The Vampire War

by Eric S. Brown

  “Something I wanted to ask you…” Tonya seized the moment, both as a chance to ask, and to stop things from getting worse between Katherine and Selah. “Why didn’t we just call Eddie and get out of there? Whoever or whatever was controlling those creatures surely knows we’re here now.”

  “They know someone is here,” Katherine corrected her. “They may not know it was a Psi-Mechs, Inc. team, nor do they know who’s on the team, even if they do know it’s us. If you’d called Eddie, it would have told them exactly who was there. They’d have heard your telepathic call for help and sensed his portal opening.”

  “Does that even matter now?” Selah argued. “They know someone is onto them.”

  “This whole area could be a trap they laid just for us,” Tonya pointed out.

  “That’s true, but I don’t think so,” Katherine said. “I think we just stumbled in and kicked over a hornets’ nest looking for information. The big question, ladies, is where do we go from here in terms of our next move? We still don’t have a clue where the dark mages’ base is located, or even how far this corruption they’ve caused has spread.”

  “We could just go onto the next town and scope it out,” Selah suggested. “We might find some answers there.”

  “Or we could be walking into the same mess all over again,” Tonya pointed out.

  “Now that we’re down here in Florida, Tonya, can you scan for the dark mages without being detected?” Katherine looked over at her.

  “Not without risking detection.” Tonya sighed. “If they’ve laid wards and spells against telepathic intrusion…”

  “So we’re essentially screwed?” Selah shook her head in disgust.

  “All that effort to avoid detection, and it looks like our only option is still me,” Tonya said.

  Somewhere outside the van in the woods a twig snapped. Selah and Tonya didn’t hear it, but Katherine did. Her heightened vampiric senses picked up the noise and she screamed, “Get down!”

  Katherine’s warning gave Selah and Tonya just enough time to duck before a cacophony of machine gun fire erupted. High-powered rounds tore at the van’s left side, punching through it. The passenger window next to Selah exploded in a shower of shattering glass, which rained down over her. Katherine had been so intent on making sure the others were safe that she hadn’t ducked quickly enough herself. A bullet caught in her in shoulder, and another grazed her back. Katherine grunted at the pain coursing through her, even as her body began to heal itself. Luckily the rounds that had struck her weren’t silver ones.

  “Holy frag!” Selah yelled, ducking even lower in her seat. “Who the hell is shooting at us?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Katherine promised, the bullet wounds already closing up. She moved to the rear of the van, kicking the back door open. The attack was coming from the van’s left, so the door on that side partially shielded her as she leaped out. It didn’t do so completely, of course. Whoever was shooting at them was using rounds capable of punching through it. Still, not all the rounds made it through the door, and only a few those that did hit Katherine. She ignored the pain as a bullet stabbed into her side, and another tore open the front of her shin as it whizzed by her.

  Desperate to get out of the attackers’ field of fire, Katherine plunged into the woods. Bullets blasted the trees near her, sending splinters flying. Those she did watch out for, throwing herself flat, and relief flooded over her as she realized the splinters hadn’t struck her. She scrambled onto her hands and knees, crawling deeper into the woods. When the bullets stopped striking close to her, Katherine took a look at where they were coming from. She spotted a man and a woman dressed in dark, flowing robes. They were armed with what looked to be modified AK-47s. Having lost her as a target, the two of them had resumed their attack on the van. Katherine carefully and quietly got to her feet beyond their field of vision and sprinted through the trees, heading around to take them from behind.

  Neither the man nor the woman saw her coming. Tonya had started returning fire from the van, shooting her pistol out its window between their blasts of fire. The man was in the process of ejecting a spent magazine from his gun as she charged into them. She could tell by their scent that the two of them were human, if somehow tainted by darker magics. Katherine’s fist slammed into the side of the woman’s head, crunching the bone it made contact with. Blood spurted from the woman’s nose as the blow sent her hurtling through the air to land roughly in the grass. She wouldn’t be getting back up.

