Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 24

Chapter XXIV

They were practically crawling on their hands and knees by the time they reached the other end, and they threw themselves out of the collapsing tunnel just before it finished sealing the passage behind them.

"Begging for your lives already?" Cynthia's voice taunted them from several meters away, as she made a tsking sound and shook her head. "You know, I really expected better from the two of you."

Clark was on her feet in an instant, only slightly slower than Gabrielle. As Clark looked around, she tried not to show her shock. There was a long line of vampires standing in front of the only exit out of the room; twelve males stood on the left and twelve females stood on the right, with Cynthia in the middle. The doorway behind them was open, and Clark could see the moonlit night sky only a dozen meters away.

As Clark felt a cool breeze brush over her skin from the fresh night air, she pushed away her fear and vowed she would walk in the moonlight with Gabrielle once again.

"Yes, we will," Gabrielle agreed, though Clark couldn't remember saying the words out loud.

Cynthia took a step forward, and the rest of the line followed her lead.

Gabrielle moved forward as well, with Clark close at her side.

"We played your game, Cynthia. It's over now," Gabrielle told her twin.

"Oh no, sister. There's still one Gate left. And if you want to get to it, you're going to have to go through me," Cynthia replied.

"That should be easy enough, sister. And Clark has defeated Fifth Orders. Do you really think these Lower Orders even stand a chance against her?" Gabrielle sneered, as she gestured to the other vampires.

Clark felt a grin come over her face at the confidence Gabrielle had in her abilities, and she proudly held her sword a little higher. She also didn't miss the hint Gabrielle had just given her to let her know her soon-to-be opponents were closer to the level of vampire she was used to fighting.

Cynthia looked up and down the line of vampires.

"I believe you've just been challenged," she said pointedly.

After a moment, the twenty-four vampires surged forward to attack Clark, while Cynthia light-walked over to Gabrielle. As Clark met her first few challengers with the edge of her blade, Gabrielle and Cynthia traded blows at the speed of light.

Gabrielle was tired from her recent battles, while Cynthia had very obviously fed less than an hour before. Normally, Gabrielle would have had speed on the less powerful vampire, but at the moment, she was just barely blocking Cynthia's constant attacks.

Gabrielle also realized that Cynthia was putting less than all her effort into the battle. Her younger twin was showing skill based on thousands of years of practice in hand-to-hand combat, while Gabrielle had always relied on her speed and strength to defeat every opponent who'd ever dared to challenge her.

As they continued to exchange hundreds of blows in mere seconds, Gabrielle came to the realization that Cynthia could quite possibly kill her if she really tried. The concept was difficult to accept.

I can hear you, sister.

Gabrielle was almost raked across the face, as she paused in surprise for a microsecond.

I know you can hear me, too, Cynthia continued.

Gabrielle slowed down a little bit, and Cynthia did the same.

What do you want from me? Gabrielle thought, unsure of whether Cynthia would hear her or not.

In an instant, Gabrielle felt Cynthia trying to pull away from her mind, as the question sparked an old buried need hidden deep within the Second Born. But Gabrielle used her newfound talent and did her best to keep the link open between them.

All of a sudden, she was standing near a tan-colored stone pillar. In the distance, her father was playing with a younger version of herself in the courtyard under a full moon. Then Gabrielle realized the view from the pillar was through Cynthia's eyes, not her own. Cynthia had watched her father playing with Gabrielle, oblivious to his other daughter's existence.

Gabrielle felt such dejection that she wanted to weep. But there was no time, as new images and thoughts flooded Gabrielle's mind. She saw other planets, wars, children being born, faces of people she didn't know, and yet they felt so familiar. Then Gabrielle finally understood that she was witnessing the memories of past lives. Like their father, Cynthia had been born with the full genetic memories of all her previous ancestors.

And with those memories, Cynthia had gained the knowledge of her father's true plans: he'd wanted to colonize the planet, not protect the humans.

Gabrielle didn't want to believe it, but she knew Cynthia was telling the truth. Gabrielle could see it and feel it. Her father had lied to her the whole time. Had he succeeded, he would have returned to his home system with an army and attempted to take over. Instead, he'd settled into life on Earth and become a god. At least until Gabrielle had decided to take matters into her own hands and had killed him and the rest of the First and Second Orders.

