Shades of Grey

VIKKA— AUGUST 1844

Evan attacked and we began a two-day long battle, the range of destruction soon falling out of the cavern above the church and spilling across the levels of the malformed city. I fought as hard as my weakened body possibly could, but there was no way that I could withstand the everlasting energy of a Vanguard Vampire. Evan knew this.

“When will you surrender? There is no way you can possibly outlast me,” he taunted on the evening of the third day of fighting, kicking me in the gut and sending me flying into a commercial bloodhouse storefront — the vampire equivalent to a human café. I was knocked into several vats of fresh blood, to the amusement of the few Vanguards seated in the storehouse who casually observed the battle. No doubt they had all been expressly forbidden from interefering.

“Mmm, now she will taste especially good!” quipped one of them, educing horrific laughter from the others.

I ignored them, pulled my blood-soaked self to a standing position and reemerged onto the street, holding my Flamesword infront of me.

“Never,” I hissed, answering his taunting question.

I heard Evan shrug.

“Alright. As you wish.”

He leapt towards me, fangs bared and ready to strike. I then shifted into my Dragon form, whipping my tail around and slamming him into the outer marble wall, revelling in the thunderous echo the impact created.

“Now why didn’t you do that earlier?” he said, returning to the street in seconds. “This would have been much more fun!”

I listened to the bending of his flesh as he shifted into his large, malformed bat self and leapt for me with his fangs bared again. This time, he flew into my gut with the force of a bullet and knocked me through the blood storehouse, causing the weakened structure to collapse.

As soon as we emerged on the other side of the now decimated storehouse, I kicked him in the gut and sent him flying upwards towards the floor of the level above us. He flipped twice in the air and landed with ease upside down on the ceiling.

I roared and flew towards his awful stench, exhaling flames as I did. I heard him shriek once in pain as the fire licked his thin wings, but he retaliated quickly and kicked me up through the floor towards the next highest level of the city.

I landed on the ground with a sickening thud. Evan leapt gracefully through the chasm that I had left in my wake and transformed into himself a second later, striding towards me with such potent malice in his eyes that I could nearly feel his stare pierce me like a poison arrow. He then emitted an ear-splitting cry that shook the unstable foundations of the labyrithine city. I quickly transformed back into myself to cover my sensitive ears, crying out in agony as the volume of his shriek weighed on my eardrums.

At that moment, I heard a flurry of thin, sinewy wings as every Vanguard in the city transformed into their horrific bat selves and flew towards the site of our battle. I then heard the distinct cries of a struggling Forma as they brought her into the chamber along with the clinking of a metal dog collar chained around her neck. I listened to the weakness in her breath, damning my decision to come here. She had suffered so much because of me, of stupid decisions I continued to make…

“Grey, forget about me! You have your chance! Take it!”

It was difficult to listen to the struggle in her voice and Evan could clearly see this. I heard him turn towards the crowd and nod his head. What I heard next was the worst scream of pain I had ever heard Forma give, mixed with what sounded like an underlying werewolf roar. I exhaled curtly in distress as I heard her collapse to her knees.

“Take it in stride, dog!” taunted one vampire.

“Heel!” called another, followed by a screed of demonic laughter.

“Please, stop!” I choked.

Evan then brought his stony foot up into my gut and sent me flying across the chamber, crashing into the ceiling and tumbling hard to the floor.

This sent the congregation of Vanguards into hysterics, so much so that they stopped torturing Forma long enough to watch Evan cross the distance between his position and my prostrate form in seconds to grab me by the neck and slam me once more into the ground.

“I could do this forever,” he taunted in a whisper. “A weakling Hunter has no chance against us.”

He threw me across the chamber again, but I was on my feet seconds after landing. I began to walk backwards, matching Evan’s confident forward strides. I buckled on my weakened knees but I forced myself to ignore the temptation to faint — I had come this far: I would not lose today.

“You forget,” I countered, moving my blood-soaked hair away from my scarred face. “I am the spawn of a Dragon.”

Evan laughed.

“Very well, Hunter,” Evan sneered. “Just remember that you have chosen this fate.”

I heard Evan fly towards me with the lightning fast speed of a Vanguard. Without hesitating, I pulled out my wooden stake and the fleché that Saul had given me so long ago, driving both directly into his heart.