by J. C. Diem
Igor and a few of my other soldiers had hauled some large silver containers up the ropes. He reached inside one and pulled out a rocket launcher. Higgins opened another container and pulled out a small but powerful looking rocket. He inserted it into the launcher and gave Igor the thumbs up. Everyone cleared out of the way as the Russian sighted at a distant spot. Bright light momentarily stung my eyes as Igor fired. The rocket whooshed directly to its target and a wall of flames burst out from a large crater.
Several more soldiers withdrew similar devices from the containers that they also carried. Now that they had a large enough area to work in without accidentally blowing the rest of us up, they went into action.
I could no longer hear the thoughts of the octosquid, but I didn’t need to be telepathic to know that it was suffering. Thrashing from side to side, it rained blows on its own body in the hope of ceasing its torment. I almost felt pity for the creature but hardened my dead heart against the emotion. The aliens had come to our planet with the intention of feeding their insatiable hungers, not with the intention of attempting to live with us peacefully. They were invaders, just as the Viltarans had been and it was our job to destroy them.
Shrieking loudly enough for its entire body to vibrate, the Goliath reverted to instinct and began to descend. “Hold your fire!” Igor shouted as he stumbled back a few steps. It became harder to stay on our feet as the beast zoomed downwards at a sharp angle. I braced myself as best I could and took Luc’s hand when he reached for me.
Geordie lost his footing and slid past us, shrieking in a mixture of terror and excitement. He lodged inside a globule of brain. Kicking his feet and thrashing wildly in an attempt to free himself, he just forced himself deeper inside the tissue. I bit my lip to contain the laughter that welled up from his muffled shrieks. The adolescent wouldn’t appreciate being laughed at. Neither would I, if I was in his situation.
Safely contained within the creature’s insides, I still felt enormous pressure squeezing down around us. At last, we reached the ocean floor and the ground levelled out. Igor strode over to Geordie and dragged his apprentice free by the foot. The teen took the hand his mentor offered him and stood. He was covered in purple gunk from head to toe.
“You look like you were just birthed by a purple elephant,” Ishida told his fellow teen.
Blinking jelly out of his eyes, Geordie shook his head and blobs flew off him. “That stuff is nasty.” He wrinkled his nose, presumably at the smell, then turned and fired at the globule that he’d briefly been snared in. He’d matured since we’d first met, mentally if not physically. He trusted himself to handle the deadly weapon now. Still grinning slightly, Ishida also recommenced shooting. No stranger to war, Ishida was a competent warrior, even if he was used to using swords rather than guns.
All around us, my army of ex-cons worked systematically to fulfil their objective and to obliterate their target. The rockets did the greatest damage, demolishing massive amounts of purple matter in mere seconds.
Twisting suddenly, the octosquid thumped itself against the ocean floor. One of my soldiers lost his balance and fired his rocket prematurely. Not everyone scattered in time and half a dozen fledglings were caught in the blaze. I felt their pain as they burst into flames before disintegrating. Thankfully, their agony was short lived, but I felt a distinct absence with them now gone. As I’d suspected, their loss was far worse than the dead rat’s had been.
Over and over, the creature bashed against the ground until it was finally exhausted. I cautiously sent out a probe and touched its mind. We’d destroyed enough of its brain to make thinking difficult. It barely retained enough intelligence to understand what was happening to it. All it knew was that something was inside it and that it had to get us out.
“Keep shooting,” I urged my army. “It’s almost finished!”
Unlike our quarry, we were undead and were therefore almost indefatigable. Reloading our weapons or readying more explosives, we resumed our attack. It was a strange sight to see ex-convicts dressed in orange coveralls dipping into their satin handbags and pulling out tiny bombs.
The octosquid made one last ditch effort to stop us by pushing itself upwards and gathering its dwindling strength with the idea of dive-bombing the ocean floor for a final time.
“I wonder what that is?” Geordie said, unknowing that we were about to be smashed against the ground again.
Following his pointing finger, I saw a darker plum coloured mass that had just been revealed by his latest blast. “I don’t know what it is, but let’s shoot the crap out of it!” I replied. Instinct told me that it was something important.
Gleefully following my order, the teen unleashed a barrage of bullets and I did the same. Others quickly joined in. An instant before the creature propelled itself downwards, the mass exploded in a wash of dark purple slime.
We all felt the body go limp when its mental cognition ceased to function. While the body was technically still alive, its brain and thought processes had essentially been destroyed. Since our planet didn’t have life support systems large enough to sustain the creature, its body would also soon be dead. I couldn’t even pretend to be sad about that. Several of my people had died to kill this thing and I was certain they wouldn’t be the only casualties that we would suffer.
Probing the behemoth’s mind to make sure it wasn’t just faking it, I let out a whoop of victory. “We did it!”
“Is it really dead?” Geordie asked in wonder.
“Technically, its brain dead,” I clarified. “But its body won’t survive for long.”
Surrounded by his warriors, Danton wiped purple blood off his face with a filthy sleeve. “Is the creature floating towards the surface or sinking towards the ocean floor?”
