Vampires Don't Sparkle: Deathless Book 3

by Chris Fox

  Sekhmet studied Osiris, expression unreadable. It was long moments before she spoke. “Perhaps you have gained a bit of wisdom. I have many questions about the Builders, but I agree that for now Set is the true threat. If we cannot overcome him, it won’t much matter what happens afterwards.”

  “Then you believe me when I say I was not behind the invasion of the underworld?” Osiris asked, gaze roaming between the two of them.

  “I believe you. I can feel your weakness. You are still gathering your strength, and had you been in control of the First Ark that would not be the case,” Isis said, nodding. “Besides, Hades couldn’t be trusted in the best of times. It makes sense that he’d agree to serve Set, though I am surprised Vulcan would agree to such a thing.”

  “I do not believe he has,” Sekhmet said, pursing her lips. “When I met with him, he was clearly uncomfortable, likely because of what he’d done to Wepwawet. I do not think Hades has shared everything with him, and Vulcan may not even be aware of who it is he really serves.”

  “So what do we do now?” Isis asked. It warmed her to be working with her tribe again, just as they had when they’d been mortal.

  “We gather our forces, and attack,” Sekhmet snarled, face growing feral as her eyes flared green. “Set will pay for his treachery.”

  “It isn’t that simple,” Osiris said, folding his arms as he watched them. “Set has grown powerful beyond measure. Developed abilities we cannot even comprehend. His spies are everywhere. My organization is littered with them, as are both of yours, I’m sure. If we wish to overcome him, it will take stealth and subterfuge.”

  “You have some plan then?” Isis asked.

  “I do,” Osiris said, grinning wickedly.

  Chapter 58- Surprise

  Jordan was more than a little irritable, partially because he now understood that the armor fueled his negative emotions. It made him angry, which made him angrier. It was a vicious cycle, one he’d have given just about anything to escape. In may ways, the armor was worse than the collar had been. He was more free, physically at least. Yet mentally he was trapped in a way he’d never experienced, and he hated it. Not breaking everything around him took every ounce of self control.

  He watched as everyone filed into the tent. It was like a state dinner, each side bringing their respective dignitaries. Ra, Trevor, Irakesh, and Anubis took one side of the tent. Behind them stood Steve and Wepwawet. The former was a servile little fuck, while Wepwawet exuded thinly-veiled violence. Jordan could feel the god watching him through a faceplate twin to his own. Was the wolf-headed god experiencing the same things he was? Maybe, if they struck a real alliance here, the two could find a way to help each other escape their respective prisons.

  Isis, Liz, and Blair dominated the other side of the tent. Jordan loomed behind them, trying to make up for Ra’s larger force. He wasn’t sure how much success he was having, but at least their faction was more impressive than the last one. Osiris sat by himself on another side of the circle, drinking from a cup of water and looking utterly unconcerned that he was the only one without backup.

  “The last of us have arrived,” Ra said, her melodious voice easily overpowering the wind outside. “We have come to discuss a treaty between the gods, a compact between Isis, Osiris, and myself. To this end, I’d suggest we discuss our respective terms. Assuming we can reach an accord, we will then nominate a leader for this alliance. Is this an acceptable format?”

  Both Isis and Osiris nodded. The whole thing felt very rote, as if the three had already discussed this at length and were now merely going through the whole thing for show.

  “Isis, why don’t you begin by giving us your terms?” Ra asked, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hand.

  “Our terms are simple,” Isis said. She straightened. “We are willing to work alongside you and Osiris to stop Set. We will put our forces at the disposal of the elected leader. In exchange, we ask the following. First, we will be given safe passage back to our lands once the deed is done. Second, the group will help re-establish a conduit to the Nexus. Third, the Ka-Dun Steve will be turned over to us, to face justice for his crimes.”

  Whispering rippled through the room at the last, though it was doused like a candle caught in the wind. Jordan watched Steve’s reaction carefully, and he couldn’t help but smile at the fear he read there. Steve had been playing a dangerous game for a long time, and seemed to realize he might finally have lost.

