Empire of Blood [Box Set]

by Robert S. Wilson

  Frank's stomach took a swan dive for the floor. Goldie Locks and the Three Bears here was using him for bait. Wonderful...

  ***

  The chute Simon and Jackie were now blasting their way down was burning Simon's ass and back something fierce. It only lasted for another few seconds before they were chucked out the other end of it and landed on a wide open concrete floor. The distant sound of echoing machine work filled the place with a sort of constant noisy reverberation that was almost dizzying. Simon landed on his feet just fine but Jackie hadn't been so lucky. She lay in a heap on the floor, scraped up a bit, but otherwise okay.

  Simon leaned down next to her and sighed. "Weren't you just flying?" He smiled.

  She smirked up at him. "It's not like I got this shit down to a science already, prick." They laughed for a second and then looked blankly at each other. They were here for a reason and that reason came with a heavy weight of obligation.

  Simon gave Jackie a hand and helped her to her feet and the two began searching the place for some sign of Frank. There didn't seem to be any visual clues as to where he had been taken and Simon tried not to think about the possibility that he could already be dead. Jackie would suffer if that were the case and she had suffered enough already, so he hoped against hope that hadn't happened. Even with the foundation of noise, the place seemed to be almost quiet. Something was wrong here and Simon was sure it was something simple. Long high-hanging platforms connected through hallways like the holes connected with lines where you put the marbles in Chinese Checkers. Simon hated that game and wasn't thrilled to be thinking about it now.

  Without warning, Jackie started to float up toward one of the platforms. Simon jumped the full thirty feet landing on top of it, and turned to wait for her. When she gently stepped onto the surface, she walked past Simon and began to survey the areas they weren't previously able to see. This made all the difference. Suddenly they weren't quite so alone by far. Vampires littered every corner of the place, just not this one small open area comparatively. Most of the vampires seemed to be working machines while others stood around doing nothing. One particular vampire seemed to be looking out for someone, probably them.

  Simon put his hand on Jackie's shoulder and pulled her down to a crouching position with him. "I think it's safe to say they're expecting us."

  "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry I got us into this."

  Simon turned her to face him and kissed her on the lips long and soft. "I'm not."

  She smiled. "You know what I mean. I'm glad you're here, I just wish the circumstances were..."

  Simon froze. Jackie took his cue to stop talking and he listened some more. He could hear Frank's voice loud and clear like it was purposely being broadcast just for him. "I'm fucking ready to go home now. Where do I sign myself out?" He was close, had to be.

  "He's here and he's still alive."

  Jackie let out a long sigh. "Good. I was afraid—"

  "I know, I was too. But if he's alive that can only mean one thing..."

  Jackie nodded. "They want us to come get him, don't they?"

  "Uh huh. And I'd bet money they have a reason for that as well. Could have just killed us the moment we slid on into their living room floor."

  "Okay, well... Let's find out. Shall we?" Before Simon could stop her, Jackie stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Heyyyyyy... Over here. I said, hey, fuckers... Over here..."

  Simon slowly rose to his feet as well, shoulders crouching, eyebrows lifted like he was listening for a pin to drop from faraway. He sighed. "This should be interesting..."

  Chapter 42

  The Drop Off

  Jonny had never driven in such a stir-crazy, shit-for-brains, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Bumfucked-Egypt area in his life before this day. Three hours after he passed the last semblance of reasonable society the hills and plains that surrounded the highway just grew more and more desolate and woodsy until he was sure he would pass a sign for the South American Rainforest any minute now. He was only about a handful of minutes away from the Imperial facility now and he could see where the film cliches of crazy backwoods hillbillies came from given its remote location. If they aren't trying to perpetuate the stereotype, they sure as hell aren't doing the sane hillbillies any favors.

