sound made my skin want to crawl off my body. I swore to myself right then and there that I was going to make sure that James and I could spend the rest of our long, semi-immortal lives in peace. No matter what it took.

"No. If you want us so badly, come and get us!" James growled at him. "There won't be any surrendering today. Or ever for that matter!"

Suddenly the tree tops were alive with movement, where the air had been still before. James told us that there was a ley line that followed the river as it neared the park. It was probably the reason for the park's existence in the first place. He started to pull energy out of it, and the result was a wind that seemed to come straight out of him. It was a bit scary, and I almost laughed out loud at the thoughts rolling acrossed my mind.

"I'm so glad he's all mine."

"Me too, Krimson. Now get that gorgeous head of yours in the game!" He mentally scolded me. I gave a subtle nod, knowing he see it.

"Rest assured bloodling! I will. And then it will be as you say. No surrenders. Just death." Alexioff promised, his voice suddenly going low and dangerous. It carried over James's wind as if it weren't there at all. I was beginning to wonder if Alexioff didn't have his own store of psychic ability.

"What about those disease-ridden whores you like to fuck?" I taunted. "Do they want to play too?"

"My Brides," Alexioff began, "are more than a match for you, bitch!"

Alexioff threw something at the ground, as Max rushed forward to try and stop him. I hadn't even seen it in his hands. There was a soft, yet audible cracking sound. Then the ground around Alexioff began to change. It was instant, and expanding. The grass, which had been thick, healthy and green instantly wilted and died. The effect grew, impossibly fast, in its area until the massive space where we all stood was bare dirt. This death effect continued up the trunks of the trees until all of their big green leaves crumbled to ash and blew away on James's wind. Every living thing around us was dead. But the scary part was that the spell had only taken a few seconds to do it.

"Dimmit!" Max swore savagely. "We might be in trouble!"

"Now, my Brides!" Alexioff cried out.

From the giant skeletal tree to my right, Josephina dropped down to the ground. She transformed herself into her wolf form, then leapt towards me. While she was airborne, I threw one of my knives at her head. Josephina managed to dodge in mid-air, pushing off of the tree, and the knife dug deep into her left hind leg instead. It wasn't a fatal wound, but with the amount of silver in the knife, and because she was in her wolf form, she would be forced to heal it as slow as a human would heal a similar wound. Josephina howled in pain and made a horrible three-legged landing right in front of me. She didn't stand still for long. She made an attempt to rip my guts out with her teeth and got a mouthful of the silver-laced chain mail. I drove both of my fists into her shoulders. All of my rage, and that which I took from James washed over me. I couldn't seem to stop it this time. I didn't want to. I let it come. I channeled that rage into my muscles, making every hit that much harder, every motion that much faster. I was already beyond supernaturally quick, now I was a moving blur, even to those whose eyes were capable of seeing me moving that fast.

Josephina yelped and dropped heavily to the ground. She landed on that wounded hind leg and let out a pitiful yelp of pain. I just laughed at her. I took a couple of steps back, drawing a silver vial out of its pouch as I moved. I cocked my arm back and the vial exploded in my hand. The shot had come from a stone gazebo just on the outside of Alexioff's death zone. I tried to see if I could make out who the shooter was. And too late, I realized my mistake.