“Dearg Due,” I screamed her name like a curse, making my throat hoarse.

“Are you done throwing tantrums, little red-headed boys?”

I understood her mental games now, better than ever. She was trying to belittle us, make us doubt our rage. Her question assumed much about us. I wasn’t little, but boy was I furious. I decided to play the game with her.

“We’ve dismantled your whole vampire horde in a matter of minutes. What? To arrogant to consider an assault in the day time when you’re most vulnerable? We don’t play by your rules. You messed with the wrong guys.”

In human form she descended like a rose petal on a breeze, but I wasn’t fooled by her unnatural ebony beauty. I’d seen her true form and I knew what she was capable of. Plus the whole you-tried-to-murder-my-dad-thing worked wonders for keeping my thoughts clear, my mind set.

I’d had enough of her crap.

A barrage of bullets flew at her as Gavin and I unleashed our fury in the form of lead.

The Dearg Due evaporated into a cloud of scarlet mist. She appeared at my side, like I knew she would, but still managed to claw me. She cut through my t-shirt, raking a nasty cut across my skin, but not penetrating anything vital. She evaporated again, faster than Nightcrawler, each disappearance left me with new superficial wounds. She was toying with me.

Gavin dare not shoot her while I was so close. She knew that he wouldn’t fire on me either, so she tried to torture and bleed me to death.

This would not end well. So I changed tactics and dropped my weapons. As she poofed in front of me I latched onto her with a bear hug. Gavin saw the opportunity and delivered a flying knee to her jaw. Under normal circumstances a blow from a mere mortal would not have phased a Dearg Due class vamp, but Gavin’s eyes glowed blood-orange and I knew he’d tapped into his powers to stun her.

She evaporated again but this time stood dazed when she reappeared. Her brain had been jogged by Gavin’s supernatural strike. She stumbled, raising an arm to brace herself against a cement wall so as to not fall over. “You’ll never—” she began.

I had no time for bullcrap monologues. I reached deep, almost as deep as the confrontation with Donn when I’d had the Oak leaf on the Otherside. Since I wasn’t in Tir na nOg, I could not tap into my full power, but I could come close.

My eyes spewed emerald sparks and my chest felt hot with the brimming overload of Good Luck magic. I brought my arms back and focused all of the energy into my hands, then thrust it at her all at once. An emerald orb bigger than a basketball launched from my palms. Celtic knots trailed behind it. Her eyes widened as she realized what I’d done.

The Celtic knots slammed into her, exploding on impact, weaving out in every direction before dissipating. The cement wall ruptured as she passed through it. Her body lit on fire as she plummeted to the ground. The queen convulsed and shuddered as she burned and transformed from the beautiful Rhianna look-alike into the oversized bat-thing that was her true vampire form.

The Dearg Due crashed into the Corolla, smashing the entire top half of the car. The windows exploded under the pressure. Soon she stopped writhing and lay still in the sunlight. A creature as hideous as her did not deserve to be witnessed in the daylight, and so the daylight ended her. Smoke rose from the she-bat corpse reminding me that I had not slain a person, but a hideous monster.

Gavin and I looked out of the hole in the warehouse that I’d created. Even from that height, the smell of the Dearg Due’s burn flesh nauseated us.

My chest heaved and I drew gulps of air. I forced myself to let out a long sigh. Gavin did the same.

“It’s over,” he said. “We’ve avenged the monster responsible for taking Dad away from us.”

I wiped a layer of sweat off my forehead. Closing my eyes, I basked in the victory. We just saved hundreds, if not thousands of potential lives from a terrible future of either vampire food, or becoming a vampire outright. But it didn’t change Dad from thinking he was Tain.

“I hope this doesn’t become a thing,” I said. “I’m so sick of vampires. I don’t want to be that guy.”

“Ditto,” said Gavin. “Leave it to Wesley Snipes and Kate Beckinsale.”

The Dearg Due’s corpse was a sight to behold. I doubted we’d taken out all of the Children of the Dearg Due. Over the coming nights, they would return here to see their dead queen for themselves. They’d know a reckoning was coming. And for the first time in years, it was their turn to tremble.

