by J. C. Diem
“Why don’t you check the computer while the lady and I tend to business?” he suggested.
I’d seen Luc feed before and knew he was the consummate gentleman. He eased the dowdy female onto the bed then commanded her to sleep. His fangs descended and I turned away before he bit into the soft, white skin of her neck. I hated to admit it, but watching him feed was a bit of a turn on for me.
Taking a seat at the rickety table, I took a look at what had the human up working so late. I was right, Luc’s snack was writing a romance novel set in Russia. I read a few lines and screwed up my nose at the tacky, trite wording. Didn’t she know that phrases like ‘her ripe breasts heaved with passion’ had gone out of favour years ago? How can a breast be ripe anyway? What does an unripe breast look like? I shrugged off the inane thoughts.
After a quick check, I found that the internet was up and running. “Ok, we’re in business.” While I readied the computer for transportation, Luc lay his meal down and folded her hands together on her chest. Even deeply asleep, she wore a contented smile. Now she’ll really have something to write about, I thought sourly. Not that she would remember much about the encounter. The small wounds on her neck were already fading. By morning, our encounter with the writer would seem like a distant dream to her.
Back in our room again, I sat at our small table and fired up the internet. After a short search of the attacks, I found a handy map that someone had thoughtfully already marked. Each town that had been attacked was circled in red. A body count of dead and missing accompanied each marking. I was already disturbed enough about the possible end of the world and didn’t want to know the exact numbers involved in the First’s takeover attempt.
Gregor bent to examine the map closely. “Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?”
Igor’s stubby finger came into my view as he pointed at the first towns that had been attacked. “They struck here first then began radiating outwards in an arc.” His finger moved in a short semicircle, following the towns that had been hit.
“What is that large brown blob in the background?” Geordie queried.
“It is a mountain,” Igor told him. “The First’s cavern must lie somewhere beneath it.”
Of course it did. Here we go, another underground mountain lair. I’ve had so much luck with the other two I’ve been in. In Romania I’d been attacked by Vincent’s mob of crazed underlings. In Japan, I’d been attacked by Emperor Ishida’s soldiers. Of course, that was before they found out I was Mortis and had joined forces with me.
“Wouldn’t the soldiers have figured out the imp’s rough location by now?” I said.
Gregor nodded. “Yes but they still don’t really know what they’re dealing with. I doubt their scientists have solved the mystery of what the imps are or where they came from as yet. They also have to factor in the humans who have been captured. They are probably still working on a plan of attack that will result in the minimum of casualties.”
“With the Americans involved, they’ll find it difficult to come to an agreement,” Luc ventured.
“That is true,” Igor agreed. “The Russians will never entirely trust the Westerners.” He’d know that better than the rest of us. He’d actually lived through the history that I’d only learned about and quickly forgotten again at school.
Turning back to the computer, I began searching for maps of caves in the area. It was a frustrating, pointless search and wasted an hour of our time. If any caves existed beneath the mountain, they hadn’t been documented yet.
Gregor didn’t look particularly astounded at my inability to find anything helpful. “It is no great wonder that the cavern hasn’t yet been mapped. Any human unlucky enough to wander inside wouldn’t live long enough to advise anyone of their discovery.” His reasoning was obvious and I felt stupid for not thinking of it myself.
“I guess this means we’ll have to search the area after all,” Geordie said with an unhappy grimace.
Getting close to the mountain without being discovered by the soldiers would be only the first part of our problem. Finding the entrance without the imps swarming all over us would be the second part.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Luc directed the question at Gregor.
Deep in thought, Gregor took a seat on the bed and tuned us out. I scrolled through news clips on the internet, seeing myself chomping down on the soldier over and over again. A similar number of sites with me exploding imp heads could also be found.
Someone had started a poll asking for opinions on whether I was hot and scary or just plain scary. Ninety-five per cent of the voters had opted for hot and scary. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised that humans still had time to be trivial when the end of existence as they knew it was upon them. Everyone was supposed to have their fifteen minutes of fame. I had a feeling mine would drag out to be more like five hundred years of notoriety if humanity made it through this.
