4. Magnar

1000 YEARS AGO

The storm raged on around us and still none of us moved as the goddess’s new powers surged through our veins. It was as though every remaining member of the clans was frozen by the grief of my father’s death. Each man, woman and child down to the stable boy I’d brought back from my travels were utterly still as we mourned and Idun poured her strength into us.

I could feel everything like it was the first time my body had experienced it.

Every inch of my skin was more sensitive, every sound more defined. Even my eyesight grew sharper.

My gaze fell on Venom which was still grasped in my hand and I noticed my ring finger straightening before my eyes. I’d broken it as a child and it hadn’t set right, but now the dull ache I always felt from it in the cold was gone.

Strength surged through my muscles like a tide until I felt certain that I could rip a man in two with my bare hands if the notion took me.

The land grew darker as the storm built and my mother’s sobs finally came to an end. It seemed the sky was mourning our father’s passage as much as we were and whatever strange gifts we had been given in the face of his death paled at the weight of his loss.

I forced myself to rise as a huge flash of lightning lit up the heavens, strength saturating my limbs like never before.

In the distance, beyond the row of tents across the plain, far further than I should have been able to see, I noticed a figure approaching.

I had never seen the Golden Whore for myself, but I knew her as soon as my gaze landed on her. No beauty such as hers could be natural among the world of mortals. She stole the breath from my lungs at a single glance, her unnervingly bright gaze pinning me in place with the power of her stolen immortality. She was a monster dressed as an enchantress; a trap poised to steal the hearts of all who looked upon her so that she might sink her teeth into them while they still beat with want for her.

Venom hissed her name like a curse in my ear. Clarice. I held the blade loosely in my right hand as she advanced across the plain, my blood pumping with a deep and violent hatred which begged to see her end.

Julius stepped to my side, holding his own blade at the ready and I moved to retrieve Tempest from where I’d left it thrust in the ground. Though I had used all of my strength to drive the blade into the dirt only hours before, removing it was as easy as breathing with my newly gifted muscles. The power of the goddess roamed rampantly through my limbs and as I looked at the monster who stole towards us across the open plain, I knew what purpose this power was meant for. Idun had gifted us the strength we needed to match even the worst of their kind in battle. To best them.

I began to move between the tents, making a beeline for the place where I’d spotted the immortal harlot. I’d lost sight of her without the lightning to illuminate the plain but I could feel her moving closer through the shadows, a creature of darkness hunting in her natural habitat.

I swung the two blades in lazy circles as I advanced, getting a feel for the way they moved as I wielded them at once, feeling a rightness in that which sang within my bones. My father’s sword would be mine now too and every drop of tainted blood I spilled with it would be in homage to his memory.

“Do you think they’ve all come?” Julius asked darkly as he moved at my side. I could tell his thirst for vengeance was as powerful as my own and I couldn’t help but draw further strength from his company.

“I hope so,” I growled, the need for death like an ache in my soul.

The power of the goddess flowed through my veins like lava, heating me to my core despite the fact that I strode shirtless through the pounding rain. Something told me I would never suffer the full bite of winter again.

We made it beyond the tents and stood at the edge of the plain, waiting for the monsters to strike, knowing they skulked out there in the shadows.

“Show yourselves!” I bellowed. “You four beasts of the night who play with lives and souls like they’re worthless. Come and let us see your unnatural faces!”

The night grew deeper as I felt the gods pressing close, their eyes glued to our actions as they waited for the battle to commence. We were just pieces on their game boards as always, but this time, I was more than willing to play.

Someone moved behind me and I turned my head as Valentina stepped forward to take a position on my left. As I caught sight of her eyes, I could see the power of the storm swirling within them, lightning flickering in her pupils, a static charge lifting her dark hair. It seemed the gods had included her when they’d bestowed these enhancements to our gifts. The power of the Clan of Storms raged within her unlike ever before, and I could almost taste the oncoming storm as I inhaled.

She raised her arms and electricity hummed in the air as she harnessed the fury of the storm. Lightning flashed blindingly across the clouds and four figures were illuminated on the far side of the plain, their porcelain features etched with uncertainty as they assessed us.

They could see it too, this new power in us, and they hesitated to meet it like the cowards I had long known them to be. They hid from death after all, from the promise of endless days in the halls of Valhalla. Only a coward would accept such a fate.

My gaze fell on Erik at the left of the group and my lip curled back in a feral snarl, the desire for his death a brutal ache in my chest. I slowly lifted Venom, pointing the blade at his heart and sending him a silent promise. I would be his end. No matter the cost.

“Is this all that remains of the great race of slayers?” Fabian called, his voice laced with amusement as he began to draw closer, his steps full of swagger and dripping bravado.

Our mother moved to stand on Julius’s other side, four slayers to face four vampires.

