“Sir,” Goodalle repeated. “Without her, we have no research.”
Starnes remained silent, perhaps relishing in her agony. Then he said, “Kill the lights.”
Immediately, the purple UV lights vanished, and the room was lit by only a few sputtering fluorescents mounted to the walls. Shufah couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She felt like she had been flayed from head to toe. She held her quivering hands above her face. Her skin was still there, but it was a horror to behold. She could only imagine what the rest of her looked like.
Starnes approached the window, his features obscured by the gore. “You will learn to obey.” He turned and started to leave, but Goodalle stopped him.
“Sir, what about the bodies?”
“Leave them in there to rot for all I care. I’ve lost my patience with this one.” Starnes left with the others at his heels, leaving Goodalle alone with Shufah.
“I admire your strength,” Goodalle said. “You were in incredible pain, yet you didn’t give Starnes what he wanted. He’s not a man used to being told no.” A tiny chuckle escaped him. “I rather enjoyed it. I think it’s good for him. He’s not ready for the knowledge he seeks.”
“He doesn’t seek knowledge,” Shufah said. Speaking was tantamount to vomiting razor blades. “He seeks a way to escape death.”
“I think the same could be said for all of us. The difference is, I’m a man of science. Not given to fantasies of gods and monsters.”
A pain-filled laugh rose in Shufah’s throat. “You’re the creator of monsters.”
“Starnes would agree with you on that. He is repulsed by the umbilicus.”
“If you have them, why keep me?”
“Just like you, they can’t survive without a steady diet of blood. Human blood is okay, but their metabolism burns through it pretty fast. Vampire blood is better. I was hoping to use you to make more vampires for them to feed upon. And if I can unlock how to make more like Lazarus… Well, I can only imagine what that kind of blood would do for the umbilicus.”
“If you love your little darlings so much, why not have them turn you?”
“Therein lies the problem. You pass on your, let’s call it power for lack of a better word, through your blood, sometimes by your bite. The umbilicus cannot do this. Their bites can only numb you, as do the sting of their cords, and their blood is deadly.” He shrugged. “It’s a small problem. We’re working on it.”
“Why? What do you hope to gain?”
Goodalle smiled. It was disturbing to behold. “Have you ever read War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells? I’m sure you have. It’s one of my favorites. Anyway, do you recall what the Martians fed on?”
“Human blood,” Shufah said.
“That’s right. For Wells, the Martians were a sort of symbol, or typology, for what he believed the human race would someday evolve into. The Martians were ancient, advanced, and yet, brutally simplistic, having evolved past the need for a complicated physiology. You see, that’s what we’re dealing with here. Vampires, Lazarus, the umbilicus. You’re not monsters and you’re certainly not gods. You’ve simply evolved. Granted, with the umbilicus, I helped a little.”
“And you want to evolve, too.”
“Of course. You might want to back up. I can’t let those bodies rot in there. That’s just too vile to comprehend.”
The pressurized door hissed, the inner door opened and in stepped the two umbilicus. They were still hairless and toothless, but the blood of the fallen Hunters had given them a more solid and stout form.
The umbilicus strolled into the room with a strange mixture of grace and predatory aggression. They regarded her with sneers, their thirsty eyes the color of putrefied blood. Their “cords” slithered out of the slits in their stomachs where their bellybuttons should’ve been. The barbed tip of each bobbed back and forth like twin cobras dancing for the charmer.
“Leave her be,” Goodalle said. “I know you want to feed on her, but we still need her to make more. And last time you stung her, the blood samples I took were ruined. For now, just get the corpses.”
The umbilicus knelt down, keeping their eyes on Shufah, and snatched up the dead bodies. They paused for a moment, and she was sure that they were about to drop the dead men and come at her. But then they moved on, exiting the room, leaving just a hint of their repulsive, yet hypnotic pheromones lingering in the air.
The door slid back into place.
