Veridian Shores

Chapter 24 - Within These Walls

Gliss was moving before Capper could stop her. She lunged forward with feral speed and slammed a palm into the thin vampire's throat, cutting off any sound he might have made. His eyes bulged in shock and he pawed at his oesophagus uselessly. Then Gliss kneed him in the stomach, doubling him over so she could hammer a double-handed club against the back of his head to knock him to the ground.

In a swift motion she straddled him, jamming a forearm against the back of his neck to keep him pinned down.

"How did you get in here?"

"Shut up!" Gliss snarled.

"You ... you can't take it," the vampire spluttered, reaching out with a look of desperation stamped upon his gaunt features, his eyes locked on the Keystone. "It must ... remain safe. If it is ever used-,"

He got no further. Capper could only watch as Gliss took hold of the man's head and with a single, savage twist, snapped his neck. A wordless gargle shook free from his lips and Gliss released her hold, letting his body thump limply to the ground. His eyes rolled wildly and his body twitched, but he couldn't formulate any words or move. A broken neck wouldn't kill him, but it would certainly keep him out of action for the better part of a day before his vampire body could repair the damage.

"Hellgates!" Capper swore quietly. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"We do what we came to do," Gliss replied without hesitation, but her voice trembled slightly now. "We take the Keystone." She nodded to the object weighing down his right hand like an anvil.

The prostrate figure of the Baelock scholar let out a high, undulating moan of protest, whereupon Gliss spun and slammed a fist into his face with enough force to knock him unconscious.

"What about him?" Capper hissed. "We can't leave him here. If they find him-"

"They won't."

"How do you figure that?"

"You know what I mean, Capper."

He shook his head incredulously. "Gliss, if you kill him-,"

"And if we don't? He's seen us both. He'll point the finger as soon as the Synod ends, and you'll get the war you didn't want. We ash him, now, and no-one will be any the wiser. They'll look for him eventually but there will be nothing and no-one tying us to any of this."

"Shit." Try as he might, Capper couldn't think of a counter to her grim solution. If the cleric identified them Baelock and Glaive would be at war in a heartbeat. He couldn't be the cause of it. Grinding his teeth together he scooped up the antique, ornately carved stake that had been lying next to the Keystone and stepped forward. "Out of the way."

"I can do it, Capper."

"No. We're in this together." He waved her impatiently aside and dropped to one knee next to the fallen Baelock cleric. In a single smooth motion he rolled the man over. "I'm sorry, friend. You shouldn't have come here." Then he slammed the stake down through the vampire's heart, clamping a hand over his mouth to stifle the inevitable death scream.

The struggle didn't last long. The cleric was no fighter, his Aspect weak, and a few seconds after the death blow Capper stood up, looking down grimly at the pile of ash that lay before him. He glanced at the bloodstained stake and closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying his best to order his thoughts, without much success.

Then he felt someone take the stake from his hand. He looked up and found Gliss staring into his eyes. She wiped the blood off on the remnants of the cleric's robes and placed the stake down on its pillow. Then she slid her glove back on.