Death Deceives

by J. C. Diem

  “Liar,” spat an elderly woman. Her hair was almost pure white with only a few streaks of iron grey running through it. It frizzed out around her face, making her seem slightly crazy. “You are evil spawn from hell! You are vampires who drink the blood of innocent humans!”

  Geordie gave a shrill giggle at that. “Believe me, most of my food isn’t all that innocent.” He spoke in flawless Russian. “Anyway, all creatures have to eat to survive. At least we don’t kill our food like you do.” His tone was insultingly disdainful.

  “What do you mean?” the timid girl queried.

  “You slaughter animals for food. Normal vampires like us hardly ever kill humans,” Geordie responded. “It’s the power-mad vampires who do all the enslaving and killing,” he said darkly. He was giving the girl a far too interested inspection. She was about my height and size and even our hair was similar. Maybe Geordie had a type and I just happened to resemble the sort of girl he was usually interested in. I had the fleeting thought that we might look like his poor long dead maker.

  The girl frowned and took a long hard look at us all. “Are you saying that you are the good guys?”

  Geordie grinned at the idea. “Not exactly, but the imps are our enemies and we are going to kill as many of them as we can.”

  “We do not have time for this,” Igor growled. His machete was still dripping with black ooze and his head swivelled from side to side in search of more prey.

  “Igor is right,” Gregor said. “More humans are being carried off to be food for the First and his army while we tarry.”

  Luc addressed the shaken survivors. “I suggest you take a vehicle and leave this town before you are captured again.”

  With a last lingering glance at Geordie, the teenage girl turned and jogged off into the night, followed shortly by the others. Notice how no one filmed us saving them, my subconscious pointed out. It was my crappy luck that I’d only been caught on camera doing somewhat questionable things.

  During our search, we found and killed several more small groups of imps. Releasing the prisoners, we advised them to find vehicles and leave town. Most fled from us in terror when they recognized me. The footage that had been replayed over and over definitely hadn’t endeared me to the human population.

  “Where is the gratitude?” Geordie grumbled when a released captive spat at him before fleeing. The impressive wad of saliva landed a few feet short and had been in no actual danger of hitting him.

  Gregor clapped the kid on the back. “It’s not easy being the good guys.” He winked then stiffened abruptly when he glanced past Geordie. “I think it is time for us to beat a hasty retreat,” he said quietly.

  I peered past our youngest member and saw our newest threat. Instead of running through the streets, roaring savagely, a large group of imps was attempting to sneak up on us. I counted roughly forty almost identical heads and orange pairs of eyes. Now that I was aware of them, I heard their shuffling feet and the clinking of the weapons they’d picked up during their attack. Most of their armaments were long knives or meat cleavers.

  “Our retreat has just been cut off,” Luc advised us coolly. I spun to see another similarly sized group of eerily silent monsters creeping up on us. I searched in vain for a convenient alley that we could duck into to escape from the coming ambush.

  Igor assessed our situation and pointed at an apartment building across the street. “Quickly, let’s get inside. The less room they have to move, the harder it will be for them to pick us off!” He bolted across the street and burst through the door without bothering to stop and open it. All humans in this area had already fled and the building was empty as we pounded up the stairs to the first floor.

  “Luc and I will hold them off,” I said over my shoulder as I stopped on the first landing.

  “We will head upwards and search for an exit,” Gregor replied and hurried after Igor and his apprentice.

  Standing shoulder to shoulder, Luc and I waited for the small horde to attack.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Seconds later, the first few imps crashed their way into the foyer. Widening the doorway, they made it easier for the rest of their comrades to enter. Blinking stupidly, their orange orbs swivelled around the entrance and one of them finally spotted the stairs.

  “There they are!” one snarled in our long dead father’s alien language. “Let’s tear them apart!”

  “Bring it on,” I said more to myself than to the monsters.

  “Leave some of them for me,” Luc said dryly. He showed no fear at the possibility of being overrun by the mob.

