He awoke what seemed like hours later, but was only moments. He sat up instantly, his body sensing danger, but the jolt made his to dizzy to stand. He looked up blurry eyed and say the princess standing, the bottom of her gown torn clean off, only now coming down to her knees. He hair flowed freely over her shoulders, make up dripped down like war paint, smeared with green blood. In her hand she held a long black whip, nearly double her height. It lay like a snake ready to strike to protect its handler.
Oleander stood across from her, some yards away. Even from his vantage point Alec could see the tattered back of the prince’s suit, no doubt the result of a slashing from the unforgiving leather held by the frail looking flower. Alec cursed as he stood, scrambling after his pistol that lay yards away. He then scurried wobbly to Rose’s side. She nodded to him, face stern, eyes trained on the prince.
“Surrender now, and I will kill you with mercy.” She said it then like real royalty, no emotion just a factual promise, underneath the venom of pure betrayal. Oleander spat on the ground and needn’t have said more. “I’m sorry heavenly father may his blood be wine.” She whispered as she made a hastened cross in the air, the center from the male’s head to toe, the horizontal where his arms would be in a crucifixion. “May you suffer oblivion!” She called as she dashed forward, a quick word that Alec couldn’t hear as he tried to take aim for the blonde’s head if back up was required.
Rose’s whip shone a pale purple as hard thorns sprouted hap-hazardly along the once smooth leather length of the whip. She expertly maneuvered it as she got closer, allowing the thorns to scratch hungrily at Oleander’s flesh, some only scraping, others gauging. He tried grabbing at it only to dig thorns in deeper, then he resorted only to blocking the onslaught as Rose gained ground. “Die with honor!” She screeched at him as she lashed out strongly, the whip circling him and pulling tight, ripping into clothes and flesh, drawing blood.
He cursed before uttering strange words, a language of olden times, summoning a power that existed so sparsely now, even in this world. The only name was magic. His hands shone red as he pried apart the coil around him until he was able to jump out and again sprout his wings, taking to the air. The whip fell limply to the dirt as he put space between him and his adversaries.
Rose cursed loudly as she watched the blonde evade her once more. But as Oleander set to chanting again she turned her back on him and looked to Alec. “Don’t he’ll-“ The human started, but Rose shushed him.
“He’s healing, we have time. Now listen to me.” She eyes now shone with the eerie red mist, he could see her canines elongated. “I need to fight on even terms with him, I can’t hold back because you’re here anymore.” Alec almost screamed at her for assuming she needed to hold back for his sake, but there’d be time for that later. “If I fail you run, that gun can’t hurt him, just run and don’t look back, you’ll be safe outside the gates, just keep running.” She didn’t let him argue as Oleander started another string of words. She turned sharply and whispered a harsh word under her breath. Alec stood his ground as he watched black wings rip out of her back.
She
took to the air so quickly that he couldn’t even tell if it was his imagination
that she’d looked back to him. Oleander barely dodged another lashing from her
whip. Within moments they were battling in the air, Oleander’s hands filled
with new flames. They were shouting to each other, no doubt more curses, but
Alec couldn’t understand it. They moved to fast for him to take aim and so he
set about looking through the streets for survivors-human or otherwise.
Most were far beyond even the looks of the living, bodies torn open, heads missing. Alec noticed most were human, no doubt the blood suckers had been able to escape the onslaught. But as he looked he found a small girl, no older than 5 or 6, chest gaping open, heart missing. Her eyes were perpetually open, a red mist filled them. He looked up, knowing he couldn’t help her when he saw a woman standing in a door way, tears streaking her face, a man holding her back. Alec looked back to the dead vampire child and stooped, closing her crimson eyes and lifting her gently.
As the battle over head raged on he brought the corpse back to her parents. The man released the woman who lurched forward and grasped away the child. She wept openly as the man pulled her back inside. Before they disappeared to safety the woman, a soft smile on her lips looked back to Alec. And though he couldn’t hear her over the noise from above he could tell by her lips what she’d said. He nodded to her and watched as they shut the door before looking back to the sky.
