[Vampire Babylon 01] - Skarlet (2009)

by Thomas Emson

  They’re behind us, he thought, we’re cornered, we’re –

  Chapter 100

  THEIR CHILDREN SHALL

  DIE.

  VAMPIRES wailed in the cavern below.

  Their calls echoed around Religion.

  Radu said, “They know he’s breathing – they can feel it – they come from him – they feel their creator’s presence.”

  Radu’s hair whipped about her head. Her eyes gaped and burned, and mascara ran down her face.

  Murray peered over the edge of the platform. Vampires gazed up.

  Murray saw McCall’s body, and the carcasses of both youngsters Radu had murdered and the thugs had thrown off the deck.

  Dreadlock and Tattoo slung another screaming youth on the rail, and slashed his throat – and the air thickened with the odour of blood and methane.

  Screams came from the pit. A voice saying, “It’s moving, it’s moving.”

  Crane was looking down into the grave. He wore a mad grin on his wounded face.

  Radu gestured to Dreadlock, and he grabbed Murray’s collar and Richard’s collar, dragging them forward.

  Radu said, “Let them see their son’s future.”

  Dreadlock forced Murray’s head over the edge of the pit. She cried, seeing David terrified and covered in blood. Richard called his son’s name.

  David looked up and cried up to his parents from Sassie’s arms, and Sassie looked up too, saying, “Christine,” her voice desperate.

  The other woman, tall and lithe, stood between Sassie and David and the monster growing out of the blood and guts and dust.

  The creature was almost seven feet tall. Slimy webbing cocooned its huge frame. Its body rippled, breath moving through it, blood coursing along its veins. Its mouth opened and closed, showing the creature’s serpent-like fangs. A white fluid oozed from the jaws.

  “What are you doing?” said Murray, glaring up at Radu.

  “That’s Kea – coming to life. Your son’ll be among the Lord’s first victims. Your son will be immortal. He’ll live forever and feed off the living. He’ll be like an Adam in a new Genesis for the world.”

  Crane, his voice a whisper, said, “He’s amazing.”

  Murray said, “You’re mad.”

  Radu frowned. “Yes, I am. I am mad. I’m raging, burning with anger. My brother’s dead, and I wanted him, more than anyone, to witness this.”

  “You’re killing people,” said Richard.

  “Yes we are,” said Radu, “bring another – bring their son – their children shall die.”

  Murray screamed, struggled to her feet. She stumbled towards the cage as Tattoo dragged Michael out. Dreadlock pulled Murray away.

  She kicked and thrashed and begged Radu to let her child go, but Radu turned away and watched as Tattoo lifted Michael and latched the boy’s feet to the rail over-hanging the trench.

  Murray struggled against Dreadlock, but he was too strong. There was a thud, then she fell out of his grip. She looked over her shoulder.

  Richard lay on top of the guard. He’d charged into Dreadlock and shoved him away. Dreadlock looked dazed. Richard drove his head into the thug’s face, headbutting him, screaming as he pummelled the man’s nose.

  Radu whipped out the knife. Michael cried for his mother. Crane told the boy to shut up and take his death like a man.

  Murray got up. She heard warnings echo around the club, people saying, “Take care,” and, “Nadia, she’s on her feet.”

  Tattoo had finished strapping Michael to the rail, and his eyes showed confusion when he turned round: should he help Dreadlock, or protect Radu?

  Murray, ignoring the tattooed thug, charged at Radu as the woman stretched out her arm to cut open Michael’s throat. The knife brushed his skin and he screamed.

  Radu, finally reacting to the alerts from the balcony, wheeled around, her face showing disbelief. Murray rammed into her and both women plunged into the pit.

  Chapter 101

  INTO RELIGION.

  MILO grabbed Lawton by the collar, choking him. He dragged Lawton through the door saying, “Come on, come on for Christ’s sake.”

  Lawton, reaching out, saying, “The spear – need the spear.”

  Milo got him inside. A vampire lunged at the doorway. Milo booted the creature in the head, its skull cracking. Rabbit, swinging his rucksack, forging a path through the vampires, and he picked up the spear.

  The vampires circled him, closing in. He tossed the spear towards Lawton saying, “You go, sarge, you go,” and the vampires mobbed him.

