The Secret Sea - (Chaptered Version)

* 48

I pick up the awkwardly shaped bag and hear a splash behind me. I swivel around, hoping to see Nymue again in all her soaking glory. Instead, a slumped figure stands knee-deep in the water, cloaked in a black with a hastily embroidered trident stretching across its chest. He lifts a sinewy arm, revealing a menacing curved dagger. The shadows around us begin to spill cultists until we're surrounded, forcing our backs against the rail of the fountain.

Eve reaches for her bag and realizes it's still at the hotel. "Shit, I didn't think we'd need it!"

The ten vampires stalk closer with methodical steps. Without warning, the creep in the fountain leaps from the water and lifts his blade skyward. His pointed hood flies back, revealing a sunken face screaming with sharpened teeth.

I swing the bulky trash bag like a baseball bat and clobber our attacker in mid-air, knocking him to the ground. He rolls away while clutching his pale face. "Get back!" I yell, pushing Eve behind me. I grope for the hilt of the sword through the bag and take a defensive stance.

There's no time to remove the plastic as another vampire lurches ahead. I wave the sword and it thunks into the cultist's shoulder, splitting through the trash bag into wet flesh. My follow-up swing decapitates my adversary, sending the severed head bouncing off the fountain's rail with a clang into the drink. What's left of the body explodes in a cloud of grit.

A ceremonial dagger flies through the air, cutting a protracted line through my cheek before skipping across the water behind me. Another blade whistles towards us before embedding in the plastic covering the sword. Eve plucks the dangling weapon from the tattered sack and moves beside me. "Come on!" she growls, taunting the cultists. She lunges at the closest demon and sinks the curved blade into its chest before he can strike. The beast explodes with a scream.

I feel invigorated by Eve's heroic display and chop into another vampire as it pounces. Its amputated arm falls to the ground and the plastic covering Excalibur finally shreds away, revealing the mystic weapon in all its bejeweled glory. The blade is so sharp and polished it seems to glow as it absorbs the neon light of our garish surroundings. I throw the leftover plastic to the ground and grip the hilt of the sword firmly, spinning the substantial weapon in a circle as if I know what I'm doing. A wave of strange energy sweeps through my body.

The creeps backpedal with wide eyes, frightened but not discouraged. Once regrouped, the remaining seven rush toward us with a collective howl. I kick one away, but not before its knife punctures Eve's shoulder. She falls to the stones below with a groan and drops her weapon.

"Eve!" I yell. I've had enough. Excalibur almost feels alive in my trembling hands. My muscles contract then burst like a coiled spring. I bound forward, chopping through the bodies of my foes as if they're ripe vegetables. Their blood turns to hot smoke before it can hit the ground. A bashing, vertical strike from my sword tears through the skull and torso of the bastard who hurt Eve, reducing him to nothingness. Dust devils of hot ash swirl around me.

Only one cultist remains. He turns and sprints into the distance, rasping a wet growl.

"Stop him! If Poseidon learns we have the sword he'll find a way to nullify its power," says Eve, struggling to her feet.

I give chase but the bastard is fast. A sudden gust grazes my shoulder. The vampire stops in its tracks with a knife jutting from its neck.

"Nice throw!" I yell. I twist around and see Eve with her arm still extended.

Eve clutches her shoulder. "Finish him off!"

I stab through the monster's chest as he stumbles away. His body burns and pops from top to bottom like a cheap firework. The square goes eerily quiet except for the sound of the rushing fountain. No evidence of the skirmish remains except for streaks of burnt dust on white tile.

I set the sword down on the edge of the fountain and help Eve to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"No, but...yeah. The knife didn't go deep." Eve wipes my cheek. "They got you too. I'll probably have to stitch that up."

"I'm fine." I suddenly taste a trickle of blood at the corner of my mouth. "Will there be more coming?"

"I don't know, but we shouldn't linger here."

I carefully slip Excalibur into my belt. "Let's get back to the hotel."