Bo grabbed the vampire by the shoulders, holding him still for a head butt. When their skulls collided, it sounded like a clap of thunder. The vampire growled, not even dazed, and drove his curled fingers deep into Bo’s side.
The fight went on, first one then the other gaining the upper hand. I watched every movement with bated breath, every answering strike with a hammering heart, praying that Bo would emerge victorious.
Slowly, as the two vampires danced violently through the woods, I felt life return to my stubborn limbs with a near-painful tingle. I willed my arms and legs to move, the need to get to Bo, to aid him somehow, an almost tangible force.
As the battle wore on, I saw that each of the vampires was operating with fewer and fewer intact limbs. Gaping gashes and broken bones were highlighted with every movement. Though some of the wounds were already beginning to heal, I didn’t know how much more damage either of them could sustain and remain upright and battle worthy.
Even though I was only human, I knew that my intervention—that adding my strength (however meager) to Bo’s—could mean the difference between his life and his death. That’s what drove me to my hands and knees and then, eventually, to my feet, where I leaned unsteadily against a nearby tree.
I’d managed to stumble a few yards forward when I saw Bo, in a burst of energy, lunge forward and trip the other vampire then pin him to the ground.
Bo swung his fists a few times at the guy, and, though I couldn’t see the man lying on the ground, I could hear the dull thwack of flesh being pummeled.
Relief washed over me. It appeared that it would soon be over, that Bo was going to win and that he would live at least a little while longer. Unfortunately, my relief was premature.
Something bright flashed through the woods. It was like a match head flaming to life and then being dropped immediately into a cup of water. The light was there and then it was gone.
The streak swept Bo off the other vampire and carried him deep into the woods, far past the point where I could still see him.
A breathless panic constricted my chest and I searched the dark forest and moonlit ground for signs of Bo. There were none.
Far-off sounds tickled my ears and I cocked my head to the side, trying to triangulate the location of the ruckus, a ruckus that I could only assume was Bo and the phantom creature. Pinpointing their position to my left, I pushed myself away from the tree on which I’d been leaning and forced my legs to propel me over the uneven ground toward the commotion.
It seemed I limped and exerted for miles before I could actually make out shapes among the motionless trees. And when I did, my heart stopped.
Bo was nailed to a huge boulder, spread eagle fashion, by thick wooden stakes that were protruding from his shoulders and thighs. A shimmering apparition of a man stood over him, as if waiting for the perfect moment to deal death to Bo.
There was blood everywhere and Bo’s head lolled lifelessly to one side. My heart stopped and I watched his chest for movement, to see if he was breathing. He was so absolutely still that my knees nearly buckled in relief when he finally rolled his head upright and spoke to the man.
Blood spewed from his lips with every syllable.
“This isn’t over,” he said. “If you kill me, someone else will come along, someone stronger than me, someone who can take you down. And they will. They’ll rip out your black heart out and salt the earth with your blood and then they’ll tear you apart and bury the pieces.”
An eerie chuckle rippled through the trees like the dark echo of an empty soul. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled uncomfortably.
“You don’t even know who you are, why you must die, and yet you would send others to fall for your cause. Are you sure it is only my heart that is black?”
Bo jerked as if the man’s words physically pierced him, but he said nothing.
The man continued. “If others come, they will meet the same fate as you—death. Eternal death. The death of the soul that nothing can regenerate. You will never know of the power that I wield, power that can remove your life force from your body and extinguish it from the universe. The memory of your existence will be no more. It will be as if you never were.”
My mind reeled as I listened, my heart thudding wildly, painfully, inside my chest. Was what he threatened even possible? And if it was, what kind of entity could accomplish such a feat? There was only one thing, one manifestation of the purest evil, that came creeping to mind and it made my blood run cold.
Bo wrestled against his restraints, but he barely managed to move at all. Judging by the cracks in the rock to which Bo was affixed, the stakes must’ve been deeply embedded, an accomplishment that must have taken incredible strength.
“Stop your struggling. You brought this on yourself. Now it’s time to reap the whirlwind.”
With that menacing warning, the ethereal man raised his hands, fingers splayed and curved in a claw-like manner, toward Bo. At his gesture, the trees around me began to creak as the wind whipped through the branches. It stirred the leaves on the forest floor and sent them spinning through the air. A low hum began to sound, as if the ground was coming alive beneath us. Louder and louder it got until it was a dull roar in my ears.
Above the ambient noise, I could hear Bo panting, his breath coming in shallow bursts like he was in pain. His moan caused my guts to twist in agony. In my mind, I was scrambling to find a way to help him, to put an end to whatever atrocious things this man was planning to do to Bo.
As if he could no longer contain it, a reluctant scream burst through Bo’s gritted teeth. The sound ripped through me like a scalpel, tearing my heart open in one quick swipe.
With no thought as to what I was going to do, or to the consequences of my actions, I stepped forward, making my way to the man who hovered ominously over Bo.
When I was no more than three or four feet from him, he turned toward me and I gasped—in recognition.
I was standing face to face with Lars—only not. He looked ghostly and chilling, more frightening that anything I’d ever seen, even in the best of scary movies.
His entire body seemed to be in constant motion, but motion that remained within the confines of his shape. It was as if he was changing, growing with every second, shifting and moving right before my eyes.