Halfling;The Sentinel Chronicles. The Rod of Ardum.(Complete

Nightmares

I wanted to scream!  The colossal anti-chamber opened before me, packed with six-foot-tall, ugly, corpse grey, and bat-winged creatures with long shaggy hair and a mouth full of razor-sharp protruding teeth, wearing khaki army uniforms.  There were about two hundred of them running in rows through a huge gaping hole in the thick stone back wall, snarling, spears grasped at the ready.  For a moment, I found myself paralysed with fear.  Right in front of me, I saw a soldier have his head cleaved off by razor-sharp claws.  My stomach rolled.  One of the monsters charged for me. I screamed like a big girl holding my hands out before me. Without thought light burst onto my skin in a rush, the pink glow grew flashing to red. I lashed out with my magic, using it as a giant burning whip.  Upon impact, a couple of the grotesque creatures burst into flames, lighting a few of their friends as they burned.  An idea sliced through my head.

“Captain we need to plug that hole!” I yelled uncharacteristically taking command of the situation, centuries-old battle tactics flowing to the forefront of my mind.

“How?” he called savagely firing off rounds into the fairies.  I thought for a moment.  Magic!

“The magic vault, we need the magic vault.”  I cried triumphantly. Caldor’s grey eyes shone with understanding, he grabbed my arm pulling me towards an empty tunnel.  We ran through cavern after cavern, down a warren of tunnels until a huge gilded iron door stood before us.  I was panting heavily as Caldor pressed a code into the keypad.  Damn that cursed Wii fitness!  It said I was in good shape. I was a roaring fire!  I complained in my head. It lied! A small door within the large swung open.  Ooh, tricky!

He stepped back.

The vault was massive; Caldor followed me in, locking the door behind us.  Where to start, I thought worriedly. Caldor called me over to a large book on a chipped peach stone stand.

“This old book is the librarian; think of the information you need and open the cover.” Caldor was peering down at the book as if would suddenly jump off the stand and attack him.

I waited a moment, thinking. I needed a wall, strong enough to hold off the fairies and anything else that decided to come through.  I opened the book.  The pages filled with writing, at first in a language I did not understand, before slowly becoming a heavy English script.  To my further astonishment, the book greeted me by name.  Cool!  I thought flipping through the pages before I came across a fencing spell.

The magic creates a fence of fire; all I needed was a staff I thought.  Caldor cried out in fear as a long black wooden staff with crystals attached in a pentacle shape at the top materialized beside one of my feet.  I memorized the words of power and I was thankful to find uncomplicated instructions.

Draw a circle in the dirt, stand facing the hole, hold staff at length out from the body, spin once clockwise, spin once anti-clockwise, trace gap to be fenced with staff, yell power words, and slam staff into the ground.  Easy as falling off a log, Ooh Gods we are all doomed! Caldor unlocked the door when I stooped and picked up the staff.

“Ready?”  Not bloody likely I thought. I was ready, scared spitless, but ready.  The door opened and we ran again, back towards the fighting and the sounds of people dying; hoping that when I cast the spell it did not take the roof of the cavern down on our heads.

We ran back into the fighting as another wave of fairies was preparing to come through the hole.  I bolted for a raised ledge, some ten feet off the ground, above were Cooper was chopping the wings off a decapitated fairy.

“Cooper, give me a boost,” I yelled.  The werewolf dropped into a crouch, cupping his hands under my foot he threw me hard into the air.  I landed squarely on the ledge above his head, staff in hand, my booted feet smarting from the hard landing. I grinned in triumph, before turning hastily back to the mission, I had appointed myself.

I drew a circle around me in the red coloured dirt, facing the hole I held the staff at length and twirled one to the right, and again to the left, tracing the diameter of the hole I took a deep breath and screamed.

“DARNOTHA KAFORA!” Slamming the stave end hard into the ground, at once, the pentacle flared to life.  Oh crap, this is going to hurt I thought wincing.

A stream of fire shot from within the crystals, the earth beneath me began to shake.  Fighting ceased, all eyes turned up towards the wall. A red nimbus surrounded me as I stood above the fighting. Feet braced shoulder-width apart, the force of the magic almost blowing me backward off my feet. Only through sheer stubbornness, did I not land on my butt.  I stood motionless and terrified that I was bringing the roof down. The hole in the cavern wall glowed as red as the nimbus around me, setting fire to the fairies coming through, before becoming a solid shield.  The stream of light from the staff grew dimmer, the flare inside the crystals died down. I dropped to one knee.  The fence looked like a giant waffle; it had small square holes in it.  Looking around I realized the fighting had started again.  The fairies on this side of the fence knew they were going to lose.  I was drained and tired. I felt a shiver chase up my spine.  Danger!

