by Jeff Schanz
The container rolled on the floor. Its label read, “HSbF6.” When Brandt had spotted it earlier, he had recognized it without understanding why. He had forgotten he had used the stuff when they were trying to get rid of evidence in one of their covert missions. It was the strongest and fastest acid made, and it would destroy a human body incredibly quickly. God knows what Mikhail needed it for, but it had just become a weapon.
Alex ran for the door, screaming. His eyes were squeezed shut, his hands clutched his face, and his flesh was melting and smoking. He smashed into the doorframe, slipped sideways through the door, then slammed into the railing, aiming for an ocean of water to wash off the acid. Brandt assisted Alex by tossing him over the rail and into the sea. Glad to help.
* * * *
Mikhail slammed into Lia and slashed at her wing. She dodged too late and was spun around from the impact. Mikhail immediately spun and raked her with his claws, and then pounded her with his massive wing, sending her tumbling out of the sky and falling toward the water. Desperately trying to right herself, she caught enough air under her wings to keep from hitting the water. She regained altitude, trying to reset her focus, but Mikhail sped forward and gave her no respite. He smashed into her again, and this time, she did hit the water. She flailed, managing to keep from going under, but didn’t have any leverage.
Mikhail stared at her for a moment, perplexed. Lia could sense his thoughts. He was wondering why she was even trying to destroy him in projection form. It was futile. And then he suddenly understood and knew she was only a distraction. Dekker was trying to find his real body.
Mikhail sped like a bullet heading for the yacht. Lia reached down with every last ounce of projection power she had and sent herself as fast as a streak of lightning. Somehow she managed to be faster than Mikhail and she clipped him as she passed, sending him smashing into the yacht’s hull. Only momentarily fazed, he flapped hard to get altitude.
“This is useless!” shouted Mikhail. “Alex will kill him. I have made Alex more powerful than any living man, and your beloved Dekker will die while you are trying to distract me. And I, in turn, will just simply destroy your undead body. I would’ve let you remain, but not now.”
“It is no life, as you know. As you have been trying for a century to change.”
“Death is far worse.”
“No. I will see my mother and father again.”
Mikhail laughed mirthlessly. “You will see nothing ever again.”
He dove, feinted, then drove upward into Lia's body. She crumpled against him. Her inexperience at projection allowed her focus to weaken for the moment. Mikhail grasped her legs and threw her about a thousand feet. She crashed into the water, stunned by the force, and began to sink. It took the last vestiges of her energy to struggle to the surface. She had needed to stay close to Mikhail to distract him, but she was now too far away and took too much precious time and energy just to propel her body above the water again. Mikhail would be hunting Brandt as she tried to get back. She prayed she wouldn't be too late.
* * * *
Brandt had broken the steel box open and was staring at the inert form of Mikhail. The man looked the same as his projection, young and strong, except there was not a pore moving on him. He seemed absolutely dead. He was in the same slick suit that Brandt had seen him in earlier, but without the wings and claws. This was his real body, his undead body, and Brandt’s ultimate target.
Brandt held up the Zippo lighter he saved from the trawler wreck. He prepared to spark it to life.
“Wait!” barked a voice in the doorway.
Brandt spun. The winged projection of Mikhail was standing in the entrance. If Mikhail rushed him right then, it was a fifty-fifty chance that Brandt could ignite the lighter in time. But Mikhail was hesitating, probably noticing the objects at Brandt’s feet, and the one in his left hand. Good. Let it sink in.
Two empty containers of isopropyl alcohol wobbled on the floor, and in Brandt’s left hand was an open Teflon container of fluoroantimonic acid. It was the same stuff that had dissolved Alex’s face. If Mikhail’s projection hit Brandt, the container might spill its destructive contents on Mikhail’s body. The body had also been soaked in alcohol, so a simple flame would turn Mikhail into The Human Torch. It seemed to register in Mikhail’s eyes.
Mikhail’s wings disappeared behind him and he took a cautious step into the room. Brandt lit the lighter and lifted it.
“Wait!” shouted Mikhail. “Wait. I can give you whatever you want. Anything at all. Just don’t…”
“I want Lia alive!” snarled Brandt. “Can you do that?!”
Mikhail fidgeted frantically. “She’s… I’d have to…” He shook his head slightly.
“I thought so,” said Brandt. He reached forward with the lighter.
“No, wait! I can! I can. It can be done.”
Brandt stiffened. He knew this was probably just a ploy, but even the flicker of possibility was enough to listen.
“Talk. Quickly. Or you’re gone,” growled Brandt.
Mikhail nodded. He looked legitimately terrified. “My elixir. It can change properties. It can…”
“I already did that. It didn’t work.”
“You have to give it a chance. It’s, uh…” Mikhail’s eyes were darting all over the room, looking for some toehold of an advantage somewhere. “We can reverse it. It’s complicated, but I can do it. You just have to let me…”
“You’re stalling.”
“No! No, I’m, uh…” Mikhail was definitely stalling. In truth, Brandt didn’t think Mikhail actually knew if there was a way to reverse Lia’s death, but Brandt also felt certain that Mikhail wasn’t going to help Brandt do anything even if it was possible. It was all just a delaying tactic. And if Brandt had any further doubts, they were answered with Mikhail’s next words.
