markdown-monster-club/chapters/chapter_52.md

# Chapter 52

The scene was like a action moment in a movie. Half the club was trying to hold off Molly while Jelly struggled to hold down the furious Drake. The vampire finally managed to throw her off of him and round on the others. Abraham froze as his eyes fell on him…hungry and leering.
“Yes…I’ll start with the human.” He charged. Abraham covered his eyes, expecting to feel the fatal bite. But it never came. A furious roar from behind sent Abraham falling to the ground as a streak of black and red shot past him and punched Drake across the room with the force of a shotgun shell. Molly spun around in time to see it, and her anger turned to shock. The vampire boy, Asher…he was back on his feet…and he was angry.
“I’ve waited so long to kill you.” Asher hissed, marching toward his father, blood trickling from his lips. Drake climbed to his feet as well and brushed the dust off of his shoulders.
“So, you got a snack did you?” Drake asked. “Think that’s all you need to kill me, boy?” No one dared move. Even Molly, who had plenty of clear openings to escape, stood stock still as the two vampire squared off.
“ABRAHAM!” Asher snapped. “MY GUNS!”
“Wh-OH!” Abraham quickly grabbed the pistols that Asher had left behind when he was kidnapped, pulling them from his waist band and throwing them to him. Asher didn’t turn to look at him…likely for his own protection. But the instant he caught the pistols he turned them on Drake and fired four rounds. Drake dodged with ungodly speed and powered towards Asher. Locking his left arm, Asher turned the right pistol towards Drake’s head, only for Drake to head butt him back and send him sprawling to the ground.
“A few sips of blood isn’t enough, kid.” Drake laughed.
“Abraham!” Abraham was distracted from the brawl by the sound of shouting. Turning behind him, he saw Katie slithering to him fast. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“We need your help! Calypso’s unconscious. We gotta get her out of here.”
“Get her on my back.” David urged, breaking his own eyes away from the tussel of undead monsters. “I’ll ride her out of here.”
“I’m with you.” Michelle called, joining the four worried youths. Abraham ran with them to Asher’s cell where Calypso lay, comatose and pale. With Michelle and Katie helping, Abraham was able to lift her onto David’s back, who counted nervously.
“Your…friend gonna be okay?” He asked.
“Yeah. Drake’s in deep shit.” Katie snapped.
“I dunno…he’s not going down easy.” Michelle muttered. “Asher’s not in a blood rage yet…I mean he’s pissed but, that’s not a blood rage.”
“How do you know when he’s in one?” David asked.
“Trust me…you’ll know. Now let’s get Calypso out of here!” Katie replied. David nodded and took off for the exit. Abraham started to follow, but was thrown back by Asher, being flung across the room and into a wall.
“ASHER!”
Drake was on him in an instant. Asher jumped to the side, but it was no use. Drake grabbed his throat and held him down. Asher raised his gun to fire, but with a simple slap, Drake knocked Asher’s hand aside, as he grinned over his kill.
“I’ve been at this longer than you boy.” He laughed. He took his free hand, and pulled a glove onto it, before grabbing from inside his coat a long silver cross. His glove hand smoked a bit…burning him. Even with a glove, a cross was hard for him to hold. “I use this to kill vampires for the Dawn Bringer organization…now I’ll plant it in your ungrateful little heart.”
“Bastard!” Asher hissed.
“Say hello to your mother, for me.” Drake slammed the cross down like a gravestone into Asher’s chest. Blood burst from his injury and Asher coughed loudly, his head falling back. His eyes glazed over slightly and he lay motionless. Darke stared down at the unmoving Asher and laughed heartily.
“DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!” Christina cried. “We need to pull out!”
“Yeah, she ain’t jok’n!” Alexander agreed. “C’mon!”
“Where’re you going in such a hurry? BIND!” Molly screeched, waving her hand as long tendrals burst from the ground and snared Alexander and Christina. Sarah ran to help them, but was also trapped in the binds.
“SARAH! ALEX!” Annie cried, running to their side.
“You’re next little wi-MMMM!” Molly was cut off by the enraged Jelly, who threw her slimy body on Molly in anger.
“YOU LET FRIENDS GO!” She cried.
“FILTHY THING!” Molly cried. “FREEZE!” The moment she spoke, Jelly was thrown off of her and frozen in place, as if her liquid body was just stuck in place. With a cry of anger, Christina thrashed at her bonds.
“NO! JELLY!”
“BITCH!” Pen shriekd, the little fairy flying at Molly in a vain attempt to do harm, though for her it was no harder to parry him than to swat him aside. Abraham watched the ongoing battle and his eyes fell on the seemingly dead Asher. This was a nightmare, and only getting worse. Michelle fell to her knees, observing everything, her body convulsing in trembles.
“The Club….The Club is dying…” She whimpered.

