Death Returns

by J. C. Diem

  Annoyance flashed across his face before he schooled his features to serenity again. “It was your choice to end our relationship. I do not understand what there is to discuss.”

  Crossing my own arms, I held onto my biceps tightly. “I didn’t choose to end anything. I just had a brief moment where I doubted that you really loved me.”

  “Your brief moment of doubt was enough to convince me that your feelings for me do not run as deeply as you claim,” he fired back. “You told me that what I feel for you has been fabricated by fate and that you weren’t sure that your love for me was true.”

  Rubbing my face with both hands to keep in a frustrated scream, I clasped my fingers together to stop myself from strangling him. “I know what I said. It was just a theory and I realized how stupid it was almost right away.”

  A hint of sadness crept into Luc’s dark eyes as he stared down at me. “The fact that you doubted me at all tells me that you do not love me as I love you.”

  Hope blossomed within my shrivelled heart. “So, you still love me then?”

  “I do not know.” My hopes were shattered at his response and silence reigned after he threw my own words back at me. Not quite done yet, he crushed my heart even more. “You are not the same woman I fell in love with. The Ladybug I knew is gone.”

  My stomach fluttered at hearing the nickname I’d previously found so annoying. Now I wished he would use it with the same teasing affection he’d once felt for me. “If I’m not your Ladybug anymore, then who am I?” I asked in a small voice.

  His sadness became more apparent as he answered my question. “You have become Mortis in deed as well as in name.” He paused before making a final observation. A hint of red light began to glow in his eyes. “It would take a very strong man to love Death itself.”

  Inside my chest, my heart didn’t just break, it withered and crumbled to dust. Any last hope that Luc could find it within himself to forgive me dissipated, gone forever. He’d voiced my greatest fear, that no one could ever truly love a creature like me.

  ·~·

  Chapter Seventeen

  Waiting for Luc to retreat down the stairs to his room, I stumbled out of the closet. An unbearable weight settled on my shoulders as I slowly shambled down the stairs. My subconscious had been trying to tell me that I would end up alone one day but I’d assumed that meant my friends would all die. Now it seemed that we would all live forever but I was doomed to eternal solitude anyway. On some level, I’d known that I wasn’t the same person anymore but I hadn’t realized how much I’d changed until it had been pointed out to me so brutally.

  Back on the first floor, I entered my room, gathered my swords and stripped the coverlet off the bed. Once my friends saw how heartbroken I was, they would know that Luc had broken up with me for good. They would undoubtedly shower me with sympathy and I didn’t need sympathy right now. I needed to be alone so I could wallow in self-pity in private.

  I knocked on Higgins’ door and he opened it immediately, almost as if he’d been waiting for me. Fully dressed, his light brown hair was still wet from his shower but he was ready to move at a moment’s notice. His eyes dropped to the coverlet that was draped over my arm. “Are we going somewhere?”

  “Yes,” I replied and he needed no further urging.

  “Nat?” Geordie asked as he heard us leaving. “Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine,” I lied in a falsely cheerful tone. “I just have to check on something.”

  “Be careful,” Ishida said from within his own room.

  Hastening down the stairs to the lobby, I paused long enough to pull the coverlet over my head before stepping outside.

  Higgins grabbed my arm to guide me as I took off at a fast trot. “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t care. Just take me somewhere dark and private.” I struggled not to cry and managed it, just.

  Altering our trajectory, the soldier increased his pace. “You look like you’re about to burst into flames,” he observed. I didn’t feel any pain but if the coverlet was beginning to give off steam then the sun was burning through it and would soon touch my skin. The heat wasn’t as overwhelming as I’d once found it to be, but it was still unpleasant.

  We entered a cool, dark room seconds before the coverlet was about to disintegrate and leave me exposed to the sun. Higgins had led me into a store that appeared to have gone out of business several years ago. Most of the windows had been boarded over. Dust caked the carpet that may once have been dark blue and was now black. There was no furniture or signs to indicate what sort of business had once been conducted here.

  I turned to my escort and his obvious concern made my bottom lip quiver slightly. “I’ll be fine here on my own.” Being alone was a state I was going to have to get used to eventually so I might as well start practicing it now. “Come and get me when it’s time to leave.” My escort was reluctant to obey me but turned and left anyway, closing the door behind him. He didn’t go far and I sensed him joining a group of his fellow troops half a block away.

  Alone at last, I covered my face with my hands and sobbed out my anguish. My hands muffled most of the wails and none of the humans were close enough to hear me, thankfully. Leaning back against the wall, I slid to the floor and wrapped my arms around my legs. No tears dampened my new jeans. I’d left them behind a long time ago along with my humanity and the ability to eat solid food.

