Later that night, Lucien and Castor discussed their plans to travel out to the mountainside that coming weekend. Lucien lazily propped himself back against the cushioned chair in Castor’s room, reading from a spellbook. He adjusted his glasses before flipping to the next page, engrossed in whatever spell it was. He’d changed from the robes to more comfortable loungewear patterned in smiling pumpkins. Castor couldn’t deny how adorable he found him.
Castor’s heart yearned for him. But he knew Lucien only viewed him as a friend and nothing more. How absurd it was to consider such trivial feelings when their prime focus needed to be on finding those dark wizards who murdered Charlotte.
Yet, even as Castor tried to concentrate, his mind wandered to Lucien’s handsome face. His adorable little button nose, the way he licked his lips as he studied the text in his hands, it all sent ripples of excitement through him and he pushed it all down in frustration.
“Do you think Sebastian’s okay?” Lucien asked suddenly.
Envy pricked at Castor as he gaped for a moment, struggling to find a response. “Probably. He knows how to handle himself.”
“I was thinking, maybe we should visit him again.” Lucien closed his spellbook.
“You’re not serious, are you?” Castor deadpanned. “After your mother’s warning? What about the Council? They’re not going to be lenient with you this time.”
“I think he’s in danger,” Lucien said.
“I told you, Sebastian can handle himself. He’s strong. He has his little vampire coven to protect him,” Castor replied, waving a dismissive hand.
“Castor, please.” Lucien rose from the chair, desperation glinted in his cerulean eyes. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I can sense he’s in danger. Something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Castor raised a brow, frowning.
“He needs our help. Come on.”
“Alright, fine.” Castor sighed.
Something nagged in the back of Castor’s mind. Like an itch he couldn’t scratch. When Lucien allowed Sebastian a taste of his blood, it opened a soulful connection between them. Castor heard of vampires using it in the past to drive people insane, wizard or non-magical being. They taunted them, buried sinister messages in their heads.
Sebastian must’ve used their connection to reach out for help. It stirred unnecessary jealousy inside him, and when they got in his jeep, Castor tried not to let it bother him.
However, he couldn’t bite his tongue forever. “Are you falling for Sebastian?” he blurted.
“What? No. I believe the connection is from his venom going in my mouth,” Lucien replied. “The kiss created a bond between us, where we have this weird channel of communication. Like, it’s not complete messages. He can’t send me a “Hey get over to Nevermourn” message, but if he’s in danger, it’ll flood my mind.”
“Is that it?”
“When we kissed, I felt something different,” Lucien said. “Hunger. Desire.”
“Makes sense for a vampire.” Castor shrugged. “Do you think the dark wizard is trying to kill him?”
“I don’t know. If our connection’s strong enough, shouldn’t I feel his pain? A death curse will hurt like a bitch,” Lucien replied. “All I’m sensing is danger and annoyance. Whatever’s got him riled up, it’s irritating him. I don’t think he’s hurt, but we gotta hurry.”
“So, he’s sending you these internal messages that he’s in danger?” Castor asked. “Anything else? How about fear? Worry?”
“Nothing like that. Maybe Sebastian can choose what he channels through?” Lucien suggested.
“Maybe.” Castor gripped the steering wheel. “Can you channel those emotions back to him?”
“Um, I’m not sure.” Lucien gazed ahead, frowning as he forcibly concentrated on the dark road ahead of them. Kinda made him look constipated. “Yeah, that’s not doing anything. I might not have the ability to do that or just don’t understand how it works.”
“I’ve never known anyone who directly gave a vampire their blood like that and lived,” Castor replied. “So I have no clue.”
Castor increased his speed, making a sharp turn around a bend. Exhilaration pumped through his veins like magic itself, yet his mind conjured the most horrific scenarios. What if they were too late? Would Sebastian’s body already be burned to a crisp like the other vampires?
If their connection was strong enough, wouldn’t Lucien feel agonizing pain from Sebastian? Nothing indicated anything reached him yet. Castor remembered Sebastian once mentioned to him how vampires had a sixth sense when it came to premonitions. Maybe he already sensed someone stalking him. He should be safe inside his clinic with other vampires.
As they passed the ancient Welcome to Nevermourn sign covered in bird shit, Lucien twitched in the passenger seat. He gasped, as if someone choked him, pressing a futile hand against the window.
“Lucien.” Concern flooded through him. “What’s happening?”
Lucien shook his head. “I don’t know, but whatever he felt just now was horrific. You gotta hurry.”
Once they reached the barren town, Castor gazed up in awe at the smoke soaring up into the pitch black sky. Flames escaped the side windows of the clinic, seeming to originate somewhere near the kitchen. His jeep squealed against the asphalt when he hit the brake hard and parked.
“Holy hell.” Castor reached back for his staff, then climbed out with hastened speed. He needed something stronger than a wand to channel his magic for this. With a soft chant, he forced the entrance doors barricaded by furniture open.
A miasma of smoke and toxic black magic wafted in the air. Plumes of black smoke slithered across the walls like shadows chasing each other; remnants of a wizard’s black magic. When he stepped beyond the desk, he recognized the young female vampire sprawled out behind it. Viscous onyx cobwebs stretched across her pale skin, making her resemble a porcelain doll with a broken face.
“Castor,” Lucien hissed, motioning toward the first hallway. “I think he’s down here somewhere. I can sense his presence nearby.”
“Alright, stay close to my side.”
They tread down the hallway, following an ominous trail of black magic in whatever’s evil wake. Blood painted the peach-colored walls. Charred flesh invaded his nostrils as he struggled to block out the stench. Behind him, he heard Lucien stifle a gasp.
