Death Devours

by J. C. Diem

  Sending out my senses, I located five more nests. It took us several hours to dig them up and eradicate all of the bodies. Apart from the one nest that the Japanese vamp had found, the rest of my team had been unsuccessful in locating them. If we couldn’t find freshly made tunnels with our enhanced night vision, then I hoped the humans would have better luck with their technology. All of the nests had been dug fairly close to the village, which was the only point in our favour. If the disciples kept up this trend, locating and destroying their servants would be a much easier chore for us.

  Finished with the village at last, we moved on to the next one.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Again, I sensed the tail end of a group of vamps when we were close to the next small township. It took time for the disciples and their minions to clean out even a small cluster of huts. Storing their victims in safe keeping slowed them down some more and we’d managed to close the distance between us considerably.

  “I can sense a group of vampires ahead,” I said to Sanderson. “I think they’ve finished with this village and are already moving on to the next one.”

  “How close are they?” he turned his head to ask. Our driver had grown used to chauffeuring a couple of vampires and only occasionally glanced at me in the mirror now. He held the wheel tightly, grimly intent on ferrying us to our next destination.

  “They’re just a few kilometres away.” If we continued on our current route in the trucks, they’d be able to hear us shortly.

  Studying the map I’d handed over earlier, the colonel considered our best course of action. “If we take this track, we can circle around and beat them to the next village.” He stabbed a finger at a tiny squiggle on the page.

  Nicholas and I leaned forward to examine the map. Dark brown hair tickled my face and the strands didn’t belong to me. I’d decided the best way of dealing with Nicholas was to ignore him. It was either that or kill him. Considering the numbers of vamps we’d be dealing with, he might come in handy eventually. That’s if he deigns to actually help us fight instead of terrorizing the victims even more by feeding from them.

  Following Sanderson’s finger to the path, I saw where we would end up if we took the road. It would take us far enough away that our quarry shouldn’t hear our engines before we doubled back to the township. “Let’s give it a try.”

  It would be a race to see who would reach the village first. While our vehicles were big and slow, we had a path to follow. The vamps would have to fight their way through the jungle on foot. Being newly made, they would be clumsy and unused to their new strength and speed. It would take them a couple more weeks before they’d become used to their new status as the undead.

  Two hours later, we neared the village and pulled to a stop. Motioning his men to be quiet when they exited from their vehicles, Sanderson turned to me expectantly. My team of vampires took the lead and fanned out ahead. I kept my pace to a fast walk so the humans could keep up. Nicholas strode along at my side, making sure to brush up against me as often as possible. Geordie had been correct in his assessment of the muscle bound addition to our group, Nicholas really did think he was pretty special. He either didn’t realize it or he refused to believe I wasn’t attracted to him. Ok, I found his body nice to look at but it was the package inside the body that put me off. Alive or undead, I would never be drawn to arrogant men.

  Most of the soldiers were breathing hard by the time we reached the outskirts of the village. Sweat ran down the colonel’s face and stained his collar and armpits. It was from exertion rather than fright this time. Well, some of it would be from fright. He was about to have his first battle with my kind. He’d taken down his share of imps but this would be different. This time his prey would be faster, more cunning and desperate to feed.

  Reaching the edge of the village, I heard the tell-tale sounds of humans sleeping or talking softly. Without televisions, radios or telephones, they had no idea that unnatural creatures were stalking through their jungle. In just a few minutes their lives would be altered forever. Even now, I sensed my kin closing in.

  I didn’t think that the Second was with this band of fledglings. He would have sensed me waiting for him and figured out that this was a trap. The disciple leading this mob remained clueless of our presence. I remembered being inside the Second’s mind and wondered if he was sacrificing another disciple. We might be working in our adversary’s favour but we would still take the ancient vampire down.

