Death Embraces

by J. C. Diem

  “It will be dawn soon. One of the guards will show you to a room. When you rise, we shall travel to the temple at the top of the mountain.” Takeshi stiffened and stared at me incredulously as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “I must consult with the Seer,” the kid said almost to himself.

  I knew what that meant; I was going to meet another prophet. Grimacing, I stood and followed the guard who crooked his finger at me. The last time I’d met an oracle, I’d ended up fleeing for my life and then being mobbed by mountain vamps. This time, Luc was far away and I was on my own, surrounded by vampires who could cut me to ribbons. No one would be coming to my rescue.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Traversing through a network of corridors, I was lost after the first few turns. Finally, I was shown to a thick metal door. The guard bowed me inside and I preceded him into the room.

  About twelve feet square, it held a tiny pallet on the floor and a basin to wash with on a small black table. The door was swung shut before I could turn around to protest about being locked in what amounted to little more than a prison cell.

  There were no windows carved into the rock so I didn’t have to worry about being crisped to a skeleton again. A couple of paintings hung on the rough walls but there was nothing in the room to keep me entertained.

  With nothing better to do, I lay down on the thin, hard mattress fully clothed. I could sense the sun rising even through tons of rock. When it came, I let myself drift away into sleep.

  Almost immediately, I knew I was dreaming and wished I hadn’t chosen to sleep. I was back in the cavern of doom again. This time, there were three large bonfires instead of just one. Humans were slowly turning on spits. Mercifully, they were already dead this time instead of being roasted alive and screaming in agony. The stench of cooking flesh predominated, drowning out any other smells in the near vicinity.

  Instead of floating and being drawn helplessly along, this time I walked. I wasn’t surprised to see I wore the black leather suit. I was surprised to feel a mask covering my face. Turning my head, I caught sight of a sword hilt over my right shoulder. Another one was over my left shoulder. I could feel twin sheaths across my back and their straps crisscrossed my chest.

  Blending in with the shadows, I took a wide path around the fires. The groups behind the flames had grown in number. Strong metal cages had been built to hold human captives. There were too many now for the still unpossessed vampires to guard effectively. At least five hundred people were crammed into the cages. All were naked, dirty and starving. There were no toilets, not even buckets so they stood, sat or lay in their own filth. Dull eyed, beyond despair, they simply waited for their turn to be eaten. Empty cages crouched nearby, waiting to be filled. I was disturbed by the amount of cages, they numbered in the hundreds.

  Far enough away that the smell of human waste didn’t offend them, the vampires who hadn’t yet been possessed had also grown in number. There were around two hundred now. Like the humans, they seemed to be resigned to their fate. They might have a steady supply of blood handy but the comforts they were used to were gone. Most eyed their possessed kin, not understanding why they were acting so strangely. They couldn’t see what I saw; their shadows wore their hosts and moved them around like puppets.

  The possessed ones had also increased in number. Monstrous shadows chatted with each other, making their plans for world domination. Most of their ideas revolved around capturing humans and eating them. They could plan all they wanted but they could do nothing until they had reached the next stage in their evolution, however that happened.

  As for the grey skinned imps, their numbers hadn’t grown by much at all, I was glad to see. Instead of six, there were now twelve. Maybe changing them from shadows into flesh and blood is tricky to do, I thought with some desperation.

  “No,” a guttural voice said from right behind me. “It is not a difficult task for me at all, vampire, but as natural and easy as breathing.”

  Spinning around, I tilted my head back until the glowing red eyes of the First came into view. “Then why are there so few of your…offspring?” Calling them ‘disgusting hell-spawn’ wouldn’t have been very diplomatic. This might be a good chance to get some information out of him.

  “Because I am not yet ready for my children to rise. They will require provisions and securing food is proving to be more difficult than I’d anticipated.” Yeah, kidnapping thousands of humans without being caught would be hard to pull off. Studying me, the First bent down for a closer look. “Why is your face covered?” He seemed puzzled and almost disturbed by my masked face.

