“Oh, my fucking god,” she said, as a rush of adrenaline caused her voice to shake.
She seized Vittorio by his arm and pulled him next to her, pointing at whatever was in the hallway and marching drunkenly towards them. The currents caused by fear and stress were collecting in energy pools in her forearms and were only increasing in intensity as her heart rate skyrocketed. She illuminated the hallway with a fluid-like arc of yellow current to see whatever the hell the thing was, and it wasn’t friendly. The color drained from her face when she recognized the decapitated, lifeless but reanimated and badly decayed corpse of Cassandra trudging toward them, with what resembled black alveoli grown out of the hole in her severed neck. Regina stepped forward and sent an attack of lightning and flying arcs and sparks to rain down on the undead creature.
The electrical current managed to seize the thing in its tracks, as it danced and jostled in place, the decaying flesh cooking from the shock. A grueling stench of smoke and rotting fish filled the air and stung Regina’s throat and eyes. She almost wanted to vomit when she tasted the rank air. Her power in her veins was expended and it would take a while for it to rebuild itself, but the creature did not drop from the attack. Now, it was only angered and sizzled, and kept trudging forward, the alveoli-head stretching out forward and lashing out to attack.
The black slimy extension seized Regina by her wrists and tried to drag her forward towards the corpse, but her vampiric strength kept her in place. It felt sticky and sickeningly warm as it wrapped tighter around her forearm. The commotion must have alerted Enttu because in the next instant, he burst through the door that opened to the emergency stairway and peppered the creature with bullets from a fully automatic black rifle with blue LED lighting around the muzzle.
It was an odd and futuristic weapon, as thin as a laptop, and fired bullets that looked like lit blue needles of plasma. When the thing dropped dead, the lights in the residence all came back on.
“Where did you get that weapon from?” Vittorio asked him. Regina made her way towards the dhampir, whose face was ridden with anxiety and warning, and he was trying to subside his hyperventilation, hissing through his fangs. Regina hung her arms around his neck, grateful to see her lover alive and well. His overcoat made him smell of leather and salt of his sweat. He acknowledged her by placing a cold hand between her shoulder blades, though he was still worked up.
“We need to get out of here! There was something down there with me that tried to attack me!” he exclaimed. “Where is Marc?” he added in.
It reeked in here of burning decay that could be tasted. The corpse of whom was formerly Cassandra was sprawled on the carpet in a viscous black pool that it was dissolving into. It was a morbid transubstantiation.
Vittorio walked past the corpse to go into the room Marc usually slept in. Maybe he was in here, petrified, and besides his feelings. The other two searched the other rooms, calling his name aloud to see if he would come out of the corners. In his bedroom, was no sign of Marc at all, and even his bed was neatly made, and untouched. This made Vittorio scratch his head and think of another place his friend would be hiding in? Perhaps the weapons cache? Did Marc see these horrific things before they arrived and maybe he was hiding in safety?
In that split second, he had his back turned away from the threshold of the door, another one of those gargantuan black insects appeared out of nowhere and flew just barely over his head. The buzzing of its wings alerted him, and he ducked just in time to be narrowly missed. The creature landed at the top of the threshold and he knew he didn’t have a choice but to risk running for it. He somersaulted for the door and screamed simultaneously, as the thing chased him out into the hallway. Enttu had seen the cockroach and fired three shots at it but missed all three. The group made a run for it and stampeded down the stairs, where fresh hell waited for them when they reached the subterranean level.
The dhampir kicked the door open and ran behind Vittorio and Regina, shooting at the bugs that were crawling all over the perimeter, top to bottom. He managed to get them all safely into the WRX and ordered for them to get the hell out of there and that he’d catch up to them after he hopefully found Marc. Vittorio pumped the car into reverse, smashing several of the roaches in crunches beneath the rolling tires, and then peeled out in a screech.
Now alone again, Enttu could safely perform his spell of fire. He muttered an incantation in Latin and crossed his index and middle finger on both hands. Then, he waved his hands upwards in a circular motion, and concentric semicircles of fire spawned around him, incinerating everything within a ten-foot radius in front of him. The flames rushed forward and up the ceiling, where the bugs screeched in agony as they incinerated and fell to their deaths. Black shiny carcasses decorated the pavement, in success of the infernal insecticide. He was elated by his victory and ran back up to the second floor, towards the weapons cache where hopefully, Marc would be.
The weapons cache was a finger-print accessed walk-in closet, that was maintained at a freezing temperature, and guarded by ten-inch walls of cement and steel. It doubled as a bunker, and only he, Marc, and Vittorio could get in here. It was rather austere on the inside, with grey painted cement walls, and several semi-automatic rifles hung up on stand-up racks. Enttu grabbed an older Romanian AK-47 with a bayonet attachment. This was his weapon of choice during heavy combat, and he got a hunch that more violence awaited him. It smelt dusty in here, and in the far-left corner of the cache were two untouched pool tables illuminated by a flickering light fixture. He perused all corners of the bunker to see if Marc was in here, even checking the pantry where they kept non-perishables and ammunition. There was a sliver small enough for any of them to fit in, where no one would suspect of hiding in here. There was no need, since the bunker itself offered enough protection.
