ALL NOVEL Chapter 19: One by One – Part 2.
“Casey.” Brian smiled and opened the door wider. “Come in, please.” He took a couple steps back and showed Casey the living room. “I am so glad that you came with them.”
A few seconds passed before Casey realized what was happening. Time seemed to slow down from the moment she heard Sylvie’s warning not to open the door and coming face to face with Brian once more. Flashes of their last encounter dotted the landscape of her memory hardening her resolve to not go inside the home. Keeping her eyes trained on her ex-boyfriend, Casey took a couple steps backward and let the storm door close in Brian’s face. “Staying out here, thanks.” With Brian safely behind the outer door, Casey looked around trying to find a way out. Casey had just resolved to walk through the eerie leaf-colored fog when it dawned on her what Vivienne had done and what she was talking about. “Acid.” She muttered as the small metal door opened and Brian walked out.
Clearing a few strands of her auburn hair from her eyes, Casey turned to face the man she once loved. Initially what she knew about the six foot man held true. His body was as tightly muscled as ever, rippling as he moved beyond the door. Visions of his bulky arms encasing her and keeping her safe blended with the confusion of the almost seamless way he trapped her in quicksand. Pushing the images from her mind, Casey continued her assessment. Illusions of his last few days peeled away from Casey’s eyes as she noticed the way his goatee had streaks of gray and his cheeks were more pallid than she’d remembered. Beautiful onyx hair had been replaced with a duller version that had an unsettling appearance of Casey’s own red that outlined the tips and made it look like the embers of a dying fire. Nothing about his dress was unusual, as he was wearing a set of jeans and a simple red t-shirt. Casey did note the subtle way that the clothing no longer hugged his giant body but how they hung more baggy than she recalled. “Brian. What have these people done to you?” Casey offered as she saw the last demonic looking change, his eyes. Nibbling lightly on her lower lip, Casey thought about how Brian could settle her or drive her into a frenzy with a single glance of his green eyes. Many nights had passed where she’d fallen asleep happily gazing into his lovely eyes. Yellow irises gleamed with hunger as though a can of red paint had blended with the green and created the unnerving look Brian currently sported.
“This isn’t about me, Casey.” His yellow orbs dimmed and he pointed into the house, “I am doing what I must, so you are saved.” He started walking toward Casey. “Come along without a fight and we can fix everything.” He half smiled as his right hand glowed with its lime-green light.
“Don’t go in that house!” Sylvie screamed from beyond the fog. “Casey, I am trying to get to you now, hold out a little longer.”
Grumbling with frustration, Brian swung his hand and aimed it at the ground where Sylvie was standing. “I’ve had about enough of you.”
Sylvie felt the ground start to rumble and the dirt lost its strength, opening a hole where she had been standing. Just as the opening appeared beneath her feet, Sylvie shifted into her bird form. Going from the deep caramel color of her native skin, her feathered form changed into tufts of white and blue, leaving a small bluejay beating its wings furiously to avoid falling into the created pit trap. Sylvie flew away from the farmhouse and towards the woodline where the group had begun.
Hearing a slight creak of wood, Brian swung his hand at the wooden deck and made the planks warp and twist to catch Casey by her legs as she tried to defend Sylvie. “You stay put.” Satisfied that Casey was safely held captive, Brian noticed that the bluejay now had momentum and was trying to head to freedom. With a simple flick of his wrist the green light traveled once more through the ground and timed it where a large rock shot upward from the earth, causing the bird to ram head first into the thick stone.
Grunting heavily, Casey fell face first onto the porch and hit hard enough to knock the wind out of her chest. The thick wood curved and first encased her waist and ankles, before moving up the rest of her body. Thankful that her arms were still free, Casey realized that her situation could be resolved with a simple turn much like she would do when doing a backstroke at the end of a pool. Using her body weight and ward strength, Casey performed a quick turn and snapped the weathered wood from her waist. Relying on her own experience and Vivienne’s commands, Casey didn’t panic and thought about regaining her breathing much like taking a shallow dive while snorkeling. Cresting through the water in her mind, Casey took a deep and steady breath before snapping the wood that held her legs and feet captive. Freed from her makeshift prison, Casey power jumped to try and knock Brian back through the door, intending to give Sylvie enough time to figure out a way to the house.
