by J. C. Diem
“Yes. I have family nearby and know the roads well.”
You mean you had family nearby, I noted darkly. His family were either dead or had been turned into vampires by now. “The night is wasting so you’d better step on it,” I warned him.
Turning his concentration back to the road, the soldier accelerated as I flicked off the light. The track was narrow, badly maintained and full of potholes. The men in the back jounced around, complaining about the battering they were receiving. The only complaints I could hear from my friends in the van behind us was Geordie whining that one of them should have been with me for protection. I smiled at his indignation that I was alone with the soldiers. As far as I knew, I was the only creature on the planet that couldn’t be destroyed. Protection wasn’t something I needed.
My smile froze then disappeared when I sensed a small group of vampires somewhere close by. The driver made a noise of alarm as he caught sight of a figure standing on the dirt track ahead. I had a bare second to take in my first sighting of a fledgling before it launched itself at us.
Chapter Nine
Our vision was suddenly obscured as the fledgling landed on the front of the truck. Screaming shrilly in terror, the driver madly spun the wheel to the left and right. Sprawled on the windscreen like a gigantic bug, the filthy, dark skinned vampire swayed from side to side but didn’t fall off. Wearing only beads and a loincloth, he was about as primitive as you could get. Blood stained his fangs and caked the lower half of his face. More of the dark liquid had splattered across his chest from his recent feeding frenzy. Mindless with hunger, he grinned at the driver then drew his fist back to punch it through the glass.
Regaining a modicum of intelligence, the driver stomped on the brake. The rabid vamp lost his grip and sailed through the air. Landing on his back on the road, he left a five foot long skid mark in the dirt. I was out of the truck and running towards him before he managed to scramble to his feet.
Eerily fast, he dodged away before I could grab him. His fists swung wildly and landed a punch on my jaw. My ears rang for a second or two but I caught his next punch. His bloody grin of triumph turned to puzzlement then fear when he couldn’t pull away from me. He threw another punch and I caught that as well, capturing both of his hands.
Locking eyes, he flinched at what he saw in mine. He began to scream when I unleashed the power of my twin holy marks. His hands melted away and he was left with bubbling stumps. Even minus his hands, the fledgling was still dangerous and needed to be finished off. Clamping my hands on his head this time, it disintegrated from the power of the dark magic that resided within me. Like so many of his kind before him, he was reduced to a watery stain on the ground.
Gunfire erupted behind me and bright flashes of light illuminated a pack of frenzied, near naked vampires closing in on the truck. Soldiers were screaming in either pain or terror as they tried in vain to gun down the attacking creatures. Wiping melted vampire flesh onto my jeans, I ran to their rescue.
Witnessing a frantic soldier being pulled out of the back of the truck, I wasn’t quite fast enough to save him. The vamp had her teeth buried deep in his neck, muffling his screams with a hand clamped over his mouth. I peeled her off him then twisted her head around until it was facing the wrong way, momentarily forgetting that it wouldn’t kill her. She bared her dripping fangs at me and her head wobbled sickeningly on her shattered neck. My holy marks quickly finished her off. Using my bare hands was proving to be too slow. I needed my swords.
“Natalie!” Luc shouted as if he’d read my mind. My friends had caught up to us and were spilling out of the van and trucks. I caught the unsheathed weapons when Luc tossed them to me and started slicing the fledgling vampires apart.
Even with my enhanced speed, they were almost too fast for me. Unluckily for the humans, their attackers were more concerned with food than with survival. They made no move to attack me and concentrated on reaching the remaining soldiers.
Six of the soldiers were dead or badly injured, including my driver. His throat was a mangled ruin and his eyes stared up at the night sky in frozen anguish. Only four of the soldiers were still alive and unharmed. They stood back to back in the truck, staring wildly into the trees and shooting anything that moved. Most of the canvas had been torn away, leaving them exposed and vulnerable. A rabid vampire burst out of the shadows on the far side of the truck and landed amongst them. A quick thinking soldier managed to blow half of the vamp’s head off, screaming all the while. The fledgling fell backwards, turning to slush just before he hit the ground.