  An ache settled in my chest when my dry sobs finally petered out. I’d never been in love before and this was the first time I’d ever had my heart broken. I desperately wanted to take my anguish out on someone else but I only had myself to blame. If Luc really loved you he wouldn’t let something like a little bit of doubt pull you apart, my inner voice ventured almost timidly. My response was immediate and vicious. You can cram your opinion where the sun doesn’t shine! If you’d kept your mouth shut in the first place, he never would have dumped me! My alter ego quailed at my anger and slunk off without another word.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I wondered if I’d lost my mind at some stage since being kicked off our planet. I’d woken up in space to find myself a frozen block of ice along with the rest of my friends and allies. We’d been captured by a Viltaran spaceship and had been taken to their planet, and had lost all but seven of our number. I’d been shot with around fifty nanobot darts and I still wasn’t sure if all of the side effects had made themselves known. All of that, plus the rest of the awful things that had happened to me since I’d been turned into the living dead, was bound to strain most people. I hoped this was just stress I was feeling because I’d just had a mental screaming match with myself. As far as I knew, only crazy people had arguments like that with themselves.

  Eventually growing tired of feeling sorry for myself, I spread the coverlet out on the carpet. I curled up on my side, facing away from the door. My back would suffer the worst of the rays if someone opened the door and let the sun in, but at least my face wouldn’t melt off. That had happened to me once already and I didn’t want to suffer from that type of pain again. Then again, compared to the mental anguish I was now feeling, a little physical pain probably wouldn’t bother me.

  On the edge of dozing off, I found myself thinking about the Viltarans. Gregor’s theory that they were going to cause untold damage before we could put an end to their invasion was more of a concern than I’d thought it would be. Fate had brought us home so we could save the earthlings. I wished I could figure out what they were planning to do next, so I could do the job that I’d been destined for.

  Opening my eyes, I found myself floating in a dark hallway. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of metal. It might be black instead of dull silver, but I recognized it as being Viltaran in origin.

  Just thinking of the Viltarans again set me in motion. Like the visions I’d had of the First’s cavern of doom so long ago, I drifted along without being able to direct my movements. I floated past a doorway and glanced inside to see Kveet imps crammed in side by side with barely a
ny room to move. It was daylight, so most of them were sleeping. Those that were still awake were on their feet, struggling to remain alert. Their scarlet eyes kept sliding shut only to snap open and blink owlishly before immediately sliding shut again. I passed room after room and all contained dozens of the creatures. Many more cells spread throughout the ship, all with the same cargo stored away for use against the humans.

  My stomach tried to flop over when I was suddenly whisked upward through several levels of metal. My suspicion that I had dreamed myself onto the Viltaran ship was confirmed when I ghosted through a door and into a large room. Consoles in different shapes and sizes were covered in lights, buttons and levers. Over a dozen wafer thin monitors hung in mid-air. Each one showed a view of the Texan city that had just been attacked. None of the aliens in the command centre looked in my direction when I coasted to a stop beside them so I figured that meant I was invisible.

  Out of the twenty-one aliens on board, only fifteen were actually present. The shortest Viltaran was just over ten feet tall. He cringed whenever one of the others glanced in his direction. Staying at the back of the group, he made himself as unobtrusive as possible. Instead of a nose, he had a protuberance that almost looked like a beak. A light fuzz of hair coated his grey scalp. Compared to the others, he was almost handsome. He lacked any visible scars, which meant he’d never engaged in the hand to hand combat that most of them were so fond of. If there was a weak link amongst the aliens, I was pretty sure I was looking at it.

  “The humans are proving to be harder to subdue than we’d anticipated,” a female Viltaran said. She backed away a step when her leader’s gaze fell on her.

  Self-appointed ruler of the remaining Viltarans, Uldar clenched fists that were almost the same size as my head. “It is useless to send in small forces of our droids and servants,” he grudgingly conceded. “We have wasted our resources and have gained little in the process.”

  “What do you propose we do next?” the female asked. Her hand dropped to her belly in a very human gesture, drawing my attention to the fact that she was about six months pregnant, by human standards. I had no idea how long her gestation period was. The imps that had been made by the First had given birth after only a nine or ten day pregnancy. All had been former vampires that had become alive again after being converted into clones. Maybe the transformation had kick started their ability to conceive. The bad batch of nanobots might have caused the incubation process to become much faster than was natural. Natural, my alter ego scoffed. There’s nothing natural about any of the clones.

  There were seven females amongst the group of aliens and none of the others were showing signs that they were carrying offspring. Considering how few of them had been left when we’d arrived on their planet, they probably had trouble conceiving. They were a dying race, which made it all the more important for them to find a healthy home so they could attempt to rebuild their numbers again. They were already discovering that the earthlings weren’t going to fold easily.

  “We will target a larger city and send in our remaining droids and clones,” Uldar stated in a tone that brooked no argument. “This time, we will not allow any human soldiers to intervene.” Several doubtful glances were exchanged behind his back but no one was brave enough to voice an objection to his plan.

  “Which city are we going to target next?” the pregnant female asked.

  Tapping one of the screens, Uldar brought up the picture of a city that I’d seen in dozens of movies. Their alien camera zoomed in on a dazzling array of neon lights that blazed blindingly even during the heat of the day. “Once darkness falls, we will make this city ours!”

  His cohorts chortled in glee as the dream faded.

  Waking with the sound of guttural alien chuckles still resounding in my head, I was standing before I’d fully formed the intention to move. It was mid-afternoon now, which meant we only had a few hours left to attempt to avert the coming attack.

