The Vampire War

by Eric S. Brown

  The pilot inside the mech, if there was one, said nothing at the sight of him. Instead, it popped wicked-looking long silver blades from above the wrists of its arms. They made a twanging noise as they locked into place, ready for combat. Mavet didn’t laugh or taunt the mechanical monster. He knew this would be no easy fight, even for a being of his power. The vampire god and the mech stood facing one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

  Mavet charged the mech, heading straight for it. The mech slipped into a defensive posture as he approached it. The vampire god leaped through the air, his claws gleaming like razors in the dim red emergency lights. The mech slashed at him with its right arm, and Mavet turned midway through his leap, spinning his body to avoid the blade. He landed within feet of the mech, inside the length of its arms. Grabbing one of them, Mavet cursed as he tried to hurl the monster over him onto its back in a martial arts moved he’d learned centuries earlier. For all his strength, the mech didn’t move. It was as if the thing had a gravity well of its own that prevented him from lifting it from the floor.

  The mech responded by enclosing the vampire god in its arms and crushing him to its armored chest in a bear hug. Mavet growled and hissed, unable to break free, as he felt his bones breaking. Instantly, his body became a mist that dissipated around the mech, reforming behind the mechanical monster. Moving so fast he became a blur, Mavet struck at the mech’s back with his claws. They sparked against the metal there, scraping over it. His claws would have torn completely through the armor of an ordinary Psi-mech but they could barely damage this…thing.

  Switching tactics as the mech whirled about to engage him, Mavet smashed a fist into the side of the turning mech. There was a sound like thunder as juggernaut-level strength met impenetrable armor. The mech staggered as Mavet himself reeled away, his hand crushed into a sack of ravaged flesh containing the fractured bits of broken bones. The vampire god shook his wounded hand, willing it to heal. It did.

  Again the mech and vampire god faced each other. The mech’s right shoulder opened as a turret-mounted weapon rose out of it, taking aim at Mavet. The vampire god was already moving as the weapon started firing. The heavy rounds it fired filled the control room with mini explosions as the vampire god kept just barely ahead of them. Mavet became a bat, soaring upward out of the mech’s line of fire. As the mechanical monster readjusted its aim, the vampire god came flying at it, returning to human form at the last possible moment.

  His body slammed onto the mech’s chest as he forced his claws into its left shoulder to support himself, while his right hand reached out to grab the weapon. Roaring, Mavet ripped the weapon free of the mech and flung it across the control room. The vampire god felt the cold metal fingers of one of the mechanical monster’s hands close around the back of his neck, and the mech hurled him to the floor. The concrete beneath him cracked and gave way as he sank into it. For a fraction of a second the vampire god stared up at the mechanical monster in disbelief, before springing back into action.

  As one of the mech’s arm blades stabbed downward at him, Mavet became a mist again, and the mech’s blade buried itself in the floor. As the mech yanked its arm blade free, Mavet reformed next to it. Clasping both hands together, he hammered them into the mech. The near sonic boom created by the blow shattered every window in the warehouse. The force of the impact sent the mech flying into and through a nearby wall. Mavet allowed himself a wicked grin at the small victory. However, he had no desire to continue the fight. As the mechanical monster came charging out of the wall he’d flung it through, Mavet reached out with his mind, searching for the mind of the thing’s pilot. His instincts told him that there had to be one within the thing. The vampire god found it easily, thrusting his will into it. The massive Psi-mech skidded to a halt before it reached him.

  Inside the Omega Psi-mech, Scott gritted his teeth against the fire burning through his brain. The vampire god was in his head, commanding him to stop their fight.

  “Psionic buffers compromised…Psionic buffers compromised…Psionic buffers compromised…” a robotic version of Hank’s voice told Scott again and again. Apparently the tele-mechanic had built some sort of psychic shielding into the Omega Psi-mech, but it was no match for the raw power of an entity like Mavet.