  Lawton said, “No,” as Milo kicked the door shut and it became pitch black, Lawton struggling and saying, “No, I’m not – ”

  Milo yanked him to his feet, took him by the scruff of the neck, and said, “He’s dead. He told you to go, Jake. He’s dead. He’s gone.”

  “I’m not leaving Rabbit.”

  Lawton picked up the spear and opened the door. Vampires clawed at Rabbit. Rabbit kicked and punched and screamed. Jaws clamped to his arms and legs. They were drinking his blood. Lawton ploughed into the creatures, scattering them. He stabbed two with the opposite ends of the weapon – left, right – and they disintegrated. He slashed at the creatures with the spear, he kicked out, the rage burning in his chest.

  Milo rushed out, ramming through four vampires, sending them reeling.

  “Get him in,” said Milo, and Lawton hauled Rabbit into the club.

  Milo tried to shut the door, but a vampire got his arm through. Milo gritted his teeth, pushed against the door, the tendons in his neck like ropes. He slammed his shoulder into the door. The vampire screeched.

  The metal door crushed the creature’s arm and sliced through white flesh. Black fluid sprayed from the wound. Milo roared, one last heave.

  The door jerked shut hacking through bone, the arm on the floor, fingers still clawing.

  “You should’ve left me,” said Rabbit. “I’m bitten; I’m going to change.”

  “No you won’t,” said Lawton. “I’ve been bitten, too. You don’t change unless they kill you, unless they drain you of blood.”

  “You’ve been bitten?” said Milo.

  “Yes, Jenna; Jenna bit me. Took blood.”

  “She bit you?” said Milo, “and you didn’t say? You might be infected, or something. You might be – one of them already. You might – ”

  Lawton frowned. He said, “I might be, I don’t know. I might die, but I won’t change. Whatever happens, for now I’m still me.”

  Milo said, “Oh, and you’re an expert on vampires all of a sudden. We don’t know anything about them – only what some old legends say.”

  “And Hollywood,” said Rabbit, getting to his feet.

  Milo ignored him and said, “For all I know, both of you could be, like, double agents or something – half-vampire, half-human, leading me to fuck knows what.”

  Lawton stared at him. “You want to open that door and go home, be my guest. I’m not leading you anywhere you don’t want to go.”

  “Out there?” Milo gestured at the door. Vampires hammered against it. It shook on its hinges. “You’re fucking joking.”

  “Okay. Seems you’re caught between vampires and half-vampires then – ”

  Milo backed away. “You – you are half-vampires – ”

  “No, you pillock,” said Lawton, “I’m only taking part in your fucking game. I’m fine; Rabbit’ll be fine. We give him some antibiotics, and he’ll be fine.”

  Lawton treated Rabbit’s wounds with iodine, bandaging the worst of them. Milo shone a torch on the injuries while Lawton worked.

  And then Lawton said to Milo, “Now, are you coming or going?”

  “Don’t have much choice.”

  They hurried along a corridor that brought them to a stairwell.

  The torch’s beams made shadows, and the shadows gave Lawton a jolt, heightened his senses. Voices carried from inside the club. They sounded frantic, screams and shouts.

  “It’s all g
o in there tonight,” said Milo.

  Lawton threw the light towards Rabbit and said, “You all right?”

  A pale, shaky-looking Rabbit gave Lawton the thumbs-up.

  Lawton nodded and said, “So you know what you’re doing, where you’re going?”

  “I do, sarge.”

  “Up to the fourth floor, the lighting booth. The desk. You know where everything is?”

  Rabbit nodded.

  Lawton said, “Take care. We need you to get there in one piece.”

  “I’ll get there. Not in one piece, maybe, but I’ll get there,” said Rabbit, and made his way upstairs.

  “Fourth floor, third on the right,” said Lawton.

  “I know, I know,” said Rabbit, the gloom swallowing him.

  Lawton listened to Rabbit’s staggered footsteps for a moment, and then turned to Milo:

  “You ready, big man?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  Lawton opened the door that led to the second-floor balcony overlooking the dancefloor. The smell of death made him flinch. The noise grew louder. Figures leaned over the balcony, waving their fists and shouting.

  He glanced at Milo, and Milo stared at the crowd. Lawton entered the balcony area, and a man turned to look over his shoulder.