  “This is a dream, anything can happen in a dream.”

  “I have seen this somewhere before,” the First mused in his inhuman speech. Reaching out suddenly, he tore the mask from my face then took a step back. Beneath the mask was another one and for a moment I almost thought he was afraid. “Who are you? What are you called?”

  It was all too possible that the First could pull my head off my shoulders if I told him the truth. But I decided to answer him anyway. Call it instinct at work. “I am Mortis.”

  Now the First did look afraid as superstitious dread banked the glowing coals of his eyes. “That is nothing but a recently made legend. You cannot be real.”

  I laughed, feeling myself beginning to fade back to wakefulness. “You were supposed to be a legend, too. If you’re real then I must be as well.” How old was the First if he thought a prophecy made two thousand years ago was recent?

  Howling in rage, the First leaped at me but I was already beyond his reach. A window opened beside me as I began to wake. No, not a window, it was a mirror. My face was reflected back at me and at first I thought I was covered in blood. Then I realized it was just a red version of the usual black mask the Japanese vamps wore. Why would the First be afraid of a red mask?

  Before I could think of an answer to the riddle, I came all the way awake and sat up. A noise to my right alerted me that I wasn’t alone in the room. I instinctively threw myself flat again as a metallic object swished through the air where my head had just been. Before I could roll off the bed, the sword was redirected. Stabbing downward, it predictably landed in my heart. Rolling to the side, I collided with the assassin’s legs and he went down, losing his grip on the sword.

  Cursing in Japanese, his hand closed around my throat and forced me onto my back. The guy was clad in the typical black uniform the sentries wore. With his free hand, he tore his mask off, revealing a face that was vaguely familiar. I was pretty sure he’d been in the sitting room when I’d revealed what I knew about the First’s plan.

  I expected the assassin to rip the sword out of my chest and start hacking uselessly at me with it. What I didn’t expect was for him to tear a chunk of meat out of his wrist with his teeth. Grimacing at me with what was probably supposed to be a smile of triumph, he held his sluggishly bleeding wrist over my mouth. “Now you will die!”

  Behind him, the door crashed open and bright lamplight filled the room. The shadow of the assassin whipped its head around and snarled silently at the child emperor and his guards who crowded inside.

  “Stop him!” Emperor Ishida ordered but it was too late. Thick, black and acrid, the assassin’s blood dripped into my mouth.

  Releasing me, the traitor made no attempt to break free as several guards took hold of him. Acid burned its way down my throat and into my stomach. The emperor stood in the doorway, watching me with interest. I’d been told that ingesting the blood of our kind was a sure way to die. I’d survived having Alexander’s blood poured directly onto my heart, even if the pain had been excruciating. Instead of killing me, it had given me the ability to heal any type of injury. What would happen to me this time?

  Cramps hit me and I thought this time I really was a goner. But the pain only lasted for a few seconds before fading. Before I consciously thought about it, I was on my feet. The child king let out a soft gasp and suddenly two guards were standing in front of him, shield
ing him from harm. It wasn’t the kid I was interested in. The assassin’s confident grin faded when he realized I wasn’t going to die after all. His shadow, being held by regular shadow guards on the wall, suddenly slid to the ground and tried to slink away.

  Picking up General Yasui’s sword from the floor beside the thin pallet, I followed the shadow that no one else could see. It stretched out towards the door but wasn’t able to detach itself from the assassin. Elongating itself further in an attempt to escape, the shadow looked more like melting toffee than a vampire.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked it. Glancing up at me, it panicked and scrabbled across the tiles in a desperate bid for freedom.

  Guards and their emperor stared at me in disturbed silence as I stalked the shadow. The assassin didn’t seem to know what was going on. His confusion wasn’t fabricated at all. He had no idea why I wasn’t using the sword to end his life.