  Scott recalled the training he’d received over the years from telepaths like Abby, Sharpton, and Tonya Bellmore, but it did him little good. His human will was no match for Mavet, either. Scott felt his body go rigid, his muscles locking up just like his thoughts. He continued to strain against the vampire god’s hold upon him, but it was useless.

  The Omega Psi-mech stood frozen in place like a giant statue as Mavet began to laugh.

  The vampire god tapped the side of his head. “It’s like they say, little man, the mind is the greatest of weapons. Though I must admit, that suit of yours is rather impressive. When I am done with Katherine Grimm and the others, I will strip it off of you piece by piece, if I must, and learn its secrets. But for now…Stay,” Mavet ordered Scott as if he were addressing a pet dog.

  Leaving Scott inside the Omega Psi-mech where it stood frozen in place, Mavet returned to preparing for the arrival of the rest of Psi-Mechs, Inc.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 35

  “Eddie, you don’t have to do this,” Katherine protested. The old man looked pitiful; Ringer had propped him up into a sitting position, next to the mouth of the cave leading into the mountain, at his request. “There’s no need for it.”

  “There are still vampires alive in this place, Katherine,” Eddie told her, “and God knows what else. You can’t stick around to deal with them, and I ain’t gonna let them run loose. There are towns not too far from this mountain in every direction. What’ll happen to those people if we don’t deal with what’s left here and now?”

  “We’ll be back,” Ringer assured the psycho-porter. “Come on, Eddie. Katherine’s right about this.”

  The old man shook his head. “No. I have to do this, and I’m going to. Now get me that damned mech power core like I told you to.”

  Ringer threw up his hands in defeat, stomping away.

  Eddie had found out he could still open gateways through trans-dimensional space despite the level of pain he was in. As soon as the old man had learned that, he’d informed them all that he wouldn’t be going after Mavet with them. He had a plan of his own. It included Ringer fetching him the power core of a destroyed or damaged Psi-mech and setting it to overload. Such a blast would bring down the mountain and likely kill or cripple everything inside it. Vampires, like most other things, were vulnerable to fire and heat. The blast would cook them alive, just like it would the old man himself when it went off.

  “Look at him. Can’t you see he’s not going to listen to reason?” Selah grabbed Katherine Grimm by the shoulder. Katherine took hold of the young psycho-metabolist’s arm, twisting it nearly to the point of breaking in her rage, before letting go.

  “Frag it!” Selah wailed. “There was no call for that!”

  “I just lost my son,” Katherine snapped. “If you touch me again, it’ll be worse, I promise.”

  Selah stopped the pain from her arm with a thought, shutting down the pain receptors inside it for the moment, giving the pain time to pass. She glared at Katherine Grimm but said nothing more.

  “The girl’s right, Katherine,” Eddie said. “My mind is made up. You’re not talking me out of this.”

  “I order you come back with us!” Katherine raged, pulling rank as head of Psi-Mechs, Inc. again now that Donald was dead.

  Eddie snorted. “Yeah, that’s worked real well for you over the years we’ve known each other at times like this one, hasn’t it?”

  “Damn it Eddie, please…” Katherine begged.

  The power core of a Psi-mech came floating out of the mouth of the cave into the psycho-porter’s hands. Eddie smiled as he caught it, looking over at Ringer.

  Katherine whirled on Ringer, her eyes glowing red with a
nger. He had betrayed her.

  “We can’t stop him, Katherine.” Ringer shrugged. “Heck, we can’t even go after Mavet without his help.”

  “And I’ll gladly give it one last time, too,” Eddie smiled, “but I’m staying here.”

  “Frag!” Katherine shouted and punched the rock of the mountainside. It fractured from the impact, sending tiny shards flying. Ringer caught them with his mind so they didn’t injure anyone by accident.

  Seeing what she’d done, Katherine calmed some. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m sorry for everything, but haven’t we lost enough people already tonight?”

  “This is my choice, Katherine, and you’re wasting time arguing about it,” Eddie told her. “God only knows what Mavet is up to right now.”

  “I’m sure Scott’s found him by now,” Katherine snapped.

