Avenging Autumn: Seasons Change Book 1 of 4 (17 page)

Frank and Benny pulled out there swords and
began hacking away at the thick branches. With each section they
cut down it seemed like more would pop up.

“
I don’t think where getting
anywhere,” Benny stated after ten minutes of work.

Frank looked back and forth down the line of
brush, “Yeah, I think your right. Maybe there’s a way around
it.”

As Frank spoke, Benny bent low to examine the
branches closer. He was amazed to see that everything he had just
cut down was growing back right before his eyes.

“
Dad!”

The Old Man turned at Benny’s call and
followed his gaze to the old plant life. He saw what his son had
found al-most immediately. The branches and vines he had cut down
were slowly reappearing. Yes, it was slow, but far faster than any
plant should grow.

“
Guys,” Autumn said from behind
them, “I don’t think it’s growing, I think it’s moving.”

“
What?” the two men asked in
unison.

Then, without warning, the vines whipped out
at them with lightning speed, wrapping around Benny and Frank and
pulling them to the ground. For a moment, they both just laid
there, completely bound by the vines. Autumn ran to Benny and tried
frantically to get the vine off of him.

Then, like racing dogs just let out of the
gate, the two men took off, speeding alongside the wall of
vines.

Benny thought he had never moved so fast
before in his life, the surrounding trees screamed by in a colorful
blur. The thing dragged him across a tree stump and he hit his head
hard on a rock as he came over the other side. He was sure he had
blacked out, but couldn’t tell how long. When he looked around
again everything was distorted and blurry.

Suddenly, the two of them were yanked upward
into the branches of the biggest weeping willow tree Benny had ever
seen. He caught sight of his father as he dangled there, upside
down, and could see the Old Man struggling to escape the vine’s
grasp. Benny wanted to get out of the trap, he needed to get out,
but he still felt dazed and weak from the bump he took on the
head.

Without warning, a heavy cracking sound
traveled up the trunk of the tree and seemed to reverberate
throughout every branch. The revolting sound made Benny’s head
throb like the string of a bass guitar.

The loud crack came again and Benny craned his
neck up (which, in this case would have been down) and tried to
find the source of the noise. His vision was still blurry, but he
could make out a ghostly figure walking away from the base of the
tree.

The newcomer backed away from the trunk and
ran forward again, slamming into the tree with their shoulder as if
trying to break down a door. The tree shuddered violently with the
force of the impact.

Benny closed his eyes and tried hard to focus
and stop his head from spinning. All the blood rushing to his head
wasn’t helping his pounding skull. He looked back toward the
stranger on the ground and he was finally able to focus and the
identity of the ghost became clear.

“
AUTUMN?” he shouted, a fresh spike
of pain shot through his head at the strain in his vocal chords. He
watched again as Autumn ran to the tree and slammed into the trunk.
The tree gave another shudder and the cracking sound grew louder
and longer, as if the tree would split in half any
minute.

The tree didn’t split in half with Autumn’s
final blow, but it did fall over, pulling all of its roots out of
the ground with it. As it came down, Benny saw his dead wife cling
desperately to the trunk, trying hard to avoid the huge mound of
earth that was pulled out with the roots.

When the weeping willow hit the ground, Frank
and Benny were pulled violently through the branches before the
vines finally loosened their grip and sent them tumbling to the
dead leaves below.

Frank slowly got to his feet, every muscle in
his body was aching and he had suffered a few cuts and bruises,
other-wise he seemed to be in one piece. He looked around and found
Benny lying a few yards away, his body seemed broken and
motionless. The old man felt his heart sink.

After dragging his feet to the spot where his
youngest son was, Frank dropped to his knees and carefully turned
Benny over onto his back. A thousand images raced through his mind,
all the fond memories he had of bringing up his baby
boy.

“
Benny,” he pleaded, “please be
okay.”

Benny’s eyes popped opened and he looked at
his father, “My head is killing me.”

Frank sighed with relief and wrapped his arms
around Benny’s head and shoulders.

“
Head, Dad,” Benny moaned, “watch
the head.”

With some effort and a lot of help from each
other the two men got to their feet and began looking for Autumn.
They found her sitting against a large boulder a short distance
away from the upturned tree roots. With her chin resting on her
chest and hair hanging over her face, she looked completely
exhausted.

“
Autumn, are you alright?” Benny
asked.

The dead girl slowly raised her head, “I guess
I still had a little of that superhuman strength left after
all.”

“
Yeah, but it looks like you
overdone it,” Frank add-ed, “do you think you can walk at
all.”

Autumn stood up with help from her husband and
father-in-law, when they let her go she stumbled and nearly fell on
her face. The two men caught her and each put one of her arms
around their shoulders.

“
I think if I could just get some
rest I’d get a little energy back,” Autumn said in a weak,
trembling voice.

Frank took a look at the surrounding woods,
“Alright, we can set up camp for the night, but first I want to get
as far away from this fucked up tree as possible.”

With the tree out of the way, a path had
cleared that would take them closer to their destination. Beat up
and tired, the Writemans nevertheless remained completely on guard
for any other traps that may be waiting for them.

The area beyond the weeping willow was vastly
dif-ferent then the woods they had been traveling before. While the
trees before were painted with bright fall colors, everything on
this side was dead and ugly.

Before long they came to a wide clearing and
Frank had the others hang back while he made sure the area was
safe.

He finally came back and said, “Alright, we’ll
make camp here for the night, and in the morning, with the sun
shin-ing bright, we’ll make our way through those trees and Benny
will stake that fucker in the heart.”