  Ever since he'd pulled off of the highway that feeling had been nothing other than exacerbated by the trailer-trash-esque vibe of the deep woods the building's location seemed to be surrounded by for miles and miles. The truck pulled along a curvy windy road that seemed to never end until out of nowhere it was finally straightening out. A few hundred feet later and the broken beat-up road gave way to smooth blacktop and the truck seemed to glide the rest of the way. To Jonny's left, a long paved drive led into a large parking lot with the also sizable Imperial building sitting in the center of it. The whole facility seemed oddly out of place in its surroundings. As if a small piece of a major city had been ripped away and set here for safe keeping for a time.

  Jonny turned into the long drive and eased the truck forward, slowing down to the posted twenty-miles-an-hour speed limit. He parked the truck and killed the engine. "Well, Hank. It's been fun knowing you and all..." An immense sadness and sense of guilt struck Jonny then. He wasn't sure he would do things the same had he to do them over again, but he knew that he had done what he had to do. He sighed and got out of the truck and made his way over to the sign-in office.

  Inside, right beyond the door, a glass partition separated the receptionists from everybody else. A large waiting room stretched off to the left as Jonny stood in line behind an elderly woman giving the receptionist a clipboard with a stack of paperwork filled out in blue ink.

  "Thank you, Mrs. Dalton. We'll let you know when Herb is ready for you to come back and see him, okay?"

  "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you." The old woman turned and went to sit down. Jonny stepped forward. The receptionist gave him a questioning look.

  "Uh, hi, I have an Imperial drop off to make. The name's Cross."

  She looked away for a moment and began typing furiously on her computer keyboard. "Yes, Mr. Cross, could you go around to the back of the building and wait for Dr. Connor to meet you there in about ten minutes or so. There's only one door back there, you can't miss it.

  "I can do that. Thank you."

  Jonny smiled and turned and left the building. That hadn't gone quite as he had expected, but it wasn't like he'd ever dropped off any crazy people before, not that he really was now either.

  First thing getting in the truck he double checked to make sure Hank was still lying in the back and he wasn't disappointed. Some paranoid part of him expected to get in the truck and find the man gone.

  Wouldn't that be a hell of a way to end out the day.

  Jonny started the truck and pulled it around to the back. Sure enough, as the receptionist had said, there was only one door. Jonny killed the engine and sat there waiting in the truck. A few minutes later, a man in a long white doctory-looking coat stepped out and waved to Jonny. Jonny waved back and stepped down from the truck. "He's in the cab here. Let me open it." Jonny pulled the cab door open and then heard an odd clicking sound followed by the sharp pressure of something pushing against his back.

  "Don't move, Mr. Cross, or I'll be more than happy to spray your internal organs all over the side of this nice-looking truck here. Got me, boyo?" Jonny nodded quickly and quietly.

  "Now, I'm gonna put this away and help you pull out that body and we're gonna carry him inside. Should you say anything to anyone inside about who he is or who sent you here with him, you will leave this place in a bag, got me?" Jonny nodded in a rush. "Okay, good. Let's get to work then." The pressure disappeared, and Jonny moved out of the way while the man in the white lab coat put his silencer-attached pistol away inside his jacket and reached in and grabbed Hank's right arm and leg. "You grab the others and this should be easy enough. A gurney stood behind Dr. Connor, waiting to cart someone off. They carried Hank's body over and set him on it and Jonny bac
ked away as Dr. Connor began pushing the cart toward the door. The gurney bumped up on the slanted entrance and Dr. Connor gave it a good push before turning around and opening fire on Jonny.

  It was a split second kind of moment and Jonny had been lucky. He dived down under the truck and just barely missed getting a bullet in his chest. Dr. Connor closed the door behind him and ducked down low to try and get a better shot under the truck.

  "The Emperor sends his regards. He would have liked to have just stopped your heart with the push of a button but alas he had other matters to attend to."

  Jonny ran for the other side of the vehicle and climbed through the passenger side door then scrambled over and behind the steering wheel. He started the truck, put it in gear, and hit the gas in record time, the truck jolted forward and then rose up over something with a hollow thump. In the rearview mirror, Dr. Connor's body lay on the parking lot surface mangled and still. Jonny didn't hesitate then, he hit the gas with all he had. He had done what he had to do now. There was no way he was going to be cheated out of seeing Julie now. No way in hell.