“I find you fascinating,” Goodalle said, “but you are no longer the top of the evolutionary ladder. I suggest you start making yourself useful. The umbilicus are hungry for more vampire blood. You should know that I was unable to repair their compliance chips after you and your friends burned them. If you don’t make others, they will come for you. And I won’t be able to stop them.”
Goodalle tapped a keypad on the wall and suddenly a shower of ice cold water rained down from the ceiling, washing the dead men’s blood down the drain. The pressure of the spray tore at her blistered skin. There was nowhere to escape the frigid downpour, so Shufah sat in the corner with her head between her knees, awaiting an end to the water.
It lasted two days.
CHAPTER SIX
The corridor was too dark to see, so Thad felt his way, one hand running along the rough-cut stone wall, while the other hand groped blindly before him. The mammoth blocks, quarried from the earth centuries ago, seemed to drink the heat from his hand, and he had to keep switching hands to keep from getting frostbite. Though he couldn’t see it, he imagined that his breath was floating before his face in a white plume.
Humans were forbidden to venture outside the walls of the great house, so Thad turned to exploring the many hidden realms within, while the other servants weren’t watching. The other infected humans were too afraid to anger their blood-sucking masters to go wandering about, except for the old lady Dot…and maybe Beth. Dot had lived almost eighty years within these walls. She had been a tough old bird that knew how to skirt the rules without getting caught. It was Dot that had stopped him when he tried to hang himself. He still wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing or not.
Beth, on the other hand, was a bit of an enigma to him. She had shown up around four months ago, even though the Stewards had declared that no other infected humans would be allowed to live. Yet, here she was, strutting around the house as though it were some vacation destination, always smiling, running her hands through her golden hair, staring at him with those big blue eyes.
For a moment, he forgot what he was doing, and dropped his leading hand. He cracked his head on an ancient pipe running from wall to wall that any person of average height would just walk right under. He dabbed his hand on the growing knot, but there didn’t seem to be any blood, which was good seeing as how he was in a house full of vampires.
He pushed on through the dark. Somewhere in this house was Jerusa’s mother, Debra. One of those mutant vampires had traded blood with her, and the Stewards had whisked her off to some secluded corner.
A thought rose unbidden into his mind. This place held many secrets, one of the big ones being that there was a pit full of savages beneath the house guarding a cave leading to the outside. It was this thought that halted him in the dark. What if the Stewards had more than one dungeon filled with savages? And just what kept the savages from escaping their cave?
A noise echoed in the lightless corridor, like the shuffling of feet, but it was impossible to tell if the sound came from before or behind him. He pressed his back against the wall, and suddenly, his body seemed colder than the rock. He tried not to breathe. His heart throbbed in his ears. He wanted to run, but which way? He felt eyes washing over him. He hated being this vulnerable. Both the vampires and the savages could see better in the dark than he could in broad daylight. He brought no weapon with him (not that it would save him), not even a light. He had waded into the dark like a madman diving naked in shark-infested waters with only his fingernails to protect him.
Another sound echoed,
like a pebble skipping across the floor. Whatever hid in the darkness, it was drawing closer to him. A familiar exhilaration drowned his fear. He had courted death more than once while being trapped here. Maybe it was because of the vampire spirit that was hibernating within his cells. Dying doesn’t seem so scary when there’s a good chance it won’t stick. There was a powerful sort of liberty in that madness.
Thad turned his back away from the wall. Clenched his fists at his sides. Took a step forward. “I’m right here.” His voiced thundered down the corridor. “Come and get me.”
Light erupted behind him, burning away the darkness. The corridor was empty, except for his long, sooty shadow, which laid across the stone floor, mocking him. He turned toward the light, putting his hand up to shield his eyes.
