by K T Kaye
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“It’s just your sense of direction …”
“Fern!”
“Remember that mission in Canada. You thought that the town was…”
“Fern!”
“And then there was that time in Germany…”
“Fern!”
“What!?”
“We’re here,” Angel pointed to a crumbling old rusty metal building. The building rose from the ground, towering over the street like Vesuvius over Pompeii. The windows were all covered with thick layers of metal. The doors were barricaded, and the roof seemed to crumble inwards.
“I thought it was a hotel,” Fern muttered.
“It’s meant to be hidden from human eyes,” Angel explained, “Which is why it looks...”
“Creepy, abandoned, creepy, ugly, really creepy!”
“So, what do we do now?” Roger asked, interrupting Fern.
“From what I know about this place, there are two different exits; the main door and the roof. Roger, Ethan, and Fern, you will take the roof. Sophie, Danny and I will take the main door.”
“How many vamps are in there?”
“I have no idea, a lot probably. So, we need to do this quietly. The last thing we want is a massive vampire fight.”
“Do you want us to wait on the roof?”
“Yes, we’ll go through the main door then up straight to their room. If we fail to take them out there, or die, you three will be the next line of defence. Sophie, I need you to go find out which room they’re in and let us in.”
“Can’t you just knock?” Fern asked, “Why do you need Sophie to do it?”
“Because, one, I’ve been here before and the owner doesn’t like me. And two, the main door is hexed so we can’t bash it down. It needs to be opened from the inside.”
“But how will Sophie get in?”
“She’ll find a way, right Sophie?”
Sophie grinned and turned invisible.
* * * * *
Quickly Sophie slipped down an alleyway and stared at the endless barricaded windows. She pressed her hand against one of the windows, melting its metal covering with magic. The forcefield surrounding the hotel was strong, so Sophie was only able to melt an entrance the size of a mouse hole. Sophie shrunk down to a fairy’s natural size, the size of a dragonfly, and flew inside. The hole she had made vanished by the time her feet had hit the floor.
The room she had entered was luckily empty. The fairy slipped out of the room and into a dark corridor. After upping her pace to a jog, she arrived in the main lobby. Unlike the corridor the lobby was bright, clean and had an extremely gothic style. Sophie darted across to the empty check-in desk. On the desk, there was a thick leather bound book. Sophie had just begun to flick through it when she was grabbed by the neck and thrown across the floor. Her invisibility vanished as she hit the ground.
“Did you think I wouldn’t smell you, fey?” asked a red eyed vampire in Portuguese. He had a mock of black hair and a stone-cold face with fangs ready to kill. “What are you doing here, fey? This is a vampire only zone, you know the rules.”
Sophie started to explain in Portuguese, “I’m Sophie Day of Lightning D.D Squad. You have wanted criminals staying…”
“Do I? Well not everyone can work on your side of the law. A vampire has the right to live, even if it does mean taking down a few humans,” the vampire then smiled, “Or taking down a few fey.”
The vampire raced at her. Sophie dived out of the way of the first attack and hopped on top of one of the tables. She back flipped off as the vampire zoomed at her. The vampire threw a table in the fairy’s direction, it broke as it made contact with Sophie’s back. Sophie picked up a piece of the splintering wood and threw it, like a javelin, at the vampire. The wooden spike hit the vampire’s leg. The vampire’s leg smoked slightly as he ripped the wood from his body. This gave Sophie time to side kick the vampire’s ribs. The vampire twisted quickly grabbing her leg and throwing her to the floor. Sophie scrambled to her feet while picking up another broken piece of wood, which she then threw at the vampire. The vampire avoided the wood and grabbed Sophie by her shirt shoving her into a wall. Sophie kicked the vampire wildly, wrestling against its strength. The vampire grabbed her neck and went to bite her. Sophie’s eyes turned a dark purple and she screamed. Her voice became a mighty force which, like the tide pushing against the sand, pushed the vampire to the floor. The room went silent as Sophie raised her hand and spread out her fingers. There was a blinding white light as a scream escaped from the vampire’s mouth. The vampire’s body began to crumble inwards until only a mummified corpse was left.