  Knowing it couldn’t escape through the door, the shadow doubled back. It slid up from the floor and back to the wall. It was about to attempt to hide behind its master when I darted forward and skewered it before it could slide out of sight. Somehow, the sword pinned the insubstantial wraith to the rock. I heard it mewling inside my head, pleading for mercy.

  “Mercy?” I laughed at the idea. “You’re planning on taking over the world, of turning both vampirekind and humankind into slaves and you want mercy?” Reaching for the shadow’s head, my hands clamped to either side of its ears. “There shall be no mercy for the damned,” I said quietly and unleashed the holy marks upon the shade.

  As his shadow shrieked, the assassin went rigid. His body began to shiver uncontrollably then to snap backwards and forwards in the hands of the guards. They gave startled cries but kept hold of him at a sharp look from their leader.

  Instead of exploding in the usual wash of gooey blood and soupy brains I was used to seeing from flesh and blood vampires, the shadow simply began to fade. The assassin didn’t die quite as painlessly. His eyes burst and acidic blood ran from his nose, ears and mouth. Then it was pouring from his very pores, escaping through every opening in the vampire’s body, no matter how small. No amount of dire frowns from Emperor Ishida could make the guards hold him now.

  Falling in a boneless heap to the floor, the assassin writhed and screamed as every scrap of the diseased blood in his body was expelled from him. The body that was left was a withered husk that barely resembled a vampire. His blood smoked and hissed as it began to dissipate.

  “Why does his body not break down?” a guard asked.

  “Because he’s human again,” I responded, feeling exhausted as if I hadn’t slept for a month. “The First’s blood was drawn out and took the vampirism with it.” It was just a guess but I thought it was a pretty good one.

  “There is still four hours of daylight left,” the emperor said in a not quite steady voice. “I will have a new room prepared for you,” he offered.

  “That’s ok,” I said and bent to wipe the sword clean on the dead assassin’s suit. “I doubt I could sleep again now.”

  “Vampires do not sleep,” he said in a low voice.

  “I do.” The guards exchanged glances, deep and disturbed.

  “How old are you, Mortis?” the child king asked. I didn’t think he was enquiring about my mortal years.

  I counted back in my head and the answer surprised even me. By now, I felt about a thousand years old. “I’ve been a vampire for about a month and a half now.” They were understandably shocked and disbelieving.

  “But your eyes,” a guard said.

  “Yeah, that happened after I was hacked to pieces. After I managed to get myself back together again, they were like this.”

  Guards began backing away from me, abandoning their leader as they fled. Only Emperor Ishida and his faithful hound Takeshi remained. “It seems my guards are more frightened of you than they are of me,” he said ruefully.

  “I’m really not here to kill you, you know,” I told him. “I just want to learn how to fight so I can do what I was created for.”

  “Killing the First’s offspring,” the kid said.

  “Yeah. And taking down the Councillors.” If the Comtesse was one of the damned, the rest of her cronies probably were as well. I had no way of knowing how many of the Court and their servants had sentient shadows but I was betting that a good number of them did.

  “Takeshi, show Natalie to the entertainment room.” The muscular, silent guard was reluctant to leave his boss but followed his orders anyway. If the emperor had created him, he wouldn’t have been able to disobey the command even if he’d tried.

  I followed the taciturn, hulking guard down a long series of corridors into a large, far more modern room. Books, comics and toys of every description to amuse a teenager were scattered around the place. There was even a large screen television and video games by the dozens. So they do have electricity here. It was probably run by a generator and I figured Ishida would be the only one allowed to use it. It would be one of the perks of being the boss.

  Without a word, Takeshi turned and left. With so many toys to choose from, I was a bit lost. Figuring I was too old for most of the games, I settled for a book. It was written in Japanese but I had no trouble translating the words. A worn but comfortable sofa encased me as I sat and opened the tale of flashing samurai swords and damsels in distress.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I couldn’t really get into the story. I’d had enough of swords, blood and severed limbs to last me a lifetime since I’d been turned. Especially since I was always the damsel in distress. I read the words without taking in much of their meaning.

