by J. C. Diem
“You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders,” he said as his fingers slid upwards and dug into my knotted muscles.
“Being Mortis can really suck sometimes,” I agreed. “But someone has to do it.”
His hands moved lower again and I sensed that he was contemplating something far deeper than mere sex. Respecting his privacy, I didn’t attempt to probe his thoughts. His hands stopped just above my butt rather than dipping down and initiating what would probably turn into scorching hot shower sex.
“Why me?” Luc asked cryptically.
Turning around to face him, I could barely see his solemn expression through the heavy steam. I hadn’t bothered putting the cold water on, since the heat no longer affected either of us. I did so now and the steam dissipated enough for me to see him clearly. “What do you mean?” Long, lean and with his dark hair slicked back, he looked like a model for an expensive cologne ad. If anyone should be asking ‘why me’, it was me, not him.
“Why did you choose to love me?”
For a short while, I’d mistakenly believed that Fate had forced him to care for me. I’d also momentarily doubted whether my feelings for him were true. I knew better now. My love for him was very real and so were his feelings for me. “I didn’t choose to love you, Luc, I couldn’t help but love you.”
Instead of smiling, he frowned. “I was the first vampire that you met after your master died. You did not really have much of an opportunity to get to know any others of our kind.”
Silvius hadn’t had a chance to enjoy having a new servant after he’d turned me. As soon as I’d realized that he was an actual flesh and blood vampire, I’d staked him to death. Luckily for me, I hadn’t expired after killing my maker. If I’d been a normal fledgling, I’d have perished along with him.
All thoughts of having mind blowing shower sex fled as I realized my beloved was feeling insecure. Putting my hands on his chest, I stared up into his dark eyes. “We haven’t always been together during this long and strange journey,” I reminded him. “I’ve met lots of other vampires along the way.” A disturbing number of them had tried to kill me and had ended up dead for their troubles. “You’re the only one that I’ve ever wanted to get naked with.”
Instead of reassuring him, I’d made it worse. “Sex is simply a hunger that we must feed, it means little to creatures such as us.”
It meant a lot to me, but he was a lot older than me and he was far more jaded. “Do you remember the first night we met?” He nodded and a tiny smile came and went. I’d been hopelessly unsophisticated and completely different from the courtiers that he was used to. “Do you know what I saw when I looked at you?” This time he shook his head. “I didn’t see an attractive vampire that I instantly wanted to hump. I saw an intelligent man who I thought I could trust. My instincts were right and you protected me even after you knew that I was going to bring death to our kind. You cared about me, which is more than I can say any man has ever done before. You’ve been there for me through some really shitty times and I know you’ll be there for me through eternity.”
I twined my fingers through his as he processed that. “Do you know what I see when I look at you now?” He shook his head wordlessly. “I see the man that I’d go to hell and back for. I see the man that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. I wish you could see inside my head,” I said in frustration. “There are a million reasons why I love you and not a single reason why I shouldn’t.”
In the room across from ours, Geordie let out a sob. “That is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard,” the teen blurted and dissolved into tearless weeping. Igor murmured something comforting to his apprentice.
“I will never again give you a reason to doubt my love,” Luc promised and disentangled our hands. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the guilt he still felt about giving me the cold shoulder on Viltar. Then his hands were in my hair and his mouth descended on mine. I had enough presence of mind to whisk us both up to the top floor of the hotel. Hopefully, our flesh hunger wouldn’t spread to my men on the lower floors. In a few more seconds, I’d be beyond the ability to feel concern for my soldiers.
A sheet of plastic covered one wall that had been removed during the renovations. Wind whistled in through the gaps as a storm hit the city. Lightning flashed as I pushed Luc down onto his back and rode him hard. Unlike the courtiers that he’d entertained during the first four centuries of his life in the Court, I didn’t need him to perform for me. Our lives had been frantic and fraught with danger from the first moment that we’d met. Maybe one day I’d feel the need to explore my softer sexual side, but right now it seemed that every moment might be our last and that speed was of the essence.
Sensitive to my mood as always, Luc didn’t protest at the fast pace that I’d set. Lying back, he put his hands on my hips and let me do the work. His eyes began to glow red and I knew he was close to the edge. Leaning down, our chests touched and I fastened my mouth to his neck. Remembering the pleasure I’d felt when he’d pierced my vein, I bit into his neck and he tightened his grip on my hips. Swapping our positions so I was on the bottom, his fangs pierced my flesh in turn and we fed from each other as he pounded us both into ecstasy.
Basking in the aftermath for a few seconds, I became aware of the horrible taste in my mouth and grimaced. “Your blood still tastes like butt,” I told my beloved. “Why couldn’t it turn yellow and tasty like mine?”
Not offended in the least by my criticism, he lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Because it was you and not I that was destined to be Mortis.” It was a fair point and I couldn’t argue with him.
Still wet from our shower, we were covered in fine dust from our romp on the floor. In the blink of an eye, we were back in the still running shower. This time, we managed to finish washing without feeling the sudden need for privacy. Fortunately, our flesh hunger had been contained on the top floor and my soldiers hadn’t been affected by our quick tryst.