Geordie broke our silence as he reached for the remote control. “They are showing the latest attack on the news.” He switched the volume on and we all turned to watch.
A harried male reporter stood in front of an army barricade. I recognized the town we’d exited just hours ago in the background. “As you can see, the creatures no one has yet been able to identify have struck again,” the reporter said gravely. “We’ve been advised that this is the worst attack so far. Over two thousand people are believed to be either dead or missing.” The camera panned across the stony faces of the soldiers lining the barricade. A small crowd had gathered and were screaming questions at the uniformed men.
“These frightened men and women are relatives and friends of the dead and missing,” the reporter continued on with his report. “They want to know what is being done to stop the hordes of grey skinned monsters.” Looking directly down the lens of the camera, the reporter looked even grimmer. “They are not alone in their horror and despair.”
Swivelling back to the computer, I searched for the town that we’d vacated and found it quickly. The imps were widening their attacks at an alarming rate. The town was several hundred kilometres away from where we suspected the First’s lair was.
I had the intuition again that not all of the captured humans would end up as imp food. Some would be bitten by the possessed vampires and be turned into our kind. Then the First could call their shadows forth and send them on to the last stage in their evolution by dragging their inner imps out of them. I pictured an endless production line of humans disappearing into the cavern of doom and coming back out as monsters.
It was supposed to be my destiny to stop the First. Every human that died while I did nothing would be on my conscience for the rest of my potentially very lengthy unlife.
Chapter Sixteen
Guilt had me turning to face my small circle of friends. “I think now would be a good time to put Igor’s earlier plan into action and question a soldier. We need to know what they know about the imps and what plans they’ve come up with.” If they’d come up with a plan at all that was. If they had, they were taking their sweet time putting it into action.
“Yes,” Gregor mused. “It wouldn’t do for us to run into the soldiers when we make our move.” It went without saying that the soldiers would instantly turn their guns on us. How could they not after they’d seen what I was capable of?
A look of dread settled on Geordie’s face and I couldn’t blame him. We were up against a being that could convert us into seven foot tall grey monsters with a single command.
“Natalie, you should be the one to hunt down a soldier and bring him back here,” Igor suggested.
We knew some troops were in town because we’d driven past their trucks on our way in. There were probably soldiers in most towns surrounding the mountain that we strongly suspected hid the First and his growing army. It made sense for me to do the hunting, since most of the soldiers were male. “Make sure you disable his camera this time.” At Igor’s sardonically lifted eyebrow, I just nodded. I wasn’t able to blush in embarras
sment anymore but the emotion still washed through me.
“I will go with you,” Luc said in a tone that told me he wouldn’t be argued with. Not that I would have argued. My plans had a disturbing tendency of going wrong when I was on my own.
“Be safe, chérie,” Geordie said and blew me a kiss as I moved towards the door. He gave Luc a scowl.
“We’ll be back soon,” I promised.
Someone locked the door behind us as we headed for the stairs. Dressed in the distinctive black leather suit, I needed to stay out of sight as much as possible. Taking the elevator would have been asking for trouble. Luc detoured back upstairs to return the computer to the writer. He returned quickly and we headed down to the ground floor.
It was now well after three am and frightened people still remained gathered on the streets. Knowing the imps struck only at night, I couldn’t blame them for their vigilance. Luc steered me outside and into a clean but narrow alley. “Wait here for a moment.” With an enigmatic smile, he took to the footpath. A few minutes later, he returned carrying a long black coat. “For you, Lady Natalie.” He offered me the coat with a bow.
“Thanks, Lord Lucentio.” The coat had been made for someone several inches taller than me. The hem almost dragged on the ground but it covered my suit and kept me warm. Whoever he’d coerced into giving it up would probably wake up wondering what the hell had happened to it.
