The Dark Messiah

by Michael Anderle

  “This isn’t your fight!” Donovan screamed, reaching towards his waist. Michael moved, reaching Donovan before the powerful vampire could even touch his weapon. Grabbing the struggling man’s throat, Michael hoisted him into the air.

  Tempting, so tempting, he thought… Just squeeze hard and pop his head right off. Instead of doing that, however, he hissed, “Then do not make me decide its outcome with your stupidity!”

  Michael’s eyes flashed red, and he threw the young vampire back to the deck of the ship, where Donovan grasped his throat and coughed, trying to fill his lungs with air again.

  “This is not my fight I think. Rather, I believe,” he looked first to Donovan, then to Valerie, “that Justice is calling for this battle to occur. Who am I to take justice away from those who need it? This fight is between the two of you. But I’ve been watching…” he turned to look at the woman, “Valerie, is it?” He asked, the voice demanding yet gentle when he spoke to her. She nodded, “I find you to be honorable,” Michael told her before turning to regard Donovan. “You, who’d stand behind while your minions attack her? You are dishonorable.”

  “So what, you’re some sort of judge, is that it?” Donovan asked, spittle flying in his rage. “I won’t have it!”

  “You’ll have whatever I tell you... boy.” Michael crossed his arms over his chest, weighing each of them with a calculating gaze. He could hear the machinations in Donovan’s mind. How he planned to shoot her in the back first chance he got.

  This one has no Honor. He was irredeemable, “You will fight, fair. To the winner go the spoils,” Michael declared.

  Donovan, his eyes opening wider, then narrowed shrewdly, “Whoever wins, whatever the case, you accept the outcome? You won’t kill me if I—”

  Strike two, fucktard, Michael thought. “I never promised that. But I won’t kill you now. After it’s over, if you’re still alive? Then we will talk.”

  As I choke your pitiful life out of you.

  Donovan turned to Valerie with a smirk and reached for his pistol a second time.

  “If you dare use that,” Michael told him conversationally, Donovan stopping in mid-draw, “I will cut off your arm myself, and you will then be down to one arm in this fight. That was your only warning.” He pointed, “Toss it over the side.”

  Michael, his mind always scanning, caught the mental image of a vampire shooting him during the fight. Michael started pacing the deck, keeping his eyes on Donovan, but his senses around him. When he got close to the scheming vampire, he snatched the man by the throat and stared him in the eyes. “This fight will be fair. No weapons, simply brother to sister. You apparently don’t believe in fair?” Michael watched his head nod yes, and his thoughts say no.

  Michael shrugged and tossed the vampire over the side of the ship. His screams lasted all the way to the ground.

  The female vampire asked, “May we begin?” her voice cracking only slightly. She turned her sword over and struck it into the wooden deck.

  Good, he didn’t have to tell her the same thing. He liked this one more and more.

  Michael lifted one hand in the air, gave them each a look, and brought it down, “Begin!”

  The brother and sister charged each other. The other vampires had pushed themselves to the sides to get out of the way of the fight. While they watched the fight, they would sneak glances at Michael. Apparently, they did not trust that he wouldn’t come over to them and snatch another to toss over the side of the ship.

  Donovan had them scared, The Duke had them in awe.

  Michael had them feeling abject terror and bone-deep panic.

  The brother and sister traded punches, kicks, holds and broken holds. Ribs were fractured, and heads were smashed with vicious elbow jabs.

  The rain would ease up, then pour for a minute as these two went at it. Michael was impressed. Both fought well, both struggled knowing life and death were on the line. However, Donovan was fighting for his life, Valerie was fighting for others lives.

  That, he considered, would be the difference. While she was smaller in stature, the woman was insanely strong for her size. Most women didn’t survive the change. When they did, they were often stronger than males changed by the same parent.

  In the end, Donovan got behind her, squeezing her throat, half his own throat ripped out by her claws. Valerie was close to suffocating before she was able to reach over her shoulders and dig her thumbs into his eyes, destroying them.

  She was still being choked, even with half his throat gone and eyes gouged out. She glanced at Michael, and he returned the stare, giving no indication of his thoughts.

  Valerie was losing. But he was listening to her internal argument and to Donovan’s as well. He noted when she decided it was all for her friends, for the people below, for the city.

  For Justice.

  She gave up trying to protect her throat and made a move, grabbing her brother and using the last of her strength to fling them both off their feet, but doing it where she could spin in the air to get his head and twist.

  CRACK!

  Donovan landed on the deck, his head bent at a wrong angle, unable to move.

  Michael nodded to Valerie, “Justice has spoken.” She stumbled toward her sword, and he nodded. “For this, the use of your sword is permitted.” She moved forward and lifted the sword high in the air, pausing at the apogee before slashing it down, ending Donovan’s evil desires.