Behind us, those remaining members of the clans gathered too. Even those who had no business fighting stood with us; old warriors whose warring days were long passed waited shoulder to shoulder with children who were barely strong enough to wield a blade. Mothers stood with their babes in one arm and a weapon in the other. Even Elissa and Aelfric joined our ranks, clutching blades they had no idea how to use while glaring at the vampires with all the rage of seasoned warriors.

The total was likely less than two hundred, a fraction of our numbers from just days ago. But the goddess had blessed them all and we stood against our enemies, stronger than ever before. I didn’t like their chances at victory.

Beyond the Revenants, I could make out a moving shadow filled with their foul creations. As I’d expected, they’d wasted no time in siring more vampires and I felt a pang of pity for whatever town had fallen prey to their curse.

I turned to meet my brother’s gaze and found raw power brimming through him too. The gods had been generous with their gifts, spreading them amongst my people and giving us the chance to meet the vampires on equal footing. I would be certain not to squander them.

“I will follow you to the end, brother,” Julius growled, lifting his sword higher in anticipation of my command. These were my people now. My father’s death had made me their Earl. And they waited on my command to slay these beasts. The first I would make, but not the last if I had any say in the matter.

“For our father,” I said fiercely and Mother’s gaze hardened as she nodded. “For Earl Mallion!” I bellowed for all of our people to hear.

A resounding battle cry met my own and I took off across the plain, sprinting faster than I’d ever run before, the power of my muscles a strange and wonderous thing. A gift I would use well.

The storm raged and the rain poured upon us in an unyielding cascade of freezing droplets, but I didn’t feel the biting cold the way I should have. My very skin seemed to be alive with energy, creating heat where there should have been none and saving me from suffering beneath the torrent which Valentina encouraged to fall from the skies.

The Revenants knew there was something different about us and all four sets of eyes were drawn to me as I led the line against them.

Fabian was closest to me and he was the first to break ranks and run to oppose us.

I smiled bitterly as I raced to meet him, ducking beneath him as he leapt for my throat, the movement far easier than should have been possible. He spun to stare at me in surprise but I wasted no time and swung Tempest straight for his neck. He twisted away from me but I already had Venom waiting to block his retreat, a feral grin parting my lips as I found myself more than a match for this heathen.

Fabian leapt aside but not before the blade carved a line along his forearm, spilling his bright red blood and staining the dirt between us. He hissed in pain as the wound sizzled from the magic in the sword and the air was tainted by the stench of burning flesh.

I didn’t miss the look of horrified wonder that filled his eyes. I guessed no one had gotten that close to killing him in a long time.

I roared as I pushed my advantage and he tried to lunge at me again. He caught my right arm in his iron grip, his inhuman fingers tightening in an attempt to break my bones. Before he could do more than bruise me, I swung my other arm at his face, Venom’s hilt still grasped in my fist.

My knuckles connected with his jaw and he was thrown off of me, crashing into the mud six feet away and skidding through it. When he regained his feet, he was covered from head to toe in filth, and bright red blood still dripped steadily from the wound on his arm.

Fabian bared his teeth at me and I bared mine right back as I began to advance.

“What are you?” he hissed as he retreated a step.

“I am your death,” I replied.

I leapt forward, swinging both of my blades in a vicious arc designed to cleave his head from his neck.

Fabian threw himself aside, barely a breath parting him from death before he spun away from me and fled back towards his kin.

I bellowed a challenge and took chase. My mother and brother ran behind me, blades ready and warrior cries on their lips as we raced after the monsters who had taken everything from us.

The four Revenants grouped together across the plain, staring at us in confusion and with more than a hint of fear, seeming to accept that we were not what we had been, that we were now more than a match for them.

“Do you feel the thirst driving you on?” Clarice cried, turning her gaze on the newly sired vampires behind them as she hunted for a way to save her own neck. “Go forward and feast!”

The vampires shrieked in excitement and flooded past their creators like a tide of ruination, the thirst turning them into little more than feral beasts blinded by their need for blood. They raced to intercept us and the remaining members of the seven clans thundered to meet them at my back.

“These creatures need reminding that they’re already dead!” I yelled and the replying roar of my kin joined with a great crash of thunder as Valentina continued to wield the storm with her newly enhanced gifts.

The Revenants stood behind their army and watched as our forces collided. I did no such thing; no warrior of mine would be asked to sacrifice themselves without me by their side. I led the charge from the front, carving a path through the vampires with Julius and our mother beside me.

We cut down more vampires than I could count and the dust from their demise mixed with the thick mud at our feet, clogging the air with the stench of their deaths.

Again and again, I swung my blades but the fatigue I expected with such use of my energy never came. My muscles thrummed with strength and the promise of death for all those who came against me, the gifts of the goddess pumping through my limbs powerfully.

As the rest of my people battled against the new vampires, my family sliced a path through the mayhem towards the demons who had caused it.

