“That is important,” she said. “We can help each other out.”
“How good of a fighter are you?”
“I’m quite good. I received many awards in judo competitions. Five first-place finishes.” She paused. “I’ll leave the dishes alone. Let’s sit on the sofa for a bit, and then we’ll drive to Hillcrest.” They sat and talked. “But first I have to cancel my meeting tomorrow.”
“Your people will understand?” he asked.
“I’ll just tell them I’m involved with the prince of Elysium and that we’ve teamed up. Since you have a good lead, they will understand.”
“So you know who I am,” he said.
“There’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of Caprius Seaton in this part of the world, or in Alamptria for that matter.” One thing led to another, and Shelly Hathoway lay a kiss upon Caprius. They began to kiss passionately. Caprius found his lips on her neck. She closed her eyes and fantasized. Then Caprius let her go.
“No, I can’t. I’m engaged to be married,” he said.
She undid her jacket and shirt, exposing her breasts. She put his hand upon her breast. “Consider it your bachelor party.” Again she kissed him.
“No, Shelly. We have to go,” he said.
She got off the sofa, and Caprius looked at her beauty. “I just have to make that call.” She tried making the phone call, but there was nothing but static. She decided on another approach. She pushed a button underneath a nearby table. The table flipped horizontally 180 degrees. A communication and security defense-targeting machine had appeared. Then she pushed another button, and a bright white light appeared hovering above the table. She entered a series of digits and pushed another button. “Red boot to command. Red boot to command, do you copy?” Within seconds, a three-dimensional head of a man appeared. The image had a bit of a distortion, as there was some interference. She tried to enhance the signal. “Gambit, can you hear me?” she asked. She had given command a message, but only luck would allow the message to be received. “It’s no good. I don’t know if they received the message,” said Shelly.
“This communication disruption can only mean that the Goncools know our whereabouts,” said Caprius.
Suddenly a red light flickered on and off on the console. As Shelly looked at it, she quickly pushed another button, and a series of small monitors came up from the consol. She quickly turned on six switches, six switches for six monitors. “We’ve got company. They found us,” she said.
“Not the sort of company one would want,” said Caprius. She quickly pushed another button, and up popped the target defense system. From the small attic above them came a series of weapons. Vampires, Goncools, and Magulas were approaching. They looked at the monitors. With the enemy now in sight, Shelly had her hand on a hand controller and fired the machine gun. Immediately the gunner dispersed many bullets. As she held the controller, the gunner swivelled from one side to another, up and down, firing bullets. Vampires were struck, and they plummeted down to the ground. She saw a vampire that had landed on top of the roof. As the vampire walked the rooftop, Shelly waited. When the vampire was in position, she pushed a button, and from within the roof sprang a sharp, long knife, which came out at the vampire’s feet and ripped through its flesh, coming out of the vampire’s neck. Another blade emerged from the first, penetrating the side of the vampire’s head. The creature was dead. Shelly immediately pushed another button, and the blades retracted back below the roof. The vampire fell dead and rolled off the roof onto the ground. She quickly put her hand back on the joystick, firing the gunner. More and more vampires swarming the sky were struck and fell dead. Caprius looked at one of the monitors and noticed a creature approaching the side of the cottage. He looked just below the monitor to see a targeting unit and an orange button. As he continued to watch, he saw the targeting unit light up, and he pushed the orange button. From the side of the cottage, a large flame came out of a metal pipe, which engulfed the creature. The creature burned with rage.
“How did you know about that?” asked Shelly.
“It was the Elysian defense system that gave your agency this weapon. We developed it. I recognize a number of these weapons.” Caprius looked at the side of the cottage from another viewpoint on a monitor. He saw a creature approaching. “You just stay on the gunner, and I’ll take care of the rest,” he said. When the creature came into his sights Caprius pushed a button, and in a split second a razor-sharp cutting tool came from the side wall, spinning with great speed and cutting the creature’s head off. The head tumbled down to the floor along with the body. The vampires continued to fly in the sky, making their way down toward the cottage. Suddenly, the roof began to vibrate.
