Blood Shadow: Book of Ariel Read online

the gentlemen showed no signs of slowing down like they did the previous day when they were only able to utilize mortal strength.

  Hartwell was backed up against a tree, which was akin to lying back on the ropes in a boxing ring. Cal, with is sloping shoulders and granite chin, took as much punishment as necessary to get within punching range of Hartwell. He took a quick left-right combination to the head and then delivered a left hook to the body and then a right cross to Hartwell’s chest, stopping his heart momentarily. The vampire had absorbed many hard knocks in his life, but this punch rendered him unconscious and careening off the huge tree and to the ground. While Cal had knocked out his share of opponents in the ring, it was the first time he did so with a punch below the neck.

  The other seven battles stopped as soon as Hartwell ticker went off-line, as the 14 people stood and looked in Cal and Hartwell’s direction. It took a good five seconds for the verdict on the rest of the evening to be delivered, as Hartwell’s system was apparently rebooted once his heart started beating again. The vampire rose to his feet without ever using his legs and came at a surprised Cal, who was ill-equipped to fend off the kind of warfare Hartwell was about to spin his way. Hartwell extended the fingernail of his right index finger into a sword-like image and then lopped of Cal Brewster’s head with blinding speed.

  While revenge against Hartwell weighed heavily on the mind of Claire Vinson, her father had a score to settle with a couple of hunters first. The other seven fights continued after a short respite to process what was just witnessed, as Hartwell glided over from his spot next to Cal’s two pieces toward Thaddeus, who had reengaged in swordplay with Garrison.

  Gary looked over at an advancing Hartwell and yelled, “I got this one, chief!”

  Hartwell was having sort of an out-of-body experience, as he had relinquished control of his being to a battle schematic that was now playing in his head. Thaddeus went to block Hartwell’s advances as well as counter Garrison’s offensive, but the collective force and skill of his foes proved to be insurmountable. The vampire/protector duo’s first slice proved to be the deepest, halting any movement from Thaddeus and sending the left side of his body to the left side of the turf and the right side of his body to the right side of the turf.

  Gary exclaimed, “Whoa!” and then also went on auto-pilot, dropping his sword to the ground and then walking directly toward Emily Brewster, who split from her battle with Belinda for a moment and was all-too-happy to jump in the air and take a huge swipe at Garrison’s neck. Emily had always been known for her accuracy and handiness with a blade, and this night was no exception. As quickly as Gary triumphed over the splitting of Thaddeus, he was then done in by Thaddeus’ daughter in a thrilling, yet non-suspenseful fashion.

  A battle that had created little advantage in over an hour was now shaking out in a mere matter of minutes. Cal’s death sparked a chain reaction that had progressed past his father and Garrison and was now infecting the remainder of the vampire and protector team like a fast-spreading contagion. With both Thaddeus and Cal getting the first payback for mistreating Abraham Ellison, it was time to focus on the primary target of the revenge plot, Thomas Hartwell.

  Heads were literally rolling across the Beach Haven Park lawn with great regularity in the next moments. Drew ended Daniel, Carla put Nicole down, and Emily spun around after her conquest of Garrison and moved her bloody blade through Belinda. Agent Blake was administering a choke-hold to Aaron, but he was off the ground and lacked the necessary leverage to choke the big man out, especially after Aaron raised his two massive hands above his shoulders and took hold of Blake’s head, basically pulling his noggin off his shoulders. Sharon and Maggie weren’t getting anywhere until Sharon focused all of her energy on the location of Maggie’s heart, and punched through her chest and extracted her life-source before Emily spun through and beheaded a now-lifeless Maggie. Kyla and Maxwell were matching each other shot for shot before spinda-rella came through with her magic blade spinning around. Kayla noticed the swinging blade at the last possible moment and ducked, clearing the way for Emily to cleave off yet another head of her opponents. Emily finally stopped spinning as Maxwell’s head hit the ground.

  “Wow! That was a rush!” she said as she looked around to survey the damage in the wake of her spin-cycle.