“MONSTER!” Sarah screamed, causing everyone in the room to stop and look at her, as all six of her shiny red eyes were overflowing with tears. She struggled against the bonds holding her, as her eight legs kicked wildly. Her eyes were on Drake, who was smirking back at her, removing his gloves.
“You’re one to talk, drider.” He chuckled.
“YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER!!!”
“As are you…and your friends. The only one in this room not a monster is the human, Abraham.”
“NO!” Sarah screamed again. “It’s not because you’re a vampire…or because I’m a drider. It’s not what you are…it’s WHO you are!”
“Ha!” Drake laughed, taking a few steps towards her, raising his hand to break her neck. Sarah lunged at him as if to bite him, but his hand found her throat and lifted her off the ground, despite her size and weight. “Who I am? You know nothing about me…so how can you call me a monster?”
“B-Because…you don’t know your own son.” Sarah hissed, a slow smirk growing across her face. “…Otherwise you’d know…Asher’s immune to the cross.”

The paleness on Drake’s face suddenly increased sharply, as a realization fell over him. From far behind him, where Asher’s body lay, shadows and rolling tendrils of dark matter began to form around his body, lifting him back up as his eyes turned a bloody red.
“SHIT!” Drake roared. “I’LL PUT AN END TO THIS RIGHT-” He didn’t finish. He charged the mass of shadow that was Asher, only for it to explode into a swarm of furious screeching bats, biting and flying around him in a typhoon or blood lust and rage. Roaring, Drake tried to fight off the onslaught of bats, but he might as well have tried to bottle smoke.
“GET HIM ASHER!” Abraham screamed.
“KICK HIS ASS!” Christina joined in. There was another roar of fury as Drake was launched into the air by a sudden punch to his jaw. The bats began to reform into the body of an outraged vampire. Asher ripped off his jacket and threw it at his father. The jacket hit his head, blinding him. Grabbing him by the neck, Asher punched again and again and yet again into his father’s skull, leaving blood stains on the jacket. Asher let out an inhumane scream as he kneed his injured father in the chest.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Molly shouted. Out of the ground, tendrils like the ones binding Sarah, Christina, and Alex burst up to snare Asher.
“AGREED!” Michelle screamed, running forward and tackling Molly to the ground. “ANNIE! TAMIL! GIMME A HAND!” Annie, who this entire time had been watching in horror, finally ran to help Michelle restrain Molly, pulling a very confused and scared Tamil with her. Abraham could only observe, unsure what to say or do.
“Abraham, get me out of this!” Sarah cried to him. “I can help!”
“R-right!” Abraham fought to pull his eyes away as he hurried to Sarah to break her bonds. His eyes turned back to Asher, who had escaped the tendrals Molly attacked him with and was now wrestling his father. Drake swung a punch at his head, but Asher’s mouth opened wide and bit down on his fathers fingers, blood dripping from his knuckles.
“AAAH!”
“I’ll kill you.” Asher hissed. “I’m going to make you pay for EVERYTHING!” Asher chomped down as the fingers of his father fell from his mouth, leaving Drake screaming at his mangled hand.

“Thank you.” Sarah cried as Abraham ripped off the last tendril.
“Get us too!” Christina shouted.
“Be quick!” Alex agreed. Sarah ignored them and scurried as fast as she could to the otherside of the room. Michelle and Annie meanwhile were wrestling down Molly as Tamil used his own bandages to restrain her.
“GET OFF ME! GET OFF!” Molly cried. She raised her hand at Michelle. “DECAPITATION!”
“NOOO!” Tamil bellowed.
Tamil threw himself in the way of her hand in the instant a flash of white shout out. Tamil’s head went sailing off his body as his body slumped to the ground. Annie let out a petrified scream as Tamil’s head rolled across the room.
“TAMIL!” Michelle screamed in terror. Abraham froze. First Jelly…now Tamil…and possibly Calypso. His knees were shaking.
“Don’t panic on me!” Christina begged. “Just help us get free so we can help!”
“O-o-okay…” Abraham winced, blinking back tears, and fighting the pain in his heart. His hands went to work clawing away the vines and bonds holding Christina down, while Alexander was bellowing like a bull, fighting with all he had to break free. Michelle though was snarling like a dog, slamming her foot as hard as she could on Molly’s face as if she wanted to break her skull into the concrete. Meanwhile, it seemed that Katie and David had made a clean escape with Calypso.