  She dropped to her knees, weak.

  —

  The total deaths among the New York City Police would be staggering. They had lost a minimum of ten of his fellow policeman that Ted had witnessed himself this night. Dragged in among the zombies and eaten alive.

  “What the hell is happening?” Ted called out, as the few zombies still fighting seemed to suddenly lose their ability to think. Like their brains had been reset. The cops didn’t wait but took the opportunity to blow as many away as they could. Soon enough, the zombies started moving again, but it was like they went after whoever was closest, instead of the coordinated attack that they had been using before.

  “Fuck me!” Ethan called out, exasperated when the zombies started coming at them again.

  “After a shower,” Janine called back, Arc Rod ready, “Cause zombie guts? Gross!”

  —

  Michael waited patiently for Valerie to recover, to understand she delivered Justice’s punishment, without help.

  Without him.

  “What…Now?” she asked, as the water dripped off of her head.

  “You fought bravely, and acted with courage and Honor,” he replied. Michael walked over to her, and his hand glowed, he touched her, pushing Etheric energy into her body allowing the nanocytes to regain their power to help her. It affected her almost immediately, her exhaustion lessened. Michael wanted to sigh.

  Another who knew the myths of him, and felt he was a walking demi-god. This needed to stop.

  Michael took from her mind the presence of her father, The Duke in Europe and his plans. His mouth pressed together.

  So many fires, and so few firefighters.

  He considered his next actions carefully. He couldn’t leave America without the support. He was needed in Europe to stop the carnage that had occurred, and prevent the destruction that the Duke planned to perpetrate.

  He would have Valerie drink from him. His blood had been corrected from the faulty programming it carried. Repaired on the same alien spaceship where he had originally been injected with the nanocytes. His blood was pure. Now, if he wished, he could share those nanocytes with whomever he desired. With his Etheric connection providing enough energy to the nanocytes, the person he helped didn’t require time in the Pod-doc like so many others.

  Which was a good thing since he didn’t have a medical pod handy.

  Valerie caught on that he was reading her mind.

  Michael smiled. “You have a quick mind, you may learn to do this,” he touched the side of his head, “in time. Though the power I am abou
t to give you manifests in many different ways. One thing it will change -- it will allow you to walk in the light, and that is necessary for you to continue your battle here in America.”

  “Against the hunters?” She asked him, still trying to catch up to what was going on.

  Michael considered her question, and the ramifications of the fight this night. “Those, yes. And now there are other vampires, Donovan’s followers, who you will hunt down.”

  “But you?” She shook her head, not understanding. “You’re here, or returned, now. Certainly, you can do it?”

  Michael shook his head. “I’ve been doing my part because I didn’t know I’d have a worthy champion here to do it for me,” he told her. “But I’m needed in Europe. This Duke you speak of, or rather, think of, you can rest assured he’ll be getting a visit from me shortly. Then, it’s time I cleaned up the rest of Europe.” Michael considered what he had pulled out of Donovan’s thoughts, and those of the vampires on the ground.

  Europe was a damned mess. He wasn’t sure which of David’s children this would be, but he was almost sure it had to have been David’s. He knew of no one named The Duke, but the description sounded like David’s son Charles. He had gone missing and presumed dead hundreds of years ago. David would have killed any vampire in Europe for taking a title like The Duke.

  David hadn’t liked anyone having higher aspirations than himself.

  “And what? I’ll be like... your enforcer, an enforcer for justice?” Valeria asked, pulling Michael out of his thoughts.

  This time, his smile reached his eyes, “Yes, I like the sound of that. Get your friends and put this city back in order. Remove the Peace Enforcers and take on the title for yourself, so it means something true and honorable. You will be the first of my Justice Enforcers.” Michael walked and looked down over the side of the ship. “Though you won’t be the last.” He turned back to her, “Do you accept my charge, young Valerie?”

  She nodded, and so he moved to stand in front of her and held up his wrist. “Then by my blood, on your oath, you are the first of my Justice Enforcers, Valerie.” He nodded to his wrist. “Drink.”

  It seemed almost sacrilegious, wrong on so many levels, but he said it was right, so she trusted him.

  On faith.

  She leaned in and pressed her lips to his skin, then ecstasy filled her mind as her fangs pierced his skin.

  And oh God, the way his blood felt as it filled her mouth. Her eyes rolled back as her limbs filled with warmth and her injuries healed. A moan escaped her lips, and she gently pulled his arm to her mouth so she wouldn’t miss a drop.

  Then he was pulling away, and as she watched his wrist leave with longing, his skin healed.

  “Come,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the edge of the ship and pointing down. “The rebuilding must start immediately.”

