Protectors of the Veil

by Dawn Matthews

  The admiral sat down next to us. “Dr. Roberts, Dr. Jensen, it’s good to have you both here. As soon as the test subjects have been secured, we’ll commence with the exercise. I’m not sure if you’ve been briefed, so I’ll walk you through it.” He paused to finish his coffee.

  “The test subjects will act as the primary scouting element against the opposing forces... much in the same way a Special Forces or Delta team would operate, but with fewer personnel and equipment. They will be tasked to gather intel, relay the information to higher echelons, and if possible, destroy any enemy command, control, and communications equipment. The exercise will be considered a failure if they are compromised, killed, or captured. Are we clear?” he asked, looking each of us in the eye. We nodded. I had only met Admiral Mason twice before during project briefings, and while he maintained a jovial and affable attitude, he exuded menace from every pore. He was a man who instantly commanded respect and fear. He reached into his shirt pocket and removed a can of snuff. Placing a large wad into his cheek, he motioned for his senior aide.

  “Start the clock, Commander. Begin the exercise,” he said. The commander nodded, then spoke quietly into his headset. Above the main view screen, a digital clock activated... counting down from 30 minutes. The view screen then divided into 12 different video feeds. These feeds were the helmet cams of the roving patrols that would attempt to locate the test subjects. I patted my pockets for my cigarettes, then remembered that I couldn’t smoke here. Without looking, the admiral offered me his can of snuff. It would have to do, I thought, placing some in my lip.

  At 2:45, two cameras went off. Vincent and Olivia had neutralized their first targets. I knew that they would only disable the OPFOR (opposing force) team, but a shudder ran down my spine at the speed of events. The guards would never see or hear what hit them. At 3:10, three cameras went off, and two more went out ten seconds after that. By 6:20, all the OPFOR camera feeds were dead. The view screen then reset, showing feeds from the generator sets, antennae, and other equipment they had been tasked to destroy. One after one, those feeds shorted out as well, as the test subjects cleared every single objective. By the time the admiral announced “Endex...” 12 minutes had passed.

  “Jesus. I knew they were effective from your reports, but to actually see them in action.” Admiral Mason was smiling and shaking his head. No doubt his mind was reeling at the prestige and political clout he would gain from the success of this project.

  Mason’s aide walked over and whispered in the admiral’s ear.

  Mason looked at him angrily. “What the fuck do you mean they’re not responding to the recall? Transmit again. If they don’t respond, hit them with the stunners!” Mason looked at me, murder in his eyes. “Your lab rats have exactly 20 fucking seconds to stand down, or I will terminate this project, and everyone involved.” he hissed.

  I touched the transmit button on my headset. “Victor One. Oscar One, this is Sierra Six. End of exercise. Respond. Over.”

  I repeated the call three times before Vincent answered. “Sierra Six, Victor One. Stand by...”

  And that’s when it happened. The sound of weapons fire broke out from the hallway leading to the command center, the flat crack of 5.56 mm rounds, then the thunderous boom of .45 ACP rounds.

  Olivia used .45s. It was starting to register with me when the doors exploded inward, showering the room with pulverized glass and aluminum. Both the guards posted there dropped immediately. Blood gushed from severed arteries as they fell, never even having raised their weapons. By the time I looked at the Admiral, he was beginning to raise his service pistol. I had to admit, he was fast, but Vincent was faster. The Admiral’s head popped off his neck as if spring-loaded. What I saw then made everything click into place.

  Vincent had buried his face into the arterial spray of the Admiral’s now headless corpse. I looked toward Dr. Jensen, who was screaming as she tried to run toward the exit. In her terror, she had forgotten about Olivia. Something flashed in Olivia’s right hand, and Dr. Jensen went down hard, a knife buried hilt deep in her left eye. Olivia knelt and latched her mouth onto the dead doctor’s neck, drinking deeply.

  By the time I pulled my eyes away from them, Vincent grabbed my shoulders in a grip of steel. His eyes were still the dark green of a beer bottle as he looked at me, his face red with blood. He then set me down.

  “Join us, Doctor. Come with us,” he said, smiling just a little. He must have been amused at the look of utter confusion that was obviously plastered all over my face.

  “What? Why would you...” I stammered. Vincent released my shoulders, and I fell into the chair behind me. He knelt in front of me.

  “You treated us as human beings, not lab animals. Even as you changed us, you treated us with compassion and respect. We have not forgotten this. We will not serve humanity. Not after this. As for our future? We will take what comes, but we will be free. As you will be if you come with us. If not, then the government will want to know what happened here, and they will not be gentle with you. Come with us, Michael. There is a world for us to tame.”

  I looked at him, then nodded. With his index finger, he pushed my head back. I didn’t even feel his teeth as they slid into my neck.

  It’s been ten years since Vincent turned me. We stayed together for slightly over a year, increasing our numbers slowly and silently. We then parted ways, splitting into three groups, then those groups splitting into more groups. Soon, we will have the numbers to fight the humans on our own terms. We will control them. They will learn to behave, as pets should behave.

  END.

