Death

Rhett's lifeforce was flowing out of him. Not into the mimic that had bitten into his neck, but out onto the floor. Fortunately for him, Christine was a nurse. She also was good with a baseball bat. The sheer force of her swing had nearly taken the fake Inspector Kaprik's head clean off. It broke the bat, allowing Christine to drive the broken stem into the creature's heart.

Which did absolutely nothing. Those kinds of legends existed to make people feel they were safe. Rhett was able to kill the Upyr, but only because it was a lesser one. His jugular had now been shredded and blood was pouring out of him at too fast a rate to allow for much of an attack. He had mostly reduced the creature to ash. Christina was now saving him.

The real Inspector Kaprik came bursting into the room, along with six armed men. They took one look at the flames, Rhett, then Christine, and froze in place. Inspector Kaprik lowered her gun and had them do the same. Once the ambulance arrived she sent the extra men back to the precinct. No crime scene. No pictures. No samples. What happened here was not leaving this place. She was not going to unleash a mob like they had ten years ago.

"Thank you, Christine," she said. "It appears both Rhett and I owe you our lives. The beast would have surely returned to finish me off later."

"What was that thing?" asked Christine. The ambulance had loaded Rhett inside and was speeding away.

Inspector Kaprik lowered her voice even though they were alone. "I don't know, but I don't think this is the first time Rhett has seen one."

"Do you mean when it pretended to be me the other night?"

"Yes, but even before that."

Handing Christine some wipes, they headed for her car. The wipes did nothing but smear the blood all around. "What do you mean?" asked the young nurse.

"Rhett has a gift. An ancient gift. But it costs him dearly to have it."

"Is that why his teeth smell so bad?"

"No, that's because he's British. I'm not sure what is up with that."

Inspector Kaprik decided to take Christine to the station. The poor girl was a mess. At least the blood was starting to dry a bit. Rhett was lucky to be alive. If Christine hadn't been there to staunch the bleeding, he would have died.

"What the power Rhett has is, I can't say. I don't understand it. I am not sure he does. I just know that it makes him dance on the edge of a volcano. Ten years ago he was headed down here to help with the last missing boy. They found him two months later in the states. Texas, I think it was. He talked to the cactus in his room for nearly a year before they finally released him."

"That's horrible," said Christine. Poppy smiled at her innocence, but she needed to know. She was now involved. She would never be free again. She would see things far worse than what she had just been through. Ten years ago Poppy had seen things that still made her shudder to remember.

"Rhett is a lot older than you think, Christine. A lot older. Forty years ago the first child was abducted. He was there. You weren't even born yet. I was still in pigtails."

Christine gave her an incredulous look. Then curiosity. "I bet he looked exactly the same as he does now," she said. She was starting to understand.

"He hasn't changed since I've known him. He has taken a lot of lumps over that time. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a scar on him from all of the damage he has taken. Remind me to see what his neck looks like in a few weeks."

"So what is this gift?" asked Cristine.

"You didn't see it?" Inspector Kaprik looked at her with curiosity.

"I just saw a flash of light. When the broken baseball bat didn't work I was busy running for my life."

"That's more than anyone else remembers, including Rhett. He always seems to pass out afterwards."

"I hope that didn't happen when he took my virginity."

They both gave each other a surprised look, then a nervous laugh. Christine was somewhat relieved, and hugged her. The blood spread all over her clothes. Poppy feigned being upset.

"Oh look what you've done. Now we both need a shower." Poppy noticed Christine was giving her a look that indicated that was what she had planned all along. That was a surprise she hadn't expected.

Poppy had never known the pleasures of another woman. The water stayed warm for a very long time as she explored Christine's young body. Everything was pert and toned. Her breasts were her best feature. Christine had the kind of breasts that could completely stop a roomful of men from speaking. Her nursing uniform hid them well. Underneath the shower her pink nipples stood at attention.

Christine was quite surprised at how well Poppy was put together. Her face was not ugly, but had seen some tough times. Her body was like those she saw in martial arts fights. Her muscular shoulders and bullet hard nipples were getting Christine quite turned on. She pulled Poppy in tight and started grinding against her. They both started rubbing and fingering each other. The grind was getting intense. Christine felt like she might cum.

Then the water shut off completely. A scream filled the air. It wasn't human.

Grabbing her clothes and her gun, Poppy pointed Christine to the nearest locker. "Find something to wear in there." Inside was a uniform, and a gun. She took the gun and opened the next one. This one had some sweats. It also had three daikatanas. It wasn't time to question or to make Kill Bill jokes, however. The sun was setting and the sky was turning blood red outside. More screams and even howls were filling the air. She slipped on the sweats and tossed one of the blades to Poppy.