  “I’ll try but this is what I was made for.” I wasn’t sure if I was reminding my most favourite companion or myself of that fact. Just a few months ago I’d been little more than useless when it came to battle. If my memory served me correctly, my best move had been when I’d bitch-slapped the imposter who’d been pretending to be me. If it hadn’t been for my holy marks and my ability to heal so quickly, she would have beaten me easily. The tide of our battle had only turned after my holy marks had melted her lower arms off. She’d been pretty well screwed after that.

  Lumbering forward in a rush, several imps became stuck at the foot of the stairs. There was only enough room for two at a time but it took them a lot of elbowing and snarling before they figured it out. Finally, two imps prevailed and thundered upwards. Our swords flashed downwards and the bat-faced creatures fell. More climbed over them then tumbled backwards with their throats slashed or their hearts pierced. Igor’s plan to enter the building had been a good one. The narrow staircase slowed the imps down and prevented them from overwhelming us in a mad rush.

  As mindless as lemmings, the First’s offspring just kept coming. They climbed over their dead in an effort to tear us limb from limb. I wasn’t sure if it was stupidity or sheer bloodlust that spurred them on.

  Luc and I retreated slowly, drawing them to us and containing them at the same time. We were halfway up the second floor staircase when Igor appeared at our backs. I spared him a brief glance and spied a handgun clutched in his meaty hand. Aiming carefully through the small gap between us, the Russian vampire took down ten imps with headshots in the space of a few seconds. My ears rang at the close proximity of the gunfire.

  “I thought that might make them pause,” he said when the monsters momentarily stopped their forward rush. “Get ready to run.” Reaching into his pocket, Igor brought out two hand grenades. Pulling the pins, he tossed them down the stairwell then gestured for us to follow him upwards.

  Not all of the imps were killed when the grenades exploded a few seconds later but a good number of them were injured, going by the screams and groans. The rest roared in frustrated rage and resumed their pursuit.

  “We have prepared a little welcome for our grey friends,” Igor said mysteriously as he raced up the stairs.

  I saw what he meant when we reached the sixth and final landing. I felt myself grinning and imagined it matched Geordie’s pleased grin almost exactly. “I doubt that they will be expecting this, chérie.” The teen patted his new weapon with affection then copied Igor and Gregor and hid it behind his back. The element of surprise would be crucial in the next few seconds.

  Not as swift or agile after being transformed back into the living, the First’s offspring puffed their way up the stairs. Standing in a row, Igor, Gregor and Geordie waited until the staircase below was filled wall to wall with monsters. Then they pulled the machine guns they’d found somewhere out from behind their backs and proceeded to fire.

  Covering my ears did little to dampen the noise of gunfire and screaming that echoed around the stairwell. Luc grimaced slightly, his only indication that the noise also hurt his head. He remained ready to leap forward with his sword if it became necessary. With the sheer number of bullets whizzing around, I knew we wouldn’t be needed so kept my hands over my ears. In less than a minute, the imps were cut down. The last few remaining fled in defeat.

  “Where did you find the artill
ery?” I asked when the smoke dissipated.

  “I spied a dead human on the fourth floor and thought I saw a gun in his hand,” Geordie said. He was still hyped up with the excitement of winning the short battle. “His door was open and when I looked inside, I found all this.” He indicated their assortment of weapons. “I can’t be certain but it looked like the human accidentally shot himself in the leg. From the amount of blood on the carpet, he must have hit an artery.”

  “Thank…gosh for clumsy gun nuts.” Ha, I finally remembered! I was almost ridiculously pleased that I hadn’t stuttered on a name I could no longer say out loud.

  Gregor pointed at the door behind us. “This leads to the roof. We should stay up high for as long as we can. We’ll be able to spot the First’s children more easily from the rooftops.”

  He was right, of course. It was a clear, cloudless night and we spread out to search the ground below. Geordie was the first to spot another group of humans being led back in the direction the imps had come from.