  The remaining hunters – Andrew, Carla, Emily, Sharon, Aaron and Kayla – looked down at Hartwell, who was leaning against a tree in the distance, somehow compelled to wait until it was time for him to become active again. Hartwell came back to life and glided a few steps away from the tree and the shadows of the night. He smiled and then used his right hand in a “Come get some,” gesture. It was one against six, but the master vampire couldn’t have been happier.

  Months earlier, a collection of vampires had circled Andrew Brewster during a battle. Drew was the lone remaining hunter left and had little chance to circle the wagons and beat this ring of fire. The vampires even mocked Brewster by utilizing long sippy straws to drink and drain him of his blood. But, before the last drop of the vital red liquid was consumed, Kayla jumped out of the stands and simply reacted. She picked up a sword and then ended Hartwell’s blissful night by lopping his head off, snatching up a victory that was already being tallied in the loss column.

  The tables were turned on this night, however, as the hunters made a circle of their own around Hartwell. The six hunters had the decided advantage, but that didn’t start Hartwell from visualizing a way out of the predicament, a certain path to victory. He channeled his grandson and master-strategist Maxwell to envision a “Food Processor” strategy, in which he would extend all of his hand blades and spin wildly, thus dismembering any and all hunters in his circular path. It was the execution of this plan, not the plan itself that eventually did Hartwell in on this now early morning.

  The hunters had a great deal of experience in dealing with Thomas Hartwell and weren’t about to take the decided competitive advantage lightly. Although they had lost the two most senior members of the team, Cal and Thaddeus, it was Cal’s junior – all two minutes of it – that stepped up to lead the group. Emily was the younger of the two fraternal twins and she was every bit the warrior of her brother.

  She looked around the circle and said to her son Drew, “Give me a moment here,” noticing both that her son was eager and there was a decided change in Hartwell.

  Kayla being the ultimate harmony seeker made to move the close up the circle after Emily took a few steps toward Hartwell. She reached out her left hand and clasped Aaron’s hand, he reached out to Sharon, she held Carla’s hand, and she gently grabbed her husband Andrew’s hand sealing the circle. Then, Emily did something completely out of character. She dropped her sword to her waist and walked right up to Hartwell, standing only inches away from his face, looking inside of his blank stare for any signs of intelligent thought.

  There was a part of Hartwell in the deep recesses of his being that was in full motion and executing the plan to mow down the group of hunters, but that action was not occurring in the outside world.

  “I think he’s gone,” Emily said as she studied Hartwell’s eyes and try to look deeper into his soul. “I think we should put him out of his misery. I could just pull out his heart, unless anyone has any objections?”

  Emily looked behind her and noticed that Andrew had his open hand raised, so she played along like a school teacher.

  “Yes, Andrew.”

  Drew was having flashbacks about the day the vampires used him as a human sippy box and then looked at his daughter Kayla.

  “You were so brave that day, Kay…”

  It took a few seconds for the rest of the crew to realize what he was talking about. Kayla started crying, “I couldn’t watch them do that to you, dad.” Drew walked over a few paces and hugged his daughter, “We’re a family, Kay.”

  Carla stepped into the hug with his husband and daughter, and then the rest of the group joined in a
s the circled was broken and Hartwell was now free to roam throughout the countryside. His internal vision had him gliding around the park, zipping past the big lake in the center and then moving past the playground and tennis courts. In reality, of course, Hartwell was a man standing in one spot in cement shoes.

  The group of hunters slowly broke their hug and was now a pack of grizzly bears. The strength and intensity of the collective hug must have elicited a bear from deep in the recesses of this family. Emily grunted at Andrew, giving him to the green light to end the night’s festivities. It had been a long night full of even battles that ended abruptly, and this final piece of the battle puzzle was no different. Andrew growled toward the sky and then took a huge swipe with his right paw at Hartwell’s head. The grizzly’s razor-sharp nails made quick work of Hartwell’s head, which finally moved when it rolled off his shoulders and on to the moist grass. The vampire’s body then collapsed to the ground like an unsupported bag of bones. The hunters then walked away from the carnage after separating the bodies of the two sides in adjacent piles in a remote and quiet wooded area of the park.

  EIGHT

  The Winters’ family had