Cynthia had almost come to her then, but Gabrielle had become so powerful. Cynthia had feared that Gabrielle would try to kill her too, if she revealed herself.

I wouldn't have, Gabrielle thought.

That's what you say now, Cynthia sent her disbelief, still unable to sever the link and keep her thoughts to herself.

As Gabrielle went deeper, she saw the people Cynthia had hunted and fed on as though she was the one doing the hunting and feeding. Many visions showed Gabrielle herself, always from a distance and always once the sun had gone down.

At some point, Cynthia had figured out why she only ever saw her sister at night. As her father had sired more and more of her siblings, and they'd all turned out like Gabrielle, Cynthia had decided to investigate why she was so different. She'd taken the knowledge she'd gained from her father's memories and studied herself. Then she'd studied the other vampires, learning why the sun hurt them, and why even she needed the blood of a living human in order to sustain her own life. She'd learned the secrets of their existence and of their shortcomings.

Tell me, Gabrielle ordered, but all she felt was Cynthia's mental laughter, as the daywalker finally regained control of her mind and shut Gabrielle out.

Cynthia immediately renewed her attack on her weakened sister to keep her from trying to invade her mind again. She hadn't expected Gabrielle to be so adept so quickly. The whole incident had caught her unprepared, but now she was more determined than ever to make sure Gabrielle knew exactly who was really in control.

In the mean time, less than two minutes had passed since the battle had first begun, and Clark was having the time of her life. Every time her blade swept through the air, a vampire lost a limb or a head. Clark had been fighting some of the strongest vampires in the world for the past few hours, and now that she was up against the kinds of Lower Order vampires she'd fought for the past twelve years, she felt like she was in kindergarten again. It was almost too easy.

"Damn it!" Clark swore, as one of the vampires slashed his claws across her upper back, neatly avoiding the few remaining stakes that protected her lower ribs.

That's what you get for being cocky, she chided herself, as she swung around and cut off the vamp's head.

There were times when being backed into a corner was a good thing, and Clark looked around for a wall. As it was now, she had to protect herself on all sides, and it would only take one lucky blow to bring her down.

Once she had her target in sight, she started hacking her way through the vampires blocking her path. It took a little work, but she finally made it to the wall she and Gabrielle had come through. With her back protected, she grinned at the surrounding vampires and crooked her fingers in a come hither gesture.

"Bring it on!" Clark challenged them, and several of the vamps closest to her charged.

She cut them down in a couple heartbeats and waited for the next ones to make their move. It wasn't long. Despite their ancient Egyptian costumes, Clark could tell that the vampires she was fighting weren't more than a few years old. They didn't show the kind of... stillness... that Clark was beginning to associate with older vamps. Instead, they simply attacked like they were in a street brawl.

When Clark got the chance, she looked over at where she'd last seen Gabrielle and Cynthia. They were nothing but a blur, but the blur of hair around their heads let Clark know who was who. And with the way the whole blur was moving over the stone floor, Clark was sure that Cynthia was gaining the upper hand, if she didn't already have it. Then Clark realized the two-dozen vamps she was slowly killing off were just a distraction to keep her from being able to help Gabrielle.

With that thought, Clark decided it was time to get down to business. Clark had known she didn't have to worry too much about her opponents, and she'd thought Gabrielle could handle Cynthia with no problems, so she'd been having a little fun. Now, she was just death to vampires.

Clark swiped and chopped and flung her few remaining stakes at any target that presented itself. In only a few minutes, she'd thinned the herd down to barely half a dozen.

Gabrielle, on the other hand, was finding it very difficult to concentrate on the physical movements involved in her fight with Cynthia. Her mind was reeling from the thoughts she'd been able to pull from Cynthia.

You love me, Gabrielle thought in shock.

She'd expected hate, jealousy, contempt, or any of a number of other emotions, but love had never crossed her mind.

There was no response to the thought, except more vicious attacks, which Gabrielle was just barely able to block.

I'm sorry you were so alone for so long, Gabrielle thought sadly to her sister.

Oh, don't even try to pretend that you care about me, Cynthia's mental voice reverberated inside Gabrielle's head, even though the emotions behind the words told Gabrielle that Cynthia knew Gabrielle was being sincere.

