by J. C. Diem
At the last second, the alien swerved away and detoured around the north island. A disturbingly familiar feeling of doom settled into my stomach as the octosquid changed course and started for my home country. Some sixth sense had told it that it would find a far larger meal if it kept heading westward.
I continued to fire, breaking down the brain of our enemy as its comrade closed in on Australia. I watched helplessly as it eventually spied land and increased its speed. In dismay, I recognized the sails of the Sydney Opera House when it appeared on the murky picture that was the alien’s radar. It was still distant but it was closing in on the harbour fast.
Just like in one of my dreams, one of the greatest, most recognizable icons that Australia possessed was about to be destroyed and my army could do nothing to stop it. My soldiers would instantly fall into comas and the rest of us wouldn’t be enough to take the beast down alone if I teleported them to my home country.
Think outside the box, my subconscious urged me. If you can’t use your army to destroy it, think of something else that you can use.
As Igor fired the first shot into the dark purple cortex of one monster, I teleported myself to Sydney to confront the other one. My clothing and weapons fell to the ground and I reduced myself down to molecules before the sun could fry me. Screams of panic and terror were a barrage of noise that I read in the minds of thousands of humans as the alien was spotted. It was just a dark dot on the horizon but it was rapidly growing larger and would soon be within touching distance. Once that happened, the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge would be smashed to pieces and the inhabitants of the city would be eaten.
Re-forming my eyes, I searched the harbour in desperation as the very sky seemed to darken from the approaching leviathan. Docked for some kind of ceremony, a warship caught my eye. Most of the staff was on land, attending the festivities and only a few were left on board. It’s too heavy, I told myself even as I blinked myself inside. I’ll never be able to move something this big.
Safe from the sun inside the ship, I became whole and sent out my senses to zap all of the humans onto land. Now empty but for me, the ship was far more immense than anything else I’d ever tried to shift before. Through the cockpit window, I saw hundreds of tentacles swarming over the buildings that lined the outer edge of the harbour and I knew that I was out of time. Here goes nothing.
With only one shot at stopping the octosquid, I allowed my instincts to take over. Putting my hands on the console, I willed the ship into motion. For three agonizing seconds, nothing happened. Then darkness enveloped the ship as it was shifted directly inside the alien. Purple blood and gore splattered the windows as the warship ploughed through the octosquid’s brain, turning it into mush much faster and more effectively than any number of explosives or rockets could have.
The warship tore directly through the cortex, laying ruin to around eighty percent of the organ during its journey. The momentum of the ship was great enough to tear through its hide and emerge into sunlight on the other side. I left the vessel to drift and willed myself back to land. Still alive but heavily crippled, the monster dragged itself through the water and across land. Mortally wounded, it was still intent on causing pain and destruction before it expired.
I stood in the shade of the Sydney Opera House as a dozen tentacles emerged from the water and crept towards the iconic building. More appendages knocked down the expensive houses and buildings that ringed the harbour but there was little I could do to save them. I was determined to keep the building behind me intact. My weapons lay on the ground with my clothing but my swords came to my hands when I called for them. Black chunks of flesh flew as I sliced the tentacles apart.
Close to death and running out of energy, the creature grabbed me with one tentacle and reached out towards the building that I was trying to protect with another. I screamed as the ever gnashing teeth chewed into my flesh and sheared my legs off. Humping along the ground, the other arm stretched out then reared back to strike at the Sydney Opera House. I had only one weapon left in my arsenal and I called on the power of my holy marks. I didn’t have time to let it build and blindly lashed out with it instead. An invisible wave cut through the air and hit the tentacle as it began to fall. To my astonishment, the limb instantly withered and turned to ash. It left a charred stain against the side of the building when it fell, but it caused no structural damage.
The tentacle that was holding me went lax as the final remaining octosquid gave up its hold on life. Naked, legless and badly wounded, I reduced myself down into molecular form and was whole and uninjured once more when I re-formed again. It was an even faster method of healing than letting myself heal naturally.