Stone cracked and slightly gave to the vampire turned bird, and caused her to bounce and land on the ground. Changing back from her blue feathered form, Sylvie stood up just in time for another rock to come slamming in from the side and crush her into the first stone. Uncomfortably stuck between the two rocks, Sylvie was glad that the laws of physics didn’t quite apply to her. While the stones were firmly connected as though they’d melted into each other, her body had crumbled the stone around her making a little form fitting bubble. “Well, this sucks.” Sylvie expressed with a huff. Sylvie knew she could get free with very little fanfare, but she debated on what aspect to take. Deciding on the path of conserving the blood she still had, the younger vampire pushed out her elbows and moved the heavy stone enough so that her hands were free and able to provide more leverage. Opening about a three-foot space between the two massive barriers of black and cracked stone, Sylvie finally had the room to punch her way free of the obstruction. Reducing the obstructions to a pile of rubble, Sylvie darted back along the open path and stopped at the edge of the hole that had been opened. “Perfect.” She knelt down with the intent to dig her way under the fog so she could come up under the porch and aid Casey. “Never thought I would be digging myself out of the ground. This is such…” Sylvie crawled into the empty space and started clawing her way through the dirt like a drill. “...a cliche way of being a vampire.”
Brian didn’t have time to register that Casey had vaulted herself at him before the impact came. Feeling like a giant hammer hit him in the stomach, Brian was slammed back and through the storm door. Splashing through the glass and tearing the flimsy aluminum door into jagged metal ribbons, Brian felt his thick arms start bleeding where the razor edges of the door scraped across his skin. Pain scattered his focus for a couple of seconds causing him to forget the defensive spell he’d been taught earlier. “Ow, fuck!!” He howled and rolled to his side then pushed Casey from him as hard as he could.
Without time to react after crashing to the floor, Casey felt her light form get launched through the air and careen into a wooden table, breaking it into splinters much like the front desk of the Ocean Lily a few days before. Lying within the mess of broken wood, Casey knew that she wasn’t seriously injured and felt the few cuts that were on her hands and neck start to close. “You call this fixing everything?” Casey muttered before feeling the back of her head and pulling back to see a thin line of blood making a trail down her finger.
Years of football had Brian’s reaction time honed nearly perfect and he jumped to his feet without any real effort. “If you’d just listen and do as you were told, then it would fix everything.” Making his rune flare back to life, Brian sent green flames from his rune to trail up his arm until they started cauterizing the wounds he’d sustained. Watching as Casey began to clear the remnants of the table from her, Brian recalled the defensive spell that he wanted to use prior. Rock started to form and mold to his muscled body to emulate a geared football player. Hardened plastic had been replaced with interlocking glowing green stones that covered Brian’s shoulders, legs and hips. “You insist on staying obsessed with your mosquitoes and that mindset needs to be corrected.” He heavily stomped over to where Casey was and grabbed her by the leg and started dragging her into the kitchen. “Even if it means that I have to be a little tough on you.”
-How the fuck am I getting out of this?- Casey calmly questioned herself as she was being dragged across the floor. Sharp pain spun along her spine as the pointed edges of the glass embedded themselves in the open spaces where her armor didn’t cover between her stomach and waist. Pain tried to feed the flames of fear, but were quickly extinguished by the icy command that Vivienne had implanted a few minutes earlier. Confidence replaced doubt and Casey found the strength to kick her free leg as hard as she could into her rocky ex-boyfriend. Connecting with his uncovered and vulnerable hand, Casey felt his grip release and she scrambled backwards across the floor like a crab.
“Damnit!” Brian screamed as he looked at his hand and two dislocated fingers. Pulling on the two digits, the tendons and bones echoed an audible crack before reseating. Flexing his fingers to get the pain to turn to numbness, Brian turned in time to see Casey skittering away from him. “Where do you think you are going?” Thrusting out his runic right hand, green tentacles snaked their way across the floor and latched onto Casey’s throat. “This should take the fight out of you.” He angrily commented and squinted his eyes as he forced the appendage to squeeze tighter to cut off airflow.
Without warning a crash came from below sending dirt, dust and floor fragments all across the living room. Sylvie’s form clawed and crawled its way up Brian’s thick form and to his exposed neck. Her fangs already locked in place, the vampire aimed for Brian’s jugular vein. Her fangs hit true and she delved into what she thought was his neck. Unlike the flesh she’d expected, her mouth had filled with parts of stone that disintegrated into sand on her tongue. A moment later, she felt a big hand encompass her face and squeeze on her temples just before a shock akin to a bolt of lightning riveted through her head and shot her into the kitchen where she destroyed the stove with the impact from her body.