  Lawton froze.

  The man wheeled around, pulled a pistol from a holster at his ribs, and aimed the gun at Lawton.

  Lawton said, “Birch.”

  Birch, pointing the pistol, said, “I’ve been chasing you for days. Good of you to drop by.”

  * * *

  Murray and Radu hit the floor of the pit. The knife fell from Radu’s grasp. Sassie shoved David aside, went for the knife, crawling through the slime.

  She reached out, seizing the knife. Radu, recovering, slammed her heel down on Sassie’s hand. Sassie screeched, pain shooting up her arm.

  Radu made a grab for the knife.

  Aaliyah said, “No way, bitch,” and kneed Radu in the ribs, and Radu lurched away.

  Sassie cradled her hand. It looked broken, the knuckles crushed.

  Tears filled her eyes. She bit her lip, trying to keep the pain at bay.

  Aaliyah grabbed the knife, went for Radu. The women wrestled.

  They screamed and snarled, fighting over the weapon.

  Sassie looked for David and saw that he was with his mother. She went to them and checked on Murray, asking her if she was all right.

  Murray nodded. “Can you get me free of these handcuffs?”

  “Can you pull your wrists through? It’ll tear your skin, but you should be able to.”

  “Okay, help me,” said Murray, and then to her son: “David, help Sassie.”

  Murray narrowed her fingers and Sassie tried to wrench the handcuffs over her wrists. The metal chewed into her flesh. Murray grimaced. Sassie dragged them over her wrist.

  Aaliyah and Radu fought. They tore at each other, clawing faces, scratching and biting. They were coated in gore.

  And the creature groaned.

  Sassie, panic making her shake, gave one last tug at the cuffs and they slid off Murray’s left hand, breaking the skin.

  Sassie grabbed David and scuttled back against the wall. Murray tried to reach up for Michael, hanging from the rail above the trench, Michael shouting for his mother.

  A voice from above, a dreadlocked guard staring down into the grave, said, “He’s waking up, he’s moving.”

  Aaliyah and Radu stopped fighting.

  The cocoon of flesh rippled. The skin was transparent, and Sassie could see what lurked under it. And it made her shake and whine.

  An arm split the cocoon, bursting through. Fluid, warm and viscous, splashed over Sassie, but she didn’t flinch: terror had her in a vice-grip.

  The arm was red, and the muscles along it were thick like branches.

  The hand, like a spade, opened and closed, the fingers flexing to show the yellow talons. Blue veins coursed along the scarlet flesh.

  Murray inched away from the creature, joining Sassie and David.

  They huddled together, pressed against the side of the pit.

  Radu crawled towards the monster, and Sassie thought the woman’s expression showed rapture: this was religious for Radu.

  Aaliyah came over and said, “We’ve got to get out of here, that thing’s waking up – whatever it is.”

  Another arm shot from the slime, spraying Radu with blood and pus. She roared with laughter, licked the stuff off her face and wiped it into her skin.

  She craned her neck. “He’s rising, he’s rising. Lord Kea’s rising.”

  Her voice lifted from the hole and carried into the rafters and swept around Religion.

  And in the pit, they heard the crowd’s response: a roar, applause, cheers.

  Murray said, “The choker,” her voice a whisper.

  Sassie said, “What?”

  “The choker – the choker around her neck. Get the choker off her. Just do it, Sassie.”

  Sassie crept towards Radu. The clamour in the club grew. There seemed to be panic as well as celebration and joy up there. But Sassie ignored the noise. She moved towards Radu, her eyes fixed on the red choker around the woman’s throat. Radu was on her knees, her arms held out. Sassie reached for the collar. Her fingers slid between material and skin. Radu screeched and lashed out.

  The cocoon burst, spewing a thick, gluey substance over both women. Sassie got a mouthful, and the sour taste made her retch.

  The creature sat up, tearing through the cocoon.

  Radu bellowed and rolled away. Sassie ripped the choker from the woman’s throat and fell face first in the slime. She raised her head, her nose and mouth filled with blood and flesh. She smelled heat coming from the creature, heard its breathing. But she couldn’t see it yet, just sensed its presence.

  Silence filled the auditorium above as Dreadlock said, “He’s rising – he’s rising – sitting up.”

