by J. C. Diem
Danton shrugged. “I do not know. I am certain that it will become clear in time.”
Standing, Gregor gestured for his guards to come forward and addressed the courtiers. “If you will leave us now, we have some catching up to do.”
Millicent and her crew weren’t happy at being dismissed, but they took their leave as graciously as possible. Luc gave Thaddeus a narrow stare when he stopped to take my hand and kissed it. “I am ready to bow down before you now,” the cheeky courtier said then trailed out after the others.
“I am already ready to bow down before you now,” Geordie repeated in a high pitched, girly voice when they were out of earshot.
Ishida doubled over in laughter and I broke into giggles. “I missed you, Geordie,” I said when I managed to regain control of myself.
“Then why did you not contact me?” Unhappiness made him look even younger than his fifteen mortal years.
“Because I was too busy sulking and wallowing in misery,” I said honestly.
“Are you back to stay?” he asked.
“If you guys will have me.”
Geordie met my eyes and his were so vulnerable that a lump lodged in my throat. Luc gave me a light shove and I walked over to the teen. Geordie rose and his thin arms wrapped around me tightly. “I am so glad you are back, chérie. I have missed you, too.” I’d hurt him horribly by running away, but he’d already forgiven me. His mind was wide open to me and I read only love and support for me inside.
Ishida’s hug was shorter but no less affectionate. Igor graced me with a fond squeeze of my shoulder and then Gregor and Kokoro enfolded me in a double hug.
Then it was Luc’s turn to be greeted. “I knew you would be able to put yourself back together,” Igor said and gave his old friend a quick hug. Neither seemed to feel the least bit awkward about hugging while Luc was nearly naked.
“Without Natalie’s help, I would still be in pieces,” Luc said as he received the same twin hugs from Gregor and Kokoro that I had. Ishida and Geordie were next and another lump came to my throat at the sight of Europeans and the last two remaining Japanese vampires united in friendship. Their nations had been at war for thousands of years and they’d once have felt compelled to kill each other on sight. That’s one good thing I’ve accomplished as Mortis, I conceded. I’d forged peace between them and their old prejudices had been destroyed.
Danton and his retinue had moved to the far side of the sitting room to give us a chance to catch up. Outside, I sensed Gregor’s guards patrolling the mansion grounds. Our little reunion had been as private as possible and I was grateful for the monk’s consideration. I was also very glad that the party of strangers were gone. None cared for anyone but themselves. They’d been taught that our kind cared only for food and sex and that love was forever beyond our reach. That wasn’t true at all and it was a lie told by masters who preferred to oppress their servants rather than to treat them with dignity and respect.
Luc left long enough to change into some borrowed clothes. He came back wearing black trousers and a tight black sweater that was a size too small for him. It showed off his physique almost too well. “How long have Millicent and her cohorts been here?” he asked as he took a seat on the couch beside me. Danton and his warriors joined us, but only their leader took a seat.
“They arrived last night,” Gregor said. His expression hinted that he was less than pleased about their arrival.
Kokoro stirred uneasily. “They claim that they wish to join us, but I see nothing but trouble ahead if we allow them to be a part of our group.”
Ishida looked at her in surprise. “Have your visions returned, Kokoro?”
Her smile was fond and I was pretty sure she came close to ruffling his hair. “No. It is simply women’s intuition.”
“I agree,” I interjected before any of the menfolk could laugh at her. “My intuition went into overdrive after we munched down on that second Viltaran.” We’d drained the creature to death and I’d been so full of his blood that I’d been sloshing with it. “It’s telling me that they can’t be trusted.”
“They are a bunch of snobs,” Geordie grumbled. “Millicent refers to me as ‘servant boy’.”
“She refers to me the same way,” Ishida said with a dark glance at the hallway that they’d disappeared down.
“I take it they’re staying at Isabella’s estate?” Luc asked.
Gregor nodded. “I did not want them staying here and Isabella’s mansion has remained unoccupied since her death. It seemed like the logical place for them to stay.”
“But she died twelve years ago,” I said. “Her mansion must be in pretty bad shape by now.” Poor Isabella, who I’d never had the chance to meet, had been a victim of the Japanese warrior that had pretended to be me. Acting on Ishida’s orders, my imposter had done her best to eradicate the Council. I’d killed her before she could do the job. In hindsight, I wished I’d let her cut them all down. It would have saved me the trouble of doing so later. Of course, Fate had had another plan in mind all along.
“I arranged for both of our estates to be maintained during our absence,” Gregor explained. “I suspected that General Sanderson would turn against us at some stage and that, when he did, we would be gone for some time. Of course, I did not expect to be gone for an entire decade.”
Most of his guards had either been exterminated or had been rounded up and sent into outer space. I was confused about who had been following his orders. “Who maintained the estates while we were vampsicles floating around in space?”
“I arranged for humans to manage the properties. I found a reputable business that specializes in maintaining vacant estates,” Gregor explained. “Once word spread that we were back, my surviving guards returned.” There was only a small handful of men left to watch over him now where there had been dozens previously. Unlike the other lords and ladies of the Court, Gregor didn’t believe in creating servants. He employed vampires who had no masters or homes of their own. By treating his people with respect and dignity, he’d ensured they would be loyal to him even in his absence.