  Two hundred soldiers weren’t quiet, even when they were trying hard not to make any noise. Most were hunkered down, readying their weapons for battle. My small team did the same. My swords were in my hands and I didn’t remember drawing them. It was freaky the way my body acted without conscious thought sometimes. From his crouch beside me, Nicholas drew his machete. Dried blood caked the rusty blade. For a former Court guard, he took lousy care of his weapons.

  “They’re close,” I whispered to Sanderson. He made hand signals to his men that had them going still and quiet.

  Peering through the trees, I spied the first fledgling as it arrived. Mostly naked and covered in the blood of her victims, she sidled up to the closest hut. “Wait!” a voice snarled in an ancient African dialect from the trees. Cringing, the female looked longingly at the opening of the hut but obeyed the order. That told me the disciple in charge was her maker. If he hadn’t been, she would have already been inside, feasting on the still oblivious humans.

  A lone fire burned in the centre of the village. It didn’t shed enough light to aid the soldiers and most had donned their night vision goggles.

  Emerging from the tree line, an emaciated, grey skinned walking skeleton stopped and lifted his arms up high. At his gesture, dozens of his new servants scurried into the open. Even after almost a week of draining his victims dry, the disciple was still making up for tens of thousands of years of starvation. Horribly thin, his teeth were far too prominent. If he’d been swathed in bandages, he would have looked like a mummy that had escaped from a museum. Blood caked his face and body as well as his filthy loincloth. Still stuck in the past, he hadn’t gotten the hang of wearing clothes yet. Then again, most of the humans he’d attacked so far still wore primitive clothing so maybe he didn’t realize how behind the times he was.

  Sanderson waited until the fledglings were clear of the jungle before signalling his men to attack. A quick count came up with over fifty targets. I didn’t need to instruct the Japanese members of my team what to do, they stealthily circled around to cut off any possibility of retreat. I motioned to the Europeans to follow them but stopped Nicholas with a shake of my head. I would be keeping a close eye on him. He smiled smugly, incorrectly assuming I actually wanted to keep him close.

  Shouldering their weapons, the soldiers took aim and fired at the dozen or so fledglings that were poised at the entrances to the huts. I was on the move before the first bullet shattered the silence.

  Whipping his head in my direction, the disciple drew back his wrinkled lips to hiss in fury. With prey so near, his servants turned into uncontrollable eating machines. Any that weren’t cut down in the initial assault launched themselves at the soldiers, seeing them as food rather than as a threat. A barrage of gunfire rang out, villagers screamed in terror inside their huts and my team of vampires attacked in spooky silence.

  Bright orange flames lit the area as the first soldier fired up his flamethrower. Screeching in agony, a fledgling twisted and turned like a man possessed then dropped to the ground and rolled around in an attempt to put out the flames. It was a useless endeavour and he was soon just a blotch of ooze.

  “You,” the disciple intoned in his ancient language and pointed a wizened finger at me. “You are responsible for this.” He swept a hand at the soldiers who were moving in on his servants. An African soldier went down beneath three frenzied vamps. With forced dispassion, another soldier turned his flamethrower on all four of them.

  “That’s right,” I agreed readily. “What are you goin
g to do about it?”

  Instead of attacking me, the disciple unexpectedly turned and took off into the trees. He was fast, for a mummy, and disappeared from my sight almost instantly. “Stay here and help the soldiers,” I said to Nicholas then took off after my quarry.

  I blamed the continuing gunfire for masking the sounds of the ambush when I ran directly into it. One second the disciple was a barely discernible figure through the trees, the next he had stopped and turned to face me. I halted twenty feet away, wondering what he was up to. Grinning widely, showing off his bloodstained teeth, he shouted an order. “Kill her, my servants!”

  Only then did I realize that I was surrounded by over a dozen fledglings. They’d armed themselves with weapons from the villages that they’d attacked. Spinning in a circle, I knew I couldn’t fight all of them at once. Cutting the first crazed vampire down by chopping off his head, I winced when a spear was thrust into my back.

