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  Not that I was likely to receive much help.

  Outside of Gerald there weren't many who'd pick up the staff for me, even if I was in the right. Most were like Harold. They thought of me as some vague demon summoner and part time practitioner of the dark arts that had somehow manipulated events so my head didn't roll on the ground. Sometimes my reputation was useful. It ensured that people didn't come to my door asking for an apprenticeship, and otherwise ruin my quite time. This wasn't one of those helpful times.

  The eater pulled back slightly, “I was willing to uphold our deal. Your mageling was the one who broke our contract?”

  “The director?” the vampire asked.

  The beast nodded, “He was playing your master a fool. Binding spirits, tainting flesh, and in his own name. To think an elder dragon could be lied to so easily. He tried to bind me as well, but I broke free. I will not be contained. The mortal, this Ethan He suspected things were wrong. He and I agreed to a more...mutually beneficial agreement.”

  Erik let out a sigh, “I see. Hm, must I always clean up the mistakes of others...”

  The vampire moved with a sudden speed. He drew him blade and slashed outwards across the eater, scoring its flesh and causing it to howl. Glass shattered at the sound. I was knocked off of my feet and onto my ass. Needless to say I missed the next few seconds of actions – an eternity when beings such as vampires and eaters were concerned.

  When I got back up to my vantage point the eater was being pressed. Using inhuman speed and his deadly weapon, Erik advanced with savage blows that rent through flesh as though it were air. Each one made the possessed being scream in anger or pain, but it didn't fall down. Not when it was nearly disembowel or when Erik slashed at the tendons of a knee.

  A counter attack came so quickly that I hadn't caught it until it was complete.

  A clawed hand reached up and managed to catch the blood knight's sacred weapon. Both me and the vampire were stunned by the action. Lucky for me, I wasn't the one that had earned the thing's ire. Using the blade as an extension of Erik, the eater lifted and tossed him away. The vampire's body impacted into a pile of steel, long pointed beams that looked to be some sort of construction materials.

  Dust plumed, concealing Erik.

  The blow would have easily killed any mortal but vampires were made of sterner stuff. A simple toss wasn't going to manage it, but a few good blows like that would add up.

  'Good for them', I thought, 'The enemy of my enemy can kill my enemy, and leave me with one less.'

  Their momentary brawl also gave me time to ready my circle.

  I placed my staff on the ground, grabbed my knife and paper from a coat pocket, then went to work. Stabbing ground was something of an imprecise art but I'd gotten the hang of it over the years. The outer circle was the hard part. It needed to have a certain form and sawing a knife through dirt left much to be desired. As it was, I had time, and so I took it.

  The sounds of fighting continued in the building but I didn't pay them any mind. I was willing to join the brawl but only after I finished my circle.

  With a final tug, I did just that. Giotto would be rolling in his grave.

  Clearly imperfect edges but it was circular enough to contain the barrier. Runes were the finishing touches and much easier. They were mostly just straight lines that intersected at one point or another. I poured a bit of will into each one and finally my trap was ready.

  A quick glance back into the warehouse and I discovered that baldy was biting off a bit more than he could chew. His blade was constantly biting into the eater but the thing was oblivious to pain and continued forward. I found myself rather surprised that the eater hadn't died from just being nicked by the sword.

  The blade of a blood knight was a powerful thing. They were forged in dragon's breath and as a result could destroy basically any magic it came into contact with. That meant the bond between an Eater and its host had to be stronger that I'd expected. I hoped my circle would be enough.

  There was only one way to find out.

  Handling one of them was going to be a hell of task, two would be impossible. I waited for one of them to strike out.

  The eater manged to land a viscous blow across Erik's chest. Its talons shredded through his coat and sent him tumbling across the ground. He didn't get up. Vampire's were tough but they had limits.

  It followed up with a pounce forward, no doubt wanting to rend into the vampire with its good hand, but I choose that moment to intervene.

  Much as I loathed Erik for trying to kill me, he had information that might be useful.

  My attack was on the weaker side. A lance of hardened ice that hit cleanly on the eater's torso, and impaled him along the far side of the wall.

  It roared once more and shattered the ice with a swing of his remaining hand. From the look it gave me, I think it remembered who had taken its other one.

  Another ice lance came a second later, but the eater was ready for the follow up. It deftly sunk onto all three limbs in a manner that seemed vaguely feline. My attack shattered over its head and, in the reflecting light, I saw two beady black eyes looking straight at me.

  The eater surged forward on all its limbs in a manner that seemed like a parody or the human form. Worse yet was the way it began to bound in small little hops, jumping from cover to cover as I continued to lay out a barrage of razor ice. There were other spells I could have used, deadlier ones, but I wasn't trying to kill the flesh. This was all just an attempt to lure the Eater into my circle. Using an excess amount of energy would leave me drained, something I could ill afford – most of my energy would be needed for the spirit barrier.

  “Mr William,” I shouted with a sadistic smile, “I believe we have some unfinished business.”

  The creature ducked behind an old school bus, “You look rather delicious. I shall devour you.”

  “Hmph, I thought you were an eater of family, not flesh,” I readied an effort of will, just waiting for the creature to show its ugly face.