Sophie stumbled backwards catching her breath. She looked around, pulled off one of the wooden chair legs and stabbed the corpse with it. Sophie then hopped across the rubble and back to the main desk. She flicked through the book until she found the information she needed. The vampires were in the loft suite, the most impressive and most expensive room in the hotel. After studying the book in more detail, she found that every day and night the vampire guests would have to log themselves in and out of the hotel. The vampires that they were looking for had not logged out, meaning they had to be still inside.
Sophie touched her earpiece, “The vampires are all in the loft suite. Their booking ends tonight, so we need to move quickly.”
“How many other vamps are there?” Angel asked.
“There are forty-five other vampires booked in the hotel, but so far there’s been no movement from them, so I think they’re all sleeping. I’ll open the door for you.”
Sophie went over to the main doors and pressed her hand against it. The door glowed purple as it opened. Angel and Danny moved inside; guns raised.
“What happened here?” Angel exclaimed staring at the chaos of broken chairs.
Danny knelt next to the body and asked, “How did you kill him?”
“Stuck the stake in him,” Sophie gestured to the homemade stake.
“No, look at his face. It’s crumpled inwards like it went under extreme sunlight. Sophie, how did you kill him?”
“I just told you!”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Danny,” Angel interrupted, “That’s not important right now. We have vampires to kill.”
Angel headed to the stairs, the other two reluctantly followed. When they reached the loft suite, Angel melted the door handle and the trio entered. The loft suite was a large apartment with seven bedrooms, three bathrooms and a large living room. After signing to the others that they should split up, Angel entered one of the bedrooms, only to find it empty.
“Clear!” she heard Danny yell.
“Clear!” Angel called exiting the room and heading into one of the bathrooms. The shower was running. There was a shadow, but it wasn’t moving. Angel tapped on the glass. There was no answer.
“I’ll open this door in three, two one,” she slowly opened the shower door.
“In here!” Angel yelled.
The others rushed over to the bathroom guns at the ready. In the shower were the bloody bodies of ten skinny children squashed on top of each other. Although she felt sick at the sight, Angel couldn’t pull her eyes away from the crumbled deformed figures. Their faces looked so desperate and pleading. On the wall above the bodies was a message written in blood:
Too slow Night, Mr J.
“Mr Jet, he knew we were coming!” Angel exclaimed.
“But that’s not possible,” Danny muttered.
“Not unless…” then they heard a muffled sound down their earpieces, “Speak up, we can’t hear you.”
Fern’s voice yelled down the earpiece, “Where are you!?”
“What do you mean?”
“The vampires or have you forgotten?”
“Fern, they knew we were coming. Mission failed. They’re not here.”
“Well, someone might have wanted to tell them that!”
“Hang
on, are you fighting right now!?”
“No, I’m having tea and crumpets! Yes of course I’m fighting!”
* * * * *
Fern was not happy.
Not at all.
She was fighting three of the vampires, and the wolf versions of Roger and Ethan were fighting the other three. Fern shot at the surrounding group of vampires, using garlic filled bullets. She could keep them at bay, but she had backed herself into a corner. One of the vampires, who was wearing bright blue shoes, grabbed her neck, and pushed her into the wall. The vampire pulled her gun away and then pulled her head, so the juiciest part of her neck was visible. The vampire then got a pat on his shoulder. He turned to see Angel, who swiftly punched him in the face before throwing him to the ground and chopping off his head.
“You took your time,” Fern muttered.
“A thank you would be nice,” Angel retorted as she stabbed a wooden stake into the chest of a second vampire.
“Thank you, but next time get here quicker.”
Sophie was fighting a rather chubby vampire. The vampire grabbed her and slammed her into the metal doors that led downstairs. Sophie stumbled and rolled all the way down the small stairway. She cried out as she reached the bottom.
“Oh, is the little fairy hurt?” laughed the chubby vampire in Portuguese, “Did you really think a pretty little girl, like yourself, could kill me?”
