Scott Mariani - Uprising

Joel dropped the rifle. He knew he’d been hit, and badly. His hands went to his thigh and he almost fainted when he felt the ripped material of his trouser leg and the tattered flesh and the hot blood welling up through his fingers.

‘We’re under attack!’ Lillith yelled. ‘It’s the cross!’

Stone’s face was pale. ‘Solomon is here.’

There was chaos in the upper courtyard as the vampires scattered and fled ahead of the approaching danger. In their panic, Stone’s group seemed to forget all about the remaining prisoners. Olympia Angelopolis managed to scurry away unseen and disappeared among the shadows while the guards stood about in horror-stricken confusion.

Alex finally had her chance. Fighting the terrible sensation that was welling up inside her, just the way it had in Venice, she sprinted over to the guillotine and started ripping apart the straps holding Harry Rumble to the blood-soaked plank. He stumbled free.

‘What the hell’s happening?’

‘Joel’s here,’ she gasped. ‘He’s coming. We need to get away.’ She took hold of his wrist, and they ran. Her only priority in that moment was to get away from the deadly energy of the cross. They could worry later about details like how they were going to escape from the castle. ‘This way, Harry,’ she shouted as they flitted through the darkness.

Stone was dragging Lillith away up the steps towards the great hall and yelling frantically at the vampire guards to go and intercept the human when she twisted away from him.

‘Let me go down there. I can take Solomon.’

‘You can’t, Lillith.’

‘I’ve got a gun,’ Zachary said, pointing urgently up at the window of his quarters in the tower above the great hall.

‘Get it now. We have to stop this human at all cost.’

Zachary went lumbering as fast as he could towards the buildings.

Anton stood rooted, his face twisted in hatred. ‘I don’t need a gun,’ he spat. ‘I haven’t lived for four hundred years to be brought down by some human. This isn’t going to happen to us.’

Anastasia tried to stop him. ‘No, Anton, you’ll be destroyed.’ But he pushed her out of the way and staggered off in the direction of the shots. The guards saw him and followed his lead, their agony visibly increasing with every step.

‘Come back, Anton!’ Anastasia screamed, going after him.

‘Let them go,’ Lillith said. ‘They’ll hold Solomon back while Zachary gets the gun.’

But it was too late. Anastasia took off at a sprint.

‘Fools,’ Stone muttered. ‘Come on, sister.’

Joel could feel his strength draining away along with his fast-spilling blood as he dragged himself up towards the huge flight of steps leading to the upper courtyard.

Sweat was pouring into his eyes despite the bitter cold. He’d dumped his empty rifle now. All he had was the cross, and he held it out in front of him like a beacon.

Dark shapes appeared at the top of the steps. A dozen or more figures in black, with drawn swords glinting and wild screaming faces. Their leader opened his mouth, and the last thing Joel saw of him were his bared fangs.

Then the cross obliterated them. It was like mowing down an infantry charge with a heavy machine gun, except the only sound was the frenzied screaming as their bodies were smashed down and blown into tatters by the sweeping power emanating from his hand. The last figure to appear on the steps, staggering in the wake of the others, was a woman. Her blond hair billowed in the wind as she hurtled down towards him, mouth agape. She shrieked as her companions were destroyed in front of her, but was running too fast to stop herself. Fifteen yards from where Joel stood with the cross, her body hit the energy field and blew apart like burnt paper.

Joel raised the cross higher and dragged himself onwards.

Alex and Rumble had ducked out of sight of their captors and were running through the castle. Darting through an arched doorway, they found themselves in an armoury room filled with ancient cannons and suits of armour. Swords, battle shields, halberds and spears decorated the walls. Alex spotted a side door lying ajar, beyond it a long, dark passage. ‘I think this could be somewhere to hide, Harry.’

Rumble made no reply.

‘Harry?’ She turned around.

Just in time to see Rumble falling to his knees. His severed head blinked up at her in surprise before it rolled away across the floor; then his decapitated body slumped down on its belly.

Lillith stepped over him with a wild fire dancing in her eyes.

‘This is all your doing, bitch.’ As she spat out the words, she swung her bloody sabre hard and fast, and Alex only just managed to twist out of the way of the hissing blade. She somersaulted backwards and landed on her feet. An array of glittering weapons were mounted across a crimson shield on the wall just a few feet away.

Leaping up, her fingers closed on the basket hilt of a long, curved sword.

Lillith’s teeth were bared as she took another vicious swing that would have lifted Alex’s head clean from her shoulders if she hadn’t parried the blow with her own blade.

The high armoury room filled with the zinging clash of steel on steel as Lillith struck and slashed with ferocious energy. Alex desperately blocked every stroke.

‘You can’t beat me,’ Lillith sneered. Alex was backed up almost to the wall now, with nowhere to go. The sabre came whooshing at her sideways. She brought her own sword up to deflect it, but the angle was awkward and the crashing impact of the blades loosened her grip on her hilt. Her weapon clattered to the flagstones.

‘Ha! What did I tell you?’ Lillith backed off a step, grinning. She raised her sabre for the killing blow and was just about to strike, when she faltered and a cry of pain burst out of her lips.

As Lillith toppled over to the floor, Alex caught a glimpse of Joel Solomon framed in the archway on the far side of the armoury room. He was barely able to stand, covered in blood. Then she, too, felt the pain and began to scramble away in fear.

Lillith crawled like a maimed insect towards the far exit. As Joel came on a step, dripping blood, Alex waited for the final surge of the cross’s power to destroy her. Their eyes met.

‘Go on, then,’ she shouted at him. ‘Finish me.’

A few steps, and the force of the cross would tear her apart. He seemed about to come running at her — then he stopped and leaned weakly against the archway.

‘I can’t,’ he mumbled. He screwed his eyes shut and for a moment he seemed about to faint. ‘I can’t.’

‘It’s what you want, isn’t it? You told me that next time you saw me, you’d destroy me. What are you waiting for?’

Tears ran through the blood on his tortured face. ‘Why you? Why did you have to be one?’

‘Finish it!’ she yelled. ‘Don’t draw it out. Get it done.’

He shook his head. Wearily raised his empty hand and pointed towards the side door and the winding, dark passage Alex had spotted earlier.

‘Get out of here. Don’t let me see you again.’ Then he stepped back, and kept moving away from her, lowering the cross.

Alex climbed shakily to her feet and stumbled through the arch into the echoing corridor. Her footsteps quickened, and she ran and ran until she was lost deep inside the castle’s hidden passages. As she stumbled onwards in the dark, a strange sound came from her throat. One she hadn’t heard herself make for over a hundred years.

She was crying.

Gabriel Stone stormed through his castle, cursing Lillith for having left his side.

He shouted for his ghoul. Lonsdale appeared from behind some drapes.