  The man whirled around to face her, finally getting his AK-47 reloaded. Katherine caught the weapon, shoving it skyward by its barrel. The fully-automatic weapon roared, muzzle brake flashing, as the bullets it fired streaked up and away from her. With a flick of her wrist, Katherine jerked the gun away from the man. He stared into her burning red eyes with a look of utter horror and started muttering arcane words, but Katherine was ready for that. Pulling her punch this time, Katherine struck the man in his guts, knocking the breath from his body. He toppled over backward, landing in the grass. Katherine dropped onto him, her legs pinning him to the ground, as her hands clutched the sides of his head.

  “Not one more word unless I tell you to speak,” Katherine warned. She felt the man trying to nod in the hold she had on him.

  Selah and Tonya were out of the van now and running over to them. Selah’s eyes were darting about, searching for any other unwelcome surprises awaiting them in the darkness. Tonya had her pistol clutched in a two-handed grip, ready for use.

  “Are you alone?” Katherine asked the man. “Is it just the two of you?”

  When the man didn’t answer, she applied pressure to the sides of his skull.

  “Arrggh!” the man cried out. “Yes! It was just us! We were acting alone!”

  “Good,” Katherine purred, smiling. “Now who the devil are you, and why are you trying to kill us?”

  A sudden change seemed to come over the man. The fear in his eyes was gone, vanished as if it had never been there. In a calm, cold voice the man said, “Ah, ah, ah, Katherine. He can’t tell you anything.”

  “Mavet?” Katherine stammered, then found her nerve, “Is that you, you bastard?”

  Her grip on the man’s head tightened, but he either didn’t feel the pain she was inflicting on him or ignored it.

  “Lord Mavet is busy, Ms. Grimm,” the man laughed. “He’s given the rest of us the task of eliminating you and yours.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Katherine growled. “Who are you?”

  “My name is Elick,” the man said, “and I am sure we’ll have the chance to meet face to face soon…one way or another.”

  With that said, the man’s eyes exploded from their sockets and he vomited blood, showering Katherine with gore. She hurled herself away from the man’s body as it erupted in flames. The flames weren’t normal in their nature, not even for a dying vampire, which she knew the man wasn’t. Though they burned hot, the flames were blacker than the night around them. In an instant, there was nothing remaining of the man but a scorched spot in the grass.

  Tonya and Selah had overhead her conversation with the man. Both of them looked worried.

  “Who in the hell is Elick?” Selah demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Katherine answered, “but I’m pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 11

  “That’s it,” Katherine snarled. “We need to know where their base is, and we need to know now.”

  Tonya stared at her. “You want me to telepathically search for it, then?”

  “Right now.” Katherine took a step closer to Tonya.

  The telepath wasn’t threatened by her. She’d seen Katherine Grimm like this before. Selah, on the other hand, moved to intercept Katherine.

  “Don’t do it, little girl,” Katherine warned. “I’m not in the mood.”

  Seeing the bright red of Katherine’s eyes glowing in the darkness, Selah backed off.
The psycho-metabolist thought better of testing her power against that of the half-vampire’s.

  “Got it,” Tonya exclaimed.

  “What?” Katherine asked not believing her. “It was that easy?”

  “It was that easy now that we don’t care about being detected.” Tonya chuckled. “There are some very disgruntled and angry mages waiting for us in the swamp. Their base is at its center.”

  “We went through everything we have for nothing then.” Selah sounded mournful.

  “Sometimes that happens, newbie. It’s life,” Katherine told her pointedly.

  “We’re going to need to hit their base hard and fast before they can do anything else to protect it,” Tonya told them.

  “Get Eddie out here to collect us, and let Ringer and Donald know,” Katherine ordered.

  Tonya nodded and started concentrating on relaying her message.

  “You ready for this?” Katherine asked Selah.

  The psycho-metabolist glared back at her. “Are you?”

  A shimmering portal sprang into existence nearby. Eddie stepped out of it.

  “Heard you ladies needed a ride,” he quipped.