Vampires don’t need flashlights to see in the dark, and savages hate any light above a small candle due to their permanently dilated pupils, so it had to be one of the other infected humans that had followed him down here. The other humans were always looking for ways to gain the favor of their blood-drinking masters. The older servants hoped for a lighter workload, but the younger ones still had not given up hope that they, too, would be given perpetual life. One sure way to advance was to narc on your fellow servants and prove your allegiance to the Stewards.
Thad’s face flushed hot with rage. Thunder roared in his ears and it was a moment before he realized it was the sound of his feet slapping the stone floor. The person holding the flashlight didn’t move, the orb of light never even flinched. This only fueled his rage.
He lowered his shoulder and dove for the shadowy figure hiding behind the light. He expected more resistance, but instead, the person folded beneath his assault like a wisp of smoke in the wind. A high-pitched scream pierced his ears, the flashlight flew into the air and the two of them tumbled into a knot on the stone floor.
The flashlight clanked on the floor, spinning around and around, filling the corridor with a nauseating dance of shadows. He found himself on top of the other, his left hand full of hair, his right hand balled into a fist that he fully intended to use as a hammer.
“Thad,” a soft, meek voice cried out. “It’s me. Beth. Don’t hurt me.” The flashlight finished its turn, spilling light upon her face, turning her tear-filled eyes into glittering jewels.
Thad plucked his hand from Beth’s hair as though he had been holding a nest of snakes. He unknotted his fist and a rush of blood throbbed in his fingertips. All the strength fled from his body and he fell off of Beth, landing hard on the floor, numb and cold, panting like a dog. Beth rolled onto her side, facing him, their noses almost touching. Her warm breath covered his face. They locked eyes for a long time.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to…” He trailed off, the lump in his throat choking off his air. He had almost brutalized poor Beth. Almost smashed her face like a madman destroying priceless art. A tiny flicker of his former anger returned. “Why are you following me?”
“What else do I have to do around here?” she said with a small, nervous laugh.
“If the Stewards catch you down here, they’ll punish you. Believe me, I know.”
“And yet, here you are skulking around in the dark.”
“I’m not skulking.”
“Pu-lease.” She pushed herself up on her elbows. “You’re always skulking. What’re you doing down here?”
“Looking for something.”
“Like?”
Thad stood to his feet. Beth held out her hand and he reluctantly reached down and helped her up. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m worried about you.” She reached up, touched his bearded cheek, then quickly pulled her hand away, embarrassed. “I just want to help you.”
He wanted to say no one can help me, but something about the way she was staring at him caused the words to die in his throat. Besides, he didn’t want her to accuse him of skulking again. He retrieved the flashlight from the stone floor. “Just stay close to me. There are worse things than vampires in this place.”
She smiled in a way that reminded him so much of Jerusa that he turned the flashlight full on her just to make sure that the two women hadn’t traded places. Beth threw her hands up in from of her face and turned a shoulder to him. “Hey, what’s that for?”
He pointed the light at the floor. “Sorry. C’mon, let’s go. Try not to fall too far behind.”
They moved through the catacombs beneath the great house, Thad in the lead, Beth with her hand on his back. It was very distracting, her constantly touching him, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stop. He sent the flashlight beam searching every corner, every hole, always expecting to find some horror lurking, but there was nothing. Still, he didn’t feel safe.
Thad led them through corridor after corridor, down rusted, broken ladders, and back up weathered and worn stone staircases. They moved from the cold hole beneath the house to the warm, stuffy air of the crawlspaces between the walls. Beth never once questioned where they were going or whether or not Thad was lost.
“Stop.” Beth’s voice had been so soft that, at first, he hadn’t heard her. Thad turned to look at her, but her eyes were fastened to a narrow space between the heavy beams of the wall to their left. A tiny knockout in the wooden slats, two foot wide by three foot high, had been broken away. Just the right size for a certain dwarf vampire.
“This is it,” Thad said. He rushed to the small hole, knocking Beth to the side with a clumsy shove. “This has to be it.”
Beth stumbled, but caught her balance. “Sorry to get in your way. Next time just shove harder.”
