Leviathan (Fist of Light Series) Read online

  My nemesis gained increasing amounts of definition as my eyes cut through the dark atmosphere. The closer it got, the more defined it became, until it became clear that it was a he. Rather than looking in dire need of anti-dry skin cosmetics from being exposed to low-levels of UV rays, he was more refined. This vamp was all decked out in black, with an old-school cape that didn't belong in this age, let alone century. His minions withdrew at an unspoken command, probably transmitted via psychic means.

  Jeeves summoned a nebulous chair and settled down for a lengthy introduction. “A Royal vampire possesses only a fraction of the defects present in their minions. Only they can create vampires from the human stock. The newly created vamp subsequently becomes enthralled to their will and sports the mark of their maker upon the neck. While they don't have preternatural strength, their alacrity far surpasses that of their obedient thralls. As opposed to their lesser counterparts, the sun is only a marginal barrier, although extended exposure will eventually kill them. Many of the elder Royal lines can walk amid the unwary during daylight hours if they wear proper attire that covers their person. They can procreate, which is closely interlinked to their still beating hearts that continue to pump blood through living bodies. Their greatest source of pride and amusement is reliance upon their slight magical ability, an inherent feature. Their power is proportionate to the purity of their so-called 'bloodlines.' A favored game involves toying with the brain chemistry of their hapless prey, influencing their actions and forcing them to experience agony and overcome their will. However, their kind is particularly vulnerable until they reach their eighteenth year, as they are little more than human until then. The manifestation of power occurs directly after the bloodlust gains dominance over rational action for the first time, and the vampire within comes to the fore.”

  I shifted from foot to foot, shaking out tense limbs in preparation. “You know, I could’ve done with the CliffNotes version. We're kind of short on time here. Care to share any more pearls of wisdom before he decides to eat me?” The vampire approached within twenty feet, calmly assessing me.

  “Only that when one Royal kills another, they gain dominion over the stock created by their defeated counterpart. If a Royal is unmade by one outside their hierarchy, their thralls will become mindless beasts, intent on savagery and blood.”

  My vision began to return to normal, ever so slowly, followed uncertainly by the strength in my limbs. “Aren’t they already intent on blood?” I indicated the few remaining low-tier vamps, assembled behind their master.

  “It has been a long time since I've encountered an Empowered of such caliber,” the Royal said. “Your strength will sustain me for a decade and augment my power splendidly. Yes, I sense you have much vitality left to you, regardless of your previous display.” He punctuated his speech by kicking a dead vampire, its head torn clean off by my icy projectiles.

  I reached into my jacket and rooted around for one of my throwing knives, firmly grasping its reassuring weight. “Wouldn't know how many times I'd be dead without the need for monsters to make a grand entrance,” I murmured.

  “I assure you I am no common monster.” The Royal's words were coupled with a psychic bombardment and the charging of his remaining minions.

  Fighting the urge to lie down and go into a deep hibernation, I unveiled my throwing knife, which resembled a dagger more than anything else. Its clean curves created lateral symmetry of both the grip and the blade. The heft of the sturdy weapon allowed for greater in-flight stability and feedback for a novice such as myself. In a fraction of a second, I threw the weapon as I’d been taught and the dagger sailed through the air, slicing through the space separating Royal from Empowered. Rather than sticking into the fleshy bits of the Royal's torso, my nemesis blurred out of the way, almost too fast to track. But the dagger was never meant to harm, only to distract long enough so I could cement my mental barriers and focus my attention on the vamps bearing down on me. The struggling presence of the oppressive will confining my thoughts dissipated and my thoughts were my own once more. Approaching footfalls caught my immediate attention and I reached over my back to grasp the hilt of my sword. I drew it from its sheath, lightning playing along the blade, as I shrieked death threats to those arrayed against me.

  Air answered my fervent call, enabling me to even the playing field against the vamps’ impressive speed. Despite the fact that they were considered lesser beings by their more refined counterparts, they were damn fast. The half-dozen vamps flourished their weapons threateningly. Sparks flew as I parried a thrust from a rapier then counterattacked, lopping off an arm at the elbow. Half-clotted blood seeped slowly from the dark wound.