  There goes another suit, I thought briefly before concentrating on defending myself. Brand new and unskilled in combat, only sheer numbers saved them from being cut down swiftly. They were eerily fast but few could move quickly enough to dodge my weapons.

  More spears pierced my back and I turned to receive one through the stomach as well. Beheading the fledgling who’d dealt that blow, I saw that only four of his friends remained now. Their leader was watching me fearfully and flinched when my glowing eyes landed on him.

  At his urging, the remaining four came at me together. Despite my own speed, I stumbled back when a spear went through my heart. When the disciple crowd in delight, I realized he didn’t know who and what I was. I’d grown used to my kind knowing that nothing could kill me.

  Falling to my knees, I feigned death and crumpled to my side. As far as the disciple knew, that final spear had dealt me a death blow.

  Just as I’d hoped, he was duped by my performance. “Well done, my children,” he crooned. “She fell for my trap just as I knew she would.” Moving closer, he came to within a few feet of me before making his final observation. “Even after so many thousands of years, it appears that women are still stupid.”

  Moving with the shocking speed that set me apart from the rest of my kin, I was on my feet before he could even flinch. Ramming one sword into his chest, the other sliced across his throat. “Who’s stupid now, huh?” I asked him then pulled my swords free.

  Keening with distress as the death of their master, the remaining fledglings made a final effort to kill me. I cut them down then contemplated the state of my suit. With five spears sticking out of me, it wasn’t in very good shape.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I’d removed all but one spear by the time I jogged back to the village. The gunfire had ceased a couple of minutes ago. Either all of the fledglings were dead or all of the soldiers were. At the murmuring of American voices, I figured at least some of the soldiers had survived the encounter.

  Nicholas stood anxiously beside Colonel Sanderson in the centre of the village. Both men exchanged relieved glances when I joined them. Shell-shocked from their first battle with creatures they’d once thought of as mythical, the remaining soldiers checked the bodies of their fallen. Some had survived after being bitten and they were the ones that worried me. If they had ingested any vampire blood, they would turn. Of course, if they fell unconscious when the sun rose, their fate would be pretty obvious. It was the people who had been drained dry that would be impossible to predict if they would rise or not.

  “May I help you with that spear, my Queen?” Nicholas offered.

  Sanderson realized a weapon was sticking out of my back and turned an interesting shade of green. The spear was positioned right in the middle of my back where I couldn’t reach it. “Yes, thanks,” I replied, ignoring the title he insisted on giving me. I turned and he yanked it out. The wound healed before I turned back to him.

  Sanderson quickly counted how many of his soldiers were dead and shook his head. “I lost twenty men during that fight.” His expression was a mixture of anger and sorrow.

  I’d tried to tell him how dangerous the fledglings were but he hadn’t believed me. Now that he had witnessed their mindless need to feed for himself, he was aware of what we were facing. Maybe it was a lesson that had to be learned before he and his men could become more effective. They would have to learn to adapt if they wanted to eradicate this threat.

  Terrified villagers were still huddled in their huts, reluctant to leave the dubious safety of their dwellings. At the soldier’s insistence, they emerged and gathered in a large group. At least we’d been in time to stop these people from being slaughtered or turned. There would be no underground caches of fledglings to locate and destroy this time.

  “We still need to return to the last village the vampires swept through to search for both survivors and hidden fledglings,” the colonel said, as if picking up on my thought.

  It was getting late and we would be pressed for time if we backtracked. While we were cleaning up this latest mess, I’d bet that the remaining eight disciples and their minions were wreaking havoc in the towns nearby. The attacks were drawing further and further apart but at least the fledglings and their masters were still on foot. If they managed to find transportation, our job would suddenly become a lot harder.

  Sanderson organized two of his trucks to transport the survivors back to their main camp several hours away. We torched the bodies of the fallen then headed back to the village we’d bypassed earlier in order to save the next one.

