My Dark Angel Ch. 12

"Dieter, go on ahead I'm just going to slow you down. I can defend myself well enough just get him out of here." I said giving him a small grin and straightening myself up.

He did not look happy but could see I wasn't taking no for an answer and he nodded. He moved quickly down the corridor ahead, looking back before sprinting off like lightning. I allowed more power to flow through my skin, healing over the remainder of the wound and I picked up my pace and moved round the corridor and made sure I was ready for any Hunter who came my way.

As I did so I reached a T-junction in the hall I saw that down each moved a group of Hunters numbering around five each.

I raised my hands outwards and chanted quietly.

"Bordrand." and let my power flow out through my fingertips.

The hunters raised their weapons and fired, each bullet colliding with the shield I had conjured in the air and dropping to the floor. As each of them moved towards the shield attempting to blast through it again and I pushed it towards them. Forcing each side further back down the corridor, and I turned down the left hand corridor. I send a surge of power down each of the shields and sent the hunters flying back into the walls at either end of the fork. I sprinted over them snapping my fingers as I did so and each of their heads smacked into the floor knocking them out cold. The complex was too large, each corridor leading to another and another.

As I rounded another corner I saw a single door at the far end of the corridor. A dead end. All I could hope was that he was here, Santiago.

I reached the door, grabbed the handle and turned it. Behind the door was nothing, I don't mean an empty room, I mean actually nothing. A pure white expanse of emptiness, this was magic, and this was wrong.

I turned to leave and at the end of the corridor behind me stood a single figure with a floor length cloak, and a pair of luminescent blue eyes.

"I hear you are the witch with the vampires, if you think what you have is magic you are but a child." The voice intoned, raspy and cold as it echoed down the corridor.

"And you are the witch working with the Hunters, for people who despise supernaturals they seem to enjoy using you." I said squaring my stance to him.

He raised a hand and mumbled a few words and a fireball formed at his fingertips.

"Lets see what you can do." He said slinging his hand towards me and the fireball followed the path of his hand towards me.

"Fréorig æðm." I said, quickly exhaling as the spell took effective.

My breath became cold as ice and the fireball dissipated in the air. The witch laughed and lowered his hood revealing his face to me for the first time. He was old with white hair clinging to the side of his face, wrinkles spread across his face like spider webs and he grinned at me.

I backed myself up into the room behind me and saw the opposing witch began to mutter a spell. The whiteness of the empty room surrounded me leaving only the doorway visible in front of me.

"Íss scúr." he chanted and icy shards flew from his fingertips and swirled through the air towards me. I hardly had time to react before it reached me managing to stutter out a shield spell before it would have struck me.

The witch advanced through the doorway and the true battle began. The following fight was a flurry of quickly chanted spells. I may have had the advantage of power and youth over the older witch, but he had the advantage of age and knowledge. My spells may have had more power behind them, but his spells were far more complicated than my own, his own spells were delicately strung together, their grammar and syntax more complex than my own, the complexity of them made it very difficult to block or effectively disperse such spells.

For each spell I cast he knew the perfect spell to counter it, forging protective shields and cancelling out such spells with his own even as I cast them. My own offence seemed to slowly be making an impact in his energy reserves, his responses became more sluggish.

I darted back out of the doorway and round the corner and out of the path of a bolt of lightning that shot over my shoulder. I staggered round the corner and pressed my back against the wall, pressing my hand against the floor I chanted.

"Eorþe beofung." and the earth beneath our feet trembled.

Two guards rounded the nearest corner and I shot out my hands and allowed my power to extend towards them. I closed my fists and they both collapsed as I stopped their hearts, and I ran over their bodies dodging a hail of glass shards firing from behind me, not a single one hit me.

I snapped my fingers and my power flowed out sending a shower of sparks towards the witch. He blinked rapidly and coughed slightly as smoke also began to fill the corridor. The complex may have seemed like a maze before, but while running through it it only seemed to be more so. Couple that with errant spells firing over my shoulders, first was a shower of icy shards one of which grazed the side of my face leaving a deep gash.

