The Vampire's Apprentice

Alain limped through the night as fast as his wounded leg would let him, leading with his rifle as he went. There were still a few cultists scattered throughout the town, though he easily made short work of them thanks to the rifle Danielle had tossed him. Soon enough, the only muzzle flashes still erupting through the night were those from Father Keenan as he tried desperately to fend off Az, but to absolutely no avail.

Eventually, the pursuit had to come to an end, which it did when Az increased his pace as much as he could, apparently having finally grown tired of dealing with Father Keenan. He caught up to the man in red and bowled him over, then roughly tore the revolver from his hand; the sound of shattering bone filled the night, joined shortly thereafter by Keenan's agonized screams.

Alain got there just in time to find Az standing over Keenan's crumpled form with his fist cocked back, no doubt intending on delivering a lethal blow to him.

"Az!" Alain called out, stopping him. Slowly, Az turned towards him, then gave him a nod.

"Alain," he said gruffly. "Don't interfere; this doesn't involve you."

"But it does involve you, then?" Az said nothing in response, and Alain's gaze narrowed. "Az, I trust you with my life. So does Sable. You know this, so why try to hide something from us?"

"You wouldn't get it. He has information that rots the brain and turns the most noble souls dull," Az grunted as he turned his attention back to Father Keenan, his gaze narrowing. "Some things are beyond comprehension even to those who lurk on the other side of the Veil. A great many of those things, in turn, should be left well enough alone by all involved. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to understand what they're trying to mess with."

"Then talk to me," Alain all but pleaded. "Help me understand."

Az shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, I can't."

"What does that mean, Az? Are you somehow sworn to secrecy on this, the same way you can't tell Sable or I what you truly are?"

Az said nothing. Alain stared at him in dismay before turning towards Father Keenan, who was cradling his shattered hand, small grunts of pain escaping from him as he winced in agony.

"At least let me question him," Alain said. "If nothing else, I want to be sure that we can free Sable before you kill him."

Az let out another grunt, but did as Alain asked, stepping away from the man in red. "Very well. But be swift."

Alain nodded. "Much appreciated."

He stepped over to Father Keenan, still carrying his borrowed lever-action rifle. Alain stood above him, the two men staring each other down for a moment, but saying or doing nothing else.

That ended when Alain raised his boot and roughly stomped on Keenan's injured hand.

A yowl of sheer agony broke through the night, and it only grew in intensity as Alain ground his heel on the injured man's hand.

"Do I have your attention?" Alain demanded.

"Fuck!" Keenan managed to get out. "Yes, yes, you do!"

"Are you going to answer my questions?" Keenan said nothing at first, prompting Alain to press a bit more of his body weight against Keenan's hand; the resulting scream told him everything he needed to know about the kind of cooperation he was about to get.

"Good," Alain said dryly. "First question – who the hell are you people, exactly? I want the name of your cult, who runs it, and what you all believe in."

"We… are the Acolytes of Leviathan," Keenan breathed. "We… believe that Leviathan is the one who will destroy all things, and in so doing, will grant us unimaginable power over the underworld."

Az let out an irritated growl as Keenan spoke and took a step forward, no doubt intending to finish him off, but Alain stopped him by holding out one of his arms.

"Wait," Alain told him. Az hesitated, but ultimately did as he was told and backed down. Once he was no longer an issue, Alain looked back to Father Keenan. "So, you're all trying to worship some kind of world-ending monstrosity from the underworld in the hopes that it'll grant you power over another plane of existence in return. Am I understanding that bullshit correctly?"

Keenan glared at him. "You dare insult our faith-"

"It's a yes or no question, Keenan; I expect a yes or no answer."

Alain pressed a bit of his body weight on Keenan's hand once more, and the red-cloaked man sucked in a pained breath before finally spitting it out.

"Yes!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Now, was that so hard?" Alain asked. "For the record, this isn't anything new for us; seems every other job we get is breaking up a crazy cult similar to yours. Though, that begs the question – why revere vampires so much if you worship this Leviathan thing, anyway?"

"Vampires are children of the night," Keenan breathed. "The very embodiment of all that is unholy, as well as a symbol of the underworld itself. To idolize them is to idolize destruction in its purest form."

