The Vampire's Apprentice

Sable blinked, completely taken aback by Alex's statement. Again, she looked to Alain for help, and this time, he sighed tiredly.

"Hate to say it, but you've got your mythical creatures mixed up," Alain offered. "If Sable can raise the dead, I've never seen her do it."

Alex turned towards him, a crestfallen look crossing his face. "Oh… but it is possible, right?"

"It's possible, but not in a good way," Az warned, finally breaking his silence. Alex turned to him, and Az motioned to the two now-headless wights on the ground. "When it comes to necromancy, most of the time, you just end up with a mindless corpse that's barely even loyal to the person who reanimated it. Best case scenario, you get a wight. And believe me when I say that the cost to get even that much is steep, and you don't strike me as the kind of person willing to pay it."

Alex was taken aback. He stared at Az for a moment, before softly saying, "But… they promised…"

"Slow down," Alain urged. "First of all, who's they?"

"The necromancers in charge of the group."

Alain let out a tired sigh. "Necromancers, as in plural? As in there's several of them? Fuck me…" He shook his head, even as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette and a match. "Things are never easy, are they?"

"If it was easy, everyone would do it," Sable replied. She looked back over at Alex. "Start from the beginning. What happened?"

Alex took a breath. "...My older sister, Camille, died a few years ago – bad case of tuberculosis. Doesn't really matter how she died, only that she's gone. That should have been it, you know? But then… that thing in New Orleans happened a few months ago, and suddenly, there was a chance. I-I mean… if you had the opportunity, wouldn't you bring back you loved who died young?"

"Me? No," Alain answered with another shake of his head. "But then again, I know how necromancy tends to turn out. Most regular people don't. I suppose I can't blame you too much for what happened, then."

"Either way, keep talking," Sable urged. "How'd you get introduced to the necromancers?"

Alex shifted, uncomfortable. "...I was visiting Camille's grave one day," he said. "They all approached me – said they were just passing through town on their way to some other state, can't remember exactly which one. Suppose it doesn't really matter either way… but anyway, they approached me, and offered me a chance to reunite with Camille if I joined them."

"And you believed them?"

"Not at first. But they told me to come back to the cemetery that night and they'd prove what they said. So I did, and… they brought a dead person back to life, right in front of me. After that, I couldn't say no."

"Why did they try to kill you?" Az questioned.

Alex bit his lip. "...Because I started to get cold feet with some of the things they were talking about, that's why. It was really weird stuff, like occult stuff… now, I may have been trying to raise the dead, but Mama raised me to be a God-fearing man, so once they started talking about that kind of stuff, I was out. Guess they didn't appreciate that."

"Sounds like they also planned to use you as fuel for some kind of ritual, too," Sable pointed out. "Must be why they brought you back here. My guess is, they planned to bleed you dry and use it to resurrect the whole cemetery. What they planned to do with that many corpses, I have no idea, but it can't be anything good."

"Figures…" Alain muttered as he lit up his cigarette and took a drag from it, then slowly exhaled. "And where could we find these necromancers?"

Alex turned to him, surprised. "You're going after them?"

"Won't get paid unless we do. Now, you know where to find them?"

"Uh… yeah, I suppose," Alex offered. "There's an old mill not far from town, to the east. That's where you'll find them."

Alain reached out and patted Alex on the shoulder. "Good man," he said, before pulling his hand away and brushing past Alex. "Do yourself a favor, son – either leave town or find someplace safe to hole up in while we take care of business."

"What…?" Alex breathed. "You think they're going to come to town?"

"I wouldn't bet against it," Alain said without looking back as him, Az, and Sable all began to walk away. "Trouble has a way of following us wherever we go."

XXX

True to Alex's word, there was indeed an old mill just to the east of town. It was situated at the base of a small hill, next to a dried-up river bed. Alain knelt at the top of the hill, shotgun held loosely in one hand, as he peered down at the mill, his face just barely illuminated in the night by the burning stub of the cigarette in his mouth.

"You should probably put that thing out if you don't want to be seen," Sable said as she knelt down next to him.

Alain let out a small grunt. "Won't matter. Clouds are out again; I can't see shit, which I take to mean they can't, either. Besides, it doesn't really matter – in a few minutes, they'll know we're here, anyway."

"Going in loud, then?" Az asked.