  We found no survivors as we toured the area. There were plenty of children minus their hearts but no adults. With Nicholas at my side like a faithful dog, I sent out my senses to locate the hidden caches of soon to be vampires. Dawn was near by the time I located the last batch.

  Checking his watch, Sanderson motioned to one of the larger trucks. It was fully enclosed with no windows in the back. “You and your people can sleep in the truck if you wish.”

  “I trust that no one will ‘accidentally’ open the door while we slumber inside?” Nicholas said snottily.

  “I trust the Colonel with our lives,” I cut in before Sanderson could respond to the barb.

  The soldier’s expression was tired and angry and he bit his words off. “Natalie has my word that she and her people will remain safe.”

  Nicholas opened his mouth to no doubt say something to further insult the American. I forestalled him by giving him a shove towards the truck. Stumbling several steps, he rounded on me but I utilized my new way of dealing with him by ignoring him completely. “Anyone who doesn’t want to sleep in the truck is welcome to find their own place to spend the day,” I said to my small team. “Sanderson plans to move ahead to the next village while we’re resting. Anyone who doesn’t sleep in the truck will be left behind and will have to catch up to us,” was my final warning. There was always a chance that my team members might simply run off but if they were that cowardly then we didn’t need them on our side anyway.

  Giving Nicholas and the soldiers nervous glances, the Europeans decided to dig their own lairs somewhere in the jungle. Trusting my judgement, the Japanese warriors leaped lightly into the back of the truck. Still ignoring Nicholas, I jumped up after them. I had the door half closed before Nicholas relented and joined our group. I’d almost hoped he wouldn’t so I could have a break from him for a few hours.

  There was plenty of room for the six of us to lie down without rubbing shoulders. I chose a spot near the door, since I’d have the greatest chance of survival if an accident should occur. While I trusted Sanderson to keep us alive, at least until the threat had been dealt with, I didn’t trust his men. All were afraid of us, especially since we’d need to feed from them each night. Now that they had seen the fledglings in person, I could understand their reluctance to allow us to sink our fangs into them again.

  Nicholas settled down beside me, close enough for our shoulders to touch. “You don’t trust me,” he accused me quietly.

  “You haven’t
given me any reason to trust you, Nicholas,” I pointed out. Politely pretending that they couldn’t hear us, the Japanese guards conversed quietly at the far end of the truck. They were worried about their emperor and didn’t like being separated from him. “You’ve basically been acting like a dick from the moment you joined us.”

  “I do not like your companions,” he replied sulkily after a few moments of thought. For him the reply was diplomatic.

  “Why?” I asked with my usual bluntness.

  “They barely knew that I existed when we were at Court. I was nothing to them.” Bitterness crept into his tone. “Now that we are all supposed to be equals, they do not treat me as such.”

  “I repeat, you’ve been acting like a dick. You can’t expect people to treat you well if you treat them like crap first.” I was thinking of how Nicholas had treated Geordie in the past. Bringing it up now would only start an argument. If we ever had that conversation, I didn’t want it to be in public.

  Confused by my logic, Nicholas remained quiet. The sun was almost up before he commented again. “None of them are worthy of you, my Queen. You should surround yourself with powerful, ambitious people, not with the dregs that you have gathered.” His lip was curled as per usual when he made this pronouncement.

  Seconds later, the sun made its appearance and everyone in the truck but me succumbed to death. Studying Nicholas coldly, I was highly tempted to insert one of my blades into his chest. He obviously thought he was one of the people who I should be surrounding myself with. His jealousy and prejudice were growing worse. Luc and Geordie had both stated their intentions of killing Nicholas. Right now I was toying with the idea of beating them to it.

  Subsiding into a half doze, I listened to the soldiers bustling around outside the truck. Sanderson organized his troops when they were finished dealing with the hidden caches of soon-to-be vampires. During the day was our best chance of catching up to our quarry and possibly preventing more attacks from occurring. If we could evacuate as many humans as possible from the area, it would help to keep the numbers of fledglings down.