“Hello, little witch!”

I spun around to see a beautiful blond man giggling insanely, standing behind me.  I watched frozen in horror as fangs elongated in his mouth.  His eyes turned blood red, without a sign of white.  The sight kind of like pouring food colouring into water, the colour spread across the surface of his eyes rapidly. My heart stopped.

“Great a vampire, you have got to be kidding me.  It’s my first fight for Pete’s sake!”  I said to him with an outraged huff, slowly getting to my feet.  I was trying my hardest to figure out what I was going to do.  I held up my hands in the shape of a T, using the universal sign for a time-out.  I knew there was going to be no escape from him and I was just delaying the inevitable.  I was surprised when the vampire took a casual step back.

“You understand right, the first battle, trying to impress the boss and the co-workers.  There is so much pressure, they tell me ‘hey don’t die’, huh sure! Have they taken a good look around them? As for the magic, well I had to do something before one of them killed me. Self-preservation.” I said before remembering I was wearing a communication device.

“Of course, one does what one must.” The vampire replied courteously nodding with what appeared to be a sincere understanding.

“Paging Mr ‘won’t keep out of my head’, come in,” I whispered urgently into the mic that lay along my jaw.  I never took my eyes off the creature before me.

“This is Ben.” When he answered, I could hear growling in the background.

“Ben hi, I have a question. If faced with a very intimidating, terrifyingly evil vampire, what was I supposed to do again?” I heard him swear viciously in my ear before hearing echoing gunshots.

“You were supposed to scream and run...why?” his voice sounded faintly amused.  I looked back up at the creature not even eight feet away he was shaking his head sadly and looking down at his watch.  I grimaced, lifting my shoulders in a slight shrug.

“Sorry I know you probably have a schedule to keep. This won’t take a minute he’s an elf, they’re a little slow some days, but you already knew that.” I said apologetically to the evil one in front of me.

“They do have a habit of being rather dim-witted at times.” His tone was casual and understanding.  This got Ben’s attention.

“Lisa, is there a vampire?”  Ben’s voice was sounding urgent.

“s**t Lisa! Ben where’s Seth?” I heard Cooper's voice snarl into my ear.

“I don’t know. Lisa, how close is it to you?” Ben choked.

“He is about eight or ten feet in front of me, nice of you to catch on,” I replied, taking a small step back.  The vampire went to move.  I held up a finger asking for one more minute.

“Patience is a virtue. Honestly, it’s a very sexy characteristic.” I told him sweetly.

“Do hurry up, this is not my only appointment for the day.” He drawled, crossing his arms over his blood-stained blue polo shirt again.  I watched him absently lick his lips.  I shuddered.

“Can you run?” I rolled my eyes. A faintly amused smile lifting the corners of his lips.

“Nope not a chance, he’s been gracious enough to give me a short time out.  I’m down to less than a minute, what do I do?”  I was getting frantic.  There was a click and an amused deep voice came over the connection with Ben.  The vampire stood up straight, he was snarling at the voice in my ear.  Oh, hell I thought.

“Damn com fell out of my ear. Lisa, I’m a little busy right now, what can I do for you?”  Seth’s voice laced heavily with amusement. I took a deep breath and screamed for all I was worth.

“THERE’S A BLOODY VAMPIRE!”  My scream ripped through the cavern.  My time out over, the vampire chose that same second and attacked.  I tried to evade him but he was faster and he grabbed me by the balls of my shoulders, lifting me until my feet dangled over the side of the ledge.  Fear spiked my adrenalin as it hit my blood; my heart sped up pumping it faster under my skin. I could hear Ben, Cooper, and Seth yelling instructions in my ear.

“Ooh you’re a little tease, that wasn’t very nice to keep me waiting like that; but all’s the better now. I can hear your blood surging with fear.  Come Samhain, my little witch, the crown jewel will fall and my Queen will feast for a thousand years.” The vampire growled quietly in my ear.  He lowered his head and I felt a staggering pain as his teeth tore into the soft skin, muscle, and finally cartilage.  I felt my strength draining along with my blood my head was spinning.

“Fight him, Elisabeth. Do not die, damn it, do not let him kill you.” Seth's voice snarled in my ear spurring me back to action. I grabbed the first weapon closest to my hand; it was one of my troll killers.  I pressed it to his gut and fired surprising the vampire, he dropped me.  I fell several feet to the cavern floor landing on a pile of dismembered fairies, narrowly missing the business end of a spear by inches.  I scrambled to my feet, slipping and sliding on the bodies littering the ground.  I fired off a couple more rounds, the vampire hunched over. I could see mercury running down the side of his arm from the wound high up on his shoulder.  Drawing my dagger, I stumbled backward fighting the fatigue that suddenly came over me.

