Death Conquers

by J. C. Diem

  “That can be arranged,” the Prime Minister said and gestured for an aide. “Do you prefer any particular blood type?”

  I vaguely knew the blood types were A, B and O but not much more than that. “Any kind will do.” I didn’t relish the thought of drinking cold blood, but Kokoro wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t drinkable.

  While we waited for the blood to be scrounged up from the closest hospital, Admiral York took a satellite phone out of his pocket and tossed it to me. “We’d appreciate it if you would keep us informed of your progress. Townsend’s number has been input into the sat phone and you just need to hit the dial button. We’ll let you know if there are any further attacks.” His hard stare reminded me strongly of General Sanderson. While he didn’t outright want us dead, he wasn’t happy about becoming our allies. Neither was I, but we didn’t really have a choice about it.

  All too aware of just how treacherous humans tended to be, I made sure to capture everyone in the room. Without any of them being aware of it, I lay a light web of hypnotism over the entire group. Now they wouldn’t be able to act against any vampire, unless I allowed them to, and that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  My command over my body and mind had been honed far beyond the capabilities of any other vampire in our fifty thousand years of history. Fate had placed me in situations where I would gain the skills that I would need to battle each threat that arose. Seeing Luc blasted to pieces then thinking he had died had made me retreat deep inside my own mind. During the months that I’d been a mausoleum-bound hermit, I’d mastered the art of mind control simply by mastering my own mind. No human, or vampire, was safe from my manipulation now. It was a frightening thought and it was a power that I had no desire to abuse. This was a secret that was probably best kept to myself. I wasn’t sure how my friends would react if they knew just how formidable I’d become.

  Still slightly sickened by the thought of having to become a puppet master, I was relieved when an aide eventually hustled in through the doors carrying a container full of blood bags. “This is all the hospital could spare, Sir,” he gasped to Townsend. “I had to promise that we’d donate more before they’d give it to us.”

  “Will that be enough?” the Prime Minister asked as Geordie and Ishida took a peek inside.

  The teens nodded in tandem and I nodded at Townsend. “We’ll let you know how we get on with the octosquid,” I said as Ishida hefted the container.

  “It was a pleasure to meet you all,” Townsend replied. “Although I wish the circumstances weren’t quite so grim.”

  Gathering in a circle with Commander Owens in the middle, I zapped us back to the docks. Higgins flashed a grin of relief when we reappeared. I smiled back and sensed his flesh hunger rise.

  “Uh oh,” Geordie murmured as the sensation quickly spread through the rest of my fledglings. “This can’t be good.”

  “It appears that your babies are growing up, Ladybug,” Luc said with a hint of a smile.

  “And at the worst possible time,” I murmured.

  “Is this the flesh hunger that Gregor told us about?” Higgins asked uneasily. It had just been a momentary flicker and the urge was already dying down, but we’d have to do something about it soon.

  “Yes. We’ll deal with it after we take down the octosquid.”

  Charlie flicked me a miserable look. “We’re not going to lose control and start raping women are we?”

  So far, they’d proven to be very different from normal fledglings. They took after me and therefore had far better control over their hungers than normal. My blood and flesh cravings had only become close to being uncontrollable after I’d been fed the blood of four different imps. Even so, I’d mastered myself again fairly quickly.

  “If rape isn’t in your nature then you won’t be overcome with the urge now,” I said to reassure my men. Relieved, the soldiers straightened up and waited for orders. “Is Shadow ready?” I asked Higgins.

  “Yes, ma’am.” American to the core, his automatic response almost made me snigger. We didn’t use ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ very often in my country.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Owens and his men lined up on the dock to watch us as we boarded. I fired up the engine and Igor steered us through the gate and out into open water. Spreading out my senses, I located the octosquid that had attacked China and placed my hands on the console. A second later, we shifted from one ocean to another.

