The Bane of Existence
Published: 3 Jan 2019
From the Previous Chapter:
With no help, the Rogue facing Jordan was outclassed by the flashing blade and soon lost his head when he turned to flee.
The three’s attention switched to the last bit of fighting with horror as Matt was knocked to the ground on his side. One Rogue attached to his back by his teeth and the other standing over him.
The teens panicked when they saw several vampires rushing at them and were set to flee. Thomas and his friend, Caleb, calmed them down then began chanting an incantation urging the others to chant with them. The Rogues slammed into the gathered teens knocking a few of them to the ground but the shield held firm.
While the teens helped their friends up from the ground the vampires regrouped and changed strategies. They each picked one teenager and concentrated on breaking that person’s shield. A couple of the teens were dumped on the ground again and almost dropped their shields but another teen came to their aid before it could happen.
The high schoolers changed tactics and paired together creating six sets including Thomas and Caleb. The Rogues found it harder to even distract the youths to break their concentration thereby causing their barriers to falter.
Seeing this, Zane turned his attention to Radesh and the Rogue who had stopped running and was engaged in fighting the werewolf. It was a pitched battle with claws flying and two opponents seemingly evenly matched. This changed almost instantly when the vampire switched from raking razor sharps nails across Radesh’s wolf body to stabbing into his side. Radesh went down with a long howling yelp.
Forming his sword as he ran Zane arrived just in time to block the Rogue’s attempt to plunge his six inch long fingernails into the wolf’s throat. Radesh rolled away and cycled through his three forms to heal the wounds in his side. Zane twisted his body around striking the Rogue with his foot sending the vamp stumbling back.
When the vampire got himself under control and stood he was faced with a small, blonde with a sword in ready position. He allowed a feral grin to spread across his face thinking he had the advantage over his smaller and younger looking opponent.
“Think you can play with the big boys, kiddie?” sneered the vampire stepping closer. “I’ll do to you what I did to your pet and more before I’m through with you. Then I’ll drain you.”
At his words a recovered Radesh began to growl and pad toward the overconfident Rogue. Zane stopped and calmed him with a thought, ‘Go help the teenagers; I got this.’ The wolf nodded and loped toward the pack of teens and the vampires surrounding them.
“Let’s see whatcha got, old man,” Zane fired back with a matching grin just before he let his fangs drop showing he was a vampire also.
Though the smack-talking Rogue’s smile never faltered it did lose some of its confidence. The leech still moved forward hoping the smaller vampire would back down but Zane stood his ground. His smile finally fading the Rogue shot an energy ball to open the one on one battle.
Barely moving Zane intercepted the ball with his sword draining it of its magic. Then he allowed his sword to vanish and grew his nails out to match his foe.
“Let’s do battle as vampires,” taunted Zane. “If you dare.”
Some of the vampire’s grin came back as he leapt at his enemy expecting to have at least a little advantage. The grin faded once more when he landed and the blonde was no longer standing there. He didn’t have to wonder where his opponent was for long as the pain of nails across his back told him exactly where the teen went.
He whirled with a backhand slash that only found air and received a front kick to his stomach knocking him backwards. Regrouping the Rogue launched a flurry of attacks that were blocked and returned both moving at great speeds. When they backed off the vampire found himself covered in slash wounds and his opponent had one scratch on his upper arm that quickly faded as he healed.
The Rogue’s own injures took much longer to mend and weren’t finished when the blonde vampire renewed the battle. The vampire couldn’t believe the speed his foe used; it was almost like he was an Ancient. As the fight progressed the Rogue began to tire and his opposition seemed to have boundless energy. He felt many blows land on his battered body until he was grabbed from behind. The last thing he felt was his neck snapping then all was dark.
Zane dropped the lifeless body, set it on fire with a quick spell then turned to check the rest of the fighting. Looking first for the other wolf Zane found Rogan engaged with the Rogue he had chased after. He was shifting rapidly through his forms while he fought keeping the vampire off balance. The confused Rogue didn’t know whether he was fighting a human, a wolf or a werewolf and had scores of wounds over his body. Soon Rogan, in war form, blocked an attempt at a spell then ripped the throat out ending the threat from this Rogue.
Continuing his check of the combatants, Zane settled his sights on the group of teenagers led by his half-brother, Thomas. Even with both wolves now helping them the students weren’t faring very well especially since they were nearly as wary of the wolves as they were the vampires assaulting them. However, the teens never hesitated to help one another.
Whenever one of them was knocked to the ground another would use a magic enhanced push to rid them of the attacking Rogue but only one or two besides Thomas used any stronger magical spells. Slowly, the group began to gain the upper hand despite several being battered and bruised. Being reasonably assured the teens would prevail Zane directed his attention toward his lover and those with him.
He was just in time to see Matthew on the ground, Jordan kneeling over him and the offending Rogue disintegrating from the combined spells from Duncan and Zander. Since each used enough power to destroy the vampire the left over energies combined into a writhing mass of flames and plasma. While Duncan ran to be by Matt’s side, Zander channeled the magic into the many vampire bodies littering the ground turning them to ash.