Sophie got up; her eyes turned dark purple. The vampire was pulled, by a purple mist, down the stairs and landed at Sophie’s feet. The vampire tried to grab her, but Sophie flipped over his shoulder. From her boot, she pulled out a pure crystal dagger, skidding forwards she cut above the vampire’s ankles. The vampire yelled then grabbed Sophie by the neck and slammed her small body into the wall. She struggled as the creature’s powerful hands began to crush her neck. Sophie placed her hands over the vampire’s and dark purple electrical waves ran from her fingertips into his body. The vampire screamed in pain and dropped his hands. Sophie slid to the floor as the vampire stumbled backwards. The vampire fell to his knees. He shook and twisted before turning into a pile of rotting ash.
Danny grabbed the largest vampire. The vampire struggled against Danny’s tight grip. The pair had been fighting for a while and Danny was starting to find the situation tiresome. The vampire grabbed Danny’s head and slammed him against the edge of the roof. Danny twisted and pulled out a wooden stake. He turned and slammed the stake into the vampire’s heart. Danny threw the vampire off the roof as it began to crumble into nothingness.
Roger and Ethan were dealing with two vampires. Ethan pounced on top of the smaller vampire pushing him to the floor. Roger went after the other vampire. The vampire’s fingernails grew and became claws. The vampire swung its claws, cutting across Roger’s face. Roger howled as blood began to pour from the side of his furry mouth. Roger growled angrily and pounced on the vampire. He pushed the vampire to the floor and ripped off its head. Ethan still had the smaller vampire pinned against the floor.
Angel shouted, “Don’t kill him, not yet.”
“Why?” Roger asked transforming out of his wolf form, “I thought we were ordered to take them out.”
“I want to ask him some questions,” Angel turned to Sophie, “You speak Portuguese, right? I don’t want to waste a translator spell on him, so translate for me. Can you ask him about Mr Jet?”
Sophie translated but the vampire didn’t answer.
“Sophie, tell him that if he doesn’t answer my questions, I will let Ethan rip off his head.”
Sophie translated and suddenly the vampire became very talkative.
“He claims not to know anyone by the name Mr Jet.”
“Ethan, growl.”
Ethan did so and the vampire started speaking rapidly.
“He swears he has never heard the name Mr Jet before.”
“Okay,” Angel thought for a moment, “Ask him about the man who turned him. A description would be good.”
“The man was tall with ginger hair. He was very pale. None of the men had ever seen him before. He just appeared during the inmate fight and then again when they woke up. He brought them to the hotel, got them sunlight tattoos, brought them the children, and then left. He returned earlier today, said people were after them and that they were to head to the roof,” Sophie translated.
“Did the man tell them why he had turned them?”
“The man told them that he was impressed with their work. That he liked the way they treated the human girls. That he wanted them to continue their business, only to sell the human girls to vampires as their slaves,” Sophie paused as the vampire continued speaking, “He’s explaining in detail how they treated the human girls they kidnapped, it’s really disgusting.”
“This guy deserves to be ripped to pieces,” Danny muttered.
“He will be,” Angel hissed, “After he answers one more question. Sophie, ask him if he knows where the man is now.”
“He doesn’t know. The man just said that he had things to get ready for a big event. He didn’t tell them what the big event was.”
“Okay. Ethan, rip off his head,” Angel ordered.
Ethan didn’t need telling twice. He ripped off the vampire’s head and then ripped its body to pieces. Ethan then transformed back into his “human” form.
“The man who turned them was definitely Mr Jet,” Roger muttered, “He’s moving fast. He was in London, now Rio, it doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Angel muttered, “Come on, let’s get out of here before the other vampires wake up.”
5
‘Reflections’
“Well done, Captain,” the Colonel said proudly, “A very well executed mission. Now, I think it is time you and your squad had a break, you’ve been on five missions in the space of a month.”