I plunged Tempest into the heart of a beautiful vampire clad in the dress of a noble and as she dissolved before me, the Revenants were revealed beyond her cascading remains.

“This isn’t possible,” Miles hissed as he glared at my family, trying to deny what we were now. A true match for their monstrosity.

“The gods have levelled the field,” Julius growled. “Are you afraid to find out if you can match us now?”

“Why?” Erik breathed and I got the feeling his question was meant for one of the powerful deities who watched our exchange, but I answered all the same.

“For the curse you bestowed on our father. No Earl of the slayers should ever have met the fate you dealt him. I will repay that debt in blood.” I advanced on them, my gaze fixed on Erik as his eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Your father was the slayer I turned?” he asked as realisation hit him. “I saved him; I sent him back to you-”

“You sent back a demon wearing the skin of the man I loved!” my mother yelled, her broken heart making her voice crack with emotion, but her axe was steady in her hand.

“You forced me to plunge a blade through my own father’s heart,” I growled as I took another step. Venom and Tempest hummed in anticipation as I closed in on the monsters who had started it all, their demands for their deaths thick in my mind.

“You killed him?” Erik asked and I didn’t miss the horror that flashed through his eyes. Did he dare mourn the loss of the foul creation he had placed in my father’s skin?

“You killed him,” I corrected angrily.

The thunder cracked above our heads again and I ran at him, no longer willing to hear his abhorrent voice. I would take his head from his body and pay the blood debt I was owed.

I took three long strides and leapt forward, spinning in the air as I swung both of my blades for his head.

Erik’s eyes widened as he saw death coming for him and his sister leapt forward to knock him aside before I could land my blow. Venom sliced across her shoulder and she howled in pain as bright blood spilled from the wound.

Erik snapped out of his momentary inaction and wrapped his arms around Clarice, leaping away from me and hauling her to safety.

Miles and Fabian stepped in front of her too, the three foul brothers protecting their monstrous sister. I almost laughed at the false display of love. A creature sustained by death could never be capable of such an emotion.

Julius yelled as he charged at them and I ran to join him with Venom screaming for vengeance in my palm.

The Revenants bared their teeth like beasts as they sprinted to meet us.

Julius tucked his head low and barrelled towards them like a human battering-ram. His shoulder connected with Miles’s chest and a sound like falling rocks filled the air. Miles was thrown backwards, slamming into his sister and sending them both crashing into the mud.

Fabian leapt onto Julius’s back, sinking his teeth into his shoulder with a feral viciousness. My mother screamed as she aimed a kick at Fabian, dislodging him before he could drink my brother’s blood.

I only had eyes for Erik as I advanced on him steadily, swinging my blades in a clear challenge. Vengeance called my name, drawing me closer.

He leapt at me but before we could meet in battle, lightning struck the ground between us.

The vampire fell back and my heart leapt with surprise.

Again, lightning forked from the sky, slamming into the ground between us and driving the demon back. The third fork arced towards the other Revenants, carving a space between them and my family.

I looked around and found Valentina striding towards us. Wind billowed around her and pulled her usually perfect hair into a maelstrom of her own creation.

The vampires looked between the four of us in undisguised horror, their eyes drifting to the slayers who drew close behind us. As I followed their gaze, I found my kin closing rank at my back, the newly-sired vampires reduced to nothing but piles of clothes and ash on the battlefield.

Only the Revenants remained to face our host of over a hundred slayers gifted with the new strength of the goddess.

“Is that fear I see in your eyes?” I cried.

The slayers at my back yelled their own challenges, the air rumbling with our combined rage.

The Revenants moved towards each other, taking a step back, then another.

“Stand and face us, cowards!” I roared as I saw the urge to flee in their expression.

“This fight will keep, slayer,” Fabian spat as his hand closed on Clarice’s wrist and he pulled her further back.

The four of them exchanged a brief glance which held the weight of destiny in it, then they turned and fled.

I released a battle cry as I took chase, my people joining me as we raced to hunt down the monsters, refusing to let them flee this fate.

But despite the new power in my muscles, their pace outmatched my own and they began to increase the distance between us in their desperate bid for freedom.

I didn’t relent, my feet tearing a path across the sodden ground as I began to put distance between myself and my people. Only Julius kept pace with me, his hatred and thirst for revenge matching my own, but despite our efforts, we couldn’t keep up.

The sea loomed ahead, and we skidded to a halt as we found ourselves on the top of a cliff which looked down onto the roiling waves.

I cursed as I realised what they had done. The vampires had taken refuge beneath the water where they knew we couldn’t follow. Fucking cowards.

“We are the sons of Mallion Elioson!” I roared into the night, knowing they would hear me where they hid like rats in a hole. “Your deaths await you at our hands! We will have vengeance for our father and we will hunt you to the ends of the Earth!”

“You may run but we will find you!” Julius bellowed in agreement. “You are only delaying your fate!”