“Son-of-a-b***h, I cannot believe you bit me, I hope you get food poisoning. You better not have rabies.” I snarled holding one hand to my gushing wound and dropping into a defensive stance uncle Chuck insisted I use.  I vaguely heard Cooper yell as the vampire came at me again. Seth shouted something in my ear, but I was too off-kilter to be able to concentrate on too many things at once.  This time I could move a faint breath, fast enough.  Bringing my dagger up, I sliced open the left side of his face before he grabbed me around the waist.  He smiled, showing his blood-covered fangs. The skin on his cheek I had just slashed through, flapped open and closed when he laughed, his mouth filled with his blood.

At the last moment, I realized his intent and started to struggle harder.

“No!” I cried out in horror. His mouth came down hard on mine.  One of his hands blocked my nose the other around my torn neck as he forced his blood into my mouth and down my throat.  I raised my knife in my free hand continuously stabbing the creature in his side without result and I could not lift my arm enough to get off another shot.  In a desperate attempt to get free, I brought my knee up between his legs. He laughed, not even flinching. My head snapped back when his lips released mine. I struggled a moment more before freezing. A spell word I remembered tore through my mind; I recognised it from the book Seth had given me. Struggling one last time I managed to break the grip he had on my mouth, I sucked in a gulp of much-needed oxygen.

“Engage the witch and burn, motherfucker! FOSS!” I screamed. Magic flared around me in an intense wave. The fire erupted launching out of me and all over the vampire, he screamed throwing me from him. I landed a few feet back, climbing unsteadily to my feet I staggered behind him, pulling back on the flames, I drew the elfin sword from the sheath at my hip, swinging with all the strength I had left. The vampire was kneeling on the ground making a high-pitched keening sound as his skin turned black. His head arced high through the air to land at Cooper’s feet. I coughed, dragging big gulps of air into my starved lungs.

“s**t!” Cooper’s exclamation was loud in the sudden silence.  I started to shiver and my knees gave in.  Arms caught me as I crumbled to the floor. I opened my eyes, Seth had stopped me from kissing the dirt, before swinging me up high into his arms.  I whimpered softly.

“I won’t hurt you Elisabeth.” his whispered words brought a tear of pain to one eye.

“Not that. I am afraid of heights. You could not get a more perfect “hero” moment, what happened, did you miss the bus?” I replied groggily covering for the emotions welling within me.  Seth’s chest rumbled with a comforting laugh.

“I was ambushed, sweeting.” He murmured, relieved to see I was alright.

“You would tell me anything,” I whispered, drawing another small smile from the ancient. I turned my head to see Drake had the staff; he was looking at it curiously, with a flash of red light it disappeared.  He shouted in surprise.

“Is it over?”  I asked lethargic from blood loss, the gaping wound in my throat, and the use of magic. My head resting on Seth’s shoulder.

“Yeah kiddo, it is over,” Cooper replied coming to stand at my head, he pushed my hair out of my eyes and stuffed a length of his torn shirt against the ragged tear at my neck.

“Lisa, are you alright?”  Ben was suddenly at my side; his face creased with worry.  Seth raised an eyebrow.  Ben swore at the tear in the side of my throat.

“I’m alright; it was no problem he bites like a girl.” I managed to get out, though the pain was killing me. Cooper grinned at my attempt at humour.

“Did you get him?”  Ben peered worriedly up at the ancient.  He shook his head replying.

“Lisa chopped his head off!” Cooper stated casually. Ben jerked his eyes down to mine.

“She did, how?”

“I set him on fire, he was a little too preoccupied to realise, I was going to chop off his head. I couldn’t think of anything else but fire. I slammed my knee into his balls, stabbed him, and shot him countless times but he just would not die, stubborn bastard!”  I replied tiredly.  Ben’s wince slowly turned to a slight grin. 

“Lisa Templeton, when you absolutely, must have a vampire killed.” Seth chuckled teasing.

“Ouch!” Ben replied with a grin while Drake and Cooper coughed to cover their mirth.

“Did Lisa tell you she had the vampire in time-out?  She got me when she was trying to get a hold of you.”  Ben remarked.  Seth’s shocked expression made me laugh until I coughed.

“Not one of my brighter ideas. I was not sure if it would work, I was just as surprised as you are now.  He looked at his watch waiting and when he spoke, he was rather courteous.  I bet he figured there was no way he would get his butt whooped by a girl, he started snarling when he heard your voice though.  Probably wasn’t an opera fan.”  I chuckled.  The faces around me held identical frozen expressions of amazement.  Ben was the first to recover.

