Chapter 90: Boons from Lords (2)

... Geron had both his arms folded and his hands tightened around his cloaked biceps. He gripped so hard that veins popped out of the back of his hands and his claws began to pierce through his dark cloak and began to prick his skin. "Two— No, three down..." he said in a low seething voice. It was dawning on him that they truly had underestimated the Guards. Even if you looked away from the most impressive of the four Hellsingers, the other three were not on the losing foot either even though they were all facing two Vampires each. One of the other three had killed a Vampire already and was getting closer to killing the second which would free him to help his fellows even though they didn’t look like they even needed it. And then there was the one who was the obvious leader of the four. The one who had managed to shield their target while killing two of the three Vampires that had gone after him. If things continued as they were, the tides were going to turn. "How long before you make your move?" Geron asked in a low voice. "Soon," a silky voice answered him like a whisper in the air, "But I need an opening. That one, with the flaming sword..." "I know," Geron answered the voice with his brows furrowed, "He’s a problem." "You should get in there," the voice said, "Get me an opening and let’s end this." Geron sighed. "Very well," he said and he held one hand out as a staff appeared from what had to have been a discrete storage item. The staff looked metal and had Arcane symbols carved into it. Gareth was just about to kill the third Vampire left of the three that faced off against him when a dark tendril wrapped around the Vampire’s neck and pulled it out of range of his sword’s flaming blade. "Stay back," Geron told the Vampire he just saved from sure death, "He’ll kill you if you face him alone. And you’ll get in my way if you tried to ’help’." "Of course, Geron," The Vampire said with a bow while rubbing his sore neck before going off to join the rest of its brethren to overwhelm the other three Hellsingers. "You’re different," Gareth said with furrowed brows and a cautious tone at the Seventh Circle energy coming off the Vampire’s body. He held one arm back like he was trying to make sure Caius was secure behind him. Geron chuckled. "Thank you for noticing," he said and then glanced at Caius before returning his eyes to Gareth as he asked, "Do you even know who you shield?" "My Young Lord. Heir to the Von Helsing Estate," Gareth said with pride. "And?" Geron asked. "And what?" Gareth asked. Geron’s mouth opened and the corners of his Vampire red eyes crinkled in a teasing delight. "By Nyx, you don’t know, do you?" He said and after studying Gareth’s face a bit more, he threw his head back and laughed, "We guessed as much. I mean it was clear the Count has been keeping the secret from the world but from his men too? From those he entrusts his son’s protection to? Interesting." Gareth’s face became clouded in confusion but it lasted barely half a second before he snapped out of it. "Spare me your nonsense. Either attack or don’t." That was the issue with having to protect someone. There was very little movement he could make before he gave the enemy enough space to exploit. So he had to stay close to Caius and give up initiative to the enemy. Geron had to have taken that as an invitation because his form seemed to vanish for a second and he was slamming his staff at Gareth who raised his sword quickly enough. Only Geron hadn’t made a move just for melee combat. The Arcane symbols etched onto his staff glowed and a spell Circle appeared to strike Gareth with a force of Dark Magic meant to send him flying well away from Caius. Gareth stood his ground as he had done against many attacks thus far, however, he was soon gritting his teeth in more struggle than ever. "Felt that, didn’t you?" Geron asked in a sly voice as his fangs glinted with sharpness and his red eyes seemed to darken even more with insidious intent. Veins began to protrude all over the sides of his neck and they were running with blood that looked darker than normal. Even for a Vampire. "It’s not the true Circle, is it?" Gareth said as he eyed the veins and Geron’s smile slipped a bit. "What?" He asked. Gareth spat before he said in a voice contorted in disgust, "You’re not really at the Seventh Circle. That’s why you’re different. That’s why I could tell. There’s something more to you. To your blood. Your filthy Vampire blood has been tinkered with to be made even more filthy. The scent of it makes me want to puke." Geron’s smile was back. "You’re a sharp one, aren’t you?" He said and pushed Gareth back to swing his staff at him again but Gareth met the strike and the two exchanged more weapon clashes before they met in a stalemate and took the moment to talk again. "Not about being sharp, really. You just reek to all hell," Gareth said and spat again. Geron laughed. "To you, I reek. To my kind, I am ascendant," he said in a loud, proud voice. ’Well, that’s a lie,’ Caius said as he gagged at the scent of Geron’s blood himself. [To Kill A Demon Lord...] had talked about the downsides of Anton’s Blood experiments but it also said that it allowed those who benefited from it to possess strength beyond their station as Geron was currently displaying. Geron continued, "This, all of this, is a boon of my Lord and Master so when he asks something of me, I am all too ready to oblige. Today he wants your ’Young Lord’ and I will be damned if I don’t deliver." "That’s the boon you received from your Lord?" Gareth asked and laughed, "Well, here’s what I received from mine!" At that, a powerful aura exploded from Gareth’s body. It went past the Sixth Circle previously believed to be his true level of strength and settled right at the peak of the seventh circle. It was like he was calling every facet of his body to respond to his call. The Von Helsing Regimen was practiced by the Hellsingers as well. Or at least an abridged version of it. That abridged version was still enough to produce incredible results though because the battle hiked up several intensity notches then and Gareth never seemed to be on the losing end. *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH* Over and over, Vampire and human clashed with their weapons and with spells. They both seemed capable at melee and spell casting but with talents more skewed towards one more than the other. For Geron, his talent was more in spell casting so every clash he made with his staff was followed with a spell circle that Gareth always cut through sheer brute force as that was where his talent lay even if he did supplement his fights with spells occasionally. The two seemed to be even matches for much of their clashes. More veins bulged on Geron’s face and his experimental blood pushed him even more but somehow Gareth matched him. Or so it seemed to the observer, Caius. In reality, Gareth’s attention was getting consumed. This was not a fight on the same level as it had been against the three Vampires from earlier. Geron, with his reeking, experimented blood, left him very little room to even focus on protecting Caius. Fortunately, every other Vampire on the scene was occupied. While Gareth fought Geron, two more had fallen and the balance was starting to shift especially with momentum in favor of the Hellsingers who still had their meager numbers intact while they cut down more of their enemies. ’Just a little longer,’ Gareth thought confidently, ’They’ll be here soon and this will be over.’ ’They’ referred to the reinforcements from the Von Helsing Estate. But just then, a voice in the wind spoke to Geron. "Well done." Something roused in Geron’s shadow then. With tiny red dots for eyes, it transferred into Gareth’s shadow and then to Caius’s shadow. And then two pale arms rose out of the shadow and grabbed Caius’s waist. "What the—?!" Caius asked with wide eyes. His yell alerted Gareth and only now did the Hellsinger understand the dangers of his lapse in concentration. A figure had completely risen from the shadow now. It looked like a woman with long flowing back hair and covered in a dark cloak like the other Vampires. Only the cloak glowed with Arcane symbols and spread before turning into what looked like Batwings that were attached to the woman’s pale shoulders. Her eyes were Vampire red. Her teeth were fangs but a more jagged sort that made her smile quite grotesque to see and it detracted from what could have been a beautiful face. "Let’s go, boy!" She told Caius and flapped her wings to take off toward the ceiling of the Dome.