by C. T. Phipps
“Oh,” David said. “By the way, anyone else hungry for human flesh?”
Everyone else, including me, looked at him.
“Just me?” David asked. “Right. I need to get on that.”
Sam scooted away from him.
“Listen, Yukie,” I started to say, not sure how to approach the fact her entire vengeance quest was pointless. “There’s things you have to know. Remember how you told me how awful it would be to—”
That was when Jackson returned with Enil.
Ah shit.
Enil was dressed in clothing that seemed inappropriate for a man older than Babylon with a pair of black jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Enil had once been sub-Saharan African in appearance but millennia had twisted his features to something more resembling an albino humanoid bat. His hands had inch-long nails that I knew were perfectly capable of tearing through steel.
Worse, however, was the intense sense of unnatural power that existed just bubbling below the surface of his flesh. All vampires were spirits that had been warped by the blood of the Elder Gods, and Enil’s had a long time to be transformed. There was no telling just how powerful he’d become, given I’d seen Thoth do some amazing shit (like raise the dead) despite being only two hundred.
Jackson was standing by him with a smug expression on his face, devoid of the servility from earlier. I mentally cursed myself for letting myself get distracted as Enil was, of course, going to remove his mind control from Jackson when he was fetched to meet with me. Worse, I was now standing with the millennia-old murderer of Rebecca Plum next to the woman who’d chased him down.
“Oh, hey,” I said, stepping front of Yukie. “What’s up, Enil? How’s the family?”
Yukie muttered. “Really, Peter?”
“Funny thing,” Jackson said, sounding a lot more confident than he’d been earlier. “I feel like a new man. So, what was that about taking me in?”
Enil gave a half-smile then his expression turned sad. “They know I killed Rebecca Plum. The snow-haired one especially.”
Yukie stepped out, reaching for her katana hilt.
Jackson pulled out a Desert Eagle and aimed it at her head. “You did? Congratulations pops, you did the world a service. No more shitty vampire novels ruining our rep.”
Apparently, Enil had removed his earlier brainwashing.
Great.
“Oh, there will be plenty more where those came from,” Sam said, not at all intimidated by either. Woman had courage, I had to give her that.
I stepped in front of Yukie again. “You’re going to have to go through me to hurt her.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jackson said, smiling.
Yukie pushed me to the ground before glaring at Jackson. “I don’t need protection from the likes of him. Enil, you have done harm to my employer, and I am obligated to bring you to account for it.”
I picked myself up off the ground, frowning. “You could have saved me a little dignity, girl.”
“Then have some,” Yukie said. “What’s it going to be, Enil?”
Enil let out a soft chuckle. “You are much alike, all three of you.”
“I am deeply insulted by that remark,” I said, really wishing I’d not come here. “Well, a third of it.”
“You have all lost siblings to violence,” Enil said, clasping his hands together like Mister Burns. “Each of you vowed you would not only avenge the loss of your loved one but that you would never be victims of such yourself. It led Jackson to become a gangster, Peter to become a soldier, and you, Yukie, to become an assassin for less worthy individuals.”
“I’m not interested in your stories, Enil, are you coming or not?” I asked, trying to act like I wasn’t concerned. It was a miserable failure.
“Not,” Jackson said, clearly not used to anyone treating his gun like the annoyance it would be to me.
I lunged and grabbed. Jackson proceeded to shoot three times into my hand. All the bullets buried themselves into my bone and hurt like hell. They were normal bullets, however, and I crushed down on the pistol. Jackson pulled his hand away, and I had the satisfying feeling of turning his gun into a piece of twisted metal just like Superman. Albeit, it probably hadn’t hurt Superman the way it was hurting me.
Grimacing, I said, “I’ve had a few power boosts in recent months.”
I dropped the ruined pistol on the ground before kicking it to one side, letting the bullets fall from my hand with a shake.
Ow.
Ow.
Ow.
Jackson stood defiant. “You’re not taking my creator.”