“A million dollars cash is on this boat. And all the elixir you want. And I have women all over the world. I can give you any…”
Mikhail abruptly rushed at Brandt. Brandt had done what everybody does when they are distracted and then suddenly attacked: you momentarily freeze because of the human body’s natural reaction to surprise. If Mikhail reached him, it would have been anyone’s guess if Brandt would’ve accomplished his mission.
But Mikhail never made it to Brandt. Lia’s claws stuck through the chest of Mikhail’s projection, abruptly stopping him mid-leap. She threw him into the railing outside. He doubled over and flailed awkwardly, trying to understand what had just happened. Before he could extend his wings, Lia grasped him in her claws and slashed the forming wing stems off of his back. She then threw him so far away that Brandt couldn’t see the splash.
She watched Mikhail’s projection disappear into the distance, then she turned and nodded to Brandt. “Do it,” she said, and without another word, rocketed off to chase Mikhail.
Brandt dumped the acid around Mikhail’s corpse, then lit the fire, the alcohol-soaked body instantly catching. The corpse suddenly sat up. It screamed soundlessly and convulsed as it tried to climb out of the box. Brandt stepped back, unsure of what the burning corpse might be capable of. Mikhail's body thrashed around, unable to find any significant balance or grip to stand up. It reached momentarily for Brandt, but then thrashed wildly trying to find a handhold to pull itself away from the consuming flames and acid. But of course, there was no escaping either one. They were both destroying Mikhail's body with terrifying speed and efficiency. Mikhail's corpse got one burning arm over the box's side before he collapsed. His body bubbled and melted like the movie character that opened the Lost Ark. It was both the most disgusting and most satisfying thing Brandt had ever seen. Mikhail's body lost its shape and became little more than a lumpy macabre stew of pink, brown, and black matter sliding off of disintegrating bones.
Brandt stood and watched for another few seconds before he was absolutely sure that Mikhail was destroyed.
He picked up the canister of Lia’s blood
and walked out the door.
Back in the med lab, Brandt once again checked Lia’s real body. Still no pulse. Still no heartbeat. But the little blood bag he had hooked up was empty. All of it had gone into her body, somehow. Undead bodies didn’t do that, did they? It probably didn’t mean anything, and he was probably in denial, but he wasn’t giving up. He had one more thing to try and he was going to do it, and if that didn’t work, then he would go find the armory and blow up the boat with both of them on it. Hopefully, Lia’s projection would stay with him at least until it blew, but he wasn’t ready for that final act yet.
He replaced the empty plasma bag with the whole canister of Lia’s blood. The heavy container was hung on the surprisingly sturdy IV stand, which he gave extra support to with another IV stand for measure. Then he connected the tubing from her neck to the canister and began the IV flow.
“For what it’s worth, your own blood will be back in your body,” he told her. It was hers. It belonged there. And if there was the smallest of small chances that the elixir had somehow held onto her this long, then maybe… Maybe.
Lia’s projection floated back to the doorway and her majestic white wings disappeared. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and what looked like the colorful leggings she had bought in Catalina. That’s her chosen form? A vampyre’s projection could appear any way they wish, and she wished to appear as the Lia that was with him in Catalina. The memory of her from that night flooded warm through his mind. “I am your Lia.” Even when she was undead, that was who she wanted to be.
Looking at her, he swallowed hard and the tears came again. She looked so real standing there. Everyone wishes to see their loved ones a final time once they’ve passed away, and of course, cannot, yet here was Brandt’s love standing there as beautiful as he could remember, and physical enough to hug and say a final goodbye. He knew how lucky he was to have this chance, and even luckier to have had her love even if for the briefest amount of time. It was still all worth it.
“Mikhail is dead?” she asked.
“Melted into a nasty soup. He’s gone for good.”
She gave him a bittersweet smile, then glided quickly to him and threw herself into his arms. He was momentarily stunned. He had wondered if the Undead Lia would act the same as the Living one, and this seemed to answer the question. And as elated as he was to hold her one more time, he was also scared. A moment ago, his resolve was strong to do what he knew he needed to do and end their existence on this earth. But now? With her pressed against him, reminding him of what he might still be able to have if he were to just forget his promise? Her projection had real mass and feel, though she had no heartbeat and no pulse. Her chest didn't pump in and out with breath. He caught his reflection in one of the glass cabinets and saw himself alone, holding nothing but air. He knew it wasn't really her, but it was so damned close. Squeezing her to him, he tried not to wish for more than this moment.
Enjoy this but – stay focused.
“You were magnificent,” she said, snuggling into his shoulder.
God, this is going to be hard. “You weren’t so bad yourself. You completely kicked ass.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
A moment later she suddenly stepped back, staring at dried blood and bullet wounds in his chest.
“You’re hurt!” she exclaimed.
“I’m fine. Most of this blood isn’t mine, and these are already healing. I had a double dose of that elixir stuff. For a little while, I was like a superhero.”
She brushed a fingertip over a hole in his shirt. “Incredible,” she said.
