Veridian Shores

Chapter 40 - Death Knell

The sheer fear that charged Gliss's voice finally broke through the haze of enraged battle fury that had enveloped him. That, and the force of whatever was about to come around the corner of the passage was like nothing he'd ever felt. Its presence made even Jocasta's formidable Aspect seem like a guttering candle in comparison.

With a snarl he stepped back from Gliss and pivoted away from her to face whatever it was that approached them. She reached forward and grabbed his arm, tugging him away.

"Capper, no! You can't fight this!"

He shook her off, not taking his eyes off the encroaching shadow, trying to make some sense of the raging maelstrom of energy that seemed to boil the air around them. It moved and seethed like a tide, lacking the control and coordination of a normal Aspect, instead a wild feral mass that reached out with grasping, kraken-like tentacles. He shuddered and looked at Gliss, aghast.

"What have you done?!"

"What they told me to do." Her voice was small and she started backing away down the passage. "Get back, please!"

"She's right," Brooke called and he looked back over his shoulder to see the faces of those who'd accompanied him. They could clearly feel what he felt, faces pinched with apprehension. Brooke beckoned him. "Get away from that door, Capper."

With his anger continuing to fade, he nodded slowly, casting a wary glance at Gliss and starting to back down the hallway towards the others.

But then the thing appeared in the threshold.

Capper swallowed hard, gripping his axe more tightly as he took in the monstrosity before him. Its whole body was splattered with maroon-coloured blood of the vampires it had already slain, and it left a dripping trail in its wake. The sheer size of the thing amazed him – it stood easily over eight feet tall, having to stoop to actually get through the doorway. Power sloughed off of it in thick waves that made his head swim. Whatever Gliss and her clan had awoken, it had the strength of ages pulsing through its veins.

The terrible eyes locked onto them and the mouth split into a pitiless smile.

And it charged.

This time when Gliss grabbed his arm Capper didn't pull away, turning with her and bolting back down the passage like a frightened deer. He could feel the First's Aspect thundering down the passage after them, and ahead at the corridor junction he saw the rest of the group dithering indecisively. Then bolts began hissing past him as the guards opened fire. He didn't dare look back to see the results, but from the stunned looks on the face of the guards ahead, it didn't seem like the attack had halted their pursuer.

The group began to disperse ahead of them edging out of the monster's path to the junctions left and right, and against every survival instinct in his body, Capper stopped and turned.

He immediately hurled himself to one side, crashing into Gliss and carrying them both out of the First's path as it hurtled past. The pair hit the wall and tumbled to the ground in a jumble of limbs, until Capper kicked himself free and scrambled upright, only to see that the First had reached the others.

Like a wolf scattering birds it was amongst them, sending the other vampires skittering away left and right, and he could only watch helplessly as it slammed straight into the guard Tranna, pulverising the vampire against the far wall with bone-shattering force. Her screams of pain were cut short when the First ripped her head off with a wrench of its powerful jaws, spraying the walls and ceiling with maroon blood. Then it rounded on the others, its face a mask of crazed bloodlust. Two of the Baelock bodyguards were dismembered as they threw themselves forward to protect their Elder-Blood.