His sister, though a terrible mage in general, still surpassed him in earth magics. She immediately started to counteract his manipulation of the ground under her arm. In her blood-addled state, she wasn’t that great at it.
“Sarah,” Wayne said, his voice as deep and as authoritative as he could make it. “I am your brother. Wayne. Calm yourself. Do you hear me? You must stop fighting me.”
He could see movement in his peripheral vision. Nothing had burst through his walls of flame since his sister, so their blood-lust may be subsiding. Or they were still too busy fighting each other.
“Sarah,” he said again. “Please.”
His sister’s struggling ceased. She lay flat against the ground with her face in the grass.
Wayne took a step closer. “Sarah?”
“I’m sorry.”
Blinking, Wayne shook his head. “I don’t give a damn about your sorrys.” He released his hold on her arm. “Get up and move. We don’t have time to muck about.”
Only when she finally started to move did Wayne start to feel the second coming of his arm’s pain. He knelt down, gritting his teeth, and tossed his backpack on the ground.
“Could you do me a favor,” he said to Zoe. “Find me a vial of milk-white liquid.”
At the younger girl’s staunch nod, Wayne moved up to his sister.
Before he could say a word, she spoke first. “Are you hurt?”
“Broken bone. Not a bad break at that. I have potions.”
“Of course you do.”
“You’re injured worse.” Wayne said, gesturing at her backwards-facing elbow. “And I’m hesitant to try potions on you.”
“Vampires heal right?”
A voice at his elbow sent Wayne jumping to one side.
“They do,” Serena said as she faded into sight. “There are plenty of thralls that just lost their master if you want a little boost to your regeneration.”
Sarah clutched at her side as she stood. A slightly disgusted look crossed her face. “I think I’ll pass.”
Wayne started to smile at her resolve. That smile disappeared as he watched her shamble forwards a step. “Reconsider,” he said to Sarah. “We need to be in top shape to escape.”
“Besides,” Serena said, “I’m not planning on taking on any thralls. Worthless beings that can’t think beyond their next hit. And if you’re not planning on taking any under your wing, then they aren’t coming with us. I don’t rate their chance of survival very high.”
Wayne narrowed his eyes at Serena, but slowly nodded his head in agreement.
Zoe chose that moment to run up to him, holding a vial in one hand and a backpack in the other.
Breaking the seal on his mask, Wayne downed the potion in a single gulp. The acidic taste left over in his mouth caused an involuntary shudder to wrack his body. Pain in his arm flared up almost immediately as the bone reset itself and started mending.
It would still be a few hours before he could use his arm. A few more before he should use his arm. But it paid to get the process started as soon as possible.
“Thanks kid,” he said, giving Zoe an awkward pat on her head.
While she had his bag open, Wayne reached in and pulled out his last two masks. “I don’t know if these will help against any more traps, but they won’t hurt anything. Put them on,” he said, holding them out to the two vampires.
Making some noise that Wayne assumed most teenagers made when excited, Serena accepted immediately. She slipped it on and proceeded to breathe as loudly as she could.
Sarah took the mask, but only held onto it. At his questioning look, she bared her teeth without smiling.
“Right,” Wayne said, understanding. “You hold off for a few minutes.”
With that, Wayne extinguished the flames around them.
Five vampires–not counting Serena and Sarah–stood around with an accompaniment of thralls. All looked like they had been waiting for him.
None looked to be in a fighting mood. Several were wobbling on their feet with droopy eyes–Sarah included. Many were injured to some degree.
Wayne kept his pages charged and ready as he looked over the crowd just in case.
When they failed to part and allow his passage, Wayne cleared his throat. “Vampires. This,” he thumbed over his shoulder at the vat–or where the vat had been before his sun atomized it, “was a trap set by those who hunt your kind. If you stay within the city, you will die. Again. Permanently.”
One stepped forward. “How are we supposed–”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Move at once or I will end you now.”
“Come now,” an older vampire said. She drew a sharp fingernail across her wrist. Blood dripped out, landing on the ground.
The thrall standing behind her leapt forward, tongue out. He buried his face in the grass and licked. Several of the other bystander thralls looked ready to join in.
Though he knew it was hidden by his mask, Wayne drew back his lips in disgust.
“Surely you want to serve a real master,” the vampire said, having continued to speak even as her thrall made a fool of himself. “I can provide so much more than that flat–”
Wayne had heard enough. Burning a page, Wayne replaced the vampire and her thrall with fire.
The screams filling the air caused Wayne to wince. The vampire had turned to dust in an instant, but her thrall was still mostly human. There would be a charred carcass left over.
He hadn’t even considered Zoe before igniting the two. Looking down, he was pleased to find Serena pressing her hands over Zoe’s ears while pressing the kid’s face into her chest.
Wayne gave a curt nod of thanks to the vampire.
He could tell that she was smiling even behind her mask.
“Anyone else have something to say?” Wayne called out as the thrall’s scream died off.
The remaining vampires cleared away in a flash, leaving behind a scattered group of masterless thralls looking somewhat dazed.
“Oh, me!”
Whipping his head back to his side. Serena–Zoe still pressed against her–moved right up against Wayne. She looped one arm around his, eliciting a small grunt of pain.
“I don’t want you to be my thrall,” she said with a slight husk in her voice, “but maybe something else?”
“Too young for me, kid.” Wayne said. He almost smiled at the pout visible behind her mask.
“Buut,” she said, drawing out the word, “I’m going to be sixteen forever. I’ll always be too young.”
This time, he actually did smile. Glancing at Sarah to hide it, Wayne gave his sister a slight nod of his head followed by a nod towards the thralls.
She sighed, but took off running without complaint.
Which suited him just fine. He wasn’t too interested in saying anything aloud with Zoe around. Though she probably heard anyway, he considered, she had only been a few steps away when Serena had initially mentioned it.
Shaking his head, Wayne turned back to the kids. Mirth over the previous conversation gone, he narrowed his eyes at the vampire.
“Sarah will return in a minute or two. We will leave as soon as she does. But first,” he slowed his perception of time and ignited a small fireball, “I want to know exactly who I am traveling with.”
To his surprise, she didn’t balk away or grow hostile. Serena leaned into him more than before, smile visible beneath her mask.
“You saved me from the Elysium Order’s trap so I’ll give you a little hint. I’m a few years older than I look.”
Chapter 005
Wayne kept his fireball steadily humming in front of the two of them. A warning that he could and would protect himself at any sign of hostility. She, in turn, had one arm linked around his like they were a couple. Her other arm kept Zoe pressed against her chest.
Despite his growing tension, Serena was the picture of relaxation. She leaned her head against his arm, knowing yet uncaring of the flames just inches away. A show of power? Or stupidity.