Asai nodded, indicating she understood as Yuko continued, “The end result has the potential to be a positive thing for both groups. The humans can rely on the Weres to protect them from outside danger, and the Weres are reminded that they are still human. Hopefully, the groups will become dependent on each other and realize they are better together.”
“As long as Henry and that firebrand Kelly are running things, I don’t think that will be a problem. Any of them who give her problems best be wearing protection when they do.” Horst grimaced as he put his hand over his groin protectively.
Koda giggled. “I think I want to meet this woman. Anyone who has the guts to do what she did to that ass who was dragging her around is worth meeting.”
“Perhaps we can go check on them in a few months,” Yuko offered.
Horst nodded. “Ja, that would be good. Maybe take them some things to make their lives a little easier.”
Eve had a thoughtful look on her face. “Did you get a look at the port facilities there? If the docks are not blocked, we could establish trade with them. That area once produced wheat and barley as well as sheep.”
“I didn’t look, but that’s a long way to go in a ship.” Horst’s brows knitted as he considered what she had proposed.
Eve grinned. “True, it is around five thousand nautical miles, give or take a few, depending on what the climate shifts did to the routes. I can check that with the satellites with no problem. The fleet of ships being outfitted now will have no problem making the run.”
She went on, “They might be capable of running a bit faster than I originally predicted.”
Horst cocked his head to one side. “Faster? Just how fast will they go?”
“With the Etheric-powered propulsion and the changes I ordered for the drivetrains and hulls, the cruising speed can exceed fifty-two knots.”
Horst paused as he worked out the conversion in his head. His eyes bugged out. That’s almost one hundred kilometers per hour.” He looked at the ceiling for a moment and then focused back on Eve. “You’re telling me those ships will be capable of cruising twelve hundred nautical miles per day.”
Eve nodded. “At normal cruising speed, with ease. If we’re really in a hurry, it is closer to fifteen hundred. But that speed for a sustained period would cause the bearings in the drivetrain to lose fifteen-point three percent of their serviceable life. Plus, the reinforcement I am having done to the bow of each ship can handle bumps and brushes with flotsam at normal speed. We would have to be absolutely sure of clear sailing lanes at maximum speed.”
Horst shook his head as he tried to comprehend the power it took to push one of those huge ships at such speeds. He was still looking lost when Koda took him by the arm and tugged for him to stand up.
“Come on, my mountain of a man. I don’t want you to hurt that beautiful brain of yours thinking about that too much. Just accept what Eve says and move on; that’s what I have to do—regularly.”
Asai snorted as Koda led Horst toward the exit, his free hand moving in front of him as he ran the numbers, mumbling, “unbelievable,” over and over.
Yuko chuckled. “You’re going to break him if you aren’t careful.”
Eve snickered. “Oh, he is just getting a small taste now. Wait till I take him down the rabbit hole for real. These ships are older ones being retrofitted for expediency. The ones I am designing will go twice that fast.”
Yuko shook her head, wondering how wealthy Eve was going to be when Bethany Anne returned.
And how Bethany Anne was going to react.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jilin Province, China
The pain faded as something that tasted metallic was forced into Miko’s mouth again. He had lost track of how many times he had been through the cycle of unbearable pain, followed by a period of welcome relief, only to be thrown back into the throes of agony again.
The figure was still there, his face a blur, but other features clearly visible. It was a man with long hair pulled back into a topknot. He wore a loose tunic and pants. The pants legs disappeared into the tops of leather boots that came halfway to the knee. He somehow knew the boots were made of soft, supple leather with a thin sole.
The figure from before was more in focus, and he recognized it was the same one that had appeared earlier. It wore what looked like an old military uniform, the type worn by soldiers on the front lines in the last war. The harsh laughter still followed each time the pain came, causing him to shriek in pain. The same as always, but this time the words were clearer.
“You see what you have done? Because you were so weak, this human now suffers for it. Our queen has sentenced you to watch your lover as he sings his song of agony to you. Does it bring the same joy to your ears as it does to mine?”
He didn’t understand. Who was this person, this queen who could order this? There was no queen here, only a figurehead of an emperor since the war ended.
“Again,” the figure beside him ordered.
A third figure, this one completely blurred, came from his left. His foul breath carried the stench of rotten flesh. Then the pain started in his guts and radiated through him again.
Miko came awake ready to fight, his body covered in a sheen of blood sweat. He recognized that it was the dream faster than before. It came to him every time he slept now, and he remembered more details when he awoke—not enough to understand why he was having the dream, but enough to know that he should recognize the people he saw in it.
Miko’s mind ran with questions. Queen? The laughing one mentioned a queen. Who is the person experiencing this? It seems like a memory now more than the dream it was before. Is this a memory from my life as a human?
He lay on the shoulder of the road where he’d passed out, his mind working to understand the meaning of the dream that had haunted him since the day he awoke in the destroyed hangar. He rolled to the side, and the pull in his back reminded him of his deadly encounter with the Weres earlier.