Transporting my filthy clothing to me from where it had fallen, I poured myself into them and shifted back to the deceased alien near Norway.
Geordie gave a glad cry and enveloped me in a hug when I appeared. “What happened? Where did you go?” They’d finished off the alien while I’d been gone and had been waiting for my return.
“The last octosquid changed course and headed for Australia. I had a dream a while ago about Sydney being destroyed and I couldn’t let that happen,” I explained.
“Are you feeling well?” Kokoro asked me, concerned by my appearance.
I wasn’t sure what I looked like, but I was more exhausted than I’d ever felt before. “Now that you mention it, I’m feeling kind of crappy.”
Luc caught me as my legs buckled. “You need blood,” he said as he swung me into his arms.
“We’re not going to find any here,” Igor pointed out.
“Do you think you can teleport us to safety?” Gregor asked.
“She is already beyond exhausted,” my beloved said tightly.
Too tired to argue, I concentrated and zapped my small army directly back to the catacombs. We might not have a supply of blood handy, but at least we’d be safe here.
Luc strode into the bedroom we’d chosen and lay me on the bed. “Sleep,” he said as he stretched out beside me. “I will watch over you.”
It was taking all of my concentration to remain awake but now that we were safe, I allowed myself to spiral into darkness.
Images awaited in the gloom. Three plain wooden doors appeared and I opened the one on the left first. Inside, the Earth was an empty wasteland, devoid of all life but not because of alien invasion. Only the undead survived in this scenario, but not any undead that I’d ever seen before. They lurked in the shadows, giving me only glimpses of misshapen flesh and scarlet eyes.
Behind door number two, I saw another post apocalypse world where the humans had gone into hiding. Like the Kveet that had been enslaved on Viltar, they lived in caves deep beneath the ground. They were afraid to ascend for fear of dying from the toxic air that had been left behind after a nuclear war had decimated almost all life.
The third door drew me and I hesitated in dread before opening it. Instead of ruin and destruction, I saw worldwide peace and general happiness. It wasn’t a perfect world and never would be, but it was as close to it as it could possibly get.
Puzzled by door number three, I turned and saw a chair floating in the darkness. It was the same maroon chair that I’d seen in my last dream. There were no cameras or backdrop in sight this time, but I sensed the chair would be pivotal to whichever future that the Earth would face.
“It’s just a chair,” I said out loud and Geordie gave a glad screech.
Opening my eyes, I was lifted up and plopped on the teen’s lap. He hugged me so hard that I wouldn’t have been able to breathe if I’d been human. “Oh, chérie, we were so worried about you.” He buried his face in my shoulder and began to sob.
Luc burst into the room, dressed only in a towel and dripping wet from a shower. He closed his eyes in relief and sagged against the doorframe when he saw that I was awake.
Patting Geordie on the back, I became aware that I was clean and naked beneath the blanket that was barely covering me after being dragged onto
the teen’s lap. My close friends all piled into the bedroom, thankful that I’d returned to them. I caught glimpses of their memories of me remaining asleep for far too long.
My men required regular food, so Gregor had decided to move us back to his mansion. Luc had bundled me into a blanket after I’d fallen unconscious while Igor had located the closest exit from the catacombs. I’d forgotten that several emergency exits had been created in the cave system beneath the destroyed Court mansion.
Gregor, Kokoro and Ishida had escorted my soldiers out to feed each night. They’d managed to keep our presence a secret, but feeding nearly two hundred men in the same town each night would be noticed eventually.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked. Still slightly groggy, I felt much better than I had before I’d fallen into my coma.
Pulling back, Geordie answered me. “You were unconscious for seven nights.” His shoulders were still heaving but he regained enough control to give me a wobbly smile. “We weren’t sure if you were ever going to wake up.”
