Under Attack

by Katrina Kahler

  “I am part-cat!” I insisted.

  “Is that a yes or a no?” Frank asked.

  “It’s a no,” Veronica said. “I didn’t blast her brain. At least not on purpose.”

  I moved forward and continued to sniff. “The cat in me has a very advanced sense of smell. The vampire in me has super sensitive senses also. I should be able to sniff out the hologram. But it will take a lot of concentration.”

  “Okay,” Frank said, pretending to zip his mouth.

  Moving forward on all fours, I kept my nose to the ground. Something inside me told me I’d be able to identify the hologram when I sniffed it. No idea what it would smell like. I guessed it was my animal instinct...there are times when I just go with the flow, let my senses take over. To do that, I had to open up my mind and let everything around me in, all the sights, all the sounds, and all the scents. Then I needed to sift through all that mental data to find what I needed to find.

  The trick was that I had no idea what I needed to find, no idea what I was looking for. I only knew it would be different. It would stand out. I didn’t know if it would jump out or just subtly sneak out. I guessed it would be the latter, but that was only a guess. I truly had no idea. I had never thought about sniffing out a hologram.

  "Use your eyes too," Ruby suggested. "My educated guess is the hologram will distort the world a little. Human eyes won't notice it but superhuman eyes will!"

  I continued to move around on all fours, scanning the area with my eyes and nose. Yeah, I felt a little awkward (especially doing this in front of Fadhili), but sometimes you have to be awkward to get the job done! No time or room for pride when it comes to protecting the animals on the reserve. I would sniff out Maximum and get to the bottom of this.

  Moving forward with my nose to the ground, butt in the air (which had to look ridiculous), I continued sniffing. Something smelled off. No idea why. This one spot right in the middle of nothing smelled wrong. It actually made my nose tingle. Concentrating my eyes on the spot I noticed the ground below blurred just a little; a normal person wouldn't have noticed. Luckily, sometimes it's good to be not normal. (At least at times like this.) I rubbed my fingers over the ground digging up the dirt. The dirt wavered and shimmered. Yep, I had found something.

  “This is it!” I shouted and stood up, brushing the dirt off my hands.

  “How do you know?” Veronica asked.

  “I just do!” I said. “I really don’t know what else to say!”

  Frank smiled. “If you say it’s there, then it’s there.”

  “Ditto!” Fadhili said.

  Standing up, I lifted my leg and smashed it down on the spot where I thought the hologram was covering the door. I heard and felt a metallic sound. Taking that as a good sign, I repeatedly smashed down on the spot, alternating my legs. After a few leg slams, the spot shimmered. The dirt and grass disappeared, revealing a round platform.

  “I bet that’s the elevator to Richard Maximum’s place!” Frank said, shouting what we were all thinking.

  “Yep,” I said.

  “Now that we, well you, have found the door, how do we open it?” Veronica asked.

  “That’s a really good question,” I replied.

  Ruby bent down and pulled a long electronic rod from her backpack. You never knew what Ruby had in that backpack. Waving the rod over the door in the ground, the rod started to beep and flash. "Wow, this door is locked with a 32-bit electronic lock that is constantly changing and impossible to pick or break."

  “Never say impossible!” Veronica said. She locked her eyes on the spot. She started to concentrate. She clenched her fists. Sweat formed on her brow. She bit her bottom lip.

  The door shook and rattled but didn’t open.

  Not giving up, Veronica clenched her teeth. You could almost hear them grinding together. “Help me, Cuz!” she said to me. “This needs cousin team power.”

  “But I already pounded on it!” I said.

  “I think she wants you to use your brain,” Frank said, pointing to the power-magnifying device in my ear. “Use brain power!” Frank added in case I still hadn’t figured it out.

  I took a deep breath. I held it in. I let it out. I focused on the spot on the ground. The force from Veronica’s mind had made the door shake and rattle. But it still stayed locked on the ground, refusing to open. “Now you’re not going to keep us out!” I told the door.