We strolled down the alley, away from the main streets. If we were going to kidnap a soldier, we had to perform the task where we wouldn’t be seen. There was already enough footage of me on TV and the internet without adding to it.
After an hour or so of traversing through the darker alleys, we spied a soldier speaking into a radio. He spoke in Russian but both Luc and I understood him. He was reporting in to his boss, telling him that he both saw and heard nothing strange. Exchanging a quick glance, Luc and I moved in on the hapless man. He was about to see and hear something very strange indeed.
We flanked him silently as he strolled towards the far end of the alleyway. When we were close enough for him to feel our breath on his neck, if we’d had any, Luc pounced. He broke the strap of the soldier’s helmet then stripped the helmet off. It went sailing through the air to land on the roof of the building beside us, taking the camera mounted on the side with it.
“Huh?” Dazed at the suddenness of the attack, the soldier swung around to face me when I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hi there!” I said brightly and stared into his eyes. He was tall, at least six foot two and I had to tilt my head back to ensnare him.
His brown eyes went wide but they didn’t cloud over with hypnotism. “Mother of God, you’re the vampire!” he bleated then raised his machine gun and fired a burst at me.
If my reflexes had been lacking, my suit would have been riddled with bullets. Since they weren’t lacking, I sidestepped and the projectiles spattered the brick wall instead of me. Unseen humans on nearby streets screamed and bolted at the noise. Within minutes, the area would be crawling with soldiers. I threw a frantic look at Luc, unable to understand what had gone wrong. This was the first time a man hadn’t fallen for my evil charms since I’d been turned into the undead. “He isn’t going under,” I said in confusion.
Raising his eyes heavenward, Luc leaped forward before the soldier could correct his aim and make another attempt to cut me in half with his gun. Taking the soldier’s chin in his hand, he redirected the man’s gaze. The instant the trooper’s eyes met Luc’s he went still. It took longer than usual but his expression changed to the dreamy-eyed worshipfulness I was used to being on the receiving end of.
“Huh, I guess he must be gay,” I cleverly deduced.
Luc, even more uncomfortable with the idea than me, nodded. “So it would seem.”
Even under Luc’s spell, the Russian was indignant. He understood English well enough to know what I’d just said. “I am not gay,” he protested almost grumpily in his native language. “I like vaginas, not penises.”
Now that I wasn’t sidestepping a hail of bullets, I examined him more closely. He was young, barely in his twenties. A flush of either anger or embarrassment made his pale cheeks rosy. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” I said mostly to myself.
“Take your clothes off but leave your underwear and shoes on,” Luc ordered. I lifted an eyebrow at the order. “He might be bugged,” Luc said in a whisper low enough that the human couldn’t hear him. I nodded wisely, kicking myself for not thinking of the possibility. The army might very well now be taking precautions with their employees after I’d munched on one of them.
A blush spread right up to the soldier’s hairline this time but he did as he was told. He stripped down to his shorts, revealing a skinny body that was almost as pale as mine. He folded his uniform neatly and placed his weapon on top of the pile. As he did, police sirens burst into life, zeroing in on our location.
Luc gestured for the soldier to follow him and I brought up the rear. When we were several blocks away, Luc ordered our captive to leave his clothes and weapon in the dark shadows of an alley.
We retraced our steps, making sure to remain unseen as we entered our hotel from a side door. Our captive walked between us. He fought against the hypnotism, shaking his head and muttering beneath his breath. Privately, I was beginning to think we’d chosen a poor subject to question. The soldier wasn’t sure of his own sexuality. Apparently, this prevented him from falling completely under Luc’s spell. One thing was certain, I obviously did nothing for the guy. My ego wasn’t particularly bruised since I was well used to underwhelming the opposite sex in my previous life.
