The Immortal Blood

Chapter 37

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"Stay back" Alexandra had intimated, getting past Adam and slowly opening the door that led from the basement to the corridor. "I don't see anyone..."
A loud crash, followed by fighting noises and broken glass was heard from the living room, causing both of them to start.
"Damn! We should've had free way into the house by now, with Vernon stuck in the yard, but with the plan blown... Todd will never manage to overcome that bastard on his own!"
"I'm sorry, didn't you say someone was helping him?" The blond man had interrupted the vampire, bewildered.
"Yes, Axel was hiding out by the bushes, waiting for a signal, but at this point I'm afraid my brother didn't..."
"You've got to be kidding me! Vernon will KILL Todd, he's been very clear about it, we can't just leave him here!"
"I know, Adam, but that jerk is not easy to take down. If he attacked my brother, he might have anticipated our every move, not to mention I promised I'd get you-" A chair had flown through the lobby and smashed into the wall a few feet away from them. "Jesus!"
"Look, as I've already explained to you, Vernon has no interest in hurting me right now, which cannot be said about Todd. I know what he asked you to do, but you know better than me he won't make it out alive without your intervention."
Alexandra had looked towards the salon, conflicted: it was undeniable, the boy was right. Her brother, for the first time in a long while, needed her.
"Swear to me that you'll stand aside and run as soon as you get the chance, or I'll be the first in line to bust that stone head of yours."
"All right." The lawyer had nodded, while another deafening racket of furniture covered both their voices.
Together, they had crawled as quietly as possible along the corridor wall to the living room: Todd and Vernon had pulverized the piano, two cabinets and several knick-knacks, during their fierce struggle for dominance.
The Elder one seemed to have cornered Valentine by pinning him against a heavy wardrobe, his hands clamped tightly around his throat.
"What are you going to do, Vernon, strangle me to death?" Todd had snickered, a trickle of blood dripping from his ears and one side of his mouth.
"Oh, you won't die, not until I've ripped your dear sister's body to shreds so tiny you'll hardly recognize them."
"Unlikely" the younger one had snorted. "Alex has almost managed to off you once, she'll be more than happy to try again."
"I sure will" Alexandra had entered the salon, her dark irises sparkling with a sinister glow.
"Ah, the siblings reunited, at last!" The older vampire had lifted his gaze upon her, never releasing his grip on Todd.
"Enough, Vernon, let him go."
"No one will come to save you this time. You're DONE." Valentine had grabbed his wrist, squeezing until he felt the bones break. Foley had taken the hit without giving up an inch, staring at the two, contemptuous.
"You're a fool if you think you can overpower me. As I have created you, I can destroy you, with a snap of my fingers."
"Unless I crush them one by one." Todd had increased the violence of the hold around his hand, noting with pleasure that the Elder one had failed to hide an almost imperceptible grimace of agony.
"I must say, I didn't think you could do any worse, Vernon, but there's no limit to the horrors you can spread. You're a revolting monster, but rest assured we won't let you disappear with the boy, not after what you did to Dimitri."
"Oh, but that's exactly what's going to happen, my dear girl. You, your brother and that Judas Axel will rot in a line beside your friend's remains." Vernon had snapped his teeth, and never more than then had he shown himself for the bloodthirsty demon he was. "And the boy will stay with me as long as I see fit... or find him USEFUL."
Todd's face had contracted into an almost beastly expression. His attention had shifted from his creator to Alexandra, and nothing else than the look in his eyes had been needed to make her understand what was about to happen.
Valentine had kneed the older vampire's side so quickly that he hadn't had the time to prepare to absorb the blow: his ribs had shattered with a deafening sound, causing him to collapse on the floor, panting. Todd had increased the damage by hitting him in the face with a kick that would have smashed the skull of any other living being. Alexandra had ran to his aid, using all the strength in her body to keep Vernon locked to the ground.
"Get out of here and find Axel, we'll burn the whole house down if we have to!"
"Are you sure?" Todd had looked at her with respect but also fear.
"Christ, yes, and hurry up!" His sister had pushed him towards the corridor, where, unexpectedly, Adam was coming up armed with an heavy shovel.
