The morning came all too quick for the three of them, and though they were still very tired Ty, Valentine, and Brenda knew that they need to leave as soon as possible so they could get ahead of Valentines father. Each room had its own shower, and the group took full advantage of the refreshing accommodations to clean themselves up and compose themselves before leaving their rooms and facing the other occupants of the home. Most of the vampires that occupied the house were in their own rooms and resting far away from the sun, all but Duke Samuel that is. He had stayed up with his human servants and a few vampire guards to see off his guests. Ty finally joined Valentine and Brenda in the sitting room he had first seen the night before after taking his turn and showering after Valentine had left the room. When he walked in all eyes stared at him in his short sleeved all white button up shirt, dark blue jeans with his jacket slung over his shoulder.
Brenda gave him a teasing whistle “Wow you clean up nicely, if you were not already spoken for by the prince here I would be pursuing you myself.”
Samuel laughed at the jest “I would have to second that motion, you are a very attractive man if I may say without any disrespect for the prince.”
“There is no offense taken Duke, why else would I have chosen him to be my husband? It surely was not his brains, I know he is intelligent, but he can be such a ditz sometimes.” Valentine said winking at Ty who immediately blushed after a flash of how he had spent the night before entered his mind.
Ty bit his tongue a moment before faking a laugh and retorting “Well my prince, one of us has to have the looks, that’s how a relationship works you know.”
At that everyone in the room laughed loudly, and Ty joined Valentine on the couch with Brenda sitting alone in a chair not far from Duke Samuel where she seemed to give the duke a strange look. Seeing that Ty was looking at her and seeing the look she was giving the duke, she looked away quickly and her expression glazed over as she returned to a statuesque expression. Ty just smiled and shook his head at his friend knowing exactly what was going through her mind.
Then without warning Samuel stood up and spoke quietly as if trying to hide his words from unwanted ears “Your father is in town Prince Valentine, he arrived in town last night while you rested. He was here asking about you and questioning my servants. They all kept quiet as far as I know, but he is somewhere outside of the city waiting for you. He has a large army of vampires and hellhounds with him. I told him that you stopped in and that I tried to hinder your travel by holding you here but that you had left and were on your way. I don’t think he believed me otherwise he would not be waiting for you, but at least he didn’t figure out that you were here. I could only imagine what would have happened to everyone here if he had found out…”
Valentine being a vampire was naturally pale but now his skin seem to lose its remaining color as he received the news “Do you know exactly where he is outside of town? I know he cannot attack during the day but his hellhounds can, and I would rather avoid them if I can.”
Duke Samuel shook his head “As far as my spies have told me he has hellhounds surrounding the city, watching every exit. There is no safe way out, but I do have a military grade hummer with a large supply of blood waiting for you outside. I have enjoyed your company but I cannot have you here any longer, I will not put my realm, my people, or myself in danger any more then I already have. I have rather enjoyed your company but you need to leave soon. I hope you will forgive me and my rudeness, and I also wish you the best of luck on the remainder of your journey.”
Valentine took a deep breath and steadied himself “I do not think that you are being rude, and I thank you for your hospitality Duke Samuel, I believe that I speak for Ty, and Brenda as well when I say that we are in debt to you and count you among our short list of trusted friends.”
Brenda no longer in still in a more relaxed state hugged the still standing Samuel “Yes we are grateful, and will find some way to repay you in the future.”
At the tight squeeze he was receiving Samuel smiled “Normally I would be insulted by the touch of any other being even that of a vampire, but I will not hold it against such a beautiful women even if she is not a vampire.” He winked at her and the surprised look on her face before she smiled again she hugged him again before letting him go.
Ty chuckled “That being the case may I shake your hand friend, and if you could please tell me one of these days how you figured out that she was not actually a vampire.”
As Ty shook his hand Samuel went a little further and embraced him silently whispering something into his ear too low for anyone else to here. Ty gave him a strange look and then smiled winking at him. Then Valentine agreeing that etiquette no longer mattered hugged the duke as well patting him on the back before the three friends left. Their belongings were already packed up and in the vehicle when they got into it. As he had promised Samuel had provided a military grade hummer, clad in bright blue with tinted windows. Brenda looked back as they drove off hoping to see a curtain move as Samuel watched them leave, and to her surprise the window that had been seen adorned with think maroon curtains moved as a hand slowly burning in the suns light waved goodbye to her and she smiled as it was quickly drawn back into the safety of the house.
Brenda fetched both Ty and Valentine some of the packets of blood that Samuel had stocked in the hummer when Valentine asked her too as well as some prepackaged food left for her. He quickly laid out the plan as he drank “First thing we need to do is build up our strength with some blood. All three of us need to have every spell we can think of ready to go, as we leave town. The moment the hellhounds catch our scent they will come for us, and they are much stronger and faster than vampires, as well the sun does not affect them. So we will have to rely on magic alone to keep us alive, and no matter what you do, do not let any of them get their teeth in you. It doesn’t matter if you are human; vampire, or magic wielder, there is nothing on this planet that can survive the venom in the saliva of a hellhound. So keep a shield on at all times from here on out and make it as strong as you can without draining too much magical energy to cast offensive spells. They have no vulnerable spots on their bodies but if you can get something inside them then you can destroy them easily, the trick is creating a wound on their body and working them over from there.”
