Fire & Pain - A Vampire's Tragedy

Adam

She was late. Only ten minutes so far, but I couldn’t help to assume the worst. I looked into the forest, trying to spot her, but there was still no sign of her. Pacing up and down in front of the little cabin, the only light came from the moon, fighting its way through the thick branches above me, making it hard to see anything around me. I didn’t want to risk being seen, so I avoided using any light at all. After another ten minutes of waiting, I almost wanted to leave, when I heard rustling in the bushes close by, and soon after, she stopped in front of me, panting. A burden lifted off my chest that she was finally here.

“Sorry that I’m late again. Pascal left, but got me a babysitter to keep an eye on me.”

“It’s okay, but we have to hurry now,” I said and pulled the communication bugs I bought out of my pockets, handing one to her.

She rubbed her forehead as she stared at the small device in her hand. “What’s this?”

“Those are communication bugs. We can use them to communicate with each other without needing to be close.”

“How does that work?”

“I can’t exactly explain the technique behind it, but it’s running on brain waves. These two communication bugs are linked to each other, so only these two can communicate with each other via our brain waves.”

She bit her lip as she glanced up at me. “And you’re sure that is safe and no one can listen in on us?”

I nodded. “Yes, I’m very sure. Yours has a key, and mine has one, too. We can only hear each other if both devices know each other’s keys. Those keys are unique and only generated once. When those devices run out of magic, they’re useless. Same with the keys.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

She put the device into her ear, and I did the same.

“Can you hear me?” I asked.

She nodded, her eyes wide, shimmering in the moonlight. “That’s amazing! I didn’t know this sort of thing existed. Now, what my sister and I used to do feels a lot less special.”

I wanted to ask what she meant by that, but my alarm went off, telling me we had to move.

“Come, we need to leave,” I said, grabbed my backpack, and hurried out of the forest. When the moonlight disappeared behind clouds, I risked lighting a small light ball, helping me to see. I still stumbled over plenty of branches, while Sophia walked behind me with such confidence, almost as if it were still bright outside.

We remained silent the entire way to the compound, and the closer we got, the harder it became for me to keep my nerves calm. I felt sick and dizzy, unsure if we really should risk this.

“What’s wrong?” Sophia whispered next to me.

I took a deep breath. “Nothing, it’s okay. I can’t let you through the main gate, so you’ve to climb over the wall. Do you think you can manage? There are veins on them, and they hopefully will carry your weight.”

She frowned, looking up at the tall brick wall. “I have to manage somehow.”

Sophia was a short person, but I believe it would come in handy now. I pulled on the vines, and they were tightly grown onto the stones.

“If you don’t feel comfortable, we have to find another way somehow,” I said, even though I had no other plan.

She shook her head. “Nonsense, I’ll be fine.”

Sophia grinned at me, and I nodded. “Okay, I’ll enter through the main entrance now and move straight to my hiding spot. Do you see the tower from here?”

She craned her neck and nodded. “Yeah, I see a tower not too far away from here.”

“After you climb over the wall, just walk straight towards it. The main entrance of the tower has large wooden doors. It’s hard to miss. There are also barely any scholars around here, and if, run. The moment you start some sort of commotion, I’ll begin with our plan.”

“What will we do after we get her out of the tower?” She asked.

“We have to run. There is a side entrance west of the tower. The guard there is almost always asleep and the gate should still be open at this time. At least it was the past few days that I checked it. You’ve to try everything you can to stop them from catching up to us, and I’ll try the same, too. We only have to reach the Green Mountain forest, and they shouldn’t follow us anymore.”

Her gaze was sharp and clear as she listened to me. “Why? Is there something wrong with that forest?”

I shrugged. “It belongs to a different mentor, and we aren’t allowed to enter the property of another mentor without permission. Besides, there are pretty ugly creatures in there, so it’s usually best to avoid that place.”

She frowned. “Sounds like mages are a lot more similar to shifters than I thought. But, okay, fine. I’ll follow after you and hope we can do it.”

“It’s not the best plan, but it’s all I could think of,” I admitted.

She chuckled. “Don’t worry. As long as we get her out of there, we have already achieved a lot. Now, we only have to make sure to not get killed.”

I grabbed her shoulder. “Stay safe.”

She smiled, her eyes softening. “Stay safe, too.”

I nodded and walked to the main gate, my stomach heavy. It felt wrong to leave her alone, but there was no other way. I hoped no one would roam around here because if she was spotted before reaching the tower, it might cause a situation we didn’t prepare for. But from what I could observe the past couple of days, almost no one gets lost here.

I stepped through the gate, nodding to the guard with a smile on my face. He nodded back, his face stoic - like always. I can’t remember ever seeing him smile before.

Looking around to make sure no one was around, I hurried to my hiding spot, hoping Sophia was handling that wall well.

“Hmph,” echoed through the communication line.

My heart sank. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I only fell to the floor on the other side of the wall,” she said. I waited for her to say more, maybe telling me she hurt herself, but the line remained silent. I could only hope she was fine, or at least fine enough to continue with the plan.

“I’m going to start now,” she said.

I broke out in a cold sweat, bile rising in my throat. Was I really ready for this? I leaned forward, staring at the tower, waiting for her commotion to start, and oh boy, did she start. She wasted no time summoning a massive wall of fire around the tower, and the heat crashed into my face from several meters away. I doubted she used her core energy for this, but if she did, she truly was a genius.

Soon after, scholars started shouting, and I took it as my cue to begin. I grabbed my things and hurried towards the window I had chosen to climb up to, the heat of the fire burning on my skin the closer I got. I wrapped myself in a shield and jumped through the wall with the flames licking on the sides of my shield, but not touching me.

More and more scholars ran to the tower, some of them jumping through the flames and shouting profanities. Sweat covered my skin from the heat, and it almost felt as if my clothes were going to catch on fire soon. The rope slipped out of my hands and I cursed under my breath. I searched for the gloves in my backpack, hoping they would help me not slip down the rope. The wall roared alive, growing in size. I jumped closer to the tower, as it was dangerously close to me now, but it blocked the other scholars from jumping through the wall, as I saw plenty of them standing outside of it. I rounded the tower until I was more out of sight and started levitating the rope up the tower. Sweat ran down my temples, and the air was getting so thick that it was hard to catch my breath. I hoped Sophia was doing fine. The wall alone should already suck plenty of energy out of her, and I didn’t know how long she could do this. I was afraid to ask her, worrying I would disturb her concentration. All I could hope was that she knew what she was doing, despite not having the best control over her magic in the past. It only had to work until we got her sister out of there, and that should be enough. Right?

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