The Vampire War

by Eric S. Brown

  Donald paused, taking stock of his location and getting his bearings. Tonya was beyond his help, but something powerful had killed her. The young precog focused, using his near-perfect memory to recall every nuance of the pain he’d experienced in an attempt to figure out exactly where Tonya had met her end in relation to his current position. The task took a minute, but Donald managed it. Telling himself he wasn’t afraid, Donald headed for where Tonya’s mental death cry had originated.

  Donald came upon a massive doorway. Through it he could see Mavet standing at the edge of a great pit filled with human bodies. The god vampire was chanting arcane phrases that echoed off the chamber’s walls. The floor was slicked with blood, and the whole place stank of rot and death. The blood-smeared pentagram pattern that stretched across the chamber beneath Mavet’s feet pulsed with the energy that throbbed through it. Tonya, Eddie, and Richard lay not far from Mavet. Richard was clearly dead. His guts had been torn open and strands of his own intestines had been stuffed into his mouth. Tonya, Donald already knew, was dead as well. He had felt her die in his mind. Eddie was the only unknown. Whether the psycho-porter still lived was impossible to tell, as he stood just outside the doorway. Regardless, Donald had a job to do.

  Mavet’s chanting stopped so suddenly it startled Donald. The god vampire turned to stare directly at him, despite the personal cloaking device he wore.

  “You can turn that device of yours off, boy. I know you are there,” Mavet called to him.

  Donald did as Mavet asked. He deactivated his cloaking device and entered the chamber.

  “I hear you were the one who defeated Sean, the worm creature,” Mavet said, looking Donald over. “From the looks of you, I find that hard to believe.”

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Donald replied.

  “Yes, they can,” Mavet agreed. “Have you come to test your mettle against a god, boy?”

  “I’ve come to stop you,” Donald answered. While they talked, the young precog studied the chamber they stood in. As his eyes fell upon the emerald star in the center of the pit Mavet had been standing at the edge of, his mind exploded with visions. Hundreds, thousands, millions of possible futures flashed before him. Donald stumbled, dropping to one knee from the mental impact of them.

  Mavet eyed him as if trying to figure out what had happened. “That is a poor way to start our battle, little one. Perhaps you should surrender now before we begin.”

  Donald got to his feet, a look of stern determination on his face. “I think not, monster.”

  Jerking his plasma rifle to brace it against his shoulder, Donald took aim. Only too late did the god vampire realize that Donald wasn’t aiming for him.

  “No!” Mavet shrieked as Donald squeezed the rifle’s trigger. A discharge of plasma sped past Mavet to strike the emerald star where it sat in the pit…then everything went to hell for both of them. The plasma struck the emerald star, interacting with the massive buildup of mystical power inside it. The star shattered in an explosion that consumed the bodies within the pit and raged out of it. Mavet was caught by the blast, and the god vampire was hurled several yards through the air. Mavet thudded to the floor, his clothing ablaze. Donald fared little better, although he’d known what to expect and had been moving the moment he fired. Being farther away from the pit helped, as did throwing himself down, but it was the combat armor Hank had made for him that saved his life. The chamber shook, with pieces of the ceiling breaking loose to plunge downward. One such piece smashed Tonya’s corpse, splattering blood and crushing bones.

  Donald rolled aside as a piece of the ceiling fell toward him. The floor was jarred by its impact as the debris crashed down and shattered into flying bits. The young precog got to his feet, rushing to where Eddie lay. The psycho-porter was still out of it, though he was beginning to stir.

  “Eddie!” Donald yelled, grabbing and shaking him. “You have to wake up!”

  The psycho-porter moaned but didn’t fully awaken. Donald released Eddie as he looked toward Mavet, who was getting up.

  “Boy!” Mavet roared. There was fury in his eyes, which blazed openly.