  “This must go to Atum immediately; this is a very grave situation. These things are no match for normal humans. Good luck, Agent Strongbow.”

  Sam grabbed the paper and hustled to Atum’s office as fast as she could. “We have a bad situation,” she said as soon as she was in his office. She handed him the case number and he listened to the story.

  “We certainly do have a situation,” Atum said. “Have you noticed things are getting more urgent?”

  “Yes,” Sam said, “we’ve all noticed. Today has been the craziest day we’ve had in a long time. The end is coming, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Atum said. “Things are going to get more and more urgent. It will feel like the end of the world, for it will be the end of this world once the veil is destroyed. For now, I have to bring some vampires into this dimension to dust some lab rats.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, boss. Catch you later,” Sam said.

  “Good evening, Samantha,” Atum said. They had a device to create the same energy vibration and frequency as the vampire’s dimension; it opened a portal to their dimension. He sent a message through with the story the female voice had told.

  An army of real original vampires created by the Ancient Ones came through the portal. They did not need weapons, they were weapons. Their leader grasped Atum’s arm. “Thank you for calling us, my friend. We will take care of it. How is your daughter, Dawn?”

  “Her outer form is beginning to waver, it is causing her to be ill. This is a good sign. She is nearly read to bring the veil down and bring Kadath to this realm,” Atum said.

  “That is excellent, we all feel her growing stronger,” he put his hand on Atum’s shoulder and nodded.

  They took off so fast that even Atum didn’t see them go. They were there one second and gone the next. It did not take them long to track down the human-created vampires. They stunk to the real vampires. They smelled like spoiled blood.

  The engineered vampires had no idea what hit them. They were fast in human terms, but they couldn’t compare to the speed of a real vampire. The first five were torn to pieces with no effort from the original vampires. They ripped their heads off and all their limbs. Nothing coming from this realm could survive that. Some of the engineered vampires close by were awestruck. They died soon after their friends. The ones farther away ran as fast as they could.

  The original vampires lived for the
hunt; this is what they wanted. They hunted them through the streets and tore them all to shreds within an hour. This was only one group. There were two more. Tonight’s fun was just beginning. The synthetics were not even a challenge for the real vampires.

  They could smell the two directions of the two groups. There were so many of them that they decided to split up so everyone could get in on the hunt. One group went west and the other group went southeast. The original vampires were so fast that they could run on water. The ocean was not much of a stretch for them. The group to the west caught their engineered vampire group first. The engineered vampires thought they were the top of the food chain, so they didn’t worry about anything bigger and badder coming along to kill them. This was a fatal mistake. Half of their group was torn to pieces before the rest of their group could even turn around and see what was going on. By then, it was too late. The real vampires were on them, biting and tearing at their flesh. They replenished the energy they had spent chasing down the engineered.

  A short time later, the southeast group of real vampires caught up with their engineered group. It was more of the same. They were slaughtered before they even knew what hit them. Luckily, the two groups were in secluded areas, away from humans. However, it would be unwise to let their blood just lie there. Both teams of real vampires gave the Atum their coordinates, so a team could clean up the blood and body fragments.

  Atum picked up all the real vampires and sent them back to their own dimension. The vampire leader turned to Atum. “We will meet again soon,” he said as he shook his arm.

  “Indeed, my friend, when existence is right again. See you soon,” Atum said.

  With that, the vampires were off and existence went back to waiting for the Ancient Ones to combine the dimensions once more.

  EPILOGUE

  Scottie Miller and Rick Hunter also went home the day Vince did. They both tried to settle back into family life, but they knew the call of the Temple of Kek would come soon. They weren’t sure what to expect or even if they would be able to remain with their families. However, what they did know was that without Kek they never would have seen their children again. Civilian life seemed boring and somehow fake, not their families, but the daily grind. It was an illusion, especially after their experience with Kek.

  Scottie and Rick had been having a hard time adjusting to civilian life, so Rick decided to come visit Scottie. His wife and kids went to visit his in-laws. He just couldn’t go with them, so Rick came while they were gone. It was evening and there was a nice breeze. He decided to light a fire in the backyard fire pit and relax. They roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and drank beer. The air seemed to shift and they suddenly realized they were surrounded by people wearing hooded cloaks. There were an equal number of men and woman, in pairs. The men wore either dark black or dark blue, it was hard to tell in the dark. The women wore a deep red. They could see gold bits on the cloaks, but it was too dark to see much.

  “Hey,” Scottie said, “Y’all must be the Temple of Kek. We’ve been expecting you. I didn’t realize your entrance would be quite so theatrical.”

  “Do you know the Joseph Booth Stone house?” a woman asked.

  “Yeah, I know it,” Scottie said.

  “Meet us there in two hours,” she said. Once Scottie agreed, they disappeared as if they melted into the darkness.

  “What the fuck?” Rick said.

  “I have no idea how they did that, but maybe they’ll teach us!” Scottie said.

  “I hope so,” Rick said, “that was cool as fuck!”

  They put out their fire and picked up their garbage. They went into the house to get ready to leave. They smelled like fire. At midnight, they were at the old abandoned house. At first, it looked like nobody was there.