  They looked out over the lights of the city, fires scattered about where the fighting had been. There were no signs of Donovan’s people, but her fighters, Weres, vampires, and a couple policemen, were gathering below the ship, looking up at her with curiosity.

  She turned to him, his bald head reflecting the flames in the night. “Will I really be able to walk in the sunlight? Lay under its warm touch?”

  “When the sun rises today, have faith.” He sighed and looked at her. “There’s a lot for you to learn about our kind, some now, some in days and years to come.”

  “I’m ready,” Valerie whispered into the night.

  Michael nodded slowly, “I know you think you are. And as the world rebuilds, you will help it along the way, and when the time is right, I’ll tell you all I know. But for now, just realize that we are so much more than the stories would have you and most normals believe. There’s a whole other side to this vampire and Were existence.”

  He looked around the city, “We are no more evil than our decisions. Is there a Satan? I do not know, but our condition doesn't affect our morality any more than it would a normal man or woman walking the streets down below.”

  She stared at him, then slowly let her eyes drift up to the heavens.

  After a moment of silence, he asked, “Is there anything you want me to tell your father?”

  She jerked her head back down. “You’re going to him now? Leaving now?”

  He nodded. “America has you,” he shrugged his shoulders, “Europe needs me.”

  She thought about his question, then shook her head. “Tell him to change, to join us. And if he doesn’t… or let’s be honest, when he doesn’t. I’ll not shed a tear when Justice comes calling for him.”

  Michael nodded once, slowly. “You have my word.” He nodded his head toward the dead body of her brother, “I could sense the strength in each of you. There was never a possibility Donovan could have won.” He pursed his lips, as if a question was inside his mind and then answered it aloud, “Bethany Anne would approve of you.”

  With that final comment, Michael was gone.

  —

  Michael Mysted up to the tallest building in the city and solidified, scaring a couple that had been getting ready to join a special club in the sky.

  “Dude!” the man called out when his girlfriend shrieked and pointed behind him, “I’m getting some here!”

  Michael turned around and eyed them both, “If you don’t want me to explain to Ada you were up here just last Tuesday with Marian, and the Friday before that with Juliana, I’d leave. Or, I can explain that to her, and then help her toss your useless ass over the side.”

  Michael turned back around to view the city, the loud “CRACK” of Ada’s hand across the guy’s face confirmed he would be alone soon enough.

  It took her less than a minute to leave, as the man stumbled through excuses right behind her. Sometimes, Michael thought, providing truth and light helped keep things peaceful around him.

  Other times? Not so much.

  Michael viewed the City-State of New York and considered his next actions. He would need to take the fight to Europe. He sighed thinking that Bethany Anne had been created to take some burden off of his shoulders, and now, he was back cleaning up another mess.

  If he had a chance, he would find the original Kurtherians that had decided that modifying races across the Universe was such a good idea and slap the ever loving shit out of them.

  He needed, he decided, a way to blow off steam.

  Maybe he would take up cursing more often, it helped Bethany Anne with her stress. Now that he wasn’t just killing those who annoyed him, he had to learn new skills.

  The door opened slowly behind him, and he turned around to see Ada peek her head out, “I uh, I just wanted to say thank you,” she said.

  “You are welcome,” Michael answered.

  “Uh, you don’t want to join the sex in the sky club, do you?” She asked, “I’m kinda hot for guys who are bald.”

  Michael just stared at her for a moment, confused as hell, “You like bald men?”

  She stuck her head out a little further, showing a bare shoulder. “Yeah, is that so weird? Some women like hairy chests or tall guys. I like chrome domes.”

  Michael answered, “Noooo, although I’m flattered,” he smiled, “That might have been the nicest gift you could provide me. Go and enjoy your life, Ada,” his voice changed, to a silky smooth over steel tenor, “and forget you ever saw me.”

  Ada closed the door, and Michael turned back around to look back over the expanse beneath him. The lights in this area rolling out to the darkness. His own house to the north.

  If anyone had a telescope and had been watching the top of the building, they would have seen a man diving off. He disappeared two-thirds of the way to the streets below.

  —

  “No! That’s not the right way,” Jacqueline sighed. “I’m sorry Mark, I am working on my patience.” The two of them were on the practice mat, Jacqueline trying to explain the first kata to Mark.

  Mark shrugged, “I think you are more patient than my parents wer
e with me. I’m not very coordinated.”

  She stood up from the kata position, “I thought all vampires were coordinated?” she asked.

  He shrugged, standing with her. “I was changed by a girl. I figured she liked me and the hickey she was giving was fantastic.”

  Jacqueline put her hand to her mouth, but she couldn’t stop her giggle, then a snort, her eyes alight with humor, “You are telling me,” she finally said, “That you got changed because of a hickey?”