As their battle continued, both Gabrielle and Cynthia slowed down their movements considerably. Sustaining the kind of speed fighting they were engaging in wasn't very easy. As their movements decreased into the humanly visible range, Gabrielle risked a glance in Clark's direction and found the Hunter up against a wall with five vampires trying to find a way to get at the human without being killed themselves. Gabrielle smirked and let herself focus completely on Cynthia again.

"She'll win, you know," Gabrielle commented, as Cynthia tried to kick her in the face.

"Of course. But if I kill you, who will protect her from me?" Cynthia replied.

"If you actually managed to kill me, there would be nothing to protect you from her," Gabrielle retorted.

Cynthia grinned.

"That was a good one," she complimented, but Gabrielle ignored her.

All of a sudden, Cynthia stopped attacking and stepped back out of Gabrielle's range, effectively ending their fight for the moment. She cocked her head to the side and adopted a quizzical expression.

"What is it about her that you find so... attractive?" Cynthia asked curiously.

"I love her," Gabrielle said simply, thankful for the respite.

"But why? She's our food," Cynthia protested.

"I don't know. I could list all her good qualities, but I'm sure there are others who possess the same, and yet I feel nothing for them. I just... love her," Gabrielle declared.

"Well, she is very good at her job," Cynthia mused as if trying on what it would feel like to give her approval of her sister's choice in companions. "But she's still human and that's the problem."

Gabrielle frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't even know what you're doing, do you? When you went to our strongholds, did you even talk to anyone there?" Cynthia chastised.

"Of course I did. What are you talking about?"

"War. As long as you're with the human, you're a traitor, but you're still First Born, which makes you untouchable by most within our Order." A glint appeared in Cynthia's eyes, as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "But if she were to become one of us..."

Cynthia began to make a move to head for Clark, but Gabrielle grabbed her and flung her back.

"You're not going to touch her!" Gabrielle hissed.

Cynthia grinned.

"Ooh, now there's some passion. But I really don't like being treated with such disrespect," Cynthia remarked coolly.

Gabrielle hadn't been faking when she'd been unable to continue fighting at the speed of light, but Cynthia obviously had been. The Second Born extended her claws and stabbed Gabrielle in the stomach faster than Gabrielle could even consider reacting.

Gabrielle cried out in pain, as Cynthia ripped out her abdomen, and she doubled over, hitting the stone floor with her knees. She looked up and watched, as Cynthia wiped off her fingers with Gabrielle's shirt. Even through the pain, Gabrielle couldn't understand why Cynthia would waste such a perfect opportunity to steal her blood.

"I don't want to be contaminated. You may be stronger and faster, but I like watching the sunrise," she said with a smile.

Clark heard Gabrielle's scream just as she was stabbing the last vampire through the heart. As she ran over to the twin vampires, she pulled her last stake from her back.

Cynthia looked up at the slowly moving Hunter and light-walked over to the door. She paused and turned back around.

"This was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime," Cynthia offered, and then she disappeared.

Clark started to chase after her, but a whimper from Gabrielle brought her to a halt, and she turned around. She came to a skidding stop on her knees next to Gabrielle and tried not to get sick at the sight of Gabrielle covered in her own blood, with her stomach in tatters.

"Oh God," Clark whispered.

"Blood," Gabrielle choked out.

Clark whipped her hair to the side and leaned down, offering her neck.

"Take whatever you need," Clark pleaded, desperate to keep Gabrielle alive.

"No," Gabrielle coughed. "I'll kill you."

Gabrielle rolled away, fighting the urge to take what Clark was offering. She didn't know if Cynthia had done it on purpose, but the tip of one of her claws had scratched the lower edge of her heart, and the rapid loss of blood from the huge stomach wound was making it impossible for her to heal the only vital organ in her body.

Clark got to her feet and ran to the last vamp she'd killed. She threw the body over her shoulder and jogged back over to Gabrielle. Gabrielle wasted no time biting into the acceptable blood source. Halfway through the feeding, Gabrielle raised her mouth for a moment.

"More," she requested weakly, and Clark went off in search of another fresh corpse.

If anyone had told Clark two months ago that she'd be running herself to exhaustion in order to help save the life of the Queen of the Vampires, she'd have told them to go fuck themselves.

At the moment though, she was doing just that. It took five more bodies before Gabrielle was able to get to her feet, her heart almost completely healed and her stomach newly regrown. The energy she'd expended in order to heal herself had used up nearly all of the blood she'd ingested, and she used the last of it to bring Clark back to a state of health. So, she drained one last body, and then they headed out into the night.