"Is there any other way to do it? Stealth doesn't particularly suit any of us, if you ask me." Alain rose to his feet, dusting his jeans off as he ashed what was left of his cigarette, then threw the stub on the dirt and ground his heel on it. "Sable, you've got keener senses than I do. Can you see anything?"

Sable leaned in a bit, squinting as she peered into the mill. After a moment, she gave a small nod. "Not much, but yes. Looks like there are some people wandering about down there. I think they've got guns."

"I'm not surprised," Alain mused. "We are in the south, after all, specifically Texas. Everyone's armed down here; you kind of have to be when you share a border with Mexico, to say nothing of the supernatural creatures that live out here."

"Still, that presents a problem," Az pointed out. "Getting shot might not immediately kill Sable or I, but it's still not pleasant for either of us, not to mention that you're nowhere near as sturdy as we are."

"So, how do we want to do this?" Sable asked. "Any ideas?

Alain thought for a moment, bringing a hand up to his chin as he did so. He looked down at the mill once more, taking note of how wide-open it was – there were several large buildings scattered across the premises, and given how necromancers tended to operate, he suspected there was probably at least one basement there, too – if one hadn't already existed when they'd moved in, then they'd almost certainly built one by now.

In any case, the mill being so open was both a blessing and a curse. It provided an opportunity for them to approach from almost anywhere, but it also meant that they'd be spotted almost instantly unless something were to distract the occupants somehow.

At that thought, Alain's gaze slid over to Sable and Az. Slowly, a plan began to come to mind.

"I've got something," he said.

"Don't tell us," Sable replied, "we're going to hate it?"

"Possibly. But unless either of you have something, I'm at a loss otherwise."

Az and Sable exchanged a glance, then looked back over to him.

"Let's hear it," Az said.

Alain nodded, then took a breath and began to speak.

XXX

Alain's first indication that the plan had gone off without a hitch was when he looked out from his spot behind some rocks and saw Az standing there, his hands raised above his head, with several men in black cloaks pointing guns at him while barking orders.

His second indication was when the screams started from inside the camp.

The plan had been simple – send Az in to distract the necromancers by approaching the mill, and when they were all sufficiently focused on him, turn Sable loose and let her do her thing.

And from the sound of things, she was doing exactly that.

Of course, the gunfire started not long after, and that was Alain's cue to rush in.

Az was already taking sporadic fire, but most of the necromancers had instead turned their attention towards Sable, and it wasn't exactly hard to see why – Alain didn't know what was going on inside the camp, but it had to be a bloodbath, just based on what he could hear even this far away.

"Az!" Alain called as he ran up alongside him. Az was currently sheltered in the river bed, keeping his head down as bullets whizzed by all around them, each one kicking up a clod of dirt and dust as it landed dangerously close. As Alain arrived, Az turned towards him, then motioned with his head.

"Guess this is where you take over," he said. "I'll head around back and join up with Sable."

Alain nodded, and Az rolled over onto his stomach and began to crawl away through the river bed. Alain watched him go for just a moment, then hefted his shotgun and began to lay down some fire over the top of the river bed, aiming towards the mill. The gunfire began to taper off as he did so; the necromancers clearly hadn't expected a fight, especially not one of this magnitude, which gave him the opportunity he needed to move out.

After just a few shots from his Winchester, Alain felt safe enough to move out from cover. He climbed over the edge of the river bed, then began to sprint for the mill, firing off shotgun blasts as he ran. Whatever incoming fire was aimed towards him stopped completely as he ran, the shooters either too intimidated or simply too dead to do anything to him at this point.

Alain made it to the mill in just a few seconds and flattened himself against the side of one of the buildings, huffing and puffing as he fumbled to reload his shotgun. He took a few seconds to thumb shells into it, then spun out from behind cover, his weapon's stock already up against his shoulder as he peered down the bead sight and scanned the area. It was clear, at least for now, but he could still hear sporadic gunfire from inside the mill.

Alain took a breath to calm himself, then began to steadily move into the mill. Predictably, the entire area was full of mutilated bodies – a sure sign that Sable had been here. A few of them were wights, but most were just regular people dressed in those black robes and wielding firearms. Alain stepped over one such body, showing no reaction even when he realized the man had been bisected at the waist and his legs were lying several feet away.

"Just another day at the office…" he muttered as he continued to push into camp, his weapon at the ready.