Dark fairytales: The children of Lilith

chapter 13

We walked over to the graveyard. I was shocked by the sight in front of me. Ben, Teresa, Aiden and my mother were tied down with chuckles to the ground. their mouths were gagged with a cloth.  Their eyes filled with terror. I saw my mother nodding 'no' when she saw us approaching. I immediately ran over to them, removing my mother's gag. "You shouldn't have come" she said. "You'll get yourself killed."

Before I could respond, I heard footsteps approaching. When I looked into the direction of the sound, I saw Grimbald. I could feel the anger rise in me as he spoke. "Liz, Taylor, welcome to my party." "We're here, now let them go!" Liz said in a strong voice. "And ruin all the fun?" Grimbald laughed. "Oh no, I will not do such a thing." "Why are you doing this?" I asked. He looked at me. "Because I can, because I want to show you the true nature of this world." This time Liz spoke again. "Henry, you were one of the founding members of our organization. Why have you turned against us? What happened?"

Grimbald's eyes turned to fire. "I have worked for years to get this organization to work, I have fought for us to have a civil life without constantly being hunted down and killed, just because some of us hunted humans. But the more work I put into it, the more I started to realize that we were being suppressed. They do not see us as equals, they see us as monsters. Useful whenever they need us, but the moment they have what they want, they put a knife in our back. Why do we have to hide who we are just to have a life? Why can't we just be ourselves and be accepted for what we are? You of all people should know what I'm talking about." He sneered at Liz. "This all became clear to me one evening. It was July 1872. The humans had discovered a vampire family in their town. Around that time, there were some murders. Of course, the humans blamed them. They chased them down and killed all of them. The fact that they had nothing to do with it didn't matter. The humans were just looking for a scapegoat. I saw what was happening and went to investigate the situation. When I was sure they were innocent, I tried to protect them but then the humans turned against me as well. I had done everything for them, I was forsaking who I was just to protect our lifestyles and to protect the humans alike. After that night, I decided I was done. I embraced my vampiric side and didn't hold back anymore. I took it upon myself to put our race back in our rightful place at the top of the food chain. The humans believe that they are superior because of their technology and their numbers. They believe they are at the top because they are responsible or the extinction of many other species. They are a despicable race who are only good as blood bags."

"You're insane" I yelled. "You're completely delusional."  "Shut up!' He shouted. "Don't yell at her" Liz shouted at him. "Liz, you're going to have to choose at one point." He said. "At one point, you will have to make a decision. Them or us. Of course, you can always keep your little pet." He said while looking at me. "Don't call her that" Liz yelled at him. Then he saw the way we looked at each other. "Oh no, she's got you under her spell Liz, don't you see that? She uses you. But it's not to late, join me and together we will free our race from this oppression." Now Liz was furious. "Forget it!" She spat trough gritted teeth. "Then I'm afraid I'll have to kill you" Grimbald replied, after which he transformed himself into a bat-like creature with large fangs, long black nails and giant wings. Liz looked at me. "I'm sorry" she said. "But you are about to see my bad side." And now, Liz too transformed into her full vampire mode.

Grimbald ran towards her, his black fingernails drawn out into sharp knife-like points. Liz dodged it easily, grabbed his arm and hit him in the back of his head with her elbow. Grimbald seemed to lose his balance for a moment, but soon regained it and strikes again. This time scratching Liz in her face, leaving three large cut marks. A devilish roar escaped from her mouth as she went into counter attack, punching him in the face multiple times before jumping up and kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying over the graveyard and destroying some of the headstones in the process. Grimbald regained his composure and launched at her again, this time flying trough the air. Liz intercepted him mid air and fought him with all she got. Both delivered and received a large amount of punches and scratches.

At one point, Grimbald smashed her into the church tower, which had her crashing down on the ground surrounded by the debris. Grimbald grinned at this and turned his gaze towards me, getting ready to dive at me. "Oh no you don't!" I heard Liz yell before she crashed into him and resumed the battle. She kicked him as far away from us as possible.

While they were fighting, I saw a chance to free my friends and family. So I ran towards them and took a look at the chuckles. They were made out of cast iron, so there was no way of opening them. Then I remembered what I had been doing all day. I concentrated as much as I could and tried to unlock the locks. It took a while, but eventually I succeed in my task. My mother immediately stood up and embraced me. "I knew you could do it, I'm so proud of you." She said. Ben, Teresa and Aiden all looked at me. "So, you have magical powers now?" Asked Ben. "Well, apparently I'm a witch." I said. Aiden smiled. "I always knew you had something wicked about you." He said. Then we heard Teresa yell. "Look out!" I looked up and saw Liz flying backwards at our general direction. Grimbald was hanging in the sky above her with a smirk on his face.

We very nearly dodged her as she hit the ground, leaving a landing mark in the ground. "You have leave now." I said to the four people in front of me. "What about you?" Teresa asked. "I'm not leaving Liz alone." I said back. My mother looked at me with a stern face. "And we're not leaving you;" She said with authority in her voice.

Liz stood back up and seemed to be exhausted. She looked at me and told me to run before she took of and went to fight again. Both vampires were souring trough the evening sky, kicking and punching and scratching wherever they could. Destroying the entire place whenever they hit something. Then Grimbald kicked her and she went flying towards a stone wall, burying her under the rubble. Now Grimbald looked at me again. "Time to die, little bitch." He screamed as he came flying towards me. I stood there, to terrified to move. I held my hands before my face as if trying to protect it. And then, all of a sudden, there was what seemed to be a blue energy wave coming from my body, sending him flying in confusion.

Now Liz crawled from under the rubble, her clothes torn, her body full of bruises and scratches. She stumbled towards me to see if I was alright. Her breath was shaky, as she was running on fumes. "You need blood." I told her. "I... don't have...any...with me..." She said in between breaths. "Drink mine." I said. She looked at me for a moment, but then bit me in my neck and drank from it. When she had enough, she went to attack Grimbald again, who had regained his composure as well. I stood there, shaking on my legs because of the blood loss. Ben and Teresa ran towards me to offer me support, which I gladly took.

We watched in horror as the fight continued. Both vampires kept on battling each other, until at one point they came crashing into a stone wall again. Trough the dust, we saw one figure sitting on top of the other with it's hand raised in the air, ready to strike. When the dust had cleared enough, we saw it was Liz who was sitting on top.

Grimbald smiled at her. "You fought well." He said. "You could be an asset to our cause." Liz spat at him. "I will never join you!" "You're so naive." Grimbald said. "Do you really think killing me is going to make any difference? The Children of Lilith are larger and far more powerful than you can imagine."

"Shut up you!"

"Well, go on then. Do it. Kill me. But know this. One day you will have to choose. Us or them."

"Go to hell."

With that, Liz plunged her clawed hand into his chest and ripper out his heart before cutting his throat with her razor sharp nails.