“You know what that reminds me of?” I asked Gavin, pointing at the burnt bat corpse. “We never had a family barbecue with you.”

Gavin frowned at me. “Yuck.” Then he broke a smile and we shared a much needed laugh. It was the only thing to do in a situation as insane as what we’d just been through. That, or go mad.

“No seriously though. Despite everything going on with Dad, let’s make it a point to get together with Mom and Aiden and do what we were supposed to do months ago, before the Gwyllgi stopped you from coming down here. We can have Charice come too. That way she can really get to know you, Mom, and Aiden too.”

Gavin nodded. “Barbeque and a UFC fight sounds like a great time. It’ll be cool to chill with the family and Charice too. But it looks like we need to figure out the car situation first.”

I gritted my teeth. “I guess. Let’s see if any of these jerks know where my car is.”

“If any of them are still alive.”

I nodded. “Oh I’m sure Count Pale will talk after a little sunburn. They haven’t figured out how to make sunblock for vampires yet. I’m willing to bet he’ll spill the beans on the Mustang real fast.”

---

Count Pale’s claws scraped the cement as he tried to break out of my grasp, but with my Luck coursing through me I wasn’t to be trifled with. I dragged him by the ankle over to the open dock door, to the edge of the light. He hissed and threw his arms out in front of him, as if to bat away the light. Pun intended.

He started sweating. I guess vampire pores work the same.

“Where’s my Mustang!”

His eyes darted from me to my brother. They squinted as if he did not know how to answer me, as if he didn’t even know what I was talking about. I edged him into the light, just barely. His skin sizzled where sunlight made contact with his arm. He writhed under me but I pressed my shoe down hard on his neck.

“Where’s my Black ‘69 Fastback Mustang? Talk.”

He tried to form words but all that came out was groaning and moaning. I pulled him back out of the light and sat him up with a smack to the face.

The vampire tried to spin and crawl away but I pressed the edge of Fragarach against his neck, angling him back towards me, and controlled the situation.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not getting away from us. And neither did she.” I pointed out to the dried husk of his former mistress. “We turned her into bat jerky, and I swear I’ll make every last one of you pay for what happened to our father. We’re not special. We know that. What happened to our dad is what has happened to thousands of other families in the Bay Area. Lives ruined, from you vamps preying on the weak and turning them into monsters, if not killing them outright. Well she messed with the wrong guys. We came armed to the teeth and ripped hers out.”

I spoke with such surety that I gave myself goosebumps. I didn’t realize how deep-seated my hatred was of their kind until it came out of my lips.

“What’s a stupid car to you anyways?” asked the vampire.

“Let me give you the back story.” I dropped my sword and grabbed two handfuls of his blazer, hoisting him up with my magic imbued strength. I threw my knee into his gut and all the wind rushed out of him.

“Your queen killed my dad, or tried to. She also manipulated the wizard to betray him. And it worked. Completely despicable. Disgusting.”

His body tensed up, still resisting me. I slammed him into a pipe. The cracked pipe spewed a puddle of water all over the floor causing Count Pale to slip.

“Easy there partner.” My firm grip kept him from falling. “Turns out my dad’s still alive. But he’s forgotten a lot of stuff. I’m thinking if he gets behind the wheel of his favorite car, it’ll jog his memory. And voilà, Dad’s back.”

Still he resisted. I threw a third knee into him and felt ribs break. His eyes fell upon my discarded sword.

“Thanks for the reminder,” I said, and snatched up Fragarach. I held the Answerer to his throat and asked him where my car was again.

“Not here,” he gasped. “It’s gone. Oakland biker gang guys took it.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Gavin.

“Be more specific. Give me a name.”

He shook his head. “Don’t know.”

I tossed him over the bar, a weird addition to a warehouse lair, but hey, bad guys gots to get their drinks on. I busted spirits over his head. His eyes rolled, head barely held up by his neck.

My knee rushed up again, but this time he whipped his head down violently and sank his fangs into my thigh.

Youch, that freaking hurt!

I was going to throw him off me but I didn’t need to. He was trying to hold on his long as possible so that he could suck all my blood out in turn me into a dry husk.