  Katherine, Tonya, and Selah entered the portal, with Eddie following after them, and they emerged in the Psi-mech hangar. Alert klaxons were blaring and yellow lights spinning on the walls signaled that everyone was getting ready for a mass transit. Eight Psi-mechs were in the last stages of being readied for action. Their pilots were already inside as techs worked to double-check their ordnance.

  Ringer was there puffing on a cigarette, a habit Katherine figured the telekinetic former detective was never going to give up. Hank was scurrying about barking orders at his tech crew. Donald stood, clearly waiting on their arrival, with Richard at his side, still too wounded to take part in the field op. The two of them moved to meet Katherine and the others as the portal that had brought them home closed.

  “Our forces are almost prepared, Mother,” Donald told her, then shifted his attention to the psycho-porter. “Eddie, you won’t be able to take them the entire way in. You’ll have to drop them in the swamp outside the compound.”

  “Why not?” Eddie asked.

  “Ask her,” Donald nodded at Tonya.

  “When I touched the minds of several of the dark mages, I not only learned where their base was, I discovered they have the place even more warded than we feared. While their defenses against telepathic probes is weak, they spared no expense closing off every means of entry to their compound other than the physical plane.”

  “Don’t let her misinform you about that,” Hank said, coming up to them. “They’ve pulled out the big guns there, too. Once Tonya informed us of the base’s location, I sent in one of the drones in Florida I had on standby. They’re not just going to be protecting the base with magic. They’ve got werewolves enlisted as foot soldiers, and God knows what else.”

  “Zombies,” Katherine spoke up. “Count on it. If they’ve turned all the towns around the swamp, it only makes sense for them to use some of those creatures, too.”

  “Indeed,” Donald agreed. “This won’t be an easy fight, but it’s one we must undertake.”

  “Is Ringer leading the charge, then?” Katherine asked.

  Donald shook his head. “No. I’m holding Ringer in reserve. Our Psi-mechs will led the charge with Scott in command. I believe they have the firepower needed to break through.”

  “And they’re easier to replace than psychics,” Tonya quipped, knowing how cold Donald could be when it came to such matters. It wasn’t the young precog’s fault, though. He saw things in numbers, and often in black and white; perhaps due to the nature of his own psychic power, he took the long view of anything he undertook.

  “Once the Psi-mechs have opened the way, Mother,” Donald told Katherine, “you, Tonya, Selah, and Hank will move into the base to deal with the more powerful dark mages within it.”

  “And if we can’t handle them even with the Psi-mechs as support?” Katherine asked.

  “That’s when I unleash Ringer on them.” Donald tried to add humor to his voice as he stated that part of his plan. His attempt failed and fell flat.

  “Understood,” Katherine assured her son.

  “Eddie, it’s time,” Donald announced.

  “Roger that,” Eddie said and headed for the center of the hangar, where Scott and his Psi-mechs were finally in place.

  Eddie opened a gateway to the swamp outside the dark mages’ compound, and the Psi-mechs charged through it.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 12

  The legs of Scott’s Psi-mech splashed into the water of the swamp as he emerged from the portal Eddie had opened. Scott imagined he could feel the heat and humidity of the place even through his armor, though he knew that was impossible. There was a mournful full moon in the sky overhead, partly obscured by clouds that threatened rain. Herons took flight, startled by the sudden appearance of eight heavily armed and armored war machines. Bullfrogs chirruped somewhere, hidden in the distance. Alligators thought better of being near whatever was about to take place, sliding from where they rested on the banks into the water to vanish. The mud at the bottom of the water Scott’s mech waded through stuck to its feet as they sunk deeply into it.

  “Spread out,” Scott ordered his people. “Defensive formation.”

  His fellow pilots did as they were told. Scott, Alek, and Hannah’s mechs formed a wedge in the center of the group, and the others fell back to flank them in the shape of a pointed arrowhead formation. The base was less than a half mile ahead, and Scott wanted to get there quickly. There was no point in attempting to approach it quietly; the dark mages were well aware that Psi-Mechs, Inc. was coming for them.

  The base came into view up ahead. It was a squat metal building that resembled a bunker, but there was no sign of the exterior defenders Scott had been expecting. He didn’t believe for a second, though, that they weren’t around somewhere, hiding in the swamp, preparing to strike.