“Yes sir but…”
“Don’t look so glum. Here,” the Colonel pulled out an orange folder from one of his desk’s draws and handed it to her, “This should put a smile on your face. An old friend of yours has popped up.”
“Interesting.”
“I thought you might like it. It’s a light case but it means you’ll not be bored. Now go, relax.”
Angel slowly headed back to the squad house, once there she went up to her room. Angel’s room was the smallest in the Lightning Squad house. There was a bed in the centre with a small wardrobe, a single set of draws and a large bookshelf which took up most of the space. The room was plain and simple, with little decoration or personalisation. By the side of the bed there was a small table on which sat two photo frames; one which held a picture of Lightning Squad and one that held a photo of Angel’s parents surrounded by her six werewolf brothers and the younger version of herself. Angel didn’t use her bedroom much (only for sleeping) instead she usually used her office, which was next door. However the mission in Rio had exhausted the shapeshifter so, upon entering the room, she collapsed onto her bed. Before Angel had a chance to rest, she felt a sudden pain in her arm. She sat up and rolled up her sleeve. On the inside of her arm the number 1147512 was scarred into her skin, however this wasn’t what Angel was looking at. She was looking at the blood. The blood that wasn’t hers. Angel gasped out in pain as the blood twisted and melted into her skin.
“Why are you doing this?” Angel hissed.
“Because it’s fun,” whispered a cold crisp female voice that Angel knew all too well.
“Where are you?”
“I’m everywhere and nowhere.”
“That’s great and everything but do me a favour and get lost,” Angel muttered bitterly. Then a sharp pain rippled through her body, causing Angel to fall off her bed and onto her knees.
“You need to learn who the master is here,” the voice snapped. Angel’s room suddenly erupted with sickly green smoke. It clouded Angel’s vision and clogged her organs. She couldn’t move. Her head span, she fell to the floor, letting the smoke engulf her.
* * * * *
Angel opene
d her eyes slowly and painfully. She blinked several times until her vision returned. She was in the forest. The smell of wet grass and mud filled her nose. It was a nice smell, a safe smell. Slowly Angel sat up. Only when she was sure she wasn’t going to throw up, Angel got to her feet. She walked through the forest nervously. The voice wanted her here for a reason and that was something she didn’t like the idea of.
Angel watched as a wild unicorn raced through the thick undergrowth. The creature was beautiful, pure white with a slight blue glow. It ran straight past her then turned back to look. The unicorn walked up to Angel and allowed her to gently stroke its soft coat. It tingled under her fingertips. Most unicorns had evolved to talk, like Skyjack who was a very chatty pegacorn, whereas wild unicorns were silent. The creature slowly pulled away and trotted over to a patch of fresh green grass. Then the creature stopped and looked up, as if it sensed danger. If only it had sensed it a minute before, for just then a large metal spike pushed its way through the creature’s beautiful body.
“No!” Angel exclaimed as the wild unicorn fell dead. Where the unicorn had stood was a cloaked woman. She had long blonde hair that was slowly going grey and her eyes were a dark green. Her lips were blood red and smiling. She wore a long old-fashioned black dress and a red cloak.
“Why did you do that?” Angel gasped looking at the poor dead creature.
“Because, Samantha, it was fun,” the woman grinned.
“Why are you calling me that? My name is Angel, not Samantha. Why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?!”
The woman moved forwards towards her. Angel transformed into a dragon and roared. The woman simply laughed. The woman flicked her wrist and dragon Angel was hit by a ray of orange light, which caused Angel to involuntarily transform back into her normal form.
“How did you do that!?” Angel exclaimed.
The witch clicked her fingers and a purple lightning bolt hit Angel’s chest. Angel yelled out in pain and collapsed to the ground. The lightning raced down her body. Angel could no longer move. The woman dragged her across the undergrowth. Angel could feel each stone and tree root bash into her body as she tried desperately to escape. Suddenly they stopped. Angel pulled herself to her knees and found herself looking into the lake. While most people find lakes pretty, Angel found them terrifying. For as she looked at the water she saw, to her horror, something she had been hiding from herself for many years.
