Camp Stonetooth

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Camp Stonetooth - book excerpt

Chapter One

                Talcen sat on the couch watching television. The Unicorn incident in the Elroxian Capital was getting attention on the local news, that and the ending of the trial of Pen Kenders. Unicorn outbreaks happened and they weren’t anything new.

The only unique spin on it was that Mocra Industries were behind it somehow, allegedly. Talcen wouldn’t have been surprised if they were.

“Maybe it really is the end of the world? First the blades, then the Unicorn attack?” Talcen hissed. “All of this nonsense is making me miss my favorite show,” he said and was going to throw the remote control against the wall in frustration.

“Come on, you know how it is. When humans mess up and Unicorns attack everyone makes a big deal out of it. Also, I bet Pen gets off clean and easy as all humans tend to do,” Ticcen said and sighed as she came from around a corner into the room.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Talcen replied and sighed. “Oh, Xy, I can’t wait to get to camp,” he said to himself and stared out the window. The Morglands were as dark as ever. The dim light of the sun barely touching anything.  

“Yeah, me either. I wish it was cloudy so we could go outside, that sun is brutal out there,” Ticcen said as she looked out the window. “Yeah, you said it. At least we have our Noxite,” Talcen said and was tempted to go outside to do something. Anything to break the boredom of being inside, with camp so close, the feeling of restlessness was strong today.

“Also, don’t take the Goddess’s name in vain, she just might show up,” Ticcen replied with a laugh. The older brother shuddered, he was frustrated and forgot that Xy could show up. She might not have appreciated the attention, but with her, according to all the stories it could have gone well, or terribly.

                “Okay fine, you’re right,” Talcen replied and turned up the television. The commercial came to an end.

                “The jury is going to come back with their verdict in minutes. The world will learn the fate of alleged traitor Pen Kenders and –” the power went out and everything went black. “Man, I can’t even watch the annoying thing, this sucks,” Talcen said and threw the remote down on the couch.

“Damn, well, I’m going to get a snack, do you want anything?” his sister asked and he sighed. “Do we have any bloodstones left?” he asked and she nodded. “Yep, we have a couple,” she said and walked off.

                “I’m so sick of bloodstones, and everything else,” he said and threw his head back into the couch. “Before you know it, we’ll be drinking blood and be given the blessing to walk outside at will. Just one more day and we get all of that started. Stop complaining already,” she replied as she walked back into the room.

She fell into the couch and tossed him a red crystal. He caught it without looking and in the same motion he sank his fangs into the side of it.

Bloodstones were what all neophyte vampires were forced live on until they went through their training, the rite of passage or whatever the council called it. It tasted like blood flavored with metal and it wasn’t very filling. He couldn’t wait to taste actual warm blood for the first time.

The thought of it was almost enough to distract him from the taste of the horrid fluid from this stone. Almost being the key word. He finished it and the red stone was clear and empty. He tossed the empty stone against the wall and it shattered.

                “What the hell, man, why did you do that?” she asked him and jumped as it broke. “Who cares, you know the crystals just dissolve in the air anyway, so who cares?” he replied and didn’t like her always nagging him about the most pointless things.

“I care, the shards don’t always go away and when I step on them, it really pisses me off,” she replied and glared. “Do you know how long it takes to pull these shards out of your feet, do you?” she asked and kept glaring.

                “No, because they go away. I’ve never stepped on one and I don’t know how you manage to do it at all,” he said and was getting in a bad mood. Everything was getting on his nerves. He just wanted to go to the last training camp and be allowed to drink blood and get access to the whole reason vampires were clearly superior to the rest of the races in the world.

                “Well, think of it this way, once we go through the camp, we never have to go to another one, aren’t you going to miss this, even a little bit? It wasn’t all bad,” she said and held her empty crystal in the palm of her hand as it dissolved in front of her eyes.

“No. Not even a little bit,” he replied.

                Sitting here in the dark, the world outside seemed to disappear. The sunlight all but shut the Morglands down. Most of the other vampires stayed home and there were still many hours left. Then the phone rang on the end table beside him. He picked it up and pushed the answer button.

“Hello,” he said.

                “Yeah, come on, the sun is out. We can’t go out right now and neither can you,” he replied and this got her attention. “I’ll ask her,” he said and put the phone down. “Boron wants to know if we want to come over,” he said. Ticcen looked around, the power was out and there was no telling when it would come back on.

Ever since Mocra had their disaster, the power wasn’t reliable. “Oh, what the hell, let’s get out of here,” she replied and he smiled as he picked the phone back up.