  Chapter 43

  An Unlikely Savior

  The sun had barely risen in the Eastern horizon when Chandler's front door slammed shut, waking Yusef from a rather disturbing nightmare. He sat up, relieved to realize the dream had been nothing but, and got up to see what the noise was. As he stepped into the living room Chandler's truck roared to life outside and backed into the main road in a rush and then sped off, tires scraping and squealing and kicking dust up in the air. Yusef watched as the truck made its way quickly out of town. When it was completely out of sight, Yusef sighed and turned to look around the empty living room. There were very little actual things in Chandler's house and Yusef wasn't exactly sure why that was.

  He walked into the kitchen to get himself a drink when he noticed the basement door hanging open. Chandler was typically very careful to close it every time he entered or left it. The very room downstairs itself had become a sort of inviting mystery to Yusef whenever Chandler would disappear down there for hours on end after dinner and in the middle of the day sometimes and every now and then at just any random time that couldn't actually be accounted for.

  After getting himself a drink and staring at that open door for a long stretched-out moment, Yusef's curiosity got the better of him. He pulled the door open. Gray-painted concrete stairs led down into a dark room. Yusef reached over and flipped the light switch. It didn't make much difference from his vantage point as the room itself was mostly obscured by the wall above the stairs.

  Yusef took a few steps down to see if he could make out anything and still could not so he ventured further downward until the vast downstairs room became completely and utterly visible. Newspaper clippings lined the walls. Articles about the war from so long ago and then articles about Caesar and his rise as Emperor. Pictures of Caesar stared back at Yusef from every direction. In the center of the room a small table held a shrine decorated with Imperial symbols and a single large framed photograph of Joseph Caesar in the middle of it all. Yusef dropped the glass of milk he'd been holding and it shattered on the floor, spraying white liquid out in an outward spreading circle.

  ***

  A big rusty blue truck zoomed past George's car going the other direction and he couldn't help but wonder if it belonged to Chandler Dixon. He was only about ten minutes away from the city limits of Pleasant Shade according to his talking GPS machine. The country out here was far prettier than George had expected it to be, though he wasn't particularly fond of living somewhere quite as remote as this. A few minutes later, the sign for Pleasant Shade rolled on by and George slowed the car down to keep track of where he was. After a moment or so, he realized exactly where he needed to be when he recognized both Yusef and Umar from the photographs the church had on file.

  He pulled into the driveway behind the car they were standing beside and left the engine running. Yusef stopped dead still in front of his own car, with little Umar sitting in the passenger front seat. George smiled and waved and Yusef reluctantly returned the gesture. George climbed out of the car with a few more grunts than he would have liked to have made and reached his hand out for Yusef to shake. "Mr. Tahir—" Yusef suddenly shoved George away from him and ran for the driver side door of his car. "Mr. Tahir, no, wait. I'm here to help." Yusef was already in the car, getting ready to close his door when George rose up from the driveway and let out an excited whisper, "Mr. Tahir, I work for the Foederati!" This seemed to get Yusef's attention. George continued. "Joseph Caesar is a sadistic monster, a cold blooded killer, and a complete fraud. I work on the inside of the church undercover to try and help people like you, Mr. Tahir. To help you find a way to safety."

  "And just how did you find me, Mr.?"

  "Nelson, my name is George Nelson. A man named Chandler Dixon reported the two of you and thank the true God Almighty I was able to intercept the report."

  Yusef cringed at the use of the words "God Almighty" but he seemed to be taking in everything George had said. "I'm not surprised. A man can change a lot in twenty years. Apparently, a man I once counted as a friend is now a brain-washed zealot of this bullshit phony religion."

