Page 1 of The Vampire Oracle

1

Sal

What the fuck just happened?

My head pulsed as a ringing noise blared in my ears. My hands were tightly wrapped around something, warm flesh against my cold hands. A hand cupped my chin, bringing my eyes upwards to him. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear him.

Each word had his split, double-pierced tongue wiggling at me. He was incredibly handsome, sharp jaw with tattoos coming to a halt at his neck. His ears were full of gauges and more piercings than I could count. He was pale, though, and probably needed more time in the sunlight.

“Psalm? Can you hear me?” His voice finally broke through the ringing.

Then I remembered the explosion and Kennedy.

Kennedy wasn’t herself before she exploded like a bomb. She wasn’t answering my calls, and red runes crossed her pale skin. Then just as she reached the gates, boom. Father Nero’s body took most of the blow from us hitting the ground.

Looking towards the gate, I saw a rock wall that wasn’t there before. Father Nero must have used alchemy on the ground to protect us.

“Psalm! Are you okay?” He snapped at me, pulling my face back to his.

“Are you?!” I questioned, hands running over his body. My cold fingers warmed against his toned body, which I didn’t expect with all the cookies he ate. I became painfully aware of how close our bodies were as I was basically on top of him. Abs rippled under my touch as we both sat up.

“As much as I love this skin-to-skin contact, we will have to save it. We have company,” Nero muttered, reaching into the air and saying, “Arma.”

I glanced around the rock wall, seeing at least a hundred vampires on the prowl and entering the gates that were supposed to protect us. They were never supposed to be inside the walls that wrapped around all of the surviving cities.

A weapon appeared between us, chains with daggers on the end of them. One chain clanked as Nero pulled off one of the daggers and handed it to me.

“Go get help from the bishops. I’m sure they are already up by now. Let people know to evacuate the area,” Nero ordered, standing. The wall he created from alchemy was taller than he was, which was hard to believe. Not a lot of people could do this kind of magic and make it as stable as Nero did.

My fingers looked tiny as they wrapped around his chin and pulled it to my face. He blinked at me, not expecting it. “I am not leaving you to fight them. What are you, stupid?”

“Very,” he answered with a smirk on his lips.

“Over my dead body,” I snapped.

His massive hand engulfed my waist, and he pulled me flush against him, dagger pressing to my chest. My head tilted back to look up at him. “That can be arranged, Psalm. You are a rookie, and you will obey my commands.”

Why did my heart just skip a beat?

“Go get help. I can hold them off.”

Pushing back, I stared at him, hearing the vampires getting closer and entering the academy from different sides. He was right; I was just a rookie with barely any knowledge of the magic. “Fuck!” I snapped, jabbing a finger into his chest. “If you survive this, I’ll bake every cookie in the book for you.”

A hint of a small smile hit his thin lips. “Deal. Now go!”

My finger wrapped around the handle of the dagger before rushing to the door we came out of. A vampire was quick, closing the space between me and the door. I prepared my weapon to stab him in the heart when a twin dagger flew and jabbed him in the neck. Glancing over my shoulder, Nero winked at me.

I felt horrible leaving him, but he ordered me to. Soon the vampire will be wreaking havoc, and we need help. There were rookies here; most of them unable to wipe their own asses.

Outside, the first waves of vampire creatures were attacking. I felt the magic of Nero filling the air, willing me to get help faster. Rushing down the hall towards the bishops, I pulled on the fire alarm, sounding it off.

A hell seeker slid right in front of me, stopping me from continuing. I slid to a stop, dagger in hand. Hell seekers, the ones that will eat you whole, almost like you didn’t exist in the first place.

The seeker smirked at me, mouth seams breaking to unhinge its jaw. He wanted to eat me whole, and I wanted to kill this mother fucker. Toxic spit dripped from his lips, burning holes into the hall’s floors.

The halls began filling with stupid rookies, all running from the scene. The seeker tried to reach for one of the students, and I acted, shoving my right arm into the mouth of the vampire and shoving my right hand down his acid-filled mouth. Like a cigarette, a red amber crossed his body, leaving the skin to turn to white ash. His spit burned through my clothes on my arm, but not my skin.

More vampires flooded the halls, and my body itched to kill each and every one of them. I wanted to watch them turn to dust, bleed, and beg for mercy as revenge for my friend.

---