“Marc are you in here?” his voiced echoed, with gravel, throughout the bunker. No response.
He opened the pantry door and there was nothing in hear, except for freeze-dried meals, instant ramen, canned pasta, alcohol, fire-starting kits, and ammunition. Besides the ammo boxes, there were also unopened glass containers of chloroform and sulphuric acid. A distant rattling from outside the bunker alerted him, and he tread on diligently, making his way out the room. The heavy steel door that led outside slammed shut behind him and he stood alone once more in the stairway, aiming the muzzle of his rifle at invisible threats that he could perceive but not see. The lights flickered again, and the crash of breaking glass came from the parking lot, compelling him to run to it.
He looked around, and saw nothing, except the carcasses of the mutant cockroaches and the remaining two cars to his left. Carefully, he began to walk to the cars, aiming his rifle to them and half- expecting something to jump out at him. A sudden flying dagger impaled him from his back and stuck out through his front, where his liver was located. It didn’t kill him, but the pain filled him with vampiric rage, that only caused for him to pull out what was a throwing knife and turned to face his attacker. He spun around, ready to lunge, red-eyed and hissing, with the bloody knife in his hand, and his wound closing behind his bloodied shirt. However, this time he stopped himself from fatally striking his enemy standing about six feet away from him, vulnerable and ready to die by his hand. When he witnessed the enemy, he retracted, and the violence in his boiling blood dissipated into disbelief. He felt the recoils of betrayal plucking in his chest.
The paper-white, young opera singer who had changed out of her sequined ballgown stood in a stance of offense, with two more throwing knives in her hands, ready for him. She still wore the blue metallic mask adorned with black feathers. She was rather thin underneath all that fabric of the dress, and she looked like she was could be no more than twenty. Through the mask, her eyes bore into the corners of his with the motive of sheer vengeance and a mission to kill. A black long sleeve cropped shirt and fitted black leggings tucked into sleek black knee-high boots dressed her figure. She ba
red a single fang at him, through hot pink, cupid-like lips. He couldn’t comprehend if she was the true culprit for the unleash of calumny, but he was ready to kill her if need be. She was what he suspected her to be, another vampire, and not of the Alucardians. She had to be Dragul affiliated, since these were usually the ones he ever got into deadly dealings with.
“You’re responsible for this, aren’t you? Where’s my friend?” Enttu asked her. He pointed his rifle at her face, ready to repaint the walls with her brains.
She remained silent and unresponsive. Her thin face sharpened in a downwards scowl, from underneath the mask.
She said nothing to him, but threw another dagger at Enttu, which he successfully dodged. His intuition had served and proven him right that this was another Dragul sentinel. Life or death was a choice he would have to make for them both.
CH. 14
WHAT LIES BEYOND THE VEIL
The thin blonde female charged towards her the dhampir after she failed miserably to mortally wound him like she’d hope to. Her fighting skills were infantile at best, and from what Enttu immediately picked off. No doubt that she had some knowledge of martial arts, but they didn’t surpass what he had learned from Master Hideki back in 1880.
A sliver of the girl’s innocence seemed to emanate from her countenance but the conniving in her eyes suggested otherwise, when she scowled at him after he dodged her attack yet again. She didn’t return her attack, but instead dodged her torrential melee of fisticuffs.
“Stop this and tell me where Marc is, or this won’t end well for either one of us!”
She ceased her attack, after he lifted his cape to his face to deflect her attack. Angrily, she panted, and fiercely bared her fangs before she growled at him.
“All of your friends will die, Alucardian. And so, will you! You will pay for everyone you’ve killed and for trying to stop Basilisk from arising!”
“Basilisk? You, work for Narciso Tepes don’t you?”
“Hmmph. I’ve been sent here to kill you Enttu, and that’s what I’ll do even if that means we both die!”
He somersaulted backwards into the air, dodging a roundhouse kick from the girl, and landed on his feet, watching as her collide into the air. She clenched her fists and growled through gritted teeth in rage, aware that she completely missed her target.
“Sweetheart, the number one rule of kills is that you never announce it,” he said in the sweetest, but most sarcastically laced undertone.
She said nothing to him, but looked at him under her long black lashes, peeking out through the oval holes in the mask. She gave Enttu a macabre little smirk from her lip-glossed mouth, that only curled up on one side.
“Ha!” she said, while fumbling with something in the pocket of her pants. Puzzled, the dhampir squinted at her to get a closer look at whatever the hell she was doing or planning to do. Three faint beeps caught his attention, that came from the direction of the cars.
The Mercedes-Benz exploded in a deafening boom that sent glass, metal, and plastic car parts flying everywhere. It smelt of burning fuel, and the scorch of the fire almost caught him. He shielded himself from the billowing cloud of rolling flames and smoke with his cape, staying low to the ground as shrapnel flew above him. Smoke became the new ceiling that blanketed over him and clouded everything within the range of his vision with a thick black smog. His eyes stung and watered, and his lungs burned as he coughed out blood and tar onto the ground. He was in a state of disorientation, and his ears were ringing loudly as he went temporarily deaf. A rumbling above brought him back to his state of awareness, as he fully grasped attention of what was happening.