  “Osiris?” Ra said, shifting to half face him. “I would hear your demands as well before terms are set with Isis.”

  “My terms are simple,” Osiris said, setting down his goblet. He gave Ra a hard look. “After Set is overthrown, I am again made Ark Lord of the First Ark. If we recover a Primary Access Key, that key is given to me. In exchange, I offer the following. I will use the key to forge a conduit to the Nexus. I will also offer the full might of Mohn Corp, and I assure you it will be needed to win this battle. When the fighting is done, I will grant all parties safe egress from the land now called England.”

  Ra was silent for a long moment. “Very well, I have heard both your terms. Now hear mine. Osiris will be made Ark Lord of the First Ark, this I can agree to. Yet I will not give up a Primary Access Key, if one is discovered. I know all gods will seek such a powerful tool, so I’d suggest that whoever personally vanquishes Set may claim the weapon.”

  Now that was an interesting choice. Jordan privately agreed with it. It gave all three of them incentive to kill whoever this Set was, and it prevented whatever pointless bickering would no doubt erupt over who got the weapon.

  “As for your terms, Isis, I agree to them unilaterally. The Ka-Dun Steve will be turned over at the conclusion of our compact,” Ra said, raising a hand.

  Wepwawet seemed to know what she wanted, reaching out a metallic hand to seize Steve by the scruff of the neck. Good thing too, as Steve had already begun to blur. Fucking coward.

  “In light of Osiris’s request for the Primary Access Key, I’d suggest a compromise,” Isis said, rising to her feet. She extended a hand, and a moment later gold flowed up her arm. It coalesced into the familiar staff with its scarab head. “I already possess one of the keys, and I have no need of another. In exchange for foregoing my claim to the weapon, I—”

  Pain wracked Jordan. Fire shot through every nerve, and he began to twitch as if being electrocuted. The armor prevented him from falling, but he’d lost all muscle control. He felt woozy, as his bladder emptied of its own accord. The fire faded, but in its place left a heavy blanket smothering his entire body. He tried to shake his head, but found he couldn’t move, not so much as his jaw. What the hell was going on?

  A moment later his HUD flickered to life, entering combat mode. It began cataloguing people in the room. All were listed as enemies, and as he watched each was assigned a priority. All save one. Wepwawet was painted blue, the only friendly in the room. The implications chilled Jordan to the core. He strained, trying to force movement from his flaccid body. Nothing. It refused to obey him, instead moving of its own accord.

  He could do nothing as the missile tubes on his shoulder opened, watching in horror as Wepwawet’s armor mirrored the action. Isis had been wrong about the length of time it would take for the taint to seize control.

  There was a small kick as both launchers delivered their entire payload.

  Chapter 59- Flight

  A wall of flame ballooned outward from the exploding missiles, blowing shrapnel through anything in its way. Trevor curled his body into a ball as the blast hurled him through the scattering ash of what had been the tent. His internal organs were perforated, his spine broken. He landed in a heap, his one good eye aimed in the direction of the carnage.

  Jordan and Wepwawet stood in the midst of the destruction, with everyone else strewn around for a hundred yards, moaning, groping for missing limbs, clutching at bleeding heads.

  Ra stood first, with more grace than one could expect, though her body remained whol
e and her golden spear emerged like an extension of her arm. Her eyes smoldered, and her lips were drawn back in a snarl.

  Isis rose next, shifting into wolf form as she tore loose the tattered remains of her skirt. Osiris leapt to his feet immediately after, his suit nothing but a charred memory. Its absence exposed an athletic body criss-crossed with near-endless scars.

  Ra’s golden spear twirled in her hands even as she leapt into the air above Wepwawet. She thrust the weapon through the seam in his armor where the helmet met the chest plate. The sunsteel passed through the armor like it was paper, punching through the back of the throat. Even as Ra’s feet touched the ground she reversed the stroke, using her momentum to fling the heavy power armor into the air. Trevor tracked its flight, eyes widening as he spied something behind and above it.

