Page 57 of Monster Lover

“Fly now, for with the incredible speed of my giant bats you should reach Graymont by dawn’s early light, and then my escort will leave you,” he said, pointing at his vampires and bats.

Daemona climbed atop her bat, and it turned its head to nip at her. “Hey!”

“It simply wants to know your scent. You are unfamiliar to her.”

“Her?”

“Of course,” said Ghul Tark. “All of my best servants are female.”

“Of course, they are,” answered Daemona sarcastically to herself.

The bat flapped its great leathery wings and they were in the air. Ghul Tark stood below, his pale face gleaming in the dim light. The foul reek of the cavern was replaced with fresher air from outside. They flew along in the dark, weaving chaotically as the bats sounded their echoing squeaks against the cavern walls, then suddenly they were outside. They went up above the night fog and stars came into view along with a cruel looking moon that bathed the bats’ wings in its cold light.

Never one to be afraid of heights, Daemona was still taken aback at this distance. Far below, the massive Manor looked like a doll’s house among the weeds of an overgrown and neglected garden. The graveyard with its many tombs was barely perceptible except for the massive grey mausoleums that stood out like mushrooms. She wondered if Malkieth still waited for her, and if his memory had returned. She wondered if she could gamble on his help. She had to take the chance. This is going to be tricky. She had never dealt with vampires or their bats before, but she hoped a rumor she had heard about their weaknesses could work.

As they soared, the bats and their vampire riders jockeyed for position, as if each wanted to be in front of the others. Daemona guessed they wanted this journey to be over so they wouldn’t have to worry about being exposed in the daylight. Regardless, she was able to be last in the line of four.

She ported behind the last vampire astride his bat. She crossed her blades and loosed the head from the body. Almost instantly, it turned to dust, but also exploded like a powder keg in a flash of orange and black smoke. The bat screeched and dive-bombed.

Daemona was thrown from its back and free-fell. She saw the other two vampires guide their mounts to turn about. They swooped toward her with angered faces, their fangs long in front of wide mouths.

If Daemona didn’t have the ability to port, she would have been doomed, but she simply ported her way back up, higher into the sky.

And then she was behind another vampire. She sliced her daggers through the air, but this vampire was quicker than the last. He dodged aside and though she slashed him across the shoulder, he laughed as if it hadn’t harmed him in the least. The vampire reached back with a long-clawed arm and scraped at her flesh. The claws dug in deep through her jacket. Blood flowed, and the vampire’s eyes widened, his tongue lolling in greedy anticipation.

Daemona ported to the bottom of the bat and sliced the saddle free.

The bat screeched in pain at the nick and veered hard to the left. The vampire and the saddle he was on went hard to the right. He was still holding the reins of the bat and was now being dragged along through the air. His deadweight on the reins forced the beast down into a dive bomb.

Daemona laughed to herself over the spectacle, but realized she was falling too and had to port higher into the air. She did so just in time, because the last vampire swooped down and nearly caught her in the giant bat’s claws. The bat screeched in disappointment.

Deciding that the best plan was to eliminate their squeaking flying steeds, Daemona ported and slashed the leathery skin of the bat itself. She cut the wings and the huge bat screeched and tumbled over itself, free-falling with the loss of its ability to both glide and flap.

The vampire dove at Daemona but missed as she ported above him. The vampire turned himself into a bat and head directly for her. I should have expected that.

The bat morphed back into his humanoid form just before he would have collided with Daemona. She ported away. No way was she going to let one of them get a grip on her. Since she had vanished, he changed back into a bat and whipped around, looking for her.

They were getting closer to the ground, and Daemona was painfully aware that the vampire bat was still coming for her. Rather than give him the chance to come at her from every possible direction, she decided it was better to meet him on the ground. She ported down and landed just above a swamp, where she splashed down. Stepping out of the bog was a little more difficult than she planned on. Something huge swished through the murk, coming toward her. She ported to the shore and found a branch that could be used as a wooden stake.

A force slammed her to the ground. The vampire bat had been swifter than she realized. As he rapidly changed back into his humanoid form, his mouth opened wide and his long fangs grew longer.

“I’ve hungered for this,” he hissed.

Daemona ported out from beneath him, but only a few feet before he somehow grabbed hold of her again.

“Not so fast,” he snarled.

Daemona panicked. How could he hold onto me like that? I’ll have to get rid of him like I did the Necro Priest. She tried to port away again and take him toward a clump of trees, but she couldn’t. He held her in place. How is that possible? She wanted to scream but the vampire put his clammy hand over her mouth.

“I’m not like the rest of them, no. I used to be a Incubus too,” he said, laughing without mirth. “I know all of your tricks. I can do all that you can, but more, yes, I can.”

Daemona didn’t stop struggling, but it seemed the vampire’s iron grip never relaxed. She tried to stab at him with the wooden stake, but he caught her hand easily.

“The master should have known better than to trust you. Never trust the living, I always say.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Daemona snarled, still trying to overcome his death grip.

Something moved behind them in the gloom, something coming out of the brackish water.

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