“Is there anything else we should do to prepare for what might come? What about your father? Won’t he follow us as soon as night comes? How can we expect to stay ahead of him, if you take into count that he caught up to us even though we had such a big lead on him?” Ty asked as he drank a second packet of blood, enjoying the absence of harm that obtaining blood would normally cost him.
“That,” Valentine said in between sips on his third packet of blood “is why we are going to continue to drive this thing until we reach New York with no more stops along the way.”
Ty looked back at Brenda then at Valentine “What about her, she can’t drink the blood, and we don’t have any a lot of food here for her.”
Brenda spoke up pushing a container of dried fruits and vegetables in front of Ty’s face “Actually, I think the Duke has that covered for now, but the only problem I have with that plan is how are we going to drive all the way to New York in a gas guzzler like this without stopping for gas every couple of hours?”
“I don’t care what we do, or even if we have to use magic to keep this thing moving, we have to keep going without stopping if we are going to make it there without getting killed.” Valentine said in response.
Not wanting to argue, Brenda sat back quietly and nibbled on some of the fruit savoring it. Ty occupied his time with looking out the windows attempting to keep an eye out for any hellhounds though he was distracted by his thoughts. Being distracted, Ty didn’t see the large gruesome beast that was running right at them from a side street. The hellhound was as big as a grizzly bear and midnight black in color, with fiery red eyes and teeth set in jaws that looked like they could easily peel the armor off of the very hummer that the three
friends were riding in. Thankfully for everyone’s sake Brenda was just looking out her window and saw the hellhound as it charged and screamed loudly in terror. Valentine was the first one to react being the one who was most on edge, and he summoned a large ball of electricity outside the car. The ball of electricity shot out a bolt of lightning just missing the hellhound. Most animals would not have the reflexes to dodge lightning let alone most would have been scared off easily by it and though the vampire that was buried deep within the mind of the wild obedient beast was terrified for its life the hellhound itself was unfazed and slowly started gaining on the hummer. A second lightning bolt hit its mark and though it was badly injured the hellhound picked itself off the ground and took off again after the ones it was ordered to pursue.
“Is that ugly mutt really a hellhound,” Brenda questioned as she watched the beast again pursue them “Any other creature would have killed over and just died after a hit like that.”
Valentine kept his eyes on the road ahead and his concentration on his spell as it was slowly draining him “This is no ordinary creature Bre this thing could have no appendages left and would still attempt to pursue us. Unless they are completely incinerated a hellhound will not stop trying to kill its target.”
Ty was furious now “That is insane, how can anyone put someone or something through such a cruel change and force them to obey those orders?”
“It was a defense mechanism in the first vampires” Valentine replied “it was used when we faced a powerful enemy, but as some vampires got more powerful and assumed leadership of the others that particular trait then became dormant and only a powerful vampire could awaken it in another vampire. Hellhounds are only supposed to be used in wars or in assassination of magic wielders but my father must see us as such a high risk that he saw them as his only chance of taking us out. The only solace that gives us is that the vampire king fears us which is good since he will make mistakes and misjudgments in dealing with us because of his fear, so we might have a chance hellhounds or not.”
Brenda smiled and replied “Why do we have to call them hellhounds though, it seems so ominous. Can’t we just call them the ‘mean doggies’ or something?”
Valentine shook his head and a smile was forced onto his face “No Brenda, because if they catch up you will easily see exactly why the name hellhounds is so much more appropriate.”
Brenda’s smile faded a little at that statement, “If we must, but I still think that name is overly ominous sounding.”
Then without warning the hummer jerked to the left as a second hellhound hit it with impossible strength. Valentine held the wheel steady and realigned them with the road, as he looked in the side mirror to see the creature pull back ready to hit them again. He hit the gas, pushing the pedal to the floor, just in time to remove the vehicle from the hellhounds charge and sped on to the off ramp. At the top of the off ramp he saw what he hoped was an illusion, as a row of hellhounds stood their ground in front of them.
As Valentine slowed down to a stop Ty shouted “What are you doing? Are you crazy they will catch us, we can’t stop here?”
“If we don’t stop we won’t have a vehicle to get away with.” Valentine said undoing his seat belt and opening his car preparing to face the beasts pursuing them “We need to make a stand here and take out these ones before more come, if we don’t we won’t make it much further.”
Brenda followed and did as Valentine was doing and got out of the car the whole time setting up spells in her mind and after a moment of judging the situation Ty agreed that they had no other choice and stepped out preparing his own spells. As soon the hellhounds saw Valentine, Brenda, and Ty emerge from the hummer they charged as the two hellhounds that were following them caught up. In total there were now seven hellhounds circling they growled deeply sounding something akin to a lion crossed with a bear, each one taking turns to step forward and snap at the air in front of Ty, and Valentine, completely ignoring Brenda.