Ishida’s people swarmed into sight. They were black clad killing machines who were experts with their weapons of choice. I saw my instructor cut down two vamps and was amazed at his grace and speed. I’d only seen him in battle once before, the night he had helped me to cleanse the Japanese nation of their damned. I would have to thank Ishida for allowing his best warrior to teach me my skills.
Igor had a more direct approach at taking down the fledglings. He picked up a discarded machine gun and cut down five of them when they took another run at the truck.
Luc had taken down a few by coolly stabbing them through their hearts. Geordie stayed out of the fray, shooting an occasional crossbow bolt at our newly made kin. Gregor’s tweed suit was splattered with blood as he chopped the head off a feeding vamp with a meat cleaver. Being a newly made vamp, the fledgling’s blood was still bright red. It took months if not years for our blood to thicken into the diseased ooze that was normal for our kind. Mine had been transformed far more quickly due to the fact that there was nothing normal about me at all.
I noticed that Nicholas made no move to attack or to help defend the humans. His arms were crossed and he wore an expression of mild annoyance.
The battle lasted for only a few minutes but it had felt much longer. When the last of our new kin died beneath my swords, I sensed someone watching me. Glancing up, I spied a distant, vague outline of a vampire through the trees. “You must be the presence I sensed several nights ago,” he called in what I assumed was an ancient form of African.
Ishida motioned for his soldiers to be still and Gregor did the same for our friends. None would be able to understand what the man was saying but they knew I’d be able to translate.
“You must be the Second,” I replied in English, not sure whether he could understand me or not. Only two soldiers were still alive and they were both American. None of the African soldiers had survived the attack to relay what I was saying to my new nemesis.
“Who or what are you?” he asked. His tone held curiosity but very little anger that we’d just mowed down his freshly made servants.
“I am Mortis.” It still felt ridiculous saying that out loud.
“I am unfamiliar with that word.”
He’d been banished long before the legend that was me had been prophesized. He’d also never heard anyone speak Latin before. The language had been invented and had become all but obsolete long after he’d been interred. “It means ‘death’.”
There was a short pause while he pondered this. “Tell me, Mortis, why do your eyes glow the colour of fire?”
I hadn’t realized that they were but it made sense. Thanks to the imp blood in my system, I tended to be taken over with battle lust when I was embroiled in fights. Having orange eyes was the only side effect that I’d noticed so far. Hopefully, it would be the only side effect to crop up.
I opted to ignore his question. “You have to stop creating new vampires,” I told him, striving to sound reasonable. “You’re endangering us all by increasing your numbers so quickly and sending out your servants in a mindless feeding frenzy.”
After a thoughtful silence, the Second’s response was unnerving. “It is my right as the Second to create as many servants as I see fit. It is the right of my brothers to do the same. Who are you to tell us what we can and cannot do?” He paused to examine my friends and Ishida’s people. “Our kind has grown weak with the passing of the years,” he observed. “It is lo
ng past time for us to become what nature intended.” With that, he disappeared into the trees.
Grimacing at his pronouncement, I turned to find myself the centre of attention. “What did he say?” Ishida demanded. Kokoro stood at his shoulder, looking grave and drawn. With her ability to read minds, she knew exactly what the Second had said.
“He thinks modern vampires are weak and that its time for our kind to become what nature intended for us.”
“Don’t tell me,” Geordie said wearily. “He wants to try to take over the world just like the First.” I didn’t argue with him. “Why do all ancient vampires have megalomaniacal tendencies?” he asked plaintively.
Ishida cut the teenager a narrow eyed glance but decided not to take offence at the comment. “Do you believe he sent his servants to attack us as a test, Natalie?”
Gregor answered for me. “I think it is likely.” Dabbing at the blood on his tweed coat with a handkerchief, he gave up on trying to clean the stain with a rueful wince. “The Second seems to be quite intelligent for a being that should still have been fairly primitive.”
