Their eyes were huge, teardrop shaped and matte black. Within their living depths could be discerned none of the machinations by which a Humans or Vampire’s visual functionality could be detected. There was no pupil, or iris, or any other way to visually determine how those eyes worked. I have long believed they were only capable of seeing in the thermal spectrum. That possibly they had evolved without a star’s light and that being the reason for their aversion to our sun but I couldn’t imagine how that would be possible. The birth of life without a star’s nurturing energy. It was an aversion Vampires had inherited. That aversion the reason they had not been able to steal our planet directly- it was of no use to them in their present biological state.
Hyper acceleration came naturally as I leaped across the room. Time thinned and elongated, stretching so that as the Others dropped from the ceiling, their falls became as slow motion to my hyper-accelerated consciousness. Though the rates of their dissents may have been regulated by the constant pull of gravity, and slow seeming to my hyper-accelerated consciousness, they were fully capable of defending themselves in real-time, hyper-accelerated themselves, as they fell.
My leap coincided with Sonafi throwing her long knives into the air above her head. Little flicks of her wrists that cast the weapons spinning over her head, slowly, lazily, almost casually, in perfect symmetry one with the other. Then her hands disappeared down the front of her pants and when they came out, held the last of her shards of sharpened shrapnel. Her hands moved with surety, casting the double handfuls of deadly, glittering steel at the intruding Others, even as they yet fell from the ceiling.
The glittering, razor honed shards flickered through the air towards their destinations like supersonic harbingers of hell's fury. Thrown with the strength of a being capable of ripping sheet steel like common writing paper with her bare hands, or picking up a full-size pickup truck and throwing it onto the roof of a one-story building, her little weapons ripped into their faces.
They tried to throw hands or arms in the way but they were far too slow, the attack too unexpected, the velocity of the shards too great, some of them distracted by the long knives as they looped gracefully over her head. Five took shrapnel directly in their eyes. It ripped through the filmy black covering of their overlarge eyes and split them open like suppurating wounds. Gore and thick fluid splashed like water. Elsewhere the shards ripped gray skin or clattered against the walls behind them. Then Sonafi's blades were back in her hands and I was amongst them.
I chose those which had been injured first. An injured animal could often be more dangerous than any other, and also because they possessed our same ability for rapid healing. Though destroyed now, their eyes would begin healing immediately, and an intelligent being did not throw away advantage when it presented itself. Not when life was on the line.
I chose as my first opponent the closest of the Others to myself. Those who were closest had taken the brunt of Sonafi's shrapnel attack. The being I chose had its face ripped open as if by some savage beast. Its injuries did not look as if they could have been caused by design. Armed with a weapon I could only describe as an oddly designed short sword, it had a point and a straight cutting edge on one side, but the back of the blade protruded into two curved hooks meant to disembowel, rip and tear. Several of them carried weapons of similar design, some of the weapons they carried even stranger, but of that fact I did not have time to consider.
Senses other than its ruined eyesight warned it of my approach and it tried to defend itself. I struck at it, but it was with my left hand, and the sheath part of my walking cane sword, with which I attacked. I swung the steel sheath over hand at its head, the heavy steel whistling menacingly through the air, warning the Other, and it got the blade of its own weapon up and between us, between the descending cane and its fragile skull. The cane would have crushed its skull like thin eggshell. It had been designed for just such a purpose. It rang off the steel of the Other’s sword and the Other was wide open. Its chest was bare and undefended. I was free to thrust with the blade itself.
Like Vampires, the Others are most susceptible to fatal attack in their hearts or their heads, decapitation the surest method, but there was neither room in these cramped quarters nor time to waste swinging my blade, so I thrust. I plunged it into its chest and then twisted it violently even as the Other stiffened in death shock. Knowing this creature would fight no more, I stepped back, pulling my sword free as I did so, and turned to meet the next even before the first began to fall. It was another of the blinded which came at me now, and I parried its thrust with the cane part of my weapon even as I was yanking the sword out of its comrade’s chest.
As adept with my left as with my right, I feinted a thrust with my sheath and was rewarded when the blind being responded with a parry that left its weapons swinging outside to its right when I yanked the feint back. Wide open I ran it through.
I fought my way to Volga and Sonafi's sides as we quickly dispatched the remainder of those blinded by her attack and once together, we put our backs to one another to present a three pronged defense. Volga understood immediately what our intentions were and hardly destabilized us a bit. We became a three headed beast with no back. No weak side. No exposed flank.
We had a moment then, a lull in the fighting as the Others paused to assess what they were facing, this unexpected threat in the form of Sonafi and I, and then they fell upon us en-mass. Sonafi was sure and fluid, rehearsed and so flawlessly performed were her movements, that every one of the Others who came near her were instantly, ruthlessly stabbed or cut and sent reeling away. Volga was in no way as deft, practiced or efficient. She was fighting a losing battle with beings that were moving at what were to her blurring speeds, and she with only one short-sword.