Sensing my discomfort about being practically unclothed in front of our friends, Luc removed his towel and held it out to me. I kept my eyes above his waist, not wanting my flesh hunger to flare up and alert everyone in the house that I wanted to have some private time with my one true love.
Pulling the towel around my body, I climbed out of Geordie’s lap and slid to the floor. “Thanks,” I said to Luc and went up on my tippy-toes to give him a kiss.
“Did I hear you say something about a chair?” Gregor interjected before the kiss could turn into far more.
Utterly comfortable with his nakedness, Luc leaned against the wall beside me as I remembered my dream.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s fading now, but there was something about a chair and three possible outcomes for the human race.”
“What were the outcomes?” Igor asked.
I counted them off on my fingers. “Total destruction by yet another undead attack, almost total destruction from nuclear war, or worldwide peace and general happiness.”
“Can we go with option number three?” Ishida asked dryly.
“What does the chair have to do with anything?” Geordie asked.
I shrugged then grabbed the towel before it could fall. “I have no idea, but I sense that it is somehow pivotal to whatever happens next.”
Kokoro made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a weary sigh. “So, our task is not yet over?”
“Nope,” I confirmed, much to everyone’s unhappiness. “But I do have some good news.”
“What’s that?” Geordie asked with a profound lack of hope.
“I’m pretty sure that this will be the last threat that we’ll ever have to face.”
Astonishment followed that statement.
“What makes you so sure?” Gregor asked.
“Fate told me.”
Ishida’s eyes widened slightly. “Fate itself spoke to you?”
“Not with actual words.” Not this time anyway. “I just had the sense that this would be it. If we can somehow save the earth one last time, there won’t be any other threats to deal with.”
“What is this last threat?” Igor asked.
I was forced to shrug again. “I don’t know.” But I was positive that we’d all find out what it was soon enough.
“Now that you are back with us and there are no immediate threats on the horizon,” Gregor said, “there is a loose thread that needs to be addressed.”
I could have delved into his mind to learn what he was talking about but it seemed rude.
“What loose thread?” Geordie asked.
“Now that Natalie has the ability to teleport inanimate objects, I think it would be a good idea to retrieve the Viltaran Seeker ship from the river in Manhattan,” Gregor replied.
Igor nodded in immediate agreement. “We do not want the humans to discover it.”
I’d almost forgotten about the alien spacecraft that we’d stolen and had returned to Earth in. “What do you want me to do with it?”
“I believe merely shifting it from the Hudson River into a far deeper ocean would suffice,” Gregor said.
I saw a picture in his mind that was the deepest spot he knew of. “Ok. I’ll take care of it.”
Luc didn’t want me to go alone but this was a task that would be easier if I went solo. “Return soon,” he told me softly. I felt his flesh hunger stir and I teleported away before I could become ensnared by it. I left him the towel, just in case he felt the need to hide his all too obvious and highly visible need from our friends.
·~·
Chapter Thirty-Four
I materialized in a dark alley in the heart of Manhattan. Dawn was only a short hop away and there were few people out and about. Hunger cramped my insides. I’d used up all of my energy killing the final octosquid and I hadn’t eaten for a full week, thanks to being in a coma. I’d have to find food before I went in search of the alien spaceship.
Searching the minds of the nearby slumbering humans, I found a female who was roughly my size and shifted into her bedroom. She slept deeply and didn’t sense me as I pilfered some of her clothes. Call me a prude, but I wasn’t about to feast on a sleeping human while I was buck naked.
Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, I left my feet bare and willed myself up to the next floor. My chosen meal lay on his side, dreaming about his fiancé. She was away visiting her family and he felt lonely without her. He barely even felt it when I sank my fangs into his neck. I drank a few mouthfuls and left him smiling happily in his sleep.
I visited two more male occupants of the apartment building and built my strength back up to its usual levels. While my senses couldn’t exactly detect inanimate objects, I pictured the small black alien ship and an instant later I was floating in its belly. The Americans hadn’t discovered it yet and it still lay on the bottom of the Hudson River.