“Oh no,” said Shelly. “Game over. The Magulas will rip through this roof in minutes. We have to go! Grab your weapon, Caprius.” A creature now approached the door of the cottage. Shelly activated an explosive device and locked it. She quickly opened a door hidden on the floor. “Come on! We’ve got less than one minute before this whole field blows up sky-high.” Caprius and Shelly went below and closed the underground entrance. They ran through the underground tunnel. “My car will be toast in a few minutes. But I’ve got another one underground,” she said.
“I didn’t know there was a tunnel underground here,” said Caprius.
“It was built by the Hesians nine centuries ago. They used it to hide from the Alfadores.”
Back in the cottage, three Goncools walked about. They were dressed in grey trench coats. One Goncool came to the weapon controls. He gestured to the other two Goncools. The two Goncools came over. As they looked at the weapon console they noticed a numbering system counting down. Four, three…
“Oh shit,” said a Goncool. Suddenly there was a big blast, and the whole cottage was blown sky-high. The blast was enormous. Every Goncool, vampire, and Magula was destroyed.
Shelly Hathoway and Caprius drove in a car. They had just come out from underground through an entrance. The car was run-down and quite old. But it had good speed. Shelly stopped the car, turning it as she did so. She and Caprius looked out at the great mushroom cloud. “How did you come into possession of an atomic bomb?” asked Caprius.
“I found the bomb underground. It was from a past war. I said to myself I would use it only in a critical situation.”
“Well, this certainly was a state of emergency. I’m sorry you lost your home,” said Caprius. Shelly began to drive off.
She drove Caprius down the street, going down the sloped hill. Shelly looked over at him. She gave him a smile. Caprius smiled warmly back. She turned the corner and drove swiftly. She made several turns.
“Careful,” he said to her. “We don’t want to end up in a ditch.” She turned another corner. And now she drove straight ahead. “Park just ahead.”
Shelly hit the gas and began to speed. The car drove quickly. Caprius’s eyes widened. She hit the brakes and parked the car.
They got out of the car. Shelly took her two short swords, putting them into her sheaths swiftly. Caprius had his claymore of power. “Where about Hillcrest is your air shuttle?” Shelly asked.
“It’s just over that hill in a clearing,” he said. They began to walk in the deep snow. They walked for half an hour. Now they walked through the woods. “Now let me see. I think it’s this way.” He pointed. They walked downhill, passing the trees. The branches were blanketed with a light snowfall. As the branches crackled, the snow upon them fell to the ground. Now Caprius saw his shuttle in the distance. Walking, they now approached the air shuttle. Caprius pushed a few buttons on his right wristband. Steam blew out of the side of the ship, and the back door of the shuttle opened from the bottom. They walked in.
There wasn’t a lot of head room, as one had to crouch down a bit. It was a small ship from the inside. But the exterior of the ship made it seem wider. That’s because the exterior metal walls were equipped with all sorts of technological devices. And the exterior walls were quite thick and could take a very heavy
collision. This was a four-seat shuttle. As they walked in, the lights all along the walls lit up. Each seat had a light above it giving a soft glow. Along the front of the shuttle’s interior, on the ceiling, were hundreds of red and blue light sensors that twinkled on and off vertically. They lit row by row from left to right, and as one row of light blinked off the next row blinked on. The lights blinking from left to right took half a second. Now they seated themselves and fastened their seat belts diagonally from below. “Put your helmet on,” he said to her.
Shelly slipped the helmet on. “It’s a little too big for me.”
“Push the large button on the right side above the ear,” said Caprius.
Immediately, a cushiony, foamlike material expanded, filling up the space on the sides of the helmet. At the ear there was a small, quarter-inch pinhole, which was a hearing aid. And now as they spoke the sound of their voices was heard in a mono sound, which was played at medium volume. One wouldn’t be able to hear one’s voice otherwise with the foam material. That’s why the hearing aid was installed. The helmet served as great protection in case of a crash landing.