                “Sure, we’ll be right over,” he said and waited for a quick moment. “Yeah, see you later,” he said and hung up. “I’ll go get the Noxite,” he said and stood up slowly. He threw the phone to her. “Catch,” he said and laughed. She wasn’t expecting it and fumbled it as she did her best to catch it. It fell to the floor.

“Damn it,” she said and picked it up. She checked the screen and had a sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn’t broken. “This is super expensive. Please try not to throw it, okay?” she asked and he just smirked as he walked away to get the Noxite.

“Good talk,” she replied and rolled her eyes in frustration. Her brother was a nightmare to deal with now. How in the world was he going to be when he was granted Xy’s blessing? It was impossible to say exactly. She was just glad that living with him was going to be a thing of the past in a few short days.

She stood up as soon as he came back with the Noxite pendant. Like everything else of value, he tossed it to her, not wanting to take the extra steps to hand it to her. She caught it because by now, the past twenty years, she had grown accustomed to this laziness from him.

“Did Boron say if he had a reason for wanting us to come over or was it just a random thing?” she asked him and he just shrugged. “I don’t know, he sounded the same as he ever does,” he replied and put the pendant around his neck. She did the same thing.

“Oh well, it sounded like he still had power at least,” he said and walked to the door, opened it. To anyone not a vampire, the Morglands in the middle of the day would have seemed dark and depressing. However, to young vampires like them even this amount of light was still painful to the eyes. The Noxite pendant began to glow a dull blue as the dim rays of light hit it.

The damaging effects of the light were canceled out but it was still difficult to see for them both as they walked outside.

“I got the keys,” he said and she figured he did. He loved to drive. The walked to their green car and he pushed the button to unlock the door. She opened the door and got in. The windows were made of Noxite too and tinted. Her eyes stopped burning when she closed the door. Talcen got in too and rubbed his red eyes as he closed the door. “Just a few seconds,” he said as he recovered from the light outside. Then he put the keys in, started the car.

“Alright, and we are off,” he said, she rolled her eyes. “Do you have to always narrate everything you do? I’m literally right here. I know we’re off,” she said and was annoyed.

“I guess not, I just. I don’t know. It’s a habit okay,” he replied and rolled his eyes. He knew he was annoying sometimes but most of the time he didn’t even realize the things he said. Sometimes it was just in his head, other times it was out loud and telling the difference was not always easy.

“Yeah, I guess. Let’s just get there. All this time outside in the day is driving me nuts,” she replied and looked out the window.

It was a cool, calm day. All the excitement in the world was a thousand miles away. She dreamed what it had to be like being on the frontlines of a Unicorn outbreak or the Blade Apocalypse where the details were still coming in over the news, more every day.

Here in the Morglands, existence had been the same as always. Even if the King and Queen had been held hostage by the Mist Blade, everything turned out just fine. Everything was always just fine and boring as it had been.

Talcen drove off down the road, between the quiet houses. The village of Muid was small, typical and like most other places in the Morglands, abandoned in the daylight hours. Boron’s house wasn’t very far from their own, but in the daylight, traveling by car it felt like forever. What little powers they had, in the daylight, abandoned them.

“At least we don’t half to walk,” Ticcen said and Talcen looked at her. “If we had to walk we never would have made it. Noxite only lasts for a few hours and we are both super slow walkers. We would have just would have stayed home,” he replied and she wondered how vampires ever got along before the invention of cars.

The Morglands must have been much more depressing than they were now, she thought.

Talcen took a left and soon Boron’s house could be seen in the distance. It wasn’t anything special. Just a one story, small house. Boron was standing outside. He was a tall, skinny elf, but a vampire like the rest of them. The Morglands were a unique part of the world. Almost anyone could be a vampire, but once they were, what they used to be no longer mattered.

Talcen pulled to the side of the street, shut the car off. Both of them got out at the same time. “Well, it’s my favorite trolls,” Boron said and smiled. “Have you been waiting outside for us the whole time?” Ticcen asked and Boron shook his head.

“No, I just got out to see if you were here yet. You’re not that far away after all,” he replied. It was about then Ticcen noticed the elf still had power.

“Generator, you shouldn’t be without one in these turbulent times,” he said and stepped inside. “Come in. I have something I think you’re going to want to see,” he said with a smile and the two of them just looked at one another.

“A surprise. It’s not another gel fiend, is it?” Ticcen asked him and he laughed in response. “No, nothing like that this time. I could hardly believe it,” Boron replied and motioned them to come inside. The two of them were happy to get out of the overbearing sunlight and stepped inside.