"Todd!" He'd exclaimed, letting it fall to the ground when the vampire had embraced him out of the blue. "Are you okay?"
"I should be asking you! What the fuck are you still doing here, you should have run!"
"I couldn't-"
"Adam, you can't worry about us all, right now, just think of yourself and your FAMILY." Valentine had grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
"But I don't..." the lawyer had been interrupted by the sudden clamour of Alexandra's lifeless body, thrown at a short distance from the back of Todd's neck, against the French window on the other side of the house.
"ALEX!" The words had come out like a choked scream from the vampire's throat, while an only partially battered Vernon had appeared before them, his face a twisted mask of hatred and death.
"Holy shit" Adam had exhaled behind Todd, appalled.
Todd had immediately stood between him and his Creator with his fists clenched, his gaze partly turned to where his sister had disappeared from sight.
"Get out of my way if you don't want me to end you." The Elder one had warned him, eloquently.
"No, Vernon, YOU step aside or I can promise you will not walk away."
"Oh, will you face me, alone, with Alexandra out of the equation, as helpless as the boy you so stubbornly insist on protecting?"
The blond man had guessed the implication of Vernon's words at the same time as Valentine, and immediately locked his eyes to him, seeing his face morph into an expression of sheer contempt.
"YOU..." Todd had grabbed him by the lapel of his shirt and lifted him at least three feet off the ground. Vernon laughed and broke his right forearm without apparent effort, then hit him in the sternum with superhuman force, knocking him straight to the ground.
Adam had searched for the shovel, almost tripping over it, and had retreated to the other side of the corridor, shaking with fear.
"Did you really think you could get away, Mr. Walsh? There's only country for miles beyond that door, and even if you'd reached your car, you wouldn't have gotten very far." Vernon took one look at Valentine, who was on the ground, sidelined by his wounds. "Now who's going to fight your battles?"
The lawyer had scanned desperately around him, still backing away, knowing the weapon in his hands was more than useless against the demon in front of him. He had suddenly found himself on the threshold of the master bedroom, where he and Cleo had slept together several nights before the ghostly manifestations became unmanageable, and which now evidently belonged to Foley, at least judging by the furnishing inside.
The ghosts... now that he was no longer locked in the basement, he could sense their threatening presence in the air. Something intangible had moved behind the corner of his right eye and he had taken a deep breath and entered the room, waiting.
Vernon was immediately upon him, taking advantage of his momentary distraction to rip the shovel out of his hands and grab him by one arm. He had sunk his razor-sharp teeth into his flesh, making him scream, the dresser to their left responding to Adam's presence by beginning to shake as if under a strong earthquake.
"Ah, your pathetic little spirits," the older vampire had mocked him, letting him go, while the bones that Todd had broken in his wrist welded back in their place. "So what am I supposed to do with you? I warned you what would happen if you didn't submit..."
Fuck. "Go to hell." Adam's voice trembled, and he didn't have an ounce of the confidence he was flaunting, but one thing was more than obvious: he couldn't let a creep like Vernon have the power to regenerate at will, whatever the cost.
"So what are you going to do, kill yourself, maybe?" The Elder one had shook his head, amused. "You're not a hero, Mr. Walsh, I can smell your dread from here."
"I never pretended to be." On the contrary, he was about to shit his pants, he was anything but reckless, but if no one could help him, he had to fend for himself. He'd pulled out a rusty old knife he'd stolen earlier from the closet and pressed it at his neck. "Stay back."
Foley had stared at him for a moment, frowning. "What nonsense. Put it down."
"No."
"You really are a disappointment, Mr. Walsh. Did you really think I could fall for such a foolish trap?" He'd grasped Adam's crippled hand and had squeezed his fractured fingers to underline his words. A ceramic vase had exploded in a loud warning behind them.
'This is it,' Adam had thought, trying to overcome the pain in the offended hand. Vernon had twisted his elbow, forcing him to drop the knife with a raging scream.
"You lost. Soon Todd will be just a distant memory, and if you don't want your family to end up like him, I suggest you to be more reasonable than that."
