The Vampire's Apprentice

It had happened so fast that Alain almost hadn't realized it was over. Crimson arced through the air with every one of Tiana's heartbeats, and she grimaced in agony as Owen pulled his arm free of her chest. But still, she refused to let go of her arm. Owen scowled, cocking his arm back to finally finish her once and for all.

And then, with the last of her strength, Tiana tensed, bit down on his arm even harder, and tore it right from its socket.

Tiana fell to the ground, Owen's arm still held tightly between her jaws. Owen stumbled back, a pained grimace on his face as black ichor fell from the empty socket where his arm had once been attached. He grit his teeth, the fangs grinding against each other as he turned his gaze back to Tiana, fully intending to finish her off now.

His expression only grew more annoyed when she gave one final gasp, then stopped moving, her eyes glassing over as she stared up at the sky.

"No!" Jasper shouted, jumping to his feet to try and race over to her, only for Heather to grab hold of his arm, stopping him.

"Don't," she warned.

"Let go of me!"

"If I do, you'll just get yourself killed." Heather's eyes narrowed. "Your sister just gave her life to save you. Don't let it go to waste."

Jasper whipped around to face her, his eyes missing over as the full weight of her words sank in. He let out a choked sob as he turned back to his sister's body, but stayed rooted to his spot, even as his hands tightened around the grip of his gun.

Next to him, Heather turned to Alain. "What do we do?"

"No idea." She looked at Alain in surprise, and he glanced at her out of the corner of one of his eyes. "All I know is I'm not letting anyone else in this group die today. Losing Felix and Tiana were enough."

Heather shook her head, dumping the empty rounds out of her revolver as she slid in new ones to replace them. "I'm out of rifle ammo. All I've got is revolver ammo at this point, plus my knives and various other small weapons. You?"

"I've got a few shotgun shells left, but not many. Got plenty of revolver ammo, though."

"Fuck…" She let out an exhale. "Do you have a plan?"

Alain looked back to the horizon, noting the sun's position in the sky. A grim expression crossed his face as he turned to his mother. "I've got an idea," he said. "You're going to hate it."

She stared at him in surprise. "What are you going to do?"

"This." Alain stood up straight, lowering his shotgun as he turned towards Owen. "Hey! I've thought about your offer a bit – does it still stand?"

"I didn't intend for it to, but at this point, I'm willing to extend the offer a little," Owen conceded. "I take it that you intend to turn yourself over to me?"

Alain nodded. "Yeah."

"Alain!" Heather called.

Alain ignored her, instead dropping his shotgun on the ground and then setting his two revolvers down after it. He held up both his hands in surrender, then began to walk towards Owen. He only made it about halfway before Owen motioned towards his waist.

"Lose the knife, too."

Alain didn't hesitate. He drew the knife, then threw it to the ground, where it stuck in the dirt. Once he was completely unarmed, he continued the walk over to Owen, stopping about twenty meters away.

"So, how's this going to work?" Alain asked. "You mentioned something about a sacrifice. I know what that means, but I just want to be sure that my friends will be okay if I agree to this."

"Of course," Owen offered. "You have my word that I will not harm them."

"Good. And this ritual… it will hurt?"

"Only for a moment," Owen explained. "I have the sigil already drawn up in another room. I would need to drain you of your blood and splash it across the sigil. That is the last aspect of this ritual I need – most of the cost has already been paid by the souls of the people of New Orleans; all that's left is the lifeblood of someone truly righteous. It sounds painful, and it would be, but not for long. After a few seconds, the blood loss would cause you to pass out, and you wouldn't feel a thing after that point."

Slowly, Alain nodded. "Okay."

"You'll do it willingly?" Owen asked.

"Yeah. Of course, there's just one thing."

"Name it."

"However you plan to do it, you'd better do it fast."

"And why is that?"

"Because the sun's up, asshole."

Owen's eyes widened as Alain's words sank in. He hurriedly turned around to confirm for himself, only to shrink back as several rays of the sun suddenly came bursting through the fog. Owen let out a scream as his flesh suddenly began to boil, steam rising off him as he burned.

Alain took a few cautious steps forward. "Sable mentioned to me a while back that the sun was anathema to vampires, but she never explained why it only ever seemed like a discomfort to her when the legends around vampires acted like it was their mortal enemy. But it was so obvious as to why – the more powerful the vampire, the more they're affected by the sun. And since you're probably one of the most powerful vampires in the world…"

Alain trailed off, but the way Owen affixed him with a harsh glare told him he was on the right track. Owen went to raise the hood of his cloak and roll down his sleeves to cover himself, but it was too late – the damage had been done, and he was already moving far more sluggishly than he had been before.

Heather, thankfully, saw her chance. She drew her revolver and began to fire at Owen, and this time, he was too slow to dodge the bullets. Six rounds impacted against his torso, tearing out the other side; he lurched with every impact, his eyes going wide as he stumbled back, black blood spouting up from his wounds. He looked down at himself to confirm that he'd just been shot, then turned back to Alain.

And then, to Alain's disbelief, he turned and began to run for the prison.

"Heather, don't let him get away!" Alain shouted. "I'll be right behind you!"

"Right!" Heather called back to him, running after Owen as she reloaded.

Without missing a beat, Alain ran for Sable, pausing only to pull the hood of her cloak over her head. She raised her head, giving him a grateful look. Alain didn't waste any more time, and exposed his neck to her; Sable understood immediately, and Alain winced as she latched onto his neck and began to feed.