  Radu stared, her mouth open.

  Michael screamed and thrashed about, the crossbar creaking.

  Behind Sassie, Murray and Aaliyah cried and cursed. What had they seen? Could she look? She felt the vile breath on her neck. She rolled over and froze.

  The creature stared down at her. Gashes trenched the red skin of its forehead. The eyes were blood-red, the lips curled back to reveal the fangs. A fan of muscle grew from beneath the monster’s ears down to the shoulders, giving it a neck that was as thick as a tree trunk. These trapezium muscles were a darker red than the rest of the body; a red similar in shade and texture to the choker Sassie held in her hand. The creature raised its arms, trying to pull itself up, and the skin that grew out of the underside of its arms to form a cape was also the same.

  Sassie looked from choker to vampire, seeing the similarities.

  The creature roared, and saliva sprayed from its mouth, raining over Sassie. She didn’t budge; she was too scared.

  Then, in response to the monster’s roar, vampires whined from somewhere, calling to their maker.

  Kea rose up from the cocoon, which split and spilled fluid all over the pit.

  Sassie, her bladder cold and heavy, stared as the monster towered above her. Red, leathery skin grew from its abdomen and fell over its crotch and down its legs to fashion a loincloth. The monster loomed over Sassie and stared down. Sassie looked Kea in the eye and rubbed the leathery choker between her fingers.

  And then Radu said, “Kill them, Lord Kea. Drink their blood.”

  Kea snapped its head towards the voice. Radu knelt in the mess of the pit. Blood and birth dripped off her body and face. She held out her hands to the creature. Her eyes showed adoration.

  Radu said, “I’m your servant, Lord Kea, your servant,” and it moved across the pit towards her, unsteady on its feet.

  Radu reached for her throat and said, “I have the – ”

  And her face changed.

  The smile turned to a frown, the eyes flashed with fear. She scrabbled at her throat fo
r the choker, gasping for breath, saying, “No, no, no.”

  Sassie, holding the choker up, said, “Is this what you’re looking for?”

  Radu screamed and went to crawl towards Sassie. But Kea bellowed and scooped her up.

  Radu screamed as the monster shook her like a rag doll. Kea brought her up face-to-face and shrieked at her, Radu’s hair fanning out in the gust of his breath.

  Radu screamed.

  Kea bit into her throat. Blood splashed from the wound. Her face blanched. She thrashed about, kicking and scratching at the monster.

  As Kea drank, its skin turned a deeper red, its veins pulsed blue.

  The creature snapped its head away, ripping flesh from Radu’s throat.

  It tossed her aside and turned to face Sassie.

  Sassie held out the necklace. She said, “N – No, no you – mustn’t – I – I, look – I have – have this,” but had no idea if it would work or not.

  Kea looked beyond her. Towards Murray, Aaliyah, and David. And it inched towards them, Sassie trying to stand in its way, saying, “No, no”.

  And then Kea stopped. The vampire sniffed and looked up.

  A few feet above its head, easily within reach, hung Michael.

  The creature reached up, its huge hand cupping Michael’s skull, the talons digging into the boy’s temples.

  Chapter 102

  LEAP OF FAITH.

  BIRCH glanced over his shoulder when the beast bellowed from the trench, and Lawton shot forward. He grabbed Birch’s wrist and headbutted him. Birch’s nose burst, blood splashing. He reeled away, Lawton taking the gun from his weakened grasp.

  People nearby turned.

  A woman’s voice said, “Get him,” and a man darted forward, mean and muscled.

  Lawton pistol-whipped him, cracking the guy’s skull. Two more have-a-go morons hurtled towards him. Milo clotheslined one of them, whipping his thick arm across the man’s throat. Lawton thought, Fuck it; and shot the other man in the chest.

  The crowd screamed.

  Vampires shrieked.

  Lawton rushed to the edge of the balcony. He looked up towards the lighting booth. The strip of light up in the dark rafters showed an old man in a hat staring down at him. Lawton looked down into the club. He saw the platform, and he saw the drop down into a cavern below. Two heavies, one with dreadlocks, and that shit Ed Crane stared into a trench at the centre of the platform. Richard Murray lay a few yards away, blood on his face.