Zombies From Space...and Vampires
Page 7
“Oh, the rabble has arrived.”
“We want Aria,” Matt announced.
Caius smiled and a tall blond vampire appeared from behind the stairs.
“Aria,” Caius said. “That’s a tall order… and it will cost you.”
“We’re not here to negotiate,” Angela said.
Another vampire appeared from the hole in the wall behind the Slush Brain crew.
“We’re here to cash in,” said Stani.
“You have some nerve breaking down my door…” Caius said.
“Wall,” Chess corrected.”
“To be fair, the door is somewhere around here,” Norry said.
A third and fourth vampire joined the ranks as Caius riled the crew.
“I’ll make you this offer,” he said. “Leave now without that man, and I’ll forget how stupid you were blasting down my door.”
“Wall,” Adam corrected.
“Matt is one of us,” Angela declared.
“When did that happen?” Cin asked peering over at the half-naked Englishman reeking of garlic.
“He stays with us,” Angela said.
Caius’ nostrils visibly flared at the crew’s defiance.
“Caius,” Kylie droned from the stairs.
“Not now, Kylie,” he said.
“Caius,” Kylie said again.
Caius looked at Kylie. “Not now, Kylie!”
Beet juice splattered Caius’ chest. The remnants of a red water balloon hung to his vest. All attention turned to Mad Matt who stood, armed at the ready with a second water balloon.
“Get them,” Caius said, and the vampires leapt into action meeting Stani’s guns head on.
As Chess unloaded her flintlocks, Norry stepped in double wielding his scimitar, taking heads faster than they could jump in to meet his blades.
“Now,” Adam said, and, on cue, Matt launched a barrage of beet balloons. Beet juice splattered everywhere, mingling with the blood and the feigns and the booze as Cin traded off her flask for a dagger that carved a path through the teeth.
Side by side, Angela, Adam, and Cin marched past the fight to the steps.
“This way,” Angela said. “Matt said she’d be near the lowest floor—”
Angela froze.
“What’s wrong?” Cin asked as Adam pushed past Angela.
“My god…Adam said. “Aria.”
At a doorway descending a flight of stairs, stood a woman with the last bit of strength, holding Aria in her arms.
She collapsed and Adam dove, catching Aria and the woman before she hit the floor. Angela and Cin fell to his side and gently helped Aria and the woman to the floor.
“Aria’s okay,” Adam said. “Looks like she’s just passed out.”
“P-Plea…” the woman sputtered.
“Shh,” Angela hushed as Cin pulled back the woman’s rags.
“Who is she?” Angela asked.
“She’s Aria’s mother.”
Cin, Adam, and Angela turned to the voice behind them and gazed at Kylie.
Adam, Angela, and Cin exchanged looks and stared at the woman dressed in blood and rags. Beneath the filth, they could just make out the resemblance.
“It looks like she’s lost a lot of blood,” Cin said, pulling back the last layer. Under a shaking hand caked in blood, she found the woman’s wound: a gaping hole below a shattered rib.
“It looks like she took down a few of our own on her way up,” Kylie said.
Aria’s mother shifted the blade that lay forgotten on the floor.
“G-gi…ve…” she whispered.
Angela accepted the blade. “We will…We’ll make sure Aria gets it.”
The woman gasped as if relieved and attempted a smile through the pain as she took in her last few breaths. A moment later, she exhaled and the life left her.
“Come on,” Adam said. “We can’t stay here.”
Adam scooped Aria off the floor and stopped. A horde of Weeches had found their way onto the island and were making their way toward the gaping hole in the wall.
“Well?” Adam said. “Let’s move on then.”
Without question, Angela followed closely behind.
“But…” Cin stared, dumbfounded at the number of Weeches approaching the wall.
“No worries,” Adam said, leading the way calmly over debris.
“Slush Brain! Let’s go!” Angela announced, paying the battle no mind.
Stani had continued to unleash round upon round on the vampires jumping overhead beside Chess as Matt proceeded to launch beet balloons at Caius who was locked in battle against Norry.
From the corner of her eye, Angela saw it: Caius stole a glance at Aria asleep in Adam’s arms. A final blow, knocking Norry off balance, and he jumped.
Adam froze as Angela leapt out in front to take the blow for Aria, and instead, greeted silence. Between Caius and Aria, Chess stood unmoving and suspended at the end of Caius’s arm.
Chess coughed spitting blood.
Caius withdrew his hand from Chess’ chest who fell dead before she hit the ground.