"Fûlstincende lyfthelm." I stuttered as I waved a hand into the corridor behind me, before slumping down against the wall. A cloud of sickly green fog billowed out into the corridor behind me, hopefully obscuring me from sight, and should hopefully nauseate anyone passing through it, at least for a few minutes or so.

The sounds of gunshots rung out in the distance, somewhere further ahead of me, and I pulled myself up to my feet and broke into a run mentally preparing myself to cast at a moments notice.

As I rounded a corner I came across what I gathered was the mess hall of this place, with a number of cafeteria tables and cooking apparatus at the back, the room contained a handful of humans all toting rifles and firing out of the doorway and down the nearby corridor. From this angle I could see that Michael was fighting his way through a number of hunters set in his path. However his body showed signs of severe damage, his shirt was peppered with holes and his wounds were closing much more slowly than I would have expected. He needed help.

I charged forward approaching within twenty feet of the guards and in the centre of the room. One of them turned and let out a warning, but as they turned and levelled their weapons with me I had already begun chanting, imbuing my words with as much power as I thought I could muster.

"Mânbryne blâwung." I cried jerking my arms outwards from me and throwing back my head.

Flames erupted outward from me, their hies ranging from golden yellow to kingfisher blue as they spiralled outwards from me in a blast-like sphere. The room was engulfed in its entirety, and three seconds later when the spell faded, the bodies of the hunters lay dead at me feet. The room perfused with the scent of burned flesh and smoke. The blast had also bloomed out into the corridor taking with it three hunters within range, while the two remaining had been quickly dealt with my Michael.

I staggered slightly, losing my balance as a wave of lethargy hit me from the expenditure of my energy. Michael was on me in an instant his hand gripping my upper arm, providing support as I slumped against him.

"No time" I mumbled "He's been burning his power reserves too, if we can give him the run around we may be able to deal with him. Fortunately I lost..."

"Fortunately, he has already found you." A gravelly voice came from behind me.

"Frêosan." His voice came, as I felt Michael stiffen against me, cobwebs of ice spreading across his skin and his eyes turning pale and milky.

I wrenched myself away from his now frozen body and turned towards my adversary. Still weak from before I doubted that I would be able to hold my own against him for much longer. But I would try. If I could just delay him long enough one of the others should be able to find Santiago. And if I was dealing with the witch, then Louis wouldn't have to. That thought gave me comfort, knowing that I was keeping him safe in any way I could.

"Râr racente." I said whipping my arm around suddenly. A blood red chain of glowing force sprung into existence as it shot forth towards the mage. As it sailed through the air it issued forth a wicked howling as it lashed out towards him.

The witch began to chant a quick incantation, and as he did so I ran at him. The chain howled as it swung forwards wrapping around the witches right leg and jerking it towards me. The witch fell as the chain proceeded to work its way up his body and constrict around him. I dove on top of the mage and pulled back my fists and began swinging wildly down towards his face.

"Mægen." I cried out as I clenched my fists and saw a rune in the shape of an inverted U appear upon each of my knuckles.

My fist slammed into the side of his head and the runes connected and sent waves of concussive force out through my fists. The mages spell dies in his throat as my other fist slammed into his Adam's apple, I continued my onslaught on him, and his hands came up and tried to bat me away and shield his face from my fists. But I was strong, high on vampire blood, and he was an old man well past his prime.

It was then that I felt something inside me snap, my hands came down and wrapped themselves around his throat. I began to squeeze and felt his pulse pounding beneath my hands as I compressed his throat. His eyes bulged in his skull and his hands clawed at my face leaving thing gashes as he did so, and he then began to swing his fists into my chest trying to break my hold on his throat. I held firm however, and felt his pulse grow thready as his eyes began to sprout small burst blood vessels, and I tightened my hold and pressed my hands deeper into his neck as his Adam's apple became squeezed beneath my hands.

"Your life is mine. I am going to be the last thing you see in this world before I end you." I said grinning down at him as his eyes bugged out of his skull even further. His hands began to tremble and lose their grip on me and his eyes rolled up into his skull and he stopped struggling.