  “Exactly,” Eddie said sadly, “and he actually needs your help, girl.”

  Katherine blinked in surprise at what Eddie had called her. She looked into his eyes, and for the first time it really, truly sank in just how old he was compared to the rest of them. A tear of red slid down her cheek.

  “Okay, Eddie,” Katherine relented. “Okay.”

  “Ringer…” Eddie said.

  “What, Eddie?” Ringer answered.

  “You keep her safe now. Promise me that,” Eddie pressed him.

  “I will, Eddie.” Ringer nodded.

  Eddie looked up at both of them. “Thank you,” he said quietly, and then his voice grew louder, “I think it’s time y’all got on your way.”

  A shimmering portal flickered into existence on the mountain ledge. Through it they could all see the street outside the warehouse that contained their base of operations.

  “Goodbye, Eddie,” Ringer said and stepped through the portal. Selah gave the old man a nod of respect, one warrior to another, and followed after the telekinetic.

  “I hate you for making me cry again.” Katherine forced a laugh as she moved to embrace Eddie.

  “You just get that bastard, girl, and make him pay for what he’s done,” Eddie told her. “I’ll deal with the things he left here.”

  Katherine reluctantly let go of the old man. She rose to her feet and started toward the portal he was holding open for her.

  “Eddie…” Katherine said. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure, ma’am, always.” Eddie smiled. “It was an honor fighting at your side all these years.”

  Without another word, Katherine Grimm entered the portal and was gone.

  Clutching the Psi-mech power core tightly to his chest, Eddie took a deep breath, said his final prayer, and opened a portal under him. He fell through it into the heart of the mountain. The power core erupted in an explosion of nuclear fire that rushed through the mountain’s tunnels, incinerating everything in its path, before the power core’s secondary explosion brought the place down. The mountain shuddered violently, collapsing inward on itself.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 36

  Katherine Grimm’s sorrow boiled into fury as she emerged from the portal at the warehouse base of Psi-Mechs, Inc. She’d barely know this base, but the damage that had been done to it still provoked her to rage.

  “Mavet’s here,” Selah whispered to her. “I can smell him.”

  Scott’s Omega Mech stood like a statue in the control room. Katherine saw it and gave Ringer a questioning glance.

  “Scott’s inside it, and still alive, as far as I can tell.” Ringer shrugged. “From the looks of this place, he and Mavet had it out.”

  “If Scott’s in there and alive…?” Katherine asked.

  “Why isn’t he moving?” Ringer finished her question. “My guess is Mavet shut him down psychically somehow. I mean, look at that thing. Vampiric telepathy was likely the only option Mavet had to stop it.”

  “Makes sense,” Katherine agreed. “Is there anything we can do to snap Scott out of whatever that bastard did to him?”

  “I doubt it,” Ringer told her. “Anything I could try might kill him in the process. If we had a telepath with us…”

  But Tonya Bellmore had died inside the mountain, along with Donald and so many others. Katherine’s two-handed grip on her katana’s hilt tightened.

  “Well, well, well,” Mavet purred, materializing out of the shadows cast by the base’s dim emergency lighting. “Look who has finally come home.”

  Katherine was in no mood for bantering back and forth with the vampire god. Yelling a war cry, she charged Mavet, taking a swing at his neck. The top half of Mavet’s body shifted backward, avoiding her blade. The vampire god countered, kicking Katherine in her right knee. The bones snapped and she toppled to the floor in front of him. Her body was already healing as she stabbed her katana upward at Mavet, but the vampire god was no longer there. A telekinetic blast from Ringer had flung him into the room’s far wall. Mavet slammed into the metal of the wall, then without pause, hurled himself back toward Ringer. The telekinetic was ready for him, though. Mavet’s claws raked, not against Ringer’s flesh, but against the energy of a quickly-erected shield. The energy of the shield crackled and surged, but it held, despite the vampire god’s attempt to tear his way through it.

