“Well, this is familiar,” I said, recognizing the fog-like darkness from my previous encounter with Thanatos. As soon as the last syllable left my mouth, the door behind me slammed shut. I didn’t try to open it; I knew it would be immovable.
“Ah, John. It is as I had hoped.” The saccharine voice emanated from the darkness. “Welcome to my palace.” At the last word the darkness abruptly dropped away, dissolving into nothing, revealing a huge circular room. The dome of the giant cistern rose thirty feet high, maybe more. Tunnels opened up at regular intervals around the wall like spokes on a wheel. Water dripped intermittently from cracks coursing through the walls of the dome, and a small trough around the outer edge led the water to drains. In the center of the room, Thanatos himself sat on an intricately carved high backed iron throne. Wall sconces provided relatively brilliant illumination that stung my eyes as the previous darkness faded, but the light also revealed an uncountable number of vampires arrayed behind the iron throne. Thanatos’s aura of black shocked through with red obscured the auras of those behind him in the same way that a black hole might obscure the view of stars.
“Not exactly Buckingham Palace, is it?” I asked wryly. Thanatos chuckled softly, and I was once more struck that even the softest sound he made was perfectly clear and audible despite the distance from which he spoke.
“While I would enjoy an aboveground abode, I’m afraid that the light of the sun causes my kind substantially greater discomfort than that of my brothers and sisters. Thus, I reside in these subterranean places out of necessity. While this may not be the glorious home I once had in Paris, it does well to suffice for now.”
“I thought vampires as old as you didn’t burn up in the sun,” I said.
“Oh, I certainly wouldn’t. In fact, I enjoy the occasional morning stroll, but even the very oldest of my children find the light… irritating.” He was smiling broadly. I had a feeling he was one of those types who loved to hear himself speak. I’ll admit that he did have a manner of speaking that was almost alluring in a strange and eloquent way, but I wasn’t here for a longwinded lecture. I brought my flamethrower to bear and approached the throne until I was well within range to spray him and the vampires behind him down.
“I’ve learned a lot about what irritates your kind lately,” I said as I pumped the trigger twice and two orbs of fire shot out and splattered against the stomachs of two vampires I had fired at. I had aimed at their faces for effect, but gravity spoiled the trajectory of my shots as they flew—I’d need to remember that. The vampires screamed as the fire consumed them, and the vampires nearest them simply walked away, snarling as their fellows smoldered and slowly crumbled into dust. The smile that Thanatos wore had never as much as twitched.
“Subdue him,” He said, and the horde of vampires charged at me, screaming furiously. I had counted on this and switched the flamethrower from single shot to full auto, as it were. I unleashed the stream of liquid fire upon the throng of vampires, and to my surprise they scattered with uncanny agility. Many caught the full force of the fire and exploded into flame, screaming soundlessly in unreal pain. Those few who had skittered away now made their way towards me in arachnid fashion, and as they closed to a range that I gauged to be too close for them to dodge, they each caught a short burst from the flamethrower and met the same fate. This went on unabated for approximately six seconds, and then my flamethrower spit compressed air when it ran out of fuel. The damage was done though, and no less than twenty vampires writhed in front of me, not counting those that had expired instantly in the heat of the flames. I shrugged off the flamethrower and pulled out my Desert Eagle and made sure there was a round chambered before drawing my longsword in my right hand.
Thanatos looked over the flaming ruin of his small army as more vampires filed in from the tunnels behind him, all snarling hatefully. His ever-present smile widened and he cocked his head to one side as the flames died completely. “Again.”
The vampires rushed at me again, and I had expected this as well. I tucked my sword under my arm and pulled out my last grenade, pulled the pin and then dropkicked it right at Thanatos himself. One large and anciently powerful-looking vampire caught the grenade in a flash before it got even half way to its primordial target, and continued to carry it towards me. He was in the middle of the crowd of approach vampires, which was absolutely perfect, I thought as I called upon my power to fuel my limbs and jumped away. I didn’t fuss with my aptly named first limit either, I immediately went over the top. The second that grenade exploded the surviving vampires would rush me, and I’d need every ounce of strength to fight them.