  A howl of laughter came from the thing.

  “You wizards believe that all things can be so neatly categories. I'll admit, I prefer to dine upon those my host loved. That young thing for example, the woman, would taste delicious. But I've made a deal. No eating upon her flesh until our enemies have been destroyed. As you can imagine, that's left me hungry. Hehe, it has been some time since I devoured a wizard. I should thank you for making yourself so...available.”

  I shivered.

  The thing spoke with absolute malice. Each word being sincere in its utter lack of respect for life. He wanted to eat. He wanted to kill. He would do it again. I needed to stop him.

  “Big talk from a parasite.”

  The Eater jumped over the top of the bus, onto a support strut. From there he kicked off and propelled himself forward in a superhuman feat of coordination and strength. Rather than blast the thing with my force, I pulled back a few steps and positioned myself just outside the glass window.

  My face became a mask of horror as the creature bore down at me with deadly intent. I wasn't one for acting but there wasn't much need. I was afraid.

  Its inhuman teeth were fully ready to nibble and gnaw upon my flesh until I died a slow, painful death. If it managed to lay a hand on me, it would be over – I had no illusion otherwise. But that was the thing about fear, it was a survival instinct. It was just reminding me that I could die if I screwed up. It didn't stop me from positioning myself just outside the circle or waiting for just the right moment to activate it.

  The eater jumped through the broken window. It was leaping in a pounce, trying to tackle me to the ground so that it could make use of its superior weight.

  I smirked, focused my will and said a single word incantation, “Impedimentum!”

  A flash of light filled the air. More importantly, the eater impacted against the far side of the circle and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

  It worked. The barrier was erected and the Eater's spir
it would be separated from the mortal body. The host and parasite were no longer linked, allowing whatever was left of Ethan William to scramble back to the surface of his possessed body.

  “Ethan William,” I said in a stern tone, “Where is your wife?”

  The man-thing looked up at me with wide opened eyes They were that of a human, not a monster. I felt a great deal of sadness for the man. He'd been taken over by a spirit, possessed, something that I knew a bit about and wished that no one else would have to endure. Even so, this wasn't the time for gentleness. A woman was missing and something seriously wrong was happening in the city.

  I asked the question once more and this time his eyes blinked, a flicker of understand.

  “Oh god! W-what the fuck is going on?” he looked down at his hands and saw the hairy patches covering them. He was most likely wondering just what happened to him over the past few weeks.

  A possession victim wasn't often aware of the waking world, “No. No! This can't be real.”

  “It is,” I said from experience, “You were possessed by a spirit, Ethan. It isn't a very nice thing. It changed your body and it killed some people.”

  “I killed people?,” he looked up at me with those evil, black eyes, so full of sadness “Innocent people..”

  “No. It killed people. You were just the weapon,” it was easier to say that than it would be for him to believe it.

  Those words weren't my own, others had told them to me. I never truly believed them.

  “Listen to me Ethan. Where is your wife. You need to think back to those dark times. The creature took her but it said it didn't eat her. It said that you wouldn't let it, that you had some kind of deal with the creature.”

  He shuddered but nodded, “I...I remember being taken to a place. I went there willingly. It was a program of some kind. Th-they did things to me. Hurt me and left me in a dark room.”

  “You weren't alone, were you?”

  “No,” he starred at the ground, “They brought someone to me. It spoke from the shadows of the room. I...It told me that I was betrayed. God, I was dumb. It said that it could get me back to Jessica. I just wanted to see her again. I made it promise that, swore it by everything I could think of.”

  Eater of family. It must have sensed his longing to be with his love, tapped into that desperation, and used it take control. I think that was how it worked. It would latch onto whatever the host wanted the most and offer it.. Family, food, meaning – I doubted it mattered much to the Eater. It just wanted despair so that it could trick a host and be turned into a monstrosity.

  Evil spirits were evil for a reason, they sustained on negative emotions. No doubt the thing had wanted to devour Miss William, Jessica, if only to make Ethan suffer.

  There was something missing though, “It didn't eat her. It just took her.”

  Ethan grimaced, “She..she's inside the building. I remember now. It couldn't eat her...I made it promise.”

  Smart boy. Many spirits were bound by their word. Mortals had free will but spirits were blunt things that often embodied notions and habits. Most were incapable of breaking oaths, it was simply against their nature. Not all mind you, but Ethan appeared to have lucked out in that regard.

  “Did it hurt her? Do I need to get an ambulance?” I asked.

  Ethan opened his mouth to answer but didn't get the chance.

  Erik stumbled through the shattered window, still clearly burdened by his injuries. Wrapped about one of his hands was none other than Jessica William. Her body was bruised and battered but her chest rose with life. She would need some serious medical care but that wasn't what mattered. She was alive. I wasn't too late.

  That made it all the worse when my eyes came to rest on the blade across her throat.

  “It didn't,” Erik said with a sadistic grin, “But I will.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Leave her alone!” Ethan yelled.

  The words came out as an inhuman snarl that made me flinch. His mutated vocal cords made him sound closer to some demigod of rage than anything approaching human.

