The smoke billowing from the fires had caused the last of the day to turn to night, even with her enhanced vision she was having a difficult time seeing through the thick substance. She frantically looked around for a way to escape but there were humans closing in from behind them and from both sides of the road. Genny started to pull Camille forward in the hopes that the humans hadn't already closed off all of their chances at escape.
Sweat from the increasing heat of the fires and the horror tearing through her system caused her tunic to stick to her. It hindered her movements as she struggled to get over the bodies littering the ground. Arrows continued to fall around them. They hit the hard ground with a thud and the much softer bodies with a sickening squishy and bone crunching sound that she knew would haunt her forever.
Arturo emerged from the smoke like a sinister avenger; the scowl on his face would have been frightening if she hadn't already hit her limit for terror. "This way!" he commanded and wrapped his hand around her elbow. He ruthlessly shoved scrambling vampires out of the way as he charged through the crowd. Genny kept her arm protectively around Camille to shelter her from the encroaching flames and the whistling arrows flying past them.
A startled cry escaped Genny; her hand flew to her cheek when an arrowhead sliced across her face. Blood spilled down her cheek but the thing that caused her to choke back a scream was the arrow embedding itself into the back of the vampire before them. Camille let out a frightened cry as the vampire fell at their feet. Genny wrapped her hand around Camille's head and clasped it against her breast to block her sister from the senseless slaughter.
A loud shout erupted from the humans, before Genny had any idea of what was going on, Arturo was shoving her before him. She spun in time to see dozens of arrows whizzing toward them. Arturo stood before her with his arms thrown out to the side. Genny held Arturo's dismayed gaze as the impact of the arrows hitting his body caused him to do an odd little lurching dance that reminded her of a marionette. Genny grabbed for Arturo to try and help him but he slapped her hands away from him. He pushed her forward a couple of steps before blood exploded from his mouth and sprayed over her face.
A scream caught in her throat. She hastily wiped away the warm blood caught in her lashes and on her lips. "Run," Arturo gurgled at her.
Camille screamed as Arturo fell to the ground. He lay unmoving on the ground before them with half a dozen arrows protruding from his back. The weight of Camille's body almost dragged her down when her sister's knees gave out on her, but Genny managed to keep her upright. She spun away from the humans now rushing forward with far more courage. It took everything she had not to scream and give into the panic threatening to consume her, but she couldn't afford to lose control now. They would never survive if she did.
Genny strained to see through the smoke as she tried to ascertain where they were in the village. She wanted to take a minute to get their bearings in the thick smoke but to stop now was certain death. The power of Atticus's blood gave her a strength she hadn't known she possessed as she rushed forward with her sister cradled against her chest.
A vampire crashed into them as they neared an area of the woods that Genny rarely traversed. The trees were thick and there wasn't any civilization for miles. This area of the woods had always intrigued her but with having to steal for Felix she'd only been able to explore it half a dozen times. It would be the perfect place to escape to now, if they could just make it there alive.
Another vampire crashed into her and knocked her back but she managed to keep herself from falling over by planting her feet. She took a few more steps toward the woods before a piercing pain lanced through her calf. Glancing down, she spotted the head of the arrow that had sliced through the back of her calf and now protruded out the front of her shin.
"Genny!" Camille cried.
"Keep going!" she hissed from between her teeth.
She refused to give into the pain threatening to cripple her as she rushed forward with a limp. It should have hindered her progress but she was fueled by her adrenaline and Atticus's powerful blood in her veins. Only a few more feet and they would be deep within the shadows of the massive trees. Hope filled her when she spotted other vampires fleeing into the safety of the woods.
The whistle of more arrows being released reached her seconds before she grabbed hold of Camille and thrust her sister in front of her. The excruciating agony of two more arrows hitting her caused a grunt to escape her but the scream that she had been about to emit became trapped in her throat. One arrow had slammed into her shoulder. The force of it shoved her forward but she managed to keep herself from falling on top of Camille and pinning her sister beneath her weight.
Her hands tightened on Camille's shoulders so that she could keep her balance. "You tell Atticus he's my heart," she whispered gruffly in Camille's ear. "You make sure you tell him that for me Camille."
Camille turned toward her, her mouth dropped. A gargled scream escaped her sister, tears bloomed in her eyes and she lurched for her. Genny fought off her frantic hands as Camille tried to grab at the arrow that had pierced through her back and now protruded through the front of her chest. It was a mortal wound; even now she could feel the weakness stealing through her body, robbing her of the extra strength that Atticus's blood had granted her. Blood that was enough to allow her to stay upright and say goodbye to her sister but it would never be enough to heal the hole that had been torn through her heart.
She couldn't go down now though, not while Camille was watching. She would never allow her sister to see that and she had to make sure Camille escaped.
"Genny!" Camille screamed in a raw voice so full of anguish that it caused the first tears to fill Genny's eyes.
"Go Camille," she urged as she pushed at her sister again. "You must go."
"Not without you," she vowed as tears slid down her face, leaving clean streaks through the soot, dirt, and blood that covered her beautiful face.
