The Vampire's Apprentice

Later that night, the three of them left their respective rooms in the inn and set off for the cemetery. As they walked, Alain looked around town, frowning as he brought a hand up to his chin in thought.

"Ever wonder why these people always pick small towns like this?" he asked. "Seriously. First it was Los Banos, and now it's Bandera."

"Makes it easier for us, I suppose," Sable mused. "Less red tape to worry about."

"You can't be too disappointed," Az pointed out. "Aren't you originally from this state, whatever it's called?"

"Texas," Alain replied. "And yes, I am. And as you'll recall, I left for a good reason. This whole state has nothing but bad memories for me… though, admittedly, they've lessened a bit since I found out my mother survived the house fire, after all."

They all passed by the saloon where they'd been drinking earlier, each of them keeping an eye out for anything suspicious as they walked. The entire time, the other locals gave Az and Sable a very wide berth. Alain couldn't blame them for it, however; if he hadn't known the two of them personally, he probably would have done the same, just out of caution.

"Doesn't that get old?" Alain asked Sable as they rounded a corner and several people who'd been playing cards at a nearby table outside suddenly retreated inside, leaving their game unfinished.

Az shrugged. "Not really. And besides, people will acclimate in due time."

"If you say so. All I'm saying is, we're in the south. People down here aren't much for change, generally speaking. Hell, the entire nation nearly permanently split in two over that not too long ago, among other things."

"There'll be time to worry about that later," Sable urged. "Come on, let's not waste any more moonlight."

Alain nodded, and the three of them began to double-time it over to the cemetery.

XXX

"See anything?"

Sable shook her head. "Nothing yet. Give it time, I'm sure he'll show up eventually. And if not, we can always just come back tomorrow… or take a more proactive approach."

Alain grimaced, then shook his head. "I'd rather not rough up a young man like that."

"Not even if he's a necromancer?"

"Even then. We all do dumb shit when we're that age… it's just that what he's doing happens to be really dumb. Point is, if we can avoid the direct approach, I'd rather do that."

"Surprised you care so much," Az noted. "You were the one saying earlier that he couldn't have been acting alone. Seems like it'd be worth getting some of that information out of him by any means necessary."

"On the contrary," Alain replied. "If he's not working alone, then he's probably being set up by someone far more dangerous than him. At least, that's my assumption. Teenagers don't just start dabbling in stuff like this out of nowhere without prompting."

"How would you know?" Sable questioned.

"Sable, in all our time killing the undead these past few months, how many young necromancers have we fought? None, that's how many." Alain turned his gaze back to the cemetery. "Point is, I don't think this Adam kid is fully responsible for what he's doing, and I'd rather not beat his ass over what could ultimately be a stupid mistake on his part."

Next to him, Sable rolled her eyes. "Since when did you become such a bleeding heart?"

Alain said nothing, instead just shifting to make himself a bit more comfortable. Currently, the three of them were perched on the roof of a nearby three-story inn just across from the cemetery. They were lying prone on the roof, with just their heads exposed over the edge of the building. After a few more minutes of watching, Alain finally gave a frustrated sigh and shook his head.

"Alright, so I can't see shit anymore," he admitted. "It's officially too dark at this point for me to be of much help here."

"Cry some more, why don't you?" Sable taunted. Alain flipped her off, and she grinned at him, showing off her fangs. "All I'm saying is, it pays to be the apex predator."

"Oh, is that what you are?" Alain asked. "Must be why most of your important figures were hiding in a mountain in the Sierra Nevadas for so long."

"Alain, remind me again, between the two of us, who feeds who?"

"I feed you, which is why you should be nice to me, because otherwise you'll have to find a new source of blood."

"Hey," Az suddenly said, interrupting their friendly bickering. "I think I see movement."

Alain suddenly paused, then carefully pulled himself back to the ledge of the building to try and take a look. He squinted, trying to make out what was happening through the darkness. At that moment, the clouds covering the moon parted just enough for him to see a few figures moving about the cemetery. From what he could see, there were three of them, and two were obviously forcing the third to go along.

"That guy's hands are bound behind his back…" Sable muttered. "Looks like he has a hood over his head, too." She turned to Alain. "What should we-"

Alain didn't wait to hear more of her question. Instead, he jumped over the roof, landing on the balcony a few feet underneath him, then began to climb down. By the time he hit the ground, he was already drawing his shotgun and advancing into the cemetery.

And from the sound of things, Sable and Az weren't far behind him.