  Standing at the edge of the roof, the men shot as many of the imps as they could. Most humans ran for it when we opened fire on their captors. Some remained huddled together, too shell-shocked and frightened to run. The horrors they’d seen on the news were now happening to them and most were unequipped to deal with the reality of it.

  I took matters into my own hands when Igor pointed at another distant band of roaming imps. “Hey, humans!” The small group started and tilted their heads back to see us. “Unless you want to be eaten, you’d better run! More of the grey creatures are coming!” At least one of them understood me because they broke into a shambling run and disappeared from our view.

  Moving from rooftop to rooftop, we routed more imp packs and aided the food in escaping. Without a gun, I merely pointed out likely targets. Luc had appropriated Geordie’s gun and handled it with far more expertise than the teen had shown. Geordie’s enthusiasm with the weapon far outweighed his actual experience with one. The teen was tasked with handing out fresh ammunition when the others ran out.

  We didn’t come close to saving most of the humans in the town but we at least made sure that some escaped from the horrible fate that they’d been headed for. At an unknown signal that I suspected came from their leader, the imps broke off their attack and wheeled around almost as one. We followed them far enough to watch as they herded their captives into the back of several large cattle trucks.

  One imp couldn’t wait until they returned to their lair and pulled the arm off the closest meal. Blood gushed from the gaping hole of a now empty sleeve and the human bellowed in agony. Imps began pulling him apart with their claws and cramming his flesh into their maws while he was still alive. It was sickening to watch but at least the man bled to death quickly. Luc raised his gun to mow them all down but lowered it when he realized they were too far away.

  “We should retrieve our belongings then leave this place before the army arrives,” Gregor said quietly. All of us were shaken by the feeding frenzy we’d just witnessed.

  “I thought they liked their meat cooked,” Geordie said to me as we headed for the fire escape.

  “Some like it rare, I guess,” was my response. My stomach tried to flop over at the thought of eating raw human flesh.

  Finding our hotel again, we quickly retrieved our gear then headed for our cars. Igor wove through the streets, avoiding bodies of both humans and imps as well as crashed cars that some had unsuccessfully tried to escape in.

  Headlights appeared in the rear view mirror as we were exiting from the town. I peered out through the back window as a long line of army vehicles arrived. A chopper appeared, circled us briefly then swept away to search the rest of the decimated town. I was relieved when it didn’t follow us. Either it was a different chopper or they didn’t recognize Igor’s car. Luc was driving the muddy jeep now so there was no chance that our vehicle would be recognized.

  Turning to face the windscreen again, I heaved a silent and non-existent breath at our narrow escape. Luc wasn’t comfortable being trapped between the imps at our front and the soldiers at our rear. Neither was Igor apparently because he turned off onto a side street and veered eastward. The sun was still a few hours away but it was pretty deserted out here. We would be very vulnerable if we couldn’t find a secure place to spend the day.

  Chapter Fifteen

  My concern that we would have to hide in the trunk of the car during the day was in needless. Igor led us through a few small towns and then to a much larger one. Surely the imps won’t attack a town this big, I tried to reassure myself even though I’d had that thought about the last town. Give them time, my subconscious said in response. Once enough of them had been created, no town or city would be safe. The First wouldn’t stop until every single human on the planet had been enslaved.

  News of the latest attack had spread and lights were on in many of the buildings. Despite the late hour, humans gathered on footpaths in small, frightened clumps. Many held weapons in case they would be forced to defend themselves. Pity swelled inside me as I wondered how long it would be before they’d have to use the knives, clubs and guns they clutched so tightly. People carrying firearms would last a few seconds longer against the imps than those without but they would all share the same fate eventually.

  Gregor was the most presentable of the five of us so he entered our hotel of choice to procure a couple of rooms. After showering and changing, we gathered to figure out a game plan. I had no idea why but our meetings always seemed to take place in the room that Luc and I shared.

