Under My Heel

by Michael Anderle

  The roar of her team swept down the valley. Not that far away, the PKK unit David had conscripted to work the missiles and equipment to keep the team stuck without air support or communications heard the new noises. The humans could hear the savageness and animal growls and looked to each other in confusion. They had seen the monsters in the night that attacked those by the cave and were shaken in their core. Now, the defenders had additional support. The night became deadly like the violence was waiting, on a string, to break.

  Bethany Anne, resplendent in the moonlight glinting off the butts of her twin pistols and katanas turned around… eyeing the lane that she could hear the Nosferatu running down.

  “FUCK THIS SHIT!” She took off towards the Nosferatu.

  Gabrielle took off after her queen, she heard Eric yell behind her, “Here we go again!”

  John replied, “Not this time. This time I’m getting a piece of my OWN!”

  Stephen smiled, running to catch up to his daughter. God he loved his Queen!

  Gun retorts from Dan, Scottie and Lucas could be heard above the growls, and screams, of the Nosferatu. Even louder than the yelling of those behind him, Stephen could hear Bethany Anne’s yell from ahead, “LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE YOU COCK-EATING SHEEP FUCKERS!” Then there was the unique sound as swords cut through flesh.

  Stephen was around the corner, with Gabrielle right beside him and was shocked to see the bodies had already started to piling up around his queen. She looked to be covered in blood, but it was damned hard to see with the speed at which she was moving.

  That was the last opportunity he had to watch her, as he slammed into his own group.

  —

  Back at the cave, Pete was pissed. He had to hold a few of his squad back, to help cover the door and protect those inside. Todd’s group was with him as well as Art, the American military member.

  Bobcat was pitching a fit at not already being involved in shooting something.

  So far, none of the Nosferatu had made it past the front line, wherever the hell that was.

  Pete turned when he heard the door behind him unlatch and Nathan walked through. He was bloody. Most of it, Pete could see, was Nathan’s own blood.

  Nathan had always been known for his fighting abilities, and his lethality. Pete could understand the reality of it, when he had seen the devastation that Nathan had wrought, when he had changed and fought hand to hand.

  When Nathan looked over at Pete, Pete was surprised to see a glacially cold pair of eyes regard him. Nathan walked calmly to the men and said, “I take it that Bethany Anne couldn’t wait for them to come to her?”

  Multiple heads shook back and forth. Nathan looked over to where he could hear the fight taking place. “She always seemed a little head-strong to me. Guess that comes with being one of the baddest-ass people on the planet.”

  Bobcat grumped, “I think she had the attitude from before, you know?”

  The chuckles from the group relieved some of the tension.

  Dan called from above, “Looks like a group of maybe fifty are detouring around the group up front, just a heads up!”

  Nathan took command and strode forward, “Rifleman in the back, Weres up front.”

  Pete jogged to catch up to Nathan, “Hey? How are you going to change?”

  Nathan looked over at Pete, a grim smile on his face, “I’m just going to think about my mate back in that cave, and about the fucking Nosferatu who put her there are coming to finish…” Nathan’s voice became grating as his body changed into the massive Werewolf, standing a foot and a half taller than Pete, now. “The job.”

  The PKK men all started talking, when a wolf’s howl tore through the night.

  There hadn’t been any wolves in this area for a long, long time.

  Pete considered Nathan’s answer, thinking about his ‘sister’ back in the cave.

  Seconds after the first howl, a second rang through the valley, confusing the PKK men even more.

  The crescendo of rifle cracks from the men on the ground behind the Wechselbalg and up top continued firing as well. Only one time did a Were, Matthew, cry out, “Fucking shit! Watch where your shooting before I shove that rifle up your ass!”

  Ashur barked his agreement. He was busy grabbing a leg and pulling a Nosferatu out of the bunch. When the Nosferatu’s head would explode from one or two shots, Ashur would jump back towards the front line and do it again.

  His white coat a mess, blood covering it all.

  Kevin Russel yelled back to Matthew, “My bad!”

  —

  Ten minutes into the fighting, the Nosferatu all seemed to suddenly pull back and race back down the lanes they had come down.

  The three vampires lowered their weapons. Confusion on their faces.

  Bethany Anne asked no one in particular as her fangs retracted, “What the hell?”