His guards were few but they would come in handy when we tackled our next task. Speaking of which, it was time to let them all in on what I’d learned. “I have some news for you,” I said to the group.
“Have you finally sent out your senses and figured out what is eating all the life in the ocean?” Ishida asked with one brow raised. It was a subtle dig at my earlier refusal to help them discover the cause of the disappearances.
“Yes,” I said primly and the child king cracked a smile. “I sensed something familiar on board the Viltaran ship just before it fled and now I know exactly who they are.”
Gregor’s eyes widened as he realized what it had to be. “It’s the octosquids, isn’t it?” I nodded and he told everyone the theory that he’d instantly formed at this knowledge. “They knew the Viltarans would head to our planet when they were in danger of becoming extinct. They stowed away on their ship in the hope that Earth would contain enough food and water for them to survive in.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“That would be my guess.” I remembered one of the aliens asking how much water our planet contained. I’d blithely replied that we had plenty. “Remember when they told us they could grow to roughly the size of the Kveet cave?” Everyone but Danton nodded. He had only a vague idea of what we were talking about, but he’d catch up quickly enough. “I don’t think he was talking about that one particular cave. I think he was talking about the entire cave system.”
Igor looked as if he’d been hit in the stomach. “If that is true, then they have the capacity to be almost unbelievably gigantic.”
“I saw one in a dream last night,” I told my stunned friends. “It was big enough to swallow a submarine like it was a cocktail sausage.”
Gregor sank back against his seat as the implications set in. “I think our planet might be in serious jeopardy this time. I am not sure that we will be able to defeat th
ese enemies as easily as we have our previous ones.”
Earth had been threatened more than once already and we’d managed to prevail. If Gregor thought we were in deep trouble, then things had to be even worse than I’d imagined.
·~·
Chapter Nine
“I have a few questions,” Danton said. “What is an octosquid?”
Geordie fielded that one. His hand was firmly tucked into mine and I felt his slight shiver as he pictured the hideous aliens. “That is the name Nat came up with. They are as black as ink, have a body that looks a bit like a jellyfish and hundreds of slimy tentacles that are covered with tiny mouths.” His other hand mimicked a mouth that opened and closed, gnashing the air in an endless quest for food.
“They were relatively small when we saw them,” Igor said, “and were roughly the size of an average human. Except for the one that had been transformed into a Viltaran clone. Its body alone was the size of this room. It’s tentacles would have stretched the entire length of the mansion.”
Danton and his guards took in the size of the large room and couldn’t hide their incredulity. “Now I have even more questions.” The deceased prophet’s protector was taking the news as well as could be expected. “Could someone please explain what happened to you on this alien planet?”
All eyes turned in my direction, so I figured it was up to me to fill him in. “After the governing powers decided to kick us off Earth, our ship drifted into deep space. We were frozen into ice cubes and fell into a kind of hibernation. I woke up after what turned out to be ten years of sleep.”
“So, that is why you were gone for so long,” Danton mused.
I nodded and continued the tale. “I broke into the cockpit and managed to get the emergency power to the console working for a short time. I called for help and the Viltarans heard me and turned up a few days later. They captured our ship and took us back to their planet.”
“You’ll never guess who they really were,” Geordie said to the monk. Humouring the teen, Danton raised his brow in silent query. “They’re our ancestors!” Geordie declared and grinned at Danton’s astonished surprise.
Gregor offered an explanation. “The Viltarans were a warlike people whose goal was to conquer other planets. Their technology far exceeds ours and they’d created nanobots that had the capacity to turn other species into clones of themselves. They’d conquered then destroyed all of the habitable planets within their reach and began sending out Seeker ships to search for new planets to destroy. One crash landed on Earth.”
Understanding flickered across the monk’s face. “It was an alien that fathered our species?”
“Actually, a robot minion turned the First into a monster,” Ishida corrected. “He carried a vial of his master’s blood, which contained the nanobots. He fed it to the First and our species was created. Gregor suspects that the nanobots were faulty, which is why we weren’t instantly transformed into Viltaran clones.”
“Where do the octosquids come into the story?” Danton asked.
“We were captured by a race called Kveet, who became our allies,” Kokoro replied. “The octosquids had taken refuge with the Kveet in the cave systems, where there was still water to be found.”
It was Igor’s turn to continue the tale. “We banded together with the Kveet and began hunting down the Viltarans. The last few fled to Earth, inadvertently bringing the black sea monsters with them.”
“Now that they are here, they have enough food and water to grow to their full potential,” Luc finished the tale.
Danton mulled over what we’d told him. “How many of these creatures are we facing?”
“Ten,” I answered.
He grimaced at my reply. “What is the best way to kill them?”
“I managed to explode one of the clones with these,” I held up my hands to expose the crosses that were embedded on my palms. “But it was much smaller than these ones. It would be like comparing a tick to a horse.” The analogy shocked everyone. It would be difficult to grasp just how gigantic these things were until they saw them with their own eyes. I’d just seen one in a dream so far but my dreams were rarely wrong.