  Something massive, with scaly black wings. Trevor had long been a fan of fantasy. He’d spent countless hours devouring novels, watching movies, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. The thing in the air, the thing descending slowly in their direction, was without a doubt a dragon. Of course the dragons he’d read about didn’t have fifty caliber machine guns built into their backs.

  It was like a fucking T. Rex with wings, and even as he watched, awful green mist burst from its mouth. Trevor used the blur to scramble out of the way, rolling to the right as the mist sizzled a wide path where he’d been standing. That path continued toward the smoldering remains of the pavilion, where most of his companions were still reacting to the sudden betrayal of Jordan and Wepwawet.

  Fortunately, Osiris saw the danger. He sprinted forward, his passage so swift it kicked up a wind that tore at the remains of Trevor’s pants. Then he leapt, not a human jump, but something superhuman. The kick sent him into the sky like a comet returning to the heavens, and as he rose Osiris summoned the sword he’d taken from Liz. He spun it in a circle until it became a single blur, like a plane’s propellor. He used that to deflect the steady stream of bullets belching from the gun set into the dragon’s back.

  Then he was past the machine gun’s firing arc, moving faster than it could track. The gleaming golden point of his sword was held above him, and it punched through the underside of the dragon’s jaw with almost no resistance. There was an enormous crunch of bone, and the dragon’s head exploded as Osiris’s body impacted.

  Then the god turned to mist, hovering in the air as the decapitated dragon plummeted to the ground. It struck with titanic force, the box of ammunition on its lower back exploding spectacularly. The crash was loud enough to be heard over the din of explosions and painful cries arising throughout the camp. Trevor looked around him, realizing several things at once. There were three more dragons in the sky, and dozens of smaller bat-like creatures as well. There was also a wall of muscular demons tearing through Ra’s undead. It was a perfect ambush, and it was destroying their ability to fight before they even realized they were in battle.

  “To me,” Ra roared, launching herself into the air. Like Osiris, she hovered above the earth, a faint green glow suffusing her skin. Her hair whipped around her like a million tiny snakes, writhing about almost with a will of their own. “Gather to me!”

  Isis didn’t respond, instead seizing Jordan’s armor by one wrist. She whirled around as if throwing a discus, then released Jordan. He shot through the air towards a knot of demons nearly a hundred yards away. His armored form slammed into two, crushing both as he rolled into the dust. Trevor doubted Jordan was dead, but the Commander didn’t rise.

  Liz had shifted as well, and held Blair’s mangled body protectively as she stood behind Isis. Blair was already beginning to heal, but it looked like he was out of the fight in the short term. Neither Irakesh nor Steve had emerged from the wreckage of the pavilion, leaving Anubis as the only other member of their party. The jackal drifted into the air, moving to join Ra. His fan axe scythed with an almost casual ease through any demons who came close. That seemed like the safest place to be.

  Trevor ignored the fiery pain of healing, instead willing himself to mist, drifting into the air to join them. He had no idea how they remained solid while hovering there, but now wasn’t a great time to ask. He positioned his cloud between Anubis and Ra, drawing shadows closely about him until he was hidden. He had no illusions as to his place on this battlefield. He, Blair and Liz were puppies compared to the gods around them. The best thing they could probably do right now was just stay out of the way.

  “Sekhmet,” Isis roared. Trevor looked down to see Isis pointing at something in the distance. He looked that way and found a pair of truly frightening gods marching in their direction. Both were clad in black armor, more what he’d expect a knight to wear than the modern stuff Jordan was using.

  “It’s my brother,” Osiris called, drifting close to Ra. Isis leapt up to join them, hovering just like the others. He’d never seen a werewolf do anything like that, though it made a certain kind of sense. Jordan had used telekinesis. If Isis had the same power, maybe she was lifting herself.

  “There’s no way we can win against him, not here and not now,” Isis said, turning her attention back to the approaching gods. Set walked calmly in their direction, drawing an enormous black sword from a scabbard over his shoulder.

  “My army has already been devastated,” Ra said, nodding in agreement. “We have no choice but to flee, yet I cannot imagine how we’ll manage that. There’s no way he’ll allow us to get away.”