Volga was a skilled fighter though. I saw that immediately and that the only reason she was still alive. How many thousands of times did a swordsman, or woman, have to repeat the same forms until they could come without thought? Repetition produced instant, or near instinct-like reaction. Muscle memory. Volga was a master of the art and her blade rose to meet every attack of the, to her, much quicker Others, but she was entirely on the defensive and already sweating profusely.
These were very young Juveniles. I was not sure I have ever encountered any so young, but they had not been expecting to meet such stiff resistance. Before the being pressing Volga could capitalize on its advantage, and within the split second I was accorded between slaying my last attacker, and awaiting the attack of the next, I twisted and plunged my blade into the neck of the one pressing Volga. The double-edged weapon speared through its windpipe and sliced its way out the other side of its neck. When I pulled the blade back it entirely severed the right side of its neck. Stricken but not finished, it tried to stagger away but one of Sonafi's blades flickered out, like a darting snake, and sliced away the remainder of the connecting muscle and tissue and the head fell away completely.
Half their number had been downed in little more than the time it had taken them to enter the room, but they were undaunted and pressed the attack fiercely. It may have been that they had erased the genes that produced fear, or enhanced the fight instinct to where it could not be disobeyed. They had no physical fear though the outcome of this encounter was now assured.
In the melee I had somehow wound up almost exactly where I had been when I met my first opponent and I felt his weapon under my foot, where he had dropped it. I slipped my foot under the blade and as the next being rushed in to attack me, threw the cane sheath one flip through the air smashing it into the face of the onrushing Other. It struck with a sickening thud and a crack of bone. Then with my foot I flipped the weapon on the floor up into the air and snatched it mid-arc.
Though it had been struck in the face the Other continued forward with the original swing it had launched but the attack was now uncoordinated and far off the mark. Black blood was already pouring out of the two slits it possessed in place of a Human or Vampire nose, and I was sure
I saw what I recognized as desperation in its fathomless matte-black eyes. I easily blocked the swing with my cane-sword and it now lay defenseless before the new weapon in my left, a weapon which had not been there only a moment ago and had seemed to appear as if by magic. The wicked hooks were forward most, so I thrust in across its body and then ripped the hooks back across its neck.
Sonafi dispatched her present attacker and nearly as one we turned again to aid Volga. I whipped the strange weapon around in an arc which decapitated its victim with the straight edge of the weapon while Sonafi's right hand long-knife flickered across to remove its own sword-wielding hand. Hand and sword went flying off together to stick into a wall, the hand still gripping the sword tightly, while the head flew in another direction, more slowly, not possessing the momentum the swinging arm had.
Volga's fear stench had become almost overpowering to me, but she had not allowed that fear to inhibit her actions. This was no matter of hierarchy. She would not be able to display her subservience, her submissiveness, and be accepted by the Others, as she most likely would by another Vampire. Panting heavily, Volga took a step back to be as close to us as she could get, and I knew that she was seriously close to her breaking point.
But the Others did not come at us again. Those that remained were momentarily holding back, scrutinizing us out of those fathomless and lusterless black eyes. It wasn't fear or even the knowledge that they would all surely be killed if they continued. It was something else. We used the time to move to the rear of the apartment and to put a wall at our backs. Then without a clue as to their behavior they were departing.
They leaped up into the ceiling, among the water pipes and the duct-work and scattered into the building. They simply vanished. We let them go, not wanting to chase the smaller beings into the tight, confined places, and knowing that if we left Volga and they circled back she would be finished. We let them go.
''They weren't expecting us.'' Sonafi said when they were gone.
''They haven't attacked any others within the Community at large for many centuries.'' I agreed. Sonafi and I had been the Others sole targets for many centuries, but now something had changed. Now the Others were once again expanding their operations.
''What does that mean?'' Volga asked, starting to catch her breath, ever so slowly.
“That's the question!” Sonafi said. “Nor am I positively sure I want to know the answer.”
Even without our enhanced hearing we would have heard the sounds of the awakened building. Awakened by the crash of steel on steel and the thundering of nearly godlike beings doing battle within their midst. From below came the pounding of footsteps as the skinheads came tearing up the labyrinthine staircases to see what the chaos was about. They arrived outside Volga's door and the neighbors pointed us out. They began to pound on our door.
“My protection rubles hard at work.” Volga said. She went through the front apartment and opened the door for them.
“There is no problem.” She told them, and like docile sheep, having no idea they were being manipulated, nodded dumbly and slowly turned and walked away. Volga shut the door.
“That won't hold them long.” Sonafi said as we joined Volga. “The whole apartment complex will be talking about it and they will begin to wonder why they had not gotten a clearer answer.”