“Why did I kill her? Because I was told to,” Enil said, his eyes turning a violent shade of red. “I am sorry, my creation, but I did not come here to save you. I came here to end you as I did the poetess.”
“What?” Jackson turned around.
“Time to die,” Enil said. “All of you.”
That was my cue to use my one advantage. Time slowed down as my peculiar vampire gift, the ability to manipulate the currents of reality, kicked in. Everyone else was frozen in place but Enil moved at normal speed, hell, faster than normal speed as he lifted his arm and slashed down. It was like that moment when the Flash saw Superman was fast enough to catch him in Justice League. Man, that was a bad movie. Stupidly, I reached over and pulled Jackson forward so Enil’s claws just shredded through the vampire’s spine and back.
I couldn’t actually stop time, but I could slow it down to a crawl. Except, Enil reacted by slashing again, taking more of Jackson’s back away. I didn’t care about that, necessarily, but as soon as he finished with Jackson, he was going to come after the rest of us.
“What the hell are you doing, man!?” I shouted, holding Jackson in my arms before throwing him to one side.
“What I must!” Enil hissed. “I am sorry, but you must all die!”
“Fuck that shit!” I shouted.
Enil charged at me, only to have both of his arms sliced off by Yukie. They exploded into flaming ash like before I saw the werefox spin around and kick him in the chest. Enil barely moved a foot even as shadowy black tendrils poured out of Enil’s arm stumps. They grabbed me across the arms and legs, lifting me into the air. The darkness burned against my skin like acid and I screamed, my fangs extending outward.
I felt sick as the darkness seemed to seep into my pores and drink of my blood. I felt the shadows start pulling me in four different directions. I struggled against the tendrils despite the pain and knew Enil was about to, literally, pull me apart. I wasn’t outmatched here, I wasn’t even in the same weight class.
Yukie slashed through the shadow tendrils, which had been moving to intercept her, and then stabbed her katana through Enil’s chest. The glowing silver blade passed through his stomach and through his spine before blackish blood poured from his mouth onto her face. Yukie screamed and felt her face, falling backward.
“Peter, duck!” Sam called.
I hit the ground like someone was firing rockets over my head, which wasn’t far from the truth as Sam sent a column of flame from her hands into Enil’s face. It swirled around and washed over the Ancient’s upper torso like he was in a jet’s afterburn. The flames lasted for a few seconds, only to die and the slightly charred flesh of Enil to heal over.
“Dammit,” Sam muttered.
“You’d all be dead if Peter wasn’t slowing me down,” Enil said. “He’s not slowing me down enough, though.”
Enil’s talking gave me an opening and I tore through the tendrils as claws grew from my fingertips. I launched myself through the air, slamming into Enil with the full force of my flight ability and smashing him through three walls before somersaulting in the air, kicking him in the face.
It was like kicking a brick wall, and I smashed my ankle to pieces.
“Mother fucker!” I shouted, smashing into the stairs below.
This was a lot easier in the Street Fighter games.
Enil, himself, laid down in the center of the main hall.
The Ancient looked extraordinarily pissed off even as he struggled to pull out the katana from its chest with his shadowy tendrils. Time returned to its normal speed, though, right before all the guards around took one look at the monstrous shadow-creature and started firing at him with their assault rifles.
It was stupid in a way, because I could hear the house’s inhabitants screaming as the explosive rounds went through walls and windows. There were housekeepers, hangers-on, guests, and even some kids. None of them were taking the sudden firefight well. The guards’ bullets continued into Enil’s body from damned near every direction, though, before six of the guards shifted into wolfman form and charged at the injured vampire.
Seconds later, they were all dead.
So were the guards.
There wasn’t even a battle as Enil’s black shadowy tendrils shot out in every direction, impaling and ripping apart the figures around him. I managed, however, to barely dodge one of the shadowy tendrils that shot out even as the thing buried itself into the stairs behind me. I was having to concentrate on keeping time slowed down on Enil, so I wasn’t at a 100%, but even if I was, it would have meant nothing. I was a vampire, Enil was a god of blood.