  ·~·

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Braced for the toll that transporting the boat and its passengers would take on me, it was a pleasant surprise to find that it wasn’t quite as bad this time. I only wobbled slightly before Luc’s hand came around my waist.

  Kokoro reached into the container at her feet and handed me a blood bag. The liquid was being kept on ice so it would stay fresh longer. I bit into the plastic like it was the neck of a human and made a face at the sensation of cold rather than warm blood as it went down. It tasted ok, so I drank the entire bag then held out my hand for another.

  Refreshed and alert again after draining the second bag, I searched for our prey and found it skulking far beneath us. “I don’t think this octosquid is going to be lured into swallowing us as easily as the first one,” I told the others.

  “Where is it?” Geordie asked, peering around the ocean. There was no storm this time but it was cloudy and the water was dark.

  I pointed at our feet. “It’s waaaay down there.”

  “Does it know that we’re here?” Gregor asked.

  Delving into the beast’s mind, I shook my head. “I think it’s asleep. It’s dreaming about the meal that it had earlier.” Its belly was far too vast to be full, despite the thousands of humans it had consumed, but it was feeling content for the first time in days. Apparently, humans tasted better than fish. It must be all the fatty food they eat, my inner voice said snidely. I’d once feasted on the same bad food but I didn’t remind my alter ego of that fact.

  “Are you up to teleporting us directly inside the creature’s stomach?” Luc asked in concern.

  I was usually all but indestructible and he wasn’t used to seeing me weakened like this. Neither was I and I didn’t like it much. “It seems to be getting easier each time I use it, but you’d better have some blood ready just in case.”

  Closing my eyes, I pictured us inside the gut of the octosquid and opened my eyes to see that it had become a reality. I took the bag that Kokoro offered me and drained it dry. One was enough this time and I declined the second bag.

  Staring out through a side window, Ishida’s back went stiff. Standing beside him, Geordie made a small sound of grief. I didn’t particularly want to see what had upset the boys but I reluctantly joined them anyway.

  Seemingly almost as vast as the ocean above, the highly acidic and stinky stomach juices stretched out as far as the eye could see. In the distance, I saw the remains of several vessels. One was far too large to be a boat and appeared to be a cargo ship. Objects floating nearby drew my attention. Already decomposing from the gastric acid, the partially melted corpses of the victims from the Chinese coastal town bobbed in the water beside our boat.

  “J-J-J.” Higgins forced out a sigh at his inability to say ‘Jesus’. “Let’s kill this son of a bitch before it attacks any more innocent civilians.”

  It was a sentiment that I agreed with wholeheartedly and I turned to Gregor. “What’s our best strategy? Should I just zap us all directly into the octosquid’s brain?”

  Weighing up our options, he shook his head. “We’d sink into it like pieces of fruit embedded in jelly. It might be quicker to transport yourself and Lucentio to the edge of the brain and begin carving a path. You can retrieve us in small groups and we can work our way deeper into its brain.”

  “We should find that darker purple section and destroy it first,” Geordie suggested.

  Gregor wasn’t a fan of that plan. “I am not sure that that would be wise.” He didn’t offer u
s an explanation as to why he was against the idea. He was just guessing, but he briefly thought that doing so could result in disaster.

  “It can’t hurt to try,” I decided. “It seemed to be the central thought processing area, so if we take it out first, it should become too stupid to think coherently.”

  “That is what I am afraid of,” Gregor said almost too low for me to hear him.

  Luc drew one of my swords and I drew the other. Concentrating on the brain, I shifted us both to the protective membrane that encased the organ. Working in tandem, we carved a path through the jelly-like substance whenever the twisted pathways meandered away from our goal. Leaving Luc to continue hacking out a path, I returned to the boat and brought my closest friends, Danton and his warriors back to the path first. After several more trips backwards and forwards, all of my warriors had joined us.

  Far quicker than the last time, we located the cortex and blasted out a wide area around it to give us room to work. “Ready?” Igor called as several of us lined up in a semi-circle and levelled our guns. “Fire!”