My hands maintained their grip around his throat and I smashed his skull into the concrete floor beneath until blood began to pool around his skull and I felt his heart begin to stutter beneath my fingers.

"There is a better way." a delicate whisper came from somewhere deep inside me.

"His heart is beginning to falter, but at the instant it stops his power will be released. You can take that power from him, and gain a small inkling of his knowledge and strength."

"How." I said out loud, loosening my grip on the witches throat.

"Repeat these words as you end his life and his power shall be yours. Ic manian hire æd, hit sy minnum, ic dréahne hine swá hit êðgung forbirste."

I repeated the words as once more my hands wrapped around his throat and I waited until I felt his heart begin to falter and repeated them again felling a small amount of my magic flowing into his body. His heart stopped, and as it did so I felt a well of power flowing from his body and into my own. The power tasted foreign, dusty, almost cloying, but with it came a greater sense of knowledge, my own reserves of power were somewhat bolstered after this, and my flagging energy didn't feel quite so low any more.

The mages body began to crumble under my hands, his flesh turned to ash, his blood began to bubble out between rips and tears in his skin as it grew taught over his bones. It was as if he was burning from the inside, as soon as I withdrew from my position above him, his flesh melted away leaving his bones, glowing a dull shade of red, before they too turned to powder. Staring down at this pile of what could almost be seen as sugar seemed hilarious to me in my current state and I laughed maniacally as I turned my attention to Michael. The cobwebs of frost had begun to thaw and he began to move, although somewhat sluggishly. The remnants of the dead witches power no longer held sway over his movements and he moved to my side, shaking the last of the frost away as his eyes returned to their usual shade.

Michael was by my side in a second, a stern look on his face, but he said nothing. As I looked around the room Michael motioned for me to follow him and we headed across the room towards the nearby corridor. Michael moved quickly ahead of me and we continued around the corner and began to search the complex.

It didn't take long for us to locate Dieter, the trail of bodies snapped in half was a clear indication of his course through complex. How many hunters could there possibly be in this place, and why did this seem so easy, I would have expected these so called hunters to have been more prepared for an assault.

Dieter was finishing off a small grouping of hunters outside of what seemed to be an armoury, the white walls of the corridor were splattered with blood as Dieter promptly ripped a human in half. I moved towards him and called out as Michael shot off down the corridor away from Dieter and myself.

"Have you seen Louis?" I asked as Dieter wiped the blood off of his face.

"The last I saw of him he was accompanying Marcus, they believed they had found the labs of the facility." His face turned sour for a moment.

"It seems that Santiago was not the only captive held here, they have quite an impressive collection of supernaturals here." He stepped over a body as he stepped out of the armoury.

"I just hope he is alright, I don't know what I would do if I lost him." I said leaning my back against the wall next to the armoury.

"He does care for you, I have met him only twice in his life, but from what I know he has not cared about a mortal like you for a very long time." He said in a sombre tone.

"A long time?" I said glancing behind me in the corridor, ensuring we were safe.

"He did love another, once. A long time ago by your standards. After he believed Marcus had died in 1946 he went on a small spree through London, and encountered another." His eyes glanced at my face, checking my reaction.

"He was called Thomas, a doctor working in the city, Louis was smitten at sight from what I head. However the relationship did not turn out as he had planned, and from what I hear they parted soon after but Louis watched him until his death. He still cared even then." Dieter reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I knew he had other dalliances in the past but he should have told me." I said, feeling a twang of both jealousy and betrayal.

"I know this must be hard but..." Dieter tensed for an instant, surging forward and hugging my body close to his.

"Down!!" he shouted .

I hadn't seen the human on the floor moving, I hadn't seen them pull the pin. Dieter had heard it and gripped my body tight and threw us away from the human. But the explosion bloomed too quickly, this wasn't like in a film where the heroes outrun the explosion. The heat lapped around Dieter, singeing my arms and I felt the concussive force throw us backwards. I heard Dieter grunt, and heard the sound of slicing as small pieces of shrapnel tore into his body. He took the brunt of the explosion, but I felt a slice running across my leg, and a single sharp pain as something stabbed through Dieters chest and pierced my chest and I felt a wet heat spreading across my top.