An ear-splitting scream filled the castle as Stani charged. Angela swung her sword at Caius who dodged the attack. Forgetting the bucket of beet balloons, Matt ran into the fight.
“No,” Norry said, grabbing Matt before he could get too close. “We need to leave,” Norry said. “Adam!”
“Got it,” Adam said. “Everyone! Exit right.”
Norry pulled Matt toward the door as Angela and Cin met Stani head on, joining Adam as they started toward the door.
Caius lunged and slammed hard into Kylie who held him in place.
“Kylie!” Caius growled. “Release me!”
Angela looked back.
“Get out of here, Slush Brain!” Kylie said.
“You’ve chosen your side, sister!” said Caius.
The Slush Brain crew clambered back through the hole in the wall where Adam passed Aria to Norry.
“Caius,” Kylie said. “Go to hell.”
From his vest pocket, Adam withdrew a pocket watch and gave a tug to the hem of his vest to straighten it. As if casually checking the time, he straightened his monocle and opened the watch. Every bit of beet juice ignited, engulfing the Main Hall in flames.
* * *
EPILOGUE
Angela stared into the distance where a saucer was beaming down Weech after Weech upon the soil of Alexandria Bay. Behind her, Singer Castle burned. Cin and Norry vanished below deck with Aria eager to get her settled down somewhere comfortable. Adam set to work right away adjusting Stani’s guns.
Somewhere lost in the night, the Professor was lost to the world. Chess’ remains were lost to the flames. It was too soon to feel the hurt and loss. By morning, the battle fatigue would have turned into shell shock. Maybe in a day or two, they would feel enough again to grieve for Chess. For now, the need to survive was too prominent.
“Captain?”
Angela turned to Mad Matt standing there in nothing but boots, a garlic soaked loin cloth, and her 15-foot scarf.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
Exhausted, Angela looked out to the Weech ship and the only feasible solution left.
“To the Weeches.”
###
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About the Author
Angela B. Chrysler is a writer, logician, philosopher, and die-hard nerd who studies theology, historical linguistics, music composition, and medieval European history in New York with a dry sense of humor and an unusual sense of sarcasm. She lives in a garden with her family and cats.
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More Books
More books by Angela B. Chrysler
Dolor and Shadow (Tales of the Drui Book #1)
As the elven city burns, Princess Kallan is taken to Alfheim while a great power begins to awaken within her. Desperate to keep the child hidden, her abilities are suppressed and her memory erased. But the gods have powers as well, and it is only a matter of time before they find the child again.
When Kallan, the elven witch, Queen of Lorlenalin, fails to save her dying father, she inherits her father’s war and vows revenge on the one man she believes is responsible: Rune, King of Gunir. But nothing is as it seems, and the gods are relentless. A twist of fate puts Kallan into the protection of the man she has sworn to kill, and Rune into possession of power he does not understand.
From Alfheim, to Jotunheim, and then lost in the world of Men, these two must form an alliance to make their way home, and try to solve the lies of the past and of the Shadow that hunts them all.
Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2)
Blood waters the fields of Alfheim. War rips across the land of usurped kings and elves. The Fae gods draw near, and Queen Kallan’s strength is tested as she follows King Rune into Alfheim. But the Shadow Beast caged within Rune’s body writhes in hunger, and Kallan’s newest companion, Bergen the legendary Berserk, is determined to end the conflict with her life.
As the witch, the king, and the berserk come together, the truth buried within the past resurfaces. Now, Kallan must master a dormant power or watch her kingdom fall to the Fae who will stop at nothing to keep their lies.
Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2) picks up right where Dolor and Shadow left off, concluding one chapter of Kallan’s life as the next chapter begins.
Broken
And Death it calls as the stone crow breaks. Streaks of blood malform its face.
Death becomes its withered eyes and the shadows whisper, “Lies.”
When William, a young journalist, seeks out Elizabeth, an acclaimed author, in hopes to write her biography, the recluse grants him twenty-four hours to hear her story. What unfolds are a wide range of traumas that teeter on the edge of macabre and psychological thriller.
While toggling the lines of insanity, Elizabeth examines her neglect, rape, abuse, torture, and pedophilia-filled past. The more Elizabeth delves into her psyche, the more William witnesses the multiple mental conditions Elizabeth developed to cope with a life without love, comfort, protection, trust, physical human contact, affection, therapy, or medication.
With the use of existentialism, I wrote Broken in an attempt to philosophical determine what I had become and why. Instead, I found the awareness I needed to seek help. Broken is the road map I took to arrive at “Awareness.”