The grenade detonated violently and everything within 15 feet of the blast was either obliterated completely, or fell squirming to the stone floor. The rest of the vampires charged ferociously after me as anticipated. I emptied my handgun into the nearest vampires, dispatching three of them, and then held my longsword aloft in preparation for the onrush. A cluster of four vampires with penetratingly powerful auras closed in on me, their clawed hands reaching out to grasp me, and I smiled wickedly as my own power dilated my perception of time and those vampires slowed to a crawl.
My sword flowed through the air like a ribbon of silver light and I leapt to the left as I cut, leaving the vampires who had charged me without hands. My power pumped mesmerizingly through my body and mind, and I felt the sense of righteous indignation creep up in my heart. These creatures, like so many others, were below my notice. I pulled my sword back and slid back to the right and cut off the chorus of their pained shrieking with a single stroke. Their bodies fell into four separate piles of ash as the rest of the vampires—no more than fifteen remained standing now after the grenade blast—stumbled to a clumsy halt as I gave them a terrible grin. My head began to pound.
That’s the stuff.
I walked boldly up to them, my grin unwavering, and slew them as they gained their courage and attacked with discrete and graceful strokes through the chest or neck. Each one fell with such ease that I began to laugh as I cleaved their tender flesh. I had cut through ten of them in as many seconds, and the remainder retreated in horror. I spread my arms wide and cackled wildly as they fled before me. I had not forgotten Thanatos himself was watching me, but he just seemed so insignificant sitting on his throne with his hand on his chin, sharing in my smile.
“What’s wrong? Is that all? You’re not serious!” I shouted and tossed my sword into the air, slapping a fresh magazine into my Desert Eagle and caught my sword while cracking off five shots into the backs of each retreating vampire’s skull and then leveled my weapon at Thanatos himself and squeezed the trigger. Right as the hammer came down, I felt a gentle impact on my right shoulder and suddenly the world twisted wildly about me. I flew through the air and crashed into the wall, crunching into the stonework. The jacket had done its job of absorbing the impact that sent me flying, but it didn’t increase my mass—a hard enough hit would still send me flying—nor did it protect my head or legs, which now pained me considerably for a moment as I fell to the ground.
Leon smiled at me and held a long length of twisted lead pipe over his shoulder. No villainous speech, no quips, no insults. He was dressed in a smart business suit that clashed strongly with the company he was keeping. He was flanked by two other Thanatic vampires, both equally ancient and powerful. I rose to my feet and tried to grin; my mind still processed these three vampires who’d snuck up on me as puny and unthreatening, but my body was much too hurt at the moment to do much more than force a wince. There was an ugly pinching sensation as my left femur snapped back into one piece from two, and my pain diminished enough that I squared off against my assailants. They cackled like hyenas as they approached me, and then they were gone.
The next hit drove me to my knees, and then a flurry of impacts all over my body drove me onto my back. I could see from my new vantage the three vampires standing around me grinning with malevolent glee as they swung lengths of pipe or kicked me. Their movements were ungra
ceful, even brutish, but they were terribly fast and strong. Each swing of the pipe actually knocked Leon into the air from recoil, and also drove my mind further from arrogance and closer to panic. I flailed and tried to stand, but when I got to my knees I felt the thunderclap impact of the lead pipe smash into my jaw, shattering it, and in an instant the world went dark. The intense and familiar pain brought back aching memories that I had been trying to bury, memories I hadn’t wanted to remember right now, or ever again.