  “Ah, it’s a door, it can’t hear you,” Frank said.

  “Quiet, Frank,” Ruby ordered. “Let her concentrate.”

  “Right!” Frank clasped his hand over his mouth.

  Adding my brainpower to Veronica’s, certainly improved the situation. The ground around the door started to shake violently. We heard a rattling bending noise. I decided that had to be a good thing.

  A round metal plate ripped off the ground and flew up into the air.

  “We did it!” Veronica said. The door’s cover ripped open, and we saw a long tube leading down.

  “That has got to be the way in!” Frank said, stating the obvious, but with so much excitement it kind of excited us all.

  “Let’s get down there!” Veronica said.

  “Wait, there could be guards or whatever waiting at the bottom of this thing!” Ruby warned.

  “Exactly! That's why just Veronica and I are going in!” I said. Looking at Veronica, I said, “Right V?”

  She nodded. “Right.” Lifting her head, she told Frank, Fadhili, and Ruby, “You will not follow us down, no matter what.”

  They all repeated. “We will not follow you down no matter what.”

  “What if you call for help?” Frank asked.

  Veronica looked at me. “That is a valid question.”

  “We can’t risk it!” I said. “If we ask for help, they should call Mom, Dad, and Cousin Vinnie.”

  “Right,” Veronica said. “You all heard that right?”

  The three nodded.

  Veronica pointed to the long tube leading down. “Which one of us goes first?”

  “Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide?” I said.

  “Sure,” she said.

  We formed our hands into fists. We shook them three times. She opened her hand up to form rock; I opened my hand up to form paper. “I win!” I said. “I’ll lead the way!”

  “Go for it, Cuz!” she said.

  Nina Note: Okay, I just have to say that using my mental mind powers like that felt GREAT! I mean, I am part vampire and part tiger, so I naturally love power. I have a lot of power even without using my mind power. But wow, using that power made me feel even more, well, powerful. If I could master this, it would be extremely helpful in my life.

  Telekinesis is super cool. And, who knows? I might be able to increase my hypnotic power too.

  Right now, Veronica certainly beats me there. But that’s okay; it’s nice to have a cousin on my side. Even if I do sort of like her boyfriend… Yeah, I probably should get over that and fast. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and sometimes the heart doesn't listen to the brain. In my case, though, my heart wasn't sure what I wanted. I didn't think my brain did either.

  The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed to concentrate. And stop Maximum!

  Chapter 11: A Strange Sense of Style

  Sliding down the long cylinder tube, I was reminded of a water park ride where you slide down a tube into the water. While this tube may have been transparent, I could only see earth all around me. However, I felt reasonably certain this ride would not end up in the water.

  I was wrong. I splashed down into a big pool of water. I heard a computer voice say, "Due to an unauthorized entrance, the sharks have been released."

  Before I could say anything to Veronica to warn her...she dropped into the water too.

  “Now that was unexpected,” Veronica said. “But fun!”

  I pointed to the three huge gray sharks heading through the water towards us. The closest one opened its jaw, showing us its teeth.

  “O
kay, maybe not so much fun,” Veronica said.

  I floated with my arms crossed. I told the shark, "You do not want to mess with us!"

  The sharks continued to zoom at us. Mouths wide open. Now I really didn't want to hurt these sharks, they were, after all, just doing what comes naturally to sharks. But I also didn't want them to chomp on me or V. Leaping up out of the water; I smacked the lead shark on its snout. Its mouth snapped shut. The shark looked at me, and I believe it frowned. I glared back. The shark turned and swam away.

  The other two sharks kept coming.

  “I’ve got this!” Veronica said.

  “Don’t hurt them!” I yelled.

  “I won’t, don’t worry, I love sharks!” she said.

  She concentrated her mind on the sharks. The two sharks swam forward. They both jarred to a stop, their noses crinkled up as if they had rammed into a wall.

  “Telekinetic force field,” Veronica said.

  The sharks turned around. They darted at the force field again. Their noses squished against the unseen field once more. The two sharks turned. They swam away defeated.