  Donald had foreseen Mavet’s anger and knew what was coming. Even so, both his precognition and martial arts training failed to completely stop the god vampire’s charge. Mavet plowed into him like a runaway eighteen-wheeler. They went down together, a mass of flailing limbs. Donald knew he was dead if he didn’t act fast to get out from beneath the god vampire. Donald had managed to draw one of his sliver-bladed sai as they hit the floor, and he rammed it into the side of Mavet’s neck. The blade pierced the vampire’s flesh, sinking in to the hilt. The point of the sai’s blade and a good length of it emerged from the other side of Mavet’s neck. The god vampire reared up in pain, allowing Donald to escape. Mavet yanked the sai out and snapped it, flinging the broken halves in different directions.

  The plasma rifle was useless now. Donald could tell without even moving to retrieve it. The weapon lay smoking a few feet away, its barrel a mass of melted and twisted metal. The chord that had connected it to the backpack Donald wore had been ripped away from the weapon when he’d lost it. Donald quickly shrugged the backpack off. There was no need to bear its weight any longer.

  Mavet came at the young precog again. Donald parried a swipe from one of Mavet’s claws with his remaining sai, turning it aside. He did a back flip away from Mavet to avoid the slashing claws on the god vampire’s other hand. Donald landed on his feet with Mavet still coming at him, and there was no dodging this time. Mavet was simply too fast, even for someone who knew what his every move would be. The god vampire threw a punch that landed squarely in the center of Donald’s chest, knocking the breath from his lungs and cracking several of his ribs, despite the armor he wore. The blow flung the young precog from his feet. He thudded onto the floor a good six feet from where he’d been standing. Mavet was on him again before he could move. Grabbing his arms, Mavet pinned them to the floor above his head. Cold spittle flew from the god vampire’s lips as Mavet hissed, showing him his fangs.

  “Hey!” Eddie yelled, drawing their attention. The psycho-porter had staggered to his feet and had gotten his hands on Richard’s P-90. “Yeah, you! You ugly bastard!”

  Mavet flew away from Donald, straight up into the air. Eddie took a shot at the god vampire as he flew, but Mavet easily avoided the bullets the P-90 spat his way. The P-90 clicked empty, and Eddie paled as Mavet came flying toward him like a rocket. Eddie had bought Donald the time he needed to recover, though. The young precog’s chest hurt like hell with each breath he took, but he could still move. Donald threw his remaining sai at Mavet. It spun through the air end over end to meet Mavet perfectly as the god vampire streaked toward Eddie. The silver blade entered Mavet’s temple, and the unexpected attack and pain knocked the god vampire off the course he had set. Mavet slammed into one of the chamber’s walls, bringing it down on top of him.

  “That’s not going to hold him long,” Eddie warned as he raced over to Donald.

  “No, it won’t,” the young precog agreed. “Get us out of here!”

  Eddie tried to conjure up a portal. It began to shimmer into existence, then sputtered out in a colorful display of flashes that reminded Donald of Fourth of July fireworks.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 27

  Selah grimaced as the blade of her katana parried one of Elick’s sword arms. The blow came with such force behind it that its impact nearly forced the psycho-metabolist to her knees. The dark mage had done more than just turn his flesh to granite and change the lengths of his arms into metal swords. He’d boosted his strength and speed, as well, with the spells he’d cast.

  Katherine took advantage of the dark mage’s focus on Selah to get in a blow of her own, and sparks flew as the blade of her katana met the rock-hard flesh of Elick’s right cheek. Her blade skittered away, not doing any real damage, but it did draw the dark mage’s attention back to her.

  “Fools!” Elick spat. “Do you not know whe
n you have been bested?”

  “I could ask you the same,” Katherine snarled, deftly avoiding the dark mage’s arm as it slashed through the air at her.

  The blade of Selah’s katana snapped in two as it made contact with the side of Elick’s neck. Selah hurled herself away from the dark mage as he counterattacked with a swing of his own. The tip of his arm-turned-sword raked across the front of her chest just above her breasts. Selah yelped, clutching a hand to the wound as Elick raised an arm over his head, but before he could bring it down on her, Katherine was there. The half vampire punched Elick directly in the nose with all the supernatural strength she could put behind the blow. Despite his spell of protection, Elick’s nose broke, caving inward. The dark mage staggered backward as Katherine spun her body to deliver a kick to his chest that sent him to the floor. Elick flopped onto his back, lying there stunned, with streams of blood pouring from the nostrils of his crushed nose.