We’d just finished donning our new clothing when the satellite phone rang. Luc finished tying the laces in the back of my new red leather suit as I answered it. “This is Natalie.” Wearing the tight scarlet outfit, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu and flashed back to the battles we’d faced with General Sanderson. Unlike that traitorous bastard, none of the humans we’d had contact with so far would be able to plot against us.
“Natalie,” Townsend said in a panic, dispensing with a greeting, “turn on your TV!”
Overhearing the request, Luc picked up the remote control and pressed a button. The television came to life, set on a low volume. The program had been interrupted by an emergency broadcast. A female presenter spoke in a grave tone as a camera depicted dozens of black tentacles emerging from the ocean. A gigantic, lumbering black body followed. “This video was filmed a short time ago by a brave survivor of an alien attack against Los Angeles.”
We watched in horror as buildings collapsed under the octosquid as it heaved itself up onto dry land. Tentacles snatched humans from the streets and peeled them from their vehicles and dwellings. Entire blocks were buried beneath its appendages as it stuffed shrieking food into its mouth. Whoever was filming the devastation shook in terror, making the picture tremble as well.
“This isn’t the only alien attack that is currently underway,” the news presenter continued. “We have footage of two other colossal entities that are also attacking land as I speak.”
I winced as the screen split into three separate pictures. Each one showed an enraged alien in the process of demolishing their chosen city. “As you can see,” the reporter continued, “a Brazilian and Russian city are also being decimated. It is unknown what action the authorities could possibly take against creatures as large as these.”
Luc muted the TV as Townsend barked a laugh through the phone. “What can the authorities do against the aliens? We can’t nuke them.” He hesitated for a second then asked, “Can we?”
“I wouldn’t recommend it while they’re s
till attacking land,” I told him. “You could try it when they return to the water.” I suspected it wouldn’t do much good if they did.
“Do you think it would do any good?” he asked, eerily echoing my thought.
At a knock on the door, Luc opened it to let Gregor and Kokoro in. Our hearing was exceptional and Gregor had an answer ready for Townsend. “Tell the Prime Minister that it would most likely take several nuclear warheads to even make a dent in the aliens’ flesh.”
I relayed the information and Townsend sighed despondently. “Is there anything at all that we can do to stop them?”
Taking the satellite phone, Gregor spoke to the politician directly. “You could try to blast them with missiles but I doubt the damage would be very extensive. You might just anger them further. We believe that they’ll eventually heal any damage that is done to them. I am afraid that targeting the brain is the only effective way to kill them.” It was doubtful that the humans would be able to penetrate the bodies of the octosquids deeply enough to be able to cause them any harm.
Gregor held the phone out so everyone could hear the Prime Minister’s next words as the rest of our friends filed into the room. “The Americans and Russians are about to launch a counterattack against the aliens. They’re sending fighter jets after them right now.”
“They can probably kiss their jets goodbye,” Geordie said in a tone that was too quiet for the Brit to hear. Ishida gave a single nod of agreement.
“How long will it be before they make contact?” Igor asked. Then said, “Never mind,” as the jets appeared on one of the screens.
Circling the monster that was savaging Russia, the fighter pilots chose an angle to attack and unleashed their missiles. Just as Gregor had predicted, the leviathan barely felt the tiny gouges that appeared in its flesh. Half a dozen tentacles snaked out and smacked the jets from the sky like irritating mosquitos.
“Well, that was a waste of time and resources,” Townsend mourned softly as he watched the debacle unfold on his own screen.
Word of the Russians’ failure didn’t spread to the Americans in time. Rockets were fired and more jets were slapped out of the air after causing very little damage to their target. We watched in silence as the trio of black aliens continued to rampage through the cities. Over a million humans in total had already been tossed into their gullets and they still weren’t satisfied. This was just the start of what would turn into daily life as the monsters moved further inland to feed.
All trace of Townsend’s boyish enthusiasm had disappeared after seeing the behemoths in action. “I know we’ve treated your people badly and we probably don’t deserve to be saved again, but you have to stop them before they eat the entire population of the planet. Please.”
His heartfelt pleas were unnecessary, but I hastened to reassure him. “We will,” I promised. We had to. Not just because it was our job to rescue humanity, but because no one else could stop the aliens.
·~·
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What is our best strategy?” Luc asked Gregor.
Gregor watched the TV intently. He shifted his attention from one octosquid to the next, studying them closely and searching for weaknesses that we could exploit. Far less agile on land, the leviathans lumbered deeper into the cities that they were feasting upon. They demolished anything that stood in their path, no matter how large or small. People looked tinier than ants beside the octosquids as they attempted to flee. Even LA looked like a model rather than a real city.
I was far from a master strategist, but even I knew that two hundred vampire soldiers weren’t going to be enough to stop all eight of the aquatic creatures. Many more cities would be destroyed before we could kill them all.