  A barrage of explosives blasted through to the darker purple mass that controlled the octosquid. Realizing that it was under attack, the alien was roused from its sleep and roared in fury. Its scream changed frequency and became higher pitched as the cortex began to break apart beneath our fire. Enraged, it surged up towards the surface, futilely searching for whatever was attacking it.

  Linked to the monster’s mind, I felt its ability to reason wink out as the plum coloured mass disintegrated. My shout of triumph died before I could even voice it when the creature’s baser instincts kicked in. As usual, Gregor was right. He’d guessed that taking out the creature’s ability to reason wasn’t a good idea and he was about to be proven correct.

  “Is it over?” Geordie asked hopefully then stumbled when the mammoth surged into motion.

  Watching through the octosquid’s form of radar, I saw thousands of bright red dots appear as it neared a small island off the coast of China. Instead of destroying its ability to think, we’d turned the creature into a frenzied killing machine. Knowing on some level that it was in danger, its instinct was to destroy.

  “Keep shooting!” I shouted and wrenched myself away from the images of people being stuffed into our adversary’s mouth.

  Spreading out, we fired our guns and threw explosives until we’d destroyed a large enough area for Igor to begin firing his rockets. Half a dozen soldiers also began to use their rocket launchers, blasting chunks of brain everywhere. The rest of us did what we could to render the beast brain dead.

  Efficient and methodical, our constant barrage eventually brought the monster to its figurative knees. Watching through its form of radar, it tried to brace itself with its tentacles but didn’t have enough control left. Few red dots remained in what had once been a prosperous city. I dreaded to see the havoc that the dying behemoth had caused to the island with my own eyes. It was bad enough seeing it through alien vision.

  “You were right,” I said to Gregor. I had to raise my voice above the shots that were still being fired so he could hear me.

  Once again, he was covered in purple goo, as were we all. “What was I right about?”

  “We shouldn’t have attacked its cortex first.”

  “Why not?” Ishida asked. His gun looked too large in his hands but he handled the weapon easily.

  “Because we sent it into a frenzy and it attacked an island.”

  Concerned, Geordie touched my arm. “Were many people hurt, chérie?”

  “Too many,” I replied dully. “I doubt the Chinese government is going to be our friend after this all blows over.”

  Closing his eyes, Gregor mastered his regret quickly. “How many lives were lost?”

  “Over eighty thousand.” I knew the exact number down to the smallest child, but they didn’t need to know that. It was enough that I would be burdened with the knowledge. As their leader, the guilt should and would fall on my shoulders.

  Ever sensible, Igor waved at my soldiers to cease fire and spoke. “We have learned what not to do next time. There are still eight of these monsters left to destroy and I suggest we do not waste time wallowing in guilt. We should instead decide which alien we are going to target next.”

  “I think we might have something more urgent to take care of first,” Higgins said. Hearing the strain in his voice, I turned. All of my soldier’s eyes were blazing red. Their flesh hungers had risen again and all were shortly going to lose control.

  Reading my panic, Gregor offered a solution. “I suggest you utilize another penitentiary, but choose a women’s facility this time.”

  “We’re not going to catch any diseases from the inmates, are we?” Sergeant Wesley asked uneasily.

  “No,” Gregor said, hiding his amusement. “We are immune to all human ailments.”

  Knowing we were out of time, I searched for the closest women’s jail. “Just remember to put them under first so they won’t feel any pain.” Or terror. “Bite them as you become, er, intimate and they’ll enjoy the experience as much as you will.” I never thought I’d ever have to give sex tips to a vampire that I’d sired, let alone nearly two hundred of them. I never thought I’d ever sire a vampire at all, so this was all very strange for me.

  Luc’s lips twitched in a near smile at my discomfort as he offered me his hand. “Shall we?”

  Once everyone was touching, I transported us into a Chinese women’s prison. My men didn’t have time to be choosy and we didn’t have time to search for a way to open the doors. As fast as I could, I shifted the men into the cells so they could perform their necessary business.

