by Art DeForest
A long-suffering kind of sigh sounded over the phone then. “Did you find your wife and daughter?” She asked.
“No,” I said in resignation. “They weren’t there. Neither was Ahriman. Just his shade again. Issuing orders.”
“What kind of orders?” She asked suspiciously.
“The same one again.” I sighed. “Give yourself up, or the wife and daughter face eternal torment. Yada yada yada. I said trying to play it off. It’s hard to do that though when someone is tapped into the soul.
“You don’t fool me, Dale,” Siobhan said sternly. “You’re contemplating something stupid.” She said frankly.
I didn’t bother to argue. “Look, just come over to headquarters when you can? We’ll all sit down and make a plan.”
“Very well.” She said. “I will see you shortly.” The phone clicked dead in my hand.
++++
“I’m thinking snipers,” I said to the crowd sipping coffee in the ready room back at headquarters. It’s the only way I can think of to convince Ahriman I’m alone and still have a backup.
My team, along with Siobhan and Alex, remained silent for a moment considering the idea. “Oakwood is huge boss,” said Jake after a moment. It’s going to be almost impossible to have someone in a good position to cover you, even if the whole team is spread out through the damned thing. Add to that, him having mojo of his own to detect us and he probably won’t even show if we’re there.” Consternation was clearly visible on his face as he continued to consider our options.
“The size of Oakwood may be to our advantage in that regard,” I responded. “How far out can this guy detect the living without actually seeing them?” I asked, turning to Siobhan.
She returned my gaze speculatively for a moment. “It is hard to tell. We don’t know for sure what abilities he has.” She was silent for a minute in thought. “Can you sense the living through your powers?” She asked abruptly.
“I...I don’t know.” I said as the thought struck me. It wasn’t anything I’d tried before.
“Well, give it a whirl boss.” Said Ray, waving around the room. “You’ve got a bunch of us right here.
I nodded my head nervously at him and lowered my head in concentration. It was tough to find my mojo with all those curious gazes on me, expecting me to pull miracles out of my ass.
Slowly the world outside my head faded to black, and I was able to access the mental image of my abilities. My orb of power. The tentacles of the undead emanated from it as usual, but for the life of me, I couldn’t sense anything else. After a few more minutes of trying, I let out my breath in a gust and looked up at the room.
“Not a damned thing as far as living people go,” I said, half in resignation, half in hope. It would have been a cool ability to have, but if I didn’t, maybe Ahriman didn’t either. I’m not a vampire or even undead, though.” I said, looking at Siobhan. “What’s your human being detection like?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I detect humanity through my physical senses.” Said Siobhan after a moment. “Horror movie cliches aside, I have hearing like a bat.” She said with a sardonic twist of her mouth. “I can literally hear the blood rushing through your veins from twenty yards away if there isn’t much background noise to filter out. And while I don’t see any better than a human during the day, I have infravision at night that allows me to see human sized heat signatures from several hundred yards, with a clear line of sight.”
“Okay,” I said. We’ll use that as our detection threshold.” Siobhan had cleared her throat before I had a chance to continue. A total affectation on her part since she didn’t need to breathe. “He may well have sorcerous methods of detection as well.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Wards of some kind come immediately to mind. As well as the field he placed around the building you blew up.”
I considered what she said for a moment. “I can’t imagine even Ahriman having the power to ward the entire perimeter of the cemetery. If anything he’ll only be able to ward the entrances. As for the field he had cast over the building, I don’t think that will be very useful unless he can’t control the actions of any undead he’s raised for the occasion.”
“It also inhibits your ability to detect undead.” Siobhan reminded me quickly.
“I don’t think he’s going to be trying to hide from me,” I responded. “Like Jake pointed out earlier, Oakwood is a big place, and unless he’s standing at one of the entrances, he’s going to want me to track him down.”
Over the next several hours we hammered out a plan, none of us were really happy about it, but it was the best we can come up with. I just hope it worked.
12
“This is my fight too, Dale! Every bit as much as it is yours!” Siobhan hissed.
The meeting broke up, and I’d sent everyone off to get some rest before the main event at midnight. What I’d hoped would be some energetic lovemaking followed by some much-needed sleep, devolved into an argument, almost immediately upon getting back to Siobhan’s place.
I tried to remain calm and keep my voice level as she started in. “We’ve been over this,” I said with a sigh. “We just don’t know if your people will be able to withstand Ahriman’s power. I said as gently as possible.”
“You don’t trust my ability to control my own?” Siobhan growled
“Of course I do!” I exclaimed. “What’s more you know I do,” I said reminding her of the link we shared.
“I cannot be seen to sit back and simply let humans handle our problems. It would be considered a weakness and there are several members of my family that would seek to use that to their own advantage.” She growled
“This isn’t about politics, Siobhan,” I said, heat creeping into my own voice. “It’s about waking up tomorrow!” I turned my back to her for a moment and took a couple of deep breaths.
