16

The reaction came almost in an instant. Vampires began to pour into the hall. Maximilian howled in rage and reached out towards the Maestro, but he had already begun to move back towards the pipe organ, hand reaching out. The only ones that didn't move in response were Bernhard and the pitiful creature that continued to pump the bellows for the pipe organ, seemingly unaware of the chaos that had erupted.

"You'll need this, mate." Beethoven grasped the grip of Bernhard's sabre and tossed it in one movement, before tugging at the stops and switches on the organ. "Oh, and this will be painful. But worse for them."

The Maestro's hands slammed down upon the keys of the pipe organ and a wretched sound emerged from the pipes. Screeching and bellowing, louder than Bernhard had heard it before. The Maestro spoke true, the sound almost felt like it pierced Bernhard's ears, thrusting into his brain, but the vampires had an even more visceral reaction.

To a one, their hands raised to their ears, even the Vampire Lord. Many fell to their knees, screaming in pain and Bernhard remembered what the Maestro had said. Vampire senses were far more acute than those of humans. The sound, that felt uncomfortable to Bernhard, painful even, must have felt like torture to far more sensitive ears.

He found himself able to move, the Vampire Lord's spell broken by the pain that he suffered. He reached down for his sabre, the grip feeling as though it belonged in his hand, and turned to face the horde of vampires that had entered the hall. He intended cutting a swathe through the stumbling, pain-wracked creatures and affording him and the Maestro an escape.

"Come on, Maestro!" He glanced around to see the Maestro continuing to press the keys. "We have a chance to escape!"

Even now, however, the tones of the discordant notes were beginning to diminish. To the side, the creature that had pumped the bellows had fallen to the floor, curled into a fetal ball, no longer giving the pipe organ the air that it needed to play. Maximilian had already started to recover and glared at the Maestro with undisguised hatred.

"No! You deal with him!" The Maestro lifted his hands from the keys and jumped over the seat, batons appearing in his fingers. "I'll handle the others, but you must stop him. Kill him and we beat them all!"

At those words, Maximilian's head whipped around towards Bernhard, his eyes falling to the sabre in his hand. With a slow, deliberate turn, the Vampire Lord faced Bernhard, his hand raising, long, elegant finger pointing towards the sabre. Only, this time, Bernhard did not feel the urge to drop his faithful blade. He had the Maestro back, his sabre in hand. He had all the faith he needed to counteract the sorcery of Maximilian.

It felt as though they became the only two people remaining within the hall. The Maestro had dodged past the Vampire Lord while Bernhard distracted him, tearing away towards the flood of vampires that had entered the hall. Already, Bernhard could see, from the corner of his eyes, clouds of dust exploding.

Maximilian knew he could no longer bring Bernhard or the Maestro under his control. He circled to the side, eyes narrowed and locked upon Bernhard. Those long fingers flexed, the nails stretching further outwards and becoming long, vicious looking claws. He intended to fight and Bernhard was not about to disappoint him.

He waited, circling along with Maximilian, waiting for the Vampire Lord to attack first. All the while, he could feel the creature trying to dig into his mind, but that would not avail the vile beast. Bernhard would never fall under his spell again and, if he had any control in the matter, neither would anyone else.

In the blink of an eye, Maximilian pounced towards Bernhard, striking out with first one clawed hand and then the other and Bernhard only managed to step out of the reach by pure instinct. He raised the sabre, catching the claws upon the blade as they swept past. Sparks flew from the blade, as though two metals had struck against each other, and Bernhard could see the eyes of Maximilian lit by those sparks.

The Vampire Lord had skills. Skills he had learned hundreds of years before, as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, if he were to be believed. But it seemed obvious that the Vampire Lord had practiced little in those centuries, relying upon his preternatural abilities more. His speed and strength. But Bernhard had fought faster and stronger opponents before. What he lacked in those, he more than made up for with skill and a keen mind.

Maximilian relied on overwhelming Bernhard with strike after strike, forcing Bernhard to defend and retreat, but the Vampire Lord's moves were too linear. Fighting in straight lines. As a clawed hand grazed Bernhard's upper arm, Bernhard spun to the side, slamming the blade into the Vampire Lord's stomach. He continued the slice, using the momentum to move to Maximilian's rear.