  He advanced on the vampire but my barrier, the one that had separated the eater spirit from his body, struck him. I'd laced the circle with a precautionary containment of flesh. This was my first time actually exercising anything more that a bitter human soul. It paid to be prepared, but in this case it just made my enemy turned ally glare at me.

  Until I released the spell, monsterboy was stuck in the circle. That left me to deal with our little hostage situation. I reached into the folds of my coat, grabbed my pistol and aimed it at the vampires head.

  He laughed at the low caliber weapon, “A gun? Really?”

  “Really,” I confirmed, “Might not kill you but it will sure as hell hurt.”

  He narrowed his eyes, “Stupid child. I was content to let you walk away, Irena has a soft spot for pretty things, and she is my captain. ”

  “Leash holder,” I corrected.

  He sneered, “Joke while you can wizard. In a few moment I'll rip your spine from that pretty neck of yours,” he leaned down, bared his fangs, and traced them along the edges of Jessica's neck, “I wonder which of you will taste sweater.”

  “Get away from her,” Ethan demanded but the blood knight just laughed.

  “What are you going to do? Your spirit is no longer with you, I doubt you can even stand up straight much less be a threat to me,” he gloated in supreme confidence, “I'll save you for last. After I drained them both, you will taste better. Despair can turn even the most unsavory flesh into a delectable treat.”

  “And you think Irena will be pleased by your choice?” I asked, hoping to distract him for a moment longer.

  “Why would I care what she thinks?” a glint of something appeared in his eye, understanding, “Ah, you think I'm here on her command? Poor wizard, you will die knowing nothing.”

  “Well, if I'm going to die, how about you fill me in?” I gave him my most tempting smile, “Come on, I know you want to monologue.”

  He laughed once more and, for the briefest moment, I noticed what appeared to be genuine amusement. It was gone quickly but it had been there. I'd made this psychopathic, inhuman monster laugh. What did that say about me?

  “No child, I think I will pass on your offer.”

  “Fair enough,” I steadied my hand and shot him.

  Several things happened in the next few moment. The first and perhaps most important being my bullet landed nicely in Erik's upper arm. It cause him to jerk about and lose control of his tight grip on Jessica. A second later her body was falling freely through the air. I'd chosen the perfect moment to strike, when his sword had been just slightly lifted away and thus she cleared the supernatural weapon and went towards the ground.

  The second most important thing that happened was me lowering the barrier. Another blaring round of fire, aimed at the chalk line, it scattered the earthen barrier. The magic drained out almost instantly.

  Monsterboy seemed to notice and moved into action. His hands blurred with monstrous speed and snatched Jessica only a moment after she hit the ground. The blood knight recovered and lashed out with his blade, but Ethan dashed backwards.

  “Get her out of here!” I ordered.

  A curse escaped the vampire's lips as his hostage escaped. I had no illusion as to the usefulness of a pistol against a vampire. It had never been meant to kill Erik or even really slow him down. It was a precision tool that created an opportunity, nothing more. Now that there was no longer a hostage that needed to be rescued, I didn't need to hold back.

  I lowered the pistol and brought my staff up.Erik's eyes widened as he came to realized the mortal danger he was in. Words escaped my lips, a stream of Latin.

  The vampire dived onto the ground, no doubt expecting that I had been weaving some manner of spell. I hadn't actually used one, I'd just said some gibberish and hoped he'd try a desperate dodge. He'd done just that and now was a much easier target as he tried to scramble onto his fe
et.

  “Nix!” I raised my staff upward into the air, channeling negative energy into pure cold.

  Ice was torn from the ambient moisture. It shifted and formed into hundreds of small, sharp shards that plummeted to the ground a moment later. I said another incantation and increased their speed causing them to shatter on the vampire's form with deadly force.

  Erik had been caught out but he was smart enough to bring his longsword over his head and torso. The blade wasn't a perfect protection by any means but whatever arcane energy that impacted it was destroyed. My shards of ice were no exception.

  Damage was still done. Upon his legs and chest were a hundred small cuts that would have bleed out any mortal man in seconds but vampires weren't like that. They had blood within them, taken from others, but it didn't sustain their existence – it was purely cosmetic to them.

  Once the barrage ended, he rolled onto his feet. My followup spell was an ice lance but he manged to evade it with a quick turn of his body.

  This was bad.

  Vampires were strong, fast and my defenses didn't mean anything given his blade's ability to destroy wards. It would take just a moment's lapse in concentration for a blade to end up in me. Irena had proven that when she plunged a blade into my torso.

  Given I didn't think Erik was quite on the same level as his captain. Irena had move so quickly and so silently that I hadn't even noticed her attack until I felt the pain. In comparison, Erik was far slower. He still had a inhuman shimmer of movement but it was predictable like any other path, just faster.

  He tried to close distance on me. No doubt he wanted to end the fight before I could conjure up another spell but I was prepared. I turned the shards of ice into a smooth sheet of frozen liquid.

  The slick surface and vampiric speed meet in a blur of motion as Erik slipped on the ice. It would have been comical if I wasn't in mortal danger – an eternal master of undeath, sliding around like a child on ice skates for the first time.