XXX

By the time Alain actually made it across the street to the cemetery, he was able to clearly tell what was going on. The third figure had been forced to kneel on the ground, all while the other two stood over him, one with a wicked-looking dagger in his hand.

That was all Alain needed to see. He shouldered his Winchester Model 1887 shotgun and fired, sending a spray of buckshot screaming downrange at the knife-wielding man. The pellets made impact, tearing a chunk of flesh out of the man's shoulder, but to Alain's amazement, he stayed standing; Alain had just a moment to question it before the man turned towards him, his eyes glowing blue through the hood he was wearing over his head.

"Oh, fuck me…" Alain groaned as he cycled his lever-action shotgun, ejecting the spent shell and chambering a fresh one. "Of course it's wights…"

The dagger-wielding man suddenly shoved his hostage aside, and then him and his accomplice began to race towards Alain. For his part, Alain was completely unperturbed; he merely took aim and fired, turning the dagger-wielder's head to paste. He watched as the now-lifeless body fell to the ground among the headstones, his blade falling uselessly to the dirt next to him. The second wight suddenly paused, his eyes going wide as he stared at the now-headless body of his former accomplice. Slowly, he turned to look at Alain.

"You didn't really think nobody knew how to deal with wights, did you?" Alain asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry to say, but you fucked up."

And then he raised his shotgun and disintegrated the second wight's head with another shell of buckshot.

The second lifeless body hit the ground just a short ways away from the hostage. Alain again cycled the action of his weapon, the dull sound of metal-on-metal echoing through the night like rolling thunder. The man kneeling on the ground tried to get up and run, even with the hood still on his head and his arms still bound behind his back; Alain managed to catch up to him and stop him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy there, buddy," Alain said as he slung his long gun over his shoulder. "Here, let me get you out of this."

Alain drew his knife and cut through the ropes binding the man in one fell swoop, then yanked the hood off his head. He didn't recognize the person under the hood, but in the moonlight, he was able to see that it was a young man, probably around sixteen if he had to guess, with short red hair and bright green eyes. He was tall for his age, standing just under six feet, and his face was pockmarked with freckles.

"So," Alain said, unslinging his shotgun to reload it. The boy flinched with every shell he slid into the weapon's action. "Alex, I presume?"

"Y-yes, sir," Alex said, giving a nervous nod.

"Alright. So, Alex, you fancy yourself a bit of a necromancer."

Alex's eyes widened, and he immediately turned to run away, only for Alain to sigh tiredly and stop him by putting a hand on his shoulder, then turned him back around so the two of them were facing each other once more.

"You're not in trouble, son," Alain told him. "At least, not yet. Now, tell me who's really running the show around here so I can keep it that way."

Alex swallowed nervously, but nodded. "A-alright… the ringleader's name is-"

"Alain!"

At the sound of Sable's voice, Alain turned around to face her and Az. As he did so, he scowled. "You both took your damn time," he noted.

"You looked like you had it under control," Az replied.

"Did you dispose of them all yet?" Sable asked.

Alain was about to say something in response, but never got the chance to before Alex suddenly pointed at Sable with a shaking hand.

"V-v-vampire!" he managed to stammer out. "You're… you're a real-life vampire…!"

Sable blinked. "Yes, I had noticed. But thanks for pointing it out anyway."

If it were possible, Alex's eyes suddenly widened even more at her confirmation. For a moment, Alain fully expected him to try to take off running yet again, but he didn't.

Instead, he immediately pushed past Alain and knelt down at Salem's feet, prostrating himself to her.

Sable blinked in surprise yet again, then turned to Alain. "Alain, what's this guy doing?"

"I think he's attempting to worship at the altar of Sable," Alain noted.

"Ah."

"That's all you have to say? I thought getting people to worship you was your whole thing."

"It is, but… this is just a little-"

"My lady, please hear my plea!" Alex said.

"-Weird," Sable finished. "Alright, uh… sure. First things first, on your feet; it's hard to talk to you when I can't see your face."

Alex obliged, rising to his feet. Sable reeled back when he leaned in to get a closer look at her. She peered past him to look at Alain, silently begging for help, only for Alain to shrug.

"This is your scene, not mine," he explained.

Her gaze narrowed, but she said nothing. Instead, she gave a heavy sigh, then looked back at Alex.

"Okay, kid," she offered. "What do you need from us?"

Alex hesitated for a moment, then exhaled before looking to her again.

"Can you bring my dead sister back?" he begged.