Genny grabbed hold of her cheeks. "I'd willingly give my life for you again if I could, but please don't let my sacrifice be for nothing. Leave me here and run."
"No," Camille whimpered. "Come with me Genny, please."
"I can't. There's no hope for me anymore." Words were becoming increasingly difficult to form as blood swelled up her throat. "I…" Her words cut off as she coughed up some of the blood that was choking her. "Love you… Tell him, Camille… pro… mise me."
"I'll tell him," Camille whimpered. "I love you too."
Genny pulled her sister close and kissed her forehead before shoving her backward with enough force to push her down the embankment toward the woods. She caught a glimpse of Camille staggering awkwardly to her feet and turning to look at her. Camille took a few steps back toward her but Genny waved her away.
Please don't watch this, Genny silently pleaded as Camille remained frozen in the woods before her.
Sobbing, Camille spun on her heel and fled into the shadows. Relief filled Genny as Camille disappeared amongst the trees; she tried to take another step forward before realizing that she couldn't. She didn't remember falling, didn't know when it had happened but she realized now she was already lying on her stomach on the ground.
The scent of dirt and smoke clogged her nose. She watched the feet of the vampires running back and forth as they tried to escape the chaos and the humans that stalked them. Blood oozed from her wounds and seeped into the earth. Her fingers curled into the dirt beneath her as tears of sorrow streaked down her cheeks.
Atticus, she thought longingly. This would devastate him and no matter how badly she wanted to stay, how much she fought to try and hold onto the life she felt slipping away, there was nothing she could do to remain with him. The life they'd dreamed of was as broken now as her body was.
The thick smoke parted, the death and misery of the village surrounding her gave way to reveal Atticus standing in a field of tall, flowing green grass. He laughed as he held his arms out to a young girl who ran eagerly into them. Behind t
he girl, a smaller boy tottered along, trying to keep up with his older sister. Atticus bent to scoop the boy up with his sister and held them against his chest. He turned toward her; a radiant smile lit his stunning face and his striking eyes danced with merriment as he called for her to join them.
Genny laughed as she was drawn toward the family that was hers and the future that was everything they'd dreamed of together. Atticus's warm arms enfolded her, love engulfed her as she gazed at the little boy with eyes and hair as dark as hers, and the girl with eyes the color of her father's.
"My heart," she whispered and leaned forward to kiss him.
"My soul," he breathed against her lips as he kissed her back.
The nightmare before her was forgotten as she walked with them across the field and into a warm glow that engulfed her until she saw no more.
- CHAPTER 22 -
Twelve hundred pounds of horse kicked him in the chest, or at least that was the way it felt as only a quarter mile from the town something smashed into his heart with enough force to knock him back. He staggered a few steps forward again before falling and landing upon his knees. A roar tore from his throat leaving it ragged and raw. It felt as if his soul had been ripped from his chest and battered upon the rocks as forcefully as a ship caught within a storm. Just like that ship he felt himself sinking beneath the deep waves of fury and despair that pounded over and through him.
In that second he knew that Genny was gone.
Another bellow tore from him, something within him shattered and fractured apart. He could feel the pieces of himself scattering around him, pieces he would never be able to put back together. Agony swept over him, forcing his head down as he was bent double by the weight of the emotions tearing through him.
His knuckles rested on the ground, he didn't require air to breathe but his shoulders were still heaving as the muscles in his forearms bulged. His teeth ground together, his fangs burst free of his mouth as uncontrollable rage consumed him. Launching himself off the ground he poured on the speed toward the town.
Screams resonated through the air as he leapt up the embankment in one easy bound and landed upon the smoke enshrouded street. The potent scent of blood mixed with the odors of sweat and panic. The woodsy and acrid aroma of the smoke filled the air to create something that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. He didn't care about any of it though; all he craved was death.
Arrows flew through the air but he didn't pay them any attention as he grabbed hold of two humans. He tore the throat out of one and snapped the neck of the other before carelessly dropping their bodies to the ground. The murderous frenzy churning within him made him feel like a demon, rising up from Hell to scrub the earth clean of all the human vermin that resided upon it. For the first time he felt the power of his ancestors throbbing and growing within him. Felt the connection to the original vampire that had walked this earth and he knew it was Lucifer's blood that filled his veins.
He easily slaughtered another four humans before he stopped to feed on the fifth. He tossed away the empty shell that remained. It was the first human he'd ever killed, something he'd sworn he'd never do, and yet he felt nothing for the pathetic creature as he stepped over it. They were like rats though. Everywhere he looked more of them seemed to emerge but he was driven by revenge, consumed with the emptiness inside of him, and fueled by the blood pulsing within his veins.
Moving faster after each kill, he glided seamlessly through the chaos. Rising up like a demon behind the humans he hunted, he pulled them down with him into the smoke. He brought to them, in the last seconds of their lives, the desolation that now encompassed him, before tearing them apart and tossing them aside. The screams of the ones he murdered resonated in his ears. The horror on their faces barely registered as he slaughtered one after another until the thirty or so humans that had survived the original attack on the village were nothing but piles of waste littering the ground.
