A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga (32 page)

A blinding white light burst through the
temple’s exterior walls and engulfed the entire cavern in its aura.
At once, the collective paranormal realm cried out in agony, the
blaze of light burning them from the inside out. It wasn’t just the
caverns that were illuminated by the summoner’s aura, but the whole
paranormal world. Hundreds of thousands cried out in unison as
their bodies tore apart, molecule by molecule.

“What the hell’s happening?” Steven asked,
oblivious to what was transpiring, “They’re all just… flopping
around and screaming out in pain.”

“I
think
it’s working,” Samuel said
with an arched brow, “Come, we should get to the temple
immediately.”

The two vampire hunters couldn’t see the
blinding light that encased the cavern; close to the paranormal
realm, yet just outside its otherworldly presence. They were human,
and as such, immune to the effects.

Elsewhere, closer to the steps of the Temple
of Prometheus, the vampire queen fought through the pain and rose
to her feet. She had never felt anything like this, but with each
step she took, the pain seemed to subside slightly. It was
happening. She was beginning to be that which she feared most. She
was becoming insignificant.

Amata didn’t have much time, and most likely
she was already too late, but she had to try— it was in her blood.
She might not have been a vampire queen any longer, but she was
still royalty. Born and raised to bow to no one. Amata would fight,
until she couldn’t fight anymore.

“I hope you didn’t forget about me, my
liege
,” a woman’s voice said from behind, “I think the
playing field just got leveled.”

Lady Amata turned around sharply and was
struck in the face by a now-human Fiona. Blood rushed from her nose
and splattered in every direction as she hit the ground with a
thud.

“I believe now it’s your turn to beg for
forgiveness,” Fiona said as she grabbed the former queen’s sword
and pressed it against her chest, “Beg for me.”

“I’ll get nothing from me,” Lady Amata
whispered through blood-stained teeth, “I die on my own terms… not
yours.”

“Good,” replied Fiona, removing the steel
from Amata’s skin, “You’ll live… though I fear it’s a fate far
worse than death, milady.”

Her life spared, the former queen of the
paranormal shrieked in frustration, her entire world having
crumbled around her. Death would’ve been a release for her, the
sweet satisfaction that she wouldn’t be forced to live as one of
them, wouldn’t have to be insignificant ever again— a release now
taken away from her and never to return.

In the brightest of flashes, the world
changed forever. A collection of races lost to the world, each with
a history that surpassed even the humans that replaced them. Not
that its human populace even batted an eyelash while the change
occurred, but it would be felt through every facet of their life,
whether they realized it or not.

And finally, back in the inner sanctum of the
Temple of Prometheus; an empowered, but drained summoner was still
trying to make sense of the projections she had seen in her mind.
It was a wealth of information, but perhaps
too
much, and
she found myth impossible to separate with fact.

Protector. Guardian. Summoner. They were all
just words, but they resonated within Emily and gave her the
strength to see herself off the ground and back towards the
door.

Xander was still with her, having refused to
participate in the war that raged only a few hundred feet from his
present location. He was a warrior, bred for battle and wise in its
ways, but still he refused to lift a finger, even to protect his
own kindred— vampiric children that he no longer held parentage
of.

“Is it over?” Emily asked as she stumbled
towards Xander, “Is the war finally at an end?”

“Yes, my dear,” said Xander, running to help
support the summoner, “It’s over… I can feel it.”

“Then the vampires are gone?” Emily inquired
with her head hanging low, “Along with the werewolves and trolls
and all the other ungodly creatures that have been chasing us?
They’re all human once more?”

“Yes. The horde is no more.”

Emily sighed in relief and allowed herself to
think of the home she left behind. It had been months since she let
herself go back in memory to the place she grew up. Those thoughts
were short-lived, however, as she came across a harrowing
discovery.

“Xander,” whispered Emily, “I can’t feel your
heart beating.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your heart,” Emily restated, “It should be
beating, but it’s not.”

“Yes, I guess it should,” Xander said, “You
see, had you of time to read Mitra’s scrolls thoroughly, you
would’ve undoubtedly come to the realization that the ritual has no
effect within the temple’s walls.”

“What are you saying?” Emily asked.

“That I owe you my life, dear summoner,”
Xander replied with fangs bared, “I’m the last of my kind… and a
new order will be born from my bloodline. I couldn’t have done it
without you, and for that, I’m eternally indebted to you.”

With Xander’s true nature uncovered, he
grabbed hold of Emily and sunk his teeth into the summoner. They
were both the last of their kind, locked in a struggle of dominance
that only one could survive. His plan, decades in the making and
now finally unraveled for the world to see.

The true villain had emerged— a vampire king
to replace the deposed queen.

Chapter Eight

She could feel the blood drain from her body,
the hue flee from her skin and her knees quiver from the weight of
her bones, getting all the heavier as the blood escaped through the
fangs lodged in her vertebral arteries.

She should’ve seen this coming, not that such
thoughts would do her any good. Not now. Emily had failed to listen
to her mother’s dire warning, and now was paying with her life.

“I’ll fight you,” Emily whispered, “I’ll
fight you to the ends of the world.”

“No, you won’t.”