  Four hours later, a guard cleared his throat from behind me. I was standing, sword in hand and facing him before I’d actually commanded my body to move. He started back fearfully as I tried to digest how quick my reflexes were now. Why did direct contact with our father’s tainted blood enervate me instead of killing me? Maybe the seer would know.

  I followed the guard down a confusing warren of corridors until we entered the throne room again. The boy emperor had changed into an outfit that actually befitted someone of his stature.

  His headdress stood a good two feet high and would have been far too heavy for a normal kid to even lift let alone wear. It was made of gold that had been beaten paper thin and shaped like feathers. His thin chest was covered in a martial arts style jacket with sleeves that fell short of his wrists by a couple of inches. The jacket was also made of gold, real gold, not just fabric that had gold threads through it. He’d changed into loose black leather pants that were plain compared to the rest of his outfit. His feet were clad in the same type of soft leather boots his guards, and I, wore.

  Without speaking, Ishida led a small procession to a section of the wall that was free of decoration. A hidden door popped open as if at his mental command. It was more likely that one of the sentries had triggered it but the effect was still impressive. Four men darted ahead of the emperor, spears held ready. Takeshi and a quartet of guards followed Ishida. I slipped in between the next group of four then another four brought up the rear.

  After a short walk, our path through the smooth rock walls ended at another hidden door. This one opened onto the stairway I’d seen winding its way up the mountainside. The air was chilly as we began to ascend and a wispy fog hid the steps. Sentries stood guard at regular intervals. Their eyes followed us, watching me mostly, until we were out of sight. I was careful not to trip up the stairs and embarrass myself.

  Staying to a steady walk, it took us almost half an hour to reach the top of the steep stairway. A temple waited for us at the summit. It was ancient and had been carved directly out of the rock. From above, it would look just like a normal mountain top. Only from the sides could you tell that it had been shaped by man, or creatures that had once been men and women.

  Vast canvas sheets that were attached to the sides of the temple had been rolled up and shifted sluggishly in a brisk breeze. Durin
g the day, the sheets would be released and tied tightly to the ground. If any aircraft were to fly over, the temple would seem like plain rock walls. I had to applaud their ingenuity and their commitment to self-preservation.

  Shadows filled the temple except for a dim orange light directly in the centre. The glow reminded me of the grey imp’s orange orbs and I suppressed a shiver. The sentries took up positions on each of the four sides of the temple, facing outwards. It seemed that whatever went on inside the temple would be hidden from their view if not from their hearing.

  With a courtly bow, Ishida gestured for me to precede him. Takeshi held his hand out for my sword and I handed it to him without protest. I’ll never see that again, I thought regretfully. The huge guard reluctantly stayed behind with the other sentries, turning his back with one last warning glare at me. I read the unspoken message easily enough. If anything happened to the emperor, I would be held responsible.

  I mounted the steps, surprised by the stark emptiness inside. A few low, stone benches were the only decoration or furniture. In the centre of the room was a metal brazier, the source of the dim orange glow. The fire was banked but I doubted it ever went out completely.

  Ishida took a seat on the bench closest to the fire and pointed at the one opposite him. Sitting down on the cold surface, I looked around but couldn’t see anyone else in the temple. The emperor gave me an enigmatic smile then the floor began to move.

  We sank down into the rock, turning in a slow spiral. I tried to play it cool but had to close my eyes before I grew dizzy enough to fall off the seat. We came to a stop at a depth of about twenty feet. Ishida stood then stepped onto a small platform. A narrow rock staircase led downwards into darkness. He started down and I hastened to join him as the circular elevator began moving upwards again.

  There were no torches to light our way but our night vision was adequate enough. Without railings to hold onto, I stuck close to the wall. I sensed it was a long way to the bottom. It would be just like me to trip and fall, screaming all the way down.