Poppy Kaprik was in emergency mode. "We have to get to Rhett. He is our only hope." They looked outside. The sky was moving, and getting darker. Bats seemed to fill the air. As they got nearer, Christine could see they weren't all bats.

The sky was filled with flying demons and lesser Upyr. A few larger creatures Poppy had never seen before lumbered along the ground. One of them still had the remnants of a human leg in its claw. There had already been victims from the outskirts of town. She knew they would want revenge for all the damage her town had done ten years ago.

She redirected Christine towards the precinct's basement. "This is going to require some heavier weaponry than just a few swords.".

-----------------

Miri could only feel shame. She was the one who had brought all of this on. By killing Illya, she had issued a challenge. The Succubi were not the ones abducting children, however. It was the Upyr, a race of bloodsucking demons so ancient they had once been ruled by Lilith, the demon described by the prophet Isaiah:

"Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest."

Isaiah 34:14.

The abducted boys had not been killed. They were seedlings, planted every decade in the population. There were always five. Only one would be given the gift of becoming Upyr. The remaining four were cursed to live a life of haunted dreams and violence. Most ended up dead at a young age or took their own life.

The developing Upyr had opened the veins on her legs. Her blood had only begun his awakening, but she was already weak from its loss. He would shortly devour her completely. This one was a lucky one. As the last living elf, she carried magic in her blood. He would be special.

The elves died out long ago. They weren't the pointy eared, bow slinging mockery that Tolkien had made them out to be. They hadn't been displaced by humans and didn't have a rivalry with dwarves. Those stories existed in fairy tales only. Dwarves had never existed at all. There were short humans, but calling them dwarves was insulting.

Miri's kind did not age or get disease, but they could be killed. In fact, their demise had come from within. Once they developed a taste for killing each other, the downfall began. Humans were capable of slaughtering each other on a massive scale, but it tooks days or even weeks. For elves, it could take just seconds. Within a few years they had reduced their population from millions to single digits.

The final stand was really just a duel. Mirri had been on the run and thought she had evaded the archmage hunting her. He could absorb the magic essence of his victims, making him stronger with every kill. She had never killed any mage. She knew it would split her soul, ripping a part of her away to suffer as a separate entity. She had survived by hiding. Her gift was being able to vanish.

When the final attack came she was prepared. She had pretended to be unaware. She appeared to be bathing in a river. She knew a male would give in to his lust and would consider her vulnerable at that moment. He attacked with lightning. As she hurled the electrified water back at him his eyes widened in fear. Water always wins, but he too was hiding a secret. Roots suddenly ensnared her legs and were about to secrete their toxins into her bloodstream.

The pulchra blindsided him. No one knew she had that power. No one knew what it was. No one could survive it. His body arched as the electricity from his own spell immobilized him. The pulchra completely disintegrated him.

And ripped her asunder. The pain was overwhelming. She woke up weeks later in a human hospital. She looked like a human and they had assumed she nearly drowned. They couldn't explain how the massive lacerations on her face and neck were healing so quickly, however. Fortunately, she was able to escape before any of them recognized her as the beautiful lady who had visited the portrait studio in town earlier that week.

Her unique power had been lost. A weeping, bleeding creature that had been cast from her carried it. She never saw him. He was found by local hunters thousands of miles away in the British Isles. They left him with the local Abbey, where a British nurse saved his life and adopted him as her own. She named him Rhett.

---------------

He knew he couldn't kill the boy. His love for Miri ran deep, but more killing was not the answer. The boy was like a blind kitten anyway. He wriggled around in the hole using touch and smell to navigate. Rhett simply pulled Miri up and put her over his shoulder. The boy turned vicious and started snapping and clawing to get at him. He released a small pulchra. The effect was immediate. The boy's skin began to smoke and he screamed a deep, monstrous howl.

That brought the Upyr quickly, but not quickly enough to stop him from escaping with her. They headed deep into the forest. There was only one place they could go to save the town. He had to risk going there one more time.

Poppy and Christine burst out onto the street in the armored Hummer. After what happened ten years ago, Poppy had secretly had this one modified with a mounted gun on top. Christine was driving erratically but managed to stay in the street.

There was no need. The Upyr were gone. The skies were clear. The howls and screaming had stopped.

Poppy dismounted and commanded Christine to move into the passenger seat. "Monitor the radio," she said. "Listen for anything that might indicate they returned. I don't think they will, however." She put the Hummer in gear and sped out of town.

"Why not?" asked Christine.

"Because the one they are after has headed to the old forest. If we lose him, all the weapons in this thing won't stop them."