  Luc and the others subdued the guards that came on the run. The uniformed men and women fell to our dark mojo and lined up quietly next to the wall. They wouldn’t remember much of what was about to transpire and I envied them. I almost wished someone would hypnotize me so I wouldn’t have to see my men getting it on with the inmates.

  Screams of terror were replaced with sighs of lust as the women succumbed to my fledgling vampires’ dark magnetism. I closed my eyes against the sight of naked flesh slapping together, but I couldn’t shut out the sounds or the images that spilled into my mind. Through Higgins, I felt a petite prisoner grab him by the butt and watched her offer him her neck. His fangs sank into her vein and the sweet, salty taste of blood flooded into my mouth. Gritting my teeth, I rode out the wave of pleasure as my men satiated their flesh hungers for the first time.

  “See?” Geordie teased, knowing how mortified I was. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  Apparently, I was the only one who felt embarrassed by the near orgy that we’d just witnessed. I hadn’t lived in the Court and I hadn’t been subjected to the kind of environment that they were all used to. Even Danton and his warriors had spent time in the Court, so this wasn’t a shock to them.

  Kokoro took pity on my delicate sensibilities. She and Ishida were no strangers to this kind of thing either. “We will see about freeing your men from the cells, Natalie. Perhaps you could retrieve the boat from the alien’s stomach before it becomes corroded by its digestive juices.”

  I was grateful for an excuse to escape and it was a good idea as well. Luc took my hand and we left the prison and appeared in the cockpit of the boat. A moment later, Shadow floated in the ocean near the carcass of the dead octosquid.

  Peering through the window at the ruins of the island, any thoughts of having a quickie with Luc fled. One sure way to curdle desire was to see the aftermath of a leviathan that had gone on a murderous rampage. The fact that we’d inadvertently caused the destruction weighed on me heavily.

  Running his hand up and down my back, Luc offered me what little comfort he could. It was undeniable that we’d been responsible for the deaths of the humans that we were supposed to be protecting. I wondered uneasily if Fate would punish me for making the wrong decision about attacking the octosquid’s cortex.

  It was a mistake that we weren’t g
oing to make again, but the damage had already been done and it couldn’t be reversed. While I had many strange and wonderful powers, resurrection wasn’t one of them.

  ·~·

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Leaving Shadow floating near the carcass of the octosquid, we returned to the prison. The subdued atmosphere instantly alerted me that something was wrong. “What happened?” I asked my small circle of concerned friends.

  “Please, let me feed,” a female moaned in Chinese. “I’m so hungry!” Well, that answers that question.

  “One of the inmates has turned,” Ishida replied quietly and unnecessarily.

  “Who sired her?” I asked. I kept my tone neutral rather than accusatory. I doubted she’d been turned on purpose, but this problem would have to be dealt with.

  Shamefaced, one of my men stepped forward and could barely meet my eyes. “I’m responsible. I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional.” Staring through the bars at the fledgling that he’d created, he sent me a pleading look. “Do I have to destroy her?” He’d only created her a short while ago and he’d already become attached to her. Unfortunately, I knew how he felt and I also knew how difficult it would be for him to watch her die.

  Delving into the mind of the newly made vampire, I sorted through her whirling thoughts. At the moment, her craving for blood was overwhelming. Beneath that was a contempt and hatred for men. Her parents had wanted a boy and had never loved her. She’d been a burden to them and they’d neglected her terribly. They’d kicked her out of their home when she’d turned fifteen and she’d had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. She’d become a prostitute from sheer desperation and because she’d been starving. During the course of the next five years, she’d killed seven of her more violent clients. She’d been caught the last time but had only been charged for one of the murders. If we allowed her to live, she would retain her homicidal urge and would kill again just for the sheer pleasure of it. She’d use men for their blood and would then take great enjoyment from mauling them to death.