It was hard to tell, since we were still cocooned in the membrane that had once contained a functioning brain, but my senses told me we were heading up rather than down. “We seem to be heading upwards.”
“The boat worked quite well as a lure,” Danton mused. “Do you think we will be able to extract it from the carcass?”
Turning to Igor, I raised an eyebrow in query. Hefting his rocket launcher, he shrugged. “We can try to blast a way out through its flesh when it reaches the surface.”
Covered in sticky purple blood and brain juice, we gathered into two groups. I transported the first group back to our boat and they quickly made their way downstairs. I shifted the second group, then went into dust mote mode to retrieve the grappling hooks. Pouring myself back into my clothes, I found the teens staring at me when I solidified. “What?” I asked suspiciously. While my clothes were still covered in goo, my skin and hair were now clean.
Shaking his head, Ishida articulated what they were both thinking. “You can do things that no other vampire could even conceive of, yet you treat your talents so casually.”
“Each of my abilities came with a price, Ishida,” I told him. “They weren’t given to me, I had to earn them and I paid for them in blood almost every time.” He lowered his eyes, mistakenly believing that I was chastising him. Putting an arm around his shoulder, I gave him a quick hug. “It might seem like I’m being casual about it, but that’s because I feel like I’m living in a dream most of the time.” He sent me a quick grin that I wasn’t mad at him.
Geordie wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean?”
“Before I became Mortis, I was pretty much a nobody,” I explained. “Then, all of a sudden, I was a creature of legend. The scourge of vampirekind, no less.” I received a few smiles from the older vampires. My fledglings knew practically nothing about the legend that was me and listened in carefully. Even those below decks could hear me quite clearly. Our hearing was far better now that we were creatures of the night. “It was foretold by Danton’s master that I’d bring death to the damned and that only a remnant would remain. We are that remnant and I’m supposedly in charge of you all.” I shook my head in wry amusement. “I still find it hard to believe that I was chosen for this
gig.”
“The fact that you were chosen means you are the correct person for the task,” Danton said wisely.
“You might not be the smartest vampire ever created, but you always find a way to win your battles,” Geordie added.
“Thanks,” I replied dubiously to his somewhat backhanded compliment.
“That’s one giant jellyfish down,” Igor said. “That leaves nine remaining. I wonder if they are aware that we just killed their comrade?”
Gregor sent an enquiring look at me so I closed my eyes and went jellyfish hunting. Luc’s hand settled on my shoulder and I leaned back against him as I located the closest octosquid. Lurking deep beneath the waves, it communicated with the others using a form of telepathy that was similar to mine. I’d suspected that they could communicate using their minds when we’d been on Viltar and now I knew for certain. “They know,” I said grimly and opened my eyes. “They think it was humans who killed their kin and they’re pretty pissed about it.”
Kokoro grasped the implications. “They can speak to each other using their thoughts?” At my nod, she looked concerned. “I imagine they will retaliate against this attack.”
Our adversaries didn’t think like us, but I’d caught the general gist of what they were thinking. Kokoro’s intuition was correct, they were going to retaliate, and I feared it would be soon. “One of them is going to attack a city,” I confirmed.
“Do you know which city they are going to target?” Luc asked. His hand on my shoulder tightened a little with his concern.
Shaking my head, I turned to the radar screen. It offered a small scale map of the world and I pointed out where the remaining nine octosquids were situated. “This is where they’re currently located.” They were spread out all over the globe and each had staked out their own territory. “I’m not sure which one of them is going to attack yet.”
“You’ll have to try to monitor them all,” Gregor suggested. “As soon as one of them starts moving towards land, we’ll know which one to target next.”
We were currently floating in the ocean near the UK and none of the mammoth sized monsters were anywhere near us.
“There’s no way we’ll be able to reach them in time to stop them, no matter which city they attack,” Igor pointed out.
“Unless…” Gregor allowed the word to trail off suggestively and looked at me speculatively.
I wasn’t on the same page as him and just stared at him blankly. “Unless what?” Then I remembered I could read his mind and skimmed the information for myself. “You’ve got to be kidding!” I protested.
Confused, Geordie switched his gaze from mine to Gregor’s and back again. “What? What does he want you to do?”
Luc’s grip became tighter on my shoulder before he gentled it again. “I believe Gregor wants Natalie to attempt to teleport not just us, but the boat as well.”
Ishida’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Do you think you can do it?” Sometimes I wondered if he’d spent so much time playing computer games that he thought life itself was one big game.
Disturbed by the possibility of failing miserably then suffering from the embarrassment, I shrugged. “I don’t know. I still have no idea what my limits are.”
“You have to try!” the child king urged. Kokoro had chosen Ishida to be their emperor because a vision had told her to. Fate had known that the teen would have the courage and determination to lead his nation. As the ruler of the remaining vampire race, the least I could do was try to match his courage.
“Ok. I’ll give it a go.” Everyone braced themselves both mentally and physically as I placed my hands against the console and concentrated. An instant later, we were floating beside the colossal carcass of the dying octosquid. A few of its tentacles twitched in our direction, making some of my soldiers flinch away. None of the limbs came close enough to be a danger. It quite literally didn’t have the brains left to try to coordinate its arms into grabbing hold of us.