“Shelly, push the blue button on your seat belt.” As Shelly pushed it, the strap that came from the top right of her shoulder to her bottom left side began to expand four inches from the center to two inches at the top and bottom of the strap, where it finished expanding. At a thickness of one inch the material hardened. It still provided good comfort. Caprius turned on the rearview monitor, which was in front of them in the center. He turned on the ignition by pushing an orange button, and the shuttle came to life. Then he pushed a white button, and the pistons blew out air. Caprius pulled down a lever on his right side, and the air shuttle strode on and upward. The shuttle now glided above the trees, flying low. They flew at an extremely low speed; the journey to their destination would take them only about six minutes. Caprius and Shelly looked out of the cockpit at their surroundings. Snow covered the trees. They were up on a hill, but the hills very much below them down the mountainside had little or no snow. They were now approaching a small home, which was situated on a small hill surrounded by a lake. You couldn’t park on land, as there was no place to touch down. “There it is,” said Caprius.
The sun was setting and cast a beautiful array of bright red colors. “It’s beautiful here,” she said.
“We’re making our descent now,” he said. Caprius pushed a button, and at the bottom of the shuttle two long, hard-cushioned rubber tubes began to inflate. The shuttle was white and silver with red, striped markings and lettering that red NIC CRO - T40. The rubber tubing that inflated was black. And now the shuttle skid along the water and touched the surface. The shuttle landed just at the shoreline. Caprius pulled down another lever, which caused the rubber tubing on the bottom to move back and rotate. The shuttle was pulled onto the shore, closer to land, but much of the shuttle still was on the water. With a push of the button, the top of the glass cockpit swung slowly open. They pushed a red button on their seat belts, and the belts deflated, becoming loose. They unfastened them. When they pushed a button on the left side of their helmets above their ears, the foam inside their helmets let loose. They took them off, setting them aside. Caprius then pushed a button, and at the center of the console the front of the shuttle descended to the ground in pieces, creating a series of steps. From the front of the shuttle they walked out. Caprius pushed a button in the center of the shuttle’s front side, and the cockpit quickly closed up. The stairs to enter the shuttle remained. A moment later, all the lights within the shuttle had shut down.
“Well, now that we’re here, we can pay our little visit. Just let me do the talking.”
“If he even is at home,” said Shelly. They began to walk up the rugged hilltop. It was hard on their knees. They came to a flight of concrete stairs. They walked up. The stairs circled up and to the left. At the side of the stairs the grass had pockets of snow. They went up nearly one hundred feet until they touched the surface. On the far left there was a cliff, and it went down straight into water.
They entered the walkway and came to the front door. Caprius tried turning the knob. “It’s open,” he whispered. They walked in. Walking the wooden hallway, they looked around. They checked one room and then the one in back. There was a light coming from beneath the door of the room on the left. Caprius slowly opened the door. As the door swung open, there stood a man who took a swing at Caprius. Caprius ducked and hurled the man over him. The man landed on his back. Shelly had entered the room to see another man seated at a table. He had been playing a game of chess with the other man. He did not move. He just looked at Shelly as she walked toward him. Caprius was run into by the man and pushed to the back wall. The man threw a punch at Caprius’s abdomen. Caprius pushed the man’s face with his hand. As the man drew back, Caprius swung his fist, hitting his face with his other hand.
“Don’t move,” Shelly said to the seated man. The man sat still, just looking at her. He seemed rather tired. The other man swung his fist at Caprius, missing, and Caprius grabbed his arm. He twisted the man’s arm, turning it behind his back. The man grabbed Caprius’s hand and swung around, and they pushed each other. Their hands were in the air, tight against each other. Caprius hit his forehead against the man’s nose, hard. His nose began to bleed. Caprius grabbed the man’s short hair with one hand and threw a punch at his face. The man drew back and lost part of his hair as it was torn off. Caprius looked at the clump of hair in his fist. He threw it away.