Within moments, the air was full of the sound of splintering bone as her arm pulled itself back together. Alain didn't miss how she hitched with every movement, but he also didn't pull away, even as her feeding became much more erratic and greedy.

Finally, after a few seconds, Sable pulled away, wiping the last traces of his blood from her lips. She gave him a grateful nod, then looked over to Az.

"Az, are you okay?"

"I will be, my lady," he said through gritted teeth. "Just… give me a few moments to get my bearings. I will join you all shortly."

"You heard the man," Alain said. "Come on, let's go after Heather."

"Are you sure?" Sable asked. "I just fed from you. You're bound to be lightheaded, at the very least-"

"I am, but I'm not about to let my mother fight Owen alone," Alain growled.

Sable nodded, and they both stood up. Alain paused only to look back at Jasper, and found him kneeling at his sister's body, cradling her head in his lap, his shoulders heaving as he cried. A pang of sorrow flowed through Alain's heart at the sight of it, but he couldn't let that stop him.

Together, him and Sable began running for the interior of the prison. Far-off gunshots echoed off the walls, and Alain and Sable instantly took off towards them.

XXX

After a bit of running, they both emerged in what appeared to have been the mess hall. Tables had been pushed out of the center of the room to make room for a large sigil drawn in blood of an inverted pentagram in a circle. Mutilated corpses of guards and prisoners lay scattered around; apparently, Owen had tried to find someone properly 'righteous' among them before, but had failed with all of them.

Standing a short ways away from the sigil was Heather, who was in the middle of reloading her revolver.

"Where is he?!" Alain shouted as they both ran over to her.

"No idea," she answered. "Fucker jumped up into the rafters… can't see anything up there, it's too dark."

Alain looked up to the ceiling. Just like Heather had said, the upper parts of the room were darkened and impossible to see through. However, he did notice one thing – parts of the roof were in disrepair, and had been crudely patched over by a mess of wooden boards as opposed to the stone that the rest of the prison walls were made out of.

He didn't get much of a chance to focus on that, however, as movement from the shadows caught his attention. Heather noticed it, too; they both had barely enough time to hit the deck before Owen came swooping down for them, though thankfully he only took a few strands of Heather's hair as opposed to her entire head.

Owen landed and stood up, a dismayed look across his face. His body was still smoking and had started to blister along those parts that were exposed to the sun – mainly his face, though from the few patches of exposed flesh Alain could see elsewhere on his body, those hadn't been spared, either. Owen was still moving very lethargically as well, wincing with every step.

Clearly, between Heather's bullets and the sunlight, he'd suddenly found himself on the back foot for the first time.

"You all… have become an annoyance…" he managed to get out.

Alain opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get a chance to say anything before Owen rushed him, running into him with an open-handed strike. Alain felt several of his ribs break as he was forced backwards, and landed in a heap upon the sigil, gasping for breath. Something slipped out from his shirt pocket; Alain noticed it was the box that held the diamond Sable had given him earlier. The box broke upon impact with the ground, and the large yellow diamond rolled across the ground, coming to a stop a short ways away.

Sable and Heather were both fighting Owen now, the room suddenly filled with the noise of gunshots and hand-to-hand combat once more. And this time, it was a much more even fight – for as much damage as Owen was giving out, he was receiving plenty of it, too. Bullets continued to tear into him, while Sable ripped chunks of flesh off him with every strike.

But even then, it was clear to Alain that this couldn't last. From the looks of things, Heather was down to her last few rounds of ammunition, while Sable was taking plenty of hits and becoming fatigued as well.

Alain turned his attention back to the patchwork parts of the roof. His eyes narrowed, and he reached for his shotgun, which laid a short ways away. He grabbed the gun and angled it upwards, then spent the very last of his shells blowing holes in the roof. Sunlight came pouring in through it, but it wasn't enough – Owen was nowhere near any of it, and Alain knew he wouldn't be easily baited into walking into it, either.

A loud shout of pain from Heather caught his attention, and Alain whipped around to face her, his eyes widening. Owen had scored a deep gash across her stomach, nearly disemboweling her; Heather fell to her knees, clutching at her wound as blood poured out from it and onto the ground below. Owen didn't finish her off, however; instead, he began to advance upon Sable, who had been downed at some point in the fight and was now trying to crawl away. Desperate to do something, Alain looked around for some way he could save her.

His eyes landed on the diamond, lying just within his reach.

Alain didn't think twice. He grabbed the diamond, then held it up in the sunlight. Light began to reflect through it, shining throughout the room. The light illuminated the room like a kaleidoscope as the beams began to tear through Owen's frame. His stunned form drew back and recoiled as the light swung once again to his face and his eyes which grew and exploded out of his skull, the gentle pops drowned out by the elder's screams. It was only for a split second, but Sable saw her chance.

She darted forward, her hand cocked back, and then brought it forwards as she passed by Owen.

Owen's body stiffened, and as Alain watched, a split second later, Owen's head rolled off his shoulders and onto the ground below.

Alain's heart skipped a beat as he watched Owen's body collapse a moment afterward, coming to a rest next to his decapitated head, an expression of pure shock still etched across its face. He stared at it for a moment, and then let out a sigh of relief as he collapsed to the ground, the diamond slipping from his grasp.

It was over.