Tenth Grade Bleeds

material?” Vlad glanced quickly to check on his uncle, but Otis and Ignatius had disappeared down the hall. Vlad could only hope that Otis was strong enough to defeat his own father. He turned his attention back to D’Ablo, balling up his fists in fury. “Now do you want to go ahead and admit that your little plan has failed and give up? If not, then I suggest we finish this.”

D’Ablo cast a condescending smile, “As you wish.” His sword having been knocked away when Vlad kicked him, D’Ablo lashed out with his fist, catching Vlad under his jaw. Vlad flew several inches into the air and came down hard on the floor. But he wasn’t down for long. When D’Ablo jumped to cover him, he kicked him in the chest with both feet, sending him flying, then did a flip and was on his feet again.

Henry had reappeared, and he yelled Vlad’s name. Vlad looked just in time to see a small object flying through the air toward him. He turned his attention back to D’Ablo long enough to deliver a kick to his side that sent the vampire skidding across the floor. He turned back and reached out his hand to catch what Henry had thrown. His friend had one small bit of advice: “Just make sure you don’t miss.”

Vlad furrowed his brow, and then opened his hand. What he saw there completely explained why Henry had disappeared and very nearly made him hug Henry on the spot. He turned the familiar black cylinder over in his palm, and all he could hope was that what he was holding was the real Lucis, not the copy he’d been tricked with last year. He turned just as D’Ablo reached down to retrieve his sword. Holding his breath, Vlad aimed and brushed his thumb against the glyph on the end of the Lucis.

The room lit up with a brilliant white light. Otis came running back into the room, having apparently defeated Ignatius. He ducked just in time for the powerful beam of light to miss hitting him square in the side of the head. Vlad brushed the glyph again, closing the greatest weapon known to vampirekind.

D’Ablo howled. His hand had been blown completely off, leaving nothing but a charred stump behind. But “off” wasn’t an exact description, as the hand was nowhere to be found. It had been blown into oblivion, into nonexistence.

D’Ablo’s screams echoed in the lobby of the empty office building, blending with a myriad of curse words in every language he could think of, including one that Vlad guessed to be Elysian code. Vlad gripped the Lucis tightly, but he didn’t turn it on again. Something sick and horrible filled his insides. He couldn’t kill D’Ablo. He couldn’t kill anyone that his father had called friend, despite the fact that he hated D’Ablo with a passion. He lowered the Lucis and met Otis’s eyes. “I can’t kill him, Otis. I’m sorry.”

Otis stood, his eyes wide in disbelief. He stepped toward his nephew. “I can. Give me the Lucis. This menace will not be stopped until we stop him, Vladimir. It ends today.”

Vlad flung the Lucis away, letting it fly from his hand. It tumbled through the air, and time stood still.

Otis pleaded with his eyes, but Vlad tightened his jaw stubbornly. “It does end today. But not that way, Otis. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I allowed my dad’s friend to die.”

Otis shook his head. The Lucis clattered onto the floor. “He won’t stop. He will never stop.”

The Lucis rolled over the slatted top of an open vent. Vlad whispered, “I know.”

Otis dove forward, but it was too late. The Lucis slipped between his fingers and down the vent shaft. He hung his head, defeated.

A curved blade sang through the air, stabbing through Otis’s hand. Otis screamed, and Ignatius pulled him back into the dark shadows of the hallway.

Vlad jumped forward to follow, but something large slammed into his side, knocking him through the air. He managed to glance in the direction he was flying quickly enough to shield his face with his hands. He smashed through the glass of the front door, and suddenly he could feel the sunlight on his skin as he fell outside. The smell of acrid smoke filled his nostrils, and fire lit up his sleeve. He was burning.

He opened his eyes, but couldn’t stand, couldn’t run from the sun’s murderous heat. Something was on top of him.

D’Ablo shrieked as his hair and flesh burst into flames, but not with pain… with laughter. He growled into Vlad’s horrified face, “Perhaps it’s better this way, Vladimir Tod. Perhaps it’s better that we die together.”

Then Vlad realized that the flames he felt weren’t coming from him. D’Ablo’s burning flesh had set his clothing on fire. Vlad was perfectly fine… and in full sunlight.

He screeched, “D’Ablo, get to the shadows! You’re dying!”

In a horrific, gravelly voice, flames framing his face as his skin charred before Vlad’s very eyes, D’Ablo said, “We’re both dying.”

He withdrew the ritual dagger with his only hand from somewhere behind him and lifted it high in the air.

Vlad almost choked from the smoke coming off D’Ablo’s burning flesh. He pushed as hard as he could with his mind, into D’Ablo’s thoughts, just long enough to make him drop the blade. Once metal had clanged against pavement, Vlad grabbed the dagger and pointed at his attacker.

D’Ablo stood, still aflame, and ran toward the nearest dark alley. All the while, he screamed.

Vlad dropped the weapon and rested his head on the concrete. After a moment, he held up a hand in the sunlight. It felt warm. It felt good.

And it erased any small remaining doubt that he was the Pravus the prophecy had spoken of.

25 THE AFTERMATH

VLAD PULLED OPEN THE DOOR and stepped back into the lobby, where Henry and Otis were waiting for him. Otis lurked back near the elevator, where the shadows were at their heaviest, covered in what smelled like Ignatius’s blood. Vlad threw his uncle an exhausted glance. “I thought drinking my blood would render the drinker immune to sunlight.”

“You thought wrong.” Otis frowned, watching the alley across the street. “As did he. I told you, Vladimir. Fairy tales and nonsense.”

Henry stood near the front windows, gazing at the alleyway that D’Ablo had disappeared into with an intensity Vlad didn’t know he was capable of. Henry pursed his lips. “We should go after him, Vlad. Finish him off. Otherwise, he’ll never stop trying to kill you.”

Vlad looked back over his shoulder at the bright, sunny day and shook his head. “My dad would have let him live.”

Otis’s voice was gruff. “Are you so sure of that, Vladimir?”

Vlad paused. In truth, he wasn’t, but he hoped that his assumption was right. “Even if he wouldn’t, I’m going to. It’s the right thing to do.”

The sidewalk began to fill with people. The city had awakened, and very soon, the building would be bustling with activity. “We should find some sunblock for you, Otis, and get home. I’m sure Nelly will be furious that I’ve been out all night.”

“Not to mention worried out of her mind.” A small smile curved Otis’s lips. “But I’m sure she’ll understand once we explain that you had important vampire business to attend to… such as saving my life.”

Otis grabbed Ignatius’s corpse from where he had left it near the end of the hallway and slid it along the floor to the waiting elevator. He dropped it, ran a shaking hand through his hair, and sighed. “ That’s going to mean a lot of paperwork for someone.”

Vlad chuckled. “After everything we’ve just been through, you’re worried about somebody’s paperwork?”