After the rush from the fight died down, he had felt lightheaded and weak. His back and shoulder still burned from the injuries he had sustained, and his right leg felt weak. He reached down to the leg and felt a cold wetness on his inner thigh. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. That was his last conscious memory.
He felt around his inner thigh and discovered a rent in the material just below where his leg joined his body. Probing into the tear revealed that he had a deep cut that was slowly starting to close, but blood still trickled down his leg. He applied pressure to the wound, pressing down to close it and speed the healing.
Even though his ability to heal was better since Heinz had given him the last dose of whatever serum he had concocted, it still took several minutes for the blood to stop and the gash to close. By then, his limbs felt leaden and he swayed unsteadily on his feet. He needed to feed to replenish the blood he had lost soon or risk being caught out in the morning sun.
Miko staggered off with slow, unsteady steps toward the next village along the road. He trudged on through the night, coming upon several small collections of houses, all of them abandoned. He became weaker as the night wore on, his body using everything it had to heal the damage he had taken in the fight.
When the sky began turning the midnight blue that signaled dawn was fast approaching, he gave up the hunt for prey and started searching frantically for a place to avoid the deadly sun when it rose.
He found a hut with a small wooden trapdoor that led to an equally small root cellar below. With the sun minutes from peeking over the horizon, he curled into the earthen hole and pulled the door closed. He wrapped his body in an old tarp he had found in the hut for added protection, hoping he didn’t need it but too exhausted to care.
Miko woke slowly, his throat burning with thirst, wishing now that he hadn’t left the taunting marker for the Weres to find. He knew he had to find prey soon. If he didn’t feed and regain his strength before they found him again, he would be in trouble. Not that he
feared Weres, but he didn’t relish the idea of having to fight in a weakened state.
No dreams today, he realized. Either I am more injured than I thought, or they are gone. Either way, I need to feed now.
He struggled out of the cellar, and after a few moments determined his hiding place was undisturbed. He started walking shakily down the dark road, keeping his senses alert equally for Weres and prey, and hoping the search for prey and the blood his body demanded won out.
He had only been walking for about half an hour when he detected a faint scent on the breeze. His mind was so focused on the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other he was almost on top of a small camp before he registered it.
He froze in the darkness, listening carefully while he focused on the scent. Human, his hunger addled mind informed him. He crept closer to the camp, seeing the glow of a carefully laid fire, banked to conceal it from casual observation. A man and a woman huddled together, asleep next to it.
Miko silently entered the camp and looked down at the couple. The man was curled under a thin blanket and the woman wrapped in an old sleeping bag, both sleeping soundly.
He knelt on the ground behind the man, feeling his fangs extend on their own as the sound of a strong, steady heartbeat called to him. His hands shot out, catching the man by his throat with one hand and covering his mouth with the other. He lifted him off the ground and pulled him away from the fire and the still sleeping woman. She stirred in her sleep but didn’t wake as his fangs pierced the soft flesh of the man’s neck.
The blood hit his tongue, and he felt his body grow stronger with each pulse that flowed down his throat. A short time later, he pulled away from the still body held in his arms. Lowering it to the ground softly so as to not disturb the sleeping woman, he moved in on her. It was only a matter of seconds until he had her in his embrace, taking the blood and energy from her that he needed to survive.
Kaiyuan, China
Miko traveled for hours after he had drunk his fill from the unlucky couple. He made no attempt to hide the bodies or to conceal how they had died. He wanted the Weres to have no doubt that he didn’t fear them in case they’d missed the message from the night before.
He smiled as he entered another town a little after midnight. This one was bigger and in better shape than any of the places he had been in since he’d left Yushu. The sign said he was in Kaiyuan. Miko thought for a moment and realized he had crossed into Liaoning Province at some point.
There was a pungent odor of smoke coming from fish-oil lamps fixed to the old power poles that ran through the center of the town. One building was well-lit, and music drifted out of the open door and windows. It had once housed government functionaries, judging by the bare concrete walls and small windows that comprised it, but now it seemed to be a tavern.
Miko took stock of his bloodstained and tattered clothing. The days on the road, as well as the fight with the Weres, had made him look like a casualty of war. He stepped between two dark houses into an area that had a small garden plot, and more importantly, a line with clothes hanging on it to dry.
He chose a shirt and trousers from the line that appeared to be close to his size and stripped off his ragged clothes. The fit of the shirt was a little snug, but the pants were several sizes too big. He snapped the cord that held the clothes, wrapping the loose end around his waist to measure and broke it again when he had the proper length.
After tying the makeshift belt around his waist and rolling the cuffs up on the pants, he looked presentable enough not to cause others to notice. He left his rags on the ground beside the clothes that had dropped when he broke the line and made his way back to the well-lit street.
He started toward the tavern and froze as a familiar scent came to him on an errant breeze.
Weres!
Miko faded into the shadows across from the tavern when two men exited.
“I tell you, Wun, I smelled a vampire.”