Back on our floor, I checked that the hallway was clear before gesturing for Luc to bring our captive out of the stairwell. Igor opened the door before I could even lift my hand to knock. His face registered no surprise at the sight of the mostly naked soldier as he was propelled inside. Sweat stood out on our prisoner’s pale forehead. His face twisted with the effort of fighting against the dark spell that controlled his mind.
Luc sat the soldier on one of the chairs and our captive looked at each of us one by one as we came to stand in front of him. The hypnotism was fast wearing off and fear was replacing it. His gaze moved from me, to Luc, Igor, Gregor and finally came to rest on Geordie. One glance into Geordie’s still slightly blue eyes and the soldier was lost again. The usual dreamy smile blossomed as his will to resist disintegrated. This time he was under deep and wouldn’t try to fight his way free.
“Yeah, he’s not gay,” I said sarcastically. “You can tell how much he likes vaginas.”
Gregor clapped Geordie on the back, making him stagger forward a step. “Congratulations, my young friend, it looks like you will be doing the questioning tonight. After one bite he’ll tell us everything we want to know.”
Geordie immediately screwed his nose up. “I do not feed from men. I truly do like vaginas.”
Not hiding my enjoyment at the teen’s discomfort, I handed him some advice. “Suck it up, princess and bite the guy.”
Seeing us all watching him with varying degrees of amusement, Geordie’s lower lip pooched out rebelliously. “I can’t feed from him with all of you staring at me!”
Containing his smile, Gregor turned his back and motioned for the rest of us to copy him. “Let’s give them some privacy.”
Geordie glowered at us until we complied. I managed to hide my grin until my back was to the pair. “This is so wrong,” the teen muttered. Luc elbowed me in the side and sent a forbidding look at me before I could voice the laughter that bubbled up. I’d had to bamboozle a lesbian in an airport once but I hadn’t had to bite her. My amusement faded a little when I put myself in Geordie’s shoes. It’s not like he has to have sex with the guy. He just has to take some blood from him. But to vampires, feeding was like sex in a way. It was usually a very intimate moment.
A moan of either pain or pleasure came from behind us and my head was turning before I could command it not to. A b
are glimpse was enough to make me turn away again. Geordie had positioned himself behind the soldier. He had a handful of short, light brown hair in one hand, using it to angle the food’s neck for easy access. His teeth were buried in the smooth, pale flesh as he drank. Blood ran in a tiny stream down the soldier’s neck to his chest and dripped off his nipple.
The moan had definitely been pleasure. My glance had been enough to tell me the soldier was enjoying the experience. His eyelids fluttered and his expression was pure ecstasy. Also, a large lump had risen against his undies. Mortified and feeling like a pervert, I tried to pretend I hadn’t just witnessed the spectacle.
“Ok,” Geordie said a short while later. “I am done.”
He looked and sounded so dejected that my shrivelled heart went out to him. Moving to his side, I have him a hug that he instantly took advantage of by rubbing against me and grabbing my butt with both hands. “Are you sure you like vaginas?” I asked him doubtfully. The soldier wasn’t the only one who was excited.
“I was thinking of you as I drank from him, chérie,” Geordie told me then batted his eyelashes like a girl.
“I’ll give you everything I have if you do that to me again,” the soldier slurred. His head was still cocked at the same uncomfortable angle but he was smiling happily. From the distinctly unhappy frown Geordie gave him, I was pretty sure the chances of that happening were zilch.
Igor moved the second chair until it was facing the soldier. Reluctantly, Geordie took the seat while the rest of us gathered behind him. “Ask him what the army knows about the grey monsters,” Igor instructed. It was the first of many questions but the answers we received were minimal at best.
The tall, thin, blonde American soldier we’d seen on the news was named Colonel Sanderson. He was in charge of the operation to hunt down the imps. The army was calling them ‘the unknown entities’. They had narrowed down where they believed the unknown entities had originated from but hadn’t found the entrance to the underground lair as yet. They were also still trying to figure out how to rescue the human captives with as few casualties as possible. As Igor had predicted, the two armies were having difficulty agreeing on anything.