I could see Kelly standing in front of me, a dripping knife protruding horrifically from his chest. Morris was next to him, her arm over his shoulder, and a semi-circle of flesh missing from her neck. I hadn’t seen her die, but I knew what had become of her. My nameless gunner lay on the ground in front of me, giving me the thumbs up as blood poured from wounds I couldn’t see under his clothing. Fat Captain Repnack approached me from behind them, his stomach grossly distended and splattered with blood that dribbled down out of his mouth and over his chin. He crouched over me and smiled, and I could see flecks of flesh and gristle stuck firmly between his teeth. The stink of his breath was like ten miles of carrion left to rot on a sunbaked stretch of road. He slapped me.
“You fucking pussy, look at you. Laying limp there like the enlisted sack of shit that you are, can’t even stand up, can you?” He spat in my face and stood, kicking me in the stomach and driving the air from my lungs. My stomach revolted and I retched onto his boots and curled into the fetal position, gasping desperately to get my wind back. “Look what you did now, you goddamned shitbag. I can’t even keep my boots clean with idiots like you running around in this godforsaken place. You know what your problem is, Magnus?” He knelt again and wrapped his sausage-fingers around my throat, squeezing hard until my head started to hurt.
“S-Sir…” I sputtered, less a word and more a groan.
“You can’t even handle a little fucking convoy. I send you outside the wire to bring some goddamned wrecks back, and you go and get your whole team killed. Maybe you should have died instead, you little faggot. Look at me!” He shouted suddenly and slapped me again. I looked at his mouth as it moved disgustingly, flecks of blood and spittle spraying my face. “I want to hear you say it, you orphan cunt. Say you should have died instead, say you want to die. Say it!” He slapped me again and squeezed my neck harder until I couldn’t breathe. The pressure inside my head was growing hideously painful until spots began to form at the edges of my vision.
“And you thought you had the stones to go down into a sewer and fight some kind of vampire king? You’re an idiot, Magnus, an idiot and a failure. You can’t fight a goddamned battle like this. Hell, you can’t even kick my fat ass.” He laughed in my face and then rammed his forehead into mine, further dazing me. I tried to open my mouth to scream and realized my jaw was still completely shattered, and the snarling shriek that issued from between my teeth sent fresh waves of pain rolling over me.
“Are you going to call out for your mommy and daddy now? You know, I heard from a reliable source that they did the same thing in almost the exact situation you’re in now—biting off more than they can chew. Go ahead, Magnus, let me help you.” His grip loosened slightly until the air filled my burning lungs again. I gasped greedily as the haze faded from the corners of my sight, but the pressure in my head kept building painfully as if racing to some sort of climax. The pressure transcended pain, really, turning into a separate sensation. I looked up and stared into Repnack’s eyes. They were iridescent green with shocks of red spiking out from the pupil.
“You!” I growled and clawed at his hands, gripping his wrists and squeezing the tendons until his fingers slid from my throat.
“What’s this, Magnus? Did you find some balls in your pocket?” He asked with a grin and then slowly drove his hands back towards my neck.
“You… what are you?!” I shouted as my jaw crackled back into place and became whole. The pressure in my head reached a peak point as I felt my libs regain their strength and I yanked Repnack’s hands aside and grabbed him by the throat. His eyes bulged as I drove him to the ground and tightened my fingers around the spongy flesh that squished up between them and pressed my thumbs into the lump in his throat.
“You know what I am, John! You know who I am!” Repnack breathed into my face. His eyes glittered with amusement as I squeezed harder.
“I’ll kill you…” I whispered. “I’ll kill you, you bastard; I’ll kill you so goddamned dead…”
“Well, Johnny,” Repnack said as a second, effeminate voice lay over his own. He couldn’t have been talking, my thumbs were buried deep in his neck and I could feel his spine under them, and yet he did nothing but smile. “I know how you love a challenge.”
I remembered saying those words to him right before going out on my mission that ended in disaster. In a flash, as if triggered, the pressure in my head felt like it felt a crack and burst. Light flooded over and through my body, but not gently. It was a tidal wave of energy that I could feel pressing against my skin, looking for release. My organs twisted in agony as the raw power threatened to kill me in its calling and worked its way through me with nightmarish purpose. Instantaneously, I was awake.