After two steps toward his injured friend Zane stopped due to a cry and commotion behind him where the teens were still battling. Turning to look, Zane saw Thomas frozen in place his attention riveted on Matt and the group around him. With Thomas distracted and his shields dropped, a Rogue grabbed Caleb, threw him to the ground and bit into his shoulder.
Caleb’s scream of pain jolted Thomas from his trance-like state. Turning he drew his own sword, the shorter wakizashi, pushed the vampire away with a spell, stepped over his friend’s body and swung the sword with everything he had. The swing had very little, if any, technique to it but loads of power as it cleaved from just under the left arm to where the neck met the shoulder on the right side ending the life of the unfortunate Rogue.
Friend and foe alike scattered as Thomas swung wildly at the remaining vampires nearby. ‘Drop,’ sent Zane mentally to all the teens and watched with satisfaction as they all plopped to the ground. This left the Rogues exposed and before they could regroup Thomas had decapitated one and lopped the arm off of another one at the elbow.
All the combatants were unaware of the pair of eyes peering out of the small house on the corner while they had been fighting. When the older lady saw the teens struggling she grabbed her gnarled walking stick and made her way to her front door.
There were two others hiding along the treeline watching also but the Rogues knew their squad leaders were close by. Although the two squads they led were mostly beaten they could tell the teens were tiring and the others were distracted by their downed friend.
The larger of the two super Rogues closed his eyes and concentrated. ‘Lady Bane? Can you hear me?’
‘Yes! What now?’
‘Our squads are almost decimated but the teens are tired, one of the adults seriously wounded and the Brat and his mate and pets are here but distracted. Do we have another squad close?’
‘Hmmm,’ considered Erika, Lady Bane. ‘I believe I do. I’ll send them your way and this time I want you attacking with them. Got it?’
‘Yes, Milady. As you command.’
“Watch out, dears!” called an older woman’s voice from a nearby porch.
All eyes turned her direction to find ten more Rogues followed by three Super Rogues emerging from the woods. Groans could be heard from the gang of teenagers as they realized the fight was not yet over. Radesh and Rogan gathered the teens into a circle surrounding Caleb after Thomas nodded for them to do as the wolves said. Zane, Zander, Duncan and Jordan made a wall in front of the prone Matt and waited for the vampires to approach.
The lead Super Rogue snapped his fingers at one of the ten and pointed toward the house: the rest he sent after the teens and motioned for the other two Supers to follow him in the direction of Zane and company.
“Look out. Ms. Craig!” called out Thomas and Duncan together.
“I can take care of myself,” answered the feisty, elderly woman in a brown dress with a corded belt at the waist.
“He’s not a normal person,” Duncan shouted back.
“Don’t worry, laddies,” cackled Ms. Craig. “I’ve handled his kind before.”
Just as she finished her words the Rogue coming after her leapt toward her porch. She never flinched but stood her ground facing the flying vampire with her staff in hand. When her attacker was most of the way to the porch she started chanting in a low, mumbly voice, raised the staff up a couple of inches and slammed it down on the porch floor.
Everyone was surprised but none more than the Rogue quickly approaching the old woman when a stream of fire shot from the knotted top of her wooden staff. The stream continued until there was not even a speck of ash left of the unfortunate vampire.
Radesh and Rogan quickly got Thomas and his friends back on the task of fighting the new influx of Rogues. Zane and Zander did the same for their group and had them spread out as the Super Rogues separated.
The six foot two inch lead Super Rogue tried to catch them off guard by sending a hastily formed plasma ball at the group. Zane and Zander were not caught flat-footed and the spell stopped dead at least four feet in front of the group guarding Matthew.
With the two remaining vampires joining the nine newcomers the wolves and teens faced off against eleven Rogues. After warning the teens Radesh and Rogan assumed their war forms that resembled the classic werewolf look from the movies. In these forms they would be more help to the teens in the fight since they are vicious fighters and could still use their magic.
One of the girls in the group of teens bent down, put her hand on Caleb’s wound and spoke a healing spell. A minute or so later Caleb was able to join with his friends making Thomas feel stronger and more confident just in time for the first strike from the Rogues.
One vampire ran ahead of the others and leapt at the gathered teens snarling. Having just been joined by his friend Thomas took a half step forward, raised his hands and yelled out the words to a spell that encased the attacker in fire ending his onslaught. The werewolves could feel the other teens gain strength from Thomas’ resounding success.
Radesh and Rogan stepped away from the teens then rushed the fast approaching vampires. As they rushed through the mob the wolf pair scattered them and caused as much damage as possible to give the teens a better chance. At the back of the Rogue squad they suddenly changed tactics and each targeted a single vampire.
Rogan slashed his chosen opponent across the chest then used a push spell to separate him from the others. Radesh dug his claws into one of the Rogues’ shoulders and spun him away from the group placing himself between the vampire and the teens. The ensuing battle between the werewolves and the two Rogues looked like a cat fight with claws and nails flying.