  “You’ll likely be overrun if you attempt to stand against a direct assault,” Jeeves pointed out rather unsupportively as I redirected two more strikes to the side.

  I snatched my stiletto out of my jacket with my unoccupied left hand. Dual-wielding was necessary. Otherwise, I’d never have been able to deflect all the incoming strikes. Calling upon Air, I launched the katana from my grasp, toward an unsuspecting vampire. One might think it wasn’t the best idea to discard a weapon so fruitlessly, throwing it away and leaving my person relatively defenseless. But then, they didn't know that my katana was never far removed from my grasp. I clenched my fist around a strand of purple-hued Air and swung my arm around at shoulder level while advancing with my stiletto. I sank my weapon into an exposed abdomen. A vampire hissed, exposing elongated canines. The same monstrosity quickly lost its head. The katana, directed by a whip-like appendage of Air, cut cleanly through the surprised vampire’s neck.

  My grin assumed a feral visage, directed at the five remaining low-tier vamps driven relentlessly forward by their master. The two I’d wounded were slightly slowed from the advance and I was determined to bring the score to even. I caught a lightning swift thrust with my stiletto's cross-guard, even as I shortened my Air-whip, bringing my sword to heel. With a weighty smack, Jeeves returned to the fold, his will driving the direction of another parry, saving me from a gruesome gutting from a wholly undisciplined slash enacted by a broadsword-wielding vampire.

  “Thanks,” I huffed through clenched teeth, sweat streaming down my forehead and into my eyes. “That was close.”

  “I'd would rather see you utilize the techniques you were taught than depend on my intervention,” Jeeves said. “Widen your gaze, boy,” he spat through our mental link.

  “Let's turn up the heat then, shall we?” Grimacing painfully, I manifested a shroud of lightning around my blades.

  My senses extended. I was no longer Caleb Holden. I became a functioning unit devoid of anything but a singular purpose, a hand of death, riding the currents of a timeless struggle. My body was a tool, and the weapons in my hands were merely an extension of that will. Acting and reacting on basic, primal instinct, the vampires were unable to stand against my might. Sparks flew and commingled with sprays of blood, some of it my own. Lightning traveled the length of a rapier that had crossed blades with me, and the undead arm holding unclenched reflexively, disarmed. I launched myself from the ground and planted my feet firmly into the chest of the defenseless vamp, taking him to ground. With blades held on either side of his neck, my two simultaneous slashes beheaded the minion. Rolling forward, I nearly avoided a dagger’s slash then came up into a fighting stance, back to the abyssal depths behind me.

  Only three vampires remained, all wounded. A stream of blood ran down my own slashed arm and mixed with the rain. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, I launched myself backward, calling Air to my aid. Instead of falling to my doom, however, a purple platform of power held me stationary, suspended midair.

  “Well then, boys, I haven't got all day,” I taunted.

  After wiping vampire blood from the blade, I replaced my stiletto back in its sheath. I projected another whip of Air, this one with serrated teeth. The snapping whip latched onto the neck of its hapless victim, sinking in with greedy teeth. I pulled roughl
y and the vamp was forced into open air, arms scrabbling uselessly for the safety of hard ground. I slapped my hand down on the platform, binding the cord of Air and the flailing vamp to its frame. The serrated teeth along the whip’s interior slowly wormed their way inward until the vampire’s head detached itself and the ruined body fell into the chasm. Strangled gasps reached me from below, but my attention was no longer focused there. Instead, I followed the path of the two remaining vamps as they arced towards me. As they neared the platform, I called Air once more and leapt forward while retracting my free-floating platform. My outsmarted pals fell screaming with their now silent beheaded counterpart, hoarse cries of retribution directed venomously in my direction before they cut off abruptly. I timed a blast of Air with my touchdown, crouching and distributing the impact.

  “Lacking in finesse, but the crude application appears effective enough,” Jeeves said.