“It worked!” Geordie crowed. “You are awesome, chérie!” He offered me his hand in a high five. Slapping it, I wobbled and almost went down. Luc caught me and the others crowded around with concern written on their faces.
“What is wrong?” my beloved asked. He and Geordie put their arms around my waist to keep me on my feet.
The teen was trembling in fear for me and I smiled shakily. “I’m ok. I think that just took a lot out of me.” I now had some idea of my limits and the kind of energy that using my teleportation would drain from me.
“Dawn is only a couple of hours away,” Igor advised. “I suggest we return Shadow to the dock and have it refuelled. You can choose one or more of the sailors to snack on while maintenance is being performed on the boat.”
“Once you have recharged,” Gregor said, “we should return to the catacombs and rest up until one of our enemies makes a move.”
It was a sensible suggestion and no one had any objections, least of all me. I rarely felt fatigued, but I hadn’t used my muscles. I’d used my mind, which had been far harder than mere physical exercise. With practice, I hoped I’d become stronger. Hopefully, I’d become strong enough to be able to do whatever was necessary to take down our remaining enemies.
·~·
Chapter Nineteen
Igor rapidly and skilfully piloted the boat back the way we’d come. We passed the submarine that had just been spared from a terrible fate. They again failed to detect us on their radar as they headed towards the now dead octosquid. The captain would report back to his superiors that the beast was deceased, but he’d be unable to offer an explanation as to what had killed it. An autopsy would determine the cause of death and I had no doubt that scientists all over the world would volunteer for that job.
The humans were still coming to terms with the fact that they weren’t alone. They now knew that at least two alien species existed. I wasn’t sure if they classified the grey skinned Viltaran clones as another species or not, and I didn’t really care. I was just glad humankind was far less advanced than the Viltarans and hadn’t yet mastered the ability to discover other inhabited planets. Once they did, they might very well turn into alien invaders themselves.
Armed sailors lined the dock when we returned. Their commander, who was still under my control, waved at them to lower their weapons and waited for me to appear. “Who are you people?” he asked when we stepped off the boat. His eyes flicked to the orange coverall clad men that formed up neatly behind me.
“We’re not people, we’re vampires. My name is Natalie.”
“I told you it was her, Brian! You owe me twenty quid,” someone crowed then stilled at a glare from his boss. “Sorry, Sir.”
“I am Commander Owens,” he said once he’d turned his attention back to me. “I take it you and your people are responsible for killing the gigantic creature that is floating towards Ireland?” I skimmed his thoughts and saw that the submarine captain had reached the carcass and had reported his findings to his superiors. Word was quickly spreading around the globe about the gargantuan alien life form.
“We are,” Gregor responded. “Your boat proved to be very handy, Commander.”
Owens flicked his eyes over the hull. The gastric acids had stripped some of the paint off and had corroded the metal slightly. “How many more of these creatures are still out there?”
“Nine,” Igor informed the captain.
“Are they a danger to humanity?” Owens already knew the answer, but maybe he needed to hear it stated directly.
I nodded, fighting down the urge to yawn. “The oceans will soon be depleted and then they’ll head towards land in search of food.”
The commander frowned. “How soon will this happen?”
“Very soon.” I didn’t mention that one would shortly be rampaging through a city in retribution for us killing one of their kind. Most humans already blamed us for bringing the Viltaran invasion down on them, we didn’t need to add fuel to the fire.
“What strategy did you use to kill th
e creature?”
Gregor answered the question. “We used Shadow as a lure and allowed the creature to swallow us. Once we were in its stomach, we carved our way upwards into its brain and used these weapons to destroy it.”
The commander’s brows drew down when he noticed the guns that my soldiers were holding. “Where did you get them from?”
“We stole them from your army,” Geordie said with a cheeky smile.
“Commander, I suggest you contact your superiors and advise them that nine aliens will shortly be heading for land all around the world,” I said to the lightly bamboozled human. “They should evacuate any humans that are living in coastal areas and move them deeper inland until we can work our way around to killing all of them.” It wasn’t really a suggestion at all but was instead an order that he couldn’t refuse.
“I would advise against attempting to attack the creatures,” Gregor told the commander. “They tend to eat anything that they come into contact with. I am fairly certain that humans would not survive for long inside the stomachs of these beasts.”
Igor added a point. “You would not survive at all if they swallowed you then dived into deep water.”
Studying us all, Owens allowed his frustration to show. “You expect us to leave the survival of the human race to a bunch of monsters?”
“Yes,” I said bluntly. “We monsters have already saved your planet several times,” I reminded him.
Dropping his gaze, he replied stiffly. “I am aware of that. It is difficult to trust your kind when they have tried to become the supreme rulers of our species twice.”
“Well, none of us are interested in being your evil overlords,” I said dryly.
“Why are you helping us, after we’ve shown you so little appreciation?” a brave sailor asked.
“It’s our job,” I replied with a shrug.
“What do you mean?”