The other man snorted. “You are jumping at shadows, Han. Master Kun has over one hundred warriors out looking for that bloodsucker since those drained bodies were left in the open. That vampire is on the run or dead by now.”
“I tell you, I smelled him!” Han insisted. “There was a smell of rot in the air and nothing to account for it. Our orders warned us to be wary of such things because they meant a vampire was near.”
Both Weres were walking away from the tavern with their backs to Miko and the breeze in their faces as they talked. He stuck to the shadows and followed, curious if there were more and looking forward to sending these Sacred Clan idiots another pointed message. Don’t mess with the vampire.
The Weres continued to argue as they entered a small house on the outskirts of the town. Just as the door was closing, the wind shifted suddenly, blowing from his back directly toward the house.
Han froze. “Wun, He’s here!”
The sound of cloth tearing followed by the growl of a big cat was the response from inside the house. In seconds Han shifted as well, and two orange and black striped tigers stood in the center of the road facing Miko.
“Your Master is a simpleton,” Miko told them by way of an introduction. “To think Weres can challenge a vampire is the height of idiocy. I suppose I will need to kill more of you before he understands.”
The cats snarled as they stalked toward him. Miko relaxed into a ready stance, arms by his sides with his knees slightly bent. When they were almost close enough to pounce, he rushed forward, a cloud of dust rising from under his feet, and butted his shoulder into the one on the right.
The Were screamed in pain as Miko slammed into him. The sound of bones breaking as the cat was knocked to the ground was Miko’s reward. The other leapt at him and he twisted to the side, barely avoiding the razor-sharp claws that whizzed past his head. He reversed direction and jumped, easily clearing the tiger and landing behind him.
The tiger spun to face him as Miko lashed out with his foot, catching him under his chin and closing the jaws with an audible snap. The cat’s head went back from the force of the kick and Miko moved in, his hands curled into claws.
He swiped the dazed cat across his eyes, blinding him before his body could heal the damage the kick had caused. The cat let out a scream of rage and pain. It was the last sound he ever made. Miko swiped his clawed hand across his throat, almost decapitating him.
The tiger collapsed to the ground, thrashing as his damaged body struggled to heal. It was too much too soon, and in seconds, the tiger stopped moving and let out a shuddering breath as he died.
Miko turned to see the one he had tackled hobbling in the opposite direction, getting faster with each step as his broken bones knitted together. He rushed forward, catching the tiger with ease, and delivered a hard kick to his back leg, snapping the bone like dry kindling.
The tiger went down when his leg stopped working, rolling on his injured side as he fought to catch himself. Miko was on him in an instant, and soon the tiger’s blood stained the dusty road under his still body.
Miko stopped and listened for sounds that signaled other Weres were near. Hearing nothing, he set about the task of leaving another message for the Clan.
Minutes later, Miko walked out of town, chucking softly. Both Weres had shifted back to human form at their deaths, and there were now two nude bodies side by side in the center of the road, each holding the other’s severed head in his lap.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan
Akio bid Horst goodbye as he dropped him off at the complex that would soon be the location of their new base. They had been at the dockyard, where Horst checked on the progress of the ships Eve was having refitted. The work was going well, and Horst was ready to hire a captain for the first one. He had asked Akio to be there when he interviewed the man he had in mind, the captain who had brought Dieter over from Russia.
Eve had located his ship and determined it would be a week before he was back in Japan, and Horst had decided to wal
k the area where the Japanese government had given them land for a new base. The ship was a few weeks from completion, so he wanted to get a feel for where they would build the base he and Eve had drawn up.
“Abel, bring the Pod down in the inner courtyard,” Akio ordered.
Akio felt the craft shift as it started to descend. As soon as the hatch opened, he was out of it. “Abel, please place the Pod back in orbit above the base.”
“Pod away,” Abel intoned.
Akio went to the command center and pulled up the video feeds from China. It had become an obsession for him over the past few weeks.
“Akio, you know that I have programmed facial recognition algorithms into the system. Why do you continue to physically view the video?”
“It seems to be the proper thing to do. Kenjii is where he is now because of my actions. I owe it to him.”
Abel huffed. “‘That is illogical,’ is the phrase Eve would use in this instance.”
Akio pursed his lips as he considered trying to explain it to the EI. After a few seconds, he reached the conclusion that he couldn’t explain the reasoning to him. “You are correct. It is illogical. Sometimes humans behave illogically.”
Akio took a deep breath and settled into the chair. Illogical or not, he still felt the need, no the duty, to do everything he could to locate Kenjii.
The video started to stream across the monitor as soon as he was seated. He watched for several minutes, seeing humans, animals, and in most cases a whole lot of nothing as he sped through the feed at four times the speed a human could.
He allowed his mind to drift while keeping one eye on the feed.
Chiba, Japan, 1956
Kenjii led Akio down darkened alleys and streets with little to no light, avoiding the crowded, well-lit shopping areas with their multitudes of shoppers and vendors who hawked their wares from stalls and carts set up along the streets.
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