Page 61 of Monster Lover

“Vampiro!” snarled Ghul Lykos. “He is mine!”

Vampiro did not wait for the werewolf’s attack. He stepped forward and batted away both Harlin and Sykaryn’s sword strokes. Daemona ported above him and tried to drive her daggers into his back, but he was hyperaware of her presence. Unfolding his wings like a switchblade, he sent her flying away, bruised and bloody.

Ghul Lykos, his hair standing on end, howled and charged. Clawed hands met and gripped one another while sharp teeth snapped from each muzzle. The red glaring eyes of Vampiro burned into his hated enemy. They pushed and pulled, until Vampiro lifted him up and slashed Ghul Lykos with his clawed feet.

Blood flowed freely from the werewolf, but just as suddenly, it stopped. The wound had sealed up. This was a contest of monstrous champions and there could be only one victor.

Breaking their death grip on one another, Vampiro lifted himself up in the air and a purple blast from Esmerelda caught his attention. He screeched and swooped down at her, his icy black claws open like an eagle’s to catch her.

Miniver pushed her aside and took that hit.

“Miniver!” screamed Esmerelda.

Vampiro held Miniver like rag doll. He toyed with him, tossing him back and forth from hand to hand.

“Surrender to me,” boomed Vampiro.

“Never!” answered Sykaryn.

“Very well,” replied the monster. The ferryman cried out as Vampiro drained him of his lifeblood in an instant, the bat’s bloodlust not even close to being sated.

Sykaryn screamed, “No!” She charged at Vampiro, striking him with her sword, but he backhanded her away.

“You have no idea of my power,” he boomed.

“I do,” came a new voice.

Daemona whirled in shock and saw Ivy, looking pale yet otherwise whole and healthy, getting to her feet behind them. That is, until Daemona noticed that Ivy now had long fangs protruding from the top of her mouth.

“Ivy? You’re alive?” asked Ghul Lykos. Tears of joy ran down his hairy face.

“I don’t know,” Ivy said, “but I’m here to help rid the world of this monster.”

Vampiro ran a long tongue over his muzzle. “I’ll have you for the main course and save the wolf for dessert.” He dove toward Ivy. She faced him, unafraid, but Ghul Lykos intercepted the massive bat, slamming into him into the wall. The wood paneling crunched beneath them and Vampiro threw Ghul Lykos away, but just as suddenly the werewolf was back.

They tumbled one over the other like a pair of twisted cyclones, destroying many of the boneheads that got in their way. The beasts tore at each other and roared like the breaking of the world. Esmerelda held her hands over her ears as she knelt beside poor old Miniver.

Biting and snapping, the two fiends clawed and scraped as they painted the room with each other’s crimson. Both healed exceptionally fast from the wounds they sustained, but Daemona knew that eventually their energies would wear down and only one could be victorious.

“We have to help him,” Daemona shouted.

Sykaryn nodded and charged in with her longsword. She shouted her war cry and was batted aside almost as quickly. Daemona ported in behind Vampiro and made ready to plunge her daggers into his back, but just as suddenly, the pair of monsters wheeled about, and she had to port away before she accidentally stabbed Ghul Lykos. The two monsters slammed against the far wall.

Harlin made good on finishing the rest of the boneheads near him when he suddenly exclaimed, “I thought there would be more? Where are they?”

“I’ve taken care of that,” said Malkieth as he strode through the doorway. “Oh, dear me,” he clicked as he noticed Vampiro and Ghul Lykos. “Anyway, I’ve cast a powerful turn spell that is holding the rest of the skeletal warriors Ghul Tark mustered at bay. For at least a time, it is left to only that which remains inside the manor.”

“Who’s this?” huffed Sykaryn.

Vampiro then threw Ghul Lykos away with a yelp from the werewolf. “I am done with you all!” the monster cried.

“We’ll see about that! Where is my sister?!” Sykaryn demanded as she again charged at him with her sword. Daemona took the opportunity to port behind to attack as Harlin and Ivy too charged ahead.

Like a thunderclap, all of them slammed their weapons at the horrible vampire and even Ghul Lykos picked himself up to attack.

Swords, daggers, arrows, and claws all sliced into the vampire lord. With a great wail, he threw them all back, but the injuries were too much. He slumped to his knees and the horrific vampire bat form of Vampiro withered. Ghul Tark in his human form lay broken on the floor.

“Help me, oh Grey Empress of darkness, help me,” he cried out. “Open the way for me.”

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