I felt proud of myself just managing to survive the opening round of this clusterfuck, even though I would probably die in the next few seconds. It was like Spiderman managing to avoid one of Doc Ock’s arms, and damn I am more of a geek than a vampire and soldier should be.
All the civilians present, the aforementioned servants and Knives posse members, ran in every single direction but Enil’s. Hell, one of them even threw a chair out the window before jumping. None of them made a move to protect the kids, and they were left to fend for themselves. One of Jackson’s pre-vampirism sons, a kid not older than six, charged at Enil and began beating on the vampire with his tiny hands.
“Get away!” I shouted, wondering what the fuck I could do to stop this horror. There were bodies everywhere, and they’d been gutted like fish.
Enil raised his claw to strike the child dead only to rear back as if in horror of himself before smashing through the front door. Yukie’s sword bounced against the ground, having been pulled out of his chest and left for us.
Enil was gone.
Fled.
I was left on the staircase, confused as hell, surrounded by the dead. This was not the behavior of an Ancient.
What the fuck was going on?
Chapter Thirteen
The chaos at Jackson’s mansion was one I wanted no part of, especially since it swiftly involved mortal authorities and the remains of the Knives’ leadership. Carl Jackson’s barely intact form was being spirited away to a hidden location, but that wasn’t going to do any good. Since he was Enil’s creation, he could be found by his creator at any time.
Sam had cast some wards and suggested some amulets, but I didn’t think they’d be able to hold back someone as powerful as the Second Eldest. She’d also treated some of the injured, which had amounted to six but, thankfully, hadn’t included kids. Honestly, it was a miracle any of us had survived. The only reason we were still alive(ish) was because Enil’s heart clearly hadn’t been in it.
That was the thought that haunted me as I drove my Jeep Liberty down the streets of New Detroit with Sam beside David and me beside Yukie in the back. I didn’t know what to make of her, but she was taking the job of avenging Rebecca Plum seriously.
Seriously enough that she’d attempted to do battle with one of the most powerful vampires in the worlds despite the fact it would do her no favors to eliminate him. The Council of Ancients would burn New Detroit to the ground if any harm came to Enil and he could probably kill us all without any of them being upset by it. This was way above my pay grade.
“Where are we headed?” Yukie asked. Half her face had been destroyed by Enil’s demon-vomit, for lack of a better term, but it was already regenerating. It would be a couple of hours before it was restored, but I was stunned she looked as good as she did. One of her eyes still wasn’t working, and she was covering both with a pair of sunglasses she’d lifted from Jackson’s mansion.
“The Apophis,” I answered automatically. “We need some new marching orders.”
“Surely, we need to figure out Enil’s location to strike at him,” Yukie said. “He was injured. He’s vulnerable.”
“Injured? Yes. Vulnerable? No,” I said, remembering that fight and concluding we’d done an amazing amount of damage, but it hadn’t been anywhere close enough to win. Worse, if he’d truly unleashed his power on us, then we would have died instantly. “Getting shot full of six thousand bullets just pissed him off. Unless we’re calling in the US Army, we should rethink any strategy that involves attacking that bastard.”
Yukie frowned. “I had a job to do and I failed to do it. We both did.”
“Are you still on that?” I said, shaking my head. “Rebecca Stone isn’t worth it.”
“Now it’s a matter of getting my face melted off,” Yukie said, glaring at me through her sunglasses.
“Oh right.” I grimaced. “Sorry.”
Yukie snorted. “You shouldn’t back away from this fight just because it’s hard.”
“Lady, I fought Renaud because he needed killing. I don’t back away from fights when they’re hard. I back away from them when they’re not worth fighting.”
“Yeah, he’s basically Worf,” David said.
No one responded.