  Raising the left hand of his Psi-mech, Scott signaled for the others to come to a halt. The lead wedge of the formation stood at the edge of the tree line in front of the base. Scott ran a quick scan of the base’s exterior with his suit’s sensors. If there were weapons on the exterior of the base itself, they were concealed beyond his suit’s capacity to detect them.

  “Target the base, armor-piercing, high-explosive rounds,” Scott barked over the comm. “Alek, Hannah, concentrate your fire with mine on those bulkhead doors.”

  An alarm blared inside Scott’s Psi-mech as its systems warned him that the enemy had just locked onto him. Numerous hidden slats slid opened along the front of the base, and missile launchers emerged to spew their deadly contents at him and his squad.

  “Incoming!” Scott cried out, but it was too late to save everyone.

  Alek’s Psi-mech took a volley of missile fire that blew it into bits of spinning shrapnel and flaming debris. Hannah’s Psi-mech narrowly avoided the same fate, deploying countermeasures at the last moment. Even so, the missiles targeting her mech exploded close enough that their shockwave toppled it. Her mech splashed into the water onto its back.

  “Mother fragger!” Scott screamed as the shoulder-mounted railgun of his mech blasted the missiles coming his way out of the air.

  Several of the Psi-mechs flanking the lead three took hits as well, but only one of them was rendered nonfunctional.

  As if on cue, multiple dimensional doorways like Eddie used opened in front of the mechs. They weren’t shimmering swirls of color like Eddie’s; they were dark, foul things forced open by unnatural magics. From them charged dozens of people dressed in flowing black robes. Among their ranks were four werewolves, as well. One of the werewolves was much larger than the others, and Scott knew at once it was an alpha. The dark mage warriors carried wicked-looking assault rifles born of techno-magic, and the rifles roared, hosing Scott’s squad with a hail of fully-automatic fire. Scott heard enchanted rounds pinging off the a
rmor of his suit’s chest and head. The bullets left dents in his suit that normal rifles wouldn’t have been capable of inflicting, but they didn’t penetrate.

  The auto-targeting function of Scott’s shoulder-mounted railgun saved him the trouble of taking time to aim at the black robed enemies. He activated it, mowing down half a dozen of them, the high-powered rounds of his railgun reducing their unprotected human bodies to explosions of splattering entrails and bone fragments.

  Hannah’s was still trying to get her mech back onto its feet when the alpha werewolf leaped onto it, driving it back down into the mud. The alpha werewolf’s lips were parted in a fierce snarl as one of its clawed hands ripped into the front armor of Hannah’s mech and sliced it open. Coolant fluid leaked around exposed wiring as the alpha werewolf sank both of its hands into the opening it had made and jerked the front of Hannah’s mech completely apart. She sat, strapped in, staring up in terror at the massive midnight-haired monster above her. The alpha werewolf’s eyes glowed yellow with rage as it fell upon her, and its razored teeth closed about her throat, taking her life.

  “No!” Scott yelled, shifting his Psi-mech so he could pop its arm blades. They deployed with a loud clicking noise as they snapped outward from the tops of his mech’s wrists and locked into place. The silver blades gleamed brightly in the light of the full moon, and the motion was enough to draw the alpha werewolf’s attention to him. Its head rose up and out of the interior of Hannah’s Psi-mech, lips smeared with dripping blood. Growling as it came, the alpha werewolf pounced at Scott.

  The other surviving Psi-mechs traded fire with the gun-wielding black-robed humans, and the unarmored defenders of the base got the worst of the exchange. They died quickly as the Psi-mechs responded to their attack with railguns, well-targeted rockets, flamethrowers, and mech-sized SAWs.

  The werewolves who’d accompanied the alpha picked their targets and engaged them. One wolf darted toward a Psi-mech on Scott’s left flank, but the mech was ready for the beast. It whirled to drench the monster in liquid fire that couldn’t be extinguished by the water of the swamp. The werewolf howled and shrieked as its hair burned away from its body and its skin melted away.