But he soon realized that was a huge mistake. He yanked his head back. Everything from his lips and gums to his tongue were charred black as if his mouth had been held over an open fire. He stumbled back into the light experiencing so much pain that he couldn’t even scream. Spontaneously he combusted and his body went up in flames.

The blaze was too phenomenal for Gavin to look away.

I ignored it.

I took a knee breathing hard. Waves of numbness pulsed through my leg trying to make their way up my body. No blood was visible on my jeans. The wound was already beginning to heal.

After the screaming died down Gavin turned to me, eyes wide, pacing the floor. “Oh gosh. What are we gonna do?”

“Calm down dude,” I said.

“Calm down? Bro. You’ve been bitten by a freakin’ vampire. Again. And since you weren’t drained dry, you’re gonna turn into a bloodsucking leech and I’ll have to put you down like the rest of these bats.”

“Not a chance,” I said. I lifted my shirt and patted the Keening curse rune that scarred my upper body. “I’m already cursed remember? This bad boy protects me from vampire bites.”

Gavin didn’t look convinced. “Surely there’s gotta be some repercussions.”

I almost said no. But then HE stirred within. Shadow Sean, AKA Asen Scáth. My inner demon. No, my inner Ban-he. He was the Keening incarnate, a male Banshee, and an inversion of me.

I had defeated him a few weeks ago with the help of the Morrigan. She had actually separated him from my body. Before that he had taken full control of me so that I actually transformed into him and unleashed him on the world. But the Morrigan had done me a solid and split us up, enabling me to take matters into my own hands. I had ended his physical form, but then a Fetch, AKA evil phantom, also posing as me, had reanimated the Ban-he bringing him back to life. And after I had defeated him again, Asen Scáth whirled up in a wisp of black smoke and traveled back into my Keening.

To be completely honest, with everything that happened to me in the last few weeks with Nehemiah’s betrayal and having to take care of my dad who I thought was dead, I’d totally forgotten about Shadow Sean or the fact that he still loomed under my skin. And Gavin was right. This was the second time I’d been bitten by a vampire AFTER subduing my inner Ban-he. It was bound to awaken Asen and make matters worse.

“Don’t speak too soon bro. You’re gonna jinx it.”

Then a wave of pain hit me. I felt like there was another person inside me trying to claw their way out, rip their way through my chest cavity, and explode like an alien from my heart. I groaned in pain.

My hand sought for something to grasp onto and I clasped Fragarach in my hand gripping it tight. I screamed, part in pain, and part out of resistance. “No! I’m in control, remember? I kicked your butt. Now stay in their like a good little shadow.”

I opened my eyes and found Gavin knelt down at my side eyes full of concern.

The clawing inside me stopped.

“Don’t look at me like that bro,” I smirked. “I’m fine. Just had to tell Shadow Sean who’s boss.”

“Shadow Sean?”

“Yeah. Asen Scáth. The guy that resides inside. He wants out but I’m not gonna let him.”

Rage pumped through my veins. I needed to subdue the Ban-he now. I did not even doubt I could do it. Crawling over to the spilled water pumping out of the cracked pipe, I stared down my reflection. He looked back up at me with cocky arrogance.

Whether literally, or somewhere in my mind, I dove into the puddle. Asen Scáth’s eyes widened. He didn’t expect such aggression from me. I didn’t have my sword. I didn’t need it. I battered him with my fists until my knuckles should have been bruised or broken. But they weren’t. His face sure was though.

After a minute or so of intense... focus, I pushed Shadow Sean far down into my subconscious and buried him. I regained control, for the foreseeable future.

I broke away from the reflected puddle-zone.

“Time to go,” I said. “Let’s jack one of these bozo’s cars. You know how to hotwire?”

“You’re good? Just like that?”

“You didn’t see me thrash the Ban-he?”

Gavin frowned. He didn’t.

Which meant it had all happened in my head. Weird.

“Let’s light this place up and raze it to the ground.”

Before we left Gavin bolted over the bar and made himself a makeshift Molotov cocktail. He chucked it at the bar. The lair went up in flames.