by J. C. Diem
Death Returns
J.C. Diem
Copyright 2014 J.C. Diem
All rights reserved.
Amazon Kindle Edition, License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied, resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
Cover art: J.C. Diem
Images: ©Veronika Vasilyuk - Dreamstime.com
© Philcold - Dreamstime.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
·~·
Chapter One
Geordie was the first to hear the disturbance. He turned towards the faint sound that had originated somewhere beneath the surface of the blasted world that we were so desperate to leave. Dust sifted down through the minute cracks in the silver ceiling when the ground trembled a couple of seconds later. The tremor was barely noticeable and only lasted for a few moments. “Was that an earthquake?” the teen asked.
In this instance ‘viltarquake’ would be more accurate, since we were on an alien planet.
Gregor brushed the dirt out of his already filthy dark blonde hair before querying our Kveet allies. “Is Viltar prone to underground disturbances?” Dressed in the ragged garb of a decommissioned robot rather than one of his usual tweed suits, he was far from his usual suave and sophisticated self. We were all in dire need of bathing and a change of clothes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for either.
M’narl, the leader of our Kveet allies, waited for his pet droid to translate. Once he understood the question, he shook his head. The tiny alien had only known us for a short time yet he’d already taken on some of our mannerisms. At an average of two feet tall, our allies had brown skin and heads like dried up apples. I hadn’t yet decided if they were cute or ugly. Maybe they were a mixture of both. “On the surface, Viltar is a ruin,” he said, “but its core has always been stable.” His voice was amusingly high pitched. It was far less amusing when it came from their kin after they’d been transformed into the larger, far more muscular clones.
Translating Kveet into English so the rest of my friends could understand, the robot watched me with glowing scarlet eyes. The Kveet had captured him and had reprogrammed him to obey them instead of his original Viltaran masters. Despite their complete dominance over the droid, they’d removed his arms and legs as well. The limbless automaton was much lighter and easier to drag around for the miniature aliens without the extra weight. Grey skinned, red eyed and pointy-eared, he’d been made in his maker’s image. The droid was of the variety that acted as the Viltaran’s personal slaves. They’d all been programmed to lie to anyone but their masters. Although this particular robot couldn’t lie to us, I was pretty sure it still had the capacity to be evasive. We’d learned fairly quickly upon finding ourselves on Viltar that none of the droids could be trusted.
Pointing at the metal man, I crossed the silver floor until I was looming over him. “You know something.” The automaton flicked his glance away, a sure sign he knew what had just happened. Just a short time ago, I’d discovered that our ancient ancestors and current arch enemies were most likely headed towards Earth. The quake had something to do with the escaped aliens, I just didn’t know what yet.
M’narl also suspected the artificially intelligent droid was hiding important information from us. “What have the Viltarans done?”
Unable to resist answering his Keet master, the droid responded. “As the vampire deduced, the Viltarans have set a course for Earth. Before leaving, they ensured they would not be followed by destroying all other space crafts in their fleet.”
“You mean we’re trapped on this rock forever?” Geordie asked. At times of high stress, he tended to look even younger than his fifteen mortal years. In reality, he’d been undead for two centuries. Until a few nights ago, he’d still had a faint ring of blue in his irises. After drinking Viltaran blood, his eyes had turned completely black. He, and my other five close friends, had gained some of the attributes that had previously set me apart from the rest of my kin. Like me, they could now sleep as if they were human. They’d become stronger and faster and, also like me, their eyes glowed red whenever they felt strong emotion.
Only a short while ago, we’d also discovered that they shared my gift, or perhaps curse would be a better description, of immortality. Geordie’s head had been torn off by one of our adversaries during our last battle. Normally, being beheaded meant instant death for our kind. Instead of disintegrating into mush, the teen had remained in two pieces until I’d repositioned his head next to his body. To our immense relief, it had become reattached without any visible sign that he’d been grievously wounded.
We hadn’t had time to ponder the implications of this new development yet. I was cautiously optimistic about it but I didn’t want to commit myself to happiness just in case it somehow turned out to be a bad thing after all.
Gregor flicked his longish hair back in a gesture that was habitual and slightly theatrical. Handsome and cultured, he was easily the smartest man, or vampire, I’d ever met. He was also a master strategist and could think several steps ahead of our opponents. Unfortunately, even he hadn’t seen this one coming. We’d all believed the lie that Robert, the first robot we’d ever met, had told us. He’d led us to believe that the Viltarans had been unable to map the route back to our home planet. Now well aware of their ability to tell untruths, Gregor pinned the metal man with his black stare. “Did they destroy every spacecraft that could convey us back to our home world?”
