by J. C. Diem
“Are you talking about little green men from outer space?” one of the Russian civilians asked. His silver suit matched his immaculate hair perfectly. Something told me he and Gregor would have gotten along well if Gregor hadn’t been one of the undead.
“More like really tall grey men from outer space,” I corrected him. “The alien had to wait until humans had evolved to the point where we were smart enough for him to use before he made his move. He was slowly dying and was running out of time. Fifty thousand years ago, he made his choice. He fed his blood to a human who became the first vampire. The alien died then the First went on to create a race of vampires. Over time, the alien’s blood began to change the First. It took thousands of years but he eventually turned into a grey skinned monster just like the thing that had created him. The imps that are raiding your towns are his offspring.”
I really didn’t want to tell them the last part but they needed to know what they were up against. “The First has two ways of adding to his army. He has the ability to rapidly change humans into vampires and then into imps within a matter of days.” I very nearly cringed at how unbelievable the story sounded when spoken out loud.
Incredulous glances were exchanged around the other end of the table. The Colonel shook his head in bewilderment. “How many of these creatures can we expect to face?”
I shrugged to indicate that I wasn’t sure. “At the rate they breed, there are probably thousands of them by now. Soon, there will be tens of thousands.” And after that there would be hundreds of thousands and then millions until the entire planet was overrun.
“What do you mean, at the rate they breed?” a Russian soldier with a swathe of medals on his uniformed chest demanded.
“That’s the second way the First increases his numbers. Once vampires ascend to their imp form, they become alive again and can be impregnated. Their gestation period is extremely short. From what I’ve seen so far, they can produce a baby in about nine or ten days.”
The colour drained out of most of the men’s faces. Colonel Sanderson’s mouth twisted in grim astonishment. “In the footage the helicopter took of you, it showed you killing multiple imps with some type of explosive device. What exactly did you use?”
Everyone had seen the footage and knew what he was talking about. “It wasn’t any kind of explosive device,” I hedged. When I saw they weren’t going to let it go, I surrendered to the inevitable. They already knew I was strange, why not show them all just how big a freak I really was? “It has something to do with these crosses.” I held up my hands to show them my holy marks. “Thanks to these, I am very deadly to both vampires and imps.”
My holy marks received curious and disturbed stares. At least none of the men ran screaming like vampires would have at the sight of them.
“How many vampires exist worldwide?” a curious Russian asked.
“I have no idea.”
“You must have some idea,” the Russian said sceptically.
“Look,” I eyed them all as firmly as I could without actually meeting their eyes, “the uninfected vampire’s aren’t your problem. We’ve been living amongst you for fifty thousand years and you didn’t even know for sure that we even existed.” Until I’d given us away that was. “We rarely kill humans and spend most of our time squabbling amongst ourselves.” If any of these men ever saw the cages in the catacombs beneath the Court mansion, they’d know how big a lie I’d just told them. “Forget about us,” I advised them. “We’re not the ones you need to worry about right now.”
After a brief internal struggle, the American nodded. “She’s right. We have to focus on the immediate threat.” Unspoken went the promise that they would worry about how to deal with me and my kind later.
We went back to watching the split screens. As I’d told Sanderson, the First’s compulsion drew the possessed vamp to him like a newborn turtle to the sea. Surrounded by soldiers, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Even the imp had moved closer. Its dark form was standing right beside me.
Turning my head to ask it to give me some room, I instead came face to chest with one of my other shadows. “Holy shit!” Standing up, I spun around rapidly. All four of my shadows fell to the floor at my feet, mingling together so they almost looked like a single figure. They were acting innocent again but I wasn’t fooled. One of them had given itself away big time and now I knew for certain that they were sentient. My dreams had warned me this was going to happen but I’d desperately ignored them in the hope that I might be wrong for once. Did you see that? I mentally asked the imp.
“I saw it,” it replied darkly. The hulking shadow stared at the four smaller ones suspiciously.
“What’s wrong?” Sanderson barked, also standing and looking around. He had drawn his gun, not knowing it would be of no use at all.
“Nothing. I just thought I saw something,” was my lame response. After that, the soldiers backed away a few feet and I had plenty of room at the table. From the corner of my eye, I watched my silhouettes. All mimicked me perfectly. After a while I began to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing. I’m under a lot of strain right now. It might just have been my imagination. My subconscious was strangely silent, neither confirming nor denying my theory. The imp remained vigilant, keeping an eye on them all.
I focussed on the screen again, trying not to jump whenever I caught any movement out of the corners of my eyes. Our spy ran straight towards the range of mountains that I assumed the First was hiding beneath. Reaching the base of the mountain, the vamp slowed down to a jog and began searching for an opening. Finding what he was looking for, the vamp disappeared into a barely discernible crack in the rocks and entered a narrow tunnel.
“How can he see where he’s going?” someone muttered. The tunnel was completely lightless.
“We have excellent night vision,” I replied almost absently.
“You can see in the dark?” an American soldier asked me incredulously.
