Outside Hell (29 page)

Moments before and as the
chopper was touching down, Dracus had slipped his arms around the
neck of the white horse to say farewell. Then as its warmth had
surged back at him
and tickled his soul
, he’d thanked
it for saving him and the horse neighed its farewell
too.

Then as he was climbing
into the chopper
Laouse now
fearing that the priest
might have a valid point regarding the demons, suddenly gave it
full power. The bird roared up into the air and as
then
Dracus
had
swung himself into
the seat,
the bowman pulled the door into close behind him.
A second later Laouse tipped the nose of the
chopper forwards and then roared across the field at about sixty
feet above the snow until they’d gained enough speed to escape. The
Austrian must have thought that he was
in a stunt movie flying Airwolf or
something,
as he’d aggressively
pulled back
on the sticks sending them thundering up into the
heavens.

Dracus glanced out of the window and smiled
as he’d seen the horse galloping off into the distance but also had
deep curiosity within, because below him as his magic powers
circled his insides, he could see a blue light faint down in the
distance that looked as if it were challenging the demons and
somehow slowing them in their pursuit.

The higher the chopper climbed with its four
occupants aboard and then as they’d banked in a massive arc away
from the flaming horizon, and with the demons still very much
beneath them, Dracus sighed and apologized under his breath to all
those who’d lost there lives in the village back there. Then as the
boy prince from Eldor had closed his eyes, summoning the mist in
his mind again; from it he’d seen that the chopper he’d fired the
arrow into earlier had now landed in Hungary, surrounded by
soldiers and tanks. Then in response he’d leant forwards and gave
directions to the Austrian pilot and they flew off fast into the
moonlit, snow covered horizon.

Satan who was standing in the village of
flames that were so hot that the mud in the cobbled streets had
turned to fine powder, and the stones were exploding like popcorn
in the microwave all around him, suddenly cursed seeing them
leaving. Then as he’d remembered Regina hiding from him in hell
he’d sniggered to himself, and vanished to continue the hunt for
her.

The next day the smoke from the smoldering
carcass of the village as it’d had plumed up high into the sky, was
discovered by the same farmer who’d shot Sorchek the year before.
Then as he’d seen the taverns ruins at the end of the street, and
entered its charred and glowing embers only to recognize the
deathly and grim remains of the villagers corpses surrounded by
melted crosses and scorched bibles, he’d turned and run.

It wasn’t just a run back to his house, or a
stealthily get fit sprint, it was more than that, he’d burst into
his little cottage one over from Yohan’s, and then with his heart
beating wildly threatening to explode from the terror within, he’d
grabbed his family and frantically pocketed his handful of savings,
before fleeing Romania never to return.

When Sorchek had opened his eyes on the
dangerous and treacherous slope thousands of feet up the
mountainside, they were instantly filled to the brim with
snowflakes. The visibility was horrendous, and also the roaring
wind that felt like icy daggers was too.

The temperature was well in the minus, and
the vampire felt numb throughout. He was past cold and really not
far away from becoming a permanent ice statue, having to wait until
spring when he might thaw out.

Then as he’d tried to move and found that his
left leg wasn’t responding, he’d cupped his hands in front of his
eyes to shield out the snow and then looked down at it. Only as he
did and then saw it severely twisted and almost in the complete
reverse direction to the way that he was laying, it had made him
freak out. Instantly he’d slid his hands down and using the other
leg like a paddle, he’d forced himself along, managing to twist it
back around to face forwards again. The pain he’d received for
doing so bore through the numb nerves in his frozen body, and then
exploded in his brain. It was so bad that he’d almost had to stop
half way through, accepting a reversed leg for the rest of his
eternity.

Looking around him he saw only a few feet
away from him there was a length of something solid, that apart
from it being almost covered in snow, it looked like it might have
been part of the chopper that had tried to kill him earlier. Then
sliding his hands across the slope with the pain from his leg
threatening to make him pass out, he took hold of the frozen object
and dragged it towards him. The steel was so cold that his bare
skin had stuck to it immediately, and made it extremely difficult
to let go of too.

Then laying it against his
leg, he’d ripped off his shirt by literally tearing it out from
underneath his jacket, and bound the steel that was over a meter in
length to his leg. It looked like it had been part of the mechanism
that was slung underneath the bird, to hold the cage with the
vampires in it. Aware that his first aid skills were rubbish but
satisfied that it would be all right or at least until his ultra
fast healing repaired the snapped kneecap, he’d pushed himself up
with both hands. Only as he did suddenly the harsh winds had him
over again and this time he didn’t stop. The boulder that he’d
smashed into before he’d past out had simply sailed past him, as
the vampire roared off backwards down the slope. Then to save
himself from the unknown, he’d desperately flung his arms out with
his razor sharp fingernails trying to dig them into the ice, only
because of the speed that he was rolling, it was impossible to get
any grip. Then within seconds the slope that would be classed as a
black run even for the hardiest of extreme snowboarders, and
definitely well off-piste, had him rolling hundreds of meters down
it until suddenly ‘
WACK
’, and then everything in his dizzy mind went
black.

An hour later the vampire woke up again but
this time his face was covered in ice and his whole body was rigid
from the arctic conditions.

Groaning with immense pain as it racked
itself through his brain, and realizing that the splint he’d made
earlier had vanished but not before tearing a huge gash out of his
shin, Sorchek screamed. Only as his scream came out of his mouth,
instantly it was swallowed up by the intense sound of the howling
wind. Then as a moment past his mind flicked back to the soldiers
who’d raided his shack, and he was furious.

“Fucking bastards.” He’d screamed.