“
Sounds like a plan,” Benny said,
sounding ex-hausted. He plopped down on the ground and started to
re-move his gear. He and his father were packing enough heat to
fight a small army. “I think the tree was just a booby trap to keep
wonderers out, we could keep a look out tonight, but I don’t think
they’re going to fuck with us.”

“
Yeah, I know, and that doesn’t
really sit well with me. We may be walking into a trap. We’ll keep
a look out anyway.”

“
I’ll keep a lookout,” Autumn
offered, “I don’t need to sleep.”

Benny was preparing to get some much needed
rest when he heard a rattling sound come from his right. He looked
up to see his father holding a small bottle of aspirin.

“
When you get to be my age your
always prepared,” he said with a smile, “need some?”

“
Hell yeah!” Benny exclaimed. He
took some with the bottled water from his bag and soon felt the
pain in his head fade.

The young man lay down and looking up at the
dar-kening sky, he noticed the dancing lights of the aurora
borealis for the first time since they had begun climbing the
mountain. He had wanted to see the northern lights in person since
he’d seen them in a John Wayne movie when he was a boy.

Benny fell asleep wondering if this would be
the last time he saw them.

The cold early morning air chilled Benny and
Frank as they broke through the remainder of the small wooded area.
Autumn, on the other hand, looked completely comfortable and far
better than she did the night before. The low temperature so high
up the mountain seemed to be preserving her body, at least a
little. For the first time Benny noticed a small green spot forming
at the corner of her mouth as well as a few larger spots on her
arms. Her dead body was starting to rot and Benny knew their
journey would have to end here.

The trees and rocky ground this high were
covered with fresh, virgin snow (the dead trees they had seen
before had become less frequent, replaced instead by full, robust
evergreens) and breathtaking didn’t begin to describe the view of
the surrounding mountains. Benny had to wonder to himself how an
area so beautiful could house creatures as vile as
vampires.

They climbed a slight hill and came to the
edge of a wide stone bridge. Across the bridge stood a great castle
that seemed to be built into the side of the mountain.

“
Now that’s impressive,” Frank
said. He looked up at the jutting roof and added; “This place is
completely camouf-laged, even from the sky. If we didn’t have
Autumn guiding us we would have never found it.”

“
Alright,” Benny said, “let’s not
shit ourselves.”

The trio began to walk across the bridge when
Benny noticed a large circular courtyard in front of the castle
that was covered by a canopy, formed by several tall evergreen
trees that seemed to bend forward to meet each other. Frank and
Benny had taken a few more steps before they realized that Autumn
had stopped walking.

“
What is it?” Benny asked, seeing
an expression of mixed horror and disgust on her face.

“
Look,” she said, pointing a
shaking finger, “around the edge of the courtyard.

The two men looked to where Autumn was
pointing and immediately saw what had shaken her so badly. Benny
felt his stomach roll over and was sure that if he had eaten
anything in the past twenty four hours, it would have been
splattered on the rocky ground right then. There, forming a large
circle around the courtyard, were approximately fifty long spears
protruding from the ground, each one holding an impaled human body.
A couple of the bodies were long dead skeletons and some others
still looked fairly fresh, but many were still moving, trying
desperately to escape their torturous deaths.

“
Autumn, are you sure Odin Sway is
in this castle?” Benny asked.

“
Positive.”

“
Fine, let’s get in, stake him, and
leave as soon as possible.”

“
Agreed,” Frank added.

The Writemans now approached the front doors
at a much quicker pace. They crossed the courtyard (noticing the
stench of the impaled bodies as they went) and as they reached the
bottom of the broad, stone steps that led to the entrance, the
large oak doors slowly creaked open. The three Writemans’ stopped
in their tracks. A tall man with a fair complexion, bushy brown
hair and thick moustache walked out and at once Frank recognized
him.

“
Vlad the Impaler,” the Old Man
said in a breathless voice.

Vlad smiled and said; “Welcome to my
house.”

Frank’s hand went to the butt of his Uzi while
Benny gripped the hilt of his sterling silver samurai
sword.

“
Please,” Vlad said, and as he
raised his hands the weapons were pulled away from their owners by
some unseen force, each landing at opposite ends of the courtyard.
“There is no need for those here, no one will attack
you.”

The three mortals stood motionless, staring at
an ancient, historical figure that appeared to be no more than
forty years old.

Vlad seemed uncomfortable with the silence,
and began to fumble for something to say. “You recognize me,” he
finally blurted. “It’s the moustache, right? I’ve had it for ages,
but I just can’t bring myself to shave it.”

This was followed by a few more moments of
si-lence.

“
Oh, come now,” Vlad said
cheerfully, “why do you all look so surprised?”

“
We-well,” Benny stammered as he
looked nervously to his father and then to Autumn before returning
his attention to Vlad, “we didn’t really expect anyone to be
up.”

“
Ah, of course, sunlight. Well, I
have evolved beyond the weaknesses of younger vampires. I am what
is known as a Vampire Lord, I have abilities that the young ones
cannot even begin to comprehend. As such, I am unable to be killed
by the usual means. That would make me one of the most powerful
beings on Earth.

“
Enough about me, though, I believe
you are here in regards to one of my servants; Odin
Sway.”

“
I’ve come to kill him,” Benny said
plainly.

“
You cut right to the chase, don’t
you? Please, come in, and we will speak on this matter as
friends.”

Frank began to object, but Benny put a hand on
his arm and said; “I’ll be alright, Dad.”

The old man let out an impatient sigh,
“Alright, we’ll be right here. You have thirty minutes before we
come in with guns blazing.”