Thad barely heard her. His mind spun in a million different directions. “What? Oh, sorry.” He knelt down, searching the opening with the flashlight. “I knew I’d find it. He said not to look. He knew that I’d find it.”
“Shhh, they’ll hear you,” Beth whispered. “Vampires have great hearing, y’know.”
“Yeah, right,” he said, dropping his tone to a whisper. He reached out and touched the wooden slats on the inside of the hole.
Beth knelt down next to him. “What is this?”
Thad started to tell her, but caught himself. “Just something I’ve been looking for.”
“You’ve been looking for a hole in the wall?” She shrugged. “We all have our hobbies. So who told you not to look for this wondrous hole in the wall?”
Thad wasn’t sure what to say. In this house, even the most benign bits of information could be turned into a weapon. The old lady, Dot, would have understood. She was the only one he trusted. But she passed away four months ago. Thad still had nightmares of throwing her body into the incinerator so that she wouldn’t resurrect, born again of the bite. He had been alone ever since.
But Beth was here now. She could have turned him in as soon as she caught him slipping through one of the house’s many secret doors. Instead, she risked her own life to follow him.
“The dwarf told me that the hidden parts of this house would lead me to what I’m seeking for.”
Her eyes widened. “Master Sebastian doesn’t like to be called that.”
“You’ve met him? The Stewards don’t like us humans being around the Watchtower vampires.”
“Um, no, but I’ve heard of him. Rumor is that several humans and more than a few vampires have died for calling him that.”
Thad stared at her for a long moment. She never blinked. “Yeah, this place has a lot of rumors.”
“So, what does this hole have to do with the dw— I mean, Master Sebastian?”
Thad turned his attention back to the opening. “I’m looking for…something. The dwarf said I’d know it when I found it.”
“And this is what you’re looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay then. I’m sure someday this’ll all make sense to me.”
The muffled sound of a heavy door opening filtered through the wall. Thad put his hand over Beth’s mouth to keep her from talking. Her l
ips were soft and her breath warmed his fingers. She gently pulled his hand away, but held it tight. His pulse quickened, and for a moment, he forgot about what was happening on the other side of the wall. An adorable smile appeared on Beth’s face, but her eyes looked concerned. She pointed to the flashlight, then toward the wall. Thad fumbled the flashlight, nearly dropping it before he clicked it off. The darkness returned, but not completely.
A sliver of crisp light pierced the wall before him, nearly blinding in the darkness, like a bolt of lightning that refused to give way to the thunder. Thad leaned forward, pressing his face against the slats and plaster of the far side of the wall. He peered through the hairline crack.
“What do you see?” Beth whispered, her curiosity overriding her fear of being heard.
“Not much,” Thad whispered back. “There’s a large glass display, like a trophy case. I can see six jars.” He shifted his position to get a better look.
A brilliant light descended upon the jars. On closer examination, he realized that they weren’t actually jars, but masterfully crafted crystal coverings, like you might find over a dessert being served to a king. But there were no desserts within these crystal coverings, and when Thad saw what was nestled inside, his breath solidified in his lungs. Had he eaten any dinner, he would have spilled in onto his own shoes.
The display had three tiers, each level housing two crystal coverings. In each of the bottom two coverings were a set of ears. Not just outer the pinna, but the entire inner ears as well, dangling behind like the roots of a dead tree. Within each of the two middle containers, coiled up like giant slugs, was a pair of tongues plucked out in violence. And upon the top level of the display, staring back at him as though they could still see, were two sets of eyeballs.
The stolen organs were not in any type of preservative, and looked to have been there longer than he cared to imagine. Thad felt a stab of pity for the poor vampires that had endured such brutal torment.
Over top of the display, in glimmering letters forged of what Thad was sure was actual gold, were the words:
Perpetual Creatures, Volumes 1-3: A Vampire and Ghost Thriller Series Page 62