“That was a cool trick you did with the fire and the stick, want to tell us a story?”  Ben asked an odd look on his face.

“No story to tell. Elisabeth is a witch and judging by that mini supernova a bloody powerful one,”  Seth replied on a growl, pressing the material harder to my wound. I winced. He was walking with me, stepping carefully over the dead as they headed for the elevators.  I on the other hand was a little more preoccupied with what was going on inside my body, than what was going on outside of it.  The fairies were either dead or locked out and I was surrounded by warriors and being carried by an ancient vampire, so really, I wasn’t worried much for my safety than I was for what was happening under my skin.  A rush of heat was engulfing my organs, it was a little more than uncomfortable it felt like that metallic dye doctors in hospitals inject into you before you have an MRI, causing me to squirm wanting to be put down.

“Jeez, Lisa you have more blood on your outside than you do on your inside.” Drake laughed reaching out to wipe the blood from my face.  Seth pressed his nose to my hair, breathing deeply.  He pulled back with a hiss, barking out an expletive.  Drake jumped back as Seth bent to lay me on the floor of the elevator car.  I curled into a little ball hugging my knees to my chest.  Seth was kneeling beside my head, Ben, Cooper, and Drake next to me. I felt like I was coming down with the flu, my insides were churning now.

“I think I need a doctor. Sonofabitch poisoned me.” I groaned opening my mouth.  Seth bent his head down, he breathed in slowly, his open mouth inches from mine.  He began what I figured to be swearing in a foreign guttural language.

“Did he force much of it down your throat?” his voice became calm almost sad.  I shuddered again as a wave of fire raced through my body.

“If you’re talking about his blood, yes.  Cooper said vampires couldn’t turn humans, it was a bedtime story to scare kids away from the dark. Gods, it hurts.”  A tear escaped from the corner of one eye, it slid into the hair at my temple, leaving a wet trail, like a small comet.  Ben leaned in close, his blue-green eyes, shot through with gold.

“It was said a couple of hundred years ago a house of vampires thought it would be fun to mate with humans while taking their blood.  The products of these unions were humans able to wield some types of magic.  They called them half-bloods.  The vampire nation spun folk law stories for protection.  The human’s churches began to hunt ‘the unholy devil worshippers’ down calling them witches.  You seem to be a direct descendent and because of that, you are turning. I do not know how true the old stories are. Brace yourself there are no doctors who can help you now.”

I felt my lower lip tremble, I fought the action to break down and cry.  Seth sat back on his haunches running a hand through his hair as Ben explained what was happening to me.  I held firm for a matter of seconds before hysteria’s claws caught me in its grip.

“No, I can’t!  Ben no, I don’t want it; you have to kill me…...please, please!”  I did not want to be a vampire.  The elf shook his elegant head, his long white hair falling like a curtain over his shoulder.

“I can’t!  I’m sorry, you must utilise the ancient.”  His voice filled with remorse. Oh, my Gods, it was the dream!

I grabbed Seth’s hand.  He peered down at me.  His other big hand reached out uncharacteristically to smooth back the dark tresses that had escaped the confines of my tight braid.  Grabbing his hand had caused the tingles to cease.  I was trying so hard not to cry again.  I could feel the stinging at the backs of my eyes. I felt my nose get itchy, I knew it was probably turning red.  A hysterically random thought occurred to me.

“It could be rabies, tell me that thing didn’t have rabies?” The ancient shook his head with a small smile.

“It’s not rabies Lisa.  What Ben told you was correct; the only way to turn a human is if they already have vampire or paranormal blood in them…I’m sorry.”  My eyes were wide with fear; my tongue so dry it was sticking to the roof of my mouth.

“What’s does that mean?  Am I going to become like the one that bit me?  Will I end up some mindless killing machine that feeds off children?  Am I going to end up living all alone for eternity with nothing but my books because I cannot control myself?  What about Mum and Danny will I be able to see them again?  Will I have to watch my family grow old without me?” I snarled struggling to sit up.  Seth took off his glasses; he leaned over me, glittering black gaze staring into my eyes.

“You will be a Halfling, half-human, half-vampire.  You will have to feed nightly at first, then weekly, and then as you get stronger monthly.  Your skin will burn if you spend more than a few minutes in direct sunlight, your aging process will slow to almost nothing, you can still eat human foods, but you will grow fangs and you will have to feed from another vampire, a male predominately.” Another tear escaped, I nodded to show I was listening.