“I know. I was so juiced up on that stuff, I literally ripped a guy’s head off. I mean, it came freaking off.”
She nodded. “I saw that.”
Brandt was confused. Lia’s projection hadn’t appeared until long after he’d left the medical bay. He glanced at Lia’s dead body strapped to the tilted table. “Saw? How did you see that?”
She dropped her hands and gave him a tender look. “I honestly don’t know. Not for sure. But I saw through your eyes. I saw everything you did. I think it was my mother.”
Brandt had no idea what she meant, or how to respond to that. His face must’ve looked befuddled because she grimaced and prepared for a longer explanation.
“Ever since you injected me with the elixir, I have heard my mother’s voice and felt her with me. I believe some part of my mother’s essence is still trapped inside Mikhail’s elixir. I can’t explain how it would survive whatever process he uses, but she spoke to me. I believe she gave me the power to project myself to fight Mikhail, and perhaps the power you were given as well.”
That explained a few things if Lia was right. It explained the prediction he saw in his mind of a winged Lia. Was it also her mother that told him to stall Mikhail? Just when he thought he understood vampyrism, it got even weirder.
Lia sighed and hugged him again. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over. More than one hundred years he has chased us. It is finally over.”
Brandt swallowed hard. Was that the confirmation he was expecting? Or was that a hint that she might be changing her mind? He knew he shouldn’t dare hope, but he couldn’t help it. He began to tremble.
“You’re shaking,” she said. “Are you sure you are not hurt?”
Brandt ignored her question. He straightened his arms and held her away from him. “Listen to me,” he said. “I love you so much.”
She started to return the declaration, but he silenced her with a finger to her lips.
“I’m not done. You told me you would not accept staying on this earth as an Undead vampyre. And I love you enough to destroy you if that is still your request. But if you go, then I’m going too. I’m not staying here without you. I’ll destroy us both. And that is what I’m prepared to do. But, if there’s a chance that you’d change your mind? If you decided to stay here for any amount of time longer, I would stay by your side and take care of you as long as you would have me. I’m not leaving you in life or in death. So, all you have to do is give me the word and I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
Lia gave him a quizzical look. “Although I love you, sometimes I don’t understand you.”
You don’t understand me?
She continued. “I haven’t changed my mind at all. I feel the same way I always have. But none of that matters now. I’m not leaving you, either. You’re stuck with me. I’ll go wherever you go and do whatever you need me to do.”
Brandt was thoroughly confused. “You’re – staying anyway?”
“Of course! Do you not wish me to?”
“God yes! But… I don’t… Huh?”
Lia examined his eyes, trying to read his thoughts. Then she gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. “You believe I am undead!”
“Uhh…”
She shook her head, her hand still across her mouth. “Oh, no! No, no. My dear, sweet, wonderful Brandt. I am not dead. You saved me.”
“You’re – you’re not… I…” His halting mumbles were becoming tiresome even to him, but he had no conscious ability to create intelligible conversation at the moment. His brain was drunk with the possibility of what she just said. Was this some cruel tease? He gathered his wits and tried to create an actual phrase. “You’re alive?” He gestured to her inert body, still strapped to the slanted table, the plastic IV of blood dripping into her neck. “You’re really still alive in there?”
“I thought you knew,” she said. She removed her hand from her face and placed it on his. “It was your blood once again that saved me. Your uniquely, incredible blood. There must have been a permanent residue of the elixir still in your system from when Mikhail experimented on you in Pakistan. Whatever it was, when I drank from you on the mountain, it was then also in my system. It gave me the power to project so efficiently. And here, on that table, with almost no blood left in my body, that residue from your blood held onto my life. Until you gave me shots of more elixir and th
at bag of blood. It shouldn’t have worked, and I shouldn’t be alive – but Mother’s essence and your blood refused to let me die.” She started to cry a little. “I am still here.”
Brandt looked at the IV dripping into her completely still body. She appeared to be nothing more than a corpse.
“It’s a death-like trance, only,” assured Lia, trying to stifle her sniffling. “My mother explained how to do it. It is normally dangerous. But since I was close to death, it was all I could do, and it gave me the focus I needed to project. I will eventually be alright now that my blood is back in my body.”
“You mean – I actually did the right things? I really saved you?”
Her mouth spread into a sweet smile. She nodded slowly.
“We – we actually won?”
She stepped forward and kissed him. Her kiss felt real, except the tingle that her lips usually created wasn’t there. He hesitated a moment, petrified that he was somehow dreaming this whole thing. Maybe he was lying unconscious on the bridge and this whole scene was some trick his comatose mind was playing on him. Was God torturing him? Or was this truly happening?
“I am alive. I am still yours. And we are free,” she said.
Brandt’s breathing got faster. If he was dreaming, maybe, just maybe, God wouldn’t wake him up. Maybe this is what heaven is like.
She pulled back a little and her head lowered. “But I am very weak right now. I will need your care until I can recover. I do not know how difficult, or how long, it will be.”
It was sinking in. Lia was going to recover. Neither of them was going to die. Was God going to let him finally have his wish? “Whatever you need, you got it! Nurse Dekker at your service.”