Then turning around and completely unaware
there was blood frozen across his face making him look like he was
going into battle; the vampire saw something twenty feet away from
him and it made him grin. Down the slope he could just make out the
cockpit of the chopper with its dome shaped screen that had a
massive crack across it, and behind the snow covered glass, the
inside of it was covered in blood.

The back of it that had
been connected to the rest of the monolithic bird
but of steel and not of stone
, was gone and it lay there with thick snow and ice covering
it, and just a dark silhouette of something inside, resting against
the glass.

Curiosity took hold of him and whilst digging
his fingers down into the ice beneath him and with extreme caution,
slowly, very slowly, the vampire edged on all fours ever closer. He
was desperate not to slip because he’d had enough of smacking his
head into rock hard objects to last him an eternity.

Then as he’d reached it he’d pulled himself
up alongside the cockpit and peered inside, only because of the
misted up glass he couldn’t see anything. Then as he’d blown on his
fingers that were really hurting, and slowly clenched a fist that
he’d hit the glass with to dislodge the snow from inside, suddenly
a face had appeared and he’d shit himself.

One of the pilots was still in there only he
was clearly dead because half his face was missing. The skin on the
left side of his head was melted away, leaving his teeth showing
through in some kind of demonic grin. Then as Sorchek had slid back
alongside the cockpit and resisted the urge to throw up, he’d
pushed his face up against the glass and peered inside. The pilot
had no legs and his arms were missing beneath the elbows too. Then
as Sorchek scanned around the cockpit he’d suddenly noticed a bag
underneath the chair that the pilot was sitting in. It was clearly
strapped to the chair and something about it made him deeply
curious about its contents. The vampire holding onto the chopper to
prevent himself from falling further down the slope; then pulled
himself around the side of it and climbed in. The back of the
chopper was completely missing and also the left side of the
cockpit too.

Then once inside Sorchek leant across the
pilot’s empty lap, and reached down for the bag. A second past and
then after struggling to get himself and the bag back out of the
cockpit, and also fighting the extremities of the vicious wind that
threatened with every second to send him spinning down the slope,
the vampire ripped open the leather bag and looked inside. All the
while the dead pilots head was jammed tight against the cockpit
with his only eye staring back at Sorchek, as if he was watching
what he was doing. Then as the vampire looked down into the bag
there was just paper, and most of the paper as he’d pulled it out
was instantly ripped out of his hands by the harsh winds and
disappeared down the mountainside.

Then as a colored piece of paper caught his
eye, Sorchek grabbed it and held onto it tight. His fingers were
almost useless now and he’d great difficulty opening out the folded
map that at first glance it appeared to be. Only as he’d pulled it
in tight to his chest and used his body to block out most of the
wind, he’d noticed it was a map and he’d recognized the area too.
The map had a black line running from Hungary in the west across to
Romania in the East, and then stopped right where his shack had
been.

Then as Sorchek realized that the line
crossing the map clearly showed the route to the shack, and that it
must have been the flight path that the pilot had taken to get
there, the whole thing made perfect sense. Then in response and as
he’d screwed his face up into a grueling mask of snarling hate and
his fangs had come down, and he’d also realized the soldiers came
there on a preplanned mission to raid the place, he’d screamed. A
second past and then after spitting out a mouthful of snow and
pocketing the map inside his jacket that was housing his freezing
cold torso, he’d stood up wearily and prepared to fly.

Sorchek unfolded his massive wings from
behind him with their dark black ribs that could have been mistaken
for veins, and after one test flap he’d leapt up into the air. The
wind before he was clear of the hillside; had him struggling
violently to keep airborne and almost sent him spiraling back down
hard on his head. The vampire struggled hard and flapped his wings
a thousand times until he was clear of the direct face of the
piste, and then flying like an injured bat, he’d allowed the blast
of the blizzard to suck him fast down the mountain to warmer
air.

Sorchek now knowing where the soldiers came
from in Hungary, he’d one thing in his mind.

‘Revenge’
.

After Satan had seen the strange blue light
hovering above him in Romania, he’d been so transfixed upon it that
he’d momentarily completely forgotten about the chase. Then when it
had vanished and he’d found himself un-mesmerized by the damn
thing, and suddenly realizing that it had given the bowman enough
time to escape, he’d been consumed with extreme rage. Even more so
than when he’d found out that Regina had somehow escaped the hells
entrance procedure, and then fled from being incarcerated in her
fiery chains too. The thought that the bowman was possibly going to
escape him again had summoned up even fiercer rage within, and he’d
used all its power to ensure that it didn’t happen.

Then as he’d charged down the mountainside
melting the deep snow drifts in his path, he’d had strange reports
coming back to him from his ghostlike creatures that the bowman had
strong powers of perception too. They’d told him that they’d
possessed a cat trying to slow him down, but that he hadn’t cared
for the cute furry creature, instead he’d killed it with a fucking
cursed arrow.

Then seconds later and as Satan was about to
enter the village, he’d screamed at them to chase the bowman and
under no circumstances let him escape. Then as seconds past and his
fury was rising even further the next report that he’d had from his
demons had literally made his mind boil. They’d said to him that
the bowman was now riding a white stallion and galloping away on
the thing, across moonlit fields.

This news had almost burst the heinously
distended blood vessels on his face, that through the chase had
grown so much that they’d looked like red snakes strapped to his
cheeks. The fury that was coursing through him had spread
exponentially within, and the fires that were spiraling up his arms
like huge serpents, were now charged with even fiercer
temperatures. The heat coming off them was so hot in fact that
everything for hundreds of meters around them, simply burst into
flame.