“Why aren’t they attacking me?” Brenda asked confused.
“My father must not know about you yet,” Valentine answered “and he must have just ordered the hellhounds to attack us leaving everyone else alone, that gives us a little leverage for the moment, but once we attack so will they and they won’t care if you’re a mark or not they will attack you as well seeing you as a threat to their goal.”
Brenda summoned a ball of fire the size of a softball in her hand and held it waiting for Valentines signal, Ty in his own style summoned a lightning bolt which was sparking and flickering in his hand and Valentine seeing that his companions were prepared shouted “Now!” and the battle for their lives began.
Summoning ball after ball of fire Brenda hurled the powerful fire at which ever hellhound got closest. Ty and Valentine did the same both having chosen lightning, and every time they knocked down one hellhound destroying one part of them or another it would get up again and strike. Brenda didn’t pay attention to one of the less fortunate hellhounds that she and taken down leaving it without any legs to stand on, so she didn’t see it as it got close enough to strike having crawled to her using it’s jaw to do so. It clamped down on her leg and though her shield was powerful it gave way a little to the sharp powerful teeth.
Ty hearing her scream turned and sent a powerful blast of pure magic at the hellhound clamped to her leg incinerating the rest of it and Brenda fell to the ground sobbing in pain while still throwing ball after ball of fire at the hellhounds that were trying to get to her now that she was wounded. Checking to see Valentine hold the front line Ty ran over to Brenda sending out flares of pure magic at any hellhounds unlucky enough to get too close to her. Though pure magic was effective in incinerating the beasts each time he lashed out it left Ty breathless as a big chunk of his magic was directly drained. He reached Brenda and helped her up. Unable to turn around and see behind him a three legged hellhound bit down on his arm. Though he still had plenty of power left Ty’s shield completely gave way to the force of the bite and his arm was nearly severed before he sent out a blast of energy destroying the hellhound that had inflicted the wound.
His injured right arm hanging to his side lifeless and Brenda being held up with his left arm Ty concentrated summoning as much of his power for one big blast of pure magical energy to take out the remaining hellhounds, and just before the three of them were over taken by the beasts Ty let loose his power destroying the hellhounds leaving no traces of them anywhere to be seen. Valentine ran over the Ty and assisting him to place Brenda in the hummer before Ty collapsed to the ground where Valentine picked him up and slid him into the back of the vehicle instruction Brenda to tend to her wounds then Ty’s.
As Valentine took off down the highway Brenda did as she had been instructed and used her magic to quickly mend her wounds. She had to bite her tongue so she would not get sick when she saw Ty’s arm lying there held together with only a few muscles and tendons, as it bled openly on the floor. She summoned the magic quickly concentrating on his arm reattaching and in a few moments it was once again whole with a thin white line of a scar around the bicep where it was once unscratched.
Blood… He needed to feed, now or he might die… Eyes still closed Ty grabbed the nearest source of blood and drank as deeply as he could. It squirmed and fought against him, and he could taste a powerful bright source of energy in it as he was drinking it deeply. Suddenly he recognized the energy; it was the power of flame. His eyes flew open and he let go of Brenda’s arm as he backed away from her quickly out of fear of himself and what he might do if he did not create distance between them. When he finally was able to look up at her she was smiling at him as she held her arm and was healing the spot where now there was a crescent shaped white scar that seemed as if it may never fade away.
His voice was horse for lack of enough blood as Ty spoke “I am so sorry Brenda, I didn’t mean to hurt you… I... I Just… I just needed nourishment, and had I know it was you… I would never… I will never hurt you… Not on pur
pose… You are such a good friend… And I cherish you too much to ever…” He was unable to speak anymore the pain in his heart as well as the pain in his throat would not permit it any longer.
“It’s ok,” Brenda reassured him “It’s not like you did it on purpose, your primal instincts kicked in and your body did what it had to in order to survive. I don’t blame you nor will I hold it against you. Ty you are one of my closest friends and if you need my blood, ever, just let me know and I will gladly give it to you.”
A Glimpse of what’s to come…
The air was almost alive with the shear energy that was produced, so many beings of power, so much power being expelled even as the mortals walked by not seeing any of what was going on in the empty lot. Ty summoning his power and calling it forth do defend himself and Brenda as Valentine lay there unconscious too far out of his reach and near the enemy. In one last burst of now wavering power he summoned forth a gust of wind blowing back the jets of fire and seemingly dissolving the lightning and at the same time sweeping away Ty and Brenda into the distance. Ty looked back one last time before his eyes failed him and soon so did his body as the venom from the hellhound kicked in as everything went black. The last sight he saw was Valentine being shackled and bound still unconscious from using too much of his magic while battling the magic wielders…
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