"If you say so," Alain said absentmindedly. "Frankly, the only things I've ever seen Sable destroy are undead and expensive bottles of wine. But sure, I'll take your word for it. Of course, now I have to wonder… for as many cults and covens as we go through on a monthly basis, I must admit, yours is the one that's been the most successful of the entire bunch. Now why would that be, hm?"

Keenan said nothing. Alain leaned into his hand, earning another scream of pain from him.

"That was a genuine question, Keenan," Alain said, his eyes narrowing. "Answer it."

"Fuck you," Keenan said with a snarl. "I'm done answering your questions. Kill me already and be done with it."

"You know what I think?" Alain asked, ignoring Keenan's request for now. "I think you're not the one who's really in charge. I mean, at this point, I don't know who would be, but it's certainly not you; you're competent, but not nearly competent enough to pull off something like taking over both a train and a town with a crew this small. No, I think there's someone else pulling the strings. The only question is who." He shook his head. "Though I doubt you're going to give me that much. Still, at the very least, I imagine I can pry how to free my friend from the basement of that church out of you."

"Go to hell. I'm not telling you anything else."

Alain shrugged. "Okay. We'll do it the hard way, then. Az, I'm done with this guy; he's all yours." He turned and began to walk away, his mind suddenly flooding with images of the murdered family from the train. As an afterthought, he said to Az, "Make sure he feels it on his way out."

"With pleasure," Az said, cracking his knuckles as Alain stepped past him, heading back for the desecrated church.

He made it back just as a fresh chorus of Keenan's screams filled the night.

XXX

Alain winced as he made his way down the steps to the church's storm cellar, each movement jostling his wounded leg a bit, causing waves of pain to radiate through his entire body.

"Fuck me, I need to get this looked at…" he muttered through gritted teeth as he carefully descended the stairs.

Danielle was already there waiting for him, a rifle still in her hands. She pointed it at him as he reached the bottom of the steps, and Alain glared at her as he took the barrel of the gun and angled it so it was pointed away from him.

"For the record, don't ever point a weapon at me again," he sternly told her.

"Sorry," Danielle told him, lowering her rifle. "Had to make sure you weren't one of them."

"What, the Stetson didn't give it away?" Danielle didn't say anything, and Alain simply stepped past her, heading for the makeshift jail cell. "Sable."

She was still seated on the floor, leaned up against the wall. When he called her name, she looked up, her brow furrowing. "This isn't as fun as it looks, you know," she told him.

"Yeah, I'm aware. Don't worry, Keenan should be dealt with at any time-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Sable suddenly seized. Instantly, Alain was up against the bars, grasping them as he called her name, though she was quick to wave him off as she rose to her feet.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Just… feels like I'm suddenly myself again."

Recognition flashed across Alain's face. "Guess that means Az finally ended Keenan."

"Probably. Hang on, I'm going to break out of here." As an afterthought, she added, "You both might want to stand back."

Alain and Danielle did as she told them, stepping back towards the stairs. Sable pulled on the chain connecting her to the floor, shattering it with minimal effort, before stepping forwards and focusing on the bars to the makeshift jail. She grabbed hold of them and took a breath, and then pushed; several of the bars instantly went flying, impacting against the back wall and giving her just enough space that she could slip between the remaining parts of the cell.

Now freed, Sable breathed a sigh of relief as she stretched out. "Finally… you have no idea what it was like in there. It felt like I was sick and my whole body was cramping up at the exact same time." She cast a glance over at Alain, then gave him a nod. "Thanks for getting me out of there, and I'm glad that you're still in one piece."

"Barely…" Alain said, again through gritted teeth. "My leg feels like it's about to tear itself off."

Instantly, Sable's demeanor changed, and she was at his side. Before Alain could protest further, she had picked him up and was carrying him the way a mother might carry her injured child.

"You should've said something sooner," she told him. "Don't worry, though – we'll get you some help for your injured leg."

"I can walk just fine," Alain protested.

"Not on that leg, you can't."

"Being carried like this is beneath me."

"So is injuring yourself further."

Alain glared at her. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Sable's only response was to laugh, which was all he needed to her to know she was having the time of her life.