“I’m stronger now… strong enough to stop
you,” said Emily, gathering her strength, “I’m not the same girl
that was once so easily taken in by your charms.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Are you so sure?” asked Emily as she lifted
her head. Her eyes burnt bright with infinite power, and while her
blood may have been draining from her body, she found her summoner
heritage unspoiled and ready for channeling. “Would you bet your
new
order
on it, Xander?”

Xander cried out in pain as a bright azure
aura swallowed up Emily’s entire frame. Caught red handed, Xander
was burning alive and unable to free himself.

Emily raised her hands and used the particles
in between Xander and herself to form a bond around him and used it
to catapult him across the chamber.

He collided with a snapping of bones and
spraying of blood, broken by the summoner’s will and raw power. His
ruse had been carefully crafted and expertly positioned, but he
failed to understand the power he was playing with. In the end, he
learned. Xander lay there, slumped against the limestone wall,
motionless and unable to defend himself.

“Emily!” shouted Steven as he pushed open the
massive stone doors to the inner sanctum, “You’ve done it! You’ve
won the war!”

Steven and Samuel charged through the door,
faces beaming and removed of their steel and armor. They hooted and
hollered over their victory, all the way over to Emily, where they
propped her up into the air and cheered for their champion.

“I was cut, stabbed and almost impaled,”
Steven jeered, “But it was
all
worth it to see that look on
the vampire queen’s face as Fiona popped her in the nose!”

“How the heck did you summon that massive
creature?” Samuel asked, “The thing must’ve been as long as a
football field!”

“And where is Fiona?” asked Emily as she was
tossed around by her friends, “Esther, as well. I don’t see either
of them here.”

“I don’t know,” Samuel said, “I just assumed
she made it here before us.”

“Good,” said Emily, motioning for them to put
her down, “I would like to see them as soon as possible.”

“Hey,” an alarmed Steven asked, “What
happened to Xander? I thought he was in here with you the whole
time?”

Emily’s sight when to the location where
Xander had fallen, but only the blood exhumed from his body lay
present. He had escaped when eyes had been averted, cast back into
the darkness once more.

“He… he has…,” Emily wavered, “He has no more
place with us. Our paths have taken a far different course, though
I’ve no doubt they’ll intersect along the way. We must prepare for
that day... for I plan to give him hell!”

The three unlikely victors walked side by
side out of the Temple of Prometheus and surveyed the destruction
caused by the now overthrown vampire queen. Bodies littered the
cavern, bridge and entrance to the temple, hundreds upon hundreds
that were felled by the blades of their enemies. It was a horrific
sight, but even more disturbing was how many were missing from the
scene.

“Where did the horde go?” Steven asked.

“They slinked back into the night, no doubt,”
Samuel said, “It seems our temporary allies have fled, as
well.”

“So they were using us?” Steven inquired,
“What was the point of it all?”

“Xander played his part to perfection,” Emily
said, “He has become the last living vampire, and with it, he will
create a new family… one where he reigns supreme.”

Xander. Gone. Fiona. Gone. Lady Amata. Gone.
They were all gone, save for those unable to survive until their
withdrawal. All except for one, wounded, but still very much
alive.

“Oh my god,” said Emily, running down towards
the bridge, “Samuel, come quick!”

Emily spotted the wounded woman, covered in
blood and struggling to lift herself upright. She had been savagely
sliced open, but luckily was able to heal fast enough before the
temple’s aura ended their immortality. It was Esther, and she had
been left behind, disregarded and forgotten, a weakness that needed
to be cut from the new vampire tapestry.

“We have to help her,” Emily said as she
applied pressure to the wound, “There’s got to be something we can
do.”

The vampire hunter ripped off his sleeve and
formed a makeshift bandage, which he promptly wrapped around her
waist.

“She’s going to be all right,” Samuel said,
“She just needs some time to recuperate.”

“We should leave her,” Steven said adamantly,
“They played us for fools… they used us to further their own
sadistic agenda… and you’re actually considering saving her
life?”

Emily looked up at her brother with a sadness
that stemmed from both the known and the unknown. She had followed
her feelings, her vision, and her connection to the summoner’s that
came before. They had led her astray, or rather; they allowed her
to lead herself astray.

“We save her, Steven,” said Emily, “We’re not
like them… and we’ll
never
be like them. We save her…
because that’s who we are.”

The summoners could’ve warned her, she tried
to tell herself, but they already had once before. It wasn’t their
fault that she was too blind to see the truth, wrapped in a cloak
of darkness and calling itself a friend.

Now, she would carry that burden once more,
and pay with her life in the process. Emily knew then and there,
that she would never again have the normal life she craved. She was
a summoner, and there was a war that still needed closure.

A new villain had emerged, tipping the scales
once more towards the darkness. Emily would fight him and
everything that he stood for, or she would die trying. That was her
vow from this day on, to cast back the darkness that plagued the
land once more.

“What becomes of us?” Steven asked, “Where do
we go now?”

“Now, brother,” said Emily, standing resolute
and beaming with confidence renewed from a connection to her
heritage, “Now we can finally go home.”

The End

The story continues in: A Never Ending Night
- Dayside

The Night Anthology:

A Moonlit Night Saga

A Never Ending Night Saga

A Silent Night Saga