Even full of water, it was far lighter than the warship that I’d used to demolish the final octosquid’s brain. Using the image Gregor had given me of a deep part of an ocean, I transported the ship to it, then whisked myself away before I could be crushed by the pressure. The Seeker was most likely crumpled into an unrecognizable mass of alien metal. It might be discovered one day but it could never be reconstructed now.
Fully dressed, Luc was waiting for me when I returned to the bedroom. Taking in my dripping state, he ruefully handed me the towel that I’d left behind. “I take it you were successful?”
“Yep,” I said as I rubbed my hair dry the old fashioned way with the towel. I could have reduced myself down to particle form then become whole again but that seemed almost too lazy.
“There is a spare change of clothing in the wardrobe,” Luc told me.
The glint in his eye made me suspicious so I crossed the room and opened the door of the antique piece of furniture. My red leather suit hung on the coat hanger. “Isn’t there something less…conspicuous that I can wear?” I asked. The suit was awesome but it did tend to stand out.
“Humour me,” Luc requested. He rummaged around inside a chest of drawers and handed over some underwear. Naturally, they were my exact size. “Kokoro did some shopping while you were recovering,” he said with a smile.
I was glad Geordie hadn’t been the one to do the shopping, he’d probably have bought me some kinky crotch-less panties. Luc watched as I stripped down, towelled myself dry then squeezed into the red suit. “How do I look?” I asked and turned in a quick circle after he finished tying the laces.
“Good enough to eat,” he replied. The glint in his eye had increased and a hint of red glowed in their dark depths.
“Cut it out, you two!” Geordie complained from down below. “In case you’ve forgotten, we apparently have another crisis to face.”
“We can get naked together later,” I promised my one true love and linked my arm with his. We walked down the stairs and into the library. A fire blazed and our friends had gathered on the chocolate coloured leather sofas. More chairs
had been brought in to accommodate everyone. Danton sat at a small table, furiously typing away on a laptop. I cocked an eyebrow at Gregor and cut my eyes to the monk.
“Danton has decided to chronicle everything that has occurred since you rose as Mortis,” Gregor advised.
“Everything?” I asked in alarm. Many of the events that had transpired had been pretty embarrassing, for me anyway.
“Do not fear, Natalie,” Danton said without raising his head. “Only we vampires will have access to the chronicles.”
“Gee, that makes me feel so much better,” was my sarcastic reply. “Why do you want to write all this down?”
Finishing his sentence, he swivelled around to face me. “Now that my master is gone, I lack purpose. You and your friends all have their parts to play, but I have no tasks to perform.” It was said without rancour and more as an observation. “I am long used to recording the Prophet’s words and I wish to keep a record of your history. I feel it is the only way that I can contribute to our species.”
“Wow, Natalie,” Ishida said with mock awe, “you have your own personal scribe.”
“I am supposed to be the Queen of the Vampires,” I said self-mockingly. “I don’t have a problem with you writing down our story,” I told Danton, “but at least let me read it so I can tell you if any of the details don’t match up.”
“Of course, my Queen,” Danton said with a small bow and a smile.
“I think her official title should be Queen Natalie Ladybug Mortis the First,” Geordie said then giggled at my instant grimace.
“How about you all just keep calling me Nat or Natalie?” I suggested.
“As you order, my Natalie,” Ishida said with a bow, mocking the long dead Nicholas.
I’ll always be able to count on my friends to keep me grounded, I thought as I took a seat on the couch beside Luc. They wouldn’t let me turn into an unfeeling tyrant.
“Now, about your dreams,” Gregor said and the mood immediately shifted back to being sombre. “I confess that I have no idea what any of them mean. You were warned several times of another undead infestation, so we should probably concentrate on that first. Can you sense anything anywhere that might be considered a threat?”