  Stephen looked down the now empty street, littered with bodies. “They are regrouping, coming up with a new strategy. I think, they thought to release them and that their natural desire for blood would be enough to overwhelm us by sheer numbers. Whoever is in charge is setting up new commands, a logical strategy.”

  Bethany Anne followed Stephen’s gaze, “Back to the cave. I’ll meet you there.” She turned back to Stephen and her team. “They want a fight? We gave them a fight. They want a massacre? I’ll make sure we cram a massacre up their asses.” She tossed her blades to Gabrielle, then she whistled for Ashur who came running up to her. She took a step, grabbed Ashur and disappeared.

  —

  Michael was ready. He had been contacted by Frank earlier and when he had hung up, the blood in his body began pumping in anticipation.

  He would be sorely upset if he didn’t get a chance to vent a little frustration.

  If there was anything that Michael had plenty of right now, it was frustration.

  He was dressed in black, his favorite color when on a date to a blood bath. Bethany Anne could invite him to the nicest of get-togethers.

  Because there was one thing that most didn’t learn about Michael, Patriarch of the Nicht.

  Michael was always at his best when it came time to kill.

  He stood against the wall of the room where Bethany Anne had arrived before. He had been waiting for over an hour and a half when she suddenly appeared. She was covered from head to foot in blood. Ashur was with her and Michael could barely see little areas of white through the blood and dust that covered his body.

  Michael walked over, “You started without me.” He held out his arm.

  Bethany Anne reached out, grabbing Michael by the forearm. “It was only a few hundred, and I was getting my mad on.”

  “What changed?”

  She smiled, “I didn’t want to hear your whining for the next two centuries about how I left you behind.”

  Michael would have been offended, if her smile and the glint in her eye hadn’t told him that she was happy to have him.

  Then the three of them disappeared.

  —

  He arrived with Bethany Anne and Ashur in a darkened valley. An old town with the dead corpses of Nosferatu littering the place. He noticed that many had been decapitated, as he looked around. He turned when he heard a pair of steps behind him.

  Stephen came up, “It is good to see you, brother.”

  Gabrielle and Bethany Anne’s mouths dropped open in surprise. Looking at each other and then back at the two men who had pulled each other into a great bear-hug, Michael obviously ecstatic over Stephen’s greeting.

  Michael replied, “The same, Stephen. I’m glad to be back in my right mind and I am thankful for your forgiveness.”

  Stephen looked at him, “You came when my Queen needed you. I can do no less than accept you back into the family, even if you can be a…” He turned to look at his daughter, “what was that you mentioned earlier?”

  Gabrielle blushed, and mumbled, “egotistical wank-sack.”

  Stephen turned back to Michael, “Yes, even if you can
be an egotistical wank-sack.”

  Bethany Anne felt a jab in her ribs, and turned to see Gabrielle staring at her and then pointing towards the two men with her eyes. Her mouth formed the words, ‘ask them!’

  Bethany Anne rolled her eyes, but Gabrielle had a good question, “Hey, are you two really brothers, or is this some bullshit that you’ve made up?”

  Michael stepped back from Stephen, and waved to him for the answer. The two women turned towards Stephen. “I disowned him centuries ago, after he had changed me. I didn’t want this life; I had been happy. I’ve never treated him as anything less than the Patriarch since that time.”

  Bethany Anne interrupted, “Wait a second, you told me earlier you are over nine centuries old.”

  Stephen smiled, “I am.”

  She pointed to Michael, “But he is over ten centuries old.”

  Michael answered, “Ten centuries is more than nine, Bethany Anne. My brother never would let others know enough to put together that we are related. I have never treated him as anything less than a child of mine, hoping that one day he would forgive me.”

  The four vampires looked up to where Dan and his group were when he called out, “Here they come again.”

  Bethany Anne started back towards the camp, Ashur running ahead of her.

  Gabrielle asked, “You aren’t charging off, running ahead of your protection again?”

  Bethany Anne smiled as she walked up to the group, everyone grinning as she came up. She looked around at her people, her friends, her guardians and her guards. “No. I’m good with them wasting their time trying to figure out a plan.” She reached out for her katanas, which Gabrielle handed back, “But I guaran-fucking-tee that no plan will ever survive contact with this enemy!”

  Michael smiled, for the first time in a thousand years, he had his brother back. He turned towards the coming Nosferatu. He heard Bethany Anne speak behind him, “When we get them down to about fifty, would you please do your little magic-misty-stuff and take out the vampires controlling these?”

