LITMIR.BIZ

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down. She knew better than to ever meet his gaze.

      “So,” Rexius began, his gravelly voice cutting through the air, “the chicken comes home to roost.”

      Several more minutes of silence followed, as he studied Samantha. She knew better than to try to explain herself in any way. She just kept her head bowed low.

      “I sent you on a very simple mission,” he continued. “After the failures of Kyle, I needed someone I could trust. My most valuable soldier. You had never let me down before, not in thousands of years,” he said, staring. “But in this, this one simple mission, you have somehow managed to fail. And to fail miserably.”

      Samantha lowered her head again.

      “So. Tell me exactly what happened to the Sword. Where is it?”

      “My master,” she began slowly, “I tracked down the girl. Caitlin. And Caleb. I found them both. And I found the Sword. I even got Caitlin to release it. It was on the floor, just feet from my grasp. In but a few seconds, it surely would have been in my grasp, for me to bring back to you.”

      Samantha swallowed.

      “I could not have foreseen what happened next. I was surprised, attacked by Kyle—”

      A loud murmur erupted throughout the room of vampires.

      “Before I could grab the Sword,” she continued, “Kyle had already taken it. He fled from the church, and there was nothing I could do. I tried to find him, but he was long gone. The Sword is now in his possession.”

      An even louder murmur spread throughout the room. The anxiety in the room was palpable.

      “SILENCE!” screamed a voice.

      Slowly, the murmur died down.

      “So,” Rexius began, “after all that, you let Kyle take the Sword. You practically handed it to him.”

      Samantha knew better, but she couldn’t contain herself. She had to say something in her defense. “My master, there was nothing I could do – ”

      Rex interrupted her by simply shaking his head. She dreaded that gesture. It meant bad things were to follow.

      “Thanks to you, I must now prepare for two wars. This pathetic war with the humans, and now a war with Kyle.”

      A heavy silence blanketed the room, and Samantha felt her punishment was imminent. She was ready to accept it. She held fast in her mind the image of Sam, and the fact that they could not absolutely kill her. They would never do that. There would be a life after this, some kind of a life, and Sam would be in it.

      “I have a very special punishment reserved for you I,” Rexius said slowly, breaking into a slow grin.

      Samantha heard the wide double doors open behind her, and she turned to see.

      Her heart dropped.

      There, being dragged in by two vampires, chained by feet and hands, was Sam.

      They had found him.

      He was gagged, and as much as he squirmed and tried to make a noise, he couldn’t. His eyes opened wide in shock and fear. They dragged him to the side of the room, chains rattling, and held him firmly, forcing him to watch.

      “It seems you have not only lost the Sword, but have also developed an affection for a human, despite every rule of our race,” Rexius said. “Your punishment, Samantha, will be to watch suffer that which you hold dearest to you. I can sense that that which is dearest to you is not yourself. It is this boy. This pathetic, little, human boy. Very well,” he said, leaning closer, grinning. “Then that is how you will be punished. We will put this boy through horrific pain.”

      Samantha’s heart pounded in her chest. This was something she had not foreseen, and something she could not let happen. At any cost.

      She sprang into action, leaping in the direction of Sam’s attendants. She managed to reach one, kicking him hard in the chest. He went flying backwards.

      But before she could attack the other, several vampires were on her, grabbing her, pinning her down. She struggled with all she had, but there were just too many of them, and she could not match the strength of all those vampires at once.

      She watched helplessly as several vampires dragged Sam forward, towards the center of the room. They positioned him on the spot – the exact spot reserved for those undergoing the high Ioric acid treatment. On a vampire, the punishment was indescribably painful. It scarred for life.

      On a human, though, the pain would be incalculable, and the punishment meant a certain, horrific death. They were leading Sam to his execution. And they were forcing her to watch.

      Rexius grinned even wider, as Sam was chained down on the spot. As Rexius nodded, one of the attendants tore the tape from his mouth.

      Sam immediately looked for Samantha, fear in his eyes.

      “Samantha!” he yelled. “Please! Save me!”

      Samantha, despite herself, burst into tears. There was nothing, absolutely nothing she could do.

      Six vampires rolled forward a huge, iron cauldron, bubbling and hissing, mounted at the top of a ladder. They put it in position, right over Sam’s head.

      Sam looked up at it.

      And the last thing he saw was the liquid leaving the cauldron, bubbling and hissing, and heading right for his face.

      Four

      Caitlin was running. The field of flowers climbed as high as her waist, and as she ran, she cut a path right through it. The sun, blood-red, sat as a huge ball on the horizon.

      Standing with his back to the sun, on the horizon, was her father. Or at least, his silhouette. His features were unrecognizable, but she knew that it was him.

      As Caitlin ran and ran, desperate to finally see him, to embrace him, the sun sank quickly, too quickly. Everything happened too fast, and within seconds, the sun had disappeared completely.

      She found herself running through the field in the middle of the night. Her father was still there, waiting. She felt that he wanted her to run faster, that he wanted to embrace her. But her legs would only run so fast, and no matter how hard she tried, he seemed to just get further away.

      As she ran, the moon suddenly rose over the horizon – a huge, blood-red moon, filling the entire sky. Caitlin could see all the details on it, the indents, the craters. It was crystal clear. Her father stood, a silhouette against it, and as she tried to run even faster, it seemed as if she were running towards the very moon itself.

      But it wasn’t working. Suddenly, her legs and feet were not moving at all. She looked down, and saw that the flowers had twisted themselves around her ankles and legs, and were morphing into vines. They were so thick, and strong, soon she could not move at all.

      As she watched, a huge snake slithered towards her, through the field. She tried to struggle, to get away, but she was helpless. All she could do was watch as it approached. As it got closer, it leapt into the air, lunging right for her throat. She turned and screamed, and felt its long fangs pierce her throat. The pain was horrific.

      Caitlin woke with a start, sitting upright in bed and breathing hard. She reached for her throat, and felt the two hardening scars. For a moment, she confused her dream with reality, and looked about the room for a snake. There was none.

      She rubbed her throat. The wound still hurt, but not as much as it had in the dream. She breathed deeply.

      Caitlin was covered in a cold sweat, her heart still pounding. She wiped her face and the sides of her temples, and could feel her cold, wet hair sticking to her. How long had it been since she’d bathed? Washed her hair? She couldn’t remember. How long had she been lying there? And where, exactly, was she?

      Caitlin looked all about the room. It was the same place she remembered from some time ago – was it from a dream, or was she awake here at some point before? The room was entirely made of stone, and had one tall, arched window, through which she could see the night sky,

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