  Katherine’s hand ached. The hand felt like she had broken every bone inside it. She could feel it already beginning to heal, but the pain was still intense. Katherine didn’t let that stop her, though. Leaping onto Elick, she brought her other hand down upon the dark mage’s broken nose. She struck with the flat of her palm, driving the broken nose even further inward. Elick’s eyes suddenly went wide with fresh pain, and then rolled up to show only whites. Katherine was far from done with the dark mage, however. She rained punch after punch onto his skull until it cracked open beneath her blows. Blood and brain matter splashed over her. Elick’s body twitched under her in its death throes.

  Nearby, Ringer was dealing with zombies on one front trying to force their way through the telekinetic barrier he had erected to keep them out of the cave, and vampires on the other. The vampires had been confused by the abrupt disappearance of Eddie and Tonya, but had quickly chosen him as their next target. Ringer dropped the shield holding back the zombies as he fired a barrage of hundreds of telekinetic spikes at them. They tore through the zombies’ ranks, ripping apart decaying bodies. Had the undead creatures been living men and women, they all would have died. Being dead already, though, nearly a third of them remained intact enough to keep moving forward. Ringer had no time to finish the mindless creatures as the vampires were almost upon him. Straining the limits of his power, Ringer entangled all the vampires in tendrils of telekinetic power that froze them where they were. As he held the vampires in place, Ringer formed spinning saw-like blades of energy and sent them flying into the vampires and zombies alike. Dozens of headless corpses toppled to the floor of the tunnel. The bodies of the vampires burned away into nothingness, while many of the bodies of the now headless zombies twitched and spasmed where they lay. His enemies defeated, Ringer slumped to his knees, drained from the effort it had taken to end them.

  “Ringer! If you’re done being lazy, we’ve got a vampire god to slay,” Katherine snapped at him.

  He looked to see that she and Selah had dealt with the dark mage, Elick, and that his head had been reduced to little more than a bloody pulp smeared over the floor of the tunnel.

  “Where are Eddie and Tonya?” Ringer managed to get out, his own head swimming as he got to his feet. Katherine caught him so he didn’t fall back over.

  “No idea,” Selah answered. “Eddie took them somewhere, I guess.”

  “Tonya’s dead.” Katherine frowned. “How you two didn’t feel it happen is a mystery to me. It nearly ripped my mind apart, and it caused me to stumble while we were fighting Elick.”

  Selah looked at Katherine as if to ask, really? She hadn’t noticed Katherine falter during the fight at all, but then…she had been kind of busy herself.

  “Damn it,” Ringer cursed, clutching his fists tight.

  “Don’t go all whacko on us like you did when Mercy died, Ringer. We can’t afford it right now,” Katherine warned him. “People die in war. It’s just what happens.”

  Selah hadn’t been a part of Psi-Mechs, Inc. when Mercy was killed, but she’d heard the stories about how it had messed Ringer up.

  “You good?” the redheaded, psycho-metabolist asked.

  “That was different,” Ringer growled. “And yes, I am well aware of what’s required of me.”

  “You sure you’re okay?” Katherine laughed. “You sounded a bit too much like my son just then.”

  Ringer scowled at her but didn’t argue. “Just need a second to get my head together.”

  “I don’t hear anymore vampires coming,” Selah said.

  “The mechs must be drawing them away from us like we’d hoped,” Katherine commented. “Let’s not waste their efforts. We’ve got a vampire god to kill.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 28

  The Psi-mechs had split up into three smaller squads, each proceeding deeper into Mavet’s mountain base along different passages. All of them were meeting heavy resistance, and fighting inside the tunnels limited their weapon choices. Heather and Zach moved through the tunnel, with Heather in the lead. The large metal hands of her Psi-mech carried a modified SAW. Zach had both of his suit’s arm cannons deployed and ready for action.

  “Incoming!” Heather warned as a group of vampires bounded up the tunnel to meet them. She opened fire with her SAW, and wood-laced silver rounds tore into the leaders of the group. One vampire’s head splattered, sending blood, brain matter, and bone fragments flying.

