Kyle didn’t wait. He charged them himself, meeting them halfway, and as they swung at him, he suddenly leapt over the entire group, and landed behind them. Before they could react, he grabbed the closest one by the back of his head, grabbing his hair and lifting him off the ground. He swung him like a rag doll, and then threw him into the crowd. They went down like dominoes.
Before they could regain their feet, Kyle grabbed one of their sickles, and swung wildly. Using his vampire lightning speed, he attacked the flustered men as if they were a bale of hay. He chopped them to pieces.
Within moments, all of them were dead.
The village square now a blood-soaked battleground, Kyle stepped over the mangled bodies, and walked casually towards the church. As he did, he watched the doors get slammed and bolted. He smiled. He wondered why people always thought that bolting doors would make any difference.
Kyle leaned back and kicked in the huge church doors, knocking them off their hinges.
He strutted into the ancient church of Assisi, and headed right down the aisle. As he did, he tore up pew after pew, hurling them across the room, up high, into the windows, shattering the ancient stained-glass. He reached up and grabbed a huge candelabra and snapped it off its rope, and swung it over his head. When he let go, it went flying through the church, smashing the stained-glass windows on the far wall.
Kyle surveyed the destruction. It was beautiful. There were few things he enjoyed more than smashing up a church.
He sensed Caitlin’s presence. He followed his senses, and they led him down a corridor, down a flight of steps, and into the lower levels of the church. As he turned the final corner, he was surprised by what he saw.
Standing there was a small, silver haired priest, staring back at him. Kyle sensed immediately that this man was of his race. It surprised him to see him in a priest’s garb. What a sacrilege for his race.
“The girl you seek is long gone,” the priest said, unafraid. He stared at Kyle with courage, unwavering.
“And you’ll never find her,” he said.
Kyle smiled.
“Is that right?” he said.
Kyle took several steps towards him, but the man showed no sign of backing down. He was far braver—or dumber—than Kyle thought.
“You can overpower me,” the priest said, “but God overpowers you. You can kill me on this day, but God will surely kill you on another, and I will be avenged. Death holds no fear for me.”
“Who said anything about killing you?” Kyle asked, as he got closer. “That would be too kind. I think, instead, I’ll torture you slowly.”
“That makes little difference to me,” the man said. “No matter what you do, you will never find her.”
Kyle bore down on the man, just feet away, and leapt at him.
But the man surprised him. At the last second, the man reached back and threw a handful of holy ash right into Kyle’s eyes.
Kyle fell to the ground, stunned, his eyes burning. Holy ash. A sneaky trick. It hurt like hell; he hadn’t had it in his eyes for centuries.
“I renounce you in the name of Satan,” the man said. “Let this holy ash destroy you, and let it send you back to the place from which you came.”
He threw down handful after handful of ash onto Kyle’s head.
But Kyle suddenly regained his strength and charged the man, tackling him hard, sending him to the ground.
On top of him, Kyle grabbed his throat, and squeezed.
The man stared back with eyes opened wide, clearly in shock.
“Stupid man,” Kyle spat. “Holy ash can only kill the weak of our race. I developed immunity hundreds of years ago.”
The man struggled for breath, as Kyle squeezed.
Kyle grinned wider.
“And now, it’s my turn,” Kyle said. “You and I are going to get to know each other. Very, very well.”
CHAPTER TEN
As Caitlin, all dressed up in an elaborate gown, followed Polly through the door, she had to stop herself at the last second from stepping right into the water. She still couldn’t get over the fact that doors opened right onto the water, that one could step into the water as easily as one would step onto a sidewalk elsewhere.
As Caitlin stood there, at the water’s edge, in the fading sunset, she looked down at the rippling water, and was finally able to see her reflection.
“Look!” Caitlin said in amazement, grabbing Polly’s arm, in shock that she could actually see herself.
“I know,” Polly said. “We use it all the time. It’s our only way of seeing ourselves. It’s not exactly a mirror, but it has to do.”
Caitlin was startled at how she looked. She wore a huge gown, yellow, gold and white, festive and multi-layered, with floral designs all over it. Her hair had been braided by Polly, and Caitlin completed her costume with her Venetian mask. She especially liked the mask. Behind this mask, she could have been anyone. With it on, she seemed so mysterious, so regal, even a bit dangerous.
Caitlin looked up and saw that all around her, Polly’s coven members, dozens of them, were at the water’s edge, preparing to board their gondolas. She was impressed by how they looked: they were all so dressed up, in gowns and masks of every color and fabric and style. They had spent all afternoon preparing, and they took it seriously. Their formality was so different from what Caitlin was used to. In a weird way, it was refreshing. They were all so elegant, so refined. Caitlin thought back to what it was like going out for the night in the 21st century. She would spend maybe 10
minutes getting ready, maybe throw on jeans and a turtleneck. That all seemed so boring, so commonplace, next to this. The people in this century seemed to really embrace living life to the fullest.
It was a bit of a challenge for Caitlin to get into the narrow, rocking gondola in her huge gown.
Tyler, a boat over, saw her struggling, and hurried over and held out his hand for her.
“Thanks,” she said, taking it.
She took two steps into the rickety boat, swayed and then balanced yourself, as the boat rocked all over the place. She managed to quickly sit and tuck her gown in, right before it draped into the water.
Rose whined, looking on from the water’s edge, clearly wanting to come.
“Sorry, Rose,” Caitlin said. “Not this time. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
Rose kept whining, wanting to be by her side, and Caitlin felt bad. But at the same time, she was happy at the thought of Rose on this island, safe and secure.