  Geordie decided to kick off our meeting by pointing out just how badly things were going in our favour. “By now, most of the population of Russia knows what Natalie looks like, thanks to the news reports.” Everyone looked at me with varying degrees of reproach. The deed was done and there was nothing I could do about it now. I flapped my hand for the teen to continue. “Both the Russian and American soldiers will be searching for not just our Ladybug but also for us.” It was a slight comfort to remember that I hadn’t been the only one captured in one of the videos. If I go down, at least I’ve made sure that my friends will go down with me, I thought sourly.

  “We will have to keep Natalie out of sight as much as possible and avoid the American and Russian troops,” was the solution Gregor offered.

  Igor slumped back against the wall with a disgruntled scowl. “How are we going to do that with soldiers crawling all over the place?”

  “After the latest attack, the soldiers will be too busy to bother to search for Natalie,” Luc pointed out. I had my doubts about that but clamped down on my misgivings. Now that our existence had become known, it was only a matter of time before we became the hunted.

  “What is the plan now?” Geordie asked. “If the First is blocking Natalie from sensing his lair, how are we going to find it?”

  Igor had a solution this time. “We will have to be methodical. Mapping where each attack has occurred would be a good start. We also need maps of any caves that have been discovered in the surrounding area.”

  As always, my brain took a few seconds to translate his thick accent into understandable English. I was tempted to ask Igor to speak in his native language but now probably wasn’t the time to nit-pick. His idea seemed logical enough but we needed equipment to pull this off. “We need a computer,” I said.

  “I can hear someone typing in a room upstairs.” Geordie pointed at the ceiling and I glanced upwards as if I could magically see through the layers of concrete and carpet.

  We all listened and verified what the kid had heard. Sure enough, fingers were clattering on a keyboard. The typist was also speaking to herself quietly in an Irish accent. “Oh, yes, that’s it. Give it to me, big boy.” The typing paused, she cleared her throat then the typing resumed again.

  “Give it to me, big boy?” Geordie repeated incredulously. “What exactly is she typing up there?”

  “It sounds like she’s writing a trashy romance novel,” I replied. I w
as struggling not to burst into laughter and the teen’s baffled expression wasn’t helping. “Wait,” I said to Luc as he headed for the door. “We have to make sure she has internet access.”

  With a roughish smile, Luc offered me his arm. “Then you can accompany me upstairs, chérie.” Geordie pouted at his favourite nickname being stolen but made no comment after Igor speared a sharp glance at him.

  We took the stairs mainly because it was quicker and I was still dressed in the highly recognizable leather suit. Without any spare clothing, the suits were all I had now.

  I waited in the stairwell while Luc zeroed in on the typist. Her door was the third one down on the right. Luc knocked softly and the typing paused. “Who is it?” she called out in mangled Russian. It was after two in the morning and she was still banging away on her computer. Either she was a night owl or she was on a roll with whatever she was working on and didn’t want to quit.

  “Room service,” Luc replied smoothly in much better Russian than the typist.

  “I didn’t order any room service,” she muttered beneath her breath. Steps sounded as she crossed the room to peer through the peephole. “Oh, my,” she breathed softly when she took in Luc’s face.

  “Would you kindly open the door?” he said. A second later, the door swung open. Jesus, he can hypnotise people through a peephole! I was instantly envious at his smoothness and almost positive that I’d never be able to duplicate it.

  Crooking his finger at me, Luc gently pushed his way into the room. Sprinting quietly down the hall, I eased inside and closed the door. The woman Luc had bamboozled was small, mousy and unremarkable. Her shiny, dark brown hair was her best asset. Thick glasses slid down her short, stubby nose and threatened to fall off. In a daze, she lifted a hand to push them back. “I’ll give you anything you want. Anything,” she said with emphasis.

  “Careful,” I said dryly, “she’s going to start drooling on you in a minute.”