Avenging Autumn: Seasons Change Book 1 of 4 (18 page)

“
That should be ample time,” Vlad
said politely.

The vampire ushered Benny through the door,
leav-ing it open as a show of good faith. The entrance gave way to
a huge lobby, the floor and walls made of the darkest black marble
he had ever seen. An exquisite looking staircase rose from the
middle of the room and up to a landing that was shrouded in
shadows.

Benny was led to a large library off to the
left of the lobby. Inside blazed an immense fire place that threw
light onto a seemingly endless collection of books that lined the
walls, and in the middle of the room sat two high backed chairs
turned toward each other.

“
Please,” Vlad started, “let us sit
by the fire, you can chase the chilly air from your
bones.”

Benny sat silently and waited for Vlad to
speak again.

“
First, I want you to know that
your wife was killed without my approval, and although Odin held
the blade that killed her, he had absolutely no choice in the
matter.”

“
No choice!” Benny shouted in
disbelief, “If he didn’t want to kill her he could have told the
others no. He could have-”

“
MISTER WRITEMAN!” Though Vlad is
one man, three voices shrieked from his mouth. “Please wait until I
finish.”

Benny sank back in his seat, not daring to say
another word.

“
You see, Mr. Writeman,” Vlad
continued in the same polite manner as before, “Odin Sway is what
we call a ’lesser vampire’. This means he is compelled to do what
he is told by those superior to him. We are all separated into
clans. I am the head of my clan and I am a vampire lord, as I
men-tioned before. The level below lord is master, which was the
rank of those you killed in Indiana. By the way, I am not an-gered
by their deaths, for I myself would have killed them given the
chance. The business relationship we had with your father was very
important to us.”

“
Why would they act without your
permission?”

“
It happens quite often, I’m
afraid. Some vampires get into a position of power and before you
know it, they are behaving like gangsters instead of business men.
Although Odin is gifted, he is still a few years away from being a
master. Lesser vampires cannot control their actions when they are
issued an order by those above them. Odin greatly regrets what his
masters made him do. Vampires, by nature, are peaceful, emotional
creatures. At least they are now days.”

“
How do you explain the impaled
people in your courtyard?” Benny asked with a note of
disgust.

“
My art is rarely understood by
mortals.”

“
Art? Are you talking about the
people dying painful-ly on those spears out there?”

“
Dying? On the contrary, Mr.
Writeman, they are being reborn into my clan. There are hundreds of
thousands of people in this world who want to be a vampire. You and
your lovely wife used to be two of them, if I’m not mistaken. ‘Goth
kids’, right? Well, before they become vampires, they have to be
servants. I have twenty five mortal servants in this castle right
now. When they reach the age of forty, I set them loose in the
woods on the other side of the valley and I hunt them down, for I
do still enjoy a good hunt. They start the change before they’re
impaled, and after a month they are let down. The sun doesn’t
affect them in that time.”

“
And the two skeletons that are out
there?”

“
They were vampires from another
clan who once tried to assassinate me. They are stabbed through the
heart. I keep them there as a warning to others who entertain such
foolish ideas.”

“
You still have to feed on people,
doesn’t that make you evil?”

“
Actually, the servants give blood
to us voluntarily; I like to drink mine out of a wine glass. It’s
so much more civi-lized then gnawing on some poor fellow’s throat.
That’s not to say we don’t have the occasional rouge vampire, who
reverts to the old ways and runs around killing innocents and
sucking them dry, but they are usually captured and
punished.”

“
Usually?”

“
Well, there is
Deppleo.”

“
Who is Deppleo?”

“
Deppleo is the god of all
vampires. When your Christian god said ‘let there be light’,
Deppleo was born in the shadows that light cast. Through the ages
he has thrived on slaughtering mortals and drinking them dry and to
this day his hate and disdain for humans has not subsided. He is
the only being I answer to.”

“
How does he feel about the way you
treat mortals now days?”

“
He doesn’t care, as long as the
vampire population continues to grow, he is satisfied.”

“
So, he’s the only one that kills
mortals for blood?”

“
Well, he and the Wintermen, but
they don’t matter right now because it isn’t winter and we’re
getting quite off the subject. Deppleo has left it to me to bring
your situation to a close, and as far as I can see, I only have two
options.

“
Option number one; fight you to
the death to save the life of one of my children, which I assure
you, would be a very swift fight.”

Benny had no trouble believing
that.

“
Or, option two; turn Odin Sway
over to you and let you have your revenge.”

“
So, what’s your choice?” Benny
asked, suddenly feeling uneasy

“
You will meet Odin and I in the
courtyard after sun-set, by then I will have my
decision.”

Benny stood and walked to the door.

“
I sympathize with you Mr.
Writeman,” Vlad said from his chair without turning to look at the
young man, “I too was in love once, long ago, in my mortal days.
She also died before her time, although her life was taken by her
own hand. The man I’d become, and the acts I had committed drove
her to it. I had no thirst for revenge, so I did the next best
thing; I lost my mind. I renounced my Christian god and went on a
rampage, never quenching my desire to spill the blood of others in
the most sickening ways I could imagine. Of course my deeds caught
the attention of the vampire god, and his gift only amplified my
rage.”

Vlad then turned and looked Benny in the eyes,
“Mr. Writeman, you must know that Odin is beaten down by the guilt
he feels for what he has done to your wife. He is a shat-tered
image of the man he once was.”

Benny turned from Vlad, feeling a hot tear
spill down his face, and said in a quivering voice; “Aren’t we
all?”

Vlad stared at the young mortals back as he
left the library, and in a whisper said, “I suppose we
are.”

Benny, Autumn, and Frank returned to their
camp-site, where Benny retold everything that he heard from
Vlad.