“I'm scared!” Volga admitted. Her breathing had returned to normal but there was a deep-seated fear in her eyes that had not been there before. “The Others have never been more than a fable to me. We knew they did exist, that they used to attack all of us but that they had only attacked the two of you in recent centuries, but even so, it was more like a myth than reality. The Network has been like no more than a game to most of us. We really never, I mean, I never really thought… I really kind of almost did not believe!”
“They have not attacked us in so long,” I said, “so it would have been hard to understand. There was no reason for you to believe.”
“Brid made us believers, even if we did not want to believe the evidence that was right in front of our noses.” She said then waved to all of the computers and electronics filling the apartment. “This is why they have come. What am I to do now?”
“You can't stay here.” I said. “They consider you a serious threat. They'll be back.”
“I would be dead if not for the two of you.” Volga said. “I am sorry if my hospitality was not everything that I promised.”
“At least you still have your sense of humor.” Sonafi told her to a weak smile, though I doubted Sonafi saw the smile. I don't think her eyes ever left the openings left in the ceiling where the Others had come and gone. “You'll have to gather what you can and that quickly. We can no longer stay here. It's no longer safe. They could be back at any time!”
“Leave?” Volga asked horrifyingly. “You mean permanently? I can't leave all this!”
“You can or you'll be digging your own grave.” I said. “Adding your stains to theirs.” I indicated the pools of now but faintly hissing muck strewn around the room. Most of the shapes were distinctly Human, or at least looked to be Human, in shape, and I was now fairly sure they were going to eat all of the way through the floor. The building materials used in the construction of this tenement were as substandard as they could have been made and still hold the bare minimum load capacity. I knew it would not be long before they ate into the apartment below us. “And I think we are quickly running out of time.” I added.
“But I can't leave all this!” Volga protested again.
Sonafi grabbed her by one shoulder and I by the other. We turned her and steered her towards the front door. There was nothing here that could not be replaced except her life. Sonafi and I had gone through this enough times to know how painful losing all your belongings could be, and I sympathized, but it was now too late for anything else. When Volga saw how very serious we were, she relented.
“All right. Give me a few moments.”
“Hurry!” I said, releasing her. She hurried around, gathering things Sonafi's mind told me were storage devices, and other small items which were obviously keepsakes, and all of which she stuffed into two big duffel bags, and then there came a scream from the apartment below us. The acidic remains of our attackers had finally burned all of the way through the floor and had likely dripped onto one of the occupants below. I felt the psychic pain accompanying the screen.
“It's time to go!” Sonafi said. She received no argument and we got out of there. We ran down through the building at hyper-acceleration but slowed to Human velocities as we exited the staircase onto the first floor. When we walked out the front doors, the whole group of lounging skinheads turned to look at us. The bags Volga carried caught their attention.
“You are going somewhere?” Their leader asked. It was he whom Volga had met at the door of her apartment. He was now wearing a strange look as he struggled with himself to make sense of the events. I felt the slightest sympathy for him. I knew I would have a hard time dealing with it if others were able to manipulate me so easily. This was, in fact, what all this was about in the first place.
“Yes.” Volga said. “I am going somewhere. I will not be back. You may take everything in my apartment.” She tossed him her apartment key and he deftly caught it in the air.
“We will watch your apartment until you return!” He said.
“I will never be back.” Volga repeated. “There is seven hundred thousand rubles worth of computer equipment in my apartment. You may have it all. Thanks for everything.” With that said she turned away and we three walked to her car. When we turned back, they had disappeared inside the building.
“Where do we go?” I asked as we drove out of the parking lot. There was no way I could forget that we were strangers in a strange land.
“There will be someone within the Network we can turn to.” Volga said, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she drove and activating a number on speed-dial. She put the phone to her ear and listened as it rang. “That is strang
e.”
She made a number of calls all with the same results. Until the fourteenth attempt. I heard what was said even though she had the phone pressed to her ear.
“They're all dead.” The voice said.
“Who is all dead, Nikita?” Volga asked calmly, soothingly, using the mesmerizing tone technique of an Elder to soothe the Juvenile, even though she had attained only half of that age. At a thousand years we considered a Vampire to be Elder; if they could survive beyond it.
Nikita answered, speaking rapidly in Russian. I could speak Russian but it was simpler to eavesdrop through Volga's mind. A Vampire could learn a new language almost overnight, but he could understand and make himself understood, within that language, immediately. Thought was conveyed by words, but also in pictures and complex mental images, which made it possible to understand what the spoken words meant, that if you did not already know the language. I already knew it.
The attack on Volga's apartment had not been an isolated incident. They had made attacks all over. Most of St. Petersburg's Vampires had gone missing, at least for the moment, but I was sure the moment would continue to stretch. I could not say why I was so certain, when there had been no such similar incidents in many long centuries. Some new chapter had been begun. Some new ascension of our struggle was to be commenced. I wondered if it were in any way linked to Brid's plans. I did not see how it could be, but it would make sense, if that were true.
The Alien Agenda Page 12