Two male vampires laid beside a rolling cart of fresh bed sheets, stained in gore. Upon closer inspection, Castor reeled back and gagged. Black worms slithered out of the gaping holes in their stomachs. The parasites had eaten all the blood out of their bodies, leaving nothing but hollowed cadavers behind. They infested every inch of them. The slithering creatures swam in their crimson irises.
Just as Castor stepped forward, a soft groan made him freeze. One of the infested vampires twitched their hand, a futile gesture for help. There was nothing Castor could do for them. The dark wizard they were dealing with was beyond any power he’d ever witnessed. He never saw such cruel torment in all his life.
“We have to save them.” Lucien seized his wrist, pitiful eyes brimmed with sorrow. “They’re suffering. Look at those… Things. They’re feasting on them.”
“I can’t…” Castor let out a breath. “Come on, we need to find Sebastian and get the fuck out of here.”
Nothing could save those vampires. Castor feared if they even touched any of the parasites gnawing on them that they would latch onto them instead.
Lucien didn’t argue and followed close beside him. Screams reverberated in Castor’s head as the clinic building rumbled. Smoke drifted around them as Castor raised his collar to his mouth, coughing. He pinpointed their agonized wails close by, and dread sunk in his stomach. If this dark wizard had the power to murder all those vampires, then he would have no trouble killing them.
Despite how Castor wanted to turn back around, he couldn’t let his friend die at the hands of that sadistic killer. Maybe it was idiotic recklessness that propelled him forward or some warped idealism of becoming the hero nobody expected, but when Castor forced the last room’s door open, he surged all his rage into the spell he cast directly at the hooded figure who held a vampire woman up by her neck.
Cobalt flames shot out from his staff, but the hooded figure raised his shield before any of his magic touched him. Castor sent another one at the shield, unbothered by the amount of energy he wasted with each flame he wildly flung at the masked man. Rage surged out his body, tingling with every bolt of magic.
Behind him, Lucien retrieved his wand, casting his own magic that resembled a rippling tornado. Not even that shattered his shield. The man treated them like mere playthings, and before either of them could launch another attack, he broke the vampire woman’s neck with a sickening crack.
Castor reeled back as the hooded man reached for his belt, yanking out a silver blade. With a swift cut, he slit her throat three times, just enough to sever her head. Panic pulsed through Castor as his words stammered over his spell, yet the flames didn’t penetrate his barrier at all.
When the hooded figure launched the vampire’s head at them like a basketball, it halted right above Castor’s feet. An invisible forcefield prevented it from touching them. It was their own barrier, cast by Lucien.
Lucien’s power to wield protective shields proved to be availing, as any spells that monster cast at them bounced right off. But he couldn’t hold off the man forever. Even Castor realized how it was weakening Lucien beside him.
“I have an idea.”
Castor let his magic transmute into the blood of the vampire. Crimson ropes suspended in the air, and with enough force, slithered underneath one of the cracks in the hooded man’s shield at the bottom. Castor wrapped the bloody rope around the man’s neck, lifting him off the ground like a noose.
Power drained from him as his arm wavered on his staff. There wasn’t enough magic left in him to keep using such powerful black magic, but he tightened it as much as he could. The other man clawed at the solidified blood strangling him. Castor needed more power. In a swift motion, he drained the dead vampire of all its blood, warping more scarlet ropes around the figure until he couldn’t even see his face.
Castor needed to kill him.
However, a surge of pain punctured his chest and it forced him to loosen his grip on the solidified rope. What the fuck happened? Castor pressed a hand against his chest, caressing the throbbing patch of skin. The blood rope turned to liquid form once again, drenching the hooded man in the vampire’s gore.
They were going to die if he didn’t get his shit together. With another powerful ounce of magic, Castor tried to recreate the bloodied rope.
“Get down!” Lucien screamed.
In an instance, Lucien knocked him to the ground as the dark wizard sent a death curse their way. Lucien chanted out a spell for another roaring tornado of wind, sweeping everything in its path out the shattered window, including the dark wizard himself. He found a crack in the man’s defensive shield, just enough to slip his spell beneath it.
Castor laid on the ground, panting and clutching at his chest. He peeled up his shirt, revealing shards of glass that punctured through his flesh. But that didn’t explain the pain that nestled deep inside him. Did he overuse his magic? Crackling embers of fire glinted off his palm as he flexed his fingers out.
“We’ve gotta find Sebastian.” Lucien reached a hand down to his friend, yanking him back to his feet. “Are you okay? Still good to walk?”
Castor swallowed the lump in his throat, nodding. “Yeah, come on. You said he’s nearby, right?”
“Right here, guys.” Sebastian slid out from under a patient bed, brushing grime off his trousers.
“You were there the entire time?” Castor asked in disbelief.
“Sure was.” Sebastian made his way out into the hallway. “Come on, we gotta get the hell out of here.”
It didn’t take them long to bolt back outside as the building crumbled behind them. Fire spread throughout the other rooms. If they didn’t hurry, it would consume them next.
Flames engulfed the clinic, leaving nothing behind in its vengeful destruction. Behind him, Lucien eased Sebastian into the backseat of his car. Nothing else survived that building. None of their blood or plasma, not even the vampire employees. Some lived, but the curses nestled deep inside them would eventually destroy them.
It left a hollow pang in Castor’s heart to see everything Sebastian worked so hard on to go up in smoke. Whoever was responsible deserved to die an excruciating death.
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