That blow would have killed a normal foe, but Maximilian was far from a normal opponent. As though unfettered by pain, or injury, the Vampire Lord spun on his heel so fast, it caught Bernhard by surprise. The claws tore into the flesh of Bernhard's cheek and it felt as though the Vampire Lord had struck with a brand, straight from a forge's fire. The wound burned and blood began to fall upon Bernhard's chest.

Elsewhere, he heard a howl. A human howl and his head snapped around, searching for the Maestro, but all he could see were vampires piled together, some distance away. They ripped and tore down towards something beneath them. Bernhard could not let that distract him too much. The Maestro had a cleverness about him that no vampire could beat or deny. Bernhard had his own fight to finish.

But he had become distracted. The blow from the back of Maximilian's hand sent Bernhard tumbling through the air, crashing onto the keys of the pipe organ, forcing the last of the air from the pipes in a deflated wheeze. The sabre fell from his hand and he heard it clang upon the floor in front of the organ.

A pain pinched at his side and Bernhard knew he had at least one broken rib. It lanced into him and he used that pain to maintain his focus. He couldn't allow Maximilian to know how hurt he was. Indeed, he couldn't let the Vampire Lord know that he still had strength left. He had to walk a tight line, in this moment, showing neither too much weakness, nor too much resolve. He knew Maximilian's style, now, and he need only wait for the creature to make his final mistake.

Noises continued to come from elsewhere in the hall and Bernhard tried to hide his pained smile. It seemed the Maestro yet lived and still fought. He slumped, deliberately, letting out a strained cough and acted as though all the fight had left him and that pleased Maximilian. The Vampire Lord strode forward, confident in his assured victory.

"You see your folly now, do you not, Herr Gerber?" The Vampire Lord stood to his full height, peering down towards Bernhard as though showing his superiority in all its glory. "We are, simply, better than humans. In every possible way."

"Then how have I and the Maestro managed to kill so many of them?" Bernhard coughed again, turned his head and spat a wad of blood onto the keys of the organ. "And with surprising ease, it must be said. I had a harder time fighting soldiers that wanted to surrender."

He laughed, even though the laugh caused pain to jab into his side. He had made his calculations, now. He knew his chances, low that they were. He need only follow through and, if he failed, pray to God that the Maestro would prove victorious in his stead. Only a little longer.

"Minions. Cannon fodder, in your parlance." Maximilian waved a dismissive hand and began to lean in towards Bernhard, lips curling back to reveal razor sharp teeth. "Now, you will be mine."

"Now, Maestro!" Bernhard shouted, looking behind the Vampire Lord and, in that instant, Bernhard had his chance.

A human response. For all his talk of the superiority of vampires over humans, the Vampire Lord fell to that most rudimentary of ruses. Maximilian couldn't help himself. He had to look behind him, to see if Beethoven did attack and, in that moment, sealed his fate. Bernhard slid down from the keys of the pipe organ, his hand grasping the hilt of the sabre he had searched for as the Vampire Lord had talked.

Then, with as much strength as he could muster, he rose back upwards, thrusting the point of the sabre into Maximilian's chest, pushing harder and and harder until it exploded from the creature's back, sending desiccated, centuries old skin flying out behind him. Bernhard almost wished he had the ability to paint, for he wanted to preserve the look on Maximilian's face for eternity. He twisted the blade inside the Vampire Lord, then pushed him backwards, off the blade of the sabre.

Before Maximilian could begin to rise to his feet, Bernhard vaulted over the seat at the organ, ignoring his injuries and swept his sabre in a long, speeding arc. Even as the blade struck the Vampire Lord's neck, the creature began to dissipate into a cloud of dust and, by the time the sabre had passed through the creature's neck, all that remained of Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor and Vampire Lord, was a cloud of expanding dust.

"Well, you took your sweet bloody time!" To the side, the Maestro sounded exhausted. Bernhard turned in time to see the great man collapse onto his back, into a deep pile of grey and black dust. All that remained of the vampires of Düsterburg.