Shifting his red gaze away again, the robot clearly didn’t want to answer the direct question but couldn’t resist due to his programming. “They did not,” he ground out. “There is one ship still remaining. It is a Seeker that sustained some damage during its last flight. It is currently being repaired.”
“What is a ‘Seeker’?” Ishida asked. He might be incredibly ancient but the former emperor was interested in all things modern and electronic. His interests now included alien technology.
“The Seekers are sent out in search of new planets that might be capable of sustaining the Viltarans,” the droid explained. “There is only one left now. The others were decommissioned when fuel became too scarce to sustain more than one Seeker.”
Ishida’s usually well controlled expression showed a hint of excitement at that news. “Where is this ship?” Like Geordie, he’d been young when he’d been turned. Twelve in mortal years, he had ruled as the emperor of a small nation of Japanese vampires for over ten thousand years. He and Kokoro, the former prophetess who had turned him, were all that was left of their people now.
Kokoro was the oldest vampire still alive. Around forty-thousand years old, she’d been stricken blind when her life had been stolen from her by
her maker. When her sight had been taken, she’d been gifted with visions and the ability to read minds. Long ago, she had foreseen the eventual doom of our species. A vision had shown her that Ishida would guide their people to salvation. I doubted her vision had told her just how few of their nation would survive what would turn out to be a vampire apocalypse. Neither seemed to blame me for causing the end of their nation’s existence. Not that I’d killed them all myself. By being turned into a vampire, I had inadvertently set at least two prophecies into motion. It had been foreseen by both Kokoro and a Romanian prophet that I would destroy the bulk of our kind. The only good news I’d read in either prophecy was that a remnant of our people would remain. No one had foreseen that the remnant would be a mere seven vampires.
Not all had been doom and gloom since the humans had turned against us so spectacularly. Surprisingly, a romance had sprung up between Gregor and Kokoro. The Japanese and European nations had been at war for thousands of years. It had been instant death for a European to set foot on Ishida’s island. The boundaries between their people had begun to dissipate when we’d banded together to take down the Second and his nine brothers. All enmity had been put aside and the warring vampires might have been able to bury the hatchet permanently, if any had survived. We seven were joined in a common cause and had formed a small family. No petty prejudices were going to come between us now.
Ishida supported their romance and wasn’t about to ruin Kokoro’s chance for happiness. He had also gone through a significant change by abdicating his throne. He’d decided it was pointless being the emperor of an all but extinct people and was trying his best just to be one of us now.
“Answer the question!” M’narl ordered the robot. Geordie stifled a giggle at the Kveet’s attempt to be stern.
“The ship lies to the north and east,” the droid hedged.
Our enemies might have fled yet instinct alerted me that another threat was imminent. Sending out my senses, I picked up on something that I hadn’t sensed before. New life forms were showing themselves on my internal radar. They appeared as dull silver dots in my mind’s eye compared to the light blue of the Kveet and the darker blue of their imp clones. The Viltarans had been bright red, when they’d been within my range. My kin showed up as bright white dots.
Seeing one of the life forms only a yard away from me, I opened my eyes and they were looking straight at the droid. Closing them again, I saw the dull silver figures of a robot army numbering in the hundreds only a short distance away.
“What can you sense?” Igor asked me. Russian and fifteen thousand years old, he appeared to be around fifty in human years. His thick black hair was an unruly mess. His face was far too craggy to ever be considered handsome and his manner was usually gruff, bordering on rude. I’d secretly been intimidated by him when we’d first met. Igor was Geordie’s mentor and one of Luc’s oldest friends. I’d come to care about him as much as I cared about the rest of our tightknit group. Igor was part of my family now and I knew he would have my back in a fight, just as I would have his.
Luc, my one true love and the final member of our team, wasn’t speaking to me at the moment. He was doing his best to pretend that I didn’t exist. Six feet tall, lean and well-muscled, he had black hair, a beautiful face and, up until very recently, had been the only man who had ever loved me. Thanks to my deep-seated insecurities, I’d momentarily harboured the theory that fate had forced us seven together. Based on that theory, I’d believed that their affection for me had to be false. Luc had asked me if that meant my love for them was also false. In the biggest mistake of my life and subsequent undeath, I’d replied that I didn’t know. Before I’d become the living dead, I’d been extremely average in looks. I was still average in height but I was now almost too slender. My hair hadn’t changed. It was still brown with blonde highlights and fell to halfway down my back. A couple of nights after I’d been turned, I’d gained an unholy beauty that had gradually increased over time. All of my former imperfections were gone and my face and body were flawless. That might be true but some part of me would always be plain old Natalie Pierce. A clothing store manager who’d worked long hours and rarely, make that never, socialized, I’d been all but invisible to the opposite sex, hence my insecurities.