“As for your family, in time you will be able to visit with them, but you will not be able to confide in them what you are without dragging them fully into our world and exposing them to the horrors you have already experienced.  I fight with E.F.P.I.D. because I choose to; I am still a vampire; still dangerous as will you be.  You saw Caldor’s reaction to Ben this afternoon and he’s an elf, there is no prejudice against vampires, just plain, stark fear.  Your initiation I am afraid will be by fire.  And I do not feed on children!”  Seth’s low voice snarled in my ear.  I cringed from his anger as another wave rolled through my prone body, arching my back off the floor.  I gritted my teeth against crying out.  When the pain slackened I panted, perspiration dotting my forehead.  I was grateful he had not let go of my hand, I felt the contact was like a lifeline.

“I’m sorry Seth, I let the panic win,” I whispered struggling valiantly to control myself.  After all, this was my own doing.

“I know Elisabeth; fear makes us say things we do not mean.” Seth picked me up again as the doors to the elevator opened.  Caldor was standing with a handful of blood-splattered men.

“How many did you lose?”  Seth was watching the soldier before him.  Caldor’s head turned slightly to the left.  My eyes followed his movement.  Lining one wall were many long black bags.

“Thirty-one and there are more wounded,”  Seth swore clapping a hand of solace on the captain’s shoulder.  Caldor nodded his thanks before flicking eyes to mine, where I cradled gently against Seth’s huge chest.  I felt like a big doll.

“Good job in there Templeton, once the staff disappeared, the fence turned to stone. We’re going to plug up the small holes and build another wall over it.  If not for your quick thinking, I would have lost more than thirty-one.” Caldor told me with a sad smile.  My body stretched and then shuddered with pain before I could form an answer.  Once the wave passed, I could speak again.

“In the book, I saw a reference to iron and fairies not mixing well.  If you add iron shavings to the mortar or cement for the wall, it might deter them the next time they try making a run at anything else you’re all hoarding down there.”  I replied through clenched teeth, as the beginning of another wave rolled through me. 

“I’ll tell the bosses, you just concentrate on getting better.” Caldor flashed a worried look up at Seth as he took in the implications of my savaged neck. Nodding to the soldier he stepped passed, practically gliding towards the car.

Ben pushed the button to unlock the doors.  Seth placed me on my feet leaning me back against a strong body.  I tipped my head back slowly, the burning in my neck telling me it was a dumb idea but I continued anyway.  A big orange, white, and black face looked down at me, with a Cheshire grin and a wink.  I touched the corner of his eye lightly; there was a gash above his eyebrow.

“Are you alright Drake?”  I asked quietly taking my hand away.

“Yeah babe, I’m good, a little concerned about you though”.  He replied with a pointed look at my neck and then my stomach.  I looked down seeing a gash as thick as my thumb running horizontally above my bellybutton that was oozing blood slightly; it was strange I’d not noticed it.

“Oh well hey, look at that, it must have happened when he dropped me. I probably nicked a spear. I thought for sure, I missed it.” I whispered as Drake pressed his hand to my stomach, calling for Cooper to get the first aid kit.  Seth spun around as Ben tore, from the middle down, off my white shirt.  The three of them swore again.  Cooper slapped gauze to the wound as Ben wound a bandage around my waist.

“It doesn’t hurt much.” I coughed, gingerly climbing in to lie on the backseat.

“She’s going to need the healer.” I heard Cooper say from behind me.

“She’ll be fine; the conversion will take care of it,” Seth replied stonily, he lifted my head and shoulders sliding into the back seat as Drake put my legs over his knees.  I turned onto my side, Seth slid his jacket under my head.  I sighed and then tensed as another roll of fire flashed through me.  Drake pat my knee, while Seth studied the wound on my neck.  Turning to Drake, he asked for tweezers from the first aid kit.  I flinched away.

“Templeton is a wuss. Takes on a vampire but is afraid of tweezers.” Drake taunted with a grin.  I poked out my tongue, keeping still as Seth pressed the tweezers back to my raggedly torn flesh.  Fire flashed through the tears at my neck, Seth was pulling something out, softly telling me to hold very still.  At last, the pain died down.  I opened my eyes to see something long, white, and wiggling held in the grip of the green plastic tool.

“What the hell is that?”  I choked, eyes wide snapping up to look into Seth’s sunglasses.

“Parasites. Well, that’s new,” he replied absently putting said wiggly into a specimen jar held by Drake.  What Seth said finally penetrated my fat head.

“Parasites as in plural you mean there’s more than one!”  I cried panting as another wave rolled through me. 

“It’s alright. We will find out what they are. Try to relax, there are more.” Seth pressed my head to the side again in answer.  This time the combined pain pushed me off the precipice and into unconsciousness.