Dreams Of The Medjai - Chapter One

                                                                       Prologue:

Capital city of the province of Prato
April 1863

The attack happened so fast, he never had a chance to defend them from the intruder. They had just arrived home, after attending a small dinner party held at a friend’s house. His instincts had screamed a warning after he unlocked the front door but for an unexplained reason, he ignored them and ushered his wife inside.
The intruder came at them with a chilling shriek, a mindless zombie with green colored skin, red eyes and hands that were deformed into claws. It slashed at Juliana in a mindless frenzy; its mouth opened like a yawning chasm and it wanted to bite down on fresh succulent human flesh. She cried out and fell to the floor as her husband, Luciano Peverite reacted like a warrior and jumped into battle with the thing.
The man and zombie fought each other with viciousness and ferocity that surprised Juliana, who lay on the floor, still gasping for breath.
She looked up and saw her husband and the monster locked in a battle of strength, and to her horror the monster was winning. Wildly she looked around for anything, something to be used as a weapon and spotted the Peverite Coat of Arms over the fireplace mantel.
She scrambled to her feet and yanked off one of the swords that had been displayed over another underneath the family crest and with a cry of her own, ran to her husband’s aide.
The weight of the blade felt good in her hands and instantly the forbidden lessons from childhood came flooding back and she wielded the sword with ease. She slashed downwards at the back of the monster and was rewarded for her efforts with a piercing scream of pain and a clawed hand that lashed out and knocked her across the room. She slammed into the wall and sank to the floor, dazed but unhurt.
Luciano had his hands locked in a death grip around the creature’s throat but suffocating it wasn’t working, in fact it was making it more enraged. The man and zombie danced a grisly death of power, each trying to overcome the other and Luciano was weakening fast, the beast’s strength became its advantage.
Juliana crawled to her knees and lifting the sword once more, she ran at the zombie and aimed for its black heart, her intentions to run it through and kill it.
At the last possible moment, the monster must have sensed her attack and it shifted its weight, spinning Luciano and it around until it was now protected by the man.
Juliana was able to deflect her attack at the last moment but to her utter shock, she stabbed her own husband through his side.
Luciano cried out in pain but didn’t loosen his grip from the beast’s neck, instead he held on tighter as he could hear Juliana’s own soft cries of horror over what she had done. And through that sound, he found the last bits of remaining strength and continued fighting, ignoring the warm red blood that soaked his clothes.
He swept out one leg and managed to knock the creature off balance, until at least they both crumbled to the floor, where they rolled back and forth each fighting to gain the upper hand.
The monster was becoming more insane, crazed by the smell of fresh blood and its hissing noises were turning into howls of victory.
Luciano was become weaker from blood loss and was afraid the creature would finally win until over its shoulder, he saw Juliana arise like an avenging warrior, and she held the sword over her head for the killing blow. She hacked at the creature once, twice ignoring the dark green blood spewing all over the place as she kept up her assault.
In retaliation, the creature slammed Luciano’s head against the floor, breaking through his defense and biting him deep on the shoulder. Ragged dirty teeth sank in deep, starting to tear away at flesh and muscle and Luciano almost passed out from the pain. He couldn’t help the scream of agony that sprang from his throat and that noise spurred Juliana to continue her attack.
With one last blow that rendered Luciano semi-unconscious, the monster finally left the young nobleman alone and turned its attention towards its other tormentor, Juliana.
With an inhuman howl of rage, it flew at her and attacked, its claws swiping and tearing, leaving long bloody marks on her arms, face and hands. It backed her against a wall where it knocked away the sword with startling ease. Juliana swung out a fist and smashed the creature in its mouth but the blow had little effect and it shook it off as it continued to battle. .
Somehow Luciano was still conscious, his body enflamed with pain but he managed to struggle to his knees, his vision blurred as he searched for his wife in the dark room. He saw her pinned against a far wall and the night echoed with his bellow of rage and fear. The monster was winning and had its one hand anchored around Juliana’s neck, slowly squeezing the life out of her. She was kicking and punching with all the strength she had but even Luciano could see it was becoming useless.
The zombie would win.
When his wife’s struggles finally stopped, when her hands eventually dropped down to her sides, the fiend turned and glared at the still struggling nobleman in evil triumph. Its mouth curved into a malicious, toothy grin before a moment later, it sank into the tender flesh that was Juliana’s throat and drank deeply of her blood.
Luciano screamed her name, over and over as he crawled inch by agonizing inch across the floor, desperate to reach her side.
The creature, done feeding, let the withered husk that was once a vibrant, young, beautiful woman drop to the floor and left the Peverite house without a second glance, satisfied that its work for this night was done.
By the time husband had reached his wife, Luciano’s own strength was failing and he felt himself dying.   But none of that mattered, for all of his energy, all of his being was focused on touching her one outstretched hand so they could be together at last.
His last coherent thought before he lost unconsciousness was why the beast had attacked them in their home but none of it mattered now.
All that mattered was that they were finally together.

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                                                          Dark Heart - Chapter 1