  The sun had moved to the far side of the building, leaving the front in shadow but it was still painfully bright when I yanked the door open. “Higgins!”

  Startled by my shout, the soldier sprinted towards me. “What’s wrong?” he asked when he reached me.

  “Get Sanderson on the radio. I need to speak to him urgently.”

  Not wasting time with further questions, Higgins unclipped his radio from his belt. “General Sanderson, this is Corporal Higgins. Do you copy?”

  Sounding groggy, as if he’d just woken up, Sanderson responded. “Go ahead, Corporal.”

  Feeling time weighing on me, I snatched the radio out of Higgins’ hand. “You have to gather as many soldiers as you can and head for Las Vegas,” I said without preamble. The dazzling casinos lining the world famous Glitter Strip had been unmistakable.

  “You’re positive that they’re attacking there next?” The general sounded fully awake now.

  “Yes and they’re sending all of their droids and clones in to attack this time.”

  “How many of each?”

  “Twenty thousand robots and fifty-five thousand Kveet clones.” We’d whittled their numbers down during the last two attacks but the odds were still stacked against us. The soldiers who’d gathered around to listen in knew just how poor our chances of winning were. Higgins wasn’t the only one to turn pale at the news that I’d just divulged.

  A palm scraped against a cheek that needed to be shaved as he digested the warning, then Sanderson galvanized himself into action. “I’ll alert the President and General Hart immediately. I just hope we’ve learned of their intentions in time to act.”

  Still emotional from being so recently dumped, a lump formed in my throat at the hint of accusation in his tone. The Viltarans had only reached their decision moments ago but I was somehow supposed to know what they were planning before they’d even planned it.

  “We appreciate your warning, Natalie,” Higgins said as I handed his radio back. He’d accurately read my expression. Some of the other soldiers, mostly from the original crew who had arrived with Sanderson, murmured their agreement. Some seemed to have lost their suspicion of my kind after working with us to defeat the enemy. Unable to speak for fear I’d begin sobbing again, I nodded. It seemed ironic that the humans I despise so much were rallying around me. Of course, it could just be my vampire mojo at work. All vampires had a dark magnetism that drew humans to them. Mine just happened to be stronger than most.

  ·~·

  Chapter Eighteen

  It was late afternoon by the time the arrangements had been finalized. I kept my distance from my friends as trucks arrived to ferry us to the closest airport. It would take us an hour to get there but that would give the planes that would be transporting us to Vegas time to arrive.

  Peeking out from beneath the coverlet that I’d draped over my head again, I saw Geordie craning his head from the shadows to search for me. Dark sunglasses protected his eyes from the painful glare. Each of my friends wore what seemed to be the standard issue army sunglasses.

  Spying me, Geordie waved frantically but Igor put a hand on his shoulder when the teen took a step in my direction. They might not know exactly what had happened between Luc and me but they had probably figured out that we hadn’t managed to reconcile during our brief talk.

  The troopers had enough time to retrieve their hazmat suits, return to the centre of the city and don the protective gear before our transportation arrived. Crammed into the back of a truck with soldiers wearing the yellow suits, my misery was so overwhelming that I barely smelled the toxic gas as we sped through it.

  Once we were safely out of range of the gas again, the men struggled to strip their suits off. It was an amusing sight but I’d momentarily lost the capacity to laugh. I managed a ghost of a smile when a soldier bent to free his feet and knocked heads with another man. Both cursed bitterly in pain but they were separated before any punches could be thrown.

  A row of planes was waiting at the tiny private airport to carry us to Las Vegas.
President Rivers had decided against trying to evacuate the city. To do so would tip off the aliens that we were aware of their plans. They would then simply choose a different target, one that we wouldn’t be able to guess the identity of until after they’d struck. The ship hadn’t moved yet and still hovered high above Texas. I’d know we were running out of time once it finally began to travel.

  Boarding seemed to take forever and the sun was sinking when I took my seat and closed the shutter on the window. Higgins took the seat beside me. His gun was nestled in the crook of his arm and my swords were across my knees. We were both tense as our airplane became airborne. Sanderson and my friends were on another plane that had left long before ours. I sent out my senses and found them already well on their way to Las Vegas. Both of my hands were clamped on the armrests and I had to force myself to switch my attention to the Viltaran ship.

  We were halfway to Vegas when I finally sensed the spaceship moving. Reading the apprehension in my stiff shoulders, Higgins advised Sanderson that our time was running out.

  “Roger that, Corporal. Let me know when the ship nears its destination.” The general signed off and I realized all conversation on our plane had ceased. We were in a race to try to beat the spaceship and it could move a lot faster than us, if it wanted to.

  Picking up speed, the ship veered away from the course that I’d expected it to take. “That’s weird,” I murmured.

  Turning an anxious gaze on me, Higgins readied his radio again. “What’s weird?”

  “The ship is heading northeast.”

  “But Las Vegas is to the northwest.” He was as bewildered as me and I didn’t have an explanation for him. His uncertainty came through loud and clear when he updated Sanderson.

  “Put Natalie on,” the general ordered.