Standing in the center of the road, he surveyed the carnage. Blood had seeped through his clothes to adhere the linen to his skin. The sticky liquid dripped from the soaked strands of his hair, ran down his chest in rivulets and fell upon the reddened dirt road. Carcasses of vampires and humans littered the ground around him. The flames of the spreading fire crackled and popped, waves of heat licked against his flesh as the blaze consumed the surrounding woods and huts.
The whole town was going to burn and he didn't care. He stepped over a couple of headless humans as he searched the bodies scattered across the ground. Whatever vampires had managed to survive had fled the scene; he doubted any of them would be returning.
None of them mattered though; there was only one that did. His blood in her veins had ceased calling to him, but he caught the scent of sweet asters even over the massacre surrounding him. Pulled irresistibly toward her, he felt nothing as he stepped over Arturo's motionless body and purposely continued forward.
His stride slowed when he spotted her blue tunic in the shadows of a nearby hut. Her left hand was stretched toward the embankment that was only feet away from her. She appeared to be reaching to something far beyond this world and him. The anger and revenge that had fueled him started to dissipate as he approached her. Grief swelled within him, tears burned his eyes as he knelt beside her. Her face was turned toward him; her eyes were open and unseeing. Though there was no life left within her there was a look of peace on her face that rocked him to the very center of his being.
"Genny," he breathed as he pressed tremulous fingers against her porcelain cheek.
Her flesh was already cooling beneath his hand; her beautiful black eyes were becoming opaque and showed no flicker of a reaction to his touch. The times her face had lit up and radiated her love for him flooded his mind as his fingers slid back to touch upon her silken hair. A choked cry escaped him, his shoulders hunched forward and he moved closer to her. His life crumpled around his feet as surely as the huts toppling beneath the fire eating at them. Everything he'd ever dreamed of, or hoped for, was as dead as she was. The temptation to curl up beside her, gather her into his arms and let it all go built within him.
Even as the urge hit him, his gaze landed on the arrows protruding from her body.
The fear and pain she must have experienced in her last minutes resonated within him. Fear and pain he had promised to keep her safe from. Self-hatred swamped him; his entire body began to shake from the waves of emotion crashing against him. He had failed her, he had promised to keep her safe, she had been his wife and he had failed her. He wouldn't do so again, everyone and everything that had been even partially responsible for her death was going to pay and he knew exactly who to start with.
Unable to take the sight of them, he broke the shafts off the arrows and gently rolled her over to pull them out of her beautiful body. He wasn't aware that he was crying until he closed her eyes and his tears fell down to wet her soot and dirt streaked skin. Lifting her within his arms, he clasped her against his chest and bent to press a kiss against her cheek. Her head lolled lifelessly against his chest as he walked across the road to the woods.
He carefully placed her in a secluded place within the forest before returning to the town. There was nothing that he cared about anymore, but if he was going to get his full revenge he couldn't leave things like this. Moving with rapid speed throughout the town, he gathered the remains of the dead and tossed them onto the spreading flames. There could be no proof that a vampire had been the one to kill all the humans. The humans would still be suspicious of what had caused the deaths here, but burned remains offered no evidence and there were no vampires left in this village for the people to come after anymore.
The vampire bodies had to be destroyed too as there were more than a dozen vampires with their fangs extended while in death. There were only ten bodies left when he uncovered Marie amongst the deceased. He barely gave her a second thought before tossing her body onto the growing pyre.
Gathering pieces of flaming wood, he spread the fires
even more to encompass the blood soaked ground and woods. Tossing the last piece of wood aside, he returned to Genny and lifted her within his arms again. He didn't look back as he disappeared into the forest with her.
***
Reaching the edge of the cleared property surrounding the manor, he placed Genny's body in the shadows of the trees. His hands lingered upon her but he forced himself to tear them away. Stepping out of the shadows of the trees, he walked briskly across the clearing and around to the back. He didn't hesitate before flinging the back door of the manor open.
"Milord!" A human servant blurted when he entered. The color drained from the man's face as his gaze ran over Atticus's blood soaked form. Every inch of him was covered with blood but instead of being repulsed by it, he found himself relishing in the death that covered him. The madness growing within him hungered for more and more blood; it would never be satisfied. He was well aware that his eyes were burning red also, something that these servants had never seen before, at least not from him. "Mi… milord are you injured?" the man inquired tremulously.
The servant took a step away from him but before he could flee, Atticus grabbed hold of him and twisted his head so hard that his head nearly came off his shoulders. He dropped the man on the floor and turned toward the servant's corridor of the manor. What was going to happen between him and his father was something he intended to be between them only. There was no way he was ever going to allow anyone to interfere in what he planned.
He dispatched of the ten human servants before finding two of his father's Champon guards within the main hall. Neither of them even saw him coming before he ripped the heart out of one and drove his fangs into the neck of the other. He barely tasted the vampire's blood but he felt the strength of it infusing him with the power of the guard's lineage. Releasing the man, he dropped him unceremoniously to the floor and stepped over his unmoving figure.