  An expansive silence stretched and strained to its breaking point. Only the light patter of rain broke the oppressive lack of sound. A slow clap started and I raised my head to determine the source. The Royal before me cared little about his brood being wiped out, which was slightly disturbing. Even accepting the monster had no such emotions to spare, the loss of power could have deadly repercussions amid a court of bloodthirsty royalty.

  “I must say, that was quite an enthralling display. Might I suggest your talents are wasted outside of the stage?”

  My lips pressed together painfully, forced into a grim line. “This is not a game,” I informed him. “Death is not a game.”

  “Oh, what a spoilsport,” he pouted, and a vaguely Scandinavian accent surfaced. “Death is a doorway, a passage into the unknown. We all enter it alone. Why mustn't there be novelties before, to speed a soul on its merry way?”

  “You're despicable. Are all your kind as depraved?”

  The Royal made a show of polishing his immaculate nails on a soaked-through shirtfront. “I've always considered myself a cut above the rest, personally.”

  “Let's cut to the chase,” I snapped. “You want the power of my blood, and I want your taint wiped out of existence.”

  The vampire's hand stopped mid-burnish on his shirt, faint surprise surfacing. “My, my. Youth today have no respect for the formalities anymore. I've never met one with such determination to meet their end. I will, of course, oblige your wish.” He flashed his long canines threateningly, but the real fight unfolded on an entirely different battlefield.

  The streets around me blurred and disappeared, replaced with a desolate wasteland that stretched indefinitely into obscurity. The Royal and I stood on opposite sides, pinning each other in place with confident stares. The landscape roiled, an azure blue fighting for supremacy against the deepest black that devoured everything in its path.

  In that timeless expanse, we struggled and sought to overcome the other’s will. His will, honed throughout countless centuries, was a slippery, oily thing, difficult to grasp properly. Mine was a rock-solid stone and mortar enclosure, refined by years of hard living and harder lessons. My vision blurred and time slowed to a shuddering crawl. Water droplets occluded my vision and the pain in my arm intensified tenfold. Obstinately, I forced my consciousness onward, deeper into the struggle. The ancient consciousness threatened to overwhelm my being and consume my soul. The ground I’d so recently gained was lost, slowly, painfully. My panicked thoughts blurred erratically inside my psyche, bouncing off barriers as they attempted to jump ship.

  Taking a deep breath, I made a tactical decision and pulled my defenses inwards so I could collect my thoughts and regain dominion over my faculties. Black ooze slithered forward, flanking and encompassing me on all sides. Darkness battered at my psyche, forcing it to fold in on itself. The creature before me had spent an entire immortal existence strengthening his mental prowess, toying with the minds of humanity. One on one, there wasn't a chance in hell of me overcoming his power. Even as that gruesome certainty flashed through my mind, I grinned shakily. Although the Royal thought me easy prey, I had secrets that weren’t painted in neon for the casual observer. Point in fact, the ancient vamp made a crucial error in thinking I was alone and separated from the safety granted by superior numbers.

  Even as my entire being was forced into but a pinprick of faltering, flickering blue, I called upon Jeeves' aid. In the space of two throbbing heartbeats, Jeeves flashed into existence at my side, hoisting me up from a crouching position. Ever so slightly, the tide turned, a now brilliant sapphire crashing against the encroaching darkness. To the Royal before us, it must have looked a carbon copy of myself had appeared to fight at my side, an unexpected guardian angel. The slightest hesitation was evident in his assault, a faltering uncertainty. For our part, we didn't hesitate in the slightest, beating back the oppressive black unconditionally.

  The Royal knew his end was fast approaching. He committed himself to escape. The monster attempted to flee from this mental demesne, but Jeeves and I dragged him back ruthlessly. Together, we were more than a match for the vampire, Royal or not. Hands raised in unfettered rage, the vamp shrunk in on itself, the dark taint wiped slowly clean from the battlefield. A pitiful, ear-splitting wail shuddered upon the air, until it faded with its bodily counterpart.