“We’re going to require weapons,” Gregor said bleakly.
“Lots of weapons,” Geordie added.
“And plenty of manpower,” Igor said. “We will not be able to tackle these monsters alone.”
“I am not sure any government will be willing to ally themselves with us this time,” Luc said as diplomatically as possible.
“Why?” I said with mock innocence. “Just because I turned the U.S. President into a meat suit?”
Geordie’s delicate stomach betrayed him and he almost dry heaved at the reminder of what I’d done to President Rivers. Ishida patted his friend on the back in sympathy. I felt no remorse for exploding the woman from the inside out, but the picture on both of their minds wasn’t pretty. I’d reduced myself down to particle form and had invaded her body. When I’d re-formed, her body had burst apart and I’d been clothed in her blood and skin.
“Humans will have difficulty fighting the octosquids in deep water,” Gregor said when the silence stretched out. “If the aliens retreat below the surface, the human armies will be rendered all but useless.”
“Will we be affected by the pressure if we follow them into deep water?” Geordie asked curiously.
“Perhaps, but not to the same extent that humans would.”
Luc contemplated his old friend, knowing that he’d formed a plan yet he didn’t want to voice it. “There are fewer than forty of our kind left.” He’d gleaned that information from me. “We may be able to survive in deep water, but I do not think that we alone will be able to defeat our new adversaries.”
Gregor’s gaze shifted from Luc to me and back again. “Are you suggesting that we must create more of our own kind? It would take months before they could regain enough control to become useful.”
“Not ‘we’,” I replied. “Just me. And I’m pretty sure my servants won’t be the same as normal fledglings.” It was just a hunch, but since I was so different, I believed my minions would be as well.
Geordie looked at me in confusion. “But your blood is fatal to anyone who drinks it. I thought you were unable to sire our kind.”
Luc came to my rescue before I could explain myself. “The nanobots changed Natalie’s blood. It now has the capacity to heal rather than to destroy.” One thing he hadn’t gleaned from me was the vampiric rats. That was locked deeply away in my psyche, but I wasn’t going to be able to hide it for much longer.
Danton nodded in support. “A few drops were enough to rouse the Prophet from his coma.” We both remembered the oracle’s warning that I had to remain vigilant, but neither of us brought that part up. It would probably just confuse everyone even more.
“Have you tried to sire another vampire yet?” Geordie asked. I sensed his jealousy at the mere thought that another vampire might become more important to me than he was.
I shifted my gaze away from his and found everyone staring at me expectantly. “Kind of,” I said with great reluctance. This was a tale that I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to tell to anyone. Unfortunately, there could be few secrets between us now if we wanted to survive through this latest disaster.
“What happened?” Ishida demanded.
“I was bitten by something and it, um, turned.”
“What bit you?” Geordie asked. Laughter danced in his eyes as he sensed my embarrassment at divulging this story.
“It was a rat, ok?” I snapped. “A rat bit me and died and a few seconds later it turned into the undead.”
I had to give the two teens credit, they manage to control themselves for a full three seconds before they broke down into shrieks of laughter. “You sired a v-v-vampire rat?” Geordie stuttered while pointing at my mortified face.
Kokoro turned away but not before I saw her smile widely. Only Natalie could manage to get herself into a situation where a rat would become the undea
d, she thought in affectionate amusement.
Gregor and Igor were far better at controlling their expressions but Igor’s shoulders heaved in silent mirth a couple of times. Luc showed his support by pulling me to his side. He kept his thoughts tightly in check, but the look he slanted at me spoke of silent laughter. I grumpily leaned against him until everyone finally managed to regain their decorum.
Waiting for the teens’ final giggles to fade, Gregor spoke. “So, we know you can turn animals into our kind, but you haven’t yet tested your blood on humans.”
Igor raised his hand in a silent threat when Geordie’s face screwed up in laughter again. The adolescent cringed against me and kept his giggles on the inside.
Frowning at the kid, Gregor continued. “If you can indeed create our kind, you just might be able to generate an army to help us combat the octosquids.” No one suggested any of the others should begin creating minions of their own. Their surface thoughts were enough to tell me that none particularly wanted to sire an army of their own. As Gregor had already pointed out, their servants would take too long to gain control of their hungers to be of any assistance to us.
“That sounds like a good idea, except for one thing,” I said. No one seemed to realize there was a fundamental flaw with this plan. “I was created to cull our kind and to make sure our numbers don’t grow out of proportion. What do you think Fate will do if I make an army?”
“I do not think we have much choice,” Ishida told me frankly. He might look like a twelve year old kid, but he’d been an emperor for ten thousand years and he was well versed in war. “Once the threat is over, you can simply destroy your army.”
Remembering the pang of regret that I’d felt when I’d killed the rat, I wasn’t so sure it would be that easy for me to dispatch even one true vampire, let alone an army of them.
Igor sat forward to make a point. “Before we make too many plans, I think we should test your ability to sire our kind.”