“
So basically, he’s saying Odin
Sway was controlled by the five masters we took out in Gary,” Frank
said when Benny stopped talking.

“
Yeah, that’s the gist of it,”
Benny replied.

“
Do you believe him?”

“
It seems to fit, especially if you
consider Odin’s behavior when we last saw him.”

Frank turned to the dead girl, “What do you
think, Autumn?”

“
It’s the truth,” Autumn returned,
“I don’t think he had any desire to kill me, and I’m sure he took
no pleasure in it.”

Frank said; “So, with this new information, do
we go on or turn back?”

“
There is no turning back,” Benny
stated, “not for me.”

“
Benny, you’d be killing an
innocent man.”

A confused expression flowed over Benny’s
face, “Dad, what do you think we’ve been doing all this time?
Ac-cording to Vlad, none of these vampires have ever taken a life,
and you’ve killed more of them than any of us.”

Frank plopped down heavily on an overturned
tree trunk. “Your right, the five in Gary should have been the only
ones to die.”

“
Besides,” Benny continued, “Odin
is the last one, when he’s dead Autumn will finally be able to rest
in peace. We’ll stay here until night fall, then go and find out
what Vlad’s decision is.”

The other two agreed and Frank pulled out the
last of the sandwiches they had gotten at a gas station back before
they left civilization behind. They ate what very well could be
their last meal.

Nightfall came and the three Writemans made
their way up to the courtyard to find only Vlad and Odin waiting
for them. Benny felt relief at this, but Frank, as if reading his
mind, leaned in and spoke in his ear. “Stay alert; there could be
more hiding in the shadows.”

Autumn took Benny’s hand in hers, “Its
Halloween night you know?” she said quietly.

Benny thought about it a moment, “Oh yeah, I
sup-pose it is. Well, Happy Halloween, we certainly are in a
fitting situation for it.”

“
Yeah, Happy Halloween.”

The courtyard was dimly lit by torches that
ran along the edge of the circle, one placed between each of the
impaled bodies.

Benny stopped at the end of the bridge with
Frank and Autumn just behind him. Vlad approached them from the
center of the courtyard.

“
Benjamin Writeman,” he said in the
same polite manner as before, “I’m glad you have come, after
meeting you today I realized that I have only been thinking of a
way to get Odin out of this mess and I never intended to hand him
over to you. I was wrong to think this way. You are both suffering,
and you are both honorable men, so a third option accrued to me. We
will let your swords decide who dies.”

Benny suddenly felt his heart drop into his
stomach.

“
That doesn’t really seem fair,”
Frank interjected.

“
Odin will not use any of his
vampire abilities,” Vlad replied, “only his fencing skills. You,
Mr. Writeman, may use any weapons at your disposal.”

Benny thought on this a moment, then he pulled
the AK-47 off his back and laid it on the ground. Next, he pulled
two 9mm pistols from their holster and cast them aside, keep-ing
only his sword and a wooden stake that was hidden in his
jacket.

“
Indeed you are noble,” Vlad said,
“Just keep in mind, Odin is almost two hundred years old and has
practiced his technique since he was a child.”

Benny stared at Odin, trying hard to read his
expres-sion, but could find nothing there.

Old stone face returns.

“
I have been made aware,” Benny
said.

“
Very well, then you will each say
your goodbyes to your loved ones.”

Benny turned to his father and smiled, “Well,
old man, it’s been some adventure, huh?”

“
You say that as if you were going
to lose,” Frank said sternly, “you just remember everything I
taught you and you’ll do fine.”

Benny was confused again. “What are you
talking about?”

“
Come on, Benny, when you were a
kid didn’t you ever wonder why I took all those light saber battles
so serious-ly?”

“
What are you saying, Dad, that you
were secretly training me to sword fight a vampire when I was a
kid?”

“
Of course not,” Frank laughed,
“but I did always try to teach you boys how to defend yourselves in
just about any situation I could think of. Some ways were just a
little more subtle than others.”

Benny smiled and hugged his father, Frank
returned his embrace. Without another word, Frank walked away to
leave Benny and Autumn alone.

He held his wife for a long moment before
speaking. “I will not say goodbye to you again,” he whispered in
her ear.

“
I know you’ll win,” Autumn said in
a quiet voice, “and, when the time comes, we’ll be together
again.”

Benny nodded, took a deep breath and returned
his gaze to Odin Sway. The vampire stood motionless, his face
showing no anger or fear, no excitement or pleasure, only the
blankness of a dead man.

Benny pulled his sword from its sheath slowly,
letting the moon light gleamed off the solid silver blade. Odin
held up his walking cane and pulled it apart revealing the long,
straight blade that was concealed inside.

They stood in silence for a moment with the
others watching them quietly from beyond the courtyard.

It was Benny that made the first
move.

He ran swiftly at the vampire with his blade
held low and trailing behind him. When he was close enough, he
brought the sword up in a wide arch. Odin stepped to his right,
barely avoiding the hit.

Benny spun with the swords momentum bringing
it again to Odin’s left side. There was a high clang as the swords
met for the first time.

Odin then brought his sword in toward his body
and lunged forward in a jab. Benny blocked the attack, preventing
it from entering his chest, but still felt the blade puncture his
left shoulder. A low moan escaped his lips.

Still, the vampire showed no emotion, he only
pulled the blade out of Benny’s shoulder and repositioned himself
for the next attack.

Benny then leapt into the air with his sword
raised high above his head, bringing it down hard against Odin’s
blade. The force of the attack knocked the vampire off his feet.
Landing on his back, he brought his sword up just in time to block
another swing from Benny. After a quick roll he was back on his
feet blocking another hard hit.