We hit the floor, my vision already blurred, my ears ringing, through the haze of my vision I saw Dieter roll off of me and his brown eyes stared down at me. He was saying something, but I couldn't hear him. My vision blurred again hazing red, and I felt the wet heat spreading down my leg and again across my chest. My heart was pounding in my chest, it's beat accelerating, my limbs were becoming numb, my head feeling heavier and heavier. It felt like a heavy blanket was pinning me down, dragging me down and under.

The last image I remember was Dieters face over mine, mouthing that same thing again at me. In my haze I could make out the odd word, "Let", "save you","consent". Whatever it was he seemed insistent, and all I wanted right now was to sleep. I nodded my head at him with the last of what strength I had, and I finally succumbed to the blackness.

The blackness had taken over, and washed over me more solidly than before, and my body felt as if it was being crushed. It was so exhausting to try to push back against it. It would be so much easier just to give in, to let it take me, to a place of blackness where there was nothing, nothing but darkness.

I have no idea how long the darkness persisted, it could have been hours, days, and I would have known no different. Time meant nothing here.

Louis. That was the only thought that flooded my mind. Where was Louis? Why wasn't he here with me. A world without Louis, wasn't a world worth living in. I clutched at the memory of him, holding him close to me, trying vainly to push back the blackness. I held it back by mere inches, feeling a relief on my breathing, then came the warmth.

I felt like I was floating, holding a warm body close to me. I inhaled and caught a whiff of the scent that set my pulse racing; Louis.

I was laying in bed next to him, one hand resting lightly on my throat. He smiled at me.

"Hey" I managed to croak. "You can't get rid of me that easily." I managed to say.

Louis' hand trailed down my throat, drawing a trail down to my heart. He rested his hand there, a trail of warmth following his hand, lingering on my skin. His palm rested over my heart, and I sighed content.

"James." He whispered, his eyes flashing up to meet mine.

"You need to open your eyes." He said, his eyes were black, his fangs descended.

"Louis, I'm looking at you, my eyes are open." I said as the heat from his hand began to grow hotter.

"No, James, you need to open your eyes. It's time to wake up." Louis' eyes grew darker, expanding to fill his eyes, no white of sclera remaining. Darkness began to leak from the corners of his eyes.

"Wake up!" his voice screamed.

I jerked away from him, and felt myself falling. The heat within my chest growing hotter, and hotter. Too hot. My instinctive reaction was to jerk away from it, to pull myself away from the heat. But the darkness had wrapped around me, pinning me down. The head was spreading, it encircled my chest, and I felt the pulse behind the heat, my own heart. My own heart was pushing this heat, sending streams of fire down my body, the heat concentrating around my heart, and on somewhere lower on my body.

The flames blazed on, endless seconds or days, weeks or years, I couldn't tell. The only rhythm I had was my own heart, pulsing away, driving this fire that consumed me. I tried to scream, but felt nothing from my body, I had no idea if it made a difference but soon I could slowly feel sensation returning. Creeping slowly through my body I felt the heat begin to subside. Fading slowly from my fingertips and toes, leaving behind only blessed pain-free coolness.

But as the pain faded from the extremities of my body, the heat seemed to intensify, each inch I gained only increased the pain searing through me. The heat surging through my body seemed to be draining my body, my throat was burning, and I was parched. Dry as an old bone, and oh so thirsty.

The heat deep inside my body grew hotter, centring on my heart, burning with an intensity my mind couldn't comprehend. My heart beat picked up, driving faster and faster now, as if trying to rip itself from my chest and I felt my back arc, bowing as my heart tried to escape me.

The darkness too was retreating, I could once again feel myself breathing, and soon regretted I this new sensation. My lungs too burned, keeping time with my heart, rasping gasps of air ripping through my lips. The clamour of my heart soon drowned out all else, and the burning heat retreated from my limbs driving the heat within my heart higher and higher.