“Yep.” It was one of the more minor talents that all vampires shared. If the soldiers knew everything that I could do, they’d most likely pull out their guns and start shooting again.
It was a long journey beneath the earth through a winding, steeply descending passage. Without the night vision capability of the camera, the picture being projected onto the gigantic screen would have been extremely boring. Even now, faced with the prospect of catching my first actual glimpse of the cavern of doom, my attention span was short. I felt like fidgeting long before light bloomed at last.
The technician adjusted something and the picture changed back to colour. Just like in my dream, the First’s lair was in a massive cavern. The cages filled with captive humans sat off to the left. I discovered the camera was also equipped with sound when the technician flicked another switch and we suddenly began to hear moans and pitiful cries.
Our unknowing infiltrator jogged past the endless cages of food. I caught a brief sight of the Comtesse and her dwindling band of courtiers huddled together near the bonfires. Bedraggled and dazed, the blonde hag cowered away from the things that she would soon become. Her shadow had subsided enough so that she was aware of her surroundings again. I didn’t know why the First hadn’t transformed her into one of his brides yet. Secretly, I was glad to see her in torment. The sight almost warmed my cold, un-beating heart.
Reaching a wall of grey imps, our spy pushed his way through the milling mass. He joined a group of other shadow possessed vampires. They were lined up before their leader, waiting expectantly.
Clad in a tattered loincloth, the First sat on his bone throne. Surveying his throng, he noted the newest addition to his followers. As if he’d been waiting for our spy to arrive, he stood. Mutters of disgusted astonishment swept around the room behind me. Colonel Sanderson stiffened in shock at the sight of the eight foot, red eyed monster. Thanks to my visions, I was already familiar with just how hideous the First was.
This time, the First didn’t waste time on an inspirational speech. He sim
ply raised his clawed hands and shouted out a word. The imp shadow and I were the only ones in the room who understood his command. “Rise!” he bellowed and the vamps were instantly transformed.
Hulking shadows were sucked deep inside, never to be seen again. In a wash of black blood, flesh and goo, a new army of imps exploded from the bodies of the possessed vampires.
Our spy’s clothing was torn asunder during the transformation and the camera dropped to the ground. We had a few seconds to see the monsters admiring each other’s naked, slime ridden bodies before a grey foot stomped down on the camera. Then the screen went dark and the sound cut off.
Shaken, the soldiers were too rattled to say anything at first. Then the Colonel rallied himself. “How many of these creatures do you estimate are in the cavern?” he asked the technician.
Scratching his head, the white coated man bent over his computer. Rewinding the footage, he finally came up with a number. “It is impossible to say for sure as the footage was quite dark but I estimate there are as many as twenty thousand of the creatures inside.”
Twenty thousand? I was aghast at the number even though I had half expected it to be high. I’d known they were breeding fast. At this rate they would overwhelm us sooner than I’d anticipated. “We have to get in there and take down the First,” I said to Sanderson. I’d seen a disturbing number of bulging stomachs as our spy had moved through the crowd. Another generation of imps was already close to being born.
“I have a plan but it will be very dangerous for you,” the Colonel said.
“Don’t worry about me, I’m pretty resilient.” That’s a massive understatement. There had never been anything as resilient as me before. Except cockroaches. They’d still survive long after I was finally annihilated.
“We know that bullets take them down, if we use enough of them. I was thinking explosives might be even better,” Sanderson explained.
I waved away his concern that I could very well be blown to smithereens. “What about the civilians that have been captured?” I could read the answer in his regretful expression even before he answered me.
“I am afraid they will be collateral damage.” His tone reflected that he really was regretful that they would have to die.
“You’re willing to sacrifice a few thousand humans to save several billion?” Sanderson nodded and I thought of the little girl in my dream. I’d promised her that I would get her out but that was looking less and less likely now. Sure, it had just been a dream and she would never know that I’d made her a promise. I still didn’t want to give up on the captives without even trying to get them out. “What if I create a distraction to give you enough time to free the food? I mean humans.” It was a small slip that I corrected quickly but several disturbed glances were sent my way. They didn’t need any reminders of my true nature.
“What kind of distraction do you have in mind?” Sanderson asked.
I hadn’t really had time to come up with a plan since I’d just thought of the idea a few seconds ago. “I don’t know yet but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”
“It’ll take us two hours to reach the cavern,” he said. “Will that be long enough?”
I gaped at him in horror. “Are you crazy? You can’t attack them at night!” The fact that he was even contemplating the idea showed just how little the soldiers knew about the imps.
“Why not?” one of the Russian officials asked.
“Because they’re much more dangerous when the sun is down. The imps might not be vampires anymore but they’re still nocturnal. Most of them will either be asleep or at least slower through the day.” I hadn’t seen any evidence so far that the imps needed to sleep but I was hoping they did. If not, then we might have a harder time taking them down than I’d hoped.