“It’s always about politics.” She retorted hotly. “Perception is everything!”
“Bullshit!” I said, turning to face her once more. “All perception means is twisting the truth, so it looks like you want it to!” It was something I’d always hated about government and their lackeys in the media. And it irritated me to no end to hear it coming from my...girlfriend? Gulp.
“Don’t be so naive, Dale. Siobhan’s mouth twisted into a sneer. Manipulating facts to fit one’s agenda has always been the way those in power control those beneath them.” She said coldly.
“That doesn’t make it right,” I said as I turned back to face her, my eyes going cold.
“Right has very little to do with retaining power.” She said, drawing herself up haughtily.
As I stood opposite her, I suddenly saw the master vampire that managed to control a major city. Gone was the loving girl, obsessed with my well being. In her place was a powerful creature of the night, who would not let anything stand in her way.
My shoulders slumped a little in sadness to see it. I knew it was there of course. Our link allowed for nothing less. The shock of seeing her front and center in this guise broke my heart a little. She had to have sensed my inner turmoil, but she stood firm in her convictions.
“You have to do what you think best Siobhan.” I sighed. “But if one of your people comes after me or mine, we will defend ourselves,” I said, letting her see the hunter at my core.
“I understand.” She said, cooly
I turned and walked slowly to the door and opened it slowly. “I love you,” I said quietly, not turning around and let the door shut behind me.
++++
I drove aimlessly for awhile in the golden afternoon light. The rumble of the Mustang and the speed metal of Metallica on the radio, helped me think.
Part of me felt the guilt of having someone new in my life. Especially since the corpses of my wife and daughter were still walking around. The hunter in me knew things would never be as they once were. It also knew that the best thing I could do for them now involved shotguns and big knives used for decapitation. St
ill, I wasn’t sure it was something I could actually do. The doubt haunted me.
The hunter also had his doubts about Siobhan. How could there be any kind of personal relationship with quite possibly the most powerful undead entity that existed for hundreds of miles in any direction? She had shown me both sides of her nature. Which side would win out with me standing in the middle?
As the dark gray light of dusk settled over the city, I pulled into the parking structure of Nightstalker Inc. The lot was empty. No evidence that my team was anywhere around. I was supposed to go in alone after all.
Ahriman said I had to come alone. He didn’t say anything about being unarmed when I showed up. I stood in front of my locker, looking at the instruments of death and defense that lived there for what seemed like a long time before I let out a sigh and started to suit up.
The pit in my stomach that I had since my argument with Siobhan slowly filled with lead as I put on my gear. Tactical pants and a black T-shirt were followed by a bulletproof vest, light amber shooting glasses and a kevlar helmet. Steel toed work boots rounded out the ensemble.
Next came the weapons. My Kimber 1911 went into his customary place on my hip, balanced by the familiar weight of the K-bar on the other side. As a little-added precaution, I slipped a small M&P .45. Into the thigh pocket of my tactical pants. It only held six shots, but as a last resort, it came in handy.
Shouldering my Saiga, I sighed and turned around to leave, catching sight of myself in a nearby mirror. I stood for a moment staring at the image of a stone cold operator in the mirror. I didn’t feel near so tough on the inside.
Finally, I turned and headed out. As I walked, I sent out a thought towards Siobhan. She’d closed herself off to me after the argument. There was still a blank wall between us now. Sighing again, I trudged down the hall towards the elevator. Doing what needed to be done.
13
The big black Mustang slid through the night. Creedence Clearwater Revival sang to me about running through the jungle. It seemed appropriate somehow. Thirty minutes later, I rumbled to a stop outside the main entrance to Oakwood Cemetery. I cast my gaze around looking for a sign that I was being watched, but I couldn’t see a damn thing but the large wrought iron fence and rows of grave markers that quickly faded into the darkness.
I approached the front gate and wasn’t surprised at all when it opened with a jagged creaking sound beneath my touch. Opening it wide, I slipped in and closed it behind me. As I walked down the road leading from the gate, into the depths of the cemetery, I cast out my power trying to find where Ahriman was hiding.
The feel of undead started showing up to my power, winking on light spots of the night in my mind’s eye. Some were brighter than others. Three, in particular, stood out to my attention. The brightest was Ahriman. It was so bright that it almost drowned at the lights nearby it. He couldn’t hide them from me, however. The feeling of my wife and daughter even though horribly changed still beckoned to me like a siren’s call.
Shaking my head, I tried to tune them out for a brief moment as I searched out and counted the other spots scattered around the cemetery. “Thirty besides Ahriman and my family,” I said out loud to myself. “I thought he’d have more.” Shrugging my shoulders I continued on in the darkness.
The road I was on, seemed to be leading me in more or less the right direction, so I felt no need to leave it for the time being. As I walked slowly down it, I could feel myself come to the attention of the undead around me. They were mostly zombies, with a ghoul or to thrown in for flavor. As I penetrated further towards my destination, the undead mass closed in and started following along behind me.