  Michael looked over at this remarkable woman, one who was so much more than the person he chose to become the mother of his children. He grinned, “I would be delighted, to do that for you.”

  Huh, she thought, maybe you can get more with honey than vinegar.

  Art looked around at this newcomer. He wasn’t sure who the fuck these people were, or where they had come from. He sure as fuck, didn’t know how he was going to explain all of it to his superior officer back at the base. But there was one thing that he was absolutely, the fuck, certain of. He never wanted to be on the opposite side of any of these people. Then he looked over at the two men who suddenly blurred and changed into massive Werewolves. Well, he corrected, any of these beings.

  But on the other side, he was having the time of his life and every time he killed another of these fuckers, he would remember his seven fallen comrades and recite their names under his breath.

  The cracks above them signaled that the next fight had started. Every human, Were, Vampire and Guard there turned and started walking out to create a perimeter. Bethany Anne took point slightly left, Michael took point slightly right. Stephen was next to him and Gabrielle was next to her.

  Bethany Anne’s guards pulled their weapons and stood behind the four of them. Pete and Nathan took the positions outside of the vampires, spreading out.

  Like David had planned, it was a bloodbath.

  But the bleeding ended up happening to the wrong side, not one of David’s vampires, Nosferatu or PKK members made it out of that valley by the time the sun had risen.

  Ex-Military Base outside Denver, Colorado - USA

  Lance was happy. Patricia was working across from him, head down on her project tasks, to move the base forward. Captain Paul Jameson had forwarded the news that Bethany Anne and most of the team had made it through their fight and were safe.

  Now, he just had one monumentally important task to complete. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he watched the runway of his former base coming into view.

  —

  Robert McCarty, the head of the Corps of Engineers walked into Hanger 1. He greeted his men, who had arrived before him, and shook hands all around.

  They were here for two reasons. One, to meet with the new civilian owners who had purchased the rights to use the base for ninety-nine years. And two, to see if there were any shenanigans involved.

  Every one of his men, some very adept at research on the Internet, had tried to find out more about the company. However, they hadn’t been given enough information to go on. So, they had all decided to meet the man, get his name, and force him to tell them more about what was happening.

  Robert had gone to go talk with Kevin McCoullagh and it had seemed that Kevin wasn’t coming completely clean with him. Rather, Kevin had claimed he had no proof, just really strong supposition that this wasn’t the civilian side getting the better of the military, again. Finally, Kevin told him what time the plane should be arriving and invited Robert to be waiting when the corporate guy stepped off.

  Robert had tried to get a little abrasive with Kevin, but that hadn’t worked so he had left the office.

  Robert took Kevin’s advice and now he and his men were here to meet the new head-honcho, and get the dirt on him.

  The plane landed and taxied over to the group in the hanger. It stopped outside and the men walked around to view the door of the plane, which cracked open a couple of minutes after the plane’s engines powered down.

  The plane was beautiful, a G550 pristine from tip to tail. Just like a civilian hot-shot who was full of himself would fly around in, someone behind Robert muttered.

  When Robert turned to see who might have spoken out, he noticed Kevin standing twenty yards behind his group. Kevin smiled and gave him a two fingered salute in acknowledgment. Robert nodded and turned back around.

  The men’s anticipation turned to surprise when the first person off of the plane was General Lance Reynolds, the very man who had commanded most of them for their Army careers.

  You could have cut the silence with a knife.

  Robert swung his head back around, but Kevin wasn’t in the same place, so he turned back to Lance and started walking over to the man he knew better than his own brother.

  God, he looked so young!

  Lance held his hand out as he walked over, “Hello Robert. Good to see you here.”

  Robert shook Lance’s hand, “General, I think is pretty damn good to see you here, too. At least, I think it is. But you have to know, I’m confused as hell.”

  Lance nodded and turned to view all of the people in front of him. “Guys, I wish I hadn’t needed to be so secretive. But since the news is out, this base is now under my command, again.”

  Lance bit down on the word ‘command’ and the guys subconsciously stood a little straighter. “I can’t give you details, not yet. But this commercial venture is going to change the world in a good way. We need a lot done, but I can’t do it without some kick-ass Army Engineers who know how to dig shit up and pack it down. I have two of the things that have been lacking here at this base for a while. That’s a massive infrastructure build plan for modifications and a real-by-the-gods budget to get shit done.”