  “Good evening, gentlemen,” a man’s voice said. “Thank you for meeting us here.” There were two men standing behind him. “Please follow us. The car won’t be necessary.”

  The man turned around and made some gestures with his hands and a big swirling hole opened up.

  “Do not be frightened,” he said as he half stepped and half fell backwards into the hole.

  One of his companions did the same. The last man said, “After you.”

  Scottie and Rick looked at each other, smiled, and both took a running leap at the same time into the hole…

  TO BE CONTINUED.

  CONTRIBUTORS’ SECTION

  The H.P. Lovecraft Lunatic Asylum is a small company run by seven friends that met on Facebook: Dawn M. Matthews, Chris P. Reynolds, José R. Colón, Vincent, Jonathan B. We met through our mutual love of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. We have many ideas for our company, but for now, we create books. We also help short story authors, and sometimes artists, get published. This is our second book. You can find us on the internet:

  Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thehplovecraftlunaticasylum/

  https://www.facebook.com/allthingshorror666/

  Our Facebook groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheH.P.LovecraftLunaticAsylum/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/KeksMemeMagick/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/nerdsontheright/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/inthering/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/againstpc/

  Our web page: https://thehplovecraftlunaticasylum.wordpress.com/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/HPLunaticAsylum

  Dawn M. Matthews

  Dawn’s most important job is being a mom to her twelve-year-old little girl. She is Dawn’s inspiration for everything she does. Before Dawn was a mom, she got her B.S. degree in Molecular Biology and Microbiology. Dawn has always loved science. She has also always loved horror and science fiction, obviously Lovecraft is her favorite author. Her love for the Great Old Ones drives her writing. She is also a metalhead and head of The H. P. Lovecraft Lunatic Asylum.

  Contributions:

  Prologue

  The main story

  “The Exorcist House”

  “The Sea Nymph”

  “Unicorns and Zombies”

  “Hex”

  “Overboard”

  “Dedication to Kek”

  Everything else that isn’t specifically mentioned.

  Chris Reynolds

  Chris Reynolds grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, where he currently lives. Besides having a great love of literature, he is also a movie lover. While he likes all kinds of music, heavy metal is his music of choice. H. P. Lovecraft is also Chris’ favorite author. He is our business person at the Asylum.

  Contributions:

  “The Landing”

  John DeLaughter

  John DeLaughter M.Div., M.S., is a Data Security Analyst and Lovecraft Essayist, Author and Poet. His work has appeared in the Lovecraft eZine, Tigershark Magazine, and Samsara: The Magazine of Suffering. He is currently editing an original epic fantasy, Dark Union Rising, and lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife Heidi.

  Contributions:

  “The Thing Beneath the Tree”

  Wondra Vanian

  Wondra Vanian is a Michigan native who moved to Wales, in the United Kingdom, to marry the love of her life and raise an army of four-legged furbabies. She left her job working for The Man in 2014, after earning a BA in English Language and Literature, and is currently focusing on her love of writing.

  Contributions:

  “His Brother’s Maker”

  Bernadette Perez

  A Poet possessing expression and creativity. In 1990 Bernadette received the Silver Poet Award from World of Poetry. Her work has appeared in The Wishing Well; Musings in 2010, Small Canyons Anthology in 2013, Poems 4 Peace in 2014. Fix and Free Anthology in 2015. She is the Vice President of the New Mexico State Poetry Society and member of Rio Grande Valencia Poets since 2005.

  View additional creativity •

  Safari—Poet Bernadette Perez

  https://m.facebook.com/bernadette.perez.1004?ref=bookmarks

  Contributions:


  Evil

  Bryan Nickelberry

  Bryan Nickelberry is a writer from the greater Puget Sound area of western Washington State. His work has been featured in several anthologies and online magazines, and he writes when he can find time away from his day job.

  Contributions:

  “Reach”

  Frank Montellano

  Frank Montellano possesses sea stories aplenty, having retired as a chief after 24 years in the U.S. Navy. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree, both in education. He has taught in California and Louisiana classrooms for over 15 years. He is married, living in Louisiana with his amazing wife, and has two sons and two daughters who fill him with pride and joy every single day. More information, stories, and photos can be found online on DeviantArt, and Wattpad.

  https://www.wattpad.com/user/fmontellano

  Contributions:

  “Monsters”

  *We thank you for your military service, sir.*

  Shivendra Kapoor

  Thirty-six-year-old Shivendra Kapoor is a Sagittarian by birth, an Instrumentation engineer by profession and a writer at heart. He works as a Functional Safety Manager in Mumbai, India. Previously, he has around 20 short stories, fiction, non-fiction, educational, spiritual and technical articles published in reputed publications like: Strategic Publishing House-New York (US based), Times of India (India based), The Hilt (Toronto based), Cheeky Angles (UK Based), The Applicant (Kathmandu based) and many others. He has also worked as a freelance advertising copywriter and has ocean deep interest in the spiritual world and loves to be at peace with everyone. He believes and practices the saying ‘To live and let live’. He can be reached at: shivendra99100@rediffmail.com