Gregor agreed with my unspoken thought. “We need to recruit more soldiers if we want to stop our adversaries from decimating every coastal town on the planet.” Once the coastal towns were gone, they’d have to delve deeper inland to search for more food. I doubted anywhere would be safe. Except maybe the largest deserts. They wouldn’t offer much sanctuary to any humans that might survive, since they contained little food and even less water.
Igor was slightly sceptical of Gregor’s idea. “Are we going to scour every prison cell in Europe in the hope of finding worthy fighters?”
Shaking his head, Gregor gestured at the satellite phone in my hand. “That will take too long. I propose that we ask for volunteers instead. Another fourteen hundred men and women should help to turn the tide in our favour.”
“How can Nat possibly turn that many people?” Geordie protested. “She only has a limited amount of blood in her body!”
Already grimacing at the thought of slicing myself open over and over again, I touched the teen on the shoulder to calm him down. “As long as I feed every now and then, my blood seems to replenish itself quickly enough.”
Geordie still wasn’t happy with the idea and his shoulders slumped. “There has to be a better way than cutting yourself open to feed them your blood.”
“There is a way,” Ishida said as an idea occurred to him. “You could copy what the American scientists did to me and set up an intravenous system.”
The experiment to replace Ishida’s diseased vampire blood with human blood had nearly killed him. I’d be in no danger, since we would only be draining my blood. “Great idea, Ishida!” He inclined his head modestly at my praise.
“Now we just have to convince more soldiers to join us,” Igor said. “If Townsend is truly our greatest fan, he should be happy to offer us his assistance.”
There was only one way to test that theory so I dialled the Prime Minister. He answered almost immediately. “Townsend here.”
“We’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t enough of us to tackle all eight of the remaining octosquids,” I said bluntly. “We need soldiers to volunteer to be converted into vampires and we have to do it soon. The rest of the aliens won’t be content with feeding on fish once they see how tasty humans are. Once they head for land,” I cast a glance at the footage that was being shown in full colour on the TV, “well, you’ve seen for yourself what will happen.”
He didn’t need any further convincing. “I take it you are only interested in candidates trained in both combat and weaponry?” I caught his brief flare of regret that he was a politician instead of a soldier and therefore wasn’t suitable to join our ranks.
“They’d be our first choice. Trained soldiers would be our best chance of beating these things. We’ll need at least two hundred more soldiers per alien.”
Doing the maths, Townsend exhaled in shock. “You want to turn another fourteen hundred people into vampires?” His voice lowered so no one would overhear him. A low hum of background noise told me that he wasn’t alone.
“Yes.” I didn’t give him time to process the information. “We’ll need someone to set up an intravenous system and a few people for me to munch on through the process. We’ll also need more volunteers to feed the fledglings when they rise.” All this would take time to set up and dawn was on its way.
“I’ll make the arrangements,” Townsend replied. “I’ll contact you once everything is in place.”
Several minutes later, and far sooner than I’d expected, the satellite phone rang again. Gregor frowned at the device as I answered it and held it out for everyone to listen in on the conversation. Danton, his warriors and most of my soldiers had crowded into the hallway and rooms nearby to listen in. A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach hinted that our plan wasn’t going to go the way we’d hoped.
“This is Natalie,” I said.
Townsend’s voice was heavy with regret and frustration when he responded. “Natalie, I’m terribly sorry to have to inform you that I am unable to assist you with your request for volunteers.”
Incredulous exclamations swept through my troops. “Why not?” I could have gleaned the information straight from him, but everyone needed to hear this so I’d let him stammer his excuses.
We heard footsteps as he crossed the room, then he closed a door and the background voices became muffled. He obviously wanted to have this conversation in private. “I put your proposal to the delegates of the world leaders, mistakenly thinking they were of the same opinion as me, that you are here to help us. Unfortunately, they are of the opinion that this may well set you and your people up to take control once the threat of the aliens has been squashed.”
“Are they crazy?” Geordie burst out. “Do they realize how many lives will be lost if they just leave it up to us few to kill the octosquids?”
Townsend’s voice became small as he hit us with the rest of his message. Geordie had spoken loudly enough for him to have overheard. “That’s another thing that I have to advise you of. They don’t want your help anymore.”
I blinked at that and almost laughed, thinking it had to be a joke. Giving into temptation, I sent out part of my consciousness and delved into his mind. What I saw there wiped away all traces of my momentary amusement. “They think we’re behind the alien attacks,” I told the others softly. “They believe we deliberately gave the Viltarans the Earth’s location so they’d feel obligated to us when we returned and saved the day. It’s apparently our fault that the octosquids hitched a ride and are now eating everything they come across.” That last part was our fault, but the rest of their theory was completely bogus.
“I’m so sorry, Natalie,” Townsend said. “I’ve tried to tell them that you’re the good guys rather than the villains, but they don’t trust you.”
Igor gave the satellite phone a glare that would have stripped the hide off Townsend if he’d been there in person. “How do your ‘world leaders’ propose to fight these monsters?” he sneered. “Their missiles have no effect on them and they have no way of penetrating deep inside their bodies to destroy their brains.”
