The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning by Harold Straugh (best e reader for academics TXT) 📗

“I can see that,” I said.

I was getting glared at, even though I was covered up.  Noemi got just as many stares as I did, but she didn’t seem to care.  I spoke up, “My name is Roldian, slayer of vampires, have you….” I went to speak and then got hit in face suddenly. Whatever hit me, knocked me off Sabor and I landed on the ground. I looked over and not too far from me was a rock, with my blood on it.  It had been awhile since I had seen my blood and it made me mad, there was werewolf around, I could sense it, but it never showed itself to me

I shot up only to see a group of people armed with pitchforks, slings with rocks in them, spears and bows and arrows.  Those were new to me, not saying they started out over there, it was just the first time I had seen them.

“Who are you and what do you want?” one of the towns people asked.

“I was getting there, right before I got hit in the face with a rock,” I straightened my glasses the best I could and made sure my facemask didn’t come loose.

“We don’t take kindly to strangers,” another one said.

“I’m here to help,” I said, “I take it you’re being plagued by deaths and vampires?”

“Yes, too many and to trust an outsider wouldn’t be in our best interest.”

“So be it, I can go on my way and leave you to the hands of the vampires,” I said as I mounted Sabor.  Noemi and I started trotting away.

“WAIT!” I heard someone shout behind me, I turned around to see a little old lady, pushing herself through the crowd, hitting people with her cane, “These vampires, took my daughter and grandbaby. If you say you can help, can you?”

“I can help, I’ve helped many before,” I said.

“I can’t trust someone, whose face I can’t see,” she said.

I took my glasses off and got the same response that I normally get when people saw my eyes, then took my face mask off.  Noemi got out from behind her horse and stood beside me, “I’ve seen it, he knows how to kill them for good.”

“Have you any graves that have showed up just beyond here?”

The crowd grew quiet, then the little old lady spoke, “No, not beyond it, in it,” she pointed with her cane to the temple, “They come and go at night, when the sun goes down, we all go in our huts, silver keeps them away,”

“Silver?” I asked.

“Yes, I found out by mistake. I was burying my daughter and put two silver coins on her eyes, and she woke up screaming.  So, after that, we each made silver medallions to wear around our necks.”

It was then, I remembered Derium mentioning not being able to handle silver, it was one his favorite things.  I just never put two and two together. I felt dumb but said nothing. I turned around looked at the temple in all its massiveness.

The door to the temple was boarded up by means of heavy boards and spikes and decorated with silver here and there I wasted no time popping the boards off.  Noemi was hesitant, but I opened the door and walked in.  The temple, even though daytime, had about two hundred torches lit inside. I wasn’t happy with what I saw either, as far as my eyes could see, I could see upturned soil.  Graves upon graves, there wouldn’t be enough time in the day for me to dig them all up, even if I used my abilities. Once inside I was in awe again.  It was wide open in the middle with a walkway on the second story, that went all the way around the inside of the building.

“I need a shovel,” I said and one of the townspeople handed me a really nice shovel.  It had a smooth shaft and was pointed, the shaft had carvings of roses and thorns  Then I began to dig, I instructed the townspeople to tie rope to their horses and around the feet of the vampires, then when I said, send the horses running.

I dug my first temple vampire up, tied his ankles to a rope and yelled, the rope went taut, then the vampire took off.  I heard the screeching and watched as the body caught fire.  Some of the people pitched in and even with their help, we were only a quarter of the way through when the sun started to set.  Some of the people helping stopped and left, some of the braver souls stayed.  Noemi brought out two small hatchets and took stance.  I took stance with the shovel I had in my hand. I didn’t need it, but I sure would use it.

We waited with anticipation as the sun finally set, a great wind came through and blew out half the candles.  I saw hands appear out of the graves, then heads and whole bodies.  Some flew out of the graves and attacked some of the people there. One flew at me and I swung the shovel, smacking her square in the face. She cartwheeled into the side of the wall, then fell the to floor.  I placed the point of the shovel on the back of her neck and pressed down, hard, popping her head off.

I turned around and was witnessing an onslaught of the townspeople.  Noemi was holding her ground but quickly losing it.  I watched as the vampires started to gain the upper hand.  I dropped the shovel and picked up an axe that one of the townspeople were carrying and used my speed to start chopping away.  I chopped faces, hands, arms, legs, heads.  I sent them all flying up in the air, and yet, it didn’t seem to help.  I look down