  “That worked out well,” Veronica said.

  We swam to the edge of the water. It led to a mirrored hallway. When I say mirrored, I mean the walls, floor, and ceiling were all mirrors.

  “I feel like I’m in an amusement park,” I told Veronica.

  “I don’t find this funny at all!” she said. “I find it creepy and weird.”

  The long weird hallway went on for a LONG time. We walked for at least 5 minutes before we spotted a red door at the end of the hallway.

  “Well, at least we’re near the end,” Veronica said. “I hope!” “Yeah, Maximum has a weird sense of style,” I replied.

  “You’re not kidding,” V said with a smile.

  I stepped on a floor panel. I don’t know how but I sensed that this panel felt different from all the others. Yeah, it could have been just a random thing, but I didn’t think Maximum was the type of guy who would have cheap craftsmanship in his super secure hideout.

  I held my arms out straight and stopped Veronica from proceeding.

  “Wait,” I whispered.

  “What?” she asked.

  A bunch, and I mean a whole lot of darts came flying at us from the red door. Reacting with my blur speed, I caught one and dropped it to the floor. I caught another and another, dropping them to the floor. Leaping into the air, I kicked five others away. I caught two others right before they hit Veronica.

  I missed three other darts, but Veronica simply glared at them, and they dropped harmlessly to the ground.

  “Thanks, Cuz,” she said. “I needed that heads up.”

  I sniffed the air and looked at the floor, scanning for any more signs of traps. I didn't see or sense any. We walked up to the door. The door had a simple doorknob in the middle. A holographic sign appeared over the knob that said…Turn Knob To The Left.

  “Can it be that easy?” Veronica asked.

  “Let’s see!” I said. I grabbed the doorknob. I turned the knob to the left. Volts and volts of electricity shot through my body.

  “Nnnnnnoooo nnnnnnooooot tttttttthhhat eeeeeeeasy,” I squealed.

  Ignoring the massive charge of electricity and the smoke coming from my hair, I turned the knob to the right. The jolting stopped. The door popped open. There, in the middle of a giant living room stood a well-dressed man with a cool mustache and an expensive haircut.

  “Come in! Come in! You two are truly amazing,” he said.

  Nina Note: It's great having a super-powered cousin to team-up with. And Richard Maximum has strange taste! But it appeared that we were about to get to the bottom of this, which made me very happy.

  Chapter 12: The Meeting

  Richard Maximum stood up. “Come in! Come in!” he said. “I’ve been expecting you!” He clapped his hands together. “Robots, bring them some iced tea!”

  A small robot on wheels, with a serving tray on its head, rolled up to us with two glasses of iced tea. We looked at them.

  “Oh, they are safe to drink,” Maximum said. “You passed all my tests.”

  I took a sip of the tea. It didn’t taste right. “Don't drink it!” I told Veronica.

  She stopped. She blew up the glasses of tea with her mind.

  I stormed over to Maximum. He shrugged and smiled. "Okay, I had one more test for you. But you PASSED. I had enough sleeping juice in that to knock out a rhino, and you aren't even drowsy. Plus, it's supposed to be odorless and tasteless, and you still detected it! Amazing!"

  I lifted him off the ground. “No more games!” I ordered.

  "My amazing, Nina Thorn, I am not playing a game. Well, I kind of am. But everybody loves games," he insisted.

  “Why are you threatening my cousin’s animal reserve?” I demanded. “Why are you trying to drive them away?”

  “I’m not,” he said calmly. “I’m super rich. I buy anything I need and a lot of things I don’t need. I have more money than I know what to do with.”

  “Are you denying you’re causing the trouble there?” I asked.

  "Oh no, not at all. I am sponsoring it all!” he said proudly.

  “What do you want then?” I demanded.

  “I know this might sound weird with you being a vampire and all, but I want your blood.”

  “What?”

  "Not all of it, just a vial or two. You won't even miss it. Your body will replace it within hours, if not quicker."

