Page 32 of The Haunting
“Your sacrifice is welcomed.”
He covered my mouth again and sucked harder than before. Stunned, I was unable to put up the same struggle, and something loosened deep inside. Desperately, I sought the connection with Oakwood Manor, needing my home’s strength to battle this evil, but the bond was blocked. Oakwood’s distress faintly reached me, but the link wouldn’t snap into place.
I started struggling for breath as my lungs seemed to shrink. Weakly, I bucked against the creature pinning me down, but achieved nothing. Darkness began appearing at the corners of my eyes, and I guessed this was goodbye. As much as I wished to fight, my strength had fled. The darkness crept closer, my vision becoming narrower as the monster drank my life force in. This feeling was familiar; I’d experienced it over three hundred years ago. An idle thought surfaced: if this evil swallowed my soul, would I be able to return, or would that be it for me?
“Claudias!” a man bellowed. However, the voice seemed distant. My murderer was yanked away, and a woman appeared.
“Jacques, Daniel’s in a bad way!” she exclaimed.
“Help him, Eden, I’ve got Claudias,” Jacques cried. Footsteps pounded the floor, running.
“Daniel, everything’s okay. Rest now,” Eden said, and I smiled as she faded into oblivion.
Jacques
Midnight was approaching fast. Claudias was upping his actions, and he needed those mortals below dead. Without them, we’d quickly tear him apart and end his sorry existence. Their presence meant I couldn’t smash through walls like I would have done. They had to be protected, which limited me. But at the end of the day, should it become necessary, I’d sacrifice them in order to ensure evil didn’t live again.
Determined, I chased after Claudias, a mere blur in a mortal’s eye.
When rumours reached me of a summoning gone wrong, I’d paid little attention. What did fools messing with seances and summonings mean to one such as me?
I was immortal, and I’d long outlive this present version of the human race. Destructive and cruel as they were. What did I care if a demon wiped several of them out before being recaptured? That was the way of life in this modern era. Everyone thought they knew best, and yet nobody had common sense. Old values were ridiculed and gone. So yes, I’d ignored the murmurs.
Until one claimed this was an ancient evil, summoned from the bowels of Atlantis. Again, I’d heard such sensational stories before, but this time the demon had a name. Claudias. D’vid’s brother, who’d been behind The Great Experiment that had turned me into a Vam’pir. Betrayer of our kind. He’d been believed lost when Kaltos, known as Atlantis in today’s tongue, sank.
Claudias reappeared long after we thought him dead and had murdered D’vid, as we then believed. Now we know differently. D’vid lives, and I outed him to the world, to our fellow Vam’pirs, and to the current plague of vampires alive today. He is also the leader of the Tai’moriee, who watch over the supernaturals and record our lives. Sometimes they interfere, although that’s frowned upon.
The rumours grew, and I couldn’t believe Claudias had returned until I received a message from D’vid. He’d fought his brother again as Claudias tried to drain D’vid of life. Already weakened for another reason, D’vid had barely survived. I had a duty to D’vid. He was my brother in all but blood.I’m sure you can understand that. Even though you treat family like they are a commodity nowadays.
Claudias led us a merry chase, but we had him trapped here.
Tonight, Claudias must sacrifice to survive, and that I would not allow. Eden and I had a task, and we would ensure we succeeded.
Claudias vapourised and vanished into a locked room. That didn’t stop me as I burst in after him. An infuriated howl met my eardrums as Claudias disappeared once more into a secret passage.
Without hesitation, I continued the chase and flew through the closing panel after him. Claudias would not escape!
Half an hour later
I growled in annoyance as I hunted Claudias. He’d faded away, cowardly as usual, and I currently searched the basement looking for him. As of yet, Claudias could only materialise into a solid shape for mere seconds. Enough to kill someone, and then his strength fled. Twice now he’d tried to steal one of the lives above our heads and failed. Claudias was getting desperate. He had until sunrise to claim the flesh and blood he needed to become alive again. Otherwise, he’d be sent back to the depths of hell.
While foolish, those who’d summoned him had ensured a time limit. Claudias had a year to regain a mortal body. At first, he’d been too weak, but he had managed to kill. Thosehe’d murdered kept his sorry existence ongoing, but Claudias needed a pure soul to feast upon. And above me were at least eight sincerely pure souls, and should Claudias claim one, he’d be alive again as a demon. But worse, he’d recover a Vam’pir’s abilities.
A sudden motion made me jump, and I spun around, and my hand shot out, grasping Eden by the throat. I released her instantly.
“Daniel?”
“Alive. He retained his soul… barely. He is with his friends. Claudias was too close this time,” Eden hissed.
I couldn’t disagree. “Ensure they stay together.”
“You wish us to split up? Jacques, Claudias is dangerous!”
“Eden, no more than I am to him. I know how to vanquish Claudias. Should that fail, just denying him a soul until dawn means he will be returned to hell,” I replied.
“Then shield them with me,” Eden begged.
“My darling, we trapped Claudias within these walls. But as long as we hunt him, Claudias remains off balance and can’t make a solid plan to claim a soul. No, this is best.”