The vampire under me twitched twice and began to burn. My fingers were wrapped around his shattered spine; I had simply squeezed through the flesh of his neck. Leon had backed away and the remaining Thanatic vampire beat at me with a pipe, but each blow slid away from me as it connected, my flesh refusing to absorb the kinetic energy of every strike. I stood and looked at them. I didn’t feel contempt for them, nor pity. They were a curiosity, like caged animals. Harmless, but intriguing for all their ferocity. I let him beat on me for a moment before I grabbed his head and crushed it in my hands like a soft melon. I watched the ashes drift up from my hands, even the blood turning to red dust on my skin. The others shouted something, but I couldn’t understand them. I knew they had spoken English, but it was as if they were too far away for the sound to properly reach me. I walked up to Leon and embraced him.
“Shh, it’s alright. You tried,” I said, but I’m not sure why. With a sudden twisting jerk of my shoulders, he fell to the ground with his eyes wide and his limbs unmoving. I turned and looked at the rest of the vampires. They charged me slowly; though I was sure it was much faster to them. Thanatos held up a hand, wearing his same smile.
“That’s quite enough, leave him.” Thanatos said, and I understood him. The vampires all skidded to a halt and then retreated to behind the iron throne. His voice cut through the haze of violence in my mind.
“I want my uncle.” I hadn’t forgotten my purpose, but everything I saw had taken on new colors and textures, and I was curious as if seeing everything for the first time. This all served to distract me from my goal, but I was determined to get my uncle and escape, and I focused on this through an effort of will.
“Of course you do. Bring him,” Thanatos said and waved his hand. In moments my uncle was dragged from a tunnel behind the throne and brought to kneel beside it. He looked awful; his aura was a flickering and weak thing, and there were dozens of fresh not-quite-healing bites all over his body. He looked at me and grinned.
“Hey there kiddo, you might wanna calm down, you’re burning out,” He said, and I noticed he was squinting. I nodded.
“In a minute, we’ve got to get out of here first,” I said and began to stride cautiously towards him. A gurgling sound distracted me. I looked down and saw Leon opening and closing his mouth. Disgust washed over me and I took two steps back, swung a leg, and kicked him in the chest. He flew up to the ceiling and crashed into it before falling to the center of the room in a tumble of ruined limbs, but still somehow alive. As I neared the throne, Thanatos stood and stepped into my path. I noticed then that the dusky robes he wore weren’t fabric at all, but something like a physical manifestation of shadows. It was a concentration of darkness that he wore like clothing, and the robe swirled around his body much more than I had noticed previously.
&
nbsp; “This is perplexing. You should be losing your mind right now; your very thoughts should be burned out of you by the force of your power, and yet there you stand, coherent and calculating.” Thanatos said, rubbing his chin. “Most curious.”
“Thanatos, I don’t know if I can defeat you like this, but I know that if you don’t give up my uncle that I’ll try. Do you know if you can defeat me, vampire?” My voice was level and calm. Thanatos raised a bony eyebrow.
“There it is… Someone has been messing with your mind. Allow me to—” He waved his hand and I fell to my knees in brutal agony. “Illuminate you.”
I heard the beeping of hospital equipment. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I heard someone speaking. The voice was coming from next to me. “Don’t worry, John. That’s all I want you to do. Your life is going to change, and I just don’t want you to worry. You can trust me, it’s okay to be trusting.” My uncle’s voice washed over me like the beating of drums. I recognized the flow of power now as he spoke; it was compulsion. In my mind I struggled as his desperate pleas infused me with his desires. He had done it while I was in the hospital. Not once, but repeatedly, for days.
“You’re going to want to be scared, you’re going to want to run away, but we can’t afford that, hoss. There’s too much going on, buddy… and I need your help. I need you to be trusting, and I need you not to worry. At least for a little while. You can do that for me, right? You can help me?”
The Chronicles of a Vampire Hunter (Book 1): Red Ashes Page 26