  “Why do you want my blood?” I asked.

  He smiled. “You are part vampire which means you live for a long, long time. You are also part human which means your blood should be compatible with mine. I will be able to have my scientific team modify your blood to be a fountain of youth for me!”

  “You don’t have to do this!” Veronica said to me. “I can just erase his mind and make him forget about us! Make him think he’s a poodle or something.”

  "No, you can't!" Maximum said.

  “Pretty sure I can!” Veronica told him.

  He laughed. “Well, yes you can, but my computer CAL would just replace my memories. Right CAL?”

  A giant smiley face popped up on the wall behind us. “Yes, yes indeed,” CAL said.

  “CAL actually has some of my personality built into him. We back up memories daily so he can always retrieve them!” Maximum told us.

  "My systems totally back-up and reboot every microsecond. So, I cannot be erased or stopped!" CAL said proudly. "And I'm really smart! I make Google look like a fool!"

  “And you are modest too, I see,” I said to CAL.

  "Well, it is obvious that I am not modest. When you are the most advanced AI in the world, there is no need to be modest. So please put down my boss and creator, or I will unleash a bunch of nanobots at you.”

  “The nanobots can’t hurt me! Your boss wants my blood!” I told CAL.

  CAL’s giant smile started to laugh. “The nanobots can disable you and draw your blood,” he said coldly.

  “We’re not that easy to stop!” Veronica said.

  “True, but these are nanobots, you won’t even see them until it is too late,” CAL said.

  “CAL, be nice,” Maximum ordered.

  “I am being nice, I haven’t unleashed the bots yet,” CAL insisted.

  I put Maximum down. “Do you promise that if I give you some of my blood, you will leave my cousin, Vinnie alone?”

  “Of course,” he said smugly. “I have my own petting zoo with almost every African animal. I even own a couple of white rhinos. You see...I, too, want to preserve life. Not just my own!” he smiled at me.

  “I don’t totally trust him!” Veronica muttered.

  “You are a smart young lady; you shouldn’t totally trust anybody you do not know,” Maximum told her. “But I have no reason to lie. I really do hold all of the cards here!”

  “I’m pretty sure I could squash you like a bug in less than a second,” Veronica said. “Or Nina could pounce on you.”
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  He nodded. “Okay, I don't hold all of the cards. But I have a good hand. And it makes sense for all of us to just let me have a vial of blood. Tell you what, Nina, I will also transfer 10 million dollars to any charity you wish…”

  I thought about it.

  “Okay, you drive a hard bargain, 1 billion dollars!” Maximum said. “Once you decide, you can have your Grandma Jasmine contact me, and I’ll pass the money over to her. She is a fine woman!” he said with a smile.

  “So, do you promise that you will stop bothering my cousin, Vinnie and donate a billion to the charity or charities of our choice?” I asked him looking him right in the eyes.

  "Yes," he said without flinching. "Everybody wins! Which for me is a rarity, because usually I just like to win by myself. But you are special and deserve special terms."

  I held out my finger. “Okay.”

  A little drone floated down from the ceiling. The drone flew to my finger. A needle popped out. I felt a little prick. I saw my blood drain into a small vial. The needle popped back in. The drone beeped a friendly beep, and it flew off.

  “Thank you!” Maximum told me. “You won’t regret this. Do you wish to stay for lunch before I have CAL guide you out?”

  “No, we have our friends waiting up top,” I said.

  "Well, some other time then. Veronica, you are always welcome as well! You two are amazing young ladies."

  “Thanks!” V said. Turning to me, she said, “Shall we leave, Cuz?”

  “We shall!” I said with a smile.

  Nina Note: Okay, we solved the problem without really resorting to violence. I felt good about that. And I was promised a lot of money for charity. I also felt good about that. Still, I had given some blood to make the world's richest man near immortal. I hoped this would not come back and bite me in the butt!

  The end for now!! But a lot more to come!!

  Thank you for reading

  Nina The Friendly Vampire

  Book 5

  Under Attack