David looked offended. “Star Trek: The Next Generation? You know, the best one? Worf was always losing fights because the writers wanted to show the alien of the week was tough, so they had it beat on the toughest cast member. Worf was also way more honorable than the other Klingons despite being raised by humans. Other Klingons had learned to work their honor system while Worf tried to follow its spirit.”
“David,” I spoke. “Do me a favor?”
“Yeah?” David said.
“Shut the hell up,” I said. “Please.”
David frowned but did so.
“Thank you,” I said, sighing. “There’s a lot going on here we don’t know about.”
“Enil killed Rebecca Plum then tried to kill his progeny,” Sam said, following my line of thought. “But if he wanted to kill us, he could have just ordered us all to commit suicide. He has the power to spellbind thousands. Hell, even if he didn’t, Carl Jackson is his creation so he could have just ordered him to kill himself.”
“Can Thoth order you to do that?” David asked.
“Please continue to shut up,” I said. “Yeah, he can, until I’m an Old One. A confirmed Old One and not just a kinda-maybe one. Stupid geritocracy.”
“Damn,” David said.
“Colonel Bellefonte,” Sam said, frowning.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Colonel Bellefonte was a vampire killed last week in Washington D.C and a member of the City Council. He was the supervisor of the Sanguine Industries Dakota Shale project and a man who handled a lot of the bribes and lobbying for the Council of Ancients. Bellefonte wasn’t an Old One, but he was strong and torn to shreds during the daytime.”
I knew who Colonel John Bellefonte was. He was an ex-Confederate soldier, so we were never going to get along, but I was confused why I hadn’t heard about his death. His loss was a major blow to the city. “So, you think Enil killed a rich oil vampire and Rebecca Plum before trying to kill Jackson. Why?”
“Quite the contrary,” Sam said. “I think someone is using Enil to strike at New Detroit.”
“That’s a big leap,” I said, not entirely dismissively. “Not the least because if Texas could control Enil, they could do a hell of a lot more than use him as an assassin. They could order him to give America to Forsyth or Drago.”
Still, this was starting to smell like a lead.
“Do you have any other ideas?” Yukie asked.
“No,” I said. “So, someone, not necessarily the Texans, has something on Enil. Something that compels him to do their bidding. Not a supern
atural power, unless true names are a thing, but something like blackmail.”
“How do you blackmail a guy who willingly admits to eating whole towns during the Black Death?” David asked.
I paused. “I don’t know. I also don’t understand why they would want to. Why these three people?”
“They’re all important to human-vampire social relationships,” Sam suggested, proving she’d make a much better vampire socialite than me when turned. If turned. “There are factions that would very much like to see those who like to live among humans as equals fail miserably,” Sam said.
“Equals?” Yukie said. “Really?”
“Errr, yeah,” Sam said. “Poor choice of words. Live among humans as employees and employer?”
“Cattle and slaughterhouse?” David said.
“No, we do better than that,” I said, frowning. “Barely. Mostly because it’s more lucrative to get humans to pay you to bite them.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Or so I’ve heard,” I said, shaking my head. No one was shelling out a thousand bucks to have me bite them like they were doing downtown. “Who would want to wreck what we’ve got going in the Midwest? It’s the closest we’ve got to human-vampire friendship.”
Which, now that I said it aloud, was its own reason.
“The possibilities are endless,” Yukie said. “Not everyone is happy about how much success the Midwesterners have had cooperating with humanity. Vampire, human, or otherwise. I, myself, find the idea ridiculous.”
“You don’t much care for vampires, do you?” I said, more than a little offended since we’d bumped uglies last night.
“I like some,” Yukie said. “But most I’ve met have been assholes.”
“Me too.” I wanted to tell her that her grandmother was the Queen of Mexico. That Thoth was her step-grandpa. That her quest for revenge was unnecessary because her vampire grandparents had already tracked down and avenged her lost loved ones. I couldn’t, though, because that wasn’t my secret to share.
Dammit.
“Some are quite nice,” Sam said. “But I suspect only the government and powerful mortal wizard groups could possibly threaten Enil.”