The rumbling wouldn’t seize, and then when some loose silt fell on top of his head, he realized the floor above him was threatening to collapse and crush him under the rubble! He recovered himself to his combat-boot clad feet and ran out into the night, narrowly avoiding the structure set ablaze from collapsing on top of him. While clean air filtered out the toxins in his respiratory tract, he watched the building collapse from across the street. Several other smaller explosions went off on each of the three floors and building imploded on itself and came crashing down into a fiery pyre of broken glass and cement. Citizens walking around the block quickly scattered away from it, as it fell ablaze.
The glow of the flames illuminated the sharp contours of Enttu’s face, and danced in his eyes like opulent, glassy sapphires. He took a deep breath, and the fire danced up to the sky in a mocking hope that perhaps a phoenix would emerge to bless and heal his misery. His eyes closed, and a single, silent tear rolled down his cheek that fell inside the corner of his mouth. He wept for the loss of this building that was a crash pad for his detectives, and a place where many memories were made. He also wept for Marc, who was nowhere to be found, but his psychic awareness told him that he wasn’t in the building. This was both a good and a sad thing. Rain fell sideways on the street, and the distant wailing of sirens became louder as patrol cars came to the infernal scene. Thankfully no one else lived in that residence, or it would have been even more difficult for him to take in, even though it wasn’t him who detonated a bomb. Luckily, the building wasn’t interconnected with other buildings either, and stood alone, separated by pines around the outside.
He used his gift of flight to take off when the patrol cars arrived at the scene, coloring the wet streets with red and blue flashes. Quickly, he navigated throughout the nighttime, and within minutes, on the bridge over the glistening Danube, where he had rescued Regina from being abducted by the Dragul, he saw the girl on a Harley, recklessly speeding past slower moving cars, and dangerously weaving in and out of traffic.
He sent a ball of fire that spawned from the palm of his hand at the motorcycle, ensuring to hit the vehicle and not his daughter. The spitfire touched the rear tire, and the mysterious female vampire looked in her sideview mirrors, noticing the black flowing shadow of Enttu flying right behind her. She revved the bike several times, and the exhausts growled gutturally, leaving behind a cloud of smog for the traffic behind her. Enttu covered himself from the toxic emissions and followed her, levitating inches above the rooftops of cars. Several passersby stopped their vehicles in the middle of the bridge and took out their smartphones to record the incident. But, the two vampires moved way too fast for the slow and pixelated cameras of phones, and they came out as a black blur in many videos that were uploaded to social media.
When she reached the end of the bridge that led into the downtown area of Lipscani district, she abruptly stopped the bike on the side of the road and stepped off. The dhampir descended onto the asphalt, and walked towards her, with a look that demanded some form of elucidation. He didn’t want to attack her, as she looked like she weighed no more than 100 pounds on a rainy day, with half that weight in her heavy boots. Nonetheless, despite her petite structure, she was imperially beautiful and attractive by any male standard. He had no weapon with him and was going to end up in a hand to hand combat with the girl if she challenged him. She sensed this and scowled at him, claws and fangs out, ready to fight him in hand to hand combat.
“You do not want to fight me,” he beckoned to her in a low and solemn voice, as he stood defensively, flexing the arches of his feet.
Again, the girl laughed haughtily at the dhampir, and responded with a,
“You’re right, I don’t,” before she disappeared in a swift motion into the dark maze of the city streets.
She may have been too fast for any mortal, but Enttu immediately caught sight of her on top of an adjacent building, and he soon too, leaped up about a hundred feet in the air and landed on top of an electrical supply warehouse. The girl ran faster when she heard the thud of his weight landing on the rooftop. She jumped across to another building across the street, and he followed, defying gravity, as cool winds lifted his coattail to assist him in flight and landing. A bolt of lightning came dancing and lit up the firmament of grey
clouds, and thunder rolled lowly right after. A heavy downpour of diagonally falling rain welcomed itself into the vampire chase.
Within minutes, Enttu was soaked from head to toe, his cold, wet shirt sticking to his body, and his mane of hair formed into dripping strands. Rain pelted off the part wear his trench coat covered him and kept him dry, and the droplets rolled off his cool, sculpted cheekbones. The female vampire’s footsteps splashed across the top of the building before she made an epic jump where she ended up at the top of the spire of a church. Before he jumped to her, he stopped himself by using the balls of his feet as brakes, at the ledge of a ten-story building. Below him, were the orbs of glowing diamonds and rubies as cars came and went up and down the bustling streets. He stood in the rain, looking down at the ant-sized civilization from his vantage point, then looking across to her, who had her hands on her hips waiting for him to jump to her. The spire where she was standing at belonged to the church that he recognized right away as the former Magalesti Cathedral, that was still standing in the 21st century. Even the iron bell underneath the roof of the spire remained intact. He watched as the sylph suddenly disappeared inside the cathedral and out of his sight.
The Dhampir Dimension Page 37