“He can’t read minds as well as Kokoro can but I think he was picking up knowledge from the closest humans as he was trapped beneath the ground,” I said. “He understood what I was saying well enough.”
“Are we going to stand around talking about him or are we going to hunt him down and kill him?” Igor grumbled. One of the things I liked about Igor was his no nonsense directness.
“You are quite correct, Igor,” Ishida said with a bow in the Russian’s direction. I was surprised that the child king had bothered to remember my friend’s names. Maybe he didn’t think they were beneath his notice after all. “There is still plenty of night left for us to track him and his brothers down.”
One of the two remaining American soldiers clumsily jumped down from the back of the truck. Trembling with shock, the other man sank to his haunches, eyes roaming the darkness in case of further attack.
Striding over, the American veered around the moist patches of dead fledglings and the bodies of his fallen comrades. “You mean you’re going after them?” Blue eyes wide with fright, he looked at one of his deceased friends lying on the road a few feet away. The man’s throat was a jagged ruin and he was covered in blood. “I hope you don’t expect us to go with you.”
Luc put a soothing hand on the man’s shoulder and he flinched at the contact. We might be allies but how could the humans think of us as anything other than monsters after seeing our ravenous kin in action? “We do not expect you and your friend to join us in our hunt. But perhaps you had better tell your Colonel what has just transpired.”
As the soldier fumbled for his radio, we gathered around to survey the damage. This was just the beginning of what would happen to the soldiers if we weren’t there to assist them in this fight. The vamps had melted to slush but the same wouldn’t happen to the humans. Gregor gestured towards the eight dead uniformed men “We should burn their bodies to prevent them from rising and becoming our enemies.” It was difficult to tell if any of them had been fed vampire blood or not. It was best to err on the side of caution.
“Wait,” the soldier said when he overheard the suggestion. “Colonel Sanderson wants to talk to you.”
I assumed he meant me since he was looking right at me. My friends listened in as I took the radio he proffered. “Natalie? Are you there?” Sanderson’s asked.
“I’m here, Colonel.”
“Was the report my man just gave me accurate?” I could hear the disbelief in his tone. Unless you’d witnessed the carnage for yourself, it would have been difficult to believe.
“Every word was true.” I hadn’t actually listened in on the report the shaky soldier had given his boss but I doubted he’d lied.
“He says you want to burn my men’s bodies.” The colonel’s tone turned angry. “I forbid you to desecrate any of my or General Merwe’s soldiers.”
“They aren’t your men anymore, Sanderson,” I told him as gently as I could. “They’ve been bitten and possibly fed vampire blood. There is a good chance that some of them could rise as one of us.”
His silence was heavy and brooding as he contemplated the possible consequences of not burning their corpses. “Leave them where they are. I’ll send some men to take care of them.” He clearly either didn’t believe me or was in denial of the possible fate that awaited his men.
Gregor shook his head in warning but it wasn’t necessary. I knew all too well what would happen if we didn’t act now. “We can’t do that, Sanderson. They’ll rip some of your men to shreds as soon as they wake and then we’ll have to put them down as well.” It was best to take care of them now instead of waiting for three nights to see what happened. I didn’t trust him to do what was necessary.
Breathing was all we heard from the other end as the colonel tried to get himself under control. “Leave one of them intact,” he said in clipped tones. “Send his body back with my two remaining men. I’ll see that he is kept in a secure area. If he rises, I’ll put him out of his misery myself.”
I could understand that Sanderson didn’t want to think his and the general’s men would rise as creatures of the night but he had to be practical. In order to keep our relationship cordial, I conceded to his request. Knowing how savage the fledglings were now, surely they would be able to contain one lone monster, if he did rise as one. “Fine. We’ll send one of them back but you’ll be responsible for what happens if he turns.”
“Understood,” snapped the colonel. “Keep the radio and the weapons. Let me know if we can offer you any further assistance.” His tone was cold and he signed off curtly.