Getting back to my relationship problems, I’d quickly realized my theory was bogus and that I really did love them all, especially Luc. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and it couldn’t be reversed. I had no idea how to fix our shattered bond but my personal problems would have to wait, for now. “He’s been stalling us,” I advised my friends. “I can sense a bunch of murderbots closing in on us.” Murderbots was the name I’d given to the almost plain looking silver droids that served as the Viltarans’ armed forces.
Geordie gaped at that pronouncement. “How is that possible? I thought you could only sense the living and undead. Since when can you sense machines?”
“Since now, I guess.”
“I am afraid the question and answer session will have to wait,” Gregor said and ushered us towards the closest door. “We do not want to become trapped in this room.”
No one disagreed with him. Enough death had already been dispensed within these four walls and it was time to leave before more blood flowed.
·~·
Chapter Two
We skirted around a gigantic metal table that had been turned on its side. It had acted as protection for my captors when my friends and the Kveet warriors had stormed to my rescue. I might be the dreaded Mortis but even I could be dumb enough to fall into a trap sometimes. It appeared that I’d divulged too much information about my strengths and weaknesses to Robert. He’d snitched on me to his masters and they’d devised a way to hold me captive in a container. I’d still be trapped inside the jar as an eyeball, chunks of flesh and whirling particles if I hadn’t been rescued. I shied away from the memory of how I’d managed to free myself from captivity. It was a mystery that I had no explanation for.
Reaching the end of the table, I spied my new samurai swords and snatched them up off the floor. The Kveet had made them for me at Ishida’s request and were a replacement for the pair I’d left behind on Earth. They might be new and made of alien metal but they worked just as well as the originals.
I took a last look at the war room before striding out through the twin doors. The furniture was far larger than was comfortable for humans, or vampires, to use. Somewhere between ten and eleven feet tall, the Viltarans were all heavily muscled, including their females. They reflected their superiority over their servants by making their droids only nine feet tall.
Our arch enemies were a confusing contradiction. They might be technologically advanced but they were also brutish and disturbingly bloodthirsty. We’d learned from the Kveet that their evil overlords lived to kill and that war was their favourite pastime.
Igor bent, grabbed the sturdy ropes that were attached to the translator droid’s trolley and dragged it along behind him on soundless wheels. He could move it a lot faster than the diminutive Kveet could. M’narl gathered his people together out in the hallway and quickly explained that a large number of enemies were on their way. Fear lent them speed as they stampeded away from the war room.
Ishida made his way to the front of the crowd, being careful not to trample anyone and guided them towards the closest elevator. The teen carried a wafer thin, portable monitor that was roughly twelve inches wide and six inches high. He’d quickly learned how to use the alien technology after a brief tutorial by one of our allies. One of the handy uses for it was its ability to provide maps. He’d also figured out how to operate the elevators that were cleverly hidden in the walls.
Based on the information he’d just been given by the droid, he would attempt to get us as close as possible to the spaceship that would hopefully be able to take us home. I didn’t want to contemplate the possibility that the ship was still out of commission. Fate will make sure it’s working. It wants us back home. The thought g
ave me some comfort yet it also disturbed me. It wasn’t much fun being at the beck and call of an entity that I still had trouble believing in.
Stopping at a blank wall, Ishida operated the monitor and a door slid open to reveal an elevator.
“Wait!” M’narl called before the former child king could send some of the tiny warriors into the carriage. Panting for air after his mad dash through the halls, the Kveet elder tried to catch his breath. “There is little my people can do for you now. I will send a small team with you, as well as the droid to program the craft. The rest of us should return to the safety of our cave.”
After a glance at Gregor for confirmation that he was ok with the change of plan, Ishida made an adjustment to the elevator’s destination. “This elevator will take you close to your caves,” he explained as the miniscule aliens boarded the carriage. They crammed in together, standing shoulder to shoulder until it was full.
M’narl paused before entering and tilted his head back to stare up at me. “I am not sure what providence brought you to this world but I, and my people, are very grateful. Without you, we would have forever lived in perpetual fear of the Viltarans and their robot armies. Now we will be able to live free from their oppression and leave the caves where we have been dwelling for so long.” The planet was riddled with underground buildings that had been made by the Kveet slaves under duress. Now that their oppressors were gone, they could make the structures into their new homes. They’d have to make extensive changes to the size of the furniture but they’d proven to be adept at working with the dull silver metal that pretty much everything was made from.
Geordie made a sound that was close to a snivel. Crying was impossible since we weren’t able to produce snot or tears anymore but we could still dry sob. The teen could be a sentimental fool sometimes. Apparently so could I because my reply lodged in my throat.
