The Mistress of Death

I replaced the sadness with anger and the anger with fury. She kidnapped my family. That was all that mattered. There were all manner of vampire here. Deep down I knew I couldn’t kill them all. So when the first one burst out of his room to see why there was so much power flooding their homes I had to urge myself not to let the flames of my fury envelop him. I pulled the gun from the holster at the small of my back.

The vampire who’d almost been friend went back inside paler than he had been.

Ryan snickered, “I don’t think they expect to see me standing at your side. I think they fear both you and Il Cane are here.”

“Let them.”

Ryan nodded, “I agree. It’s a good fear to keep them all safe.”

“Evangeline is not safe.”

“I know.” He pulled out his gun and followed my lead.

We knocked on the right door and then I shattered it with my power. The good thing about the basement is there was no way out. And Evangeline was not a shadow walker. Her gift was with the dead and there were no dead here with us. It was the only true Embraced vampire talent. Since the Primeval vampires were born, they didn’t possess necromancy.

Inside the room were three vampires and a therian. None of them I knew, and none of them were Evangeline. “Where is Evangeline?” I asked.

And when none of them responded I shot a vampire in the head. At this rate I’d have to reload, but it didn’t kill a vampire. It might kill the therian but it wasn’t likely. “Where is Evangeline?” I asked again.

There was fear in their eyes now. But no one answered. Bullet number two went into a vampires brain.

Ryan added, “If someone doesn’t answer him he will shoot you all. And then shoot you again after you wake up.”

The third vampire fell silent with a bullet to his brain. I aimed my gun at the therian and he pointed down the hall, “Last room.”

We walked down the hall clearing the other rooms we past, no one was there and the therian we had behind us had run out the door the moment we left. He was smart but we only had so much time before we were ambushed by others. “Make sure we have a ride out of here if it gets harry.”

“Already done, Tony’s a text away. He’s waiting for my signal.”

We pushed open the last door and were flooded with bodies. The smell of the dead was strong and the bodies were freshly dead. Evangeline had been busy. But it was nothing to set the bodies on fire, they caught quickly and didn’t scream though the smell was horrific. Evangeline cowered behind them, and as the flames rose I didn’t bother going past them. I aimed my gun at her head and I fired one bullet into her head. Her body collapsed to the ground and I etched a contain fire run on all the walls with earth from across the way. The fire would burn until there was nothing left to burn. I closed the door and did the same to the door. Nothing in that room would survive.

I blocked the door with a wall of air that would die when the fire did – whenever it did.

“That’s Cari’s favorite trick too.”

“I’d stay to watch but I can’t.”

Ryan laughed, “I know. But you have other things on your mind. And I know what it is. And you can’t go run off to save the day.”

“I know. Did you get that vacation?”

Ryan nodded, “Yeah. Dorian said it’s all set he’ll get it ready for you. And you don’t need to say more. I understand.”

We walked in silence the whole way back to the Night Life building. The apartments were empty. All the kids were still in Sanctuary, and everyone else was downstairs helping find the other remaining places. Ryan and I were left alone in the quiet apartment. He let me in my room alone. I felt him on the other side of the door but I curled up in bed and wrapped my arms around Alex’s pillow and cried.

All the emotion of the day came out in the tears. Everything crashed around me. It wasn’t just the day it was everything. Dying. The nightmare. Kids. Alex. Marriage. Everything came up from the depths of my soul and buried me in tears.

It was heart crushing, my breathing was ragged and I was still shielding so hard that the pain inside overwhelmed me. I felt the fire around me spinning. And I didn’t want to control it.

I threw the blankets off of me and I used air to fling open the closet and ripped out all its contents with a giant crash which had Ryan coming in to the room. I drew contain magic and fire specifically into all the walls, ceiling and floor.

Ryan seemed to understand, he grabbed Alex’s pillow and a blanket and set them inside the closet. “I’ll be outside.” He said as I closed the door and let all the power go – every ounce, every feeling, every peice of magic flooded the small room as I let the tears flow as I pulled Alex’s pillow underneath me and flung the blanket over me and made a coccoon. And I cried…