We didn’t interfere as the two surviving soldiers chose a body to take back to their base. Apart from the holes in his neck, the man looked like he was sleeping. Only his utter stillness and pallor indicated that he was beyond saving. Interestingly, the holes were showing no signs of healing. Maybe that only happened to live humans.
After their dog tags had been collected, the other soldiers were stacked in a pile on the side of the road then doused with fuel. The blue eyed soldier held them tightly, bowing his head in silent prayer. I wanted to ask him why he’d gathered the tags but he didn’t seem to be in the mood to answer questions. Maybe they’d be returned to the families of the deceased.
Igor struck a match and tossed it onto the bodies. As the flames rose I was strongly reminded of the cavern of doom. Once again, humans were being roasted in a fire. This time there were no imps to chow down on them. It was the only blessing in an otherwise horrible situation.
Chapter Ten
We’d lost our African guide during the attack but we were close enough to the next village on the map for Igor to get us closer without becoming lost. I opted to ride in the back of the van and sat beside Geordie. Since we were both narrow of shoulder, we had plenty of room.
Sitting directly opposite me and staring at me with an expression I couldn’t read, Nicholas made a suggestion. “We should swap positions so we have more space.” He and Gregor were crammed in hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder.
Geordie immediately tensed and opened his mouth to retaliate but Gregor spoke first. “That is an excellent idea, Nicholas. Geordie, if you’d be so kind as to swap with me?”
Geordie didn’t want to sit next to Nicholas but he also didn’t want the overly muscled vamp to sit next to me. Mumbling ungraciously, he swapped places with the once dapper and now blood stained former Court lord. Gregor sent me a sardonic look as he shifted, deftly hiding his expression from our newest team member. None of us liked or trusted Nicholas. So far, he was making no effort to get along with anyone. If anything, he seemed to be deliberately trying to annoy us.
“Why didn’t you help us fight?” I asked him. Sitting beside Igor up the front, Luc shifted his head slightly, indicating he was also interested in hearing the answer to my question.
Shrugging his massive shoulders, Nicholas managed to bump Geordie’s head into I
gor’s seat. “It did not seem necessary, my…Natalie.”
Rubbing his head, the teen glowered at our newest team member, suspecting he’d been knocked into the seat on purpose.
My eyes had stopped glowing shortly after the battle had ended but I felt as if they should have been blazing with anger. “Do you have any intention of helping us at all or are you going to continue to be a pain in my butt?”
The ex-courtier’s lips twitched upwards at my poor choice of words. His flesh hunger burst into life and invaded the back of the van. He raked his gaze over me, pausing on my chest. “Believe me, Natalie, I would love nothing more than to be a pain in your-”
Luc cut him off before he could finish the sentence. “I would be very careful with the next words you choose if I were you, Nicholas.” He turned and I shivered at the rage he was barely containing. “If you speak one more word of disrespect to Natalie, or any of us, I will end you myself.”
Shaken, Nicholas slumped and his flesh hunger abated. Unfortunately, mine didn’t. “I thought this was supposed to be a democracy,” he mumbled.
“Perhaps you have forgotten the concept of common courtesy,” Gregor said dryly. “It is a desirable trait in any democracy. Respect is not given automatically but must be earned. You have not displayed a penchant for gaining respect from any of us thus far.”
Showing that he was at least pretending to listen, Nicholas bent his head in a short nod. “I apologize to all,” he said stiffly and was affronted when I didn’t acknowledge him. I was too busy trying to suppress my flesh hunger. If I’d still been able to sweat, it would have beaded my forehead at the strain.
Igor stopped several kilometres short of the first village on the map. As we exited the van, Ishida and his people joined us. The young emperor motioned to one of his men and he handed me a package. “I almost forgot to give you this,” Ishida said. I opened it to find four black leather suits and one pair of matching boots. “Kokoro said you wouldn’t need the red suit anymore and that black would suffice.”