  — Chapter 2 —

  The mental battlefield dissolved, bubbling away, revealing the razed streets of San Francisco. Then, that too was wiped clean, and we transitioned jarringly back to reality. The scent of flowers filled my nostrils, and I breathed in deeply. I opened my eyes. I was back at the mansion, safe from bloodthirsty vampires, for the most part.

  “Took you long enough,” I said.

  “Youth is never satisfied, even when their saving grace arrives in the nick of time,” Jeeves asserted, a lopsided grin lifting up one side of his face from where he stood beside a bed of roses.

  I sat down and crossed my legs, taking a much needed and deserved break. My vision was only slightly blurred after the day's training in the Dreamscape. Gazing off into the distance, I ruminated upon the last six months. My constant companions, gnat-like black dots swirling around my line of sight, were droning irritatingly but slowly receding. Obviously, my body had been overtaxed and coveted at least a few hours rest and recuperation. Frankly, I wasn't prepared to stop my excessive training with both Kathryne and Jeeves. The training kept my thoughts from straying to my parents, both the pseudo and real. I found it far easier to focus on advancing my abilities than mull over the recently adverted doomsday and all its unavoidable baggage.

  It should have been obvious by this point my success in the coin toss was guaranteed and I hadn't been assassinated. Unfortunately it had taken me a distressingly long time to get healthy again. Despite the fact that my skin knitted back together and my bones mended far faster than the average mortal, there was only so much a body could do. So, an entire month was wasted in recovery, with unused limbs atrophying and my mind clouded with the painkillers introduced regularly through an IV. Kathryne was adopted into our eclectically assembled family by Noah and doted on me unashamedly. We were an extremely dysfunctional supernatural Brady Bunch, but we coexisted peacefully, as much as any family ever did. The Aevum had yet to investigate the whereabouts of their lost employee. We were all extremely grateful for that.

  My natural ability with the sword had progressed admirably under Jeeves' tutelage; it was far less likely I'd impale myself unintentionally. Kathryne drilled a few basic tools of her trade into me incessantly after Jeeves' instructional periods. My personal favorite was the kusarigama, a weapon of Japanese origin that had been painful to even begin to learn. The stiletto was another favorite, a highly versatile dueling dagger that was particularly adept at reaching the heart or lungs of an enemy. The complexities of dual-wielding the weapon with my katana were particularly challenging, but equally intriguing. Lock picking was deemed a vital portion of my training, though I found it had an extremely frustrating learning curve. Throwing daggers wrapped up the remaining weapons picked up in the
past months. The heavy thwack of impact of a perfectly executed throw was far more satisfying than learning the intricacies of breaking and entering.

  Of course, Jeeves had been pushing me to combine Water and Air, which constituted the majority of my training. Such combinations were dangerous, despite my affinity for the two elements. In the beginning, I was lucky if I had even the slightest success before it all fell to shambles. Over a lengthy period, however, I made progress. When Jeeves first informed me of my ultimate goal, I merely scoffed. Then I gaped, as it was obvious his descriptions matched present-day speculations surrounding the possibility of absolute zero. Scientists have never been able to reach this lowest temperature theoretically possible, zero on the Kelvin scale, roughly negative 460 degrees. This was where molecules in the air cease to move and energy is drained from a contained locus. Many scientists think it impossible to reach.

  I wondered why Jeeves thought it necessary or even possible to learn it, but he became quiet and uncompromising when I’d asked him. He only informed me that it was possible and drove me relentlessly toward mastering the combination. Certainly, there were dangers when treading a path fraught with innumerable uncertainties. Frostbite tended to crop up often, coupled with incorrect quantities that led to highly explosive results. Luckily, evidence of my failures disappeared after I left the Dreamscape. Eventually, though, I would have to apply the combination in a real-world scenario. I hoped I could gain proficiency by then and the danger of harming myself would be minimal.

  The arrival of another into my domain interrupted my thoughts. “Have you forgotten something?” Kathryne appeared amid the dense foliage, a look of clear disapproval adorning her features.