  It was now George's turn to cringe. "If you'll let me, Yusef, I'd like to help you and your precious son get to safety. You're welcome to follow me in your car with a flagged license plate, or the two of you can get in with me and ride in a car with Imperial plates. I must say, I don't get stopped often by the police in this baby." George smiled. Yusef let out a hearty laugh at George's comment then turned and looked at Umar. "Come on, Umie, get your stuff, we're gonna ride with Mr. Nelson now, okay?"

  Chapter 44

  Into the Bloodlust

  A moan erupted from her, a mix of pleasure and pain and fury as Bellona inserted Ishan's manhood into her.

  His body had penetrated her many times before and each one of them clung in her mind, a vivid gorgeous memory of ecstasy. Now, he was not himself and it was equally exquisite in a way she never could have imagined. Bellona used him with subtlety, taking her time in a way a man could never manage to do.

  The thrill of it didn't guilt her, didn't shame her as it would someone human. She was a mother and a lover and a killer and a goddess and nothing these bodies could do could ever affect her in that way. In that moment Ishan was Bellona and this was new and exciting and in needed contrast of the pains of labor threatening to erupt within her at any moment. The sex would surely accelerate the birthing and bring about her death more quickly if Bellona didn't tear out her throat first. And all this together stoked the fire of it all so that the tongues of flame reached out for the stars.

  Their mouths locked in soft wet passion, lips grazing each other in seductive reproach.

  Her claws gripped into Bellona's shoulder blades, familiar to the touch yet newly and differently mobile. He took hold of the back of her shoulders and pushed her legs up and open to the sides, her feet stretching up and around the tops of his arms. And Bellona thrusted slowly at first, gradually increasing her pace until the Queen's voice erupted into echoes that filled every open crevice of the Hive. Ishan's hips lifted again and again, coming down with such force and such power, Bellona gorging Ishan's muscle inside the Queen with a hammering motion now. She brought his tongue down the Queen's chin and Bellona slowly slid her way down her neck and left collarbone and then on to the nipple where one fang pierced ever so softly at first then built with pressure.

  Just enough to hurt but not enough to tear the skin.

  Just a little longer.

  Ishan's tongue slid around the nipple tracing its outline and then drawing a thin line of saliva down her belly and stopping just above the soft thatch of hair at the base of her pelvis. Slowly, Bellona dragged Ishan's tongue downward toward the Queen's glistening opening. Ishan's tongue softly slid its way down her labia, grazing gently enough to send the Queen's hands gripping at the hair on his head, pulling his face in for more. He lapped quickly and powerfully at her
clitoris without warning causing her to press her thighs against the sides of his head. His fangs pressed against the hood of her clit and the Queen had Bellona right where she wanted her. His teeth penetrated the skin just slightly, but that was all it would take. As soon as the blood beaded out from her and sizzled against Ishan's tongue, the Queen wrapped her legs fully around his head, pressing his face deeper into her self. Bellona had no choice but to melt into the bloodlust. Ishan's hands gripped hold of the Queen's hips and sucked the blood inward thrusting Ishan's fingers inside her at the same time.

  Ishan's body came up for air, his eyes and mouth sparkling in crimson and Bellona penetrated the Queen once more. A whisper called out from the darkness and the Queen cried out with joy as she neared the first rise toward climax. Bellona's light inside Ishan's eyes suddenly shifted and a worried expression seemed to unmask the pure pleasure in those eyes. Bellona knew now there was nothing she could do. And the grip of climax, the power of the blood had both pulled her into a vortex she couldn’t possibly escape. Ishan's voice rose in a woman's pitch as his body tensed.

  The last light of Bellona faded with the spending of his juices and in the connection between lover and lover, mother and child renewed and Ishan's light rekindled inside those beautiful black eyes and he smiled with the tension of the Queen's writhing pleasure and so he thrust and thrust and bit down against her nipple and gripped hold of the hair on her head and in a moment of complete perfection, the Queen's body exploded into orgasm as the cavern quaked with the pressure of her releasing tendrils. Her voice rang out with the joy and the love and the heat of it and she knew nothing on Earth could take this away from her. No death could darken the light of this moment and no terrible memory from the past could ever haunt her again.