Heather Brewer - Tenth Grade Bleeds

Otis stood, his eyes wide in disbelief. He stepped toward his nephew. “I can. Give me the Lucis. This menace will not be stopped until we stop him, Vladimir. It ends today.”

Vlad flung the Lucis away, letting it fly from his hand. It tumbled through the air, and time stood still.

Otis pleaded with his eyes, but Vlad tightened his jaw stubbornly. “It does end today. But not that way, Otis. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I allowed my dad’s friend to die.”

Otis shook his head. The Lucis clattered onto the floor. “He won’t stop. He will never stop.”

The Lucis rolled over the slatted top of an open vent. Vlad whispered, “I know.”

Otis dove forward, but it was too late. The Lucis slipped between his fingers and down the vent shaft. He hung his head, defeated.

A curved blade sang through the air, stabbing through Otis’s hand. Otis screamed, and Ignatius pulled him back into the dark shadows of the hallway.

Vlad jumped forward to follow, but something large slammed into his side, knocking him through the air. He managed to glance in the direction he was flying quickly enough to shield his face with his hands. He smashed through the glass of the front door, and suddenly he could feel the sunlight on his skin as he fell outside. The smell of acrid smoke filled his nostrils, and fire lit up his sleeve. He was burning.

He opened his eyes, but couldn’t stand, couldn’t run from the sun’s murderous heat. Something was on top of him.

D’Ablo shrieked as his hair and flesh burst into flames, but not with pain… with laughter. He growled into Vlad’s horrified face, “Perhaps it’s better this way, Vladimir Tod. Perhaps it’s better that we die together.”

Then Vlad realized that the flames he felt weren’t coming from him. D’Ablo’s burning flesh had set his clothing on fire. Vlad was perfectly fine… and in full sunlight.

He screeched, “D’Ablo, get to the shadows! You’re dying!”

In a horrific, gravelly voice, flames framing his face as his skin charred before Vlad’s very eyes, D’Ablo said, “We’re both dying.”

He withdrew the ritual dagger with his only hand from somewhere behind him and lifted it high in the air.

Vlad almost choked from the smoke coming off D’Ablo’s burning flesh. He pushed as hard as he could with his mind, into D’Ablo’s thoughts, just long enough to make him drop the blade. Once metal had clanged against pavement, Vlad grabbed the dagger and pointed at his attacker.

D’Ablo stood, still aflame, and ran toward the nearest dark alley. All the while, he screamed.

Vlad dropped the weapon and rested his head on the concrete. After a moment, he held up a hand in the sunlight. It felt warm. It felt good.

And it erased any small remaining doubt that he was the Pravus the prophecy had spoken of.

VLAD PULLED OPEN THE DOOR and stepped back into the lobby, where Henry and Otis were waiting for him. Otis lurked back near the elevator, where the shadows were at their heaviest, covered in what smelled like Ignatius’s blood. Vlad threw his uncle an exhausted glance. “I thought drinking my blood would render the drinker immune to sunlight.”

“You thought wrong.” Otis frowned, watching the alley across the street. “As did he. I told you, Vladimir. Fairy tales and nonsense.”

Henry stood near the front windows, gazing at the alleyway that D’Ablo had disappeared into with an intensity Vlad didn’t know he was capable of. Henry pursed his lips. “We should go after him, Vlad. Finish him off. Otherwise, he’ll never stop trying to kill you.”

Vlad looked back over his shoulder at the bright, sunny day and shook his head. “My dad would have let him live.”

Otis’s voice was gruff. “Are you so sure of that, Vladimir?”

Vlad paused. In truth, he wasn’t, but he hoped that his assumption was right. “Even if he wouldn’t, I’m going to. It’s the right thing to do.”

The sidewalk began to fill with people. The city had awakened, and very soon, the building would be bustling with activity. “We should find some sunblock for you, Otis, and get home. I’m sure Nelly will be furious that I’ve been out all night.”

“Not to mention worried out of her mind.” A small smile curved Otis’s lips. “But I’m sure she’ll understand once we explain that you had important vampire business to attend to… such as saving my life.”

Otis grabbed Ignatius’s corpse from where he had left it near the end of the hallway and slid it along the floor to the waiting elevator. He dropped it, ran a shaking hand through his hair, and sighed. “ That’s going to mean a lot of paperwork for someone.”

Vlad chuckled. “After everything we’ve just been through, you’re worried about somebody’s paperwork?”

Otis merely blinked at him.

Vlad sighed. “I will never understand grown-ups, vampire or otherwise.”

Vlad and Henry stepped inside the elevator with Otis and what was left of Ignatius. Otis opened the panel of buttons that led to the offices of the Elysian council. With a press of a button, they were on their way back to the room where D’Ablo had attempted to steal Vlad’s invincibility from him.

“You know, whatever that was that D’Ablo took out of you…” His voice trailed off for a moment, as if something occurred to him that had not before. “… we should probably get it back inside you where it belongs. If there’s any truth at all to D’Ablo’s ramblings, perhaps ingesting it would shield you against the Grim Reaper’s trespasses once again.”

“Ingest it?” Vlad looked disgusted. “You mean I have to drink that crap?”

Vlad wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what flavor his essence was, but he wasn’t about to take his chances. Being invincible, it turned out, came in very handy. Especially with psycho vampires lurking around every corner trying to kill you.

The elevator door opened, and the trio made their way down the hall to the room with the large metal door. Otis opened it and Henry immediately cringed. Jasik lay on the floor, dead, his gray, lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. At the sight of him, Vlad felt that horrible emptiness again, just as he had at the moment of Jasik’s death. And he felt an unshakable pang of guilt for having controlled Jasik’s mind. After all, if Vlad hadn’t intervened, Jasik wouldn’t have suffered D’Ablo’s wrath and he might still be alive right now.

Vlad knelt and closed Jasik’s eyes with his palm. He looked around the room for a sheet or blanket-something, anything to cover Jasik’s dead body-but there was nothing lying around to serve that purpose. Otis squeezed his shoulder, and they exchanged looks of understanding.

“Oh no. No… no… no… no… no.” Across the room, Henry muttered several curse words under his breath. “Um, guys. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

Henry held up the vial that had contained the iridescent purple liquid. The glass was cracked in several places, and the top of the vial had been broken completely off.

Vlad frowned and crossed the floor to where Henry was still crouched down, holding the broken tube. He could see the crusty spot on the floor where the liquid from the vial had puddled and dried. His invincibility. One of his Pravus powers reduced to no more than a carpet stain. Vlad’s mind began to ask questions: What if the rest of his powers could be lost as easily? What if D’Ablo did come back to try again? What else might he lose? Had he made the right decision letting D’Ablo live? He silenced the thoughts before they had the chance to consume him.

After a moment of silence, Otis said, “Look on the bright side, Vladimir. Now there is no question of your mortality.”