The smell of rot and freshly turned earth was the next thing my senses detected, followed quickly by the sound of moans and then the sight of the shuffling monsters, materializing out of the shadows. I paused, half raising the Saiga as one zombie, in particular, appeared from behind a headstone a short distance off the road beside me. He didn’t attack, however. Instead, he just stood there slavering and moaning hungrily. More of them were coming up to me from behind, but again, none of them attacked. I finally figured it out. Ahriman had sent out a stinking, shuffling undead honor guard to escort me in. Lowering the Saiga I kept walking.
Before long the flickering light of ffire appeared through the trees. It wasn’t very big, but I guessed that was my destination. The road curved gently in that direction, gradually bringing the fire into full view. The eerie orange light cast by a brazier balanced on three metal legs, cast flickering illumination on the figures behind it.
I stopped where I was. My eyes are greedily devouring the sight of my wife and, dear god, the form of Emily standing beside her. She was in a pale dress and looked up as my eyes fell on her, smiling adorably from behind soft curls of auburn hair. “Hi, Daddy.” She said in her little girl voice. Momma said you’d come.”
The statement caused my eyes to move on, taking in Samantha as she stood quietly between Emily and a robed figure. I couldn’t see a face beneath the shadowed cowl of the robe, but I know it was Ahriman. Sam had an expression that was hopeful and fearful at the same time as she clutched at Emily’s hand. The husband in me quailed to see that fear and longed to blast Ahriman out of existence.
The hunter in me just snorted derisively. “They look however Ahriman wants them to look.” It said.
“You do not have the look of a man who has come as a willing sacrifice.” Came Ahriman’s voice from under the cowl.
“A guy’s gotta be prepared in a neighborhood like this, late at night. Never know what’s going to jump out at you.” I said, gesturing at the undead around me.
“This is no time for flippancy, Mr. Frost.” Growled Ahriman, throwing back the hood of his robe and glaring at me with his suddenly glowing green eyes. “Now,” he said commandingly. “Drop your weapons and step forth.”
His power washed over me as he made his demand, but it wasn’t sufficient to crack the mental defenses that I’d worked diligently to put in place. His eyes widened briefly as he felt his power slide off my psyche. “Your vampire whore has taught you a few tricks, I see.” He said, eyebrows drawing together in a scowl. “No matter.” He continued. “You will submit to me willingly or not. The vampire will receive her chastisement in due course.”
“Release my wife and daughter, and I’ll submit. That’s the deal.” I said, putting steel in my voice. “Not before.”
Ahriman chuckled at that. “You have no choice now, Mr. Frost.” He said. “My children surround you. Walk forward and kneel or be dragged.” He said gesturing at the zombies around me. “Deals, as you call them, are only valid if you can enforce them.”
“You know, I figured you’d say something like that,” I said with a growl as I reached into the thigh pocket of my pants and pulled out a thermite grenade. “So, I came prepared.”
My left hand was coming up to pull the pin when a force hit me, taking me brutally to the ground in the blink of an eye. As I shook my head to clear my vision, the grenade was ripped brutally from my grip. “You can’t hurt the Master daddy.” Came my daughter’s sweet voice from above me. Looking up, my heart crumbled in hurt and resignation as I saw her standing above me, holding the grenade and smiling sweetly around her fangs, her blood red eyes, dancing in delight.
“You humans are so predictable.” Said Ahriman, from over by the brazier as dead hands grabbed me roughly and hauled me to my feet. “Always thinking you can save the day with your last second heroics.”
Ahriman’s zombie thugs started dragging me towards the brazier. Emily was back by Sam’s side. They both seemed to be smiling in anticipation of what was to come. “So be it.” I thought in resignation as the zombies pushed me down in front of it.
Looking for the things that used to be my wife and daughter, I looked over to meet Ahriman’s gaze. “That wasn’t the last second heroics,” I said, gesturing to the sky with a single finger. “That was the distraction.”
“What do you…” Started
Ahriman as he was suddenly shoved to the side, pushing him out of the way of the silver cored, .50 caliber, high-velocity round. Unfortunately for the monster wearing the Samantha suit, the momentum of her movement to save her master brought her directly into the line of fire.
I stood frozen as titanic emotions warred with each other inside my soul. Anguish charged to the fore as I lost my wife once again. All the good times we had, flashed through my brain as grief tried to overwhelm me. Relief countered the charge, however, as I stared in horror at the grisly evidence that she would finally rest in peace.
Several things happened at once then. The heads of the zombies who’d been holding me exploded in viscous gore as they received their own high-velocity rounds. My reactions were automatic as my freed arms reached up to grab my Saiga.
“MOMMY!” Shouted Emily before blurring to her side, causing the .50 caliber round designated for her to miss. “Thank god! Dammit!” The father and the hunter inside me thought.