Adam had stared at the vampire's dark, malevolent eyes; he had looked far past him at the huge wall shelf as it got unhinged by the spirits from its studs: it was ancient, heavy and with a metal soul, perfect for a desperate attempt. He had taken a deep breath and thrown himself at it with all the strength in his body, taking Vernon along with him. The furniture had collapsed on them in a thundering clash, alongside part of the plaster of the wall behind.
Silence had fallen for a long time on the room, while the dust and rubble settled in the air.
Suddenly, an arm had emerged from under the wreckage, removing the massive planks with little difficulty, before pulling out the unconscious blond boy with an irritated sound.
Foley had just had time to caress the idea of breaking Adam's spine, just as he had threatened to do, when someone had quickly slashed his throat with a clean cut: he had turned around, looking incredulously at the blood gushing out of his wound, and on the doorstep was Todd, holding the blade that Adam had lost during the fight.
Vernon had collapsed to the ground, furious, the cut so deep that he could hardly heal despite the protection of the boy's magical blood.
"Don't thank me, I'm not finished yet." Valentine had plunged the blade into his throat, with a sound of pure satisfaction, and only when Vernon had quit moving he rushed to where the lawyer laid unconscious to help him.
"What happened?" the blonde had questioned, confused.
"You threw a bookcase on yourself to kick that asshole's butt. Try to hold still, you're in pretty bad shape." The vampire had smiled at him in awe. "And I thought I had to protect you!"
"Yes, and look at me now... is he dead?" Adam asked, casting a reverse glance at the Elder one's lifeless body.
"I wish he was, but no. However badly I stabbed him, the knife surely wasn't made of silver, and with your blood in his body, I don't know how long he'll be out. We must find a way to reach to Axel, because I have no intention of leaving you alone with him."
"Do you think Alexandra is...?"
"I don't know. I haven't... as soon as I got up, I ran to you." Todd had eyed the door, thinking about how he'd witnessed his sister fall.
"I get it. Are you okay? Do you need blood? Your arm..." Adam had peeked at it, worried.
Valentine had looked back at him, with a somber smile. "No, I'm still in one piece, more or less."
"Todd. I survived Vernon and a wall collapse. You're not going to kill me." Adam had presented him with his arm, where Foley had bitten him a few minutes earlier.
"Forget about it."
"Why do you always have to be so stubborn-"
"What the HELL happened in here?!" A voice had cried above their heads, making them gasp.
"ALEX!" Todd had jumped up in a split second."Are you... you're fine, thank God." He'd taken his sister in his arms, relieved.
"Yeah, but try to be gentle, I think I have misplaced a few discs." She'd backed out, embarrassed. "So, er, what... what happened to Vernon?"
"Ah." Todd had looked smugly in the direction where their Maker laid. "I'll explain later, first we have to burn him once and for all, or we'll have him on us in no time. Can you help me get him out to the patio?"
"Of course." Alexandra had kneeled down to assist him. "And the boy?"
"ADAM is hurt. He'll stay here until this is over. Do you think you can handle the ghosts alone for a few minutes?" Todd went back to bend over his lover, who was unsuccessfully trying to turn into some sort of safe position.
"All right... but be careful."
"Of course." Todd had stroked one side of his face, watching him silently. Adam had sensed from his expression that he wished he could tell him a lot more, and he'd leaned slightly forward in a silent invitation. They had kissed without restraint on the lips, both of their minds going back to the moments they had shared in those few days together.
"Um, we should get to work before he wakes up... I'll get him by his feet." Alexandra had looked away, clearly uncomfortable.
"Yeah. See you later." Valentine had winked at his lover, reluctantly letting him go, disappearing with Vernon's still body in the corridor.
Adam just stood there, suddenly overwhelmed by the strong metallic smell of curdled blood mixed with dust and sweat. His head had begun to pulsate, and he'd found himself in need to close his eyes for the sudden sense of dizziness that the recoil must have caused him: he knew he couldn't fall asleep after such a blunt trauma, but the call of darkness was too strong and he was too exhausted to resist, so he'd let himself slip into oblivion with open arms, abandoning himself completely to a restless sleep.