While the Rogues were scattered Thomas quickly organised the teenagers setting some in back to maintain defensive spells with others up front to use attack spells. The four attacking teens chose a target then fired their spells as the vampires returned to the assault. Two of the Rogues were able to completely block the spells while the other two were only partially successful and were wounded. One of them sustained major damage to his left chest and shoulder.
With their second volley the teens switched targets confusing the vampires with fairly good results. The two unharmed Rogues took significant damage this round while the slightly harmed vampire again was partially able to deflect the spell. The fourth Rogue was completely destroyed. There remained two vampires still unengaged with an opponent.
Zane used a type of shield spell to separate the head Super Rogue from the others and began to fire a multitude of small energy balls at him. Most were deflected but a few managed to land causing slight wounds. The Super Rogue to the left veered toward Zander and began throwing plasma balls while the third Super Rogue targeted Duncan and Jordan.
Zander dodged some of the balls, allowed others to fizzle out on his shield and then using his sword as a bat sent the last three flying back to their creator. The vampire managed to avoid the first two but the third one caught him on the thigh causing him to stumble. Samhain’s Son used the opportunity to make three quick cuts; one on his left chest, one on his right shoulder and the final one on the previously uninjured thigh.
Duncan and Jordan struggled to hold off the Super Rogue they were up against especially when he kept trying to get to Matt still lying on the ground injured. Ms. Craig noticed their predicament and called for them to move the fight away from the prone man. Although it was difficult the two backed the vampire away from Matt clearing the way for Ms. Craig.
The old druidess again muttered an incantation and rapped her staff on the porch floor. A barely discernible ray spread from the head of her staff and encompassed Matt’s entire body and lifted it from the ground. Then very slowly and gently she quided it to her porch and set it down with the utmost care.
With his uncle and guardian out of harm’s way Duncan was able to put his full concentration on the fight before him. In less than a minute he had a paralysis spell holding the Super Rogue in check and urged Jordan to go to his husband. Reluctantly Jordan finally agreed.
Now Duncan could really let loose and did so by releasing the Vampire and hitting him with a power blast that knocked him back five feet. Everyone was fully engaged in their battles. Zane and his opponent exchanged magic spells with the Super Rogue receiving the worst of it but still he kept coming after Rinaldo’s Child. Zander continued to toy with the vampire he was battling using his sword to make cuts in random patterns. Duncan used a combination of magic and martial arts barely keeping the Super Rogue at bay.
A few yards away the werewolves and teens fought their own battle with the squad of Rogue vampires. Rogan and Radesh stayed in their war forms primarily using a mixture of claws and spells. The teens still struggled some but were getting better and more confident with their spells. Working as a team the wolves and teens soon had all the vampires left trapped between them.
Thomas used his telepathy to get them all on the same page and using the same spell at the same time. At the end of the chanted incantation green fire spread from the outstretched hands of the teens and the two wolves. It engulfed the five remaining vampires in a bright green ring of flames with dark purple in the center. As the flames consumed more of the helpless Rogues the purple center grew smaller until only green tongues of fire were left then winked out leaving only a few ashes to drift away with the wind.
The screams of the burning Rogues distracted the three Super Rogues just enough to give Zane and Zander the openings they needed. Zane’s enemy dropped his defenses momentarily and the blonde Child used his strongest plasma ball spell and incinerated the lead Super Rogue. With his foe sidetracked Zander attacked viciously with his sword first removing both of the vampire’s hands preventing him from using nails or spells. Then he looked the Super Rogue in the eyes before removing his head and finished by burning any evidence of a fight.
Duncan didn’t fair as well with his adversary as the others did. The slight distraction only allowed him a slim breathing room before the Super Rogue was back on the attack. Slipping as he stepped away from the vampire Duncan hit his knee on the pavement sending a sharp pain lancing through his leg. Feeling his shield drop he thought he was a goner when the Super Rogue jumped at him with nails extended.
Both Duncan and the vampire were surprised when the leech’s attack stopped suddenly in mid flight. Duncan looked up to find his brothers, Zane and Zander, next to him and providing him with a shield. The thoughts of family reminded him of what the vampires had done to his Uncle Matt and the pain that caused his brother, Thomas and his Uncle Jordan. Releasing his inner rage Duncan roared out a spell of white hot fire that consumed his attacker completely bringing the fight to an end.
After cleaning up the area everyone gathered at Ms. Craig’s porch. She had done what she could for Matthew’s wounds but told them she had never been very good with healing spells. The fight had nearly exhausted the rest of the group and Zane, Zander and the wolves still needed to get back home.
Once he was sure Matt would survive Zane turned from the others silently with an expressionless face and disappeared leaving his friends behind. Zander thanked the teens and Ms. Craig for their help, gave his well wishes to Jordan then took Duncan aside.
“Why don’t you stay here and keep an eye on Matt,” he advised the eighteen year old. “Your brother and his friends could use an older friend right now too. We’ll come back for you in two or three days.”
“Thanks. I need to be near them too,” answered Duncan with relief.
With a wave to the others Zander, Rogan and Radesh loped off in the direction of home too tired from the battle to teleport.
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