Clark took a deep breath and let it out in a gush.

"Goddamn, it's nice to see the stars again," Clark exclaimed, as she looked up at the night sky.

The moon was bright, but not full, and there were plenty of stars overhead. After being underground for so long, Clark felt amazingly free at just being outside.

"Do you recognize where we are?" Gabrielle asked, as she looked back at the familiar building behind them.

"That's where we went in," Clark confirmed. "I guess the rooms must have curved around or something."

"No, I think we were moved. The exit just comes out where we were led to enter," Gabrielle guessed. "Either way, it probably doesn't matter. Cynthia isn't likely to come back here again."

"But there might be something that could help us deal with her in the future. You heard her. She's not going to just leave us alone."

"True."

"Maybe we should go back in," Clark suggested, but Gabrielle shook her head.

"No. We both need sleep. Tomorrow night will be soon enough to inspect the place."

Clark was about to protest, but Gabrielle held up her hand for silence, as she listened intently. She could hear successive booms going off in a chain reaction, and the sounds were getting closer. After a few seconds, Clark could feel a low rumbling vibration coming from the ground, and Gabrielle picked her up and light-walked them a few hundred feet away.

"Whoa," Clark grunted, as Gabrielle put her down a second later.

That had been the weirdest thing Clark had ever felt. The only thing she could think of to compare it to was what she thought it might feel like to be beamed up in the Star Trek universe.

"I don't think we'll be going back in there," Gabrielle commented, as she watched a cloud of dust and debris shoot into the air above the building they'd entered two days before.

"Great," Clark said disgustedly.

They walked back to the building at a more normal pace and confirmed that the entrance was completely filled with rubble. It would take weeks of bulldozing to even make a dent in the piles upon piles of sand and stone that now concealed the entrance/exit of the Amduat. It was a good bet that the rest of the chambers had been similarly filled in by the other explosions Gabrielle had heard.

"We're never going to be able to dig through all that," Clark said in frustration.

"I believe that was the point," Gabrielle agreed.

"So, she just gets away, and we're left with nothing," Clark grumbled, as she turned away from the partially collapsed building.

"No, not nothing," Gabrielle argued. "I learned quite a bit about her while we were fighting. She's been watching me since shortly after we were born. If she truly intended to kill me, she could have done so a long time ago, or even tonight, but she didn't. And if she was really interested in making me suffer, she could have killed you, but again, she didn't."

"Then what's she after?" Clark questioned.

She was trying hard to keep her anger in check at how easily Gabrielle seemed to be able to reason away Cynthia's malevolent actions. Clark could care less about Cynthia's motives. She'd hurt Gabrielle and left Clark for dead, and Clark knew she wouldn't have any qualms about staking Cynthia if she ever got the chance.

Gabrielle could hear the barely controlled rage in Clark's voice, and she carefully wrapped her arms around the human in an attempt to soothe her. As Gabrielle felt Clark's arms wrap around her in return, she sighed.

"I don't know," Gabrielle quietly answered Clark's question. "What I do know is that I'm glad we're both alive, and I think we could both use some rest... and a shower," Gabrielle added as she got a whiff of their combined acrid scent.

Clark smiled a little in acknowledgement and then nodded, as she decided to drop the matter for the time being.

"Come on, then. We can clean up at my hotel room," Clark suggested.

She turned them so that she still had an arm draped over Gabrielle's shoulders, and Gabrielle had an arm around Clark's waist. They began walking towards the road to begin their hike back to Clark's hotel.

"Good. I should be able to call Subira from there and let her know I'm all right. I'm sure Michelle and Shiri and the others are worried as well."

Gabrielle held onto Clark a little tighter as she felt the world spin for a fraction of a second, but then she was okay again, and they continued on without a pause.

"Well, unless we were knocked out for longer than I thought, you've only been missing for two nights, unless you count that first night that we were captured," Clark calculated.

"True," Gabrielle said, and then she lapsed into silence.

Clark waited for more of a response, but by the time she realized she wasn't going to get one, she'd already been pulled into the quiet herself. The rhythmic crunching of their shoes on the sandy street, along with the cool night breeze, was very relaxing, and they walked peacefully down the dark road.