Thinking hard, the Colonel finally decided I was probably right. “In that case, we’ll leave two and a half hours before dawn. That’ll give us enough time to move into position.” The soldiers in the room immediately huddled together to discuss strategy and weaponry. Drawing me aside, Sanderson spoke in a low voice. “That gives you a few hours to come up with a plan. Whatever it is, I hope it’s good.”
During the next couple of hours, I paced up and down the room, trying to ignore the madly planning men. Finally, I decided I needed to get away from the distraction. “I’m going somewhere quieter,” I said to a Russian soldier who was guarding the door. He flicked an enquiring look at his superior, who looked at Sanderson. The American nodded and I was given permission to leave.
Taking the stairs down to the ground floor, the stealthy footsteps of a pair of soldiers followed me. They stayed out of sight but not out of sound. Pacing up and down an empty corridor, I was distracted by the quiet conversation coming from the pair. “Will you two go away?” I called out. They immediately stilled but I could still hear them because it was impossible for humans to really be still.
“Do you really think she knows we’re here?” one of the guards whispered to the other.
“Yes, I really know you’re there,” I shouted. “I can hear you breathing and…twitching. Go away so I can think!”
After a few moments of shuffling, they retreated back up a floor. The stairwell door was eased shut then I heard the snick of the lock being thrown. If it comforted them to think a flimsy door might actually be able to contain me, then I wasn’t about to burst their bubble.
Alone at last, except for the imp and four other shadows that were perpetually attached to me, I entered an empty office and sat down on a chair. The wheels squeaked in protest then quieted when I became motionless. I needed to come up with a plan that would give the soldiers enough time to evacuate thousands of humans and had little time in which to think of something. Since planning and deep thinking wasn’t my strong suit, this was going to be tough.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
During the next hour, my mind remained distressingly blank. Previously, the only planning I’d ever done was to decide how I was going to arrange the dummies in my store windows. There was a lot of pressure on my scrawny shoulders and I wasn’t entirely sure they could take the strain.
“Ok,” I said to myself at last. “Pretend that you’re a fifty thousand year old, eight foot tall monster who eats humans. What are you afraid of?”
At first, I couldn’t think of anything. Then a memory tickled the back of my mind and a picture of a red mask floated to the surface. For reasons that I couldn’t define, the First had been disturbed when he’d torn off my black mask and saw a red one beneath it in one of my visions. How would he react when he saw me in my full red leather suit? Kokoro had suggested to Ishida that he should gift me with the suit. Maybe something had sent the idea to the prophet. Maybe that something was working through her in my favour.
Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I whipped my head around and caught one of my shadows scratching its nose. Seeing me seeing it, the thing froze. “I knew it!” I hissed. Surging to my feet, I whirled around but my shadows moved too quickly for me to focus on them and point out their errors. No matter which direction I turned, they slipped behind me. Sadly, they were still trying to act as if they weren’t sentient.
“Why are they still pretending?” the imp asked me. “We all know that they have ascended.”
Going stock still, I waited for a minute then turned in a slow circle. The shadows moved in a stealthy circle as well, always remaining behind me. “The jig is up, guys. You’re supposed to be in front of me right now,” I said and pointed up at the light. One of the shadows looked up, following my finger. “I saw that!” I cried. The culprit received a smack in the head from one of its clones.
Finally giving up on its pretence, one of my silhouettes slid up from the floor to the wall. The other three followed suit until they were standing side by side like a prison line up. All we needed was the victim of a crime to point out which shadow was the perpetrator. Identical in aspect, I had no idea which one was my original shadow.
“You must
submit to the inevitable, Mortis,” the first shadow to stand up said in my head suddenly. It was weird to hear my own voice speaking in an alien language.
“One of us will possess you,” said another.
“It is your destiny to first become a child of the First and then one of his brides,” a third pointed out.
Scratching its head, the fourth shadow jumped when it was elbowed in the side. “Yeah, what they said,” it said belatedly.
Nodding thoughtfully, I rubbed my chin. The fourth shadow automatically copied me then cringed away when one of the others took a swipe at it. “How are you going to decide who gets to possess me?” I asked them. As I thought, they hadn’t planned their takeover yet.
“We will decide who gets to inhabit your body once we have disposed of that.” I followed the inky finger the silhouette pointed with to see the final imp hiding behind me.
“You mean you guys are responsible for the missing imps?” I was appalled at the idea that they’d managed to pull this off without my knowledge. Either they were incredibly stealthy and clever or I hadn’t been paying anywhere near enough attention to my surroundings.
“Did you really think we’d let one of them take control of you?” another of my shadows sneered. “They are interlopers and must be destroyed.”
Sensing their intentions, the imp attempted to run. Unfortunately, it forgot that we were attached by the feet. Tripping, it sprawled on its face and the other shadows attacked. Moving back out of the way, I tried to follow what was happening but they merged together into a mass of heaving blackness.
Finally, they pinned the imp down. One of the shadows wrapped itself around the imp’s head, silencing its frantic screams. Two others held it still as the fourth oozed down towards my feet and grabbed the imp by the ankles. It tore the foreign shadow free and the imp instantly winked out of existence. One second it was there and the next it was gone.