  Zach joined the fight, targeting the vampires behind those Heather had just cut down. His arm cannons lacked the power of the wicked weapon she carried, so Zach’s shots were more controlled. He put a burst of rounds into the center of a vampire’s chest. The undead monster’s eyes bugged out as it realized the rounds were more than just silver, and its body burst into the flames. Zach shot out the knee of another vampire. It fell to the floor, reaching out for the legs of his Psi-mech. As he ran past, it, avoiding its clawing hands, Zach put an almost point-blank burst of fire directly into the vampire’s forehead. The back of its skull burst apart as the high-powered rounds tore through it. The vampire went sprawling over backward, clutching at the gaping hole in its forehead.

  Heather and Zach reached a bend in the tunnel. There were more vampires waiting for them there. One of the vampires jumped out to swing a metal baseball bat at Zach’s mech, and Zach brought up his mech’s left arm to parry the blow. The baseball bat snapped over his arm, breaking in two from the supernatural strength the vampire had swung it with, and the blow forced the arm of Zach’s Psi-mech downward. Sparks flew from the damaged cannon on that arm, but Zach ignored the warning lights on his display. His right arm cannon was still functional, and that would have to be enough. He swept its barrel up and around at the vampire, firing directly into the undead monster’s snarling mouth. Teeth and blood showered over his mech as the vampire’s lower jaw disintegrated beneath the high-powered blast of point-blank fire. Zach wasn’t done with the monster, though. As the vampire choked on its own blood and teeth, some blown into its throat by the blast, he grabbed hold of the sides of its head and twisted it free from the vampire’s shoulders. The head burst into flames in the hands of his Psi-mech. Zach could feel the heat of the vampire’s death even through the armor of his mech as he threw the flaming head away. It flashed hotter in the air, and then was simply gone. The flames hadn’t damaged the armor of his mech’s hands, and for that Zach was grateful.

  Somehow a vampire had managed to get behind the two of them, and it flung itself onto the back of Heather’s Psi-mech before she could turn to engage it. The vampire’s claws sank into the armor of her mech as Heather struggled to get it off. She couldn’t reach it where it was; the angle was wrong. Thinking fast, Heather slammed her Psi-mech backward into the jagged rock of the tunnel’s wall, crushing the vampire against it.

  Though numerous bones in its body had broken against the rock of the wall, and it had lost its hold on Heather’s mech, the vampire was on its feet and raging at her again before Heather was prepared to deal with it. The vampire grabbed the modified SAW she car
ried, and the weapon was torn apart as mech and vampire both struggled to rip it free from the clutches of the other. Heather didn’t panic, though; she was a pro and had taken Scott’s training to heart. Instead of allowing fear to control her actions, Heather popped her mech’s arm blades and shoved one into the vampire’s guts. The vampire’s intestines burst from its stomach as she sliced it open, and purple, black-slicked snakes dumped onto the floor of the tunnel at the vampire’s feet, entangling them as the mech and vamp continued to fight. That was enough to give Heather the advantage she needed to get her other arm blade up and beneath the vampire’s chin. She slashed it across the vampire’s throat and severed its head from its body. The vampire’s existence ended in the flames of true death.

  Zach had been doing his best with only one functional arm cannon to keep the other approaching vampires at bay. The arm cannon rattled time and time again, firing burst after burst in rapid succession, but it wasn’t enough—there were just too many of the vampires. Zach managed to halve their number, but the rest of them made it into melee range with his Psi-mech. The damage his left arm cannon had taken had also disabled his suit’s arm blade on that side, so Zach fought with his mech’s bare hands instead of popping the single remaining blade his suit had. His Psi-mech delivered a punch to the side of a vampire’s head that cracked its skull open in a sickening display of gore and sent the vampire flying sideways into the wall of the tunnel. It thudded against the rock and bounced onto the floor. Zach caught and flung a second vampire away as he moved his mech into position to finish the one he’d punched, bringing a heavy metal foot down on its already busted skull. Zach stomped the downed vampire’s head into pulp as two more of the undead monsters rammed into his Psi-mech. Their claws raked at its armor, sending sparks flying.