Hi! This is my very first work, I hope you all enjoy!
*****
The night sky burned.
Great pillars of fire and smoke billowed upward, turning the black expanse into a treacherous murk. Siege weapons lay shattered and broken as they burned. The walls of the vampire queen's fortress were blackened with scorch marks, yet Lord Doyle's armies had made not a single wall cave. It was almost as if some dark and foul magic had been cast over the castle. Doyle would not have put it past the loathsome creature.
Soldiers cried out in the battle. Large, misshapen shadows rippled through the rising smoke. At the earliest opportunity, those evil beasts would plunge from the sky to attack Doyle's men.
Blood, entrails, and bodies made the earth a difficult surface to war upon.
Doyle came upon a vampire feeding on one of his soldiers. The creature raised its head and bared its jagged white teeth. Its head toppled and rolled away a sword-swing later.
Only one hundred or so men were alive. One hundred of his one thousand Doyle had marched on the fortress with. The last thing he wanted to do was call a retreat. But it was the only choice he had.
As he snatched up a battle horn from a fallen soldier, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
Doyle blew three short blasts on the horn before claws dug into his sides and he was heaved skyward. The horn slipped from his bloodied hands.
The talons of the vampire's preferred mount pierced through his armor. The cockatrice's dark scales reflected the fires below like dragonstone.
It's scraping shriek echoed over the distant cries and screams of the humans below. Those huge black wings possessed a thin membrane stretched over long, gnarled fingers. Through that membrane, Doyle could just spot the dim gleaming points of stars.
The cockatrice descended rapidly, its wings beating like the billows of a furnace. With an awful metallic screech, its claws touched the top of the castle wall.
Doyle was released from its grip. He felt blood trickle down his sides. Ignoring it, he drew his sword and struck at the cockatrice. If he was quick enough, he could take its head and then the vampire's on its back.
But the cockatrice was well trained. It's beak-like maw opened wide and clamped down on Doyle's sword as it passed its face. Even blinded by the metal eye-hoods, its aim was true. Doyle's sword bent nearly in half before the beast dropped it.
The vampire dismounted and whistled sharply.
The doors that were set in the towers of the wall burst wide. Vampires in slick black armor marched out and quickly surrounded Doyle.
He knew what would become of him if the vampires lead him within the castle.
The dagger in his boot was in his hand a moment later. The blade nicked his throat before it was wrenched away.
Cold hands encircled his arms and he was marched through those doors.
Down, down, they carried him. Doyle managed to free a hand occasionally, and satisfied himself by connecting blows with a vampire's eye or jaw, throat or mouth. By the time they entered the great hall, Doyle's knuckles were raw and bloody from scraping over fangs and catching on helmets.
He was carried through the empty throne room and behind the dais. The door they passed through was small, the stairs they now climbed were treacherously steep.
Doyle succeeded in knocking one of his captors down those stairs. The clangs of metal striking stone echoed.
A set of doors was thrown open and the light from a dozen sconces burned his eyes.
His body collided with the flagstone floor. A pair of pale, dainty feet stood mere inches from his gaze.
"The Lord Doyle, as asked, your majesty." One of the vampires said.
The vampire queen. Doyle's body tensed. This was his chance. He could end this gods-forsaken war right here, right now.
"Be on your way, Xerxes. Do what you will with the remaining human soldiers." Her voice was a honeyed murmur that toyed with his senses. Those feet took one step forward.
There was the sound of metal on metal. "Yes, your majesty." The doors were closed.
Doyle curled in on himself to reach his other hidden blade.
The pale feet padded closer. Red skirts with the transparency of dragonfly wings ghosted around her ankles and trailed after her steps.
Doyle sprang to his feet and had his hand wrapped round her slim neck a moment later. The silvery blade drew a line of dark scarlet. The blood beaded and coated the knife.
Doyle's hand squeezed tightly around the delicate column of the vampire queen's throat. Her skin was flawless and near as pale as the moon. Her lips were as red as her blood and sinfully full. Eyes as black as night captured his gaze.
Her hair was a beautiful curtain of pale blonde, so light it was almost white. With her dark lips and eyes, it made her seem like some exotic beauty.
Doyle's heart thudded in his chest as the queen smiled despite his strangling hands.
Then, everything was a blur.
His knife was knocked from his fingers and his helmet was wrenched off. Something warm and soft settled over his groin.
When his eyes focused, Doyle saw the vampire perched over him. Her lower half was pressed tightly against his. He could feel the heat of her through the thin gown she wore.
A gown that was so thin, he could plainly see her body beneath it.
He swallowed before shaking his head sharply. He was here to kill her! To end this war! Countless human lives depended upon this!
Doyle struggled against her small hands. His groin rubbed ceaselessly against her femininity. A breathless gasp left her lips as she bent her head down close to his.
"Oh, my Lord Doyle. I've heard so much about your campaigns." One of her slender hands encircled his throat as his had hers. He gasped for air. His breastplate, mail, and hauberk were stripped away. His vision blackened at the edges before her hand loosened slightly.
Doyle choked in precious air.
"I heard that you were nearly as ruthless and bloodthirsty as a vampire." Her fingers tightened and his shirt was ripped away, his boots yanked off after his leg armor.
He gasped in air again.
The vampire queen's eyes glittered in the light of the sconces. Her lips parted around eerily pointed teeth as she smiled. "I must say, you did put up quite the fight." She caressed her throat, the bruises were already fading. "I'm tempted to let you go so that we may spar."