“ASHER!” Sarah screamed, she pulled back her hand, holding a small object. She threw it has hard as she could to Asher who caught it one handed. It was the cross that Drake had used to try and kill him earlier. Drake saw Asher catch it and screamed, jumping away like a coward. He made a move to escape, but Asher was on him in a flash. With a hiss like a snake, Asher bit down on his fathers neck and held him in place.
“I became immune because I never took off Mom’s cross necklace.” He growled. “So thanks Dad…thanks for not taking that off of me when you turned me. NOW I’LL PAY YOU BACK FOR WHAT YOU DID TO EVERYONE I LOVED!” Asher slammed the cross with all his strength into his father’s chest. His father opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Instead his body seemed to ignite into fire and his flesh dried and turned to ashes, drifting to the floor as death took him in a cold embrace. As the last of his ashes drifted away, Asher exhaled long and low, before sinking to his knees.
“Asher!?” Abraham called.
“He needs blood. Human blood!” Michelle shouted.
“Then I’ll-”
“NO!” Christina snapped. “You go near him, he’ll kill you. He’s not thinking clearly. Just let me up already!” Abraham nodded and broke Christina free at last. She brushed herself off and turned to Asher.
“HEY! BLOOD SUCKER!” She shouted. Asher turned to look at her, his red eyes flashing, still lost in his blood rage. To him she was just another stranger…a potential enemy. Christina threw off her shades and her snake hair came alive. “Let’s have a staring contest.” Asher and her locked eyes and while Asher wasn’t going slack jawed and brain dead like the rest of us might have…he certainly wasn’t moving. It was as if she was just keeping him calm enough not to go insane.
“I’ll hold him. Take care of the witch!” Christina hissed.
“Right! Just keep-AAAAAAH!” Molly held up her hand and screamed loudly.
“AWAY!” The blast from her hand sent Annie and Michelle rolling to the ground as she stood up swiftly. “YOU RATS….FILTHY MONSTERS!! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!! HOW DARE YOU…HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!?” She looked at the pile of Ashes that used to be Drake…and at the vampire Asher who was still being pacified. Christina dared not break her gaze on Asher yet…not until she knew he was under control. “I’ll get you all back for this….ALL OF YOU!”
Annie threw up her hands and winced physically as she tried to use magic once more, clearly going beyond her limit, but Molly was already way ahead of her. She snapped her fingers, and vanished in a flash of fire, disappearing completely from the room and likely the building. The room went into an eerie quiet as everyone tried to take in what had just happened. With Molly gone, the tendrils holding down Alexander faded away and he got up onto his feet once more.
“That was…intense…is it over?” He asked.
“Not yet…still got a hungry kind of pissed off vampire here.” Christina growled. “Any suggestions?”
“C-can you give him a command?” Michelle asked, regaining her composure, still slightly flabbergasted.
“I can try…no guarantees.”
“Tell him to turn himself into Ashley. See if that doesn’t relax him some.” Michelle instructed.
“Asher, you will turn into Ashley….I COMMAND you to turn into Ashley.” Christina hissed. “Do it!” Asher stood still a moment, and for a second it seemed like he was going to defy her…but slowly he started to shift into his smaller Ashley form. As he shrank down, Christina dared to blink and relax again, sitting down.
“Quick, Abraham come here!” Sarah instructed, running to him. Abraham rushed to Sarah and nodded.
“Yeah?” Sarah pulled out a small broken rock and held it up to his neck.
“Sorry.” She then cut a small slash on his neck enough to bleed. “But we gotta feed him.”
“OW! Warn me next time!”
“Oh get over it.” She grumbled. “Ashley, come here!” Ashley, still dazed looked up, seeing the bleeding Abraham. Her eyes lit up and her mouth watered some. “No biting…but drink up.”
“Yeah, hurry.” Abraham encouraged.
“Th-thanks…sorry about…”
“Just drink you idiot.” Abraham snapped, leaning down for her. Ashley nodded and grabbed hold of Abraham’s neck, beginning to suck the blood. Abraham closed his eyes and winced, reminding himself repeatedly this was for Asher…this was for Asher. They were alive and safe again because of Asher.
“So…what happens now?” Christina asked. Michelle looked around her and then to Sarah. On the ground was the broken body of Tamil, lacking a head. Annie was crying and laying on her back in misery. Jelly was frozen solid with Alexander hugging her trying to thaw her out. Pen was on the ground unconscious from being swatted like a bug. Ashley was latched onto Abraham’s neck to suck his blood. Calypso, Katie, and David were supposedly outside trying to keep Calypso from dying from the blood loss. And Sarah herself was leaning down next to Ashley to make sure she didn’t over do it on Abraham’s blood.
“…We do what we’ve done since we started this dysfunctional family.” Michelle replied. “…We’ll survive. We’ll adapt and we’ll survive.”
“So is this a win?” Christina asked.
“…No.” Michelle whispered. “Frankly, I don’t think we can ever really win…just live a little longer.”
“…Guess so.” Christina grumbled. “…Let’s clean up this mess and get out of here.”
“Right…it’s over.” Michelle answered. “It’s…finally over.”
“For now.” Sarah muttered. “But we’ll take it.” She said with a smile. “I’ll take a bit of peace.”