  With Mavet focused entirely on Ringer, Selah came at him from his rear. The silver blade of her katana pierced his back, and the tip of the blade poked through his chest as Mavet shrieked in unexpected pain. Selah slid her sword free of Mavet’s body, back-flipping away from him as he struck out at her. His claws slashed through empty air.

  Katherine’s knee had mended itself, and she was on her feet again, but not close enough to engage Mavet. It was Ringer who hit him again next. The former detective’s hands clenched into fists, and a sphere of telekinetic energy formed inside Mavet’s heart, expanding there to blow it apart inside his chest. Mavet gasped, falling to his knees, but Ringer was far from done.

  Mavet’s body jerked and thrashed as a flurry of invisible telekinetic punches hammered away at him, jarring his head one way, then another. Ringer stopped his attack as Selah leaped to bring her katana down into Mavet’s back once more. Her blade ripped a savage line of red along it. Mavet slumped over and sat there, unmoving. Selah couldn’t resist going for a killing strike. She raised her katana and swung it in an attempt to take Mavet’s head from his shoulders. Cackling like a madman, the vampire god rose up from the floor, catching her katana by its blade. Selah’s eyes widened as he tore it from her grasp. Stunned by the vampire god’s speed, she hesitated a fraction of a second too long, and Mavet seized the moment. Impaling her with her own weapon, Mavet lifted her effortlessly above him as she squirmed upon the blade of the katana that pierced her body.

  “Selah!” Katherine Grimm yelled, running to her aid.

  Mavet saw the redhead coming and finished the young psycho-metabolist quickly. With a flick of his wrist, he jerked the blade of the katana so it cut Selah in half from where it pierced her all the way through the top of her skull. Blood, entrails, and brain matter splashed over Mavet as Selah met her end.

  Katherine was on Mavet before the halves of Selah’s corpse hit the floor. Her sword came swinging at him in a wide arc. Mavet parried Katherine’s strike with Selah’s blade. The two swords clanged together.

  Laughing, Mavet said, “Another one of yours has met their end, Katherine. How many more have to die before you realize you cannot stop me?”

  Sparks flew as their blades met in a flurry of blows, Katherine and Mavet matching each other in speed. They danced back and forth like the two expert swordsmen they were. Mavet kept laughing, and Katherine was determined to bring the vampire god’s smugness to an end and make him pay for all he’d done to her and hers.

  “You killed my son, you bastard!” Katherine roared. “Do you really think I’m ever going to stop coming after you?”

  Blocking a swing from Mavet, Katherine moved closer to the vampire god, stabbing her katana into his heart. Mavet’s foul smirk left his face as she pressed her blade completely th
rough his chest. Ignoring the pain, Mavet grabbed her, pulling her closer still to look into her eyes.

  “Child, you’ve always been mine,” the vampire god told her.

  Katherine struggled against his hold on her, twisting the blade of her katana inside his heart. Mavet shoved Katherine from her feet. She thudded onto her back in front of him as the vampire god drew out the katana she had sheathed in his body. He held her sword in one hand and Selah’s in the other, staring down at her.

  “You know,” Katherine laughed, “I think you forgot something.”

  “What?” Mavet rasped.

  “Him.” Katherine nodded her head in Ringer’s direction as the telekinetic former detective came flying through the air at Mavet. Ringer plowed into the vampire god with the force of a runaway freight train, lifting him from the floor and causing him to drop both weapons. The two swords clattered to the floor in their wake. Mavet slashed at Ringer with his claws, but they hit only the telekinetic shield that protected him. Mavet howled as Ringer smashed him into the metal of the wall at the control room’s rear.

  Boosting the power of each punch he threw, Ringer tore into Mavet. His first punch shattered the vampire god’s jaw, sending teeth and black blood splashing onto the wall. Ringer’s second punch followed up his first, caving in Mavet’s nose. His third collapsed the vampire god’s forehead with the sharp sound of cracking bone, and his fourth penetrated Mavet’s stomach. Ringer’s fist was covered in black blood as it emerged from the vampire god’s guts.