CHAPTER 74: GHOULS AND FIRE

GHOULS AND FIRE

Rachael screams in battle gyration as she runs toward Elma who is surrounded, she stabs and kicks at the ghouls to get off the vampire and as their numbers reduce Elma gets back in the fight. Elma burst through the crowd of ghouls atop her, with red and black veins underneath her eyes and her face taking a hideous shape.

She shouts out in anger and grabs the ghouls as she walk, sinking her fangs and drinking their blood before snapping their necks.

Rachael has never seen a vampire this way before, Elma begins to move at a higher speed, tearing and throwing their arms and feet as she detaches them.

Her mouth trickles with black liquid which Rachael makes out to be the blood of the ghouls. Their ghastly and skinny bodies break under the weight of the vampire's punches.

Rachael is distracted and does not notice when a ghoul gets close to her but she is swift enough to dodge its attempt to grab her and she drives the sharp point of the broken spear into its mouth and out of its head.

She feels a brutal pain on her side as a ghoul's fist hits her belly and she flies off and onto the ground she falls. Coughing and spitting as blood trickles down her mouth.

She tastes the fish she ate at sea behind her tongue and her vision becomes blurry for a second, she gasps for air as she feels the breath in her lungs give way.

She never thought the fist of one these skinny creatures would hurt so much but now she knows how much she has to be careful. She isn't a vampire or a sphinx, she doesn't have Nightmare or a recovery tunic. Amanda can't help her now because she too has to fight; if Rachael doesn't get herself together she may join Gabriel in the afterlife.

She stands to her feet but has little time to catch her breath as another ghoul charges toward her with sharp claws swinging her way. She sweeps it off its feet with her leg and stabs it in the head and spits on it.

Blood stains its face and its comrades jump on it, tearing and feasting on the little blood that stains it while Rachael moves backwards.

"Of course, ghouls are like vampires. Bloodthirsty but worst because they are usually starved," she thinks.

She has to be careful; she is human after all. She feels grateful for the powder Dalot gave to them at Pike market, it has masked her human scent well if not these ghouls would have rushed over to her and tear her into pieces.

But in the midst of the craziness a plan blooms in her mind, a plan that needs the sphinx of fire; Amanda.

Hans shrieks in the air and eyes Rachael as Amanda is fast on his trail, he watches the human hold her own but he can tell that she is the weak link in the group. He dives inward, toward her as she turns away and his feet grips her shoulders like an eagle. He lifts her into the skies and flies off, laughing hysterically and singing a strange and ancient song.

Amanda flies behind him with her wings flapping harder than his but he his no fool, he changes direction every time she gets close while Rachael hits her weapons against his feet.

When he is almost 200feet above ground he drops Rachael and let her screaming voice echo in the dark as Amanda dives after her.

Hans turns into bats and fly toward the sphinx, covering her view and tormenting her with little bites on her wings and feet.

"Fuck off," she screams as Rachael's body becomes barely visible underneath the curtain of bats.

"You will all die here," she hears the winged vampire's voice.

"So will you," she snarls back and roars, flames come out of her mouth and burns the bats in her way but her ears pick on the sounds of the screaming human as the bats move from her sight.

She flaps her wings hard and moves faster, Rachael is close to the ground but the sphinx uses all the strength in her wings to fly and she reaches the human. She covers her in a hug and her wings cover both of them as they come crashing onto the ground. Their gravity pulled bodies is dragged across the grounds and creates a path as the stones and bones prick at Amanda's body.

"Fuck," Amanda groans.

"Amanda, I have a plan" Rachael says.

"Does it involve killing that guy because he is a pain in the ass," Amanda says as she notice Hans materialize a few feet away from them. "These ghouls are attracted to blood. I want to lure them in then you burn them all," Rachael says as they both get up.

Amanda groans and rubs her back, "Alright, it is good but he isn't going to sit in one place while we roast them," she says.

"We need someone to hold him off," Rachael says and glances at Elma who is on a rampage, her fair skin is stained with the black blood of her victims.

"I got this," Amanda says, she turns and throws a ball of fire toward Hans who is unprepared and the blast takes him backwards against the ground. Amanda flies toward Elma, she burns the ghouls around her before jerking her off the floor.

Elma kicks and screams, "What are you doing?" she snarls, "We need you to occupy big daddy here for a minute," Amanda says and drops her on top of Hans.

Elma waste no time in sinking her fangs into his neck while the winged vampire claws at her back.

Rachael uses the edge of the spear to cut herself as the ghouls come closer, they sniff and recognize the smell of human blood, "I may not smell like a human anymore but I bet my blood does. Come on you bitches," Rachael says as she raises her bleeding hand.

The blood trickles down her wrists and drops on her shirt; the ghouls charge toward her and she begins to run around the compound.

Amanda hovers over them, waiting for all of them to join in the chase.

Rachael runs with everything she has but the ghouls are not far behind, she jumps over a few broken statues and some stones as she runs. The ghouls soon begin to come from every direction leaving little route for her to take but yet she keeps running.

Her feet feel like stones and she feels some weakness as her blood keeps dripping but yet she keeps running.

Her breath begins to fail her and her muscles ache while the ghouls draw closer as they tirelessly chase after her blood but yet she keeps running.

She suddenly falls and lies on her back and the sounds around her fade under the shrieking voices of the ghouls. For a split second the world seems like it is at its end as her eyes stare at the spiral clouds and the snow kiss her cheeks.

She feels the snow melt against her face and the cold air turn into a hot breeze. The atmosphere lights up in ember colors and the loud shriek of burning ghouls becomes a solemn music to her ears.

"Burn them all," she mumbles as Amanda stands over her, turning in all directions and shooting out flames from her hands. She burns them till they are nothing but ash and crispy bones.

Amanda helps Rachael up, "That was crazy," she says but their little time of relief is put to an end when Elma's body comes crashing into theirs.

Rachael groans as she feels nothing but pain coursing through her whole body.

Hans walk toward them with bright and angry eyes, "This little child dares drink from me. You will all die for this," he says.