Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

pushed himself up, his body stitched haphazardly together, one quarter of his body blackened and grotesque. He growled, spittle running down his face, his eyes blazing bloodred. “My body is dead, Dragonseeker. I can take being cut into a million pieces and still defeat you. Your body is flesh and blood.
    You feel pain.”

    Dominic’s eyebrow shot up. He was weakened from using energy to sustain the storm, and keeping his clone where the other vampires could clearly see him. He didn’t want the information compromised. He knew some of the emissaries would escape and he couldn’t afford the plan to be changed. That meant being visible so there was no chance that anyone would discover he had brought about the destruction of the laboratory and everyone in it.

    “You flatter yourself, Giles. You always did. You seem to be stalling for time. Do you believe your pawns will come to protect you?” He kept his tone a low taunt. Giles had believed himself invincible, but he was shaken. Dominic knew his reputation was legendary and the master vampire would much rather his minions battle the Dragonseeker than himself. He also was well aware that the undead had huge egos and, although true, the taunt was insulting.

    I’m working my way to you. Solange had a sob in her voice.

    No, stay away from here. I will defeat him.

    I’m not in a position to help you.

    Take out as many as possible, but fire only when the guards do. I will not be there to finish them, so they may detect your presence.

    Dominic kept his attention centered on Giles. The vampire’s face twisted into a mask of pure hatred.
    Dominic prodded him more. “You lost control of them, didn’t you? Instead of protecting the humans, they are ripping them to pieces, gulping blood. And somehow I think even if you’d managed to escape, Ruslan would be very, very angry. He is not the most forgiving man I ever met.”

    The red eyes began to burn, but the vampire held his temper in check. “This incident will only make the humans much more eager to join with us to hunt the undead. We will point them to Dubrinsky’s precious village.”

    Dominic had managed to push the pain far enough away that he could breathe again. Solange was trying to do it for him, matching the rhythm of his burning lungs to her breathing.

    Dominic bowed slightly and waved his hand, making certain that Giles followed the gesture with his furious gaze while Dominic gathered the powerful energy sizzling and crackling in the sky overhead. He let the power fill his exhausted body and, leaving a second clone behind, moved away from his body, leaving the clone exposed and open.

    Standing just in front of it, insubstantial and transparent, he waited for Giles to make his move. His clone hunched a little and pressed his palm to the blackened hole in his chest, just to the left of his heart. He could feel his strength ebbing. Two clones and a storm drained his energy fast, but he held his transparent form.

    Giles charged, rushing full force and with preternatural speed, going for the kill. Dominic stepped forward to meet the rush, using Giles’s momentum and his own incredible strength to punch forward. In the split second before the vampire got to his fist, Dominic materialized, his clone dissolving. Giles impaled himself on the extended fist. Dominic seized the heart before the undead knew what was happening. He extracted the withered, blackened organ and tossed it a distance from the master vampire, directing the lightning to the putrid object.

    Giles screamed hideously, the cry reverberating through the forest. He staggered across the ground, his hands seeking his missing heart. Slowly crumpling to the ground, he spat at Dominic before his body succumbed to the loss. Lightning jumped to the body, incinerating it. The vampire writhed and twisted in the searing flames, as if a part of him still lived. The fire hissed and spluttered in protest, but burned quickly, reducing the undead to ash.

    Dominic dropped to one knee, his head down, dragging air into his lungs. He still had to wait for Josef to signal it was safe to destroy the laboratory and get Solange to safety.

    Dominic! Her voice gave him the necessary incentive to move.

    Giles is dead. I am returning to the battle.

    I can hear the weariness in your voice. Do you need blood? I can come to you.

    When we are finished here. The idea of her blood, that incredible healing force flowing into this body, energized him. He strode back