Slapping the man’s face with his back hand, Caprius clenched his fist and swung, hitting his jaw. The man’s tooth flew out. The man reached out, grabbing Caprius by his collar. As he pulled Caprius toward him, with his other hand he grabbed Caprius by the crotch and flipped him onto a table. Landing on the table, Caprius pulled the man toward him, and they both rolled off the table. Caprius landed on his back with the man on top of him. He pushed the man up, pulled him over his head, then flipped him over, throwing him. The man’s legs hit the wall. Caprius quickly turned, rose to his feet, and grabbed the man’s legs close to his shoulders. The man squeezed his legs together, grabbing Caprius’s neck. He twisted and flipped Caprius onto the floor. Caprius’s body hit a nearby table with all sorts of trinkets, a small brass clock, and a letter opener. The table’s front legs broke, and everything came crashing down on Caprius.
The letter opener slid toward the man. Looking at the letter opener, the man grabbed it and brought it down toward Caprius. Caprius had just sat up quickly as the letter opener’s point hit the floor. Caprius turned the man over, grabbing his wrist. They both struggled for the letter opener. Caprius overpowered him, bending the man’s wrist back. The letter opener fell to the floor. Caprius turned his back and hurled the man over him. As the man fell on his back, Caprius reached for the letter opener and quickly put it to the man’s neck. The man grabbed Caprius’s wrists. Caprius pushed down hard. The point of the letter opener came to the man’s windpipe. They struggled. With every ounce of strength, Caprius pushed down hard, penetrating the man’s windpipe. Blood oozed out. The man gasped as he held Caprius’s wrists. A moment later, the man’s eyes rolled back, and he was dead. The man’s hands fell to his chest. Caprius sat on the floor, looking down at the lifeless body. The letter opener pierced the man’s throat.
After taking several breaths, Caprius rose to his feet. He looked at the man seated by the chess table, Shelly standing by his side. He slowly walked over to them, fixing his posture. Caprius pulled the chair forward and sat down in front of the man. He looked into his eyes. The man looked like he was low on energy. As he looked closer, he noticed that the man was actually seated in a wheelchair. “You sick?” asked Caprius.
“I lost my legs years ago. They’re useless to me. Might as well cut them off,” said the man.
“You’re Rover Tilbury?” The man didn’t answer. “That’s okay. I know you are.” Caprius glared at his face. “You know why I’m here?” The man didn’t answer. “That’s okay. I kno
w you do.”
“I was wondering when you’d come. They said that a Seaton would show up.”
“We haven’t got much time,” said Caprius.
“I guess my time has come. No matter. I don’t have much of a life anyways.”
“What do you know about the Goncools?”
“I know they’re out for blood.”
“It’s more than that.” Caprius drew a breath. “Trenton. What do you know about him?”
“He’s in charge of the whole operation. It’s him you got to take down. Cut off the snake’s head, and the others will weaken. He’s the mastermind. The others, they’re just pawns.”
Caprius looked down at the chess game. He thought momentarily. “Queen to king four.” He moved the chess piece. The man made his move.
“Trenton is the brains behind all this. The vampires, they listen to him and the rest of the Goncools. It’s not the undead that will take control but rather the Goncool who thrives on the pure blood of Makoor—an extract, taken from a flask, that is very potent. They take that, they’re far more powerful than the vampire.” Caprius made his next chess move. The man thought and made his move.
“Who is Makoor?”
“You’ll never find him. He’s somewhere in Mount Drone. That country is vast. If you get rid of Trenton, that will weaken Makoor. He thrives on the vampires’ and Goncools’ success. The more you kill, the weaker he gets.”
“I’m going after him,” said Caprius.
“Ha,” Tilbury laughed. “You think it’s easy? Taking him on alone?” The man made his next chess move. “You take one step on his property, you’ll be dead before you know it. You won’t even get a chance to look upon him.”
“You were once a Goncool, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was. And now I’m human again.”
“Why did you defect?”
The Dark Magical World of Alamptria Page 9