  “Only one thing will keep him from pursuing, mighty Ra,” Anubis rumbled, drawing the attention of the other gods. Trevor wasn’t sure what he meant, but the rest of them looked gravely at the jackal. “Set has ever been prideful, and long has he desired my death. If I stay, he will take time to kill me personally. That will give the rest of you time to flee.”

  “Doing so will weaken us,” Ra said, shooting a concerned glance at Set’s approaching form. They had only moments before his arrival. “I am almost tempted to make a stand here.”

  “That would be beyond foolish,” Osiris snapped, drifting closer to Ra. “We flee. Now. If we die here, then Set wins and the world pays. We must find safety and gather our strength. If that means losing one of our own to do it, then we must make that sacrifice.”

  “Very well,” Ra said. She stretched out a hand and squeezed Anubis’s shoulder. “Fight well, nephew. You will be remembered long after this age.”

  “Trevor,” the jackal said, turning those ancient eyes in his direction. “I will not have time to finish my teaching. Tell Anput why I must dishonor myself so, and see that she learns the nature of my death.”

  That surprised him. The idea that Anubis would trust him with anything seemed odd. The jackal had made it clear at every point that he detested Trevor, yet here he was asking a favor that would have been better left to Ra. These people were damned strange.

  “I’ll tell her,” Trevor said, dropping the shadows. “Good luck, Anubis.”

  Anubis nodded once, then glided to the ground. He casually dispatched a pair of the tall muscular demons, then turned to wait for Set.

  “Are we sure this is going to be enough for us to get away? What about Set’s troops?” Trevor asked. The dragons had finished with Ra’s army, and were heading their way.

  “Do not concern yourself,” Osiris said, giving him a crooked smile. “I have just the thing for the fodder.”

  Osiris looked skyward, and Trevor followed his gaze. Something twinkled above them. Whatever it was, it was getting larger quickly. At first he thought it was a meteor, but then he recognized it.

  “Holy shit,” Trevor said, looking at Osiris. “You’re using the Skyhammer aren’t you?”

  Chapter 60- Last Stand

  Anubis twirled his fan-bladed axe in lazy arcs as he waited for Set to approach. The ebony-armored figure walked slowly toward him, despite the fact that he could have blurred across the distance in the space between heartbeats. It was hardly surprising; Set loved theatrics.

  Dragons? Anubis thought with a chuckle. Seriously? Each t
ook centuries to grow and consumed an enormous amount of flesh daily. They were notoriously difficult to keep and, while they were impressive in combat, a god of any decent age could best one easily. They were hardly worth the effort. Yet Set had a fondness for them.

  Anubis glanced up as a sudden downdraft tickled his fur. For a moment he thought one of the dragons was attacking, but all three had passed him in pursuit of Ra and her companions. The wind came from a strange glittering object that plunged from the heavens like a star.

  A molten hunk of metal the size of a small mountain screamed to the earth, catching all three dragons. The first creature took the full brunt of the blast and was crushed easily. The other two were caught in the wake, knocked spinning from the air like lions kicked by an elephant.

  Anubis laughed, a warm hearty laugh. Little had impressed him in this new world, but it seemed these moderns had invented at least a few interesting weapons. He turned toward Set, who’d paused in his approach to study the carnage where his dragons had been. Anubis couldn’t see his face, but he imagined it locked into a rictus of rage, and that pleased him.

  “How many more dragons do you have, Set?” Anubis taunted, walking slowly toward the demonic god. Ra was safe now. Set and his terrible wife Nephthys wouldn’t pursue so long as Anubis lived, and by the time Set killed him Ra would long since have fled.

  “Don’t goad me, jackal,” Set snapped, his armored visor turning to focus on Anubis. His eyes were twin pools of flat black, utterly alien. What had he done to himself? “Your death will be painful as it is, but if you push me I will keep